Bobby Flay’s Girlfriend Just Revealed What He’s Really Like at Home and We Have Questions

Bobby Flay is a lot of things. Food Network icon, three-time restaurateur, the guy who will absolutely not eat McDonald’s even if it’s the only option on earth. But what’s he actually like when the cameras are off and he’s just…home? 

On All on the Table, host Katie Lee Biegel sits down with chef Brooke Williamson—Top Chef winner, longtime owner of Playa Provisions, and Flay’s girlfriend—for the kind of behind-the-scenes conversation that fans have been dying to hear. 

Below are the highlights, adapted from the episode.

So what is Flay actually like when he gets home from work?

“Bobby, he’ll come home after a long day of cooking or shooting and make a full dinner. And he doesn’t have snacks in his house. He’s not a snack house…He makes a batch of chicken broth at the beginning of the week. He takes the chicken meat. He makes chicken salad. So there’s often chicken salad and chicken broth in his fridge, which is fine by him kind of any day of the week. But I’m like, I want some chips or a fruit roll…

…He will come home from a long flight exhausted and stay up the extra three hours just to make fresh chicken broth. Like, it’s wild.”

Is there anything you don’t have in common food-wise?

“I love an orange chicken from Panda—I’ll f*ck up a Panda Express orange chicken. Like, it’s hard for me to walk by a Panda Express and smell that orange chicken and not stop and get some…

…And when I was pregnant, I really developed a thing for the Crunchwrap Supreme from Taco Bell. On a regular basis, no, I’m not a fast food person…[but] I’m not someone who won’t…The closest thing [Flay] eats to fast food is his own burgers from Bobby’s Burgers, but that’s not fast food—that’s fast casual…I mean, he will not eat for three days if the only option is McDonald’s.”

Who’s the messier cook between you two?

“He leaves a trail behind him. I’m like, ‘I cut a pat of butter, and I put the butter away,’ but you’ll find that maybe he’s such a fast cook because he just leaves everything right at arm’s reach…I’m a mess in competition, but in real life, I’m like, ‘This is going to have to be cleaned up, so I might as well do it as I go.’”

So are you basically the first person who’s ever cooked for Bobby at home?

“Today he’s shooting all day, and I have every intention of going to the market after this and grabbing food so that he has dinner ready when he gets home. And I think that’s something that he’s never really had because people have either been scared to cook for him or didn’t know how to cook or didn’t care about cooking for him. To me, that’s just part of life…

…I’ve never met a person who likes chicken more. Honestly, he loves a roasted chicken. He loves a chicken pie. He loves a chicken cutlet. I also do, too. Like, I got in town the other night. He had been working all day, went to the market, got chicken, made me chicken cutlets with lemon and risotto. But he loves a roasted chicken. He also loves a roasted piece of fish.”

Be honest—who is the better cook?

“We’re very different. I cook a lot of food that he would never think to cook. I cook a lot of Asian food. He doesn’t. He throws things together with his eyes closed. I have to think about things a little bit more. And I think that, you know, years of competition on both ends, but very different types of competition. He comes home, and he’s like, ‘I’ll have dinner ready in 45 minutes,’ but it’s like an entire taco bar with fresh tortillas. Me, I kind of need to plan it out and think about what needs to be done first. I’m definitely more methodical about my cooking.”

How did you go from colleagues to a couple?

“We have been working together for years. I’ve always had this really intense respect for him. I really value his opinion. I think he’s incredibly smart. I think he’s incredibly talented…He’s funny. He can dance. He’s got swagger, and he’s always had that. The opportunity just kind of wasn’t always there. I was married. He had a girlfriend. We were very respectful of each other and really enjoyed each other’s company. And then when the opportunity arose, it felt so obvious, and it felt so natural to sort of transform our relationship into something else…felt like, ‘Oh, right. Like, this is what this should feel like.’”

What’s the hardest part about being in a public relationship?

“There’s a professional dynamic that we knew we would have to catch some commentary on. He’s really good at shutting out the gossip and the commentary. I’m not quite as well-versed in ignoring the comments…

…You know, he doesn’t talk about his personal life very openly or frequently. You know, you see him on TV a lot. People think they know him, but he really kind of keeps his personal and professional lives very separate.”

Listen to the full episode on All on the Table, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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