Drogo October 6, 2016 Share October 6, 2016 The last two recruits face their final, ultimate challenge: to cook a restaurant-quality meal for a panel of culinary experts, including TV host Sarah Gore, chef Akhtar Nawab and Cooking Channel's Laura Vitale. Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray coach their recruits, who must put all the skills they have learned over the past eight weeks to the test in order to be named the winner and awarded $50,000 for their charity. Link to comment
rustyspigot November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 Rachael had a near nervous breakdown. She should have had her calming clown pants from the earlier episode. I was entertained by this season. 6 Link to comment
mlp November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 Rachael was driving me nuts. I suspect she can't stand not to be the center of attention. I didn't really care who won but I was leaning toward Anne just because she wasn't acting like an idiot. I wonder why they didn't have the judging in a restaurant like they usually do. With real chefs. Those two women were awful - terrible acting. The man, a real chef and restaurant owner, sort of took a back seat. 4 Link to comment
LexieLily November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 Were we supposed to know who any of the "culinary experts" were? 4 Link to comment
biakbiak November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 Damn the FN is really cheap ing out on all its competition shows which I think are their main ratings grabber. 3 Link to comment
Bastet November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 I hate this show - celebrity or otherwise - yet still find myself watching the finale for the food (and this time I also saw the first episode because I was with a friend who'd watched The Jersey Shore). So I come in with no frame of reference other than my opinion of the two charities at stake and the food prepared. With all due respect to The Red Cross, I was rooting for Anne's contestant because of her animal charity. Both meals sounded delicious upon explanation, and generally looked delicious upon execution. With the major exception of the cremated chicken from Anne's contestant. Oh my god. Chicken is something easy to overcook, and, unfortunately, given that fact, something that tastes like ass a mere few degrees over. But how did that happen, for her to cook it so over-done given the prep work and supervision? They showed both contestants budgeting times and setting alarms, and I can't imagine their mentors hadn't allowed for each alarm to ding at the point where there was room to either pull out/off the heat or keep cooking for an appropriate amount of time. So what happened with the Cornish game hen? The thermometer reading shown on screen was 180+, which is already inedible unless you have the greatest sauce in the history of cooking, and then there was a talking head in which she said something like she'd never before seen a temperature reading beginning with two. So her chicken was at least 200 degrees?! Gross. Rachael's contestant could have pissed on her entree and still won. 4 Link to comment
spiderpig November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 7 hours ago, Bastet said: With all due respect to The Red Cross, I was rooting for Anne's contestant because of her animal charity. Me too. $50K means a lot more to a shelter than to the Red Cross and their big donor base. (Pause to hug my fur-children.) I found Loni's perpetual movement at warp slow very annoying, not to mention Rachael's constant hysterics. It was clear from the get-go that Anne wasn't going to win again no matter what was on the plates. The male judge (gosh - a real chef?) looked like he was actually chowing down, while the camera-aware other unknowns were daintily poking little morsels into their pieholes with upside down forks. So what's filling up the Wednesday slot next week? Worst Kid Pastry Chefs in America? 4 Link to comment
Rammchick November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 Color me sceptical, but did you REALLY see the Food Network giving 50K to a cat charity when the alternative was the Red Cross? And yes, I agree, just how did that Cornish game hen manage to overcook? And Anne hardly batted an eye. Hmmm. 2 Link to comment
candall November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 Oh no. I didn't know the loser had an animal charity. Damn!! I never know why these "celebs" pick giant nationally-supported charities. Don't they know a one-time chunk o'change would mean the world to a smaller, less well-known non-profit that gets by on a day-by-day shoestring, squeezing every penny into double or triple duty? >gnashing my teeth in frustration< Meanwhile, I'm a Rachel Ray fan--even though I've never seen her anywhere except this show and random guest appearances--because she's very involved in animal rescue, in a pro-active way and not just lip service. So she probably had some conflicting feelings there, too. But then, I also try to be supportive of Anne Burrell because I think she takes a lot of misogynist shit from people who love to slam her hair or personal style, but never have a word to say about whether they think she has professional skills. Sigh, I'm just all confused. But the food was impressive, except for slaw that cleared their sinuses, overpowering chive seasoning and dry game hen. (Although I cook fowl about two seconds past pink to capture max juicy, so most birds taste like old sawdust to me.) I would run out right this minute to order potato puffs with caviar and parmesan crispy cauliflower in garlic sauce. See you next time! Link to comment
