'The Next Food Network Star' Week 3
In this week's episode of The Next Food Network Star, the remaining contestants faced two dinner party challenges. The first was to shop for a party of twelve on a $60 budget. The second was to get into groups of two and serve Ina Garten and eleven others dinner made with those ingredients. In true reality show fashion, there were more than a few meltdowns.
[Warning, spoilers ahead]
Stew Leonard's Shopping Challenge
The finalist were deposited at a Stew Leonard's grocery store and were given a budget of $60. In addition, each contestant had to record a 30 second clip on how to save on grocery shopping, with Tyler Florence judging the performances. Katie advised saving on proteins by focusing on inexpensive grains. Michael completely fumbled his clip by having no preparation, and Jamika suggested reusing a marinade the next day—a surefire way to poison your guests. Jeff impressed Florence with his story of making crepes with his daughter, and won the challenge.
Ina Garten's Dinner Party
The next day, the contestants were off to East Hampton, New York, and taken to Ina Garten's house and instructed to make a dinner (appetizer, entree, and dessert) for Ina and her friends. As the winner of the first challenge, Jeff was able to pick his parter. He chose Michael. The other teams were Teddy and Debbie, Jamika and Katie, and Melissa and Eddie. In the pairing, each contestant does one of the courses and they collaborate on the third course.
Eddie and Melissa served their meal first. Eddie made a sweet onion, watermelon and feta salad, Melissa made lemon-thyme chicken and they collaborated on the dessert of bananas foster Nutella quesadillas. In the kitchen, Eddie's disdain for Melissa was very clear. Ina and the judges also thought that Eddie's salad was inedible.
Next, Debbie and Teddy serve their meal. Debbie made an vegetable linguine with an Asian marinara sauce, they collaborated on an Asian-style meatloaf, and Teddy was supposed to make a strawberry shortcake for dessert. Unfortunately, Teddy waited until the last five minutes to make the dessert. As a result, the dessert was an absolute failure.
The next team was Jeff and Michael. They collaborated on the appetizer of a roasted tomato and chile soup. Michael's entree was grilled chicken, sausage, and broccoli rabe on a crostini. Jeff made the dessert, reusing his idea from the earlier challenge of Nutella crepes. The dinner guests felt that the dinner didn't taste "budget," but thought that Michael seemed a bit lost in his presentation.
The last pairing was Katie and Jamika. They had no overlap in their groceries, so they decided to go for an "international" theme. Jamika spiced up a store-bought marinade and made salmon with seaweed and pepper slaw for the appetizer. Katie made a chicken sausage and mushroom ragout with whole wheat pasta and goat cheese. The collaborated on the dessert of a grilled pineapple ring with marinated fruit. The Judges criticized the lack of cohesion and thought that Katie's emphasis on the health benefits of her dish missed the point of the challenge.
The Judging Panel
At the evaluation, the judges listed the strengths and weaknesses of each pairing. Most interestingly, when Teddy's dessert was heavily critiqued, he claimed that the dessert was the collaboration and that his dish was the meatloaf. Debbie was taken aback and the judges immediately called him out on the lie. Eddie's behavior towards Melissa was also criticized, as well as his admittance that his salad recipe was taken from Paula Deen. Jeff and Michael's meal won the competition and Melissa, Debbie, Jamika, and Katie were all put through to the next round. Both Teddy and Eddie were up for elimination.
Despite Teddy's crazy switch-a-roo at judging, Eddie was sent home for not being a gentleman and not showing improvement. What do you think? Was this the right decision?
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27 Comments:
Too bad they didn't eliminate two this week...both Teddy and Eddie should have been booted.
kalajo at 2:44PM on 06/22/09
Oh stop the insanity and send them ALL home!
We know the so-called "star" ends up a bust anyway and I have zero interest in watching a show starring anyone from this group.
Why not give SE's French in Flash contributer, the charming Kerry Saretsky a show of her own? That I would definitely watch!!!
Pointy at 2:46PM on 06/22/09
This show is the absolute pits. Why you are bothering to "cover" it is beyond me. They don't need to be encouraged, what they need is to cancel it.
simon at 2:48PM on 06/22/09
Considering how ridiculously successful the show is (last year's finale scored far higher ratings than Top Chef's, amazingly), I guess it's somewhat relevant even if it's bad television?
Unfortunately, cancellation's not happening; it's the network's most successful show ever. They're already beginning work on the next season.
jas126 at 3:28PM on 06/22/09
Jamika FTW. Everyone else can go home now.
DJ Dedd at 3:32PM on 06/22/09
Bad Tv? I love this show! It's not as good as Top Chef by any means, but it still fills my reality food competition needs :) Yes, most of the winners haven't done much, but Guy Fieri certainly has! Sheesh
kellybelly223 at 3:39PM on 06/22/09
I've found this season to be reasonably entertaining, although I haven't paid much attention to the show in the past. I was really surprised that they didn't send Teddy home. Unless there is something significant we didn't see in the episode, he just straight up lied. How they could let him remain after that speaks, in my opinion, to the fact that they want interesting televion only not the next food network "star".
heidij74 at 3:43PM on 06/22/09
Debbie lied in the first episode about the dessert being a team effort as well as not getting a lot of people what they had requested and she was apalled at Teddy's lack of integrity? Sheesh. Teddy was wrong but come on Debbie, you lied too.
Jeffrey FTW!
