Robert William "Bobby" Flay (born December 10, 1964) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur and reality television personality. He is the owner and executive chef of 12 restaurants: Mesa Grill in Las Vegas, New York City, and the Bahamas (Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau); Bar Americain in New York City and Uncasville, Connecticut; Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City; and Bobby's Burger Palace in Lake Grove, New York, East Garden City, New York, Paramus, New Jersey, Eatontown, New Jersey, Uncasville, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and College Park, MD.

Flay has hosted seven Food Network television programs and appeared regularly on an eighth. He has appeared as a guest on other Food Network shows and hosted a number of specials on the network. Flay is featured on the Great Chefs television series.

Bobby Flay was born in New York to Bill and Dorothy Flay, where he was raised and continues to live. He is a fourth generation Irish American.

At age 8, Flay asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas, against his father's objections, who thought a G.I. Joe would be more gender-appropriate. He ended up getting both.

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist and television host. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Kimmel was born in the Mill Basin neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the eldest of three children of Joann (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James Kimmel, an IBM executive. He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy. Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side. His uncle, Frank Potenza, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011.

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year before attending Arizona State University for two years without completing a degree.

Akira Back was born Sung Ook Back in 1974 in Seoul, Korea. He was given the nickname "Akira" by a family friend from Japan ("Ook" translates to "Akira" in Chinese characters) and the name stuck. Back was raised in Sinsa Dong in Seoul. He took a serious interest in baseball at a young age and decided to move to Japan to pursue it. Back's baseball career ended very shortly after when his father's business took their family to America in 1989, eventually ending up in Aspen, Colorado.

At age 15, Back took a liking to snowboarding in Aspen, CO. He spent his early years as a professional snowboarder, showing off his talents in extreme movies, and garnered praise by endemic magazines like Snowboarder and Transworld Snowboarding. Back spent 7 years on the snowboarding circuit, touring all over Europe and Asia.

After graduating from The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes in Colorado, Back began his epicurean adventure in earnest 1993 at Kenichi in Aspen. He was later recruited to expand Kenichi in Austin, Texas followed by Kenichi in Kona, Hawaii.

Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day. Ray wrote cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, and launched a magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, in 2006. Ray's television shows have won two Daytime Emmy Awards.

Ray was born in Glens Falls, New York. Her parents are Elsa Scuderi, an Italian (Sicilian) American, and James Ray, who is of French, Scottish and Welsh descent. She moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts where her family owned four restaurants. When Ray was 8, her family moved to Lake George, New York. Her mother managed restaurants in upstate New York.

In 1995 Ray moved to New York City. One of her first jobs there was at the candy counter at Macy's, where she eventually managed the fresh foods department. She later helped open a New York City market. Moving back to upstate New York, Ray managed Mister Brown's Pub at The Sagamore, a hotel on Lake George. From there, she became a buyer at Cowan & Lobel, a gourmet market in Albany. Ray credits the concept of 30 Minute Meals to her experience working at the store, where she met people who were reluctant to cook. She taught a course in which she showed how to make meals in less than thirty minutes. With the success of her "30 Minute Meals" classes, WRGB (the local CBS TV affiliate) asked her to appear in a weekly segment on their newscasts. This, along with a public radio appearance and the publication of her first book, led to a Today show spot and her first Food Network contract in 2001.