The Clear Sign Rachael Ray Can't Accept Her Food Career Has Soured

There's no doubt that Rachael Ray has enjoyed loads of professional success. As a famous cook, television personality, New York Times best-selling author, savvy businesswoman, and lifestyle brand aficionado, Ray has both figuratively and literally taken lemons and made all things limoncello — pasta, parfaits, crème brulée, you name it. "I think that everybody should have to be a dishwasher. I think that everybody should learn how to take an order and serve people, you know?" she penned about her transformation and meteoric rise in the introduction of her 26th cookbook, "Rachael Ray 50: Memories and Meals from a Sweet and Savory Life — A Cookbook," via CBS News. (In case you're just dying to know, here's how much Rachael Ray is really worth.)

In more recent years, it appeared that some of the fanfare surrounding Ray's various business ventures has hit a lull. Way back in 2014, sources told Radar Online that her famous "Rachael Ray Show" was dangerously close to being canceled. "Ratings are way down and fans are turning on her," the source claimed. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the self-proclaimed waitress at heart and cook in her soul hasn't quite accepted that her food career has soured.

In March 2023, Rachael Ray stunned fans and loyal viewers everywhere when she revealed that her famous talk-show aptly titled the "Rachael Ray Show" was coming to a close. "In my more than 20 plus years in television, I have had 17 wonderful seasons working in daytime television," Ray said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. "However, I've made the decision that it's time for me to move on to the next exciting chapter in my broadcast career," she explained.

The final episode of the "Rachael Ray Show" aired on May 24, 2023. The professional cook opted to whip up "Crabonara," a spin on her husband John Cusimano's favorite meal — file that under things most people don't know about Rachael Ray's husband — but with a heaping portion of King Crab added to the popular pasta dish. But that's not all.

While Ray threw down in her personal kitchen, various celebrities popped in virtually to extend their heartfelt well wishes to Ray, including the likes of celeb couple Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy, Michelle Obama, Whoopi Goldberg, and even the Queen of All Media, herself, Oprah Winfrey. "Congratulations! I can't wait to see what you cook up next!" Winfrey gushed. Fortunately for Winfrey, Ray was already plotting her next move.

Instead of quietly fading away into the sunset — or at the very least her beautiful Italian villa in Tuscany — Rachael Ray promptly moved on to yet another project. "My passions have evolved from the talk show format production and syndication model to a platform unencumbered by the traditional rules of distribution," she told Deadline about the decision to start her very own production and distribution company, Free Food Studios.

Even before the "Rachael Ray Show" had officially wrapped, Ray was already boasting about how full her plate really was. "I have more work than I can even comprehend," Ray told the New York Post. "I'm having 'anxietymares' about being able to do everything I'm trying to do in the next two years. I'm also producing four other people and it's a challenge — all I do is 'dream-produce' all night and make list after list."

Alas, old habits die hard. In January 2024, Ray appeared to do an about-face when she revealed that she had entered into a deal with A+E Networks, selling them a 50% stake in Free Food Studios. In turn, she would be hosting two new cooking shows: "Rachael Ray's Meals in Minutes" and "Rachael Ray's Tuscany." Ray said in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter) that viewers could expect to see her "cooking in both of my homes, in upstate New York and Tuscany, and creating new shows that will feature an amazing group of diverse and unique culinary talents." It seemed Rachael Ray wasn't ready to walk away from being on TV just yet.