7 Chefs Who Walked Away From Their Food Network Careers

The Food Network may still be home to a star-studded roster of celeb chefs—including Ina Garten, Guy Fieri, and Bobby Flay, to name a few—but there are even more notable names who were once synonymous with the channel.

While some were axed (*cough, cough* Paula Deen), others left to pursue new projects (looking at you, Giada). Here are eight former Food Network stars who have left for new pastures, whether greener or not.

Giada De Laurentiis

In February 2023, Giada De Laurentiis announced her departure from The Food Network after 21 years. She wasted no time in pursuing her next venture. The Rome-born chef promptly launched her next great project, an e-commerce site and pasta line both named Giadzy. De Laurentiis said it was time for a "rebirth" in her career.

"It took a while for me to make this decision because I was very fearful of leaving Food Network," she admitted on an episode of Rebecca Minkoff's podcast, Superwomen. "Because when you’re a big fish in that pond and then you get out, who knows what’s gonna happen next? But I really started to become interested in the entrepreneurial sort of journey. And I realized I couldn’t do both. "

De Laurentiis felt "burnt out" after two decades on the same screen, and when asked if she missed her role, she said, "No. I know I should I should say yes."

"I really worked so hard for so long," the Giadzy founder continued. "I got burnt out, and I couldn't see a path that was exciting anymore. I need excitement. I get bored. And if I'm getting bored, my viewers are getting bored."

Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray first appeared on The Food Network in 2001 and remained a longtime fixture until 2023. While her recipes remained active on the website for her former show (hinting at the potential for an eventual return), she "officially signed off" last week, squashing those rumors in the process.

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"So if you’ve been bookmarking recipes from the old days, don’t worry—you can still find all your favorites (plus plenty of new ones from my current shows!) over at rachaelray.com," Ray wrote on Instagram."Different address, same love from my kitchen to yours. 💛👩🏻‍🍳."

She added that all the original and new content would be available at Rachaelray.com.

"Aww end of an era! ❤️," one user commented under the post. "Can’t wait to see what you do next!!" another wrote. "Look forward to your next show, your forever my Favorite 😍."

"Cheers to a legendary run! ❤️" a third person added.

Alton Brown

Alton Brown didn't just leave The Food Network after a two-decade run; he brought his iconic series to Netflix with him. Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, a slight spin on the original Iron Chef series, premiered on the streaming platform in 2022.

"That took a little bit of convincing on a lot of different people’s parts. But I knew that the show was going to be happening, and I was sick with jealousy over the idea that I was at the wrong network at the wrong time," Brown told Variety. "One day, my agent finally called me up after I had nagged him almost daily, and that was it. It was done. There was never a second thought for me. It meant removing myself from one network, but that was not a hard decision. Timing just worked out that I was able to extricate myself from that."

Paula Deen

Paula Deen's departure was a lot more controversial than those of her fellow network stars. In 2013, the now-disgraced Southern chef admitted under oath in a deposition to having used the N-word in the past, which sparked widespread backlash. This admission came as part of a racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee who accused Deen's restaurant group of tolerating sexual harassment and racial discrimination. Following the revelation, Food Network announced it would not renew Deen's contract.

"I have had the pleasure of being allowed into so many homes across the country and meeting people who have shared with me the most touching and personal stories," she said in a statement to People at the time. "This would not have been possible without the Food Network. Thank you again. Love and best dishes to all of ya’ll."

Emeril Lagasse

Emeril didn't just leave the Food Network, he was, well, kinda ousted. His series, Emeril Live, is basically the blueprint for modern day cooking shows, yet execs ended it after a decade despite the fact that Lagasse was still under contract.

Food Network publicist Carrie Welch stated that the cancellation was because the show "hit a ton of television milestones and, you know, all good things come to an end," suggesting a natural conclusion rather than a contentious firing, per Mashed. And while it kinda sorta seems messy, Lagassi himself said the same thing about his exit.

Sara Moulton

Sara Moulton hosted several instructional cooking shows on The Food Network during her tenure in the '90s, but that all came to an end when the channel started moving towards more competition-style shows. She had some, erm, not so nice things to say about the ousting.

"I was part of the old guard and every time a new president comes in they make changes. Another thing happened, they switched their demographic," she previously said of her exit. "It had been women of I don't know what age group. But they changed it to 15-35 year old males. They were more interested in really good-looking people with really big personalities."

Sandra Lee

There are conflicting reports as to what actually led to Sandra Lee's exit from the network. While it seems as though her final season of Semi-Homemade Cooking aired in 2011 (well before her cancer diagnosis in 2015), she previously said that her health issues led to the cancellation.

"When I got sick, I was so stressed out and overwhelmed that when the Food Network canceled me, I didn’t have the energy to fight them," Lee told Us Weekly in 2024. She underwent a double mastectomy (and eventually beat cancer), but there were complications that reportedly kept the series off-air for a long period.

However, given the gap between the reported series end and diagnosis, other outlets have speculated that Sandra Lee was simply focusing on her duties as the then-partner of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Despite a successful and long run (15 seasons!), it could be said the show was sorta doomed from the start because Sandra Lee never even wanted it to be a television show at all.

"I never wanted to do Semi-Homemade as a TV show and no one knows that," she told Delish last year. "So we negotiated for nine months."

"I was the first one that did cocktails on national television, especially on cable, and that was a huge argument when we were negotiating the show," she added. "We negotiated for nine months, and they said, 'No cocktail time on the show.' And I said, 'No cocktail time? Why?'"

Execs claimed that "nobody" would want the segment, but Lee argued back: "You don’t know Colleen Schmidt from Fredonia, Wisconsin. It’s Sunday, she’s watching the Packers, she’s having a Bloody Mary. We’ve gotta make some cocktails." Clearly, she was right.