S14.07: Can You Host an Icon?

[Whimsy]

The competition is down to the final four, and it's time to see if the finalists can handle the rigors of live television. Each finalist must make a "share-worthy" dish live on Food Network's Facebook page, and their demo is put to the test when special guest Anne Burrell is revealed as the on-camera talent. The finalists have to act as producers, guiding Anne through the demo using a wireless earpiece. The pressure continues to escalate when each finalist hosts their own live "in the kitchen" show with a special guest who's familiar with the format ... Food Network's Ree Drummond! Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay decide which finalists best handle these pressure-packed challenges and earn a spot in the final three.

[rustyspigot]

Icon is getting thrown around a lot these days. 

Ree THOMPSON! She must have started being stalked by Sideshow Bob like the Simpsons.

Amy threw an Alaska RPDR All Stars fit this episode. Jeez Louise calm down lady.

[smiley13]

I can't believe Amy skated through again.  Her little hissy fit she threw was not pretty.  I know it is all about the editing, but she should be embarrassed.

Manny was hilarious as Amy was carrying on.  I like him more each week.

[catrice2]

Okay I know I should know this by now but was everyone who was on this season someone who had appeared in another Food Network show? To see Amy and Adam and Palak and Christian and all these people saying they were on some Food Network show and having some kind of experience just doesn't seem fair.  

Could they at least stop pretending that is going to be anybody other than Christian or Amy

[rainbowrockgal]

I fell asleep...who went home??? This show is so forgettable,,,

[rustyspigot]

Palak. Ree THOMPSON took over her presentation and she had three minutes of egg breaking with Anne in the first challenge.

[rainbowrockgal]

Thanks, maybe she might survive Star Salvation??? I have no favorite here... Pretty bad when a TV show can put me to sleep so early...

Edited July 23, 2018 by rainbowrockgal

[LillyB]

Can Christian take smiling lessons from Ree, his smile is so forced and she is a professional at the fake smiles.

[Brookside]

2 hours ago, rustyspigot said:

 

Ree THOMPSON! She must have started being stalked by Sideshow Bob like the Simpsons.

Amy threw an Alaska RPDR All Stars fit this episode. Jeez Louise calm down lady.

Who's Ree Thompson?

And what's an Alaska RPDR fit?

[backformore]

1 minute ago, Brookside said:

Who's Ree Thompson?

And what's an Alaska RPDR fit?

thanks, I was wondering the same.   I get stuck on acronyms, I stop reading and stare at the letters, try to sound something out. 

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Brookside said:

And what's an Alaska RPDR fit?

Alaska’s was a contestant on RuPaul Drag Race.

[Brookside]

5 minutes ago, backformore said:

thanks, I was wondering the same.   I get stuck on acronyms, I stop reading and stare at the letters, try to sound something out. 

The Jeopardy board is the worst for me, and I've learned on that one to just run with my personal inventions!

Edited July 23, 2018 by Brookside

[Aerobicidal]

Last week this show discovered emojis, and this week they’re claiming salty desserts are cutting edge. I can’t wait to log on to the Food Network Myspace page during the advertisement break and download a Word Perfect document of sun-dried tomato recipes to my floppy disk. I’m so excited, I’m going to design a Print Shop banner—in color!—that says “Crispy Meat” in Comic Sans and print it on my dot matrix Epson doohickey.

We had liquid nitrogen ice cream at our Midwestern state fair like ten years ago. This show and its contestants are totally going to have their minds blown when they discover Jell-O Jigglers and Crystal Pepsi. Actually, I think Giada released a hiphop album in 2003 using the moniker Crystal Pepsi. “I’m thinner than linguini/But I make a mean flirtini/ I think you will be findin’/ That my choppers sure are blindin’.”

I’m unsure about Anne Burrell’s decision to look like a cross between two different women in There’s Something About Mary and Gumby, but she’s distracting me from Manny’s monotone monologue so I kind of support it.

These operator headsets are making me nostalgic for Sandra’s Lee’s Madonna Halloween costume. It’s making me want to snort seasoning packets until I don’t know the difference between a hot and cold slow cooker sleeve. Whoot!

