The rumored rivalry between Food Network stars Giada De Laurentiis and Rachael Ray started in 2006, on the set of Iron Chef, where De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay lost to Rachael Ray and Mario Batali. Following the defeat, De Laurentiis reportedly stopped speaking to Flay for eight months.

In a 2014 interview, De Laurentiis admitted, "I do have one regret. You can't guess? Doing 'Iron Chef' with Bobby Flay against Mario Batali and Rachael Ray." When asked how she felt about losing to Ray, she said, "it will bother me until the day I die and Bobby knows that. He thinks I'm ridiculous, but it is what it is."

While De Laurentiis denied having any heated rivalry with Ray, she unconvincingly revealed to Redbook, "Do we hang out all the time? No. Are we best friends? No." She further added, "We do these festivals together, and she'll say to me, 'Oh, we'd better take a picture together and smile, because if we don't, God only knows what's going to get written about us."