The Biggest Scandals To Ever Hit Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

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David Page created "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" while on a phone call with a Food Network executive. "I had just made the name up out of thin air," he told Heavy Table. Page's production company, Page Television and Video Productions, Inc., produced the first 11 seasons of the show without much incident. But relationships between the network and production company probably turned sour on Season 12, because the Food Network suddenly fired Page after it ended. 

Page sued Food Network for breach of contract because his company had signed on to produce 39 episodes at that time, for Seasons 12 to 14. Page accused the network of keeping Fieri from him and preventing his company from completing production. Food Network countersued, saying Page was fired for creating a hostile work environment. The network alleged that Page sent staff emails riddled with profanity, insults, and threats too vulgar to quote here.

The case was eventually settled out of court. Page later told the press that Fieri instigated his firing because he'd grown tired of being directed. "He became more and more unwilling to accept the kind of coaching, producing and directing that was intended to make him look great," Page said, via the New York Post. In the end, the Food Network fired Page and hired a new production company, Denver-based Citizen Pictures, to take over. Citizen Pictures has since produced "Triple D" starting from Season 13.

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Tensions continued to brew between David Page and Fieri in 2011. Just two months after the settlement, Page revealed that Fieri was fiercely homophobic. He mentioned an incident where Fieri walked out of a restaurant after discovering the two men running it were in a relationship. "You can't send me to talk to gay people without warning! Those people weird me out!" Fieri allegedly said, as reported by City Pages (via Huffpost).

Kari Kloster, a former field producer for "Triple D," corroborated Page's accusations. She told City Pages that everyone who worked on the show knew Fieri didn't like it when he had to shoot with someone who was gay. She said those shoots went differently, implying that Fieri behaved unpleasantly on those occasions. Page also claimed Fieri often spoke and acted inappropriately toward female guests. "Anytime any woman mentioned 'cream,' Guy went into a sexual riff," Page said, via the New York Post. "When cutting the show, you had to tell the editors to watch Guy's eye line, because it's always on breasts."

Fieri's camp denied all accusations. His reps released a statement claiming it wasn't the host's nature to be homophobic or lascivious, and that his reputation spoke for itself. This controversy ended more than a decade of mentorship and collaboration between Page and Fieri.

Many restaurant owners in the U.S. would give anything to be on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and benefit from the so-called "Triple D effect." However, it's not easy to appear on the show. Restaurants have to pass an extensive vetting process and, more importantly, they need to be able to afford their segment's filming costs.

Restaurants are expected to pay for the ingredients, employees' wages, and other overhead costs incurred during the shoot. In the early days, Fieri and his crew would roll the cameras during regular business hours to capture the everyday happenings in the kitchen and front of house. But in the later seasons, production requested restaurants close for the day, whether Fieri was filming or the camera crew was just shooting pickups.

Shooting days are two days minimum, but one restaurant, Smack Shack in Minneapolis, had to shoot for four days. Considering the overhead costs plus loss of sales multiplied by the number of shooting days, the total expense goes up fast. Smack Shack reportedly lost $12,000, whereas Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth spent $15,000. "Triple D" and Fieri may offer a Midas touch, but only those who can afford it benefit.

"Triple D" fans hold Guy Fieri's opinion in such high regard, that restaurant owners dread getting lukewarm or negative reactions from the Food Network host. Not that Fieri would say a dish tastes bad on camera; he'd rather scrap the footage than put the restaurant on the spot. "If I don't like the food, you won't see it on my shows," he once said via The Hollywood Reporter. Still, after watching Fieri for nearly two decades, fans know him well enough that they can tell when he's genuinely thrilled about a dish and when he's not.

The biggest tell that Fieri loves the food is when he immediately takes a second bite. If he finishes everything, like he did with the bowl of dumplings at Arnold's Country Kitchen Chef, then it must really taste good. He also has some well-known catchphrases, like "Funkalicious," "Dynamite," "Wow," and of course, "Flavortown!"