spiderpig November 3, 2016 Share November 3, 2016 34 minutes ago, Rammchick said: Color me sceptical, but did you REALLY see the Food Network giving 50K to a cat charity when the alternative was the Red Cross? And yes, I agree, just how did that Cornish game hen manage to overcook? And Anne hardly batted an eye. Hmmm. The fix was in. Didn't FN give $5K to all the other eliminated contestants' charities? Maybe my DVR cut out early, but I didn't see anything about Nicole's charity getting anything. Maybe the new FN execs expect invites to the Red Cross's fancy fundraisers. (I've heard enough about massive charity spending to make me give solely on a local level. Don't even mention United Way or The American Heart Association.) 1 Link to comment
Snarklepuss November 4, 2016 Share November 4, 2016 On 11/2/2016 at 10:26 PM, rustyspigot said: Rachael had a near nervous breakdown. She should have had her calming clown pants from the earlier episode. I know! I have Rachael's body type and I would NEVER wear those pants, especially on TV. Mr. Snarkle says she's "frumping out" in her "old age". Some of the outfits she wore this season were atrocious. On 11/2/2016 at 10:37 PM, mlp said: Rachael was driving me nuts. I suspect she can't stand not to be the center of attention. I didn't really care who won but I was leaning toward Anne just because she wasn't acting like an idiot. I wonder why they didn't have the judging in a restaurant like they usually do. With real chefs. Those two women were awful - terrible acting. The man, a real chef and restaurant owner, sort of took a back seat. Rachael also can't stand not being in control of everything. Happy to know it wasn't just me who found the two tasting judge women horrible. Even if they did in house judges it would have been better, like some of the "Chopped" judges. 8 hours ago, candall said: Oh no. I didn't know the loser had an animal charity. Damn!! I never know why these "celebs" pick giant nationally-supported charities. Don't they know a one-time chunk o'change would mean the world to a smaller, less well-known non-profit that gets by on a day-by-day shoestring, squeezing every penny into double or triple duty? >gnashing my teeth in frustration< Meanwhile, I'm a Rachel Ray fan--even though I've never seen her anywhere except this show and random guest appearances--because she's very involved in animal rescue, in a pro-active way and not just lip service. So she probably had some conflicting feelings there, too. Yeah I was disappointed that Loni's charity was the Red Cross - no offense to that charity but it has never been one of my favorites. I'm an animal lover from way back and the North Shore Animal League is a very worthy charity. I told myself that Rachael must have thought to herself that she would "up" her donation to the League this year to make up for this. She also donates all the profits from her dog food to animal charities. 17 minutes ago, HyeChaps said: Why no dessert this time? Yeah and I thought the coaches were more "hands off" in the finale in previous seasons and weren't allowed quite that much input. Or maybe I'm forgetting. 1 Link to comment
eurekagirl mOo November 4, 2016 Share November 4, 2016 Well I enjoyed this season. The cooks were less"characters" and more celebs just having fun. Rachael and Anne were great together. Instead of the trash talk with the male judges we had them bringing there dishes to each to taste. Class! You KNOW they weren't going to let Anne win again! Rachaels pants! OMG!!! She's to short and to chubby for horizontal stripes on her pants! I got all distracted trying to figure out why she was wearing them!!! Just discovered Worst Bakers. OH David is back! Kind of have a soft spot for him. I have no idea why...... 1 Link to comment
grisgris November 5, 2016 Share November 5, 2016 (edited) My guess is that they didn't do dessert due to time restraints and it would be just too difficult to have the added pressure of mastering dessert techniques as well. I know that in the past Rachael has made no bones about the fact that she doesn't baking and isn't very good at it. I think that Anne could devise and coach something fairly simple but elegant, but they had their hands full as it was. I didn't really care who won. I thought that Rachael was going to stroke out and when you make Anne look like a calm ocean breeze, you know her histrionics were pretty awful. I knew once Nicole had fowl flambee' going that it was over for her. I'll bet Anne was seething but she seemed pretty accepting of and gracious about the loss. Ha! She probably slammed the door in Nicole's face once they were off camera and stalked down the hall. Edited November 5, 2016 by grisgris 1 Link to comment
OneWouldHope November 5, 2016 Share November 5, 2016 Was anyone else put off by Rachael's insistence on "eyeballing" and not measuring the ingredients? Ok, Rach, we get it. That's your schtick but it's kind of ridiculous to ask a brand new cook to know by sight how much to use. It does t take that much time to measure out ingredients. Snarklepuss, it's kind of your husband to say Rachael is only now frumping up. He must forget the black mom jeans and belts of 30 Minute Meals! Link to comment
grisgris November 7, 2016 Share November 7, 2016 Did she ever refer to "EVOO?" I could see that completely throwing John off his game. Link to comment
spiderpig November 7, 2016 Share November 7, 2016 (edited) 41 minutes ago, grisgris said: Did she ever refer to "EVOO?" I could see that completely throwing John off his game. I just can't stand that term. It's so pwecious, and I don't recall hearing it before Rachael came on the scene. I never could stand her, but her devotion to animal causes (learned from other posters on this forum) makes me feel more charitable toward her. Edited November 7, 2016 by spiderpig spelling! duh! 2 Link to comment
biakbiak November 10, 2016 Share November 10, 2016 The most annoying thing is that when I used to watch 30 minute meals back in the day she would ALWAYS say "EVOO that's extra Virgin olive oil" completely missing the point of using an acronym! Link to comment
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