- “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” started airing on the Food Network in 2007.
- The show features Guy Fieri as the host and is currently in its 29th season.
- It’s a road-trip style TV show – Guy travels around the US, Canada, and some other international destinations to try out restaurants, diners, and hidden gems alike.
“Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” (affectionately known as Triple D) is currently in its 29th season on the Food Network, making it one of the network’s biggest hits and features the recognizable Guy Fieri as the host.
He travels around the US to meet restaurateurs and business owners. They share their signature dishes, and he gets to see how the dishes are made and sample them. We took a look at some entertaining facts about the show that you may not know.
There are lots of websites dedicated to the show.
Fans of the show created a website with all locations visited by Guy on Triple D.
Not only does the site categorize the locations by city, state, cuisine, and food type – you can also use it to plan a road trip. The folks running the website update it weekly, so you can stay up-to-date on the latest from Guy.
There's also another fan-run site called FlavortownUSA, which also helps to organize the stops on Triple D.
Guy's ride is an important part of the show.
As in the theme song and ending credits, you've seen Guy drive his signature Chevy Camaro SS. Guy currently drives a '68 convertible Camaro, which has become a signature part of the show.
Guy has published three books about "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"
Fieri has published three books over the years: "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives: An All-American Road Trip … with Recipes!," "More Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: Another Drop-Top Culinary Cruise Through America's Finest and Funkiest," and "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: The Funky Finds in Flavortown: America's Classic Joints and Killer Comfort Food."
The show has featured many celebrity guest stars.
Many famous faces have joined Fieri along the way including Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, Gene Simmons, Kid Rock, Matthew McConaughey, and his good friend Steve Harwell from the band Smashmouth.
The pilot took 21 days to film.
"Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" came about after Guy Fieri was the winner of Food Network Star Season 2.
Filmed for 21 days, the pilot of the show ended up being a hit, and it's still going strong after 29 seasons.
Guy has introduced us to his many catchphrases.
Half the allure of watching the show is to see what Guy will say. Here are just a few of his famous catchphrases…
- "If that was an '80s rock star, it'd be Naan Jovi"
- "I think if I put that on a flip flop it would taste good"
- "That's a hot Frisbee of fun"
- "It's got whiz bang wow in there"
- "I could chug the au jus"
- "The flavor jets are turned on - you can hear them?"
- "Hello, Flavortown? My pig meter's going off"
Off-camera, Fieri apparently gives advice.
Not every meal on the show is going to be a hit, and Guy is kind enough to help out the owners and chefs by giving some tips. Of the meals he tries that aren't quite so good, Guy told Brian Koppleman on his podcast "The Moment with Brian Koppleman":
"I don't have any problem - I mean, I've cooked all this stuff six ways to Sunday. I've been around forever doing this, so I know where they're going to miss it. And, I'm not there to tell them how to change their restaurant - that's not my job. That's not what my show is all about. But if they ever ask, I always want to offer advice to them if I can, and help them out. I mean, as we all do as chefs, we all support one another, and we all try to help each other grow."
Guy compares himself to Casey Kasem, saying he isn't going to show off bad meals, "I'm the food highlighter; I'm bringing them the biggest hits!"
Restaurants featured on "DDD" often gain huge popularity.
Since the show is so popular, it makes sense that fans would want to check out Fieri's picks.
Producers tell the owner of the restaurants that popularity and profits were going to quickly increase, but many owners don't realize how much the payoff is going to be.
Josh Thoma, founder of Smack Shack told Twin Cities Business that his customer numbers and profit increased 500%.
Filming each episode of the show takes a couple of days.
Co-owner of Casper and Runyon's Nook in St. Paul, Minnesota told Twin City Businessthat Guy is at the restaurant for a significant amount of time and they make each of the three recipes multiple times.
Additionally, there is a lot of build-up to the actual filming, with lots of calls and preparations from producers.
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