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It was actually jerk spiced rib eye.. not chicken wings.

I'm happy for Aaron, but, I don't think he was the strongest chef, or did the best audition pilot. However, the network may have been looking for a strong and charismatic black chef to reach a broader audience, and his meals always looked incredible. He just isn't that articulate, too often sounding like he was talking with a mouth full of marbles. Still, I think it's cool that he won because he seems like a great person. I don't think he's going to have the most interesting cooking show however. He had the most difficulties relating to the camera and audience. I don't mean it to sound like a racist thing, because I like Aaron, but, this win feels like an affirmative action event to me.

With all the "what the hell??" moments, in my opinion they got it right.

It is obvious that from the beginning Susie and Bob wanted an African American to win this contest. This time viewers did not vote for the final winner. Also, if you look at recent new shows, the hosts are either African American of Latino. I guess Food Network is awarding new shows solely on affirmative action. This is sad. Bobby Flay had to support what Susie and Bob wanted because they are ultimately his boss. I hope everyone recalls Susie's comment in one of the shows "Our friend Aaron". Once I heard that comment, I knew he would win regardless of the performances of the other finalists. Bottom line, affirmative action wins and the viewers lose.

Oh, right--I forgot that portion of the Civil Rights laws of the early '60's which specified how many hosts of color had to be employed by a "niche" cable network. Well! they took long enough to act on that, didn't they?

Aaron won fair and square, and he made the most progress in the course of the show, from great cook with no stage presence to great cook with a charming, energetic, loving demeanor. He deserved the win.

I could go on and on about this, because I'm amazed to find more than one person supporting the "affirmative action" idea. FN is hiring more and more African-American and Latino hosts because the network has been extremely white for years, in both its hosts and its styles of cooking, and it needed to catch up. That has nothing to do with the best contestant winning TNFNS.

For more, please see my blog, Annie's New York Eats, at http://www.annienewman.typepad.com

O.K. annien we'll just have to agree with fn being politically correct...look at all the past winners from the beginning..looks like a trend to me, a person shouldn't be chosen or win because of thier skin tone or sexual prefrence or even if its a male or female...they should be chosen for thier cooking chop and of course on screen personalty but from the line up that fn has now days...I'll give the guy maybe 3 shows and they'll find something else to do like Ham on the street...they shouldn't even have this ridiculous show if they're gonna go for the flavor of the year

that's a bunch of garbage to say aaron won based on "affirmative action" or whatever nonsense you people can come up with. if aaron was mediocre, then i don't even know what adam was. you think aaron dodged the bullet in vegas? what about adam and his apparent lack of cooking skill in comparison to the others? i can understand thinking lisa deserved it, to a point. she was stiff from beginning to end. was she the best cook? yes, but she was certainly far from being the best or most engaging personality. aaron put together the best of both of the other contestants and that's why he won.

i also want to add, they all were pretty bad for their own special reasons anyways. i just think it's asinine to pull out the affirmative action comments on this one.

btw, i was rooting for lisa, she was like the kobe bryant of this show.

I don't think they picked Aaron JUST because of his race. But, it wouldn't be surprising if that did play a part in the decision making.

Yes, the food network has been pretty damn white until this year and yes, it's good that they're diversifying (it's a shame it took them this long),

But in terms of winning this show, it was still a huge shock to me that Aaron got it. And it's a shame that the other two contestants are losing out on this opportunity either way. Honestly, I think food network could get away with giving all three of them shows. Too bad though

@worldcupfever--LOL, and I don't write that very often.

Shamran--FN "needed to catch up" with their audience, with current trends in food, and with the concept that white people are no longer the cultural majority in this country.

Sorry I was so enigmatic in expressing my opinion. What I meant to say was, you're a narrowminded bigot.

Annien, it is sad that you lowered yourself to name calling. You again affirmed (pun intended) that race was a deciding factor. As I stated before, the agenda at Food Network in its recent new shows has been African American and Latino. Offering a variety of shows and cuisines is a good thing, but awarding any job, show, etc. because of one's race is sad. I guess in your "New York state of mind", that makes me a bigot. You should visit "fly over country" some time.

