Did you hear PEOPLE crowned its "first-ever" Sexiest Cat Dad? True story: Live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the crown went to … actor Dave Franco. The announcement drew attention like a laser pointer wiggled at the wall, and yowling commenced immediately.

Bobby Flay wasn’t the only one whose tail puffed up at Franco’s nod (and we’re not even counting when Bobby added a “me too” comment on his own comment from his cat Canelo’s account). Real ones, you see, recall that he posed with his late cat Nacho for a “men and their pets” feature in PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive issue back in 2017. Real ones also recall that of the feature’s seven subjects, only one other man was pictured with his cat (and his dog, and that guy is literally the magazine’s resident veterinarian). There are cat guys, is what we’re saying, and then there are Cat Guys. Bobby is The Cat Guy, and his Food Network family knows all about it.

Raised by Cats

That family resemblance you may have noted between Bobby and Nacho is no accident; in fact, he first twinned with a pet on purpose when he was a kid. He didn’t mince words on the first installment of “Ask a Cat Dad,” the YouTube series he filmed to promote Made by Nacho (the premium cat food brand he co-founded, because of course he did). “I feel like I’m part cat,” he said. “I became a cat person because my mom always had two or three cats in my house, and I’m an only child, so they were basically my siblings.”

Hence the family resemblance. “My first cat that I considered my cat was Pumpkin,” Bobby recalled. “He was a big, red, short-haired domestic tabby. I wanted a cat that had the same color fur as my hair! I think I was about 5 years old when I got Pumpkin.”

All told, Bobby’s shared his home with “[s]ix or seven cats, but who’s counting? It’s not enough, let’s put it that way. I need more cats. I’m down to have as many cats as possible. I’m going to be that cat guy. That’s who I am.”

Nacho Forever

Bobby’s had cats of all kinds, but the ones that have had the most recent run of his house and heart are massive, majestic Maine coons — starting with Nacho, a 21-pound heartbreaker who presided over Bobby’s kitchen countertops for nine magical years.

True to his breed, Nacho was "doglike for a cat" and shadowed Bobby wherever he went. That was particularly advantageous when Bobby cooked, naturally. "He's always with me when I'm cooking," Bobby told PEOPLE. "If I make a piece of striped bass, I'll cook the end for him as a little treat." We don't have proof that Bobby let Nacho try his celebrated crispy rice, but we have our suspicions.

Nacho was a celebrity in his own right: Hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers checked in to see him use Bobby as his personal cat tree (and charm the pants off of his friends and colleagues). When Nacho passed away in 2023, fans all over the world reached out to his human; when Bobby kept on wishing Nacho a happy birthday two years later, they knew just how he felt.

Canelo and Stella in the House

Nacho passed the orange-cat baton to baby Canelo, an apricot Maine coon who joined the family in 2023 and learned the ropes from his striped housemate, Stella (called “Go-Go Boots” for her dainty white paws). Doing their predecessor proud, Canelo and Stella earned a shoutout in Architectural Digest’s tour of Bobby’s recently renovated, designer-perfect Manhattan apartment (which they dominate, predictably). “The house is theirs,” Bobby said. “Let’s put it that way.” The cats are “especially drawn to” a vintage leather sofa in his den, and Bobby is well aware that it’s theirs, too.

Sophie Knows the Score

Speaking of folks with felines for siblings, Bobby’s daughter, Sophie, is well aware of her dad’s not-so-secret catness. She kicked off the very first episode of Bobby and Sophie on the Coast by taking him for “feline therapy” at West Hollywood’s Crumbs & Whiskers, a cat café where 26 adoptable cats rubbed shoulders (and head, bellies and butts) with visitors. “This is like my favorite day of the year,” Bobby said. “I just love being around them, they’re so cool!” After noting that he always has at least two cats at home, “we’re taking them all,” he told the staff. “Can we do a 10-part miniseries on this place?”

But Seriously, Sophie Knows the Score

The fact that Sophie’s at peace with Bobby’s divided affections doesn’t mean she won’t heckle him about them when it suits her purposes. As a Beat Bobby Flay co-host for Season 33’s third episode, she planned a psyop around a key absence on the picture wall in her dad’s green room. “That is like a wall of cats,” her fellow host, Eddie Jackson, said. Sophie? Not pictured.

She fixed that by presenting him with a father-daughter portrait mid-cook: “I went into your green room where you have ‘all your kids’ on the wall,” she said. “There’s not a picture of me up there!” she told the in-studio audience. “IT’S HIS CATS!”

Sunny Anderson Gets Catty With Bobby

Known bespoke-fashion-based troll Sunny Anderson took a swipe the same year Bobby and Nacho posed for PEOPLE. Co-hosting Season 15’s sixth episode with Josh Capon, she aimed to Beat Bobby Flay with reverse psychology: “You made a shirt out of my cat Nacho?!” he said. “I always come here with all kinds of venom for you,” Sunny cooed, “but today on behalf of your cat, I wish you good luck.” This mind game came back to claw Sunny; since Bobby was accustomed to Nacho’s company in the kitchen, her shade proved somewhat … inspirational? Bobby prevailed, and he couldn’t resist meowing back on behalf of his cat: “Hey @sunnyanderson are you making T-Shirts with my likeness? We need to chat business. I'm not a business, man! I'm a businessman #jz”

“I want this shirt,” a fan commented.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Presents Beat Bobby Flay

Co-hosts Damaris Phillips and Alex Guarnaschelli raised the sartorial stakes and took things in a Broadway-musical direction for the 12th episode of Season 24. “This is our strategy,” Alex told Bobby. “We’re distracting you as your two favorite house cats!”

“Is there a cat theme today I don’t know about?” Bobby asked.

“No,” replied Damaris, “but we know that you have a set of favorite siblings in your life, Nacho and Stella, and so we’re channeling them because we’re also bringing in two contenders that are brother and sister!”

“A little bit of a stretch,” Bobby replied, “but I like it.”

Here’s the thing about pet themes, however: Damaris had the perfect excuse to distract Bobby with a cat dancer as he cooked. She waved it again in triumph — while holding a plush cat — when Bobby was defeated. “Meow,” Alex added.

Bobby ended the episode with a win, though: He went home to his cats.