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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.

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 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!

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!

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.

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.

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.)

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!"

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.

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?

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!

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.

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.