Sunday, June 26, 2016

Food Network Star Episode 6 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

Photo - Food Network
On tonight's episode of Food Network Star the remaining contestants had to transform food into art, but it had to be done with a savory dish. Duff Goldman was on hand to help Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis judge. Then in a second challenge the finalists have to be a guest on Rhett and Link's popular Youtube show Good Mythical Morning and present their "Will it?" dish that pairs two unique foods.

Tregaye and Damiano were determined the winners of the first challenge, but it didn't give them any advantages.  In the second challenge, the judges decided that Jernard and Tregaye, were the top two and were safe from elimination. Damiano, Erin, and Anna were also safe leaving Rob and Joy as the bottom two. After deliberation, the judges chose to send Rob Burmeister home.

On Star Salvation, Yaku Moton-Spruill, Monterey Salka, and Rob Burmeister competed for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and Rob Burmeister was also eliminated from Star Salvation, so he will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Worst Cooks In America: Celebrity Edition Season Two Cast

Photo - Instagram
Anne Burrell revealed that her and Rachael Ray began filming of the second season Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition a few weeks ago on Instagram.  None of the celebrities that were on the show were identified, but Daily Mail recently had a story about Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore throwing a tantrum after being eliminated.  In that story, the other celebrities on the show were listed.   Kenya has since denied throwing a tantrum, but we will see if it makes it on the show.

The celebrities that will appear on the second season of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition (assuming that article had them correct) are listed below as well as what they are known for.  When you have to google names to figure out who many of them are (which I did for you), the term "celebrity" is used very loosely.
  • Kenya Moore - Reality star - Real Housewives of Atlanta, Celebrity Apprentice, former Miss USA
  • Nicole Sullivan - Actress best known for being on MADtv and The King of Queens
  • Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino -  Reality star - The Jersey Shore, Dancing With The Stars
  • Loni Love - Comedienne who guest appeared on many shows such as Chelsea Lately, also co-host of The Real.
  • Barbara Eden - Actress best known for her role of Jeannie on I Dream of Jeannie.
  • Tommy Davidson - Comedian best known for his role on 90's show In Living Color
  • John Henson - Comedian and host - known for hosting Talk Soup and co-hosting Wipeout 
  • Mindy Cohn - Actress best known for her role as Natalie on The Facts of Life and being the voice of Velma on Scooby Doo.
  • Matt Dallas - Actor best known for role as lead character on Kyle XY.

Last year, there were only seven celebrities that competed, and Jenni "JWOWW" Farley from Jersey Shore won the competition.  We will see if Mike aka 'The Situation' can make it two for two for Jersey Shore alumni.  Season one of Worst Cooks In America: Celebrity Edition aired in September, so look for season two to begin around the same time.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Robert Irvine Talk Show Coming to CW Network

Photo - PRNewswire
Robert Irvine will be starring in his own talk show on the CW Network starting in September called The Robert Irvine Show.  The show will be 60 minutes long airing Monday-Friday from 3pm-4pm and it is described as "a 60-minute daytime conflict resolution talker."

Robert has mentioned this talk show in many previous interviews, but this press release reveals more information about the show and had the TV network and approximate start date.  The Robert Irvine Show will showcase Robert "providing help to families with his signature "tough love" approach to therapeutic work."  So the show will not have anything to do with cooking but with Robert helping people and families.

Robert Irvine was quoted in the press release saying, "Helping people overcome their most trying obstacles has been an important part of my process since day one. I'm thrilled to be working with Tribune, the CW, and Irwin Entertainment in bringing this exciting new talk format to life."

A lot of people have said Robert Irvine acts like Dr. Phil in a lot of Restaurant: Impossible episodes, so now it appears he actually will be a Dr. Phil type on The Robert Irvine Show.  It remains to be seen if his new show will impact anything with Food Network such as Restaurant: Impossible.

The press release with more information about the show can be found here. 

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Food Network Star Episode 5 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

Photo - Food Network
On tonight's episode of Food Network Star the remaining contestants had to give a food tip/kitchen hack to viewers which was judged by Katie Lee, Bobby Flay, and Giada De Laurentiis.  Then in a second challenge, the finalists had to create a dish for a NASCAR tailgate party.  Robert Irvine was on hand to help judge this challenge and the contestants each got to pick their protein for their dish.


The judges decided that Tregaye, Joy, and Jernard were the top three and were safe from elimination.  Damiano and Erin were also safe leaving Rob, Monterey, and Anna as the bottom three.  After deliberation, the judges chose to send Monterey Salka home.