“In northern Italy, they eat polenta dinners off a table. The table is shaped like a vagina and everyone in my family wears outfits from the Old Navy outlet and yells unnecessarily.” Christian is the contestant this show and network deserves. It almost makes me sad that, a year from now, he’ll be judging Worst Kid Bakers in America alongside Lord Honey.

As I’m watching Christian’s demo, I’m thinking, I would watch this show the same day I would pay money for one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s worst shows at a dinner theater in Branson. Seeing the incongruous reactions from everyone on the show just makes me happy, and also makes me drink faster.

Ree Drummond is an icon in the same way that Giada is a glutton, Palak is perpetually content, and Christian is a fashionista. I wish the show title had called Ree a literal, iconic, inherent icon just to cover more frequently misused words. 

I would rather watch Ree Thompson than anyone associated with this episode, unless that's Guy Fieri's drag name.

If anyone on this debacle said, "Manny treated Ree like crap, but compared to Lenny he built an altar to her and worshipped her--and Lenny won this thing!" I would stop snarking. For a few minutes, anyway.

[backformore]

Christian actually cleaned up his act this week.  Black jeans and a buttoned shirt is a step up from his usual baggy cargo shorts and wrinkled open shirt over a t-shirt combo.

[rustyspigot]

Sorry. I wasn't trying to confuse people. Amy acted like a pissed off toddler and Manny can't manage to remember a basic premise like learning your guest's name.

I kind of want to see "Ree Thompson" as Guy Fieti in drag though. Just for shock value.

[bluepiano]

1 hour ago, rustyspigot said:

Sorry. I wasn't trying to confuse people. Amy acted like a pissed off toddler and Manny can't manage to remember a basic premise like learning your guest's name.

Christian is the best of a very poor lot. At least this week he showed that he owns a pair of long pants.

Despite Amy's hissy fit, it was clearly Palak who was designated to get the boot. From the beginning I know she'd never make it, because she comes across as intelligent, soft spoken, and cultured. All qualities that you'd never associate with a winner of FNS.

They never brought up that it was Palak who told Amy to use pickles to make her sandwich sour per the challenge. And then she targeted Palak when she had her advantage, thanks in part to Palak.  I've watched Amy on this show for almost two full seasons, and though I know that what we see is heavily edited," my sense is that really is a pretty nasty and unpleasant person. She constantly plays the "mom" card to humanize herself, but being a mother and a mean-spirited person are not mutually exclusive.

Has she ever actually had a good episode yet, start to finish? Every week she's a disorganized mess, but scrapes by because someone does worse. She must have pictures of some FN exec in a compromising position, because otherwise I'm completely baffled as to why they've been pushing her on us through two seasons, plus that comeback show.

Earlier in the season I felt that Manny was in over his head, but I'm starting to like him. I guess I'm on the "anybody but Amy" team.

Ree Drummond is an icon. Of what? Though I guess she does epitomize the fakiness of this network, as I believe she was a suburban Chicago housewife, now married to some wealthy rancher, But you're supposed to believe she's up at five milking the cows and cooking breakfast in the bunk house.

Edited July 23, 2018 by bluepiano

[GaT]

I really thought we were finally rid of Amy, but nope, she's still here.

[bluepiano]

5 minutes ago, GaT said:

I really thought we were finally rid of Amy, but nope, she's still here.

Every week that she's in the bottom but survives increases my mounting sense of horror that she's been The Chosen One from the start.

[Psychobunny]

Wow do I hate Amy. Now I have to admit that I get frustrated and I’ve thrown a tantrum like that-when I was three! Right now I’m rooting for anybody but her, which will make no difference since she is clearly the chosen one.

[Psychobunny]

I just want to add that I was waiting to see Giada try a bite of Amy’s sandwich but they didn’t show them eating it, I guess because she didn’t. They did show her minuscule bite of the hamburger, though. Also, I saw some show where Scott Conant did that polenta thing so it is apparently a real thing to spread polenta on the table and dump on a variety of dishes to eat with it family style (polenta alla spianatora).

[biakbiak]

So Amy started to do her fries for her new dish without first seeing if they had the main component of crab? She stupid, angry, mean and most definitely it a problem solver.

Edited July 23, 2018 by biakbiak

[biakbiak]

37 minutes ago, Psychobunny said:

but they didn’t show them eating it,

They didn’t show any food they really eating it and I think it’s because it’s actually difficult to bite, chew and talk with a banh mi because the baguette tends to be hard.

