The Food Network

[Sunbaby]

Really? The Canadian Food Network is about one or two episodes behind. I thought Briana might actually make it to the top 3 - she seemed to make consistently good food that the judges liked. Why was she eliminated?

[smitten]

I think Brianna wasn't as good on camera or in presentation, and constantly seemed tense instead of relaxed and natural.

After the past couple weeks, I've really started to like Tom and Brad more. Aarti is good, but she's so hard on herself. I wonder if that will end up being her downfall. Brad was great this week and definitely deserved the win.

[Mutagen]

Jul 19, 2010 14:05:03 GMT -4 @shopper1 said:

Is anyone watching the current season of The Next Food Network Star?
With one or two exceptions, the current crew are a bunch of duds, IMO.
I wonder if they are finding it hard to recruit people for this show.

I agree. But I'm not sure it's a recruitment problem because I liked a lot of the contestants last year. I would've watched Debbie Lee's show in a heartbeat - yeah, I know she came across as kind of a lying liar, but for a half-hour cooking show I couldn't really care less what she's like off camera. I liked Jamika and I probably could've gotten used to Jeffrey too.

It seems like it's either feast or famine (ha, ha, ha... no pun intended) because the year before that, when Big Daddy won, I hated almost all the contestants.

As for the current crop, Aarti is the only one with real screen presence. She's cute as a button and the Food Network is long overdue for an Indian cooking show. Maybe she's getting "the winner's edit" but she seems to deserve it.

[margojata]

OK, what's this fuckery about?

Is a woman's place really in the kitchen?

Yes – in a manner of speaking, anyway, says feisty TV chef Giada De Laurentiis.

"I think it can be hard for any man to sometimes be upstaged by his wife," she explains in the February issue of Redbook. "So when I'm home, I work very hard to be Todd's wife and Jade's mother. I have no problem going back to those traditional roles."

The star of Giada at Home, 40, is married to Todd Thompson and mom to Jade, who turns 3 in March. She adds that it helps in the romance department to put the focus on her husband.

"I try to be Giada, the young girl that he met 20 years ago and fell in love with," she says. "All men want to be treated like kings in a relationship, and I think if women don't indulge that sometimes, their men are likely to stray and look for someone who can give that to them."

De Laurentiis also tackles past rumors that she cheated on Thompson with notorious lothario John Mayer one weekend when both were staying at the same hotel in New York – along with her husband.

"The John Mayer incident was completely unexpected," she says. "I was shocked. And not so much for me, but for my husband and family … Todd was embarrassed that his family in Michigan would see it and think, 'What is going on over there in Hollywood?' "

Adding that she hasn't had any contact in years and barely knows Mayer, she says, "Maybe we chatted for five minutes, but I wouldn't consider that intimate."

If you don't act like a little subservient girl - your guy is gonna cheat? I never believed the John Mayer stuff, but let's shut up now about King Todd, OK?

[Mutagen]

Divorce announcement in 5...4...3...

Seriously, I'd rather take relationship advice from the Barefoot Contessa. I hope I have a Jeffrey burning charcoal bags around the house (well, hopefully outside the house) when I'm her age. Although Ina does occasionally introduce her dishes with "I don't want Jeffrey getting his chicken piccata from someone else, so here's my kick-ass recipe!" But in real life he apparently was totally supportive when Ina wanted to quit her steady day job to buy a business and go into food, despite never having done it before. Awwww.

yes, I know way too much about Ina Garten, I can't help it

[chonies]

I love Ina, too. She and Jeffrey are so cute together.

[Deleted]

More love for Ina here. And, there is now a second blind item about Giada straying from her 'lord and master' ... Link[/color]

[ikmccall]

Even more love for Ina here. She and Jeffrey absolutely adore each other.

[Mutagen]

Is anyone watching the new Food Network Star? It definitely looks like they've put an emphasis backstabbing and crazy fights dramatic personalities among the contestants this year.

And is it just me or is there a really high proportion of douchebags among the male contestants? I mean there are some unpleasant personalities among the women too, but Vic and Juba were the only two of the men who didn't make me boo at the screen. Oh, and the stand-up comedian guy wasn't bad either. Maybe the douchey guys were just SO douchey it only felt disproportionate. I got the feeling some of the "bad boys" were cast in the hopes of finding an Anthony Bourdain type, which I find absolutely hilarious given how much Bourdain hates the FN.

I also have to say that even though I don't care for Giada as a person, I think she's a good addition to the judging panel.

This is my summer programming crack, y'all.

[margojata]

I haven't watched the first episode yet - is Scott Conant on? I see him in some in the previews, but I don't know how often that'll be. I have an irrational crush on him.