It turns out there was a reason the jovial chef wasn't his lively self: this "Guy" turned out to be just some guy. Some guy who apparently got in a little too deep with his scam, whether it was for free seats or a simple taste of local media spotlight. There's a long and proud history of people pretending to be someone famous in order to plunder a little fortune or fame from the unsuspecting. It's a high compliment. If you can inspire someone to take the time and effort to impersonate you, then you can be assured, my friend, that you've arrived.

"We never found out who that cat was," laughs real actual genuine TV personality Guy Fieri, "but we did find an impersonator in Seattle which we had to get some people involved in. Personally I don't have a problem with that. I find it kind of flattering. I just don't like it when it comes out that the person is being rude or disrespectful. Like when people come up to me later and say 'yeah, we knew it wasn't you because you wouldn't sign autographs.' I don't like hearing that."

Before becoming one of the most visible members of the TV Fooderatti, Guy Fieri had already created two successful northern California restaurant chains. His first was Johnny Garlic's, a comfort food joint where, despite its name, your menu will not be limited to heapings of that namesake vampire repellent. "I didn't realize people would get so caught up on the garlic thing," he adds before joking, "you wouldn't go into Applebee's and expect to be served apples and bees, would ya?" Guy followed the success of Garlic's with Tex Wasabi's, a fusion experience that combines southern BBQ and sushi, a juxtaposition best captured in the restaurant's logo which features a cartoon cowboy riding on the back of a wild galloping koi. In 2006, Fieri made the jump to national attention after winning the second season of the aptly-titled The Next Food Network Star. However, most people probably recognize Fieri as the host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which premiered in 2007 and has since gone on to become The Food Network's top-rated show. Diners follows Guy on road trips across the country in search of the best greasy spoons America's highways and back roads have to offer. The show was an instant hit and even inspired a New York Times-bestselling book of the same name penned by Fieri. There are plenty of road trip shows out there, but what separates Diners is the host's heroically animated persona mixed with his passion for all things edible. "I love food, man," Guy proudly proclaims. "I wake up in the morning thinking about what I'm gonna have for lunch."

Guy is almost as well known for his trademark fashion sense as he is for his culinary knowledge. With his signature spiky blonde hair, tattoos, earrings, shorts, bowling shirt, and backwards-turned sunglasses, this 40-something father of two would fit in as well in a Warped Tour audience as he would in the kitchen of an upscale bistro. This wasn't a look he invented just for TV, but a style he cultivated long before he even considered trying out for The Food Network. "I don't ever believe in this stereotyping that goes along with age," Guy explains. "I mean 40 doesn't mean anything. I'll be 60 and I'll be the same way. I'm not gonna change because my age changed. That's not my style. My gig is: I'm not doing this to impress anybody, this is how I choose to dress-I still wear flip-flops, and surf shorts and t-shirts everyday. I'm just being comfortable being Guy."

In addition to Diners, Fieri also brings his gormandizing to the more traditional cooking show Guy's Big Bite and as host of Ultimate Recipe Showdown where amateur chefs from around the country go to war with their signature dishes. It could be said that Fieri's zeal for good food helped spark the nation's voyeuristic and gluttonous love affair with food TV. Basic cable channels are now crammed with shows for/and about foodies and the chow they adore: cooking shows, cooking competition shows, funny chef shows, mean chef shows, shows about eating large portions of food, shows about traveling around the world to eat food, shows about eating weird food, and at least two reality shows about tough guys who make fancy cakes. And they're not even all on the TV network dedicated to food. It's almost as if to officially make it in today's food world, you have to make your mark on television as well as in the kitchen. "I think it's a component. It's a facet. It's a part of it," Guy comments on the modern culinary-industrial complex. "The best chefs I know are unbelievable talented people who don't have shows-and have been offered shows, but choose not to have shows. To each their own. I also think [being a TV chef] is a lot harder than it looks. People think cookin' is cookin'. But when you have to do it in real time and on TV-with or without an audience or a film crew-it's nerve racking."

Fieri joined the festivities at cigarBQ 2009, an annual celebration of premium cigars, vintage wines, and California cuisine in Sonoma wine country.

What Fieri has had less of a chance to explore on his shows is another passion he holds in close esteem to food: cigars. Cigars are a fervor often shared by chefs and food professionals. "To me, cigars are flavor. Cigars have a nice bold flavor to them," Guy says. "A lot of what you do as a chef is through palate or through flavor. That's how we create what we do."