Food TV

Tonight was the night that some of you have been waiting for since season three of the Next Food Network Star began. Amy, Rory, and all of the other finalists were on the Food Network stage to find out the results of the winner of the Next Food Network Star. As my regular readers know, I was pretty nervous about who would win, especially considering the fact that Rory spent a good amount of time advertising through email and celebrity websites. However, there was much more to this show beyond the winner so let’s get down to the recap and talk about the winner in a minute.

Rory was shown first saying her tagline, “I cook real food, for real people.” The next shot was of Amy, who stated that she was the, “Gourmet Next Door.” Once we saw the finalists it was time for the show to begin. The finale was hosted by Marc Summers, the host of Unwrapped or if you’re a kid at heart (like me) you might know him from the original Double Dare. Summers wanted to know who was going to win and the audience began shouting. I thought I heard Amy quite a bit, but Summers said the votes sounded split down the middle.

At this point, some footage was shown of the finalists in the very beginning of their journey. It was mentioned that one of the things that made the show so interesting was that all of the finalists had a different passion when it came to food. For example, Adrian was all about the Southwestern comfort, health foods and Tommy was all about quantity and quality.

Susie Fogleson mentioned that she wanted the winner to bring new viewers to the network and to see that they could get people excited about cooking, in general. From there they jumped to a list of challenges that the finalists had to go through. For those of you that missed the show, the challenges included cooking for a wedding in under six hours, cooking for the cover of Bon Appetite magazine, feeding a bunch of crazed sports fans, feeding the soldiers, cooking live on a set, competing in the Iron Chef challenge, going through some media challenges, and cooking on the Rachael Ray Show. After all of those challenges it came down to the final two, which was Amy and Rory, due to JAG leaving the competition.

Amy wanted everyone to know that she was thrilled to be in the top two. Rory mentioned that she had learned so much and was also excited to be there. Both of the remaining finalists spoke of how happy they were to be there with each other, but when they looked away you could see that competitive need to win on both of their faces.

To kill some time we got a chance to learn about how the finalist’s lives have changed due to being a part of NFNS. Amy told an amusing story about how someone recognized her in a supermarket. Of course, Amy, the “Gourmet Next Door”, only had a 5 pound bag of gummy bears with her. Rory was excited to mention that the cable service in Vega, Texas, where she now lives, got Food Network when she was on the show because residents of the small town demanded that they get the network.

Rory’s town of Vega, Texas came up first. Vega has a population of about 936 people and Rory lives there with her cowboy boyfriend, Klay. Originally, from Jersey, she moved to Vega because of a reality show on CMT and when she fell in love she decided to stay in town. If she wins, she wants to bring Food Network to Texas. Some time was spent talking about her new restaurant and how her life is hectic since she has been dealing with that and the Next Food Network Star at the same time.

During a segment on her life in Vega, her boyfriend (I think – or a cowboy friend of theirs) mentioned that before Rory he had never watched the Food Network because he was a man and he was macho. Of course, they did mention not having Food Network before Rory, so you can take that for what it’s worth.

When it was time to explore Amy’s life outside the Food Network challenge, the cameras headed to San Diego. Amy is in the third generation of a family that he been raised in the San Diego area. Part of her segment was filmed at the beach with her in a bikini, playing with her kids, Indiana and Scarlett. Amy and her family live in a small house that is on the property that her parents live on. They and some of her siblings live in a larger house. She loves to involve her family in cooking.

Her younger sister, Casey, often learns from her and plays guinea pig when Amy is cooking. She also loves including her kids and mentioned that Indiana is an amazing helper in the kitchen. One of her current favorite things to do is grill. She likes grilling because she had virtually no experience with grilling prior to the show, but now she does it almost every night.

In the audience, Amy’s family had come out to support her. Her mom, aunt, and two of her sisters were present and routing her on. As soon as Amy’s segment ended, the old finalists arrived in the order they originally left the show. Once on stage, Paul said it was great to see everyone and that all of the finalists wished that they were Amy or Rory at that moment. Of course, they wouldn’t be saying that for long. Chances are they would just want to be the winner.

