Alex Guarnaschelli, Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee Biegel, Michael Symon and Rocco DiSpirito also shared culinary suggestions for the Giadzy founder

NEED TO KNOW

• Giada De Laurentiis sought advice from fellow chefs on fueling up for her Dancing with the Stars debut
• Guy Fieri, Alex Guarnaschelli, and others suggested comfort foods like pasta and shared words of encouragement
• De Laurentiis said her daughter Jade inspired her to join the show as a way to step out of her comfort zone

Giada De Laurentiis is turning to her fellow chefs for inspiration on how to fuel up for her Dancing with the Stars debut.

Ahead of the competition’s season 35 premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 15, the Food Network alum, 56, shared a five-minute Instagram video featuring advice from Guy Fieri, Alex Guarnaschelli, Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee Biegel, Michael Symon and Rocco DiSpirito.

“Can you imagine the amount of calories you’re just gonna be burning, sitting here stressing out, knowing that you’re going to be up tonight and you’ve gotta dance in front of all your friends?” Fieri asked. 

“The whole food world’s gonna be watching,” he warned. “I mean, I don’t wanna bring this on you, but I’m nervous, Giada. I’m nervous for you. I mean, like, genuinely nervous.”

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Guarnaschelli recommended going right to De Laurentiis’ “Italian roots.”

“I would take my leftover pasta in the fridge and I would pan fry it, and I would make that lovely pan fried spaghetti that you and Jade have been eating —that you ate as a child, Jade ate growing up, because it would be a comfort food,” she said, referring to De Laurentiis’ 18-year-old daughter, Jade. “I would go straight to major emotional comfort food, other than panic eating five candy bars.”

Fieri then suggested drinking Santo Tequila, the brand he co-owns with former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar.

“Sometimes when I’ll see people go on shows, I’m like, ‘That guy really just needed to have something to mellow out,’” he explained. 

“You and I are both pasta junkies,” Fieri added. “One of my favorite dishes, which actually is a dish that I made when you were mentoring us on Food Network Star, was a dish called Tequila Turkey Fettuccine Alfredo.”

Fieri concluded his clip with a vote of confidence for the Super-Italian cookbook author.

“If we were betting on the Kentucky Derby, I’d be putting money on your horse,” he said. “Oh, I’ll be watching.”

Anderson’s advice to the Giadzy founder was to “eat the burger.”

“This is the time, honey,” she said. “Whenever you wanted to gorge yourself to death. But if you can’t handle the burger, you can always have some spaghetti and some bruschetta, and some orecchiette.”

“Everybody is pulling for you, Giada,” she continued. “We want you to win, not just ‘cause you’re one of us, but because you’re one of us. And we love you.”

Biegel said to go for pasta with butter or olive oil.

“You’ll have lots of energy,” she said. “It’s easy to digest and it’s comforting. So, like, it’ll make you feel good. You are gonna be so good. You’re gonna rock this. I’m gonna be voting for you.”

Symon had two suggestions for De Laurentiis.

“One, you’re gonna need a little bit of energy, so you want some carbohydrates, which is perfect for you,” he said. “I would go very comfort food, like spaghetti pomodoro with a bunch of fresh basil in there, basic. And then maybe just some grilled escarole with either, like, anchovies and parm or just simple, clean, extra virgin olive oil, lemon.”

DiSpirito, who competed on season 7 of DWTS, said he was “a little jealous” of De Laurentiis. However, he cautioned that the evening before the first episode is “a rough night.”

“I stuck to our favorite food, pasta,” he said. “This is like training for a marathon. So carb loading is 100% appropriate. And what was important was not to overeat. So unlike a marathon where you would carb load and eat an insane amount of calories, you have to be really light on your feet. So you eat just enough to feel satiety, but not too much where you’re carrying around an extra pound of pasta in your belly during the dance.”

De Laurentiis, whose partner is pro Alan Bersten, joins a lineup of actors, athletes, former dancers and reality stars competing on the long-running series. 

Earlier this month, she told PEOPLE she was inspired by Jade — who is beginning her first year at New York University — to do the show.

“I’ve been asked several times over the years, and I think that this time I said yes because my daughter basically forced me to say yes,” she admitted. “And also because I just dropped her off at college, and I think that she felt and I felt that I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone and do something totally different.”

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