Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

This week's episode proves one thing. That all reality shows are first and foremost "shows," and decisions are made by judges and producers based on entertainment value and not the merits of the contestants. How else to explain that Lisa Garza is moving on (left alone finishing third) after her total train wreck in the Rachel Ray challenge? First, she totally sidestepped the spirit of the challenge by steamrolling over that poor little Brownie. "You will eat horseradish cream sauce and like it." (Favorite moment: when she tried to explain to the kid what horseradish cream sauce is by relating it to remoullade. Huh?) What 11 year wants to eat steak with horseradish? Not to mention that on camera she offered the audience a total lie, claiming that the girl had told her she liked horseradish. I know this is not on the scale of Jag lying about his military career, but you would think that after last season's debacle they would not want a Food Network Star who so freely plays fast and loose with the truth. As for her on camera performance, no matter how much you blame the editing, there is no denying that she froze, and stood there with a zombie grin while RR had to jump in and save the show. She admitted to being intimidated by RR. Is that someone with the confidence and inner strength to host their own show? Then came the judging. What becomes more apparent each week is the total lack of consistency. Shane, who was at least honest enought to admit he has no experience relating to little kids, is raked over the coals for not interacting more with his Brownie. But at least he listened when she said her favorite was ham and incorporated that into his recipe. Lisa made she wanted to make, and I think the Brownie was terrified not to agree with everything she said. (The whole kid thing was just dumb. How often is that going to happen on the Food Network. This is not "The Next Nickelodeon Star.") Then, the judges tell Adam and Kelsy they may not have the required food knowledge or authority. But after admitting that Shane has great knowledge and technique and makes excellent food, they find a way to hold it against him, but deriding his skills as coming from "book learning." Not only that, but he has the gall to love French food without having been to France. Huh? How elitist. Is being a world traveller now a requirement? Before the Food Network picked her up Rachel Ray's big claim to fame was that she had worked at a hotel and on a local TV station in upsate New York. Hardly France either.) What it comes down to is that the contestants are characters in a show, and the producers decided that Shane had the least to offer in terms of entertainment value as a character. All the others contestants have their easily definable personas and built-in audiences, love em or hate em. I think originally they thought Shane was going to be the young whiz kid character, but he's too laid back for that (to his credit) and can come across as bland. So despite being the best chef on the show and a seasoned TV performer (having been a child actor) he's gone. This year's version of NFNS isn't the train wreck we had last year. (Defining moment of last year's show was when Alton Brown, Gold bless him, said in genuine frustration,"Can't we get rid of everyone and start over." ) But the general mediocrity really has to make the network evalute this whole concept. When your shining light from four seasons worth of shows is the annoying, endlessly promoting, TGI Friday's pitch man Guy Fierri then something is seriously wrong. Of the remaining contestants Adam is the only one who can bring something new to the FN that they don't already have - a young, hip, urban everyman, sort of Seinfeld in the kitchen. It's a demographic that the network currently doesn't reach. He may not be the most qualified in terms of food knowledge or experience, but remember, the Food Network, like The Next FN Star, is all about entertainment.