Next Food Network Star

[WiscoNole]

Just saw the first episode. Words cannot describe my hatred for the snobby fashion woman from Texas. Also, the black guy who won't shut up about his classical French training. Join the (huge) club.

I'm definitely pulling for Adam.

[Dignan]

The last series was such an exercise in futility it's hard to work up any enthusiasm for this year.

[Zeemanb]

Lisa, that batshit crazy June Cleaver wannabe in high heels and pearls with the $150 Burberry scarf on her head in the kitchen needs to go next.  The pastry chef where I work was watching with me and was livid that someone would try to work in a professional kitchen dressed like Anna Wintour in stilettos.  And she so doesn't listen to anything that is said to her.  She's in her own little world and the rest of us are just interlopers in it, I guess.

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Is she the one that looks like she stepped out of an 80s euroband video?

I keep expecting 99 Luftballons to crank up.

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When I saw that hair I was thinking Aeon Flux!

Judging from some of the cooking and the preview for next week it looks like the theme of this season is "you can win this thing as long as you look good on camera and manage not to cause a botulism outbreak".

[Tiny]

this show is horrible....young kid cried, high french trained dude can't season his eggs, snotty texas woman trying to bring "fine dining" to the home cook doesn't know how to hold a knife correctly.....food network is becoming a disgrace...The only show I still watch is good eats, and maybe ace of cakes, sometimes....

[Jane Die]

this show is horrible....young kid cried, high french trained dude can't season his eggs, snotty texas woman trying to bring "fine dining" to the home cook doesn't know how to hold a knife correctly.....food network is becoming a disgrace...The only show I still watch is good eats, and maybe ace of cakes, sometimes....

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All that AND Sandra Lee among others ill qualified at the judges table! BRILLIANT!

[Tiny]

this show is horrible....young kid cried, high french trained dude can't season his eggs, snotty texas woman trying to bring "fine dining" to the home cook doesn't know how to hold a knife correctly.....food network is becoming a disgrace...The only show I still watch is good eats, and maybe ace of cakes, sometimes....

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All that AND Sandra Lee among others ill qualified at the judges table! BRILLIANT!

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Yeah, and it was funny that sandra lee seemed to think the over the top cheerleader chick was genuine.....Giada quickly snapped back and said she was fake as a $3 bill...

[Tri2Cook]

I can't bring myself to watch this one. Food Network hit an all-time low for me today. I was browsing through the Good Eats episodes and there was a link at the bottom for a recipe (from a different show) for coconut popsicles. I thought "that doesn't really require a recipe but maybe it's something cool so I'll take a peek". The recipe in entirety was "dip store-bought coconut flavored popsicles in rum or pineapple juice, sprinkle with demarara sugar and serve". Seriously? I think anybody with the culinary interest to join egullet would be overqualified for the position of "next food network star".

Edit: Forgot to mention that the recipe actually instructed us to remove the wrappers from the popsicles before dipping and sprinkling. I guess that was the professional edge that made the difference.

Edited June 9, 2008 by Tri2Cook (log)

[kalypso]

I can't bring myself to watch this one.

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I can understand your reticence, especially after the coconut popcicle incident (besides, anyone knows coconut and chocolate is a match made in heaven, why stop at the rum or pineapple juice, dip the sucker in chocolate too and gild the stick).

Last year's crop of cheftestants didn't do much for me - and the winner was even from my town - but this year's group of, umm, lemmings? is so much more enjoyable to watch.

FTV takes this all so seriously. Our mistake is to take it seriously as well. Forget about the food because, well, the food is pretty forgettable, and besides, they've told us right up front it isn't about the food, it's about personality (whatever the hell that is).

Relax, pour yourself a glass of wine, put your feet up and prepare to be entertained. The challenges are impossible and designed for failure. Why gnash the teeth, just recognize the show for what it is...cooking reduced to the lowest possible denominator that possibly exists

Right now I'm rooting for Aaron (I think that's his name) the hospital catering cook because, at the moment, he's the most real person on the set.

