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Bobby Flay biography

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Bobby Flay's frequent appearances and shows on the Food Network have now made him one of America's best known chefs.


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Flay has hosted several Food Network shows, such as Grill It! With Bobby Flay and Throwdown With Bobby Flay, and also appeared in dozens of other specials. His frequent appearances on the Food Network have now made him one of America's best known chefs.

Not everyone was charmed by his television persona, however. When Flay challenged acclaimed Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto on the Food Network hit Iron Chef in 2000,

he climbed on his cutting board and raised his arms in a premature victory celebration (Flay ultimately lost) at the end of the cooking period. Morimoto was offended, calling Flay's actions disrespectful to Japan and to the profession. "He's not a chef," Morimoto said on the show. "Cutting boards and knives are sacred to us." Flay repeated his countertop victory cheer a year later when he defeated Morimoto in a rematch, though this time he tossed the cutting board to the floor first. Despite their initial feud, the two chefs have since become friends as well as co-stars on Iron Chef America.

Bobby Flay's Empire

With nine cookbooks on bookstore shelves, an ever-expanding family of restaurants and his own lines of signature spices, sauces, dishes and cookware, Flay's foodie empire continues to grow. The chef himself has hinted that he may start a new chapter in his life, if and when his food career eventually draws to a close. "I'm a proud native New Yorker," he said in a 2007 interview. "After my restaurant career I would like to go into politics at some point to help the city."

Flay married Debra Ponzek, another New York chef, in 1991. The couple divorced two years later. In 1995, he married Kate Connelly, the host of a now-defunct Food Network show whom he met as a guest on her program. The couple had one daughter, Sophie, in 1996 before divorcing. On February 20, 2005, Flay married his third wife, actress Stephanie March. The couple was introduced by actress Mariska Hargitay, March's co-star on the television series Law and Order: SVU.

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