NFNS: Week 4

So I guess for my first real post I'll kind of repeat and expound upon a reply to a blog post on All About Amber. The 4th season of the Next Food Network Star premiered June 1st and, like last season, I'm pretty disappointed with the selection overall. There must just not be many great culinary minds meant for television.

As of this posting, we're four weeks in and four terrible contestants eliminated. Week 1 saw Cory, the unfunny funny woman, cut because she had zero personality. Week 2 saw Kevin, Mr. Bringing Romance to the Kitchen, cut because the judges couldn't see the romance in crostini or anything else he made. Week 3 saw Jeffrey, the tall, goofy guy, cut because he was plain weird. And this week saw Nipa, who I lovingly refer to as the bitch in the kitchen, eliminated. I thought the judges waited a week too long to cut Nipa since she WALKED OUT of the judging during week 3!

So, here's my personal countdown of the remaining contestants from last to first:

6. Jennifer

Jennifer is a very nice, very personable executive chef from Rhode Island. She has a 3 year old daughter named Lyric (yeah, pretty bad) and she is all mom all the time. Her biggest problem is that she apologizes for everything she does. She apologized to Martha Stewart, to the judges, to everyone. She has a serious lack of self-confidence and is at the top of the list for the chopping block unless she fixes it fast.

5. Adam

Adam is also a really nice guy but he tries too hard to be entertaining. In Week 3 he got down on his knees and serenaded Martha Stewart. In Week 4, the contestants are cooking, Iron Chef America style, on a Coast Guard ship. Adam thought it would be funny to trip (on purpose, mind you) on his way into the dining room. The joke fell as flat as he did. Worse, his only winning dish so far was Bacon Cheese Fries. He's clearly a culinary genius...

4. Shane

Shane is apparently a child actor turned chef. Doing some research I found that he used to be on the cast of the Nickelodeon show from my childhood "All That." I guess the show is still on? In any case, he lost a ton of weight and became a chef. Nothing all that special about him and not my favorite. Since he hasn't done anything spectacular on the show here's a vid of him playing Cupid:





3. Kelsey

It really pains me to put this perky little princess in the top 3. She's had great luck with her food and I think she finally learned to reign in the spunkiness in Week 4. I never would have imagined somebody could combine white chocolate and tilapia into a winning dish (outside of Kitchen Stadium) but Kelsey did it, creating her Macadamia Crusted Tilapia with White Chocolate Buerre Blanc, now being served at Red Lobster.


2. Aaron

Aaron is a bit on the rough side. He grew up in Camden, NJ and is a caterer. After watching a couple of seasons of NFNS, he's the most unrefined so far. His dishes have been big hits and he's very personable in front of the camera. I can't say I'd pick his show over any of my current favorites but he's running strong.


1. Lisa
At first glance, one would think Lisa would be more at home in the pages of Vogue than in the kitchen. Her personality really turned me off the first week, as did her culinary point of view, the infamous "3 C's" - Cooking Education, Community Outreach and Culinary Crafts. WTF? Fortunately, she dropped it by Week 3. She slowly started opening up and finally, in Week 4, the Iron Chef: Coast Guard episode, she finally became human. Maybe after taking a spill and ending up with sauce all over her will teach her not to wear $300 blouses and high heels in the kitchen. We shall see.