On Star Salvation, Yaku Moton-Spruill, Aaron Crumbaugh, and Monterey Salka competed for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and the contestant eliminated from Star Salvation was Aaron Crubaugh and he will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Food Network Star Season 11 Runner-Up Jay Ducote Gets Show....On Travel Channel

Photo - Food Network
Food Network Star Season 11 runner-up Jay Ducote announced that he will star in a show called Deep Fried America which is a pilot that will air on Travel Channel rather than Food Network.  You may recall that Deep Fried America was his concept on Food Network Star and the episode is scheduled to air on Saturday, June 25th at 1:30pm ET on Travel Channel.

The description of the show states:
Chef Jay Ducote has a huge passion for all things fried -- deep fried, to be exact. He's headed to Austin to dive into a delicately deep-fried tempura-battered burger, a deep-fried lamb meatloaf sandwich, Thanksgiving dinner fried into a ball and even a deep-fried donut topped with a healthy pile of fried chicken.
Jay has a detailed blog post on how the show came about and here is the brief version:

  • A few weeks after the finale of Food Network Star, Food Network called him and asked if he was still interested in doing Deep Fried America and he said yes.
  • He was assigned a production company and filmed a pilot in November 2015. 
  • The production company did the editing for the pilot and sent it to Food Network, and Jay kept waiting and waiting without hearing anything.
  • He finally got an email sometime after April that said he had an air date for the pilot and it was on Travel Channel.
  • This is only a pilot and Travel Channel will evaluate ratings to decide if they want to film more episodes.

Scripps Networks owns channels such as Food Network, HGTV, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and DIY, so it is still the same company that Jay will be working for.  I wonder why the decision was made to put Deep Fried America on Travel Channel as Food Network and Cooking Channel both have shows where hosts travel around trying foods.

I will update this post with the ratings (if they are available) after the show airs.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Food Network Star Episode 4 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

Photo - Food Network 
On tonight's episode of Food Network Star the remaining contestants had to deliver a trendy remote food report for Entertainment Tonight hosts Nancy O'Dell and Kevin Frazier. In the next challenge, the finalists had to prepare a special tableside dining experience at an upscale hotel restaurant. They are also tested how well they can handle curveballs thrown at them by Hannah Hart and Modern Family's Jessie Tyler Ferguson.

There were three teams of three and the judges decided that there was no winning team.  The bottom three were Jernard Wells, Yaku Moton-Spruill , and Rob Burmeister.  The judges decided t eliminate Yaku Moton-Spruill due to his lobster being pretty much raw.

On Star Salvation, Eddie Jackson and Alex Guarnaschelli were judging the eliminated contestants Yaku Moton-Spruill, Aaron Crumbaugh, and Havrid Usry to see who would have a chance to rejoin the competition.  For some reason Melissa Pfeister and Martita Jara were not competing on Star Salvation.  The first episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and the contestant eliminated was Havrid Usry.  So Melissa, Martita and Havrid will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Bobby Flay's Horse Creator Wins Belmont Stakes

The third leg of the Triple Crown was today at Belmont Park and the winning horse was Creator who won in a photo finish.  Food Network's Bobby Flay actually bought a minority interest in Creator on Wednesday before the Belmont Stakes and here is a video of Bobby Flay in the winner's circle after the race.  I would say his investment has already paid off.

Creator was a 16-1 long shot and paid $34.80, meaning every $2 that was bet on the horse to win paid $34.80. 

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Food Network Star Episode 3 Elimination

Photo - Food Network
On tonight's episode of Food Network Star the remaining contestants each got a name of a dish from Food Network Magazine editor Maile Carpenter and had to create a dish based on that name. Whoever did the best at this challenge would receive and advantage in the following challenge.  That challenge was to shoot a promo for a show called Family Road Trip and the contestants had to work in pairs.  Actress Ali Larter was there to help Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis and Maile Carpenter judge the episode.

Tregaye received the advantage and that gave her the advantage of picking her own co-host while also pairing up everybody else.  She picked Yaku and made the other teams: Ana and Martita, Damiano and Erin, Jernard and Joy, and Monterey and Rob.

The judges decided that the winning team was Jernard and Joy and they would be safe from elimination.  The bottom two teams were Ana and Martita and Tregaye and Yaku.  After deliberation, the judges decided that Martita Jara would be eliminated from Food Network Star for the second time.  Martita will go on to compete in Star Salvation which begins next week.