Food Network’s Sunny Anderson Says She’s Filming ‘The Kitchen’ Outside by Choice
Jan. 16 2021, Updated 3:08 p.m. ET
Why is Sunny Anderson always outside on The Kitchen? After all, the weather isn’t so “sunny” these days, but the TV personality is still filming her cooking segments for the Food Network show at a grill outside. And it seems like she’ll continue to do so even as the weather gets colder.
“So is Sunny going to cook (and by cook, I mean chop scallions) outside all winter?!” one Reddit user recently wrote, throwing ample shade. “So curious about why she won’t ‘let us in’ her house! The remodeling-the-kitchen excuse made sense to me at first, but less so 8 months later.”
Sunny has been braving the elements to cook outside.
Sunny and her co-hosts started filming at-home editions of The Kitchen in April 2020 as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated quarantines and stay-at-home orders.
“We taped this weekend’s #TheKitchen from home,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “Remember that part: home. We are all cooking more, sheltering in place, so we wanted to share simple recipes and hopefully some much-needed smiles. … I’m outside grillin’. A bit of escapism.”
In September 2020, Sunny endured hot weather to film an episode of the cooking-themed talk show. “Today on #TheKitchen @foodnetwork, I again turn my scorching hot backyard into a TV set,” she told Instagram followers. “Better than making a set in my kitchen, trust.”
Two months later, however, she had to start bundling up for the outdoor filming. “The sun came out today, then it rained, then sleet,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “Still taping #TheKitchen outdoors, and to answer the many questions about what I would do when it got cold out, I found a coat. I don’t know about you, but I love layer season.”
‘The Kitchen’ is back at the studio, but Sunny is still social-distancing.
By January 2021, The Kitchen’s production had returned to the studio, but Sunny opted to continue filming outside. “I’m still outside, socially distancing,” she wrote on Instagram Jan. 9, saying that she keeps toasty with her heavy coat and a camouflaged space heater behind her on the outdoor set.
And ahead of the show’s Jan. 16 episode, she confirmed she would be cooking al fresco in that installment, too. “I’m also still outdoors by choice because I felt most safe there,” she told followers. “Someone will still ask.”
Fans think Sunny might just want to keep her private life private.
A commenter on the Reddit post speculated that Sunny wanted to keep her home life away from the Food Network cameras — or that she has a small kitchen. “She might like her privacy — I know I would! — but I am surprised that the Food Network hasn’t either made her [film inside] as part of her contract or at least built her some sort of stage/fake [kitchen],” that commenter wrote. “Of course, she might live in a small apartment, or have a really small kitchen area.”
A third user, meanwhile, said Sunny previously told fans that she does indeed value her privacy.
“She has talked about it on Instagram and has noted privacy being the main reason she doesn’t [film inside her house],” that user wrote. “People have asked to see her pantry, too, and she cited privacy there as well. I understand her point of view. I’m working from home right now, and it feels like work is at my house, and it’s hard to keep them separate at times.”