ArchieLeach at 4:17PM on 06/22/09
I agree with kalajo. The judges should dismissed Teddy and Eddy for bad behavior this time around. Neither of them are espcially impressive as cooks on top of everything else. Jamika should have dismissed for suggesting that marinades could be reused. That spoke volumes about her knowledge and skill right there on the spot. The nutritionist is never going to appeal to an ongoing audience unless she comes up with schtick that works and so far, she has shown all the imagination of a brick. Debbie Lee played dirty pool on her own team during the first show. If she wins, I will not watch her. Prolietti flounders around out of habit.
That leaves Saad and d'Arabian. If you wanted a show that would last comeing out of this contest you'd put the two of them on the same show. Saad has shown that he can be a team player and d'Arabian has down-home charm.
Someone nominated Kerrry Saretsky. I second the motion and move that we also nominate Todd Mohr.
Both of these people have superb communications skills. Chef Mohr can do day-to-day plus and Chef Saretsky brings French Style within the reach of the modern American kitchen. Food Network has to be blind and stupid to ignore them.
Grumpy Old Man at 4:29PM on 06/22/09
After thinking about it, I'll give you long odds that Todd Mohr could handle "Dinner Impossible" better than the guy that is trying to do that show now.
Grumpy Old Man at 4:39PM on 06/22/09
missed this episode, but just from the recap i woulda thrown out eddie.
really? sweet onion? watermelon? and feta? all together? gnar in my mouth.
secondly, the fact that anyone even pays attention to squawking paula deen let alone uses/steals one of her recipes is enough of an reason to send them home.
p.s.-guy fieri makes my skin crawl
gastronomeg at 4:45PM on 06/22/09
Isn'T Robert Irvine - Dinner Impossible - the orig host? How did he get the gig back?
cookinmama at 4:48PM on 06/22/09
Isn'T Robert Irvine - Dinner Impossible - the orig host? How did he get the gig back?
cookinmama at 4:49PM on 06/22/09
Just guessing, because we are not getting all the details, but I think Chef Irvine must say things the wrong way to people when they are a bit muddle-headed and this gets him into trouble.
Chef Mohr does not appear to have a similar personality quirk. Also, he has already proven himself quite capable of handling a leadership role.
Grumpy Old Man at 5:01PM on 06/22/09
it's like watching an accident getting cleaned up on the other side of the highway.....
nobody on that show really smacks of anything truly great.... another way of dumbing down the masses.
junk food for the food junkies.
pooch at 5:18PM on 06/22/09
Robert Irvine lied about his credentials when he first went to the FN. He got busted so Michael Symon did DI for a year. Then they brought Irvine back.
Tushy's blog says that he wanted to kick off Teddy but was outvoted by Susie & Flay. I suspect that Teddy is not long for this competition.
RegrettableFoodie at 6:07PM on 06/22/09
@pooch - "junk food for the food junkies." I love it. Nicely put!
mollykate678 at 6:24PM on 06/22/09
Watermelon, feta and onion salad is wonderful when it's done right, but it certainly is tricky. People who roll their eyes at their team-mates should just be shot on sighto
annien at 7:18PM on 06/22/09
@mollykate - thanks!!!!
pooch at 9:16PM on 06/22/09
True that pooch, we love it even though we know its trash.
And for the record, that scumbag Teddy should have been sent home. Despicable behavior, and for the second time! Now that's a dealbreaka ladies.
nikonratm at 11:49PM on 06/22/09
that eye roll was the last straw for bobby flay
z911empire at 8:32AM on 06/23/09
I agree that they should have both been voted off. Now Teddy is just a lame duck, as there's no way he'll be on the show for another episode or two. Could have used that early vote-off as way to keep all the contestants on for some week when they all do pretty well.
I don't remember there being this much in-fighting, lying, and personality clashes in previous seasons of NFNS. Guess it all depends on the mix of personalities you get.
JGordon at 12:33PM on 06/23/09
That FRAUD Robert Irvine is back???
(remember he claimed to have made Chuck and Di's wedding cake, no small fibbo... did he think everyone was too stupid to ever discover the truth?).
Why are liars and frauds tolerated and rewarded??? FoodNetwork WAKE UP!!!
Pointy at 2:21PM on 06/23/09
I just watched an episode of 'Good Eats' with Alton Brown on which he made a marinade for pork chops and then instructed viewers to save the marinade so that it could be reduced over heat and made into a sauce. When Jamika used this very same thing as her budget tip in the last episode of 'The Next Food Network Star', Tyler Florence criticized and insulted her over it. Now, these two shows are on the same network, and Alton has more experience than Tyler, so I think Jamika should get an apology.
oldskoolpast at 11:42PM on 06/25/09
I was just seeing the same thing and came to post about it as oldskoolpast. I agree that Jamika should get an apology.
annaraven at 2:32AM on 06/26/09
When Jamika gave her tip, she didn't say reuse your marinade the next day, she said reduce it and use it as a sauce for the meat you marinated in it, a perfectly acceptable technique. Tyler wasn't listening carefully and his critique was rude, insulting, and incorrect.
I wanted Teddy to go home more than I wanted Eddie to go home, but I was hoping they'd send both home.
PattiA at 6:02PM on 06/27/09
Bobby Flay had it out for Eddie from the beginning. He didn't stand a chance on that show. Flay was always bad mouthing Eddie and giving him dirty looks. Bobby Flay couldn't stand to have a younger, better looking guy on his network. Bobby's machismo is why Eddie is gone. How the hell could a guy who used store bought pudding and shortcake to make a five minute dessert....and completely throw two people under the bus while displaying horrible on air talent, survive that challenge? Answer, Bobby Flay was Intimidated by Eddie.
bmedina at 5:14PM on 07/04/09