Amarsir

I believe the only trick that Alyson has rehearsed with the performer was the Cruise Ship performer with the big stage act that "shrunk" her. (Who was labeled a fooler because Penn guessed something with the monitors.) That's because she was a stand-in for a missing assistant, not a stand in for the audience. On everything else, she's as new to it as we are. I was glad the cookies fooled them, because they basically got 2 guesses which we know is a bit unfair. Although if it wasn't slight of hand, I'm fooled myself.

Yeah Tom Green seemed a pretty irrelevant celebrity to use. But at least he wasn’t himself. That could have really gone off the rails. On that last choice, Penn does say “take the card that makes your hand better” to discourage a defensive play. But you’re right, they must have another out just in case.

Speaking only for myself, there's very little reality left in this "reality show". The contestants have big exaggerated personalities and are making deliberate mistakes because they were told that being wacky is what gets them the TV spot. Anne knows this which is why she feels comfortable openly laughing at them, when in reality she's a good and compassionate teacher. The producers know so they schedule lobster for the very first lesson since it's the most dramatic. And the editors clearly got the "wacky" memo as well so they insert as many visual and sound effects as they can excuse. It's overkill and not relateable. It's like a sitcom - say Big Bang Theory - which hammers the laugh track after every sentence and has lost all sense of realistic characters. Obviously people like BBT and Worst Cooks must still be doing well too. And I have nothing against anyone who likes either one. But for me it's tiring and manufactured. I used to think the first 1-2 episodes needed to be endured but then they got a little more realistic until the end. Maybe I'll tune in again if it turns out the top 4-6 are reasonable. But again the editing would be better if they would pull back 50% on the effects.

Didn't watch at all. I mean that's not something I would normally bother to post. But I just wanted to share a little support for those of you who dropped out mid-episode that at least you had more endurance than I did.

That milk trick was pretty good. I can think of ways to engineer something that might work, but the work would have to be so precise that that alone is impressive.

Yeah he was looking for an office job in a franchise when Marcus didn't intend to expand that way. Don't hire him. That's fine. Not what bothers me. This is: Between Marcus's visits Ewell went back to New Orleans where he already had a 6-figure job doing social marketing. He sent Marcus an email saying "I'm sorry it's not going to work for me there." Marcus then reads the letter out loud to the sister & brother-in-law, adding comments like "Can you believe this guy? Saying it in an email? Be a man." I don't know about you. But if Marcus did that in my presence to anyone in my family, he would at minimum be thrown out of the building. Whether you hire someone or not, you treat them with respect.

I don't know. Apparently I was wrong. But I think it felt like he was being deferential to her in a way that would be consistent with a parent but not with a chef / non-cooking assistant.

She also had a loose lack of self-control and I believe mentioned something about getting drinks after work as well. Not that the latter is indicative of a problem, but it certainly goes along with it. Also in season 1 I suspected Jacob Maarse (the flower guy) might have been using something like cocaine. He would be very quiet and reserved, then disappear for no reason, then come back high energy and raging for a fight. Again not proof, but behavior consistent with an abuse problem.

Alcohol. Marcus is adamant that she was honest, and I don't think she was clever enough to have been embezzling. It is certainly possible that anyone could have scooped up any amount. But mostly her problem was the attitude that she could do whatever she wanted and it didn't matter. She could have rented something or paid fees or thrown cash at expenses and just not noted it. I thought the review commentary was pretty good. A little more business, a little behind-the-scenes, and some self-analysis. It's not amazing new content, but it's easy for them to make and better than just showing a rerun without the comments.

Oh, perhaps not. Well then I really don't know why they brought her in.

I'm not sure Shuler's BBQ is really getting that rich. They were already doing well and hoping to make a national chain, but Marcus didn't want that. Here's my breakdown on what happened (that we know of) Marcus put in $500,000 for 40%. He required them to shift the land they already owned into the business name, so he now owns 40% of that. Then Marcus spent an additional $1.4 million, requiring who knows what from them in return. A family member - the one who called The Profit in the first place - was willing to give up a high-paying job to move back near his sister's family. The show made him look like a clown and Marcus personally badmouthed him to his family behind his back. The expansion of the seating area was probably good, but most of the money was spent on a banquet hall we have no evidence they can support, and a general store whose inventory is so purposeless and cluttered he criticized it in a followup show. Scanning a couple review sites, the reviews are not terrible but have fallen off in the last year or so. Several indicate that prices are higher and food went downhill. Now maybe it's all working efficiently. But I suspect they gave up a lot and their profit has not gone up that much in return. It certainly doesn't seem like the multi-state tourist destination that Marcus claimed it would be.