[spiderpig]

Since Amy has to mention her kids at least 37 times per episode, I'm wondering if next week she'll regale us with how much they enjoyed Mommy's onscreen temper tantrum.  (Yeah - I know it wouldn't have aired in time for them to see it broadcast, but facts never keep Amy from inventing some kind of BS.)

Does Ree [Thompson] own a mirror?  I'm all for women looking like their natural selves, but that blood-orange hair color and style make her look like something from a sideshow, not the prairie.

I might watch Manny on a show because of his boisterous good nature, but Christian and Amy would have me diving for the remote.

What was with Giada's black off-the-shoulder cocktail dress in the middle of the show?  I don't recall anything in the competition referencing cooking  for the singles bar crowd.

Oh well - it's almost over.

[skipnjump]

3 hours ago, Psychobunny said:

I just want to add that I was waiting to see Giada try a bite of Amy’s sandwich but they didn’t show them eating it, I guess because she didn’t. They did show her minuscule bite of the hamburger, though. Also, I saw some show where Scott Conant did that polenta thing so it is apparently a real thing to spread polenta on the table and dump on a variety of dishes to eat with it family style (polenta alla spianatora).

I agree that I think it is a thing to spread polenta on a table and put sauces on it, I've read about that in one of Paula Wolfert's cookbooks from years ago.

[mwell345]

I wanted either Palak or Amy gone because I'm tired of them whining about what ingredients/meals they get stuck with each week.  I figured it would be Palak - but why they are keeping Amy around is beyond me.  She's not entertaining, not even likeable.  And I can't believe that Bobby and Giada didn't know about her total meltdown in the kitchen.  She should have been eliminated for that alone - complete lack of professionalism and inability to think outside of the box. She picked Brunch for herself - she didn't have more than 2 recipes she could toss quickly toss together.

Even I know that prior to starting any recipe, you check to make sure you have the proper pans and ingredients.   And I never cook (thanks to my husband,  a retired chef).  And when all was said and done, and the meltdown was over, she still forgot to poach her egg.

I think it should come down to Manny and Christian and I guess whoever wins Last Chance Kitchen, oops, Star Salvation. 

(But I have a feeling Amy might get the win, because she keeps ending up on the bottom and skating through. Somebody likes her.)

 

ETA: Just glanced at Amy's bio.  

"What's your greatest strength in the kitchen?

AP: I think pretty quickly on my feet. I’m also super competitive, so I think that will kick in when the time comes. And I’ve made a lot of different — I’m sure most people have — but I've done every realm of food, so hopefully that helps."

 

Yeah, we saw last night how quickly she thinks on her feet.  

 

She is also saying on Twitter that "other stuff happened" that apparently contributed to her meltdown but "that's not sharing information" which I guess means she can't talk about it.  Then there is this gem:

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by mwell345

[Sammich]

1 hour ago, mwell345 said:

I wanted either Palak or Amy gone because I'm tired of them whining about what ingredients/meals they get stuck with each week.  I figured it would be Palak - but why they are keeping Amy around is beyond me.  She's not entertaining, not even likeable.  And I can't believe that Bobby and Giada didn't know about her total meltdown in the kitchen.  She should have been eliminated for that alone - complete lack of professionalism and inability to think outside of the box. She picked Brunch for herself - she didn't have more than 2 recipes she could toss quickly toss together.

Even I know that prior to starting any recipe, you check to make sure you have the proper pans and ingredients.   And I never cook (thanks to my husband,  a retired chef).  And when all was said and done, and the meltdown was over, she still forgot to poach her egg.

I think it should come down to Manny and Christian and I guess whoever wins Last Chance Kitchen, oops, Star Salvation. 

(But I have a feeling Amy might get the win, because she keeps ending up on the bottom and skating through. Somebody likes her.)

 

ETA: Just glanced at Amy's bio.  

"What's your greatest strength in the kitchen?

AP: I think pretty quickly on my feet. I’m also super competitive, so I think that will kick in when the time comes. And I’ve made a lot of different — I’m sure most people have — but I've done every realm of food, so hopefully that helps."

 

Yeah, we saw last night how quickly she thinks on her feet.  