Aaron is black? The only black that really bothered me was that trendy cod Lisa prepped for her show. I'm sure there's plenty of folks who were eager for her hoity-toity dreck, but I'll take a more down-home approach any day. I really think what they were looking for in the new show was something with a lot of flavor, evidenced by Nipa even making it as a finalist. I for one am looking forward to his show, at least for substance. The interactive idea is really overdue; I'm glad at someone is going to attempt it.

i was totally shocked and agree with rapheal that liza should have won, i was really dissappointed. i think her personality and passion was so strong that i found myself rooting for her every week, not to mention that i would eat her food. over all i think and hope that the food network will do something with her, if they don't it will be a great loss to the network.

I was really pulling for "Always Hungry in Philadelphia". I didn't watch the show very regularly, but did tune into the finale, and Adam's show was the easiest to watch and suprisingly entertaining. Even though beer can chicken is a common recipe, I would look forward to seeing him "re-invent" dinner staples.

I was really pulling for "Always Hungry in Philadelphia". I didn't watch the show very regularly, but did tune into the finale, and Adam's show was the easiest to watch and suprisingly entertaining. Even though beer can chicken is a common recipe, I would look forward to seeing him "re-invent" dinner staples.

I didn't watch it, and I already knew the winner - due to the huge fiasco FN pulled, but just found this tidbit and was a little surprised. It's from
http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/

"I feel sorry for the final three-I think the Food Network owes them an apology for spilling the favas before the ending. As I said the other day, all of the contestants sold their souls to the Foodie Devil when they signed the dotted line to participate. Even though they didn’t win, they are all still under contract and have to remit part of their earnings for the next two years to the Food Network. (Think American Idol.) Yes, I know it makes sense-they got an immense, to say the least, amount of promotion from the FN, and I’m sure Lisa’s catering line is ringing off the hook, but it still feels icky to me."

So, if you already had a business, you have to fork over some of those profits to FN, because presumably, your business would prosper? I need to see what Nipa was up to prior to being a contestant. I wonder if they'd owe the contestants money if the public despised them and their business went under?

That is harsh! The FN is going to be making Adam fork over a percentage of his tips? Someone needs to start a Gertler Fund or give that man a sitcom. (It can be a prequel to Seinfeld: The Adventures of Young Kramer.)

Wow. I'm amazed and a bit disgusted. Why is it that Aaron could not have been hired simply on the merits of his skill and not his race? He excelled in his food the entire show and the judges were able to taste and take that into consideration. The people saying its affirmative action are also probably the same people who criticize others for using the race card. Saying that Aaron won b/c he's black is equivalent and ridiculous. It’s a shame that a black person can’t succeed without someone calling it affirmative action. Open your mind, it can happen simply because one is the better candidate.

Holy crap they make the contestants pay a percentage back to Food Network.

Does Top Chef do this as well?

Aaron was chosen for his own very good merit. Don't buy the affirmative action bit, he has more in common with most people who view this show, the real people, no matter what race, etc., his food is great and I think he has a lot more in store for us. It will be a great thing that he does. He's got what the public would like to see. Lisa, needs to step down from the pedestal she is on. She may know a thing or two about food? but she puts a sour and stiff note out there. Her singing is just as pretentious as she is and the squinting eyes (it made me suddenly start thinking of Kathy Lee). It's like watching a robotic model/cook with apron running around behind a stove and counter. Really liked Adam, thought he has a lot to offer and his style. At some point we will see him again. If not I think he will do well where ever he goes.

So he does the worst in the last two episodes but wins. The whole time your watching, your seeing ads for two new shows on the network featuring blacks. Now we have realitiy TV affirmative action for food network stars? Listen: Lisa was clearly the winner and the only one who had the whole package ready to go tomorrow. If some people didn't like her because she was too good looking thats their problem. Aaron didn't even know what a chipotle was! Remember when he forgot to cook the chicken and Lisa had to tell him - he woulda lost without her! Its a fix!

i think it's incredibly sad that people thought aaron's race had anything to do with him getting picked. just because their favorite didn't get picked, everybody got all childish and sought the easiest cop out. if lisa got picked, would everybody be talking about "oh, it's another woman" or "garza?! they picked her just cause she has a hispanic last name"?

