Bobby Flay Says He Loves Kristin Cavallari's 'Energy' After Viral Podcast Episode: ‘She's a Baller’ (Exclusive)

Doing a podcast with a “long-time” friend was an obvious choice for Bobby Flay.

The Food Network star joined Kristin Cavallari on her podcast, Let's Be Honest, on Oct. 29. The episode was chock-full of dating stories from the two newly-single people  — including a DM disaster between Flay and Cavallari — and fans quickly flocked to comment on the “chemistry” between the pair.

“I see a connection here,” one fan wrote on an Instagram video of the podcast. Another commented, “Power couple.” 

When asked about the headline-making interview, Flay lightheartedly scoffed.

“I mean, there wasn't really much there,” the Beat Bobby Flay host tells PEOPLE with a laugh. “Kristin and I have been friends for a long time, and so I called her and I was like, ‘I want to do your podcast. I think it'll be fun.’”

“I love her energy, and I also really respect her as a businesswoman,” he continues. "She's fun. She's a baller, she's a mom, she's got three kids. She runs her jewelry business, she runs her podcast business, she runs her whole Kristin Cavallari life and she does it incredibly well.”

The podcast came while the celebrity chef was doing rounds of press for his new book, Chapter One, which was released on Oct. 29. Between book signings and culinary-focused interviews, Flay gravitated towards the Laguna Beach alum’s project: “I thought it'd be a fun podcast and something a little bit different than some of the other ones that I was doing, which are really just basically based on food,” he said.

Dining was still discussed during the Let’s Be Honest episode but dating was the bulk of the interview.

PEOPLE was first to report on Flay's split from writer Christina Pérez in June. Cavallari had her own breakup in September after dating TikToker​​ Mark Estes for seven months.

“If I wanted to start dating again, what am I going to do? I don’t want to go on the [dating] apps,” he told Cavallari, “because then it becomes a public thing.”

Flay said, “I’m a very private person with my private life. Other people like to talk about my private life, I don’t like to talk about it because the rest of my life is so public, because I’ve been on television basically my entire adult life. So I like keeping as much as I can of my private life to myself.”

Cavallari asked Flay if marriage is "off the table completely” and he replied, "Is it off the table? If you asked me today, I’d say probably, yes.” But the cookbook author clarified, “I would be interested in a life partner for sure.”

Chapter One, published by Clarkson Potter, is available now wherever books are sold.