Why Guy Fieri's Ultimate Game Night Didn't Succeed

Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

Guy Fieri is best known for his shows like the long-running "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" and "Guy's Grocery Games," but he also hosted another, lesser known one called "Guy's Ultimate Game Night." It premiered on Food Network in 2022, and you might not be familiar with it because it only ran for two seasons and a total of 13 episodes. Its final episode aired in early 2023, and it wasn't formally canceled with an announcement, but it has not returned since then.

One possible reason the show didn't get renewed was a confusing format. If you haven't seen it, each episode featured three teams of celebrity guests competing in a mix of food-based and party-style games. There could be trivia, games, competitions — more or less food related — and also cooking challenges, with the winning team earning a cash prize for charity. As Fieri described it himself in a Food Network Facebook trailer, "I've taken food shows and games shows, and put them in a blender."

Cooking is the main focus of Food Network, and it took the backseat in these over-the-top games, which may have made it difficult for Food Network's audience base to connect with it. However, that wasn't the only issue. In a video interview from "In Depth with Graham Bensinger" on Facebook, Fieri described how he may have gotten too invested in the show to recognize why it might not take off: "Maybe that was part of the failure ... I got too close to it. I wasn't sitting back objectively looking at it enough."

On IMDb, the show received only a 5.9/10 star rating – and the ratings are very polarizing. 24% of viewers left a 1 star review, while 17.7% left a 10 star review, so viewers either loved it or hated it.

User comments on the subreddit r/FoodNetwork back this up; one fan wrote, "I thought it was kind of dumb but I also laughed so hard I cried! Will have to see if it continues to be entertaining or it loses my attention." Another user was more critical and shared, "Within the context that I am a Fieri fan, w**??? This was dumb to the point of cringey. It's like a birthday party for 6-yr-olds without the youthful charm. Count me out {in case that wasn't already pretty clear}." After one episode where Fieri challenged contestants to build a house from breakfast foods, he apologized to parents for encouraging kids to play with food — so we can see where that user's complaint is coming from.

While "Guy's Grocery Games" pushes contestants to tap into cooking creativity, "Guy's Ultimate Game Night" seemed to stray too far from Food Network's core offerings. One user on Reddit sums it up well, "Funny. But doesn't belong on the FOOD network." While some viewers found the show great for some absurd entertainment, it seems there simply weren't enough people who wanted to watch a game show on their favorite food channel.