From MMA To Food Reviews: The Transformation Of Keith Lee

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If you've seen any of Keith Lee's online food reviews, you know how personable and relatable this unlikely restaurant critic is. Lee has become a TikTok superstar who champions the little guy, favoring indie restaurants that could use a little exposure and providing taste tests and shout-outs on his socials. Spilling over to Instagram, his digital aura is a magical ingredient that can seemingly make or break a restaurant by virtue of his thumbs up or thumbs down. With a massive online following of more than 17 million eager viewers, it's clear that Lee holds sway over the dining public in a way that few other influencers can. 

But Keith Lee's notoriety actually began with a stint as an MMA fighter, an intriguing past that unexpectedly fueled his online presence and helped move him into the power position he holds today. Along the way, this humble Detroit native has overcome mental health challenges and become something of a role model for others seeking a way to transcend their social anxieties. Discovering how Lee's path led him to where he is now is a study in perseverance, ingenuity, and good fortune, combined to create a unique profile peppered with highs and lows. Through it all, he's held onto his integrity, even while offering opinions that don't always sit well with locals. Here's a look at where Lee started and where his food review endeavors have taken him so far.

Before he became the darling of the digital culinary critique set, Keith Lee was doling out knuckle sandwiches and gourmet roundhouses in the MMA ring. He moved to Las Vegas to seize the opportunity, fighting as a featherweight at a slim-and-trim 5 foot 9 and 145 pounds and garnering the nickname "Killa" along the way. A review of Lee's record shows a fighter with a relatively balanced career, racking up eight wins, five losses, and zero draws during his time within the ropes; three of those wins were technical knockouts. Though he spent nearly six years as a fighter, from his first fight on January 12, 2017, to his final showdown on September 3, 2022, it turned out to be an eventful if relatively short-lived career.

Having signed his contract at the tender age of 18 and sticking with it until the age of 26, Lee had a decent run, though bigger things were waiting for him outside of the realm of MMA fighting. It was after leaving the MMA ring that Lee was inspired to give TikTok a try, a move that impressed his ex-manager, SuckerPunch Entertainment's Brian Butler. Butler has been following his former client's rise with admiration, noting that Lee is a one-man workshop for producing videos, and encouraging the former fighter to keep going in this new and exciting direction.

With mental health challenges already throwing him severe challenges with social anxiety as a teenager, Keith Lee was dealt another difficult situation to manage when grappling with these troubles resulted in an eating disorder diagnosis. It was a situation spurred on by his high school wrestling career, which required him to weigh in at a little over 100 pounds in order to compete. "I would literally not eat anything all day, and I would look at food as the enemy," he told Mashed writer Erica Andrews in an exclusive interview. It set him on a cycle of bingeing and restricting himself from eating that soon overtook his view of food in his everyday life as well as his training.

By watching online cooking videos and experimenting in the kitchen with help from his brother, Lee was able to adopt a better understanding of the impact of diet while creating his meals. The progression from cooking to tracking down local food for the purpose of full-on video critique seems to have grown out of this newfound appreciation for the joy of eating. "This is the first time in [my] life that I've ever actually been able to eat what I want and enjoy myself," he shared. His enjoyment is obvious in his clips, and even when the dish isn't met with his enthusiastic pleasure, it's still clear that Lee has established a healthier relationship with food.

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The very real pressure of maintaining mental health stability was enough to bring Lee's time as a fighter to an end. His final fight delivered a vicious loss in which his opponent choked him out. The rout prompted Bellator, the organization Lee fought for, to discontinue his contract. Left without a job and a growing family to feed, depression sank in, causing Lee to reconsider what his future would look like. Even as an up-and-comer, part of his struggle was speaking on camera; Lee has described that the reality of becoming a successful fighter means being comfortable giving interviews, a part of the job that didn't help diminish his anxiety. It was also what prompted him to start experimenting with making videos in the hopes of becoming comfortable enough to get past his anxious response.

Ironically, as his career as a food reviewer has grown and his comfort dealing with the public has vastly improved, he still experiences anxiety, such as when fans overwhelm him during appearances. It's a very real reminder that even though an influencer's persona may project confidence and calm, there can be an active struggle to maintain stable mental health. Figures like Keith Lee demonstrate that the possibility of overcoming these sorts of struggles can sometimes lead to a whole new life path — one that makes use of the very cause of the anxiety itself.

You may not see it in his clips, but part of Keith Lee's anxiety stemmed from a fear of speaking in public, an aspect of both fighting and vlogging that seem counter to the nature of those industries. He started out in 2021 with the now-familiar format of taste testing items in his car, sampling the offerings from restaurants around his Las Vegas home. His simple scale of one-to-10 ratings may seem pretty straightforward, but it was a direct method to help address his anxiety head-on. Thanks to embracing TikTok video creation, Lee made peace with his fear of speaking to an audience and figured out how to connect by speaking sincerely and directly.