Fieri is less enthusiastic when the food is just okay. Fans observe that he gets really chatty about the components or method of cooking if the food doesn't exactly wow him. Sometimes he won't eat another spoonful even if he says the food is good. Fieri has admitted that he doesn't always love the food. Despite that, he won't ever criticize a dish because he doesn't consider himself a food critic. "I'm a food highlighter. I'm bringing the greatest hits," he said in Brian Koppelman's podcast, "The Moment."

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Anthony Bourdain was not a fan of Guy Fieri, and he was always vocal about it. He spoke numerous times about how he couldn't stand the Food Network star, whom he called a d**che and a cross between Ed Hardy and a juggalo. It's like he couldn't help but insult the Food Network host at every opportunity. And so, when Bourdain ranted about Fieri on SiriusXM's "The Opie & Anthony Show," nobody was surprised. 

Bourdain called the Food Network star's 600-seat restaurant and bar in New York a terror dome, then made a dig at Fieri's aptitude with spelling. He also had a lot to say about "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." "All of these poor diners, drives, whatever d***bags waddle in there," Bourdain said. "[Fieri] single-handedly turned the neighborhood into the Ed Hardy district." Bourdain, whose legacy of bringing street food to the forefront of the culinary world has endeared him to people all over, put the show on blast for promoting food that was overpriced. He said $18 for a burger and $12 for french fries was simply too much.

Oddly, this beef between two of America's most famous chefs seemed one-sided for the longest time. Bourdain often insulted Fieri unprovoked, picking at his bleached hair, fashion, loud personality, and restaurants since 2008, according to Thrillist. But Fieri eventually had the chance to hit back at a charity roast of Bourdain in 2012.

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Getting featured at "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" is a valuable marketing opportunity that gives restaurants a massive boost in foot traffic and revenue. According to a report by TCB Mag, revenues at Season 14's Pizzeria Lola rose 50% one month after its episode aired. Q Fanatic BBQ & Grill from Season 8 also enjoyed a 50% short-term revenue boost and 75% increase over the next two years. Smack Shack at the 1029 Bar, also from Season 14, had the highest reported gains from a "Triple D" appearance so far. Its revenue went up by 500% after appearing on the show, and the long-term increases held at 300%.

No doubt "Triple D" saved many businesses from closure. However, not all were as lucky. According to the fan-made website, Flavor Town USA, around 300 establishments have closed as of February 2026. That's 23% of the 1,277 restaurants featured throughout the show's 54-season run.

"Is it a curse?" Delish once asked when the online mag delved into the reasons "Triple D" restaurants ended up closing despite getting massive promo and tons of new customers. Some restaurants cited rising food costs and natural disasters. Others struggled to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors like seasonal slowdowns, seasonal ingredients, lack of parking spaces, inconvenient locations, rising rental costs, and expiring leases likely also led to closures.

Closures are not the only issue that cast a shadow on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Several restaurants on the show also became embroiled in controversies sometime after their episodes aired. Since "Triple D" is a well-known affiliation, the show would also be mentioned in news articles and indirectly linked to their scandal.

One such incident was when the owners of Darwell's Happiness Cafe in Long Beach, Mississippi, uploaded a now-deleted video on Facebook about a couples day promotion. Darwell Yaeger, the chef and co-owner of the restaurant, was very specific about the target audience for the promotion. "If you're a couple, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, guy and girl couple, the real kind of couple ... Can produce a child couple, we'll give you something free." His wife, Nettie, added, "Cause we don't do the trans or the lesbians or gays. I'm sorry, but that's down the street."

Many found these statements homophobic and were so outraged, they called for a boycott against the restaurant. The Yaegers received a ton of backlash from customers and peers. They were defensive at first, but eventually wrote a formal apology (which was also later deleted). The Food Network and "Triple D" stayed mum about the issue, although the restaurant is not included in the show's list of featured places in Mississippi. 

As a chef who travels all over the country to visit diners and restaurants, Guy Fieri encounters all kinds of food and cuisines. He's also usually enthusiastic about trying whatever the chefs prepare for him. But there are exceptions to what Fieri eats, such as runny eggs, liver, onions, and chitterlings, to name a few.

