Next Food Network Star: Michael Gets Nixed at Fort Dix

So now we’re down to five chefs - Adrien, Rory, Amy, Paul, and Jag. Michael has been cut, which was actually no surprise. At this pace the show will be finished in a month.


This week we've learned that several of our contestants have embellished the truth or stretched it or failed to reveal the full picture in order to put themselves in the best light possible. Rory was in a CMT reality series in 2005. Paul tried out for Top Chef and failed. And Adrien still has a job. At first I felt sorry for him for losing his job as a delivery man in order to find his moment in the sun, only to discover that he hosts a weekly food show, Home For Dinner at J-TV in Michigan. My pardon if he got fired from both jobs.

JAG has stretched the truth quite a bit. He did not complete New York Restaurant School; he probably did not serve in Afghanistan as a corporal or was even deployed there. Food Network has amended his biography, and JAG has changed the information on My Space. How stupid can you get? Isn’t JAG young enough to understand the power of the web in uncovering information?

Does this news shatter my world? No. In the big scheme of things, who cares? However, JAG’s stretching of the truth may boomerang, since the fans will be voting for their favorite chef after the final contest. But the news about the others? Meh!

Still, a few of them are coming across as Fame Whores, in particular JAG and Rory, who can taste fame so bad she trembles thinking about it.

Having said this, here’s this week’s recap!

The chefs cooked for the soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey this week. The short challenge was in particularly interesting. The six remaining chefs had exactly 20 minutes to reinvent MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). This meant that they had to think quick on their feet. The judges were Giada deLaurentiis and two army officers, who judged the chefs on the meal and their presentation.
Surprisingly, JAG, who felt in his element, did not win the challenge. Paul won with his chicken meal and honey Dijon glaze, and his charming presentation. His win was crucial, in that he got to choose the teams for the second challenge and the foods they would cook.

Paul was smart in his strategy: He paired Michael and Adrien because he felt there were too many male chefs, paired himself with JAG, who was familiar with Mess Hall kitchens, and gave the female team a relatively easy dish, lasagna. His rationale for giving the chicken pot pie to the Adrien/Michael team was simple: Chicken Pot Pie has many elements, and will take a longer time to prepare. So Paul predicted they would experience a time crunch. He was right. With only 10 minutes to go, Adrien could not defrost the frozen fruit in time, as was noted by the judges.

The Paul/JAG team was initially a delight to watch and I thought, "They should do a cooking show together." But then JAG's Achilles heel began to rear it's ugly bare spot again. JAG lost his cool when the ovens didn't work. In a blink of an eye he changed from a happy, confident chef into an angry, cursing guy. Not cool if you want to stand in front of millions and exude happiness, like guest judge Paula Deen, who frankly gets on my nerves.

The judging was fair, as the judges took the diner's critique cards into account. I'll say this for NFNS, even if you disagree with the premise of this show, the judging remains consistent.

Paul and JAG won because their food and presentation were the best. Rory and Amy were saved because of their presentation. Adrien was saved, but he has a lot of ground to make up.

And Michael never really shone. He couldn't describe his food aesthetic, so if there is no hook, where is the television personality? And so he was cut. Michael was a gentleman and a delight to watch, though, and we'll miss him.

As an aside, have you noticed, that as with all these cooking shows, only the young chefs remain? Michael's cooking performance was ok; in fact the judges loved his thin crispy potato topping, but his on-air personality did not shine. And that bit about being a Vietnam Vet? Boy, did that sink like a stone with the soldiers. Where Adrien's cooking skills are suspect, the camera just loves him. So the judges were right to keep him.

Here are the results of last week's poll, by the way.

The poll is still open. And you can just ignore Michael, who never received any votes to begin with. Of the remaining chefs, who do you prefer? Your vote will be cast on top of last week's votes, and you can vote once a day. The poll will remain open until there are only four chefs left.

Who Is Your Favorite Remaining Next Food Network Star Chef?
	JAG
	Adrien
	Rory
	Michael
	Amy
	Paul
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Next Food Network Star: The Winner's Circle Feels Better Than the Chopping Block

One thing is for sure, you can never predict who will cave under pressure and who will rise to the top. On this show, projecting your personality is as important as cooking for the next network star. This week's competition had the contestants grill a dish that would make the cover of the July issue of Bon Appetit magazine.Nikki, who was cut, made the mistake of rehearsing her presentation ahead of time. Consequently, she seemed fake and wooden on air. In addition, she presented a Jamaica Me Crazy Jerk Chicken that had no jerk! Oooh, that's so not good. Especially when the cover of Bon Appetit magazine is the prize. So Nikki, who cooks in sexy high heels, was cut for over scripting her presentation and for an inferior recipe.
The winner, Rory, felt that after last week's awful performance she had something to prove. So she made her special grilled ribs and added a visual twist: grilled canteloupe. This impressed Barbara Fairchild, editor in chief of Bon Appetit magazine, enough to win her over. Look for Rory's dish on the BA cover in July!

