S11.E07: Food Truck Throwdown

[smiley13]

Well most may not be especially "fat", but the men who have not exactly been slim are Emeril, Mario Batali, and Guy Fieri.  And Jeff Mauro, while never truly large was quite a bit larger until a year or so ago.  Duff Goldman is not fat but not slim either.  And of the women, other than Ina there was Paula Deen, who before her weight loss was not exactly svelte.  Even Aarti S. and Alex G. have weight issues, although Alex hides it by being a pear shape and the camera rarely shoots her from the waist down.  There have also been a few contestants on FNS who have been overweight.  There have been a few men I can remember that fit the large and/or messy guy type they seem to love to put on FNS.  In season 5 there was a guy named Michael who wasn't exactly slim, wore a beard and looked a little scruffy.  Then there was Tom Pizzica in Aarti's season, while only a little overweight fit the scruffy, slightly messy guy with a beard and curly hair slot that they seem to like to put on this show.  There are probably more I'm not remembering.

I would rather see my TV cooks with a little meat on their bones, unlike Gee-Ahda who looks like she never eats.  Plus, I do not think Jay is overweight.  He is just a big guy.  I guess the idea of "weight issues" varies.  Not everyone is tiny and rail thin.

 

But back to the episode, has anyone ever made praline bacon like Jay did?  That sounded like the interesting part of the burger to me.

[Snarklepuss]

I would rather see my TV cooks with a little meat on their bones, unlike Gee-Ahda who looks like she never eats.  Plus, I do not think Jay is overweight.  He is just a big guy.  I guess the idea of "weight issues" varies.  Not everyone is tiny and rail thin.

 

I'm not a Jay fan but I'm with you on the meat on the bones thing.  My mother, who was an excellent cook, always used to say "Never trust a skinny chef".

[Lura]

I don't think of Jay as fat, and he bears no resemblance to Lenny in my mind.  By the same token, I don't see Dom as "acting."  I see him as totally natural and genuinely scared when it's camera time.  I can see Dom's frustration with himself -- even disgust -- that he can't seem to accomplish what seems so easy for everyone else.  With Dom's personality and his accent, he's a born entertainer, but he's scared to death, and that causes him to go blank when he needs to talk.  I honestly feel very sorry for him.  He has cooked a lot of good food on this show, but his insecurity is holding him back.  Bob, Suzie, Giada and Bobby were all blown away by Dom, so I'm hoping that even if he can't win this competition, they'll hire him for small appearances until he becomes comfortable enough to have his own show

sometime.

[DollEyes]

  Regarding Michelle, given the stakes, if I were in her place, I'd suck it up and do my best for my family's sake. As much as I would hate being away from the people I love, I would use them as my reason to go on, not my excuse to stop. In this case, I'd much rather be known as a loser than a quitter because at least a loser tries and is willing to fight to the better end, so quitting is not an option. Unless there was an emergency, Michelle's quitting just makes her look bad and I've got no respect for her or anyone who does that without good reason, knowing what's involved.

 

About Jay, while he's a little too "on" sometimes, personality-wise, I don't think he's anything like Lenny. Jay seems like a harmless, fun-loving guy to me.

 

  About Dom, he's had a few moments where he's overcome his shyness, but those moments are too few & too far between. If he hasn't gotten it together by now, then chances are he never will.  

[Evangeline]

My guess is Michelle went home, instead of being sequestered.  This would have been negotiated with producers, no doubt.  The show can't force her to stay sequestered, all they can do is sue her.  So, how does that play out? Lawsuits are public. Food Network, as they've said before, is a family network.  Do they really want the negative publicity that would come from that? And that's just one factor to consider.  No matter how iron clad, contracts are at risk for not being enforced if unconscionable.  This would be a liquidated damages provision.  There are no damages, at all, if her being out early doesn't get any publicity.  Maybe it would be enforced, because confidentiality is pretty essential to the success of the show, but they won't have certainty that a judge would uphold their liquidated damages clause, no matter how well drafted those contracts are.  Maybe they assume Michelle can't afford an attorney to go up against their attorneys...but maybe Gloria Allred is bored.  And of course, all they can get is what Michelle has -- if she doesn't have $1 million, they won't get $1 million, even if they win.  They also can't force Michelle to perform well.  But okay, they can eliminate her if she sabotages herself.  But again, what percentage of Food Network's viewers are women? From a PR standpoint, surely it crossed their mind that there might be some backlash that they eliminated all the women leaving 5 men for the last few weeks and the finals.  They can bring a woman back from Star Salvation, and I have no doubt they will, but still -- doesn't change that they would have eliminated all of the women. Her quitting relieves them of that responsibility.  Not to mention, it brought drama. Reality shows love drama.  So for all of those reasons, I'm sure they were able to work something out that addressed the Food Network's interest in keeping the outcome a secret and Michelle's interest in being with her family. 

Edited July 27, 2015 by Evangeline

[DeLurker]

While enforcing the contract may reflect on FN in a negative way, most every contestant who was eliminated could come off as equally sympathetic - a sick or dying relative, needing to get back to work, family strain from the separation...I think their contract does have some teeth and they are willing to use them if necessary.  Worse for business that coming across as cold-hearted. 

 

The contestants knew before signing what was required and decided to put their families through it.  I get that Michelle misses her family, but in the absence of a life-threatening situation to one of them, I'm thinking "you made your bed".

[cooksdelight]

Only one time in the history of reality shows have I ever seen a contestant get to leave. A girl's mother was dying, she was in the middle of nowhere on Survivor, and they let her fly home to be with her mother. She got to see her just before she passed away. Missing your kids doesn't get you a free ticket home.

[DeLurker]

A guy was let off of Masterchef this season for a vague "personal reason".

That was maybe 3 episodes in.

[cooksdelight]

A guy was let off of Masterchef this season for a vague "personal reason".

That was maybe 3 episodes in.

 

Yes.... I'm dying to know what that was all about.

[RealityCheck]

On Top Chef, season 1, chef Cynthia Sestito withdrew after the second round of competiton because her father was dying from terminal cancer. She said in one of her talking heads she found out his condition right before flying out for filming.

[NikSac]

I don't even mind someone leaving for personal reasons. Certainly there are plenty of things that can come up unexpectedly.  Somehow I don't think your kid's birthday is one of them though.  Did they not give her a schedule?  Did she not think she'd last that long on the show? I just don't get "I missed my kid's birthday party, I'm going home."

[cooksdelight]

I think she saw the handwriting on the wall... she was going home... and somehow thought this would be a better exit.

Wrong.

[biakbiak]

A lot of shows have gotten away from sequestering all contestants except for the final few. Masterchef has been mentioned in this thread and a person who was eliminated and interviewed mentioned she had to ask the producers if she could stay in LA for the weekend to recover on a friend's couch instead of immediately flying home.