{"id":2807,"date":"2026-04-07T18:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=2807"},"modified":"2026-04-07T18:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:36:18","slug":"fans-rallying-around-guy-fieri-after-he-pays-tribute-to-the-late-carl-ruiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=2807","title":{"rendered":"Fans Rallying Around Guy Fieri After He Pays Tribute To The Late Carl Ruiz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-journey-body=\"standard-article\">\n<div class=\"css-hl6xtf e1wzc3k51\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.delish.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/clock-regular.4ddebeb.svg\" alt=\"Estimated read time\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><span class=\"css-1rzbsk9 e1wzc3k50\">2 min read<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1jx1kps etlajd3\">\n<div data-theme-key=\"collapsible-section\" class=\"css-p1fz9n e1q3dcg6\">\n<h3 data-theme-key=\"collapsible-header\" class=\"css-1fv4nwp e1q3dcg5\"><button aria-label=\"Hide Key Points section\" aria-expanded=\"true\" data-theme-key=\"collapsible-header-button\" class=\"css-ec8vqf e1q3dcg4\"><\/p>\n<div data-theme-key=\"collapsible-icon-wrapper\" data-collapsible-open=\"true\" class=\"css-lhm19 e1q3dcg0\"><span data-testid=\"iconRight\" data-theme-key=\"collapsible-icon-right\" class=\"css-1ep4808 e1q3dcg1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.delish.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/caret-right-regular.a6ec664.svg\" alt=\"Caret Right\" width=\"100%\" height=\"auto\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/h3>\n<div aria-hidden=\"false\" data-theme-key=\"collapsible-section-text\" class=\"css-nzvxqj e1q3dcg3\">\n<div class=\"css-ex91la etlajd2\">\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Guy Fieri paid tribute on Instagram to his late friend Carl Ruiz on what would have been Ruiz\u2019s 51st birthday.<\/li>\n<li>Fieri first met Ruiz in 2012 when <em>Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives<\/em> featured Marie\u2019s Italian Specialties in New Jersey.<\/li>\n<li>Ruiz later became a familiar face on <em>Guy\u2019s Grocery Games<\/em> before his death in 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Guy Fieri has built a career on spotlighting talented chefs across the country, and many of those relationships last long after the cameras stop rolling. This week, he took to social media to pay tribute to one of his most beloved friends and collaborators, who tragically passed away nearly seven years ago.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">April 4 marked what would have been the birthday of the late Carl \u201cThe Cuban\u201d Ruiz, and Fieri honored him with a post on Instagram. \u201cWe all miss you brother,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"instagram\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-22\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Fieri first met Ruiz in 2012 on the set of <em data-node-id=\"3.1.0\">Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives<\/em><em data-node-id=\"3.2\">. <\/em>The Food Network star featured Marie\u2019s Italian Specialties, the New Jersey deli Ruiz opened with his then-wife, Marie Riccio.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"watch-next\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-23\" data-node-id=\"4\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"5\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">The two became fast friends, and Ruiz went on to appear on the series several more times. Eventually, he joined Fieri as a judge on <em data-node-id=\"5.1\">Guy\u2019s Grocery Games<\/em> and <em data-node-id=\"5.3\">Guy\u2019s Ranch Kitchen<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">But Ruiz\u2019s life was cut short in 2019 by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at the age of 44. And even years later, it\u2019s clear how deeply his loss is still felt by Fieri and the broader Food Network community.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Fans and fellow Food Network stars flooded Fieri\u2019s Instagram post to pay their respects. <em data-node-id=\"7.1\">Guy\u2019s Grocery Games<\/em> regulars Tiffani Faison, Stephanie Izard, and Michael Symon all dropped hearts in the comments. \u201cMiss his humor on the shows,\u201d one fan wrote. \u201cHe was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"8\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Commenters frequently cited one of Ruiz\u2019s most memorable catchphrases, proving that his legacy lives on with viewers. \u201cPinkies out all day,\u201d one person wrote. Another added, \u201cMiss him so much. Pinkies up!\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Sending our love to Guy and the rest of the Food Network family as they remember him.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"editorial-link\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-24\" data-node-id=\"10\" class=\"embed\">\n<aside class=\"css-u95ltk e94w1mj3\"\/><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 min read Guy Fieri paid tribute on Instagram to his late friend Carl Ruiz on what would have been Ruiz\u2019s 51st birthday. Fieri first met Ruiz in 2012 when Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured Marie\u2019s Italian Specialties in New Jersey. Ruiz later became a familiar face on Guy\u2019s Grocery [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}