Rachael Ray Show is ending its show after 17 seasons

Rachael Ray will see you when she sees you.

On Wednesday, the celebrity chef’s syndicated daytime talk show, The Rachel Ray Show, aired its last episode after 17 seasons on the air. Ray’s celebrity friends, including Oprah Winfrey, Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy, sent their best wishes from afar. Earlier this week, she also received sweet send-offs from Cameron Diaz, Michelle Obama, Kate Hudson and more.

In the last episode, the 30 minute meal star started out with what she does best: cooking in her own kitchen.

She made her husband, John Cusimano’s “favorite dish on the planet” – pasta carbonara.

“When I met and fell in love with my husband, I asked him what I should do to him,” she said, adding that it was a simple pasta dish. To celebrate the milestone day, she added king crab to the recipe and dubbed it “crabonara.”

“There you go honey, good last show,” she told her husband as she served the creamy pasta to a serving platter.

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Midway through the final episode, Donnie Wahlberg joined for his thirteenth appearance on his video chat show.

“You are part of me and Jenny’s family,” he said. “You have been there for so much of our time. One of the first times I was with you, I was this single guy, and I was there on your show when I met Jenny – shortly after. You have been so much a part of our journey together.

McCarthy then appeared on screen and gave a heartfelt pre-recorded message for Ray. “Thank you so much for being a friend, a sister, a mentor,” she said. “You are indeed a ‘GOAT’ in the daytime and I love and miss you.”

Before Wahlberg signed on, Ray assured viewers that she was “not retiring” and had “a few more hat tricks” in her. Both the New Kids on the Block star and the chef cried as they finished with “the world thanks you.”

As the show neared its encore, chef Richard Blais, who has worked with Ray for more than a decade, prepared a lobster chicken piccata dish as a tribute to his Italian-American dishes.

“You meant so much to me and my family – the best team in the game,” Blais told Ray in a moving message at the end of his cooking segment.

Oprah Winfrey, who met Ray nearly 20 years ago and helped launch his show, closed the celebrity list with a deep final message.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to the public, it was very hard for me, but the hardest thing is to say goodbye to the people who have become your family for the past 17 years: the team, the staff, the producers, all those who have made The Rachel Ray Show whatever it is,” Winfrey said in the pre-recorded video.

She added: “I couldn’t be more proud of you for showing up so authentically every day and bringing us laughter and joy all these years. I knew from the moment we met in 2005 on the Oprah show that you were the real deal.

Winfrey closed the clip with a sweet “thank you” on behalf of the audience. “I say congratulations and can’t wait to see what you come up with next, yum yum,” she said.

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Ray was visibly moved after Winfrey’s post and cried tears of thanks. She then shared the impact Winfrey has had on her show and her life.

“I really don’t have words to express my gratitude to everyone. Oprah, my family wouldn’t have the beautiful life experience we all got to share together without this show,” Ray said. wouldn’t have spent these 17 years with these beautiful, loving, wonderful people and everyone who was kind enough to share their time with us and watch us from their homes. I wouldn’t have had this life without Oprah, without this team.”

While his show may have seen its last day, Ray said his career is by no means over.

“I will continue to cook, think and work because I like it. I like to work. It was my grandfather who taught me that. It was my mother who taught me that,” she said.

The show then featured a montage of the team’s favorite moments from the past two decades. Clips spotlighted everyone from Emeril Lagasse and Julie Andrews to Michael J. Fox and Michelle Obama.

Ray sat next to her husband in her last post and thanked him for his help – especially during the pandemic as he stepped in while she worked from home.

“Seventeen years ago wasn’t just the start of this show. It was when we still had our sweet Isaboo and it was the start of the magazine,” she said of their late dog.

“There’s so much going on and you’ve been with me all these years. Thank you,” she said as the couple shared a kiss.

Finally, Ray addressed his dear colleagues. “No one understands me like you understand me. You all make me better,” she said.

She closed the latest episode with her signature, “We’ll see you when we see you, everyone.”