Next on the trip down memory lane were some never before seen clips of the finalists all together. Some of the notable moments included all of the guys sleeping in one room, JAG not being able to sleep because Tommy snored too much, and Amy talking in her sleep to her kids. They also showed quite a few shots of the men without their shirts on.

Summers brought up the problems that Colombe had during the show and how down everyone was on her. She said it was fine and added, “It’s a competition, but we’re all friends now.” However, as soon as Colombe was brought up, they moved on and went on to what is now known as Meatloaf Gate. This was during the challenge where each group had to feed 75 soldiers. JAG and Paul were working together and discovered that their oven wasn’t working so JAG decided to deep fry the meatloaf. As Paul was quick to point out, JAG saved them.

At that point, JAG was given the floor. Summers mentioned the resignation and asked if JAG wanted to say anything. He quietly thanked his fans for their support and made sure to let everyone know that it isn’t over for him yet. He also said his favorite part of the show was working with Pauly. When Summers asked Rory what the toughest part of the show was she said the challenge where she worked with Alton Brown. During the challenge, she did not have as much food knowledge as was needed and opted to be funny. However, it did not go over as well as she had hoped and she ended coming off as rude and unprofessional.

There were some clips of everyone playing around during the show. The most amusing moments included Paul and JAG arm wrestling and Paula being on stage with Giada and telling her she has food in her teeth. They showed the finalists dancing around to have some fun, but when it came to the live show only Tommy and Adrian would go up and shake it. While it seemed a tad scary, it definitely was worth a laugh.

As time was wearing thin, the selection committee then joined the finalists on stage for a little Q and A. Bob felt that the group was all incredibly talented and felt that the tough attitude of the selection committee was somewhat like tough love. The group saw potential in all of the finalists and they needed the finalists to see that, as well, but there was little time to accomplish quite a bit. Amy agreed that she felt they were tough, but was quick to point out that the judges always offered something for the finalists to take out of the evaluation room in hopes of improving.

When Bobby was asked how he felt he would do, he said that he thought he would have come in about seventh. He could have handled the cooking, but the Iron Chef commentary would have killed him and the wedding cake would have been worse. He also noted that the advantage of being on the show as it goes on is that the Chefs have a chance to be students of the show and the network as a whole.

The finalists had a chance to ask the judges something. The two finalists to take the offer were Colombe and Paul. Colombe wanted to know what the most difficult part of the process was for the judges. Bob answered that the hardest part was deciding who they would send home because they didn’t always agree. Paul asked Susie what advice he should take home from her specifically. She answered that he has the personality and the camera appeal, he just needs the culinary experience and he can learn that.

Bobby told them all that being nervous is natural. He also added that he still gets nervous. It was important for them to realize that if they do not get nervous then they are not passionate at what they are doing. In the end, they all agreed that evaluations were hard. When Paul left, JAG said that he loved him like a brother and looked forward to seeing him again. Paul said he loved JAG too. The two oddly matched men have been friends ever since Paul offered to be in JAG’s clique.

Finally, Emeril arrived and it was time to announce the winner. When asked if they had any final thoughts about what they would take from this experience, Amy said she would take the relationships with the finalists. Rory said she would take her pride, as she felt everyone should be proud of what they went through.

Emeril congratulated both women and said this season was the most exciting season so far. He announced the information about the new car the winner would win, and informed the audience that the winner would begin working tomorrow. Bobby came over to hand the envelope to Emeril and after a minute of fiddling with the envelope he announced the winner. Amy Finley had won the Next Food Network Star!

This experience just goes to show that the advertising Rory did was all for nothing. When Amy was announced as the winner, Rory seemed floored and edged off the stage. She was later seen being comforted by finalists. Amy’s show premiers this fall and as the show ended, there was no trace of Rory. All was well, or at least better than expected.

Next Food Network Star, Rory, Amy Finley, Finale, Food TV, Emeril