Though his reviews are largely a one-on-one with his smartphone camera, his interviews show how Lee has triumphed over his public speaking fears. A winsome live chat with Jazzy's World TV on Instagram shows his easy-going personality. In both a figurative and literal sense, Lee's voice has become his calling card, the vehicle through which he creates opportunities for small businesses while building a brand of his own. For someone who was once uncomfortable speaking, Lee's willingness to tackle his social anxiety and turn what was once a struggle into a hallmark of his growing fame is bound to inspire followers with similar challenges.

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It seems like you can't tune into TikTok for a second without being served a few of Lee's food and eatery reviews. His likable presence and resonance with viewers make it easy to get pulled into his reviews, which often include background stories that describe a restaurant in need of a boost. Lee samples the food and gives a fair but honest assessment of what he's tried, which often leads to a rush of customers for the location and an influx of revenue. This impact has come to be known as "The Keith Lee Effect," a phenomenon that many eateries vie for by submitting requests for him to review their food. Restaurants describe the boom that occurred once they were part of Lee's review series and praise the impact his audience has had on their business.

As Lee describes himself to TODAY.com, "I'm just a guy who records himself eating food." While that may be true, the residual effect Lee has on his followers and the restaurants he chooses is anything but simple. It's enough to generate buzz before Lee even arrives in town, as a feature in Phoenix New Times details in a chronicle of his visit to the Valley of the Sun. The Keith Lee-approved restaurants in his hometown of Las Vegas read like a catalog of culinary delights. Though not all eateries report an uplift from the exposure, the Keith Lee Effect is real enough to warrant solid attention.

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Over the course of his time as an influencer, Keith Lee has collected quite an impressive cadre of online viewers eager to hear what he has to say next. The counter currently stands at 17.2 million viewers, a staggering amount for someone who only began taking his contributions to the app seriously little more than four years ago. Prior to the explosion of visibility, Lee had followers from earlier incarnations on Vine and Instagram, who essentially watched him grow up onscreen. He acknowledges how much having the support of the group has helped bolster his mental state, telling People, "It feels like having a distant family."

Knowing 17 million followers are tuning into Lee's social media account for food reviews is the equivalent of having the population of some states awaiting word on what he thinks they should eat next. It's the sort of influence that can alter the course of a restaurant's trajectory, sending them enough business to lift their enterprise and generate a ton of much needed cash flow. It does necessitate a bit of clever disguising when he wants to go out unrecognized. Nevertheless, he told Mashed that he encounters friendly people when his followers approach him in public.

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Though it may seem as if Keith Lee's reviews are taken to heart by just about everyone who watches them, the reality about his sway over potential customers is a bit more complicated. A prime example was Lee's visit to the U.K., which resulted in poor reviews for Spud Bros. There, Lee tried tuna fish as a topping, and the taste test went so badly that he declined to post the video. Locals also called out the reviewer's lack of appreciation for such regional favorites as Yorkshire pudding, and his comments on the unseasoned nature of the food — cultural differences he doesn't seem to be familiar with.

Similar bad vibes worked their way through San Francisco after Lee visited for a few bites. He left after only three stops, attributing his quick departure to an unexpected seafood allergy. He also opined that the homeless presence in the Bay Area was uncomfortable for tourists such as himself, which made it challenging to focus on his food review efforts. He later clarified that he didn't feel unsafe in the city. Lee also riled up Atlanta after a 2023 visit, saying that it was difficult to find good food at the restaurants he went to, which prompted death threats for him and his family. Later, his decision to try a salmon and chopped cheese sandwich while visiting NYC drew heat from diehards who know salmon isn't allowed in the recipe.

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There's no questioning the value of clout in the quantity that Keith Lee's digital career carries. Anytime an online celebrity can prove they have enough eye share to generate a commercial response, major paydays aren't too far behind. For Lee, this has amounted to a rumored $4 million fortune, thanks in part to lucrative partnerships with Hyundai, Pepsi, and Chipotle, according to Forbes. He also appears to have an endorsement agreement with skin care company CeraVe, as part of the company's Goat'd by the People campaign. The ongoing buzz generated by his growing status is sure to bring even more financial wins in the coming years.

This cache of cash allows Lee to engage in splashy displays of generosity, like the $4,000-plus tip he left for the crew and 50 burgers he paid for during a visit to Easy Street Burgers, which was the scene of a Rolling Stone interview. In a single year, the influencer has given out a reported $300,000 to help small businesses, a magnanimous gesture from a figure who isn't shy about showing his gratitude. But while he's raking in the dough hand over fist, he's also keeping his principles intact, reportedly turning down a $1-million deal with Club Shay Shay to endorse the food, even though he doesn't eat it. Keith Lee seems to be proving that influencers can have financial success without sacrificing their ethics.