[Old Timer]

This weeks commercials show chef Robert Irvine putting the contestants through their paces.

Has the Food Network no shame?

After last years exposure of Irvine's embellishments to his resume, you would think the FN would toss him out on his ear rather than promote him as one of the family.

Here's a new "dinner impossible"challenge for Irvine.

Give each contestant a Cricket bat and tell Irvine to bend over.

Each gives him a swat on the ass and he is required to shout out "Please sir, may I have another" after each swat.

The challenge would be to see if he can eat a sit-down dinner with a cherry red arse.

Edited to add....

OK!

I just finished watching this (pardon the pun) "trainwreck" of a show.

Here's my take.

The award for the most annoying talentless cook goes to Adam. Not only does he look and act like Mr. Bean, but he probably can't cook any better than him either. His shtick wears on you pretty quickly.

The drama queen award goes to Nipa, who will ultimately end up cowering in a corner mumbling over and over "I can't take this anymore"

Next we have Lisa, aka Mrs. Spock, who actually stepped up and showed some chops tonight, but she always appears to be on the verge of doing a Norman Bates shower scene if anyone crosses her..

Then their is Shane, who always looks like he is ready to cry.

Aaron did a great job.

Geoffrey (sp?) made nasty looking corn something or other but his culinary education will keep him around awhile..

The perky little blond chick will be a finalist because...well just because she is cute and perky.

Jen is just enough of a wallflower to avoid elimination for a few more shows.

Adios Kevin, I hear Mickey D's is looking for some help.

Edited June 9, 2008 by Old Timer (log)

[Fpoint]

I thought it was very funny how fast Giada was to criticize the young perky blond.

Edited June 10, 2008 by Fpoint (log)

[RAHiggins1]

I thought I was very funny how they showed how fast Giada was to criticize the young perky blond.

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She reminds me of the cheerleader skits with Will Ferrill on SNL..

[Reignking]

More Morimoto! Having him as a judge was excellent -- he does not suffer fools.

I will never understand how these challenges help them find someone to be their next show host (as if they haven't thrown enough new hosts/shows at the wall recently).

[CKatCook]

I watched this show for the first time this week because there really wasn't anything else on. I am sorry the raw egg was gross! And Nipa's little act was ridiculous, IMO.

[chezcherie]

weren't we teased with a shot of ms. prada falling to the train floor last week? unless i fell asleep (entirely possible), that was not featured this week. i hate to admit it, but that was the main reason i watched at all.

[JanMcBaker]

Relax, pour yourself a glass of wine, put your feet up and prepare to be entertained. The challenges are impossible and designed for failure. Why gnash the teeth, just recognize the show for what it is...cooking reduced to the lowest possible denominator that possibly exists 

Right now I'm rooting for Aaron (I think that's his name) the hospital catering cook because, at the moment, he's the most real person on the set.

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Granted, I have not been watching the series, but reading the comments here is going to get me watching them. And as for the challenges being impossible, it would be an interesting twist to have the judges draw straws and the 'winner' gets to do the challenge also. After all, let's see how a professional would do it!

[Jane Die]

Wasn't Nipa's little emotional break-down a replay of LAST SEASON's winner, who also declared at one point she just couldn't take it anymore and stormed off, then came back to explain that she REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to be the next Food Network Star? And then she was? I'm ashamed that I even know this. Now I'm freaked out.

And they let Nipa stay!? I'd have tossed her off the train (and I love Indian cuisine), but frankly, the woman appears to know very little about it. Sad, too, because i think Food Network could use a program that covers Indian cuisine in depth, but I'm thinking about someone like Suvir Saran. Or Suvir Saran himself. Or someone knowledgeable on the subject. You know. Like an expert. Not this Nipa person.

*sheds a croc tear for Nipa*

And Robert Irvine? Hello? Didn't he just recently get... caught... ? Never mind.

