ABC's "The Chew" is celebrating its 500th episode on Tuesday and the show be celebrating with a special hour of its co-host chatting and chewing about their success.
"'The Chew' was never about food, it was about these five people," executive producer Gordon Elliott told the Associated Press before a recent taping.
The show co-hosts include Mario Batali, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly and Daphne Oz. Symon, a star of Food Network's "Iron Chef America" said what makes the show works is that it does not feel like work but like everyone is hanging out, cooking and telling stories.
"We're busting each other's chops, but we all know we've got each other's back," Symon said.
Kelly calls the show a "Party in the kitchen." The host TLC's recently concluded "What Not to Wear" said he wants people to come into their kitchen and have a good time.
"We have five distinctly different characters, versus a single-host show," Hall said. "That means we have five different ways of doing things. So we are saying to the viewer, 'If YOU have a sixth way, that's OK, too.' We empower the viewers to have their own perspectives."
The AP reported that each hour of the show has a theme, usually cooked up by the producers.
"They give us themes, and then we give them our recipes," Symon said.
Symon said hosts are allowed to come up with ideas. Not all themes are accepted. Kelly has admitted to saying no to segments.
"It just wasn't in my wheelhouse, and I didn't want to pretend to do something that I wouldn't actually be doing at home," Kelly said.
When the show was first announced, the host were told they were making a big mistake joining the show.
"A bunch of my friends were saying, 'This is career suicide,'" Batali said with a laugh, "and I was like, 'I think I could probably still make it as a cook.' Now we know unmistakably, indubitably, that we have the best jobs in food programming."
