FNS Spoilers and Spoiled Speculation

[Gbb]

She was the only one that had to do it?? I don't want to derail this thread, but could someone give me a quick/short explanation?

[smiley13]

She was the only one that had to do it?? I don't want to derail this thread, but could someone give me a quick/short explanation?

I will take this to the Food Network Star Alums thread to answer.

[cooksdelight]

Dom created a new Facebook page "Time To Take On Hollywood"

https://www.facebook.com/ChefDomTesoriero

[Thumper82003]

I just watched this week's show. My speculation is that Eddie does not win since his pilot was barbeque places throughout the country. Michael Symon is now doing a show very much like this. If Dom has a new/revised FB page, it may be he lost as well. That leaves the Cajun guy. I can't even remember his name, lol.

[backformore]

I just watched this week's show. My speculation is that Eddie does not win since his pilot was barbeque places throughout the country. Michael Symon is now doing a show very much like this. If Dom has a new/revised FB page, it may be he lost as well. That leaves the Cajun guy. I can't even remember his name, lol.

Jay.  Yeah, I wonder if Guy Fieri is going to stop doing the "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives", and they're looking for a replacement.  Jay would be the guy. 

[cooksdelight]

Then Jay will need to learn to stuff his mouth and talk at the same time. He almost choked on one bite of chicken last night.

[Snarklepuss]

The poll is up on the Food Network Star Gossip page.  They say this has accurately predicted the winner for the past 3 seasons, although this season the winner doesn't depend on a vote so they can't guarantee anything.

 

http://www.foodnetworkgossip.com/

 

So if they're correct Jay will be the winner.  Bummer, because if Dom doesn't win I'd be on team Eddie.....

[Jesse]

Then Jay will need to learn to stuff his mouth and talk at the same time. He almost choked on one bite of chicken last night.

Possibly my favorite thing from any episode of FNS ever was Paula Deen talking about Gordon Elliot teaching her to take "princess bites" so she could eat and then talk. 

[cooksdelight]

Somehow, Guy Fieri takes huge mouthfuls, grunts and groans, then talks.

[Uncle Benzene]

And quite often, it's downright disgusting. That's one of the things that never ceases to amaze me about FN. After having it drilled into my head by my parents during my formative years to the point that it's now just reflex/instinct -- "Do NOT talk with your mouth full, ever, and if for some reason you absolutely have to, AT LEAST cover your mouth for crying out loud!" -- seems half the people on FN these days do it on a regular basis. On television. It's one of the reasons my mom refuses to even watch FN.

[howmanywords]

I dont see how the FN Gossip poll can be very accurate when predicting the winner when this year the winner is not fan decided. It may very well end up being right again but IMO its totally different now.  When it was fan decided it made sense that they correctly predicted the winner but I'm not convinced the network and the fans are on the same page. Jeff Mauro topped all the polls AND was the networks pick but I'll be surprised if it happens again. That said I'd be fine if Jay wins.  I dont know if I would go out of my way to watch him like I would with Eddie but hes not a bad choice.

[akr]

When I looked about an hour ago only about 1600 people had voted. Granted, that's a big enough sample size for a scientific poll - but not for one where a couple of hundred enthusiastic buddies of a competitor can chime in (and, when it was based on voting, I would expect small rabid groups of followers to be overly represented in both the online polling and the online voting, but neither is necessarily going to match the network's guess of what is larger viewing audience wants). 

[cooksdelight]

Doesn't matter who they vote for. Finale was taped back at the end of June. Of course, if someone gets a landslide of votes and they didn't win, FN will almost have to give them a shot at something. And there's the fan favorite prize, whatever it is.

[Evanscody]

And quite often, it's downright disgusting........-- "Do NOT talk with your mouth full, ever, and if for some reason you absolutely have to, AT LEAST cover your mouth for crying out loud!" -- seems half the people on FN these days do it on a regular basis. On television. It's one of the reasons my mom refuses to even watch FN.

Right? And Giada is THE worst on this offense. Her constant talking with her maw grinding her food drives me crazy. I cannot stand to watch her eat and talk at the same time because more often than not you see the food almost fall out if her mouth. Yuck!