 

She is also saying on Twitter that "other stuff happened" that apparently contributed to her meltdown but "that's not sharing information" which I guess means she can't talk about it.  Then there is this gem:

 

She is a piece of work.  I pray she doesn't win.  I guess Christian has been the most consistent, but the only one whose show I would watch is Manny.  Christian is just too sloppy to me.  I can't stand looking at his unshaven neck and chest hairs sticking out of his shirt.  That turns me off big time.  Manny engages me the entire time he is speaking.  I realize he needs to learn/know the correct name of a guest, and he needs to engage with that person.  I feel that can improve with more experience because his food is usually good and he's very charismatic.  

[Kerri Okie]

I doubt Amy wins--that's not the kind of thing I imagine FN wants their next "star" going around saying on social media.  Between Christian and Manny, it doesn't really matter who wins--the only point of having a "winner" anymore is so they can do the show, but I'd bet anything that both Manny and Christian will show up as judges on any FN show that will have them.  I wouldn't watch either of them on their own show, but either one of them is fully qualified to sit alongside Damaris or Melissa at the GGG judges' table.

Question: what qualifies one to be called chef?  Why is firehouse-chef Manny, "chef Manny" while personal-chef Palak is simply "Palak"?

[Destiny74]

6 hours ago, bluepiano said:

I've watched Amy on this show for almost two full seasons, and though I know that what we see is heavily edited," my sense is that really is a pretty nasty and unpleasant person. She constantly plays the "mom" card to humanize herself, but being a mother and a mean-spirited person are not mutually exclusive.

I haven't watched FNS this week but I had to comment to thank you for writing this.  FN is grooming people and one of their favorite "stories" is the cool Mom or Mom feeding her kids different foods.  The problem is, FN seems to think that Mom= automatically great person we all want to watch ad nauseum.  Mom's can be a$$holes too.  I know, I see them all the time at classes and practices.  

Amy is not a watchable character.  It wouldn't matter if she had 1 kid or 10, she's too smart a$$, too know-it-all, too nasty.  Having given birth doesn't make me want to see past her obvious flaws, sorry.  FN is shooting themselves in the foot trying to make Amy "happen".  They really should cut thier losses and try and find someone, uh, nicer.

[Wings]

Manny talking about Amy,  "Amy's big problem is not knowing how to deal with change.  She gets flustrated and starts getting fixiated on that problem."   LOL!  It is between he and Christian.  

Since when is Dre an icon?  This is only time I have seen her other than a photo, she is never on the FN shows I watch.  Jesus, what a mess. 

FN can do better than this.  If ever a show is phoned in, this is it. 

[smiley13]

2 hours ago, mwell345 said:

I wanted either Palak or Amy gone because I'm tired of them whining about what ingredients/meals they get stuck with each week.  I figured it would be Palak - but why they are keeping Amy around is beyond me.  She's not entertaining, not even likeable.  And I can't believe that Bobby and Giada didn't know about her total meltdown in the kitchen.  She should have been eliminated for that alone - complete lack of professionalism and inability to think outside of the box. She picked Brunch for herself - she didn't have more than 2 recipes she could toss quickly toss together.

Even I know that prior to starting any recipe, you check to make sure you have the proper pans and ingredients.   And I never cook (thanks to my husband,  a retired chef).  And when all was said and done, and the meltdown was over, she still forgot to poach her egg.

I think it should come down to Manny and Christian and I guess whoever wins Last Chance Kitchen, oops, Star Salvation. 

(But I have a feeling Amy might get the win, because she keeps ending up on the bottom and skating through. Somebody likes her.)

 

ETA: Just glanced at Amy's bio.  

"What's your greatest strength in the kitchen?

AP: I think pretty quickly on my feet. I’m also super competitive, so I think that will kick in when the time comes. And I’ve made a lot of different — I’m sure most people have — but I've done every realm of food, so hopefully that helps."

 

Yeah, we saw last night how quickly she thinks on her feet.  

 

She is also saying on Twitter that "other stuff happened" that apparently contributed to her meltdown but "that's not sharing information" which I guess means she can't talk about it.  Then there is this gem:

 

Wasn't that a charming response from her? Seriously?

[Amarsir]

I guess Christian didn't hear about Comeback Kitchen, where Monterrey was eliminated for using liquid nitrogen in a do-at-home demo just a few weeks ago. Funny that that seems to be a recurring theme. 

