TNFNS: Let's be nice, now

by Alanna Kaufman, Posted Jun 23rd 2008 @ 5:02PM

contestants from The Next Food Network Star

Last week I wrote my first post about The Next Food Network Star, having never seen it before. Thanks to those of you who gave me a heads up about show details and juice from past seasons. My plan is to just enjoy the show for what it is, and to try not to harp on the contestants too much. I'll admit that I'm easily entertained (I do sometimes watch old Sesame Street videos on YouTube), but I find the show pretty funny, and it's not like I have better things to do than watch TV and write about it. So join me in celebrating the absurdity of it all -- it could be fun.

SPOILERS! All that said, this post will be briefer than last week's.

The contestants competed in two challenges -- one in which they had to shoot a 60 second technique video for www.foodnetwork.com, and another in which they had to create seafood dishes using crazy ingredients. For the first challenge, hosted by Tyler Florence, some of the contestants had no clue how to even perform the technique that they demonstrated. Nipa, for example, couldn't clean a squid -- though, admittedly, I learned how to do that like a month ago.

In the second challenge, Michael Symon gave the chefs ingredients like white chocolate and fruit cereal to incorporate into seafood dishes to serve to members of the Coast Guard. Kelsey won for her macademia-crusted tilapia with a white chocolate cream sauce, and her dish will appear on menus at Red Lobster restaurants across the country. Honestly, all of the dishes (halibut with caramel sauce?) sounded unappealing to me. Then again, I wouldn't make a challenge where marshmallow and creme could be paired with seafood in the first place.

In the end, the judges sent Nipa home (though they almost sent Adam for being immature and fake tripping before introducing his seafood dish). She'd been performing poorly for the past few weeks, and it was time.

My favorite? Lisa. I know she seems a bit harsh, but I think I'd watch her show before anyone else's. You?

Filed Under: Television/Film
Tags: america, food network, FoodNetwork, red lobster, seafood, the next food network star

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-23-2008 @7:02PM Adam S said... I like Lisa, I like Kelsey, and I like Shane, although only the two girls are actually mostly-TV-ready. Frankly, I think most of the actual cooking challenges are pretty tough and not very indicative of your actual ability to cook. I would like to see a show on Indian cooking, although not hosted by Nipa. None of these cooking challenges would be necessary to teach ethnic cooking.

All the prep and skill challenges are worthwhile though, if only to see if these people have *any* idea what they're talking about.
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6-23-2008 @11:12PM Mathi said... Nipa needed to go home. Jennifer needs to go home too. It is starting to look like this season's TNFNS is as good a reason as any to add another cute skinny perky blonde to their cast, as I am 90% sure Kelsey is going to win.

That said, I also think TNFNS challenges are a bit too challenging. Top Chef challenges seem hard-but-possible, these seem to be more testing to see what the person does when they are asked to do something nearly impossible. Not a realistic criteria for the position they are competing to earn.
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6-24-2008 @9:43AM yo mama said... Ditto with Lisa, Kelsey and Shane. I am puzzled as to why Shane has such poor camera skills. He has been on TV and done movies. This is not new to him.
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