Anyone Watching the Next Food Network Star?

[GourmetGirl]

I watched most of the season today while I was cleaning/doing some PC stuff, so I only caught glimses... but from the 1st episode Amy was my favorite... I love her hair!

 

[chrpangel]

I am SOOOO happy the way this turned out!!!

Did you see how Rory was pouting on stage and had her back turned to Amy and all the celebrating? That is just so......ugh....no class.

I can't wait to watch Amy's show!

BTW, where was her husband?!?!?

my hubby and I thought the SAME thing! He was no where in her video trip home! They showed all of her family but not him. If you looked she wasn't wearing her wedding ring. I never noticed if she wore one before tho. I could've swore I heard her mention him in the beginning of the show. Did you?

 

[PampChefJoy]

She said her husband is French somewhere in the bio info.... but yeah, I noticed no hubby anywhere too...

 

[lacychef]

I was so happy she won! I've liked her since the beginning.
Maybe her hubby was home with the kids? There was a guy sitting on the couch next to her in the video, I was guessing that was him but could be wrong.

 

[Cindycooks]

The guy on the couch next to her was married to her sister I think - he had his arm around her the whole time.....unless he's freaky or something!

I like her food, when she was cutting up the avocado and making that salad....YUM!

 

[finley1991]

Yeah... I wondered about her husband too... weird there was no mention and I did notice no ring...

Rory's behavior after the annoucement was weird... I'm sure she just became totally unhinged because she didn't win.

Overall though.. I thought the announcement was a little anti-climatic! When the first season ran the announcement was huge and fun and exciting and this was like, "Amy you won!" Balloons fell and that was it... I thought there would be more of a celebration...

I can't wait to watch her show though... I'm sure it's going to be awesome!!!!

 

[chrpangel]

OMG!!! I agree with your ENTIRE POST!!!! Ooooohhhh I'm looking forward to meeting you!!!
I don't mind JAG, only because I've known a few like him, plus I think most of his crap is a front and I think he actually has a lot of heart, you just got to get past the "front". For those that don't like JAG, go to Foodnetwork.com and then check out the show and watch the clip where Paul goes home, I really grew to like JAG and how much emotion he revealed to Paul, he really grew to love Paul like a brother and his saving grace to the final 3 was bittersweet because of it! I could not stand Paul at first!!! Thought he was an arrogant a** but really grew to like him in the last few weeks and was sad to see him go!
My daughter loves Rory, but the rest of my family feels the way you do! I hated her commentary with alton brown, I wanted to smack her! Probably because I love Alton Brown, he's weird too but dang he's smart and funny!
And Amy!!! I am so glad she pulled herself together!!!! Because I labeled her the winner from week 1!!! I personally think it's going to be Amy and JAG in the finals, we'll see! I think the group really likes JAG and I think they are going to push him through and if they get rid of Amy.... I'll feel like I did when they got rid of Melinda Doolittle on American Idol, which was utter disbelief and sadness! I'll still watch though because I LOVE FOOD NETWORK! Also, that show allows me to write off the cable bill!

I watch food network all the time! I can write off my direct tv? How do you do that?!!!

 

[chrpangel]

Yeah... I wondered about her husband too... weird there was no mention and I did notice no ring...

Rory's behavior after the annoucement was weird... I'm sure she just became totally unhinged because she didn't win.

Overall though.. I thought the announcement was a little anti-climatic! When the first season ran the announcement was huge and fun and exciting and this was like, "Amy you won!" Balloons fell and that was it... I thought there would be more of a celebration...

I can't wait to watch her show though... I'm sure it's going to be awesome!!!!

on Rory, first it's not so much her gums, but when she smiles it's like she has horse teeth! Did you see when she turned around she got consoled by the other contestants! And what really burned me is that they brought BOTH families up. Sit your tired but down Rory! This is AMY's moment! But nooooooooo.

As for JAG, I liked him until the Rachel Ray ep. Being a military brat and having a brother who was in Afghanistan, I take great offense to what he did. I think it was a votes thing. AND when he met with the judges, I personally feel that he wasn't sincere at all. It was a "I got caught" thing. But I do like how he was with Paul on the show.

