Is Bobby Flay Quitting Iron Chef?

Photo - Multivu

Iron Chef is returning to Food Network on November 8th at 9pm ET with Iron Chef Showdown.  As discussed in a previous post, the show will feature two chefs who will compete in a chairman's challenge to create their best dish using a secret ingredient. Alton Brown will judge this challenge, and the winning chef will get to go up against an Iron Chef in a secret ingredient showdown.   Iron Chefs Michael Symon, Alex Guarnaschelli, Bobby Flay, Stephanie Izard, and Jose Garces will appear on two episodes each.

An article on Vanity Fair by Allen Salkin revealed that when filming Iron Chef Showdown this summer, Bobby Flay "tore off his apron mid-battle to reveal a T-shirt that read: “THIS IS MY LAST IRON CHEF BATTLE EVER.”  Looking at the picture above from the show, he has a lot of buttons to deal with to get to the T-shirt.  Bobby Flay supposedly chose the T-shirt rather than a verbal message as he knew production would not be able to cut that from the show.  The article said the production has plans to blur the shirt out when the episode airs, but the decision to blur the shirt wasn't final.  This doesn't mean Bobby Flay is done with Food Network overall as he is still involved with things such as The Bobby and Damaris Show, Beat Bobby Flay and Food Network Star.

According to the Iron Chef Showdown schedule, Bobby Flay is scheduled to be on the November 8th episode and the December 13th episode.  So if this T-shirt thing is true, I would expect it to be on the December 13th episode of Iron Chef Showdown.  I guess we will have to tune in to see what Food Network decides to do about the shirt.

UPDATE - After reports came out about the shirt, Bobby Flay released a statement to E! News stating, "This past summer when I was in production on Iron Chef Showdown, I wore a t-shirt to have a little fun during my last battle this season. In hindsight, it was probably not the best decision because it's just creating confusion. Food Network has been part of my family for over 20 years and will absolutely continue to be, and though there is a talented bench of Iron Chefs to tap, if I were asked, I'd be excited to return to Kitchen Stadium, whenever my schedule allows."