Madison Keys to Judge on ‘Beat Bobby Flay’ This September

NEW YORK, NY — Madison Keys, currently ranked World No. 6, will be a guest judge on the Food Network’s ‘Beat Bobby Flay‘ airing on Thursday, September 25. This exciting opportunity follows Keys’ appearance on her new podcast, where she shared how this came to be.

Keys, a 30-year-old American tennis star and Australian Open champion, will join chef Michael Symon on the show. She noted that while she will be judging the dishes, she won’t be cooking. Keys expressed feeling somewhat out of place, saying, ‘I feel like it’s lacking acid?’ to which Symon agreed, giving her a boost of confidence.

During filming, Keys experienced the process of food judging firsthand, stating, ‘We go into the back and try the food and judge it.’ She revealed that they make multiple plates for the show, with the judges sampling the dishes off-camera first.

The opportunity arose two years ago after a tough match at the 2023 US Open where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. After the match, she browsed through direct messages on social media and found one from chef Bobby Flay. Impressed by her performance, Flay invited her to be a guest on his show.

‘He basically was just like, “I’d love to have you on one of my shows one day,”‘ Keys recounted on her podcast. ‘I was like, “OK, call me when you have an opening?”‘

Fans can look forward to seeing Keys take on the role of food critic as part of this unique crossover between sports and culinary arts.