Guests

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Left on the agenda:

  • Janette Christensen
  • Scott Thompson (Saebo guy)
  • Tonya Michelle
  • Fat Juicy Taco guy
  • Pastor Jim Kubik
  • Trucker Darrell
  • And all the others!

Jack's online shows, mostly the Cooking with Jack Show and its affiliate series Jack on the Go, feature a revolving door of guest characters. These guests are often unsuspecting churchgoers or acquaintances whom Jack has coaxed into joining his kitchen escapades, likely under the impression that they’re appearing on a channel with the clout of a culinary giant like Babish. In reality, most viewers tune in out of morbid curiosity or sheer schadenfreude, as Jack’s popularity peaked in the early 2000s.

Many guests seem uncomfortable with their role as props in Jack's internet cooking spectacle and vanish after a single episode. Some attempt to endure and become recurring characters but eventually grow weary of Jack’s antics and what critics describe as his “surface-level friendships.” More often than not, they quietly disappear after one or two videos, never to be mentioned again, as if erased from the show's narrative altogether.

Bradley Michael Smith

Bradley Michael Smith
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Wing Wars)
Status Deceased

Bradley Michael Smith appeared on assorted Jack on the Go videos, including one Wing Wars video.

Smith died on 1 September 2021 off COVID-19 symptoms.[1]

Appearances

Charles Caputo

Charles Caputo
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Michigan fishing trip)
Fish Hook
Status Alive
• Making fishing videos (without Jack)

Charles Caputo is a fisherman who once collaborated with Jack on the Fish Hook channel. He believes Jack to be a wuss.[2] It is believed that Jack and Charles had a fallout, allegedly when Charles had the audacity to enable comments on his own channel - something Jack viewed as a betrayal of his YouTube wisdom.

Charles initially sought Jack's advice on starting his own channel. Jack accepting the offer quickly assumed control of Charles' channel like some delusional media mogul. Instead of letting Charles run a show that focused on actual fishing tips and techniques, Jack dragged the content in his favourite direction: food reviews. Any time Jack appeared, fishing was sidelined for trips to fish-themed fast-food chains - because, for Jack, nothing screamed "expert fisherman" like reviewing fish tacos.

After listening to his fans during his livestreams, Charles enabled comments in his subsequent videos and audience engagement flourished. Jack, ever the egotist, likely took this as a personal slight - a rejection of his "master plan". Jack appeared to distance himself, effectively ghosting Charles and ending their collaboration. In the end, it seems Charles realized the only thing Jack could reliably catch was a fast-food combo meal, and no friendship is worth destroying your channel's integrity over.

Edgar Garcia

Edgar Garcia
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Pizza Wars, Texas BBQ Wars)
Status Alive
• Remained in California
Alias garfam8

Edgar Garcia is a veteran of the Pizza Wars.

Edgar reunited with Jack for the 2023 California tour.

James Smith

James Anthony Smith
Appeared on F as in Frank
Jack on the Go
Status Alive
Aliases • Jimmy
• JASGamingEntertainment

James Smith, mostly known as Jimmy, is Jack's cousin who has made guest appearances on F as in Frank, while also having Jack as a guest on his own channel. He also streams video games on Twitch.

Joe Chavez

Joe Chavez
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Burger Wars)
Status Alive
• Estranged from Jack

Joe Chavez is an ex-friend of Jack who toured in the Burger Wars.

Chavez has since distanced himself from Jack, and has publicly posted about his distaste for him online, occassionally appearing in the chat of Pink Chicken & The Lazy Man livestreams. Jack remained oblivious to this however, and attempted to a desperate extent to reunite with Chavez for the 2023 California tour, spamming his social media with requests to "split a burger for old time's sake." The requests were ignored, and Chavez has blocked Jack since.

Jack bugging Chavez on an entirely unrelated post.

Appearances

Chaves also appeared on every Burger Wars episode up to #33.[3]

Leslie Woods Ellis

Leslie Woods Ellis
Appeared on Cooking with Jack
Status Alive
• Running her own YouTube channel
Aliases HE ELLIS WAY[4]

Leslie Woods Ellis, who runs the YouTube channel The Ellis Way TN, is a Hobby Lobby haunter who now makes crafting videos, with Jack's media maverick guidance from The Jack Pack.

Louis Austad

Louis Austad
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Wing Wars)
Status Deceased
Aliases Louinator59[5]

Louis Austad, also known as Lou, was a veteran of the Wing Wars. Lou had a mildly successful YouTube channel called Louinator59 where he uploaded travelling content. He was also a member of the right-wing Facebook knockoff Gab.[6]

Lou died in November 2020, and Jack made a special tribute video for him after the fact.[7] According to Jack on a livestream, Lou died off a three-times enlarged heart.[8]

Jack's tribute video for Lou.

Mitch Healey

Mitch Healey
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Texas BBQ Wars)
Status Alive
• Estranged from Jack

Mitch Healey is a realtor and a veteran of the Texas Barbeque Wars. Mitch has not appeared in Jack's videos since the COVID-19 pandemic, and Jack has lamented that they have not talked "in a long time" in January 2025, indicating a severed friendship.[9]

Rick Chavez

Rick Chavez
Appeared on Jack on the Go (Taco Wars)
Status Alive
• Still in contact with Jack

Rick Chavez appeared in a couple Cooking with Jack videos and some Taco Wars videos. He is not related to Joe Chavez.

According to Jack, Chavez intended to reunite with Jack in the 2023 California tour, however he bailed on the last second.[10]

Robert Hudson

Robert Wesley Hudson
Appeared on Cooking with Jack
Jack on the Go
Status Alive
• Estranged from Jack
Aliases Iamtherobert
Merl Merl
Roberto[11]

Robert Hudson appeared as an assistant on a few episodes of Cooking with Jack. Robert visited Jack 20 times in the hospital following Jack's fifth stroke, apparently the only friend to visit him at all.[12] In March 2023, Robert briefly took up on moderating Jack's comment sections under the alias "Iamtherobert".[13]

According to Jack, Robert eventually relocated to Florida in March 2024 and the two have not talked since.[14] Although Robert's identity remained mysterious upon his exit from the Scalfaniverse, his full name was discovered in October 2025. More importantly, it was found that Robert seemingly moved back to Tennessee without Jack's knowledge.[15]

References