Whatever happen to Amy from last year?

I wanted Adam to win, and if not him, Lisa. Aaron is too inarticulate to host his own show. The only time this show got it right, was with Guy Fieri. I hope to hear more from Adam.

While I found Adam extremely likeable, I prefer Aaron as a chef. When he made the awesome almost forgotten chicken parmesan in like 10 minutes, he won it for me. He's very talented and experienced and I'm interested to learn his secrets.

Lisa is, of course, extremely talented. However, she doesn't come across as a likeable or even as a very nice person. (It actually doesn't matter what she's really like since all you get is the TV persona.) I think she could do with some psychotherapy and perhaps with watching a bunch of old Julia Child shows. She needs to either become more generous or figure out how to let her innate generosity show.

Last year the local PBS station showed an old Julia Child episode during its raising money week and as soon as the show was over, I immediately went into the kitchen and made the recipe. I'd totally forgotten what it was to watch a cooking show where I could hardly wait to start cooking. (Well, Alton Brown does sometimes but his whole schtick kind of gets on my nerves.)

JC was considerably older than Lisa when she got her start on TV -- Lisa's still got time to be the next Martha Stewart since that seems to be her goal.

I voted on the site for my 'fan favorite'; IIRC Kelsey was at the top and Aaron second (when I voted). I don't remember where Lisa ranked, but I thought it was pretty low. I think her show would probably be fine for many foodies, but I doubt it would have the wide appeal everyone here seems to think it would. Or maybe y'all are just wishful thinking that FN is geared for serious home cooks?

I thought that Lisa had it as soon as she started singing at the Los Vegas buffet competition -- still, I liked all three finalists and thought that Aaron had a lot of charm and very robust cookery. It'll be interesting what happens when he is filming without being in a competition.

I think it's safe to say that we can put an end to any nonsense about affirmative action; as I have said (and Annien, blackolive, Jeana, all more persuasively than I), the FN has other priorities and Aaron, at the very least, consistently made what was judged to be the best tasting food -- which is a start for the FN; I think we can agree that he made good progress. Adam is awesome and needs his own show on some other network.

It's also safe to say that we can move beyond any idea that the FN is or ever was committed to diversity or justice. We'd only have to remember that they have had, in their entire history, never been committed to either. I would only have to invoke the short-lived "Melting Pot" to which was relegated every foreign form of cookery. It was genuinely one of the most interesting shows (Indian food; Chinese food; Eastern-European/Jewish food) in terms of novel techniques and information, despite the fact that it had a motley rotation of others every episode (I think it was Padma, Susur Lee, etc.). Ming Tsai's show also did not last. Two Hot Tamales did not last either. And not even Mario Batali who made Italian, and not Italian-American food (i.e., Giada), did not last. Any alarmist response about a trend of a handful of shows on FN is pretty silly. For every "Down Home with the Neely's" there is "Food Detectives" and Paula Deen's mentally retarded sons, and Ace of Cakes.

We can also very easily dismiss any notion that the FN should live up to hiring the most qualified and best candidates because of the simple fact that Sandra Lee and Marc Summers are on air and have comfortably retained their shows. Neither of them are the best qualified candidates for anything. So most qualified means nothing.

Also, by all accounts, Amy was disgusted with the FN and decided she wanted out. She wasn't great, mind you, but she had a brain. And that's enough to turn one off from the FN.

Aaron won because of his race? Affirmative action? I'm stunned to learn that such claims would even occur to people in this day and age. Aaron, with his cooking skill, humor, warmth, and ability to respond to direction, was the strongest contender for host of a cooking show, hands down. Lisa may be a superb chef, but I don't see her as drawing a wide audience. She's pretentious. She also seems to be emotionally fragile. Adam is pleasant and at ease in front of the camera. but his repertoire seems fairly limited.

Some of these responses just depress me.

