‘The Kitchen’ Cast to Reunite for Special Episode After Food Network Cancellation
What To Know
- The hosts of The Kitchen are reuniting for a one-time special episode, months after the show’s cancellation by Food Network.
- The cast expressed disappointment over the cancellation, attributing it to business decisions rather than ratings or fan interest.
- Details about the special episode remain limited, but filming included segments in Qatar.
It’s been over two months since The Kitchen aired its final episode on Food Network, and now, the hosts are reuniting for a one-time special.
“Are we allowed to talk about what we’re doing this week?” Katie Lee Biegel asked on the Thursday, March 5, episode of her All on the Table podcast. Jeff Mauro went on to reveal, “Yeah, we’re filming a special episode of The Kitchen. It’ll be on the air.”
Biegel reacted to the announcement by joking, “What are they gonna do to us? Cancel us?” Mauro teased that the reunion will be a “special episode,” while Biegel hinted that it will air later this month.
News broke in October 2025 that Food Network canceled The Kitchen after 40 seasons. The talk show, which debuted in 2014, featured Biegel, Mauro, Geoffrey Zakarian, Sunny Anderson, and Alex Guarnaschelli sharing new recipes with fans and talking about all things food. The series aired its final episode on December 13, 2025.
Zakarian joined Biegel and Mauro on the podcast and noted that he has continued to watch reruns of the show on Food Network since it ended. “There’s a lot of reruns going on. We have a lot more. I think we have out till June, quite frankly, which is good,” he shared. Mauro explained that the reruns are “repacks,” a.k.a. “reconfigured, hosted rerun specials.”
Zakarian quipped, “Hey, 12 more weeks for Food Network to realize the mistake they’ve made.”
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Both Biegel and Mauro agreed that the network made a mistake in cancelling The Kitchen. “I think I’m not afraid to say that out loud. And the only reason I feel like we have the right to do that is because you guys know this as much as I do. It’s the first thing people bring up in public when we meet anybody who’s seen the show,” Mauro stated. “First thing, if anybody knows who I am in public or if I’m on my tour or doing anything, it’s like, ‘What happened? That was our thing every morning.'”
Zakarian compared canceling The Kitchen to canceling Jeopardy!, stating, “Nobody does that.” Mauro added, “It was appointment television in a world where nobody, there’s no more appointment television. These times are changing, man, and we were kind of swept up.”
Biegel, for her part, described The Kitchen‘s end as a “perfect storm of things that were out of our control,” citing contract expirations, the network’s desire to “keep their balance sheet low,” and the sale of Food Network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. (Paramount recently beat Netflix’s offer to purchase the media conglomerate.)
“It wasn’t about ratings or about what fans wanted. And honestly, it made me feel so good the way that people have responded,” Biegel continued. “I mean, I knew people watched The Kitchen, but I didn’t know that people were so passionate about it. It felt so good to know that we connected with people and became part of their Saturday morning.”
The stars didn’t share further details about The Kitchen‘s upcoming episode, but Biegel did note that she and Zakarian traveled to Qatar to film a portion of the special. Food Network has not publicly commented on The Kitchen‘s return, or whether the episode will air on the channel.
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