Back to speculation, based on all your smart posts, and a sense that he has the best on camera presence, I think that it's going to be Eddie.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Evanscody

[NikSac]

Somehow, Guy Fieri takes huge mouthfuls, grunts and groans, then talks.

 

I vaguely remember him describing this on one of the former FNS seasons when he was helping someone out with their camera time. He said something about either taking a bite you (the host) could swallow or tucking it into your cheek while you finished talking. He tucks those huge bites of food into his cheek, apparently.  I was thinking Jay and Dom in particular needed more assistance on this technique before their pilots.

[rab01]

I think he taught the technique to the Pah Stahl guy

[Snarklepuss]

I just found this poll update on the Food Network Gossip page:

 

 

Update- FYI - Jay posted links to this poll on his social media, so the results are a bit skewed. Thanks for the traffic Jay, but the poll isn't too accurate now. For what it's worth, Dom had a slight edge over Jay before this, but it was very close.

What did Jay think he was accomplishing by posting the link to the poll on his social media?  I don't get it.

[Totale]

 

What did Jay think he was accomplishing by posting the link to the poll on his social media?  I don't get it.

 

Why would anyone follow Jay on social media?  I don't get it.

[cooksdelight]

He hoped to steer people to vote for him, is my guess. I've seen the contestants doing this all season, for the fan favorite vote. As I posted earlier, it's all moot, the winner was chosen back in June when the finale was taped. Eddie is the only one being quiet about the entire process.

[Bella]

I wonder what Dom is doing to drive his votes.

 

This is making me dread the finale. If we end up with Dom....

[cooksdelight]

Probably the new Facebook page I mentioned earlier. I've not checked to see how many followers he's gained, but he's definitely trying to drum up a fan favorite vote if nothing else.

[akr]

Thanks for reminding me of that vote - I went ahead and voted (once) for Eddie and entered the sweepstakes again  Current standings:

Christina (first off) & Jay 15%

Eddie 12%

Emilia (!) 11% 

Dom 10%

Matthew 9%

Rue 6%

Alex & Arnold 5%

Michelle, Rosa, & Sita 4%

 

I suppose anybody at 9% or above has a chance if they really try to goose a following, but I wonder if the network wouldn't be pushing Jay (and maybe Eddie) to get votes, given that it would be hard to explain a Christina win if nobody who's been watching remembers that there was ever a Christina on this show. Actually, I suppose they'd have to encourage everybody to do it, so as not to be accused of putting a thumb on the scale for any particular contestant. 

 

I don't know how much this indicates who's hyperactive on the internet (Emilia, Jay, presumably Christina) and who's actually striking a chord with an audience that might actually watch one of these people do a show . . . some of both I suppose. I have to think Rue, Alex, and Arnold doing poorly relative to their performance on the show indicates that they weren't generating much audience excitement, although obviously Arnold has some fans here who are quite fond of him (I find it to be too much of a shtick, personally, but it's a YMMV thing). 

 

Vote/results link is here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-star/sweepstakes/results.html

Edited August 12, 2015 by akr

[Janimo]

Oh my goodness. After I voted, it said "Vote again," so I did.....hmmmmm.......

[mlp]

I think the number of votes for fan favorite is meaningless.  I think the leaders are always the people who have friends and family who are willing to go to the website and vote 10 times every day.  During the season that Justin Warner won, there was a very pretty Hispanic woman whose name I can't recall (Martita - something like that) who was in the lead by a large margin all along and stayed in the lead long after she was eliminated.  Someone on the FN boards said she lived in a Hispanic neighborhood, had a big family there, had posters up all over and was showing up on all the local programming asking for votes.  I haven't taken the vote numbers seriously since. 

[Snarklepuss]

I agree mlp, and I can't imagine FN takes those polls very seriously either.  I think they probably have their own methods for assessing fan favorite.  I remember that poll with Martita being in the lead all the way through.  Something was off about that, and I think it later came out that she went on local TV in her community and had friends and family also lobbying to get votes for her.  Now this season Christina has stayed out in front weeks after she was eliminated and she was the first to go home.  Something is off about that too.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Snarklepuss

[Snarklepuss]

I wonder what Dom is doing to drive his votes.

