AS only chords of 'Sweet Home Alabama' thrummed through the Circus Maximus at Caesars Atlantic City on July 31, the 1,600 people the sold-out crowd were already to their feet. They howled for the star. As he emerged throughout the wings in flip-flops, mirrored sunglasses along with red chef's coat with skull-shaped buttons, they howled louder.

It wasn't until Guy Fieri had autographed a yellow bell pepper using a Sharpie marker and tossed it together with a fan, sprayed the people the orchestra seats along with a bottle of water and vigorously denounced the induction stove he involved to use onstage ('Give me flame or give me death!') that his fans settled way down. It didn't last.

'There are three people you need in life: an accountant, a fishmonger and a bail bondsman,' he began, and again the crowd erupted.

Their Guy - rebel, clown, frat boy, chef - had arrived.

Since 2006, when he won a Food Network reality show that earned him his first series, Mr. Fieri, 42, has brought a new element of rowdy, mass-market culture to American food television. He was raised among tofu-eating California hippies, spent his junior year of college in France, and says he hasn't eaten takeaway food in many years. But this platinum-haired, heavily tattooed chef-dude has proved that he has a Sarah Palin-like ability attain Americans who feel found lacking by the country's cultural (or, in his case, culinary) elite.

'You similar to he has that same background such as yourself do, never pretentious, nothing fancy,' observed Ami Wilson, who went to the Atlantic City event with her husband, Matthew, a police in central New Jersey.

Kathleen McCormick, who brought her two teenage sons to see Mr. Fieri from their beach house nearby located on the Jersey Shore, said, 'He's the only 1 who never talks right down to anybody.' (She said that other cooking shows were 'too preachy' for people today.)

Susie Fogelson, the head of marketing for the Network, explained his appeal. 'I haven't seen anyone connect to this range people since Emeril,' she said in an interview, referring to the star chef who put the network into the spotlight. With his bowling shirts and burgers, Mr. Fieri makes Emeril Lagasse seem as if Alain Ducasse.

And a few chefs and critics dismiss his 'act,' Mr. Fieri is sincere and smart enough to support an audience's attention, individual and display.

'He really resonates with men,' Master of science. Fogelson said, adding that Mr. Fieri's prime-time shows attract more male viewers than any others concerning the network.

The notion that it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, right now there were numerous children and oxygen-toting seniors in the seats, and that he wasn't wanting to do anything more radical than sear a duck breast didn't do anything whatsoever to diminish the energy Mr. Fieri brought until. The charisma that recently inspired a middle-aged mom to throw her lavender-colored bra onstage during a cooking demonstration was on full illustrate.

And although his props and costumes evoke a hard-core rebelliousness, his persona is friendly and jovial, serving up a solid helping of yank family values with a garnish of patriotism.

He has visited warships in the Persian Gulf and cooked in the Navy mess that serves the White House; he owns 10 sports cars (all American-made except the Lamborghini); and last year was grand marshal of a Nascar race, a ceremonial honor offers also been bestowed on Kim Kardashian, Kevin Costner and the air host Todd Clem, since Bubba the Love Sponge or cloth.

Lots of chefs have tattoos, but Mr. Fieri is the first one to put tattoo art by himself line of aprons and potholders. He has 19 tattoos, including one dedicated to Evel Knievel, a longtime idol and powerful fashion influence.

Mr. Fieri is the rare reality-show winner offers translated a small-screen victory into a national fan base, as well as the rare chef who has transcended the food-TV type. As the host of NBC's new 'Minute november 23 It,' he presides through prime-time game show through which people, for that chance to win a million dollars, compete at feats that require not strength, courage or knowledge, nevertheless the ability carry out stunts with household goods, like unwinding a roll of tissue paper really, really fast.

The Food Network has betted heavily on him, giving him prime-time slots, and making them the face of the network's new collaboration with the N.F.L., a string about tailgating that is actually going to shown this fall. 'We found a high correlation between viewers of football as well 'Diners,' ' Ms. Fogelson said, indicating 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,' Mr. Fieri's most popular show.

He states that his chef-rock star-sports fan persona reflects his real passions: food, family, music, fast cars, sports and customarily having amazing time. Now, he worries about turning that persona into a person, by using a lasting following and an important culinary program.

'Look, the fame rocket is only on the upward trajectory for minimal time,' he explained in a meeting a weekend after the show, driving in the back of obtaining between television shoots within Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs. 'I have to do what I can for the program offers you while it lasts.'

For Mr. Fieri, the program includes his family in Santa Rosa, Calif. (sons Hunter, 14, and Ryder, 5; wife, Lori; parents, Jim and Penny, who live next door); his buddies, who pass by names like Gorilla, Mustard, Kleetus and Dirty Pour.; and his five restaurants, which brought him financial stability (if not culinary fame) prior to he sent an audition tape to the Food Network.

Mr. Fieri, with partners, runs three branches associated with the Italian-American pub called Johnny Garlic's; and a couple hybrids of California-style sushi and Southern barbecue called Tex Wasabi's. Johnny Garlic's serves dishes like Cajun chicken pasta Alfredo; a signature dish at Tex Wasabi's discovered in the 'gringo sushi' part of the menu: the Jackass Roll, filled with pulled pork, avocado and French fries.

'A associated with people they like sushi don't really like raw fish or seaweed,' he cited. 'So I make what they do like.'

Mr. Fieri's cheerful embrace of taste at the fee for tradition a good example of the items makes him so popular, and of why other chefs are more likely to dismiss your man. He'd rather have the loud love of the guys in the viewers at Caesars than awards from the James Beard Foundation.

'He can be an original,' said Norman Jones, who reached Mr. Fieri's Atlantic City show from Warminster, Philadelphia., where he works at a Christian residential program for troubled children. 'He goes to regular mom-and-pop places and present them the respect they deserve.'

'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' isn't a cooking show as up to a carefully engineered reality show. Mister. Fieri descends on a casual restaurant that may well serve only chili dogs, or it truly is a Chinese-Jamaican place from a Florida strip mall for ladies family-owned taqueria in Chicago that pickles its own chipotles. (Early on, he said, many restaurant owners turned the show down because they did not want their place known as a diner, drive-in or dive.)

Avoiding the reverent tone that many food shows take on as soon as which has enters the kitchen, Mr. Fieri goes in looking for what's interesting and funny. He has Rachael Ray's friendliness but avoids her unstoppable cutesiness, and fans say that his honest opinions get hold of. (Among the dishes he has barely were taste on camera: pigs' tails; liver; and, last week, a sludgy brown soup prepared with fresh snapping turtle, a Pennsylvania typic.)