I adore Paul. He really grew on me! I didn't like Amy at first while she was doing her whole french bit. But she really grew into her own. Whereas Rory kept changing her style. "I'm the backyard bistro" and then there were like three others. They escape me at the moment. But I have yet to have my coffee. lol

 

[chefjwr]

Help me out girls. I saw this thread and tried to catch up before the finale, but missed 2 crucial episodes. The ones before the finale. What did Jag lie about that caused him to want to step down?? Also, what was Rory's commentary to Alton Brown that didn't look good for her?? Help please. Now I am hooked and its over.

 

[PampChefJoy]

Originally Jag had said he 1 - graduated from culinary academy, and 2 - served in Afghanistan. He did neither, but allowed that to be a part of his "bio" by not correcting the Food Network. He might have outright misrepresented the facts, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and allow him to say he just didn't correct them when they "assumed" the facts.

As far as Amy, I think they were actually referring to Rory on the Iron Chef show but somehow Amy got looped into the comments on that whole thing. She actually did a really good job and Rory was the one whose commentary with Alton Brown got really out of hand.

 

[chefjwr]

Thanks Joy--that was my second question. What did Rory say that got out of hand with Alton Brown??

 

[chrpangel]

I can't remember the Alton brown thing, but the Jag thing is he said that he GRADUATED from cooking school and that when he was in the Marines he WENT TO AFGHANISTAN! Here's the article...By Christopher Rocchio and Steve Rogers, 07/16/2007When The Next Food Network Star's third season finished production earlier this year, Josh "Jag" Garcia was still one of two finalists in the running to be crowned the competition's winner. However once allegations that he fibbed about his military background and education emerged following the show's June premiere, Garcia -- presumably realizing that his lies had likely already cost him any chance of winning the home viewer vote that will determine the competition's winner -- decided to withdraw from the culinary competition."I'm taking myself out of this competition," Garcia told The Next Food Network Star's judges during a post-allegations meeting that was broadcast at the conclusion of last night's penultimate show episode. "I can't in good conscience continue knowing what you guys demand of a Food Network Star. I can't continue knowing that I'm not mature enough yet to meet those requirements, and I'm sorry."Garcia and Rory Schepisi, a 30-year-old restaurant owner from Vega, TX, were initially revealed to be The Next Food Network Star 3's finalists during last night's pre-taped penultimate episode, which featured the show's production ending with the elimination of third-place finisher Amy Finley, a 32-year-old caterer and freelance writer from La Mesa, CA."Being one of the final two is huge. It's awesome," Garcia explained before he met with The Next Food Network Star's judges to discuss the allegations that had emerged after the show's premiere. "But there's a whole lot more that comes with it. You know there's press, and people going into your personal life. There's some things I need to talk about."Those "things" Garcia was referring to came to light during an early June investigation by The Army Times military newspaper. Food Network had billed Garcia as "a graduate of the New York Restaurant School" as well as "a former corporal and a grunt-turned-cook who served in Afghanistan" and Garcia had made additional comments supporting those falsehoods during a Food Network-arranged (and publicist monitored) June 1 interview that proceeded The Next Food Network Star 3's June 3 premiere.However after deciding that Garcia's original interview had include claims that "seemed unlikely, if not imposssible," The Times had discovered that none of those claims were true -- Garcia had never been deployed to a war zone; had never been a corporal; had left the Marine Corps eight months early; and had never finished culinary school.When The Times confronted Garcia with the results of its investigation in a pair of non-Food Network monitored follow-up interviews conducted on June 11, Garcia told the paper that he had let the show's producers "believe what they wanted to believe" regarding his Afghan deployment claim and a "hazing scandal" was responsible for his early discharge as a private.In a new The Army Times report published today, the newspaper also reported that although it didn't originally disclose the information in its earlier reports, Garcia also allegedly violated his Food Network confidentiality agreement during one of his non-chaperoned June 11 interviews with the newspaper. After reportedly disclosing that he was one of The Next Food Network Star's final two third-season finalists (a claim that, in light of his earlier lies and subsequent denials, The Times was reluctant to believe), Garcia also allegedly offered to trade the identity of the season's other finalist if the newspaper agreed not to disclose what its investigation had uncovered. "I'll tell you if you help me out with this," Garcia reportedly told the newspaper's reporter.However despite being notified of the false information in Garcia's background on June 12, Food Network -- obviously already aware that Garcia had ended up being one of the season's two finalists -- had remained tight-lipped about how it planned to address Garcia's situation. "We are currently investigating this situation and will have a resolution soon," Food Network told The Times in a brief written statement issued on June 12.Two weeks later, the message was still the same. "Food Network remains committed to fully investigating Josh Garcia's background," Cara Brugnoli, a Food Network spokeswoman, told The Times on June 26. Two additional weeks later, the investigation still allegedly remained "ongoing." "It is still ongoing. However nothing has been determined yet," Brugnoli told Reality TV World on July 9.With no further delay possible, Food Network finally revealed the results of its investigation during last night's broadcast."Several months after this episode was taped, Food Network learned that Jag had misrepresented facts about his military service and his culinary training," read a Food Network statement that appeared onscreen after the judges had revealed that Garcia and Schepisi would be the competition's final two finalists. "He said he had served in Afghanistan and that he had graduated from cooking school, neither of which is true. When given the opportunity during a press interview, Jag did not set the record straight. Food Network asked Jag to come to New York to discuss the situation.""I don't want my negative press to reflect on the Food Network," Garcia said prior to attending the meeting with The Next Food Network Star judges and Food Network executives Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson."So Jag, there's been a lot of rumors floating around about you and your background," explained Tuschman to Garcia during the meeting. "We sort of need to clear the air.""It's very hard for me to do this, because this is something I've dreamed of my whole life," Garcia told Tuschman and Fogelson. "I'm taking credit for something I haven't done. I told you folks I graduated from culinary school, but the truth is, I never graduated. This is hard to talk about, it really is. I told you guys that I deployed to Afghanistan... and I didn't. I didn't. I was a United States Marine. I served my country honorably. And I've been a whole lot of places, but Afghanistan wasn't one of them. I'm not here to take any glory from my brothers that are out there now doing their thing. I love my Corps. I love my Marines. I just want to do things the right way."After expressing his love for the military, Garcia then told Tuschman and Fogelson he was removing himself from the competition.However rather than giving any indication that they found his actions unacceptable and -- in a message that might if nothing else, help discourage future The Next Food Network Star applicants from similarly lying about their backgrounds -- making it clear that they had already otherwise planned to disqualify Garcia from the competition, Tuschman and Fogelson instead expressed regret that Garcia was removing himself from the competition."Unfortunately, we will accept this resignation. You're stepping down [while], we believe, holding your head high," said Fogelson. Added Tuschman, "Jag you're a talented young man and we think you realize you made a choice that you probably wish you hadn't made at this point. I know this door is closing for you, but I honestly do believe there's a hundred other doors that are going to open for you. And we want you to succeed. We really do."Garcia's resignation from The Next Food Network Star 2 meant reinstatement for Finley, who had been eliminated following a final challenge that required the final three finalists to each conduct print and radio interviews and perform a cooking segment on Food Network star Rachael Ray's The Rachael Ray Show. During the competition's final judging, the judges had told Finley that she was being eliminated because she had been "less approachable" and "less relatable" to the audience during her appearance with Ray. However her fortunes took a turn for the better with Garcia's withdrawal."I get a phone call that I need to fly to New York," Finley explained during last night's broadcast, which was followed by Tuschman informing her of Garcia's decision and her reinstatement. "I don't even know what to say," was all Finley could muster as a response.In addition to wondering whether Food Network's ethical standards are so lax that, barring what was presented to be a voluntary withdrawal, the network would have actually allowed Garcia to remain one of the competition's final two finalists, The Next Food Network Star viewers now have until Tuesday, July 17 at 9AM ET to determine whether Finley or Schepisi will be crowned the competition's winner. The winner will be announced live during The Next Food Network Star 2 finale next Sunday, July 22 at 9PM ET.As for Garcia, he -- like the show's home viewers, apparently -- has also been left to wonder what might have otherwise been."There's always going to be that what-if thing... But I ultimately believe that I made the right decision and we'll see where it takes me in the future," he said following his withdrawal. "I'm gonna go right back into the kitchen and keep cooking. That's what I've been doing, that's my love, and you can overcome anything in time. That's what I need... a little time."