 

This is making me dread the finale. If we end up with Dom....

 

Here's one reason why i think he may not be the winner - It's all over his social media how he's spending the summer as usual on his mac and cheese truck up at the Saratoga race track.  Wouldn't the winner be too busy with all their new FN responsibilities to just go about their lives as usual?  He could have had time to film the 6 episodes and then go do the summer truck stint but wouldn't the winner still have more things to do than to be able to basically take a two month "time out" from those responsibilities?  Unless FN wouldn't want the winner to do anything out of the ordinary that might tip off friends that they won......Just speculation.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Snarklepuss

[rab01]

I think that's exactly right Snarklepuss.  Also, if I knew I was going to be eliminated, I'd want to ramp up my media presence before the departure from the show and final round of interviews.  Waiting until a few weeks after might lose the window of opportunity.  If I know I won, I can wait until after the announcement because I'll have a victory lap and opportunities to promote the new show that's coming out. 

Edited August 13, 2015 by rab01

[cooksdelight]

Christine is campaigning hard on Facebook this morning for the Fan Favorite vote, she's dropped slightly behind Jay.

[MerBearHou]

I don't blame her for trying -- that's her prerogative -- but Christine is delusional if she thinks she is "fan favorite".  She barely registered on this show and her time on Star Salvation did not improve my impression of her.  Top that off with her ridiculous, ridiculous choice of wardrobe in the last show when they were picking sous chefs....well, she is not my fan favorite, that's for sure. 

[Skyfall]

Devils advocate on Dom's postings: What if they told everyone to act normal until the finale aired?

[cooksdelight]

Eddie is the only one who's not on social media going ga-ga and begging for Fan Favorite votes. For whatever it's worth.

[Snarklepuss]

I vacillate between thinking they're trying to throw us off or that these indications are for real.  Yesterday on "The Kitchen" all 3 finalists were on in a 60 second mini cooking challenge and something about the body language made me think Jay was the winner.  Something in my gut is telling me that based on the way he was interacting with Jeff Mauro and Sunny A.  Then again they could have been trying to throw us off on that show too.  I'm sure it was filmed after the winner was chosen based on the weather outside and the fact that the patio set had already been renovated, which was done pretty recently.

[Snarklepuss]

Eddie is the only one who's not on social media going ga-ga and begging for Fan Favorite votes. For whatever it's worth.

 

I haven't seen the others begging for votes - Where did you find that?  I only know that Jay had posted a link to the Food Network Gossip poll but I haven't seen Dom post anything myself.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Snarklepuss

[cooksdelight]

It was a 30-sec challenge, and I didn't see them paying attention to anyone over another. Jay was on the end closest to Jeff and Sunny, and he wouldn't shut up, so to me, it looked like Jeff giving him the "shut your mouth" side eye a few times. And Jay sucking up to Geoffrey regarding his cocktails. I couldn't tell from body language or anything else who might be the winner, I think they all played it pretty cool. Except Jay who's always trying too hard and being too loud.

I haven't seen the others begging for votes - Where did you find that?  I only know that Jay had posted a link to the Food Network Gossip poll but I haven't seen Dom post anything myself.

Dom started a brand new fan page for himself, calling it "The Road To Hollywood", and asking for votes.

[Snarklepuss]

It was a 30-sec challenge, and I didn't see them paying attention to anyone over another. Jay was on the end closest to Jeff and Sunny, and he wouldn't shut up, so to me, it looked like Jeff giving him the "shut your mouth" side eye a few times. And Jay sucking up to Geoffrey regarding his cocktails. I couldn't tell from body language or anything else who might be the winner, I think they all played it pretty cool. Except Jay who's always trying too hard and being too loud.

Dom started a brand new fan page for himself, calling it "The Road To Hollywood", and asking for votes.