Ok, forget the race aspect. Every week Aaron says, "I know I've got to do better. They didn't see the real Aaron." And every week the judges basically say, "You didn't cook well and you didn't have any personality but we know the real Aaron is inside there." And then his great "concept" for a show is SPICES! Boy, that's never been done before. So, can't cook, personality doesn't come through, and no unique angle to his show. Sounds like a sure fire hit!

I thought the whole contest was mediocre at best. I much prefer the gritty, vulgar "Top Chef", Lisa and all. Even Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen" was better than this. Running around and cooking on a moving train? Who was the genious behind that one? And I like Bobby Flay, but's what's with the ugly, wide ties?

The Food Network folks just picked a loser with Aaron. It will no doubt be one of the many BORRRRRING food shows they produce on that channel. It's amazing they kept him around as long as they did. Makes me wonder if the fix was in from the start. Funny that they created a third slot in the final after he did so poorly on the Las Vegas buffet challenge. His presentation was poor and the food worse. Even on the final show it appears the producers were trying to help his performance by showing the audience laughing at Aaron's un-funny comments. I wouldn't doubt those were spliced in from the Adams segment since he was the only one who truly entertained. Watch the finale again to see. Reality TV this wasn't.

Aaron was neither an outstanding cook nor an outstanding personality. I was scratching my head at this decision. True that the other choices along the way all had some problems and would need some massaging, but the whole season Aaron continually messed up, delivered bad food, disappointed the judges and couldn't deal with being on camera. And all I saw that was "bold" flavorings was his continually adding crushed red pepper to every dish. He didn't even know what a chipotle is!

I feel like I'm in a Mike Myers sketch. "The Next Food Network star Aaron is neither a FOOD expert nor a STAR: discuss!"

OR...

it's just another stupid reality show and the producers picked who they wanted to pick, demographics & race be damned.

FN will have to do a lot to get me to be a regular watcher again. Sacrificing actual cooking shows for "personality" oriented programs feels very Fine Living/Style Network to me. (Maybe they can start airing that Dutch Oven cooking show on RFD-TV. Seriously.)

I'm really confused - have we all watched the same show? Because in the show I watched, Aaron's food, for the most part, earned high praise from the judges - pardon, selection committee, as well as guest judges, from the very first episode on. The only "bad" food Aaron delivered was his fish, and his unimaginative Las Vegas buffet - even though everybody was still raving about his crab cakes. Otherwise, his food was consistently good, according to the judges. Moreover, he was the only one who managed to beat his "competitor's" signature dish in the Throwdown challenge - everybody else aced their own and failed their competitor's, Aaron was the only one who aced both. So where does "consistently delivered bad food and messed up" come from?

The unreasonable hatred towards Aaron amazes me ("unreasonable" as in, based on made-up "facts", I'm not saying he's universally likable and we all must love him), and I find the "race card theory" infuriating and nauseating. Some people seem to be like little children in a shopping mall - they throw a temper tantrum if they don't get what they want. It's a TV show, there is no reason to be that nasty and hateful.

One other thing - as long as the FN has Sandra Lee on, pretty much anybody deserves to have her or his own show.

After this controversy, I wonder if they'll have another season of NFNS. Oh, and the comment about "if Sandra Lee can have a show, then anyone can" - I TOTALLY agree with that. I can't STAND her.

It is not the least bit racist to propose that Aaron won because the FN execs were looking at big ratings for The Neelys and wanted to have another black show host with a similar personality. It's just the reality of the TV business. And had Adam won I would have said it was because they decided a young, urban, Jewish host would appeal to the widest audience, and if Lisa won it would have been because of the Martha Stewart wannabe demographic. Are people naive enough to think that any competition "reality" show is decided solely on merit?

Aaron wouldn't have been my choice, but I think he will do fine, because remember - what we see in the challenges has nothing to do with the actual business of producing a television show. What finally airs is an edited end product, filtered through teams of producers, writers, consultants. Which brings up how silly the whole Next FN Star concept is. Could any of their reigning "stars" deftly handle the challenge of cleaning a squid without any preparation or coaching? Could Rachel Ray give a technically correct description of some dish she'd never seen before? (The contestants are told to avoid meaningless descriptions like "fabulous" and "delicous." What about "yummo.") Most of the challenges were similarly irrelevant. Shane got the boot in part because he could not relate to an 8 year old girl. Who cares? Is this the Next Nickelodeon Star? (A low point of the season was Shane being mocked by the judges for never having been to France. That was elitist and just plain creepy.)

