Guy Fieri hosts fundraiser for ‘Top Chef’ star battling cancer

Food Network star Guy Fieri and more than a dozen famous chefs gathered in Santa Rosa Saturday to raise money in support of a former “Top Chef” contestant battling cancer.

Fieri, a longtime Sonoma County resident, and his nonprofit Guy Fieri Foundation organized the “Chefs for Shirley” event to benefit chef Shirley Chung, who competed on seasons 11 and 14 of Bravo’s reality cooking show “Top Chef.”

Chung announced on social media on July 26 that she had been diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer in May.

One hundred guests attended the event which took place at a private residence, according to foundation spokesperson Irika Slavin.

“It was a day filled with great food, wine, interactions, demos, silent and live auctions, music, laughter, and tears,” the foundation wrote in an Instagram post about the event,

In addition to premium wine and food, the event included silent and live auctions and culinary demonstrations from chefs including Stephanie Izard, Crista Luedtke (owner of Guerneville restaurant Road Trip), Antonia Lofaso, Maneet Chauhan and Jet Tila, who have all appeared on Fieri’s locally made game show, “Guy’s Grocery Games.”

Tickets cost between $2,500-$4,500.

The total amount raised was not disclosed, but all proceeds went directly to Chung, Slavin said in an email Friday.