When Fieri visited Cora Faye's Cafe in Colorado, he got his first taste of chitterlings (also known as "chitlins"), a saucy dish made with large pig intestines. Fieri tried to stay upbeat about the traditional Southern dish at the beginning of the segment. But the moment Ms. Cora Faye showed how the intestines were cleaned and cooked, the host stood back and could no longer hide his distaste. He eventually got around to tasting the dish. After a tense pause, Fieri could only say, "Wow, that's an acquired taste."

In another episode, the chef at Cattlemen's Steakhouse prepared a special breakfast for Fieri: scrambled eggs with minced cow brains. "I don't like eggs. And I don't like brains. I definitely don't like egg and brain," Fieri said. The segment showed what a good host he is because he managed to make everyone laugh and keep things upbeat despite being visibly repulsed by the food.

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"Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" shows a lot of deep-fried, grilled, greasy, and indulgent food. There have been many cheesy burgers, French dip sandwiches, barbecues, fried chickens, and other similarly delicious meals that aren't exactly healthy. As the show's host, Guy Fieri receives a lot of flak for the allegedly unhealthy food items that appear on "Triple D." The Daily Meal once conducted a survey asking the public's opinion of the frosted host. Out of nearly 3,000 respondents, 12.4% said that Guy Fieri promotes an unhealthy lifestyle. 

His restaurants received the same criticism for serving calorie-laden menu items that are deep-fried, grilled, or doused with sauce. But Fieri keeps things real. "I'm your chef, not your doctor," he shot back at critics in a CNN interview, where he was shown video clips of a triple-patty cheesy burger dripping with oil and a massive lasagna heaped with sausages, meats, and cheeses. CNN host Chris Wallace called the food "a heart attack on a plate," to which Fieri replied, "If you ate all of it."

Fieri pointed out that eating unhealthy food in moderation is a personal responsibility. He also said that contrary to criticisms, "Triple D" doesn't just focus on sinfully indulgent food. "I challenge [critics] to go watch 'Triple D' and see how many vegetarian restaurants we put on there," he said to Wallace.

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"Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" has received indirect negative publicity every time Guy Fieri has had legal trouble. The host faced several labor and business related lawsuits in the last decade, and every time, reporters would name-drop the show in their articles if not the headlines themselves.

One of those early legal controversies was alleged health code violations in Fieri's now-closed New York restaurant. According to a 2016 Radar Online exclusive, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene discovered live roaches and filth flies commonly found in sewers in the restaurant's food and non-food areas. Around that time, his business partner, Steve Gruber, also sued him for allegedly dissolving the restaurant chain they co-founded without his consent.

In 2022, employees of Downtown Flavortown restaurant in Pigeon Forge filed a class action labor suit against the restaurant owners for allegedly making tipped employees do hours of non-tipped work. Then, last year, Fieri was sued by Kevin Cooper, the winner of "Guys' Chance of a Lifetime," another of Fieri's Food Network shows. Cooper alleged that he didn't receive the prizes he was promised in his contract, which included a Chicken Guy! store franchise and first-year salary worth $100,000.

These lawsuits paint an unfavorable version of Fieri, who's known as a loud and fun-loving advocate of food industry employees. Given his fame and influence, it's inevitable that the public's perception of him would bleed into his shows.

Rounding out this list of scandals to hound "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" is an incident that ordinarily would be viewed as a breach of contract in endorsement partnerships. Fortunately for Guy Fieri, being the unofficial face of the Food Network and its highest paid star (to the tune of $100 million by 2023) afforded him some degree of immunity.

In 2008, TMZ chatted with Fieri just as he was entering a Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills. The man behind the camera was surprised to see the host there, saying they expected to find him at TGI Fridays. Fieri had done several commercials for the restaurant chain at that time, so the comment made sense. To everyone's surprise, however, Fieri said, "Nah, I'm a Food Network chef, man. So uh, I just do commercials for Fridays. You know how it works."

TMZ continued to ask, did Fieri like TGI Fridays? Fieri gave a non-answer. "Yeah, it's a good gig man," he said instead. Seeing that video circulating online couldn't have been pleasant for TGI Fridays, considering the company has struggled to stay ahead of the country's casual dining industry.