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Spoiler warning of the week: Here’s the review for the sixth episode of Next Food Network Star, but first the recap video, followed by my commentary … so if you didn’t catch it Sunday night and are planning to watch it during one of the repeats this week, don’t click and don’t read, silly! Otherwise, enjoy.
Wow. Flip, flip, flip. This show did a 180. And yes, that was a good thing. Especially how last week’s show annoyed me. Whereas last night, not only did all the little annoying things go away (at least for now) but wham, surprise and suprise again!
Judges … I know you guys have had this television show and episode edited and in the can for months now. Otherwise I would be under the delusion that you actually heard what I said last week. Since I know you didn’t, wow.
Having had the “blonde kids” shine for two weeks in a row and saying last week that the kids were going to the end, and that either Adam or Aaron would be going this week. Bam! (as a certain former FN chef would say). It went 180 degrees. Total difference. Flip and flop and wham yes I look like a fool now. You caught me off guard Next Food Network Star. You got me. I’ve been punked! LOL!
In case you don’t know, the five remaining finalists have to come with a four-minute meal that’s nutritious and enjoyed by the palates of five Girl Scout brownies. Then cook and present that dish on The Rachael Ray Show while engaging Rachael, the little kid, the audience and the camera, yes and making the dish. Whew!
Who thought Aaron could pull it out? First, having not done so by now, didn’t think he could. Second it’s a lot easier to tone down a Kelsey than it is to bring out someone’s personality as with Aaron. And yet … he did it. Then there’s fellow Philly boy Adam, who could be so spectacular on the camera at the same time making food that wasn’t bad? (Even Bob Tucheman said Adam seemed so much more like a real guest on Rachael not so much a contestant.)
Who thought adding little kids would motivate Aaron and sink Shane? For Aaron it brought out the parent, the cool dad in him. For 20-something year old Shane who’s just no longer a kid, it sank him. Who’d think a former Nickelodeon kid star would be bad with kids? Go figure. Who thought Lisa could ever lose her voice and nerve and be intimidated by Rachael, and yet she became part zombie during her four minutes? Though before that it was both funny and somehow pathetic way watching her bulldoze a kid into agreeing to one of her high-scale meals.
As to the things I griped last week regarding the judges, none of that was apparent last night. No finishing each others sentences as though Bob and Sue were unconjoined twins. Not a single utterance by Sue of her catch-phrase of the season, the word “headline”. In fact, even though there was a surprising amount of air time devoted to the judges talking … It was not in the least (am I actually saying this?) a bad thing. It was good in fact. For the first time since the show ran this season, it didn’t feel put together or scripted. The judges came off all sensible and understanding and such. What this means is previous edits of judges remarks into soundbytes are what made the judges look like (those times they did) like idiots or automotons or uncaring bastard people.
It’s really all in the editing. These reality shows. All of them. You can edit someone into seeming competant or a moron, into being good or evil. Etc etc. So well done NFNS for showing folks what really goes on and how the judges really are sensible and human. If only you could do that all the time, without using a full 20 minutes, that would be awesome. Serioiusly.
So … heated up competition, surprises galore, judges shown to be likeable and human. As much as I truely enjoyed this weeks show, there’s that part of me just waiting for the shoe to drop in the coming weeks. I’m not going to get caught off guard again after I praised episodes 2 through 4 and then saw the crap of episode 5. I’m hoping five was just the blip, the oddity. But then the first episode was horrdendous. Ok, let’s just keep going week by week. At this rate you never know what you’re going to get. And maybe — maybe — that’s a good thing.
Here’s the video preview of what’s happening on this week’s episode of The Next Food Network Star on Sunday night at 10pm.
The remaining five finalists are each paired with an 8-year-old Girl Scout, for whom they must invent a healthy and tasty meal. Then, the finalists find out that they must join Rachael Ray and demo the meal on The Rachael Ray Show, with their Girl Scout, in front of a live studio audience.