12 hours ago, smiley13 said:

Manny was hilarious as Amy was carrying on.  I like him more each week.

Her TH snark at him wasn't bad either: "Let poor Ree Thomson talk!"

I think that's why they're keeping her around. She's not going to win because no one there wants to work with her. But she's had some decent talking heads, both about herself and others.

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

So Amy started to do her fries for her new dish without first seeing if they had the main component of crab? She stupid, angry, mean and most definitely it a problem solver.

Can someone who is a better cook than me explain why she didn't use the prominently-displayed lobster? Too big for the allotted cook time?

[Destiny74]

4 hours ago, mwell345 said:

I wanted either Palak or Amy gone because I'm tired of them whining about what ingredients/meals they get stuck with each week.  I figured it would be Palak - but why they are keeping Amy around is beyond me.  She's not entertaining, not even likeable.  And I can't believe that Bobby and Giada didn't know about her total meltdown in the kitchen.  She should have been eliminated for that alone - complete lack of professionalism and inability to think outside of the box. She picked Brunch for herself - she didn't have more than 2 recipes she could toss quickly toss together.

Even I know that prior to starting any recipe, you check to make sure you have the proper pans and ingredients.   And I never cook (thanks to my husband,  a retired chef).  And when all was said and done, and the meltdown was over, she still forgot to poach her egg.

I think it should come down to Manny and Christian and I guess whoever wins Last Chance Kitchen, oops, Star Salvation. 

(But I have a feeling Amy might get the win, because she keeps ending up on the bottom and skating through. Somebody likes her.)

 

ETA: Just glanced at Amy's bio.  

"What's your greatest strength in the kitchen?

AP: I think pretty quickly on my feet. I’m also super competitive, so I think that will kick in when the time comes. And I’ve made a lot of different — I’m sure most people have — but I've done every realm of food, so hopefully that helps."

 

Yeah, we saw last night how quickly she thinks on her feet.  

 

She is also saying on Twitter that "other stuff happened" that apparently contributed to her meltdown but "that's not sharing information" which I guess means she can't talk about it.  Then there is this gem:

 

 

She's acting as if she's never watched a reality TV competition.  We all lament and mourn when we think someone should've gone home over someone else.  I'm willing to bet she has had thought and words about someone she liked on a competition that went home too early.  I'm sure she's been a "dick" before.  Maybe not on public forum, but in her mind and in her personal life for sure.  Hypocrite.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Destiny74

[LucidDreamer]

I've figured for a while now that Christian is the designated "winner." If anyone is a "chosen one," it's him. (Don't ask me why).  Manny will come in second and also be given chances to appear as a judge or whatever on various FN shows. Amy's just there to be snarky in the talking heads. 

I can't stand that Prairie woman -- she just rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Maybe it's because she always seems so fake. 

[Gregg247]

I wish they were still giving the winner of this show their own series. it made it more fun to try and figure out how each contestants' show would look and feel, and would it be a success or not.  Now, we're just finding guest-judges on other people's shows.  That's not very hard to do.  Everyone I know eats, so basically everyone I know would be at least as minimally qualified as these contestants to be on TFN!

[Wings]

1 hour ago, Amarsir said:

I guess Christian didn't hear about Comeback Kitchen, where Monterrey was eliminated for using liquid nitrogen in a do-at-home demo just a few weeks ago. Funny that that seems to be a recurring theme. 

Her TH snark at him wasn't bad either: "Let poor Ree Thomson talk!"

I think that's why they're keeping her around. She's not going to win because no one there wants to work with her. But she's had some decent talking heads, both about herself and others.

Can someone who is a better cook than me explain why she didn't use the prominently-displayed lobster? Too big for the allotted cook time?

I assumed she didn't have enough time but that made no sense to me.  She was looking for fresh crab which takes more or the same time in my experience.  Lobster takes 10 minutes to cook and it is easy to remove the tails quickly and put them in a hash.  Maybe she just wasn't familiar with it.  She may have been, in the words of Manny, too flustrated about no crab.  I have come to adore Manny but he is too hard to understand so I don't see him winning but I do see them using him for something down the line. 