 

You're right it could just be Jay sucking up that made me think that.  It was sort of impossible to tell anything from that spot.  Can you post a link to that Dom fan page?  I know he has a few pages on Facebook.  One is his own personal page, another is a "public figure" page and the other one is for the Mac Truck, but I haven't seen him asking for votes on those, unless I missed it.

 

ETA:  I just saw him ask for "fan favorite" votes on the Mac Truck site but that was way back on May 19th.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Snarklepuss

[cooksdelight]

I got the "Hollywood" quote wrong, but it's in this profile pic. He did at one time have a post asking for votes, but it's gone now. No idea why. He had posted it right after coming back onto the show. A week or so ago.

https://www.facebook.com/ChefDomTesoriero?pnref=story

[PamelaMaeSnap]

My prediction is that Eddie won't win, simply because I want him to win SO much. 

[Bella]

My prediction is that Eddie won't win, simply because I want him to win SO much. 

 

DH and I were discussing the fact that whoever comes in second, Eddie or Jay (we don't think Dom is a credible contender), would have won in most previous seasons. So I suspect that the runner-up will be eased into FN programming slowly, so as to not upstage the winner, and eventually become a fixture on the network.

[cooksdelight]

Eddie and Jay are both having big public viewing parties tonight from 6-9. Dom is watching in a restaurant with family and close friends, but did post that anyone was welcome to join them.

Eddie, btw, just filmed his first fitness video and is really excited about that.

[PamelaMaeSnap]

My prediction is that Eddie won't win, simply because I want him to win SO much. 

 

I have never been so happy to be wrong in my life :)

Edited August 17, 2015 by PamelaMaeSnap

[NewDigs]

And I once again wonder why I stay away from the "Spoilers" threads. I think I'm gun shy after having been spoiled by what turned out to be speculation. But at the time...

And they are really fun to read after the fact.

Go Eddie!

[cooksdelight]

Has anyone seen promo commercials on Food Network for the new season? Someone just asked Michelle Ragussis about it, saying that "the one guy" is in the commercial, indicating a male wins the second chance thing and advances to the show. Anyone have any clue what the person is talking about?

[spiderpig]

20 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Has anyone seen promo commercials on Food Network for the new season? Someone just asked Michelle Ragussis about it, saying that "the one guy" is in the commercial, indicating a male wins the second chance thing and advances to the show. Anyone have any clue what the person is talking about?

Haven't seen the promo, but the 3 guys are Matthew (please-oh-please-no), Chris and Dom.  Hope not because Michelle is my favorite of the bunch.

[cooksdelight]

Mine as well. We are friends on FB and she does these short little videos from her restaurant kitchen. She's great on camera.

[Christina]

I'm hopeful that Matthew has seen himself, realized that he came across poorly, and will clean up his act. On the second chance webisodes, he came across much better than on the main show. He seems to have cooking talent, and maybe, just maybe he thought the behavior we saw as over-the-top and arrogant would come across as passion, or something. Hope springs eternal.

[LexieLily]

Where do we talk about the Comeback Kitchen show?

[Wings]

I am watching Comeback Kitchen now and I have the same question.  This is related to FN Star, right? Does the winner of this compete on FN Star.  I am confused. 

[chessiegal]

My understanding is that the whole point of Comeback Kitchen is that the winner is on Season 12 FNS.

[The Hound Lives]

I don't know all the contestants names but I can't help but think this is a vehicle for Dom T. I'm calling him the winner now because, while I don't remember his food, I do remember the judges (especially Giada) loved him. Personally, I thought he was a jackass. 
Still, he would be a better winner than Matthew Grunwald. That guy was a load on his season. I hope he is booted first. 

[Wings]

I haven't finished watching yet but I do know that Penny will never get a show on this network or anywhere.  She cannot soften her edges and she thinks she has!  She thinks she is soft now.  Well, no.  

Dom does Italian food and one thing we don't need is another Italian cooking show!  They should all be on the Canned Tomato network.  We all have pizza joints in our neighborhoods with the infamous collection of baked saucy/cheesey dishes.  Ugh.  You never see anyone cooking northern Italian food; that would be refreshing. 

Matt has toned it way down but that is not helping much.  LOL!