The remaining six contenders for The Next Food Network Star arrived in New York,where after a cupcake challenge judged by Ina Garten(aka the Barefoot Contessa),they had to make an appearance on Rachael Ray's talk show. Each one was tasked to do a demo that showed their twist on a traditional dish while taking a question from the audience and conversing with Rachael on camera.
Some folks sadly underperformed on this one,like Vic whose idea for combining leftover lasagna with a chimichanga- a "lachanga"- didn't go over well with Bobby Flay. His presentation was a mixed bag as well,starting off strong but running out of steam as time went on.
The person who really surprised me this week was Jeff,the self proclaimed "sandwich king". He tends to have an overwhelming energy during his show and tell segments that knocks everything off course but on Rachael's show,he really reined it in and used his charisma to his full advantage.
I was concerned about his determination for his sandwich concept when he made a cupcake packed with deli meats in the earlier round(not a favorite with anyone on the judges' panel there!) but his version of a pork chop with applesauce sandwich looked pretty tasty. He won this round and rightly so,in my opinion.
Sent packing was Jyll,for her lack of focus and the lackluster take on meatloaf that she took. Her ideas for the meatloaf were much too similar to the Shepard's pie that another competitor had been assigned. Plus,her audience question revealed the shaky grasp that she had on her show concept.
Next week,the gang has to tackle roast meats while dealing with being roasted by a panel of comedians. I get the connection but it's hokier than some of the jokes that will be flying about that dinner table.
One of the comedians on deck happens to be former Afflack spokesman Gilbert Gottfried(they must have taped this episode way before his Twitter troubles there,just like Ina and her little Make a Wish scandal)and we all know just how mellow he can be about things. Should be a hot time not just in the kitchen for our Final Five there:
It was team challenge time on Design Star,as the ten contenders were split into two teams to makeover a pair of rooms in someone's home. The team for each house then divided in two again.with three people for one room and two for another. Everyone had three days to get the job done.
Bret,Cathy and Karl were assigned a mini apartment/entertainment room and one of the first things that Cathy did was head out the door to go shopping.
Her intention was to let the guys do all of the grunt work but they weren't having that. Bret and Karl let her know that the next day they were going to do some shopping and that she had to paint the place. Cathy wasn't happy about that but the fellas were firm with her on that point and their room turned out well.
It wasn't perfect(Bret picked out a very awkward set of chairs and table that looked like they were plucked out of a waiting room)but Karl's back splash for the kitchenette was great. Back splashes are usually the downfall for Design Star folk but he really pulled this one out. Karl broke up various sets of tile to create his mosaic look and the judges praised him highly for it.
The winner for this challenge,however,was Kevin who worked with Kellie and Leslie in the other house on a basement playroom. One of the things that the homeowners wanted was a corner office and he made that section of the room both functional and chic,not to mention accessible for the whole family.
It's too bad that Mark wasn't as firm with Doug as Bret and Karl were with Cathy. The living room that they both worked on had just as much of a stalemate as Congress over the debt ceiling and the results were about as dismal.
Doug insisted on painting the main wall a hideous pink that one of the judges declared resembled organ meat and wouldn't listen to Mark about any of the furniture choices to the point of redoing the placement of objects in the room(he claimed that Mark wasn't doing it right).
Mark wound up shrugging his shoulders and focusing on the wooden paneling that he did,which looked fine but the entire look lacked cohesion. Doug was dismissed for his conceited concepts about collaboration and good riddance,I say.
Next week, the designers have to make over a bed and breakfast and it looks like Cathy is trying to get out of doing some dirty work again while another team forgets to get on board with a concept for their room. *sigh* Talk about deja vu all over again!:
On True Blood,the status is strange as usual.
While Jason is recovering from his werepanther situation and Sam helps his little brother Tommy clean up a very gruesome mess,Sookie is in her Nancy Drew mode as she uses her telepathic powers to find out where the witches are.
She visits the Moon Goddess shop and asks Marnie for a psychic reading,which she reluctantly does. Marnie contacts Gran and starts relating her concerns about Jason and Eric but soon enough,Gran can tell that Sookie is listening in and warns her directly about how dangerous Marnie is.
That scares the hell out of Marnie and even tho Sookie doesn't know half of what's been going on with her,she's smart enough to run like her grandma told her to:
Not long after that, Marnie is captured by the forces of King Bill who is freaked out upon seeing what was done to Pam's face. Despite using glamor on her,Bill soon realizes that Marnie has no idea how to undo the spells that her new secret friend has cast.
During a powwow with the other sheriffs,Pam winds up spilling the beans about what happened to Eric and where he's been staying at. Bill decides to act on his jealousy and heads over to Sookie's place,where he will no doubt interrupt the sweet kissing session that she and Eric are having. Way to be a buzz kill,Bill!:
RANDOM NOTES:
MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKER: A spanking new season starts on August 15 and one of the folks looking for love here is Miss Patty Stanger herself. Yes, I do watch this show more than I should but some guilty pleasures are too good to pass up:
No comments:
Post a Comment