Season 11 Contestants & Their Social Media Outreach Programs

[cooksdelight]

I think we need a place to snark on the various contestants and their presence on social media.

 

Let's start with the worst:

 

https://www.facebook.com/matt.grunwald?fref=ts

[cooksdelight]

Rosa lists herself not as a chef, but as an entertainer.

https://www.facebook.com/Rosagrazz?ref=ts&fref=ts

[leighdear]

Matthew's swordfish in the first FB photo looks dry & overcooked.  That's a big no-no!  *LOL*

Edited June 8, 2015 by leighdear

[Lamb18]

Matthew's Facebook has a security sign-in - I wonder if he's been getting a lot of bad comments.

[Janimo]

Just checked Matthew Grunwald and Chef Matthew Grunwalds facebook pages. The former is followed by a whopping 411 people, and the latter is liked by 1608.

I have to say that as much as I dislike Matthew, I'd take him over Chef Lenny any day.....but that's not saying much, huh? Just my two cents.

[cooksdelight]

Check out the voting for Fan Favorite, which everyone is campaining hard for on their various social media outlets:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-star/sweepstakes/results.html

WTF?? Christina must have the entire state of Missouri voting for her.

[Gbb]

Christina, Emilia, and Matthew are leading the pack by a lot. It's official. No one who watches the show is voting.

[backformore]

Maybe people who are voted off have nothing better to do than sit and vote for themselves over and over again?   

[Gbb]

I wasn't going to vote, but my TV boyfriend was one of the options, so...

[chessiegal]

I remembered seeing Arnold and his drag queen persona on some show, but couldn't remember where. This morning I had "Log On and Eat" with Eden Grindspan on CC, and sure enough, both of him/her were featured. What a hoot.

[akr]

Here's a really interesting article on Alex.  http://www.welovedc.com/2014/10/09/capital-chefs-alex-mccoy-of-dukes-grocery/

 

Parents grew up in London, mother a chef, father a government official; he went back a lot as a kid and drew inspiration from there; has worked with Marco Pierre White among others; sounds passionate about making sure to go to a place to really learn the cuisine, etc. I definitely understand why they cast him; too bad he couldn't figure out an angle, or how to present himself better, fast enough to shine on this show, but probably better for him to keep cooking and starting restaurant projects than to get sucked into TV purgatory at this stage of his career. 

 

If you prioritize it, travel doesn't have to be that expensive, especially to the kinds of places that interest him. Just get yourself there and then you can get by on very little money. And on some of these, I'm sure he was able to write it off as a business expense, or have someone finance it as an investment in the business (a couple of thousand dollars for Alex to go to Thailand for a month and come back not just with some ideas but with some passion and salesmanship that allow you to push the resultant dishes and charge more for them; versus spending a little extra on silverware for the restaurant).

[Snarklepuss]

Here's a really interesting article on Alex.  http://www.welovedc.com/2014/10/09/capital-chefs-alex-mccoy-of-dukes-grocery/

 

Parents grew up in London, mother a chef, father a government official; he went back a lot as a kid and drew inspiration from there; has worked with Marco Pierre White among others; sounds passionate about making sure to go to a place to really learn the cuisine, etc. I definitely understand why they cast him; too bad he couldn't figure out an angle, or how to present himself better, fast enough to shine on this show, but probably better for him to keep cooking and starting restaurant projects than to get sucked into TV purgatory at this stage of his career.

 

It's like the 800 pound gorilla in the room why Alex didn't choose exotic international cuisine as his angle - Perhaps visiting restaurants all over the world ala Tony Bourdain but then showing us how to make those dishes ourselves.  He wouldn't even have to go overseas if he could visit certain ethnic restaurants in the U.S. for inspiration.  Even Jeff used to visit places in Chicago for inspiration for the sandwich concept, so I just don't get why Alex didn't go with this idea.  It seems like it would be made for him, or he would be made for it!

[cooksdelight]

He's opening a restaurant, check out what the cuisine is. Asian, with some Australian thrown in for good measure.

http://www.popville.com/2015/08/800-block-of-upshur-street-officially-the-hottest-block-in-town-new-restaurant-from-chef-alex-mccoy-coming/

[Snarklepuss]

Speaking of social media, I still can't get over the number of Dom fans rooting for him on the Food Network Facebook page.  They haven't given up hope yet!  The only others that seem to get any attention are Jay and Eddie, but people tend to lump them together as if to say they "wouldn't mind" watching either of them, as if they don't mind them but aren't crazy about them either.  The Dom fans are much more ardent, chanting "Dom, Dom, Dom!"  or "I won't watch the winner's show unless it's Dom".  I find that pretty interesting.

[ari333]

Wow that Katie chick's voice is off the charts annoying. Vocal fry indeed.

Jeff Mauro looks like Jimmy Fallon to me.