10/16/2026
🎉 10 YEARS AGO TODAY, I WON GUY'S GROCERY GAMES! 🎉
✨ Today marks the 10-year anniversary of competing on the Food Network's Guy's Grocery Games, where I competed against three other chefs and walked away the winner. What a moment that was in my life!
✨ As many of you remember, I was THREE MONTHS PREGNANT with my daughter, my first child, while filming. What you might not have known was just how rough I was feeling. I had horrible morning sickness and nausea throughout filming, and my producer would literally run up between takes with a bag of frozen peas to put on the back of my neck to cool me down.
✨ There was practically no airflow in that building. We were standing over equipment reaching 400+ degrees with no hoods, trying to cook under intense pressure. We had only moments between takes to reset and just 30 MINUTES to shop for our ingredients, cook everything, and present our dishes.
✨ And every round had its own added challenge!
✨ The first round required us to recreate fast food using only ingredients that cost more than $5. In the second round, we had to use teeny-tiny grocery carts and could only make one trip through the store, meaning everything we needed had to fit in those little carts.
✨ For the third round, we threw fruit to determine what ingredient we'd have to use in the final challenge. Mine was bacon jam!
✨ Winning was already a huge moment for me, but there's something that happened that never made it into the episode. Guy told me my dessert was one of the best he'd tried on the show in 11 seasons, and he doesn't even like dessert!
✨ When he announced me as the winner, I completely lost it. I was crying and sobbing. Guy came over and asked me, "Abbey, how are you feeling right now? Do you feel validated?"
✨ I told him I was overwhelmed, blessed, and validated for all the hard work I'd put into my career. And I meant every word.
✨ After I pulled myself together, I still had one final challenge to tackle. I had to run through the grocery store by myself and find items from a shopping list, with each correct item worth $2,000. Ten items meant a chance to win up to $20,000.
✨ And I got DAMN close! I walked away with $18,000!
✨ Looking back ten years later, I think about everything that went into that experience. The pressure, the exhaustion, the nausea, the heat, and the determination to keep going. I took my younger brother's advice, stayed true to myself, cooked the foods I wanted to eat, and did it all with confidence.
✨ That win meant so much more than the money or the title. It was a moment of validation for the years I'd poured into my career, and it's one I'll always carry with me. And my daughter, she was my very own good luck charm.
✨ And, of course, we can't forget the line that became a little piece of Food Network history!
COME ON, MANGO! 🥭😂
✨ Ten years later, I'm still so grateful for the experience, the memories, and the opportunity to prove to myself what I could do.
🎉 Here's to ten years of a memory I'll never forget!
