The Next Food Network Star: Star Quality


Season 4 of “The Next Food Network Star” has begun and it looks like it’ll be a good one. Lots of strong personalities, and even a familiar face. (Cory Kahaney is a comedienne that I’ve seen on TV before).

The first challenge was to create a tag line for the chef’s point of view. Most people did pretty well, but a few really didn’t seem to get their point across. Surprisingly, Cory, who’s been up in front of MANY people before, froze and stumbled a bit. I think that was just nerves, and she’ll end up doing OK on the show.

The other person who didn’t do well was Lisa. I think she knows exactly where she wants to go, it’s just that she made it sound more complicated than it probably was. Alton Brown (who helped the contestants) tried to give a few pointers, but I’m not sure she got it.

The second challenge teamed the contestants in groups of two to create their dishes. For the most part they worked well together (some groups didn’t). They cooked two dishes individually, and one together. This went OK for the most part, but ever group did have something go wrong.

Shane and Nipa’s presentation dish didn’t look good at all, since the pork was raw in the middle. (The food they served was cooked).

Lisa tried to express her culinary point of view again, and it confused people.

Jennifer and Adam’s meatloaf went into the oven very late, and they ended up pulling it out and then frying it on the stove top. Unfortunately, the potatoes were raw. Both contestants made a good impression.

Kelsey and Aaron have a hard time plating, and end up serving incomplete plates.

Jeffrey and Cory seemed pretty nervous and the food didn’t go over that well. The judges were surprised Cory was that nervous.

At judging, Kelsey and Aaron did very well. The judges told the rest some of them they had problems with their food, or with the presentation of themselves. (Some had both). You could really tell that some of them were very confident, and others were still extremely nervous. Some of the people that seemed confident really shouldn’t have been, because their food didn’t go over all that well.

In the elimination, Kelsey, Aaron, Jennifer, Adam, Jeffrey were safe and left the room.

Cory, Nipa, Shane, Lisa were put up on the block. They immediately told Nipa and Shane they were safe for now, leaving Lisa and Cory.

Cory went home. I think this is a real shame, since she didn’t really have a good chance to show off her personality or ability.

In the previews, it looks like Nipa walks off the set during judging…. I bet THAT will go over well with the judges.