July 04, 2025
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is being sued for allegedly failing to live up to his offer to his reality show winner.
Kevin Cooper was promised the franchise of Fieri's Chicken Guy! restaurant chain when he won the reality show competition in 2022. Fieri also promised other perks, including a first year's salary and startup capital.
Cooper’s franchise opened in February 2024 and shut down roughly a year later.
In the lawsuit filed last week, the winner has alleged the companies behind Chicken Guy! of failing to deliver on their financial commitments, including over $68,000 in expenses and the agreed salary worth $100,000. Fieri has not been named a defendant in the lawsuit
The lawsuit also states that the contest winner had to take out a personal loan of $13,500 to cover some of the cost due to Fieri's delay.
Cooper's lawsuit requests full payment of the promised salary and reimbursement of the expenses.
So far, neither Fieri nor the companies involved have publicly responded to the claims.