There are some legitimate reasons to feel that Aaron's choice was predetermined. There is no denying that he bombed in Vegas. He was embarassing in front of the live audience, and his buffet was universally judged the worst of the three. Since cooking was supposed to his strong suit over the other two that should have signalled his elimination. Then there was Susie F.'s earlier "our buddy Aaron" comment, which I actually thought was condescending and somewhat demeaning. On the final show, if the ultimate critera was truly, as the judges said, who could step in front of the camera immediately, then the order of finish should have been Adam, Lisa, Aaron. But then the winner is Aaron, who had said that the cameramen made him nervous. Just another example of the inconsistency from the judges that dominated the entire season. Adam's passion for food is constantly questioned, when the guy owned and cooked for a restaurant. (And when Adam won the buffet challenge, Bobby Flay grudgingly said, "well, he got to do the one thing he knows, smoking meats. Did anyone else detect a note of jealousy?) Some contestants are raked over the coals for not having extensive food knowledge, but then Shane, a graduate of the Culinary Institute, is criticized for having too much book learning. (For that matter, the show's producers are the ones who choose to have 19 or 21 year contestants, who are then criticized for lack of real world experience.)

All in all, this season was not as much of a train wreck as last year, when the "winner" was Amy Finley, who spent the entire series crying that she didn't want to be there, quite once, then was eliminated, then got brought back after the JAG scandal so they could have a final two and won in a sympathy vote. I actually think that any of this year's final three are capable of having a show. In fact, I would prefer any of these three, as well as Shane and Kelsey (maybe teamed together?) to some of the current "stars." Today was the debut of Ask Aida, an "interactive" show, the same concept Adam proposed. Aida is pretty and apparently has an impressive professional resume, but she was completely wooden in front of the camera and way less entertaining than Adam. Maybe all Food Network host should be forced to compete for their jobs a al Next FN Star.

PS - Aaron got his official FN introduction today on Downhome with The Neelys. So if you call people who suggest his pick was based on demographics "racist" then you should call the FN racist for putting him on with The Neelys instead of Giada or Sandra Lee. The Neelys talked about how much they related to Aaron, their similar family backgrounds etc. So clearly there is a strategy to say, hey if you like The Neelys you'll want to watch Big Daddy. That's not racism or affirmative action. That's show business!

I starting "rooting" for Aaron about midway thru the competition. It was a really close match up of talent, but for me it came down to who I would rather watch and be "entertained" by. Aaron is the best fit for the newest lineup of Foodnetwork Celeb chefs. Last year, Amy beat out Rory because of the audience vote and then fell flat when it came to personality for the screen. No doubt she's a talented cook...not so much someone I'd set the Tevo for. I also think that by airing "Big Daddy's Kitchen" directly after the competion will keep viewers interested and not forgetting why they cared in the first place, 6 months after the fact. I'm a fan, Big Daddy...Good Luck!

I was happy that Aaron won! For me, it was between he & Adam - I could have watched either one. Lisa annoyed the heck out of me and seemed more concerned at the way she was looking on TV rather than what she was doing. I'm sure her cooking is good, but she just didn't have that humble persona that Adam & Aaron gave out. Hats off to you, Aaron! I'll definitely be tuning in for your show!!

I am not disappointed with the outcome even though I thought Lisa Garza was terrific. I liked Aaron very much from the very beginning. That said, I do think they might have been looking for something different or ethnic. I acutally thought they started out favoring Nipa (I think that is her name) because her Indian food was good and very different from anything else currently on the FN. But, she just was not the right personality for the task and she was not openminded about some of the foods (remember the fish?). She should have been dumped one session before she finally did get the ax. Arron will be fine and he will be appealing and likable. Aside from Nipa, I think any one of the contestants could be coached to be successful.