Ryan Seacrest Reportedly Wants to Star in His Own TV Show

Ryan Seacrest is reportedly making room on his plate for another venture, a cooking show. The American Idol host wants to make a show in the same vein as Standley Tucci’s CNN hit Searching for Italy. Seacrest, 47, does not have a long history with cooking shows, but has learned to cook in recent years and is looking to make this central to his next project.

“Ryan is looking to produce and star in his own show about food,” a source told Us Weekly Thursday. “He loves the Stanley Tucci series Searching for Italy and wants to do a show along those same lines.” Seacrest “fancies himself a Gordon Ramsey kinda guy,” the source claimed.

Seacrest has “been learning to cook for the last few years” and “loves it,” the insider said. However, cooking has rarely been at the center of his projects. He did win an Emmy in 2010 as a producer on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution though. Seacrest has also taken part in cooking segments during Live with Kelly and Ryan.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians creator has been open about his relationship with food in the past. During an episode of Live in January, Seacrest said that his diet as an adult is inspired by his body image struggles when he was younger. He said he was teased for his weight as a kid. “I will always see that little boy when I look in the mirror,” he said. “I cannot get past it, I’ve talked to our experts about it, but for some reason, I just cannot see that guy.”

Live co-host Kelly Ripa said she understood where he was coming from, but she told Seacrest he obsesses over food. “You spend a great deal of time fixating on what you’re eating and what you’re not eating and when you’re eating and how much you’re eating and how many times of day you’re eating,” Ripa said.

Seacrest went on to explain how swimming in a T-shirt and getting charlie horses on the school bus inspired his healthier lifestyle as an adult. He’s tried going dairy-free and intermittent fasting. His breakfast includes coconut yogurt, turkey protein, minestrone soup, and peanut butter with honey, he said.

The decision to change his diet and get fit gave him the confidence to break into Hollywood. “It gave me some satisfaction to put on a pair of pants and feel good in them,” Seacrest recently told Men’s Journal. “It felt great and allowed me to walk into a room and feel less self-conscious. So, yes, I’d say it allowed me to build some confidence early on. I remember both feelings; I remember not having the confidence and then gaining it and going through that transformation. I haven’t forgotten about that.”

Meanwhile, Seacrest’s personal life is on an upswing. On June 8, he made his red carpet debut with girlfriend Aubrey Paige, 24, at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Jennifer Lopez’s Halftime. Seacrest started dating the model in June 2021. The two have kept their relationship mostly out of the spotlight, but he recently talked about Paige on Live. In April, he talked about bringing her to Mark Conseulos’ birthday, where Paige impressed Ripa.