I only discovered this “show in a show” at the very end (thankfully). Apparently for the past bunch of Mondays, The Rachael Ray Show has been having a cooking competition called “Hey, Can You Cook?“. This morning was week four of four and the day they crown the winner. Apparently it began with five contestants and we lost one each week. If you’re that interested in a chronology of events, visit the link above. Otherwise, for me, I’m just talking about the last show … because if I had to actually look at any of the others I’d no doubt hurl.
Yes yesterday the cooking died on television when (and it’s scary when you really can’t blame the contestant) some guy won a challenge by making hot dogs and scallops as his (to quote Rachael) fine dining upscale challenge. The contestant he beat out made hot dogs and spaghetti in case you were curious.
Oh and Gordon Ramsay was there as judge. Yes, Gordon next to Rachael. And there he was judging a (cough, choke, spew) “haute cuisine” challenge. Wow payback really is a b***h. (Go check out the video here where he talks about Rachael as the woman who abbreviates things and puts food in her breasts — referring to the way she gets the food out to prepare on her cooking show.)
Even so, I still felt sorry for him, I mean: dogs with pasta, scallops and weiners. I think I’m going to lose it.When he saw what they were going to cook and what he was going to eat he said “Oh, my”. I know how much he wanted to say something more appropriately Ramsayian like “**** me!” — because he was, basically.
The guy who won gets a trip to Paris and four days at a French cooking school. I can’t wait for them to ask him “and what meal did you make that got you here?” Hopefully when he replies the culinary instructors don’t all die from strokes and embolisms.
(Apologies to Don McLean!)
How the contestants really tried
with their hotdogs cooked and fried
Rachael this I can’t abide
The day the cooking died
Oh bye bye my homemade baked pie
scallops and weiners just made me cry
need a stomach pump and an ambulance ride
Screaming “this’ll be the day that I die;
Oh, this’ll be the day that I die.”
What is “Cafe Una Notte”? It means Cafe One Night, and that’s exactly what it is, one night a year when a restaurant becomes Rachael Ray’s restaurant, a 75-seat affair in which five young (and we mean young) aspiring chefs cater the affair. In this case, having been picked up at the airport and then hooked up with Iron Chef Michael Symon.
In addition to the chance to hang in the kitchen with [Bill] Clinton and Food Network notables, the teens also each got $10,000 scholarships [….] It also kicked off the launch of Ray’s new cookbook, “Yum-o! The Family Cookbook,” all of the proceeds from which — including her $500,000 advance — will benefit the group.
The fundraiser attended by Bill Clinton, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Joy Behar and Katie Lee [Joel] among others turned into a private concert when [Carly] Simon took the stage to sing a four-song set
The event which transpired on April 28th was shown for the first time on yesterday’s Rachael show.
From l to r: Chloe Langis, Bernie Roles, Rachael Ray, Rhiannon Wildman, former President Bill Clinton, Aria Anastasio, Brett Bush, and Iron Chef Michael Symon. AP Photo/The Rachael Ray Show, Mark Von Holden
Telepictures, Warner Bros.’ production arm, is adding to that roster by signing a deal with Food Network star Paula Deen to host a daytime cooking show, sources familiar with the matter said.
Ms. Deen would become the next big name to come out of Food Network, following Rachael Ray’s ratings success in her debut season. Ms. Deen is currently one of Food Network’s top draws with her Southern flair, hosting series Paula’s Home Cooking and Paula’s Party for the cable channel.
[…] “It seems like, unlike recent years, distributors are taking a particularly aggressive look at 2009 and going back to developing around marquee names,” said Bill Carroll, senior VP and director of programming at Katz Media. “When you look at the most recent successful entry into the talk show ranks in Rachael Ray, it makes sense to turn to someone with the appeal of Paula Deen for a show of her own.”
I only discovered this “show in a show” at the very end (thankfully). Apparently for the past bunch of Mondays, The Rachael Ray Show has been having a cooking competition called “