A close second was Michael, who is rapidly becoming my favorite chef in this series. He impressed me and the judges with this tip: Throwing the extra herbs for the chicken on the grill to impart a smoky flavor. Confident of his dish, Michael crowed, "My dish makes the home cook look like a cooking star." I was rather disappointed that he didn't win, but I predict he will go far in this competition.

Some other favorite moments in this episode:

Paul reminding Judge Bob Tuschman of a really cute hyper kinetic Jack Russel Terrier.

Colombe mistaking her skirt steak for a flank steak.

Tommy going off camera during the team demo. I don't have a photo of this, but you saw half of him and then he stopped talking.

Guest judge Giada de Laurentiis telling JAG that he "took one for the team," when he picked up the slack during the team demo.

JAG saying that judge Giada is very "hotta."
Tommy observing that JAG's got two speeds in the kitchen: Fast and warp.

Along with Michael, JAG is turning out to be the break out "character" in this show, even though his brash personality doesn't translate well on camera.

Who will stay and who will go next? Tune in next Sunday when two more contestants will be cut.

Click here for a list of the contestants on another blog, and here for the Food Network site.

Goodbye Nikki, and good luck in your culinary future. Don't give us that tough look, girlfriend. Reserve it for the judges!

The Next Food Network Star: Out of the Starting Gate First

Hello! One of us is the next Food Network Star, well, what's left of us. Eleven started out tonight, and two of us already got cut after serving a potluck dinner, creating a wedding cake, and catering a wedding reception from start to finish for 100 people in an impossible six hours.

Sheez! You'd think Food Network would take things slowly and make this a true competition between us and TOP CHEF! After all, we beat them to the starting gate and sprinted out first. Can't they make this show last? What's the hurry?

Our Chef characters are as good as Top Chef's; maybe better. We'll wait and see.

There's Tommy who snores, which is hard when you're all sleeping in one room. He claims he can cook, it's just that he's never had any formal training. Tommy's kind of slow in the kitchen, and he made a really dumb move adding chicken stock to a vegetarian polenta entree. But he's a charmer, and he'll probably go far.

Then there's JAG, a former marine in the shape of a bull dog. He likes to JAG up his cooking. Get it?

Michael Salmon compared himself to a fish all the time. "I'm like the fish, Salmon." Is there any other kind? The judges got tired of his shtick right away and asked him to drop it. He's a nice guy though, and a great team player.

Colombe (pronounced like cologne) looks like Katherine Heigl's twin sister. She's really pretty and you get the idea she was chosen for her looks. Leading the orange team tonight, she demonstrated the leadership skills of an orangutan. You know about these apes, right? They like to live alone. Oh, and out of an $1,800 budget, she spent only $700. For 100 people? Big mistake.

Rory likes to make excuses, and Judge Susie Fogelson jumped all over her telling her to STOP whining, which reduced Rory to near tears. She also decorated the ugliest, least edible wedding cake of the group. It looked like a science project of a volcano that exploded. Ick.

Vivien was beautiful. I mean, a drop down gorgeous Brazilian glamazon. No one chose her for their team, which was a bad portend, since at the end she was eliminated.

All the women are good looking, actually, while some of the men are downright geeky. It's apparent that a few like Tommy, JAG, and Paul are chosen for their PERSONALITIES, and that the women are chosen largely for their sex appeal. Hmmph!

Amy did a great job leading the green team, but oooh she can sound snooty when she talks about her bistro background in Paris. So, shut up, already, Amy. You're competing in the land of American fries. Her green team did not spend all its money either. No one thought to purchase expensive foods, as they were all fixated on staying under budget. In fact Colombe's team ran out of food at the reception!

Paul made a neat gay wedding cake with two grooms standing on top. He's kinda cute, especially when he fed the bride and groom's dog, but he can be kinda bitchy too, not telling Tommy about the chicken stock because "This is a competition!"

Adrien is also a cutie. He quit his job as a delivery man to compete. His gamble might not pay off, since the judges told him to punch up his food and his personality.

Nikki is a diva: gorgeous and tough. I'd hate to meet her carrying a cleaver in a dark alley. She might be too tough to make a good television food host, but who knows? If she keeps spilling her food all over the judges, like she did with Bobby Flay (hee hee hee), she'll soon be gone.

And then there was Patrick who never really made much of an impression on us before he was eliminated. Too bad. He seemed like such a nice guy. (Don't they always finish last?)

We all get along, really, although we hate sleepin in those tiny bunk beds. Ah, well, we have a week to rest up before another one of us is eliminated. Now, let's hope The Food Network gets their website up to speed. They've hardly put up anything about us yet.


Click here to go to the Food Network website.