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When we last checked in with Guy Fieri, someone had stolen over $1 million in tequila from his and Sammy Hager’s tequila brand, Santo Tequila. Unfortunately for Guy, life hasn’t exactly calmed down since then. In November, he fell down some stairs while filming Flavortown Food Fight and tore his right quad, which required emergency surgery. Guy is currently in a wheelchair while it heals and then will need a cast and rehab. Whew!
Flavortown Food Fight isn’t the only series that Guy is working on right now. A special new holiday all-stars season of his cooking competition show, Tournament of Champions, just started airing on the food network. (It was filmed in mid-August, pre-leg injury.) On Tuesday, Guy posted a behind-the-scenes video to his Instagram page in which a WB exec asked him to autograph a picture of him as a child. In the picture, he’s wearing a sign that says “Do not feed me.” This prompted Guy to reveal a never-before-heard story about how he used to hustle tourists for snacks when he was a kid.
Guy Fieri just shared one of the most unexpectedly hysterical childhood stories of his life — and even he says he’s never told it before.
On Instagram, Fieri posted a behind-the-scenes video from the filming for Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas. In the video, the vice president of social media for Warner Bros. Discovery approaches Fieri on set and asks for an autograph. What he hands him is something Fieri clearly wasn’t prepared for: a childhood photo he says he doesn’t even remember ever seeing.
The picture shows a 4- or 5-year-old Guyi wearing a yellow plaid cowboy shirt, tiny cowboy hat, brown pants, and riding an orange-and-yellow Big Wheel. Pinned to his shirt is a huge round paper sign reading: “Do not feed me.” Fieri’s reaction was instant and priceless.
“Oh my gosh! Where did you get this?! I don’t even think I have this,” he said, laughing. “Do you know what this says? You really don’t know what this is?”
That kicked off a story even the most dedicated Flavortown fans have never heard.
Fieri explained that as a kid growing up in Ferndale, California — the same town featured in Outbreak — he was so outgoing he often cruised up and down the main street on his Big Wheel, chatting up local shop owners and tourists. And those tourists? They fed him.
“I was a very outgoing little kid. I know that’s hard to believe, but I was outgoing,” says Fieri with a laugh. “And I would ride my Big Wheel up and down the streets of Ferndale. There was only one main street, we had no stoplights, we only had one cop.
“The store owners from the bakery or the candy store or the meat market would call my parents and say, ‘Hey, you know Guy’s been in here like five times with tourists.’ You know, I’d talk to tourists; they’re nice people. And they’re like, ‘Hey, little kid, you want a donut?’ … So I’d come home for dinner, and my mom would say, ‘You’re not eating your dinner.’ And I’d say, ‘I’m not hungry.’”
Eventually, his parents realized why he wasn’t hungry: “They determined the reason I’m not hungry is because all the tourists are giving me food — ice cream, jerky, pizza.”
To stop the endless treats, they slapped the “Do not feed me” sign on him — but kid Fieri immediately found loopholes.
“When business was slow and nobody was feeding me, I took the thing off,” he said. “So my parents went and made a silk-screen T-shirt that said, ‘Do not feed me.’ So then! I took the shirt and turned it inside out. And they caught me. So [then] it was double-sided front and back, ‘Do not feed me.’ Like a caged animal.”
By the end of the tale, Fieri admitted, “I can’t believe you have this. That’s a real story. I’ve never told that story.”
He signed the photo: “Do not feed me — Guy Fieri.”
This story really is hilarious! I can vividly picture this entire scenario going down. Some people really are just natural hustlers and people-persons. The scenario that Guy describes is just too funny, but it’s also such a product of its time. Nowadays, it’s much rarer for kids to be wandering around on their own and soliciting food from strangers. I have a seven-year-old and an 11-year-old. The older one would absolutely hustle tourists for food because if we’re not eating chicken nuggets or tacos, then he’s “bored” with our meal options. He also genuinely loves talking to people. If we lived in a different era, then I could see him being like a little Guy.
Guy being confronted with this picture reminds me of how Sean Evers frequently surprises guests on Hot Ones with older or never-before-seen pictures and then asks them about it. So many celebs are always like, “Wow, how did you even get this?!” Those types of shows are doing some real journalism.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty
Cute story. My little sister would always talk to strangers especially when we were at the beach and we would find her eating with strangers all the time (this was in the early 60’s).
My one grandson would have done this. Took him to Dianey World at 8 and he talked everyone’s ears off. He has never met a stranger. He’s the kid in class that changing seats to stop him from talking didn’t work. He always says, even if i sat next to the teacher, I would talk to the teacher! He’s not as talkative to people he doesn’t know (he’s 16) but can still talk your ear off.
I didn’t know he was from Ferndale, it’s such a cute town. I can see a kid getting away with riding his big wheel and hustling tourists, even today. That is such a cute story.