I like Christian.  This is probably for an on the road show and I can see him in that role easily.   He is outgoing and easy. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Wings

[biakbiak]

41 minutes ago, Wings said:

She was looking for fresh crab which takes more or the same time in my experience.  Lobster takes 10 minutes to cook and it is easy to remove the tails quickly and put them in a hash. 

Usually when they have crab on this show it’s already in cooked and in tubs like last week with Manny.

[GaT]

10 hours ago, biakbiak said:

So Amy started to do her fries for her new dish without first seeing if they had the main component of crab? 

 

2 hours ago, Amarsir said:

Can someone who is a better cook than me explain why she didn't use the prominently-displayed lobster? Too big for the allotted cook time?

 

49 minutes ago, Wings said:

I assumed she didn't have enough time but that made no sense to me. 

She didn't even see the lobster. It looked like it was on the top shelf, but she never looked up, she just kept staring at the lower shelves waiting for crab to magically appear.

[mlp]

Quote

Despite Amy's hissy fit, it was clearly Palak who was designated to get the boot. From the beginning I know she'd never make it, because she comes across as intelligent, soft spoken, and cultured. All qualities that you'd never associate with a winner of FNS.

I agree.  I liked Palak a lot but it was clear she just isn't cut out for all the nonsense.  She's actually a trained chef so I'm willing to bet she can cook the pants off someone like Amy if she has the time she needs and doesn't have to play silly games.  I never realized how little she is until I saw her next to Ree Drummond (who appeared to have gained a lot of weight).

Speaking of Ree.........................

Quote

Does Ree [Thompson] own a mirror?  I'm all for women looking like their natural selves, but that blood-orange hair color and style make her look like something from a sideshow, not the prairie.

I've never understood that either.   She seems like a nice person but the orange hair, pale make up and awful voice always make me wonder how she became so popular.

I like Christian but he always looks so sloppy that I'd never watch him.  I really like Manny.  He's got a winning personality, a sense of humor and IMO is quite intelligent.  He needs to work on his sentence structure but I suspect that a lot of his flubs were due to nerves.  He definitely can cook.

Amy should have been gone long before this.  I cannot stand her for all the reasons already mentioned above.

Edited July 24, 2018 by mlp
fix typo

[smiley13]

3 hours ago, Wings said:

I assumed she didn't have enough time but that made no sense to me.  She was looking for fresh crab which takes more or the same time in my experience.  Lobster takes 10 minutes to cook and it is easy to remove the tails quickly and put them in a hash.  Maybe she just wasn't familiar with it.  She may have been, in the words of Manny, too flustrated about no crab.  I have come to adore Manny but he is too hard to understand so I don't see him winning but I do see them using him for something down the line. 

I like Christian.  This is probably for an on the road show and I can see him in that role easily.   He is outgoing and easy. 

I have more trouble understanding Christian than Manny.

[Brookside]

6 hours ago, Wings said:

Manny talking about Amy,  "Amy's big problem is not knowing how to deal with change.  She gets flustrated and starts getting fixiated on that problem."   LOL!  It is between he and Christian.  

 

Are you being ironic with the "between he and Christian?"

Edited July 23, 2018 by Brookside

[HappyDancex2]

15 hours ago, Aerobicidal said:

Last week this show discovered emojis, and this week they’re claiming salty desserts are cutting edge. I can’t wait to log on to the Food Network Myspace page during the advertisement break and download a Word Perfect document of sun-dried tomato recipes to my floppy disk. I’m so excited, I’m going to design a Print Shop banner—in color!—that says “Crispy Meat” in Comic Sans and print it on my dot matrix Epson doohickey.

We had liquid nitrogen ice cream at our Midwestern state fair like ten years ago. This show and its contestants are totally going to have their minds blown when they discover Jell-O Jigglers and Crystal Pepsi. Actually, I think Giada released a hiphop album in 2003 using the moniker Crystal Pepsi. “I’m thinner than linguini/But I make a mean flirtini/ I think you will be findin’/ That my choppers sure are blindin’.”

I’m unsure about Anne Burrell’s decision to look like a cross between two different women in There’s Something About Mary and Gumby, but she’s distracting me from Manny’s monotone monologue so I kind of support it.

These operator headsets are making me nostalgic for Sandra’s Lee’s Madonna Halloween costume. It’s making me want to snort seasoning packets until I don’t know the difference between a hot and cold slow cooker sleeve. Whoot!