*slaps forehead*

And the week before last? I'm still not over it. Morimoto looked like he'd rather be ANYWHERE but at that table. I loved that after the Neeley's said something about a dish being tasty, Morimoto said it was not fit for human consumption. *laughed my arse off*

Heh.

[gfweb]

Morimoto was great! Flay looks pretty disgusted at times too.

They should have Ray, Lee and Fieri be the judges. They aren't looking for a Morimoto or a Flay; they want another Fieri.

[Dignan]

I saw a good deal of this most recent episode, and I liked the Romulan. She seemed to be the only one who had a handle on being there, and the reasons why they are there. But does she always have those phaser burns on her cheeks?

I'm tired of the FN captioning Morimoto's english. I can understand him -- is it that difficult for others? On IC, they do a voiceover when he talks, and I can usually understand him through the voiceover.

While I'm at it, I don't care for the two FN execs, Mr. Milquetoest and That Lady. That look of concern and worry they always beam at the contestants. You should be worried. You're television executives on a stupid stupid TV show that purports to contribute to your network's Mission.

[bcsuka]

I'm tired of the FN captioning Morimoto's english.  I can understand him -- is it that difficult for others?  On IC, they do a voiceover when he talks, and I can usually understand him through the voiceover.

While I'm at it, I don't care for the two FN execs, Mr. Milquetoest and That Lady.  That look of concern and worry they always beam at the contestants.  You should be worried.  You're television executives on a stupid stupid TV show that purports to contribute to your network's Mission.

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Quoted for truth

[PatDC]

Nipa is annoying me to all end. I had to laugh last night at the karmic payback after she cleaned out the grocery shelf of all the cayenne pepper to make her special sugar-cayenne spice mix to put on peanuts. Aaron came along and really needed cayenne to make his salad dressing and there was absolutely no cayenne on the shelves. He had to settle for some kind of jalapeno preparation instead and was worried about how it would wreck his salad dressing.

Then she fell flat on her face with the spice mixture, and Aaron killed with his salad dressing . The apple cider salad dressing was Martha Stewart's favorite product. (Was it Martha who pointed out that it was misleading for Nipa to have "peanut" in the name of the product when there was no peanut in it?)

Despite having disliked Lisa at first, I find myself increasingly liking her. I especially liked the way she offered the lamb to Nipa the previous week so she could do her Indian thing with it.

[Slamdunkpro]

(Was it Martha who pointed out that it was misleading for Nipa to have "peanut" in the name of the product when there was no peanut in it?)

I thought that was a pretty weak comment on Martha's part (didn't she look thrilled to be there) - Montreal Steak Seasoning doesn't have any beef in it.

[gfweb]

And Jamaican jerk seasoning has no Jamaican jerks.

[PatDC]

(Was it Martha who pointed out that it was misleading for Nipa to have "peanut" in the name of the product when there was no peanut in it?)

I thought that was a pretty weak comment on Martha's part (didn't she look thrilled to be there) - Montreal Steak Seasoning doesn't have any beef in it.

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It may have also been that the name of the product was confusing. It seemed like a strange product to be marketing, or an overly specialized one. Calling it spice mix for nuts would have been a lot clearer. If I hadn't watched her make it, I would probably have wondered what peanut seasoning was too.

Martha didn't look too happy but added some gravitas to the proceedings. Poor Kelsey, serving Sloppy Joes to Martha Stewart .

[PopsicleToze]

Last night was my first episode to watch this season. Someone earlier said something about one of the contestants being like a parody of all Food Network stars – and, oh, was she so easy to spot. When she said something about a Food Network host having to think about the big picture – it wasn’t just the food; it wasn’t just the cooking – it was about “the empire” and she was so serious in a SNL kindof way. I thought I was going to fall off the sofa laughing so much.

[RAHiggins1]

Tell me who went home so I do not have to weaste an hour of my life watching anything martha stewart related. This episode just didn't seem interesting enough to make time for it in the previews.