The Kitchen Is Back: Cast Shares Thoughts on Food Network’s Decision to Cancel the Show
Food Network is set to bring back the beloved cooking series, The Kitchen, for a special episode featuring its original cast. This announcement comes despite the show concluding its run in December 2025.
During a recent appearance on Katie Lee Biegel’s podcast, All On the Table, Jeff Mauro confirmed, “We are filming a special episode of The Kitchen. It’ll be on the air.” Biegel further revealed that this episode is expected to air sometime in March.
The network has continued to showcase reruns of The Kitchen, with Geoffrey Mauro noting that fans have been enjoying “repacks” of the series. Various hosts have taken turns presenting these rerun specials on weekends. Zakarian commented, “12 more weeks for Food Network to realize they’ve made a mistake” by canceling the show.
Biegel echoed this sentiment, asking, “They did make a mistake, didn’t they?” Mauro agreed, adding, “I think I’m not afraid to say that out loud.” He mentioned that fans often approach him to discuss the show’s cancellation.
Zakarian compared the cancellation to “canceling Jeopardy — nobody does that,” while Mauro noted that the show had become “appointment television in a world where there’s no appointment television.”
Reflecting on the reasons behind the show’s cancellation, Biegel stated, “I think it was a perfect storm of things that were out of our control… It wasn’t about ratings or about what fans wanted.” She expressed gratitude for the strong response from viewers, noting that it was heartening to discover how much The Kitchen resonated with them.
While the cast does not anticipate a return for the series, they were pleasantly surprised by the opportunity to film the special episode. Biegel and Zakarian shared that they traveled to Qatar for the shoot, with Biegel humorously mentioning, “Geoffrey shows up at the airport in a full seersucker suit.”
The Kitchen aired from 2014 to 2025 and featured a cast that included Sunny Anderson and Alex Guarnaschelli.
