This streamer has convinced internet guy Fieri that he never swallows food on TV

For millions The Americans, Guy Fieri Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives It is a comfortable offer.

With more than 500 Episodes Produced and broadcast over the course of nearly two decades, it serves as a film Food Network The staple continues in nine-hour blocks, with Fieri himself – the peroxide-blond mayor of Flavortown – a familiar and reassuringly upbeat guide to the country’s mainstream cuisine.

But what if it’s clear that the pleasure Fieri takes in sampling all of these Burgers and Tacos Was it a deception of some kind? Could every ad be “This is money!” Or “I’ll eat that without flip flops!” Not completely honest? Could it be that Fieri’s entire loud aesthetic, from the flame-patterned shirts and exposed cherry red to the swirled shades and frosted fringes, is serving to mask a quiet but devastating truth?

This is a dispute between the video creator and twitch Streamer known as Dr. Spaghettiwhich recently went viral with an explosive claim: Fieri never swallows the food he eats on the show. the Conspiracy theory He has earned Surprising traction Defeat Social mediaeven as chefs and TV industry professionals who say they’ve worked with Fieri dismiss it as ridiculous.

“As far as my thoughts on Jay before all of this, I didn’t have much to be honest,” Dr. Spaghetti, who declined to give his real name for fear of harassment by Fieri’s fans, told WIRED. “I thought some of his catchphrases – ‘That’s a gangster!’ – were really corny, but other than that, I didn’t really care either way. It wasn’t until this theory came out that I started looking more closely.”

For whatever reason, Fieri has often been the subject of ridiculous internet rumors and unhinged conspiracy theories. One common conceit was that Fieri and his late friend Steve Harwell, lead singer of Smash Mouth, were both Actually the same person. (Harwell died in 2023.) Elsewhere, some Pizzagate believers tried to implicate Fieri in the baseless conspiracy theory because the host had He recorded a clip for his show At Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, DC.

Two weeks ago, when Dr. Spaghetti was live-streaming himself playing a video game, a viewer in his chat room tipped him off to the idea that Fieri doesn’t swallow food Diners, Drive-Ins and Diveswith the camera shot always cutting before he finishes chewing. “My initial thought was that it was stupid to have any credibility, but it was also stupid to ignore it,” he says. When he set out to analyze the series with the goal of refuting this claim, he found that “the show’s pieces were incredibly suspicious.”

In a series of videos that have collectively garnered nearly a million likes on Instagram, Dr. Spaghetti shows various kitchen scenes in which Fieri tastes a dish but is not shown swallowing. in First oneFieri’s beard “is there to hide his neck so you can’t tell,” he jokes. to Another videohe slows down the footage which, upon closer inspection, shows Fieri raising chopsticks to his face with nothing on them. Dr. Spaghetti also redacted an episode that occurred 17 years earlier, arguing that “in the early days it must have been swallowed.” I found a moment When Fieri pulled a spoon out of his mouth with food still on it. He compiled much of his research into a file Half-hour YouTube video.

“Totally invested,” one commenter wrote on Dr. Spaghetti’s Instagram account. “Diners, drive-ins, and lies??!!” Another answered.

like Critics of the conspiracy theory They were quick to point out some of this Lightness of the fork It is expected in production D.D.D. Fieri visits a lot of restaurants in a short period of time and can never eat full meals. Sometimes a second or third (or tenth) bite is necessary, and it is not practical to take a new bite for each. Certain editing choices are certainly for the sake of continuity and flow: Does the audience really want or need those extra few seconds of awkward silence while Fieri finishes chewing a mouthful of grilled meat and swallows?