Guy’s Grocery Games is the perfect flavor combo of a cooking competition and a classic game show. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri, known for his many Food Network shows, such as “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives,” hosts this exciting cooking show. This fun fusion of cooking and competition pits four chefs against each other in three elimination challenges with $20,000 on the line!
You can check out foodnetwork.com where they keep an active list of which episodes will be airing on the show’s page. You can also stream (and binge!) each episode on Discovery+. DirecTV, fuboTV, and Spectrum On Demand also have episodes. Buy individual episodes on Apple iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, and Google Play Movies.
About “Guy’s Grocery Games” on Food Network
“Guys Grocery Games” (GGG or Triple G) first aired in 2013 and is ongoing, with 256 episodes across 29 seasons so far! Combining everything fans love about a cooking show with a grocery store-based game show.
Over the years, the show has evolved. It has offered themed episodes, a tournament of champions, and even switched formats in 2020 to accommodate for the pandemic. The TV show has also pitted all-star chefs against each other and contestants, including Robert Irvine, Cat Cora, and Marc Murphy.
An average episode sees four chefs competing in three elimination challenges. Each episode consists of three rounds of cooking competition where chefs must make an appetizer, main course, and dessert. Each round offers a unique challenge.
Challenges vary from episode to episode, designed to keep contestants on their toes. This means chefs can’t prepare before arriving at the show. At the end of each round, judges — including fan favorites Troy Johnson and Alex Guarnaschelli — evaluate each dish and eliminate a chef from the competition. The chef must then “check out” of the store.
Is “Guy’s Grocery Games” in a Real Grocery Store?
While it may look like “Guys Grocery Games” is in a real grocery store, after season one it is all movie magic! Season one was filmed at Fields Market in West Hills, California. Seasons two onward take place in Flavortown Market in Santa Rosa, California, which was once a humble warehouse. Now it boasts a fully functioning supermarket built at a breakneck speed of only two weeks.
Each aisle is real, with over thirty cameras installed to capture the action, full electricity, plumbing, and over 20,000 food items. The only sections this store is missing are the baby and pet food aisles. The production designers even included things like newspaper racks to capture the feel of being in a real supermarket.
The store may be fake, but all the food is real and perishable. Unlike the newspaper racks, none of the food is a prop. Flavortown Market buys from local meat providers and boasts 241 types of produce and 67 types of meat! So you may be wondering, “what happens to the unused groceries?”
The crew behind Triple G works hard to eliminate food waste. They check expiration dates and donate food to local food banks before its shelf life ends. Even the food scraps from the cooked dishes go to local farms as animal feed or compost! Real grocery stores, take note!
How Challenges Work on “Guy’s Grocery Games”
Over the show’s 250 episodes, Guy has come up with a number of challenges for competing chefs, combining them from time to time. While some challenges were only featured once or twice, some have become audience favorites and staples of the show.
Here are some of the challenges featured in the latest season:
- First Round Redemption: This challenge invites “Checked Out” chefs from previous episodes back. They then compete in the same challenge that eliminated them the first time.
- ABC: This game challenges chefs to feature ingredients that start with the letter Guy draws out of a jar.
- Out of Sight: Chefs must pull an ingredient out of a cart blindfolded, then use it in their dish.
- Wheel of Opportunity: This wheel determines a required ingredient that all chefs must include in their dish.
- Budget Battle: Chefs not only exhibit their culinary prowess but also their budgeting skills. This twist pops up in a variety of ways, with some episodes having only one budget challenge. Some episodes require chefs to make budget meals for all three rounds!
- Think Small: This challenge comes in different variations throughout the show. This season, chefs had a small piggy-faced backpack to stuff their ingredients into. They could only use ingredients that fit into their small bag, nothing more.
- Guy’s Unpredictable Deck of Cards: This challenge forces chefs to work with random ingredients. They must choose cards from a deck of ingredients.
- Speed Shopping: Chefs only have 20 seconds to shop per aisle.
- Grocery List: Guy gives the chefs a list featuring ingredients that chefs must incorporate into their dishes. The list can also limit chefs to only cooking with the featured ingredients.
- Crazy Can Roulette: Chefs choose their main ingredient from an unlabeled food can.
- Food Pyramid: Chefs drop a ball down a peg board Plinko game to choose ingredients and other challenges!
- Price Check: Guy asks the chefs to make a dish that tastes high-end but has a small cost. He pulls a number out of a box and every ingredient’s price must start with the number.
- Watch Your Weight: Contestants can gather as many types of ingredients they want, but can only use a certain weight amount in their dishes.
How Much Can You Win on “Guy’s Grocery Games?”
Contestant chefs can win up to $20,000 per episode. How much they win depends on the type of episode they are competing on. Special tournament or themed episodes winners can take home the entire 20k. In most regular episodes, winning chefs must complete extra challenges to earn the total winnings. In the first 11 seasons, chefs had to retrieve items from each of the ten supermarket aisles. Each item earned them $2,000. Beginning in season 12, Guy reads five trivia clues, and each correct item the chef grabs is worth $4,000.
About Guy Fieri as the Host of “Guy’s Grocery Games”
Described as the face of the Food Network, Emmy-Award-winning Guy Fieri is no stranger to competition shows. He got his big break by winning the second season of “The Next Food Network Star” in 2006. This show earned him a six-episode contract for his show, “Guy’s Big Bite”. He has since gone on to host shows such as “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” (DDD) and “Ultimate Recipe Showdown.” He has written cookbooks, and was even featured in a video game!
Despite the fame, Guy always takes time before each episode to remind the judges that each competing chef is a person first. They are sacrificing time with their family and their lives to compete on the show. Competition can be difficult, so he expects the judges to be respectful and vice-versa.
He is the perfect host for a cooking competition because he has been in the contestants’ shoes. Part of his charm is the amount of kindness he shows toward the competitors.
Is “Guy’s Grocery Games” coming back?
Season 29 just concluded at the end of May 2022. Season 30 premiered on the Food Network on June 8th, 2022, and is currently three episodes in.
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