Ever since he won Next Food Network Star nearly two decades ago, Guy Fieri has built his TV brand from the ground up by rollin’ out to greasy spoons all over the country. His ascent riled serious culinary figures like Anthony Bourdain (and anyone who is not a fan of frosted tips), but over time, he became a dominant fixture both on Food Network and within the broader TV landscape. But even though he had to claw his way to the top of the food chain, Fieri has also seemed content to let his eldest son, Hunter, ride his coattails onto the airwaves for the past few years. That’s why it came as a bit of a surprise this week when he announced that neither of his sons (Hunter, 27, or Ryder, 17) will see a dime from the Flavortown fortune until they’d properly earned it.
“I’ve told them the same thing my dad told me,” Fieri said in a recent interview with Fox News—a.k.a. Ground Zero for delusional bootstrap ideology. “My dad says, ‘When I die, you can expect that I’m going to die broke, and you’re going to be paying for the funeral.’”
On one hand, I respect the logic here: Hunter and Ryder shouldn’t necessarily get a free ride in the red Camaro of life just because their daddy made bank by chomping his way through enough drippy burgers to feed the city of Las Vegas. Then again, however, this feels like the kind of celebrity soundbite that simply cannot be true. The “paying for the funeral” bit feels like intentional exaggeration, but even in a broad sense, I struggle to believe that Hunter, Ryder, and Jules (Fieri’s nephew, whom the star has helped raise after his sister Morgan’s death in 2011) aren’t going to get a huge hunk of the pie.
It turns out, Fieri really isn’t drawing quite so hard a line. “Shaq said at best,” he told Fox News. “Shaq said, ‘If you want this cheese, you got to give me two degrees.’ Well, my two degrees mean, you know, postgraduate.”
So, the pressure is on: Can three young men with a massive fortune behind them somehow manage the strain and struggle that is obtaining not one but two degrees, while the Mayor of Flavortown presumably foots the bill? I, personally, will be waiting here on my couch, nails bitten to the quick in anxious suspense, until all three of them manage to pull it off. (Extra points to whichever of them becomes the first to scold a faculty member with the words, “I don’t think my father, the inventor of Donkey Sauce, would be too pleased to hear about this!”)
Thankfully, my fingers might not have to bleed for too long. The 22-year-old Jules is apparently locking down his Fieri Bucks in law school at Loyola Marymount University. And while Hunter has certainly embraced his daddy’s ability to get him on TV (perhaps even a little while before he’s actually ready), People reports that Fieri’s eldest boy is pursuing an MBA at the University of Miami.
Speaking with People last year, Hunter explained that his father wanted him to forge his own path. “He always told me, ‘You can’t be just Guy Fieri’s son,’” Hunter said. “‘If you really want to take over this world, you got to be Hunter Fieri.’” At the same time, he confessed that having a famous dad has its perks. “I get so many opportunities to learn from other people and I get to experience some amazing places and experiences,” he said. “I can’t complain at all. It is amazing.”
But similarly to longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak’s daughter Maggie—a singer-songwriter who began encroaching on the game show years ago and now serves as a “social correspondent”—Hunter seems unable to resist the allure of his father’s shadow. He’s frequently appeared on Fieri’s shows, including Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and Guy’s Grocery Games, and two years ago, he debuted his first “solo project”—a 12-minute “mini-documentary” about how the plant-based brand ZENB makes their yellow pea pasta. (This endeavor apparently stemmed from his partnership with the company; so much for ethics in pasta journalism.)
Would working in food-based TV hold the same allure for Hunter if Papa Fieri were, say, an accountant or a plumber? It’s anyone’s guess, but I’ve certainly got theories.
Ryder, meanwhile, is apparently not a huge fan of his dad’s character-building strategy. During his Fox News sit-down, Fieri quoted the teen as such: “‘Dad, this is so unfair. I haven’t even gone to college yet, and you’re already pushing that I’ve got to get an MBA? Can I just get through college?’” But Ryder, don’t limit yourself; your dad seems to be saying you could get any postgraduate degree, so be creative with it! You could get an MFA, a master’s in funerary archaeology, or in viticulture and enology… the possibilities are as endless as Guy’s collection of polarized sunglasses.
Regardless of which path Ryder, Hunter, or Jules take, something tells me that these boys and their cheese are gonna be just fine.
Check out our past Nepo Babies of the Week.
