Buster

Sure To Cause Indigestion: It Costs $100,000 To Book Food Network "Chef" Guy Fieri For An Appearance

WARNING: Foodies, healthy eaters, line cooks, Anthony Bourdain, and all others fans of the culinary arts should skip this item.

Guy Fieri, the "celebrity chef" who has become the face of the Food Network, is paid $100,000 for personal appearances, records show.

Fieri, 44, hosts the show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," a U.S. travelogue celebrating eateries that serve the kind of deep-fried, artery-clogging dishes that leave patrons with diabetes, towering cholesterol levels, and girdle obesity.

Fieri was paid $100,000 for a 60-minute appearance at the New York State Fair in late-August, according to contract documents. Fieri's company, Knuckle Sandwich LLC, was also paid $1500 to cover his travel costs.

By comparison, Buddy Valastro, star of TLC's "Cake Boss," banks a paltry $65,000 for his gigs. Fieri's paycheck is more than twice what touring acts like Hammer, Loretta Lynn, and the Oak Ridge Boys earn for summer shows. Like Fieri, the singer Meat Loaf commands $100,000 per show.

Fieri's food empire expanded last month with the opening of Guy's American Kitchen And Bar in Times Square. The 600-seat New York eatery has been termed a "terror dome" by Bourdain, who added that the frosted-tipped Fieri has "single-handedly turned the neighborhood into the Ed Hardy district."