[Photographs: Leah Douglas]

I know that for most of you, last Sunday night was tough. With no episode of The Next Food Network Star, you may have done other things with your free hour—perhaps hang out with friends, catch a movie, enjoy a summer's evening. But there was an emptiness, a sad feeling you just couldn't place. I understand.

But not to fear! This week the series was back with a vengeance, and we even had an extra half hour of dramatic goodness to enjoy instead of doing all that aforementioned "fun" stuff. Eight contestants are still in the running, and boy, do they want the gold! Without further ado, let's recap.

[WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]

Camera Challenge

For their first challenge this week, the contestants had to create and bottle a representative product for retail sale in supermarkets. Mostly, they were excited about the challenge. As Brad Sorenson puts it, "every chef wants to see his name in a grocery store." (Really? Hmm...someone's gotta redirect all those James Beard award winners!) Some of the bottled products sounded tasty, like Aarti Sequeira's tandoori paste and Briana Jenkins' chocolate sauce. Others, like Herb Mesa's coconut oil, seemed, well, let's see how the judges feel.

Who IS that guy?!

[I must take a moment here to acknowledge what I view as the most important moment of the season (save for any Herb/Briana shower action). When Giada de Laurentiis graciously crashed the finalists' peaceful evening at home to offer some "advice" before their camera challenge, we got this shot of Brad—without his beret. That's right, there's hair under there. And a cutie pie. I literally gasped when this happened. (Do I now officially have to retire my "Beret Brad" moniker??) Anyway, sorry for the interlude. Ahem.)

Instead of presenting to camera, the finalists had to cook their booties off before a live audience of 100 probably-paid-to-be-there viewers. In three-minute segments, they prepped a dish to be served with their bottled product. The judges gave Herb a big sigh, saying that his was a "weak attempt at a product." Briana's product was tasty, but her presentation was so weak that Bobby was left feeling "so irritated." Meanwhile, Aarti and Tom Pizzica gave awesome presentations and took the top prize in this round of scrutiny.

Now, onto the good stuff.

Bobby is SO irritated. Maybe he should try sunglasses?

Star Challenge

The eight finalists split into teams of four, and were assigned the rather fun task of creating their own lunch truck concept and dishing out some grub to hunger surfer dudes in Venice Beach, California. Aarti and Tom took on American food with an Indian flare, dishing out tacos and kabobs with Aarti's seasonings. Brad and Aria Kagan also went the all-American route, with burgers and strawberry milkshakes. The possibly disastrous duo of Briana and Serena turned into a sisterly friendship, and they translated their global truck food concept into delicious gyros and empanadas. Paul Young and Herb just couldn't keep their voices down, disturbing everyone with their screamin—and disturbing me even more with the can of nacho cheese that Paul used on his burrito. Blurgh!!!

The contestants' food trucks.

Paula Deen was the guest judge for this round, and we all soon learned that she actually does say things like "cute as a bug's ear" in normal conversation. Aarti and Tom's food was "perfect on so many levels," while Paula said of Brad and Aria's hot dog: "My grandson could have made that...he's three and a half." With a pretty split performance, we head into...

Judgment Time

The clear favorites in the Star Challenge were Briana and Serena, but again and again we were reminded that this week was "midterms", meaning that the finalists were being judged on their entire performance up until now. Basically, this just meant that we got extra-long Bob Tuschman exposure—and who can complain about that?

It was no shocker that Briana and Serena took home the metaphoric gold, but Tom and Aarti got major props as well. Aria, Brad, and Paul were at the bottom this week. Aria was warned that she is slipping from her spot as a contender, and she needs to step up her game. The judges berated (ha! Beret-ed?) Brad for his over-the-top educational, cheffy attitude and lack of relatabilty. But in the end, Paul was sent home this week.

No one was surprised that still-pretty-much-a-jackass Paul was shipped off; not even him, and certainly not I. One by one, the mediocre contestants are being eliminated, heading towards what will hopefully be a good finale. I must note that although entertaining (and at times delicious), this week's challenge had seemingly nothing to do with hosting a television show.

But ah, well—who am I to restrict the boundless talent of wannabe stars?! What did y'all think? Did the judges make the right choice this week, or were you pulling for Paul all along?

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