"reality tv" news and stories

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Got the chops, fire, fauxhawk and facial jewelry to be a "Top Chef" contender? Pack your knives and go on over to a casting locale near you, 'cause the hit show is firing up for its seventh season on Bravo. The renewal was announced earlier today, and in addition to taped submissions, in-person auditions will take place coast to coast from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15.

The host city has yet to be named, but Slashfood is banking on at least one "make a snack for pregnant Padma" Quickfire challenge.

See a list of open casting call locations and dates after the jump.

We watched season two of the Next Food Network Star and saw Guy Fieri win, landing himself a new show on the network, and before him, Dan and Steve were a success. The Food Network is now casting for season three of the popular reality show, with another six-episode program up for grabs.

To apply, you have to meet the eligibility guidelines and submit a 3-minute tape (or DVD) showing that you have the things they are looking for: cooking ability, personality and teaching skills. The deadline for submissions is October 27th, 2006 and the show will film a few months later.

Now, I'm sure that they're going to do their best to choose the best candidate for the show out of all the contestants, but given the nature of reality TV and the fact that all of the previous winners have been men, it seems likely that a woman might have a slight advantage in this season's competition. Encourage your friends to apply - there's nothing to lose by doing so. And speaking of which, maybe I should make a video while I'm at it...

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MasterChef Goes Large is coming to BBC America this fall, giving food-loving US viewers a chance to check out a great British reality show. The show is a remake of an older, more subdued British show, simply called MasterChef, and is a culinary competition that challenges amateur cooks to face off against each other to see who is the Master Chef - sort of like Top Chef, only with a seemingly greater emphasis on sheer culinary skill, passion and talent and less on interpersonal conflicts. At least, as much as can be hoped for in any sort of reality show.

The number of contestant s narrows as the season goes on and the chefs face multiple types of cooking challenges. In the Invention test, each chef has less than one hour and a set of ingredients that must be used within the time gram to create a dish. The Pressure test puts the amateurs into real kitchens to see how they fare, as well as giving viewers an inside look at some great restaurants. And for the Final test, chefs are expected to put out their best 2 course meal for a review by the judges.

The show premiers on BBC America on October 2, but if you want to get in the mood to watch, blogger Maki of i was just really very hungry played along with the invention challenges when they aired in Europe earlier this year and tried to make 40-minute meals using the same ingredients that the MasterChef contestants were given to work with.

This week the competition on Top Chef got even more intense as the  contestants faced one of their most difficult challenges yet. Not only did the chefs have to cook, but they had to come up with a concept and start a restaurant from scratch. The needed a name, decor, tableware and, most importantly, time, which they didn't have. As an unusual twist in this episode, the incentive of immunity was eliminated from the quickfire challenge and instead, a prize was offered to the winner. There was no guest judge, either. Chef Tom Colicchio stepped up to offer the challenge and the prize.

Tom is opening a branch of his restaurant, 'wichcraft, the fast food variation of his craft restaurant, in San Francisco and asked the chefs to prepare the perfect sandwich, a food that 'wichcraft specializes in. The winner would get his or her sandwich on the menu when the West Coast 'wichcraft opened. Fast, portable and delicious would win in the sandwich competition. All the chefs did well, but Miguel's Falafel sandwich was the flavor winner. Unfortunately, Miguel made his a "deconstructed" sandwich, which meant that it had to be eaten with a knife and fork. A sandwich without bread is not a sandwich, and instead of Miguel, Tom gave top billing to Harold's sandwich of mortadella with grapes, roasted peppers and sunchoke mayonnaise on sourdough. The recipes for Stephen and Dave's sandwiches, both of which looked delicious, are on the Bravo site.

Top Chef is really heating up. The closer we get to the end of the season, the more the viewers can get involved with the contestants. No doubt everyone has their favorite to win at this point, but it is still anyone's game. This week the contestants faced the celebrity chef judge Ted Allen, the food guru of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and a panel of professional food writers and critics at a party he hosted to celebrate the release of a new book. Talk about pressure! This was the first challenge that all the chefs had to work together, though the were judged separately, and things really got hot in the kitchen.

The quickfire challenge was about budgeting money and time. The contestants were presented with an array of ingredients, priced by the ounce, and had 20 minutes and $3 to spend on an appetizer. Ted Allen's favorites were Tiffani's dish of oyster 3-ways ($2.67), Harold's radicchio stuffed with Gorgonzola and wrapped in bacon ($2.93), Stephen's poached clams over grilled sea beans ($2.84) and Lee Anne's deep fried oysters ($2.98). Allen was won over by Stephen's El Bulli-like ultra-modern presentation, as well as the taste of his dish, and awarded him with immunity. This drew criticism from the other chefs, but clearly is a hugely successful trend in the restaurant business.