 

[janetupnorth]

Amy's Bio from My Space:

I'm a third-generation native San Diegan..There aren't many of us! I grew up in the East County, back when our house was surrounded by meadows and horse fields. I learned to love the outdoors, indulging my Little House on the Prairie fantasies picking blackberries and bringing them home to make fresh blackberry pies. I still love growing my own fruits and vegetables and find the flavor of food you've grown yourself to be incomparably magical. My parents divorced when my sister and I were young, but both remarried and in total I'm now the second oldest of 8 children. We're a very close family...so close that my husband and children and I live on the same property with my mom and stepdad, one brother, and a handful of sisters! After graduating from UCLA I worked as a science writer and government relations coordinator, but after several years realized I needed a change of pace and scenery. I moved to Paris, where I met my husband, attended culinary school, and fell in love with traveling. Since the birth of our two kids, I've stayed home to do the hard work of raising and rearing my kiddos, and have worked freelance as a writer and caterer. In 2005 I brought my three loves together, publishing my first travel guide -- "The Adventure Guide to the Italian Riviera" -- which focused quite a bit on the regional cuisine of Liguria. Travel really influences the way I feel about food. Not only does it expose me to new flavors, but it brings new memories of meals enjoyed in incredible settings, and when I cook I get to conjure up those vibes. Consequently, I'm a bit of a trivia buff when it comes to food, ingredients, and cooking techniques. I love knowing where dishes come from, how they're made, how they reflect local cultures and culinary traditions, and passing that information along. My mother's a teacher -- as are most of my aunts and uncles, and as were my maternal grandparents -- and teaching is in my blood. I love to educate people about food and spread the joy of cooking. Being on The Next Food Network Star was a personally transformative experience, and I'm excited to see what the future holds!
Who I'd like to meet:
From life in general? Ghandi. From Food Network? I'd love to spend more time with Giada, Alton, and Paula Dean.


Amy's food network Bio:

Amy Finley WINNER
Amy is a traveler who loves food. She attended culinary school in France (Gregoire Ferrandi's Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Francaise). A freelance writer who has authored a travel book on Italy, Amy wants to inspire viewers to cook simple, beautiful food. In addition to writing, Amy also works as a caterer and is a stay-at-home mom to her two children.
Age: 33
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
Occupation: Mom, freelance writer, freelance caterer
Favorite restaurant: Tandor in San Diego
Food specialty: Indian
Interests: Yoga, reading, travel
Favorite Food Network chef: Giada De Laurentiis
Favorite Food Network show: Everyday Italian, Food 911
Three people, alive or dead, that you'd like to invite to a dinner party: My grandpa Harold, my husband Greg, my husband's grandmother Raymonde Suguet
Three foods you can't live without (other than bread or water): Cheese, chocolate, steak
Culinary inspirations: Julia Child, French grandmothers
Culinary secret weapon: A sharp knife
Favorite food: Eggplant
Food you won't go near: Veal
Weirdest thing you've ever eaten: Goat head tacos
Favorite food destination: Paris
Why do you think you should be The Next Food Network Star: I'm going to help people have more joie de vivre in their lives by illuminating the food culture of the ultimate romantic, glamorous, stylish, foodie city – Paris.

 

[chrpangel]

Thanks Janet! So where WAS her hubby then?

 

[KellyTheChef]

When they showed the pieces on Amy and Rory at their hometowns, I liked Rory more than I had up to that point. I thought they should have done a hometown piece on each of them BEFORE voting.

