For those of you who are not fans of The Food Network and all the cooking shows they have to offer, one of the many popular shows is The Pioneer Woman hosted by Ree Drummond. She is not a trained chef nor does she own a restaurant, not even a taco truck.
Ree Drummond started a food blog in 2006, she is married with children, lives on a working cattle ranch somewhere in Oklahoma and is an 'accidental country girl'. So how did she manage to go from a food blog to her own TV series, New York Times best seller list cookbooks, a product line and a movie deal in the works? (rumor has it that Reese Witherspoon will portray Ree Drummond)
Blog on!
The Pioneer Woman - From Blog to TV Series
by candy47
It's every blogger's dream to be voted 'blog of the year'. A TV series, cookbooks and a product line would be euphoric. That's what The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond accomplished.
Above image Amazon product available below
How It All Started
It started with another one of those wildly popular cooking shows, 'Throwdown! With Bobby Flay', the format of this show is for chef and restaurant owner Bobby Flay to travel to small, privately owned restaurants all over the country, surprise the owner with a challenge to prepare their specialty better than he can prepare it. The food is prepared at the restaurant, a crowd always gathers and there are local guest judges to determine the winner.
In a twist from the format of the Bobby Flay show, Ree Drummond reversed the roles and challenged Flay to a throwdown, challenging him to prepare a complete Thanksgiving dinner. He accepted the throwdown which took place at the Drummond ranch. The show aired November, 2010 with country singer Trisha Yearwood as one of the judges.
It was a close call, but Ree's home cooking edged out Flay's gourmet spread.
Books
A natural transition from hosting a food blog and TV show is publishing a cookbook. There are several Pioneer Woman cookbooks available. Some have made it to the New York Times best seller list and some are Amazon best sellers.
Television
Less than a year after the Throwdown! With Bobby Flay show aired, Ree Drummond had been offered her own daytime TV cooking series on the Food Network, it was titled 'The Pioneer Woman' and made its debut in August of 2011.
Mac and Cheese
A Tale of Four Lunches
Products
Cookware, utensils, kitchen linens, glassware, dinnerware and more products designed for The Pioneer Woman line of products. Here are just a few and they are available at Amazon.
Blog Stats and Info
- Started in May 2006 as a subdomain through Typepad
- October 2006 registered her own domain hosted by Rackspace
- 2009 TIME magazine named it one of the "25 Best Blogs" in the world
- May 2011 received 23,300,000 hits per month with 4,400,000 unique visitors
- Estimated income from display ads alone is $1,000,000 per year
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Updated: 09/21/2016, candy47
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Ree's blog was a success almost from the beginning. She started her blog in 2006. In 2009 TIME magazine named her blog one of the "25 Best Blogs" in the world. The 'throwdown' took place November 2010. By May 2011 the blog was getting 23M hits a month. August 2011 debuted the TV show.
candy47, Thank you for the biography and product lines! Was Pioneer Woman already successful at the time of the throwdown challenge or is that the trigger to her success?
I feel the same way you do Susan. She's not pretentious at all, and her recipes are for real people in real life.
With all her successes, I still feel that Ree is grounded and just a "real" person. She's very inspiring. I have a couple of her cookbooks and several pieces of her kitchen products.
You're welcome M Burgess! Yes she certainly is a role model for any blogger.
Amazing progress! Like other commenters, I do not watch food network, but she would be someone I'd like to follow. Thank you so much for sharing this chronicle about Ree.
The Food Network can be addictive!
I don't watch the Food Network much but she is interesting.
You're welcome andria_perry!
I love that show, I never knew the history. Thanks.