“In northern Italy, they eat polenta dinners off a table. The table is shaped like a vagina and everyone in my family wears outfits from the Old Navy outlet and yells unnecessarily.” Christian is the contestant this show and network deserves. It almost makes me sad that, a year from now, he’ll be judging Worst Kid Bakers in America alongside Lord Honey.

As I’m watching Christian’s demo, I’m thinking, I would watch this show the same day I would pay money for one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s worst shows at a dinner theater in Branson. Seeing the incongruous reactions from everyone on the show just makes me happy, and also makes me drink faster.

Ree Drummond is an icon in the same way that Giada is a glutton, Palak is perpetually content, and Christian is a fashionista. I wish the show title had called Ree a literal, iconic, inherent icon just to cover more frequently misused words. 

I would rather watch Ree Thompson than anyone associated with this episode, unless that's Guy Fieri's drag name.

If anyone on this debacle said, "Manny treated Ree like crap, but compared to Lenny he built an altar to her and worshipped her--and Lenny won this thing!" I would stop snarking. For a few minutes, anyway.

 dies

that is all.

[jcbrown]

I figured they were skewing the edit to send Palak home. The constant focus on her complaining I took as an attempt to make her less likable. At least it worked that way on me. At the start of the season, she was one of my favorites and by this episode, I was ready to see her go. I got the impression she was ready to leave, too. I'm sure we'll see her back as a judge on some FN show.

[biakbiak]

11 minutes ago, jcbrown said:

I figured they were skewing the edit to send Palak home.

The other thing is I wonder how Anne was told to work, I have seen her on her show crack two eggs at a time and speed through them so the painfully slow cracking  during Palak was ridiculous.

[jcbrown]

Good point, @biakbiak, about the possibility that Anne was told not to do anything unless specifically asked to do so.

I forgot to comment, of Ree Drummond being described as an icon, "you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Edited July 23, 2018 by jcbrown

[candall]

10 hours ago, mwell345 said:

 

 

Uh-oh.  This is the first Amy statement I've ever approved.

[Wings]

1 hour ago, Brookside said:

Are you being ironic with the "between he and Christian?"

 

Nope, I think Chris and Manny will be the final two.  Who else would F2 be?  Someone will be back from Star Salvation so there is that.  

Edited July 23, 2018 by Wings

[whinewithwine]

17 hours ago, backformore said:

Christian actually cleaned up his act this week.  Black jeans and a buttoned shirt is a step up from his usual baggy cargo shorts and wrinkled open shirt over a t-shirt combo.

But for the second challenge, he was back to nasty jeans with holes in them, which shouldn't be worn by anybody over the age of 10.

10 hours ago, Sammich said:

Christian is just too sloppy to me.  I can't stand looking at his unshaven neck and chest hairs sticking out of his shirt.  That turns me off big time.

This.

Palak is the only one who could have a "real" cooking show.  Manny and that slob just want to be characters and blabber away.  And Amy....just NO.

[needschocolate]

My favorite part of this show is laughing about how the challenges, which are supposed to help prepare them for doing their own show, aren't something they will ever do if they win.  How many time has Bobby showed up for work and was told "We want you to make your favorite family recipe, but you have turn it into a soup" (last week's challenge).  I really doubt that they ever had Giada preparing  Alton's recipe by being given instructions live on air.

16 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Every week that she's in the bottom but survives increases my mounting sense of horror that she's been The Chosen One from the start.

Well, It can't be Christian or Manny - How many Guy Fieris does the Food Network need?

[HappyDancex2]

I really did LOL several times during this episode.  The dog was jarred out of his sleep.  I really liked the kitchy stuff like the sound of cracking eggs that continued as they went to commercial.  Hilarious

[catrice2]

I don't even know who's the red-haired guest host is. I rarely watch Food Network anymore. Just from reading these comments I didn't even know that the winner no longer gets their own show.  

I was just hoping they wised up after fleeky woman and decided that she was definitely not getting one. I didn't know they had decided that was going to be a trend... so maybe it happened before that. I remember when HGTV and Food Network were must see TV for me.

I agree with whomever said that they have a hard time understanding Christian more than Manny. Count me as one of those and I'm also on the anybody but Amy train