Anyhow, I voted for Amy...I thought she would do the better "show" and I really liked listening to her when she was teaching to the camera.

I was really glad Amy won....and even MORE glad once I saw the face Rory gave her when she won! I do feel sorry for her...that would be hard to be on camera and have a dream dashed away. But, she DOES have her new restaurant to focus on! Hopefully she does really well with that!

 

[MissChef]

When they showed the pieces on Amy and Rory at their hometowns, I liked Rory more than I had up to that point. I thought they should have done a hometown piece on each of them BEFORE voting.

Anyhow, I voted for Amy...I thought she would do the better "show" and I really liked listening to her when she was teaching to the camera.

I was really glad Amy won....and even MORE glad once I saw the face Rory gave her when she won! I do feel sorry for her...that would be hard to be on camera and have a dream dashed away. But, she DOES have her new restaurant to focus on! Hopefully she does really well with that!

I really agree with your whole post especially the bolded points! I think that Rory's look had a lot to do with utter devestation that she did not win! I think she really liked Amy but I know whe wanted the show BAD! Plus she probably thought that never once had she wanted to back out and Amy did and she won anyway! She probably was battling inner demons so to speak! Because she was happy for Amy but hugely let down by the fact that she did not win!! I can't say I blame her! She was really invested in it and was heart broken and probably wanted to bawl!!! I know I would have! I would have been happy for my friend but miserable for me! You could tell all along that she REALLY wanted it and she was very passionate about it!
Now don't get me wrong, I'm HAPPY that Amy won and I predicted her to win from the very first show! But Rory has grown on me a little and I can honestly say she one of the most invested in it! I think once it soakes in and they show coverage of her later ( you know, like they do with the last 2 season's people) that she will be a lot more happy for Amy and she'll be more sincere! JMHO!

 

[pcmom2abm]

thats a new restaurant since I lived in New Bern...didn't realize Jag came from "home"-wonder if he'll still have a job; one of the competitors on american inventor is from trenton, nc

 

[pcmom2abm]

Amy sure didn't look thrilled that she won! Maybe it was shock! I had a hard time wanting her to win after she kept wanting to go home-which is all well and good-but you have to really want the new lifestyle to be able to deal with it all.

 

[janetupnorth]

thats a new restaurant since I lived in New Bern...didn't realize Jag came from "home"-wonder if he'll still have a job; one of the competitors on american inventor is from trenton, nc

New Bern??? I went there a few years back to visit Moen - I worked for Master Lock at the time (sister company).

New Bern has got to have the world's SMALLEST airport...almost as bad as Rhinelander!

 

[KellyTheChef]

I really agree with your whole post especially the bolded points! I think that Rory's look had a lot to do with utter devestation that she did not win! I think she really liked Amy but I know whe wanted the show BAD! Plus she probably thought that never once had she wanted to back out and Amy did and she won anyway! She probably was battling inner demons so to speak! Because she was happy for Amy but hugely let down by the fact that she did not win!! I can't say I blame her! She was really invested in it and was heart broken and probably wanted to bawl!!! I know I would have! I would have been happy for my friend but miserable for me! You could tell all along that she REALLY wanted it and she was very passionate about it!
Now don't get me wrong, I'm HAPPY that Amy won and I predicted her to win from the very first show! But Rory has grown on me a little and I can honestly say she one of the most invested in it! I think once it soakes in and they show coverage of her later ( you know, like they do with the last 2 season's people) that she will be a lot more happy for Amy and she'll be more sincere! JMHO!

Cathy~

You spoke the words that I was thinking about AFTER I posted! The more I thought about it, the more I felt like Rory (or anyone who would have lost) was in a hard spot. I am not sure how I would react...no matter how much I liked the "winner"....that would still make me the LOSER. And getting to the top two, you would HAVE to be able to invision yourself winning and get very invested in winning!

Her restaurant looks amazing...hopefully her time on NFNS will REALLY help things take off for her!