Rachael Ray to end daytime show after 17 seasons: 'It’s time for me to move on'
By Elise Brisco, USA TODAY
4 March 2023 • 12:11pm
Rachael Ray reveals aftermath of house fire on her TV show: 'I could hear danger'
Rachael Ray opened the 15th season of her daytime talk show by showing viewers what her house looks like after a fire damaged it in August. Entertain This!, USA TODAY
The "Rachael Ray Show" is coming to an end after its current season, drawing a close to the Emmy-winning talk, cooking and lifestyle show after 17 seasons.
The news was announced in a Friday press release from CBS saying Ray would be "signing off" of her nationally syndicated show at the end of the current season.
"In my more than 20 plus years in television I have had 17 wonderful seasons working in daytime television with 'Rachael,' " Ray said in the statement. "However I’ve made the decision that it’s time for me to move on to the next exciting chapter in my broadcast career."
Ray, 54, said she would be transitioning to running her own production arm, Free Food Studios where she plans to "introduce and develop new and upcoming epicurean talent."
Rachael Ray will be ending her daytime talk show after 17 years. Gustavo Caballero, Getty Images For NYCWFF
Doja Cat arrived at the show with stylist Brett Alan Nelson, who wore a matching red suit and long jacket by Vetements. She then took a front-row seat just a feet away from Kylie Jenner, who also made headlines with a black velvet strapless gown adorned with a life-sized faux lion head.
On the runway, other items of Schiaparelli's "faux-taxidermy" were on display, with Naomi Campbell and Irina Shayk among those to appear on the catwalk wearing similar animal head gowns.
When did 'Rachael Ray' debut?
The "Rachael Ray Show" first debuted in 2006 with Diane Sawyer being Ray's first guest. In 2019, Ray earned a daytime Emmy for outstanding informative talk show and in 2011 she won a People's Choice Award for favorite TV chef.
"When Rachael debuted her show 17 years ago, she was a gamechanger in the daytime space. She made cooking accessible to the masses, taught viewers simple solutions on how to improve their lives and coaxed great stories out of celebrity guests with her relatable down-to-earth demeanor,” president of CBS Media Ventures, Steve LoCascio, said in a statement. "We’ll miss Rachael on the air every day, but we’ll always be family.”
Rachael Ray house fire, flood
Ray and her husband, John Cusimano, faced devastation in 2020 when their house burned down in a fire that destroyed nearly all of her belongings, including cooking notebooks, photo albums and her dream kitchen.
"I heard the fire in the walls," Ray said. "It was blood-curdling and chilling from head to toe. I turn to leave and there was a first responder right in front of me, (saying), 'Get out, get out now. You have to go.' "
The next year their New York City apartment flooded during the heavy rainfall from Hurricane Ida.
"There are so much worse positions we could be in," Ray told People about the flooding. "I mean, I'm alive. And I do have a roof over my head. And I do have a job."