I hate to break the trend but I actually liked this episode. Lots of customers meant it's less about nagging people and more about efficiently serving dishes. It's also nice to see food purchases mattering as well. Those things are what I want from the show. While I don't particularly want the Worst Cooks crew to win, I think they're likable enough (and working hard enough) that I was happy they didn't get eliminated. Not that I disliked Chop Shop but I didn't ever feel the same urgency from them. However, I would have liked to follow the New England team a little more closely. From what I caught of the storyline, the guy knocked his mother unconscious and then they sold 50% more than any other team. While it's amusing to connect those dots the story doesn't really play out for me.

I don't mind an honorary performance, even if it doesn't seem as smooth as it would from the original. But I thought Penn's reception of it was lukewarm as well. He didn't mention "Mr. Electric" or the guy's real name, only "we know the trick". That was weird to me considering how much he has gushed over others in the past. Maybe he was just being brief though and I'm reading too much into it. I really liked the blank cards trick, even if some of the moves weren't done with perfect smoothness. (Especially with the close up camera work.) That's one I know I'll seek out to watch again. It surprised me they guessed "force" for the puppets. My instinct was "assistant", although I'm probably underestimating the effort involved to make that happen. Someone on reddit pointed out another possible method, which I admit is plausible.

In some of those cases, notably Swanson's Fish Market and The Simple Greek, nobody looks good. I'm not really compelled to take either side. But that Inkkas case at the end is pretty damning. I've long thought the "handshake deal" isn't a kindness but a sleaze tactic. "I want you to put me in charge of everything without me actually having to commit to anything back. That's just how I do things."

Make a Food Network Star be the second host on this. They can't keep the spot filled anyway, so give one of the rookies a workout.

Yesterday I considered starting some predictions about what goofy stuff we would see. Decided not to, but if I had, my first one would have been someone using an orange rind in the dish. I think boiling a banana peel comes close. I don't know if I can watch this. The show may have beaten me.

I'm sure there's a lot more to it than we ever see, but it's probably not that interesting. Getting permits for each city is just paperwork. And I can see legit synergy, if the food truck adds to the business instead of taking away. This is reinforced by the case this season where the store owners were fine with it but the property owner chased them out. It also seems reasonable that food trucks selling different types of food might benefit from being in a specific area. The same reason gas stations are on opposite corners, car lots are in the same part of town, and mall stands like being in the food court. Being clustered attracts attention. (Especially if the newcomer brings the excitement of a TV camera.) That last part though probably shouldn't be underestimated. "Can I park here?" "I don't know..." "It's for Food Network tv." "Oh, OK I guess." I don't know if it's enough pull to get you a warning instead of a ticket, but it certainly makes everything sound more official and approved even if you're a clunky amateur.

It's teambuilding / forced fun / "look how quirky we are". Depends on the character of the business. Could be "we know we're working hard right now, so this is a reminder not to take everything so seriously." Or it could be less-than-a-token gesture. I don't know if the producers were behind the first apperance, but the camera was definitely well-positioned on the Wings truck to catch the guy pulling up.

I think the guy may have been even worse than I remember. Nice that Marcus straight-up admitted he tries to be Oprah.

In past seasons, haven't teams been pre-warned which blocks they can and can't park in?

For 1.3 million flavors Sonic, those drinks actually sounded rather repetitive. I appreciate the show trying to make it seem like the Worst Cooks team didn't sell anything, but this one was pretty pre-ordained.

That's more interesting to me, because not only do you get bigger numbers but you also have issues like resupplying. The biggest tactical decision we've seen so far was figuring out they shouldn't have spent all $500 on 3 hours of food in the first episode. (Which seemingly no one did anyway, because they have no experience.)

I'm surprised P&T didn't say "thumper" on the mentalist. Certainly they haven't objected to that guess in previous seasons. That's the problem for me as well. Knowing it's safe means there's nothing to the trick. I guess it was showy though for people who might not know that. I rather liked the P&T trick. Not an astounding trick, but what better way to use a stooge than to swap roles and play the stooge yourself?

Manny is the most naturally likable out of the bunch, but his pilot was terrible. Every 6 words he would pause as if waiting for a new cue card. He also had some big mistakes in the prior rounds so I can't feel he was robbed. Christian continued to look like a slob even in a suit. One button undone is enough thanks, even if wearing clothes that fit so you can tuck in your shirt is out of the question. Jess hasn't been that likable, but she did a good pilot. Also I'd been thinking that they've never had "Star Salvation" or "Comeback Kitchen" matter, and now it has. Box checked. So I guess the network has two more people they won't use. Congrats?

That reminds me that they had beignets. Which reminds me that this is the first time I can ever remember food during the restaurant negotiation!