S10.E05: Live Demo at Knott's Berry Farm

[cooksdelight]

 

Bobby interestingly thought that Christopher had the cooking talent and that they could teach him how to present it on TV.

 

 

I think Bobby sees himself in Christopher when he was first starting out. He was nervous and stiff the first few times I saw him on TV. Maybe he'll take Christopher under his wing the way he did with Kelsey and put him on the Cooking channel. Or as someone mentioned above, Top Chef would be a much better fit for Christopher. If he's been a chef for as long, and under the people he's worked for, he could shine on that show.

[JTMacc99]

Remember that video of Giada's first TV efforts?  Well, if she could be taught, then so could Christopher.  

But Giada spelled it out very clearly. This is a very short process, and while that might be true, there was very little chance it was going to happen in the next 4 or 5 episodes.

 

While Christopher made the best dish, and as a professional chef, might have been the best cook left, it isn't like he was the only good cook.

 

Maybe it just seemed that way because they kept around three (Sarah, Christopher, Reuben) people who the entire comment about them was "we just need to see if he or she can cook", and they dinged three of the other ones about something on their plates (Unseasoned Steak, Bland Guacamole, Not Crabby enough Crab Cakes.)  If you've got eight people and only two of them made food that didn't have some sort of issue, it REALLY sticks out when you send home one of those two.

 

Making matters worse, they didn't name the other one as a weekly winner simply because she forgot to link her dish to her POV during the presentation but did name a winner who was reprimanded for a mistake that seemed to be really basic. 

 

That, and the fact that the guy they sent home was the best looking of the bunch. That doesn't help either.

[Totale]

What does it cost FN to whip up six episodes of a cheapo daytime show for the winner, maybe $500,000?  If I was Kermit sitting at the 1/2 mil poker table, I'd be calling for a fresh deck by now.  Except the daytime show is not the point, so the least they could do is come up with something to make this show, which is the point, halfway engaging.  Good luck with that.

[seacliffsal]

One of the most interesting scenes of this episode to me was when the judges were talking with Christopher and gave him a correction and he enthusiastically said "let's do this..." Giada with a hateful look snapped at him in a really aggressive way "WE already did this...." and I was like, no-none of you had to fight your way through a game show to get on the food network.  And, I think one of you actually gone on due to your last name and family connections (you know that I'm looking at you Giada....).  I just don't understand her intense dislike for Christopher.  I do appreciate that Bobby is trying to keep it about the food.  After all, if it's revealed to us that all the network cares about is personality, it actually starts undermining the reputations of those 'stars' who do cook and are excellent at it.  It also threatens the career of any of the chefs who aren't over the top with their personalities.  This one show and franchise could undermine so very much if they reveal too much distain for actual, you know, cooking.

[Uncle Benzene]

I'm certainly not shedding any tears for Christopher. I don't know him, so I could be wrong, but I think he got precisely what he wanted from his stint on this here shitshow.

 

On one hand, I'm with @JTMacc99 (as is typically the case) in that I agree with the judges' decision. Christopher just wasn't a good fit for this show, nor is he a good fit for having his own show. And there's nothing at all wrong with that. The guy is a chef, not a tee vee show host. His skillset just isn't right for that particular line of work. Again, no shame at all in that. But I keep coming back to Alton's "a minute forty-five" without touching any food. He didn't demo anything, he just didn't. And I agree wholeheartedly that that's grounds for dismissal under any circumstances, given the premise of this particular "competition."

 

On a related note, while it would be nice if the judges were algorithmic and perfectly consistent in their judging, that's simply not realistic because it's inherently subjective. And on a case-by-case basis, sometimes that day's failure is just too egregious to ignore. Other times, nobody stands out enough to judge strictly on that day's performance, and so past performance factors in to a far greater degree. Sometimes, let's face it, it's little more than a hunch. Sometimes the mistake(s) a particular contestant makes are the same ones he/she has made repeatedly, and they've just seen enough and finally give up on someone they had previously thought had potential. Etc. etc. etc. It may seem like "inconsistency" on the judges' part, and I suppose it is. But it never has been, and never will be, any kind of "exact science." In the end, it always comes down to "going with your gut" (biases and all) and there's just no "formula" or set criteria on a given day.

 

Anyway, on the other hand, it's seemed obvious to me (and many others) for a good long time now that Christopher wasn't necessarily all that interested in actually winning this thing. I suspect that the main goal was to get himself some really powerful publicity/name-recognition as a chef. And, to that end, mission most definitely accomplished. He clearly has gained quite a vocal fan in Bobby Flay, the only person on this show who is a bona fide chef/restaurateur/food authority. How many times has Bobby said (on camera) "This guy can cook!"? For a professional chef, that's worth its weight in gold.

 

Furthermore, he couldn't have gotten more bang for his buck on the way out, with Flay advocating for him, after having prepared the best dish of the day (again.) Ultimately, I think the lingering perception of Christopher that'll come out of all this is that he was "too good for this show." He acquitted himself well in terms of not being an asshole, but not being a dancing monkey either. And along the way, he proved himself super duper competent as a chef. So as far as his -- you know, actual career -- goes, I don't think he could have done much better or gotten much more out of it than he did.

 

Meantime, I wouldn't be at all surprised of Christopher ends up on Chopped at some point, and winning. And/or Top Chef, should he decide he wants to do that. Or not. But in any case, there's no doubt in my mind that this whole thing is going to work out incredibly well for him.

[cooksdelight]

I agree. Sometimes, disassociating yourself from a train wreck is the best thing overall.

[potatoradio]

Sung to the tune of "Boogeyman" by KC and the Sunshine Band:

 

"I'm your butcher babe...butcher babe...turn me onnnnn..."

 

So much ugh. So much wrong.

 

 

[cooksdelight]

Everyone raise their hand if you want to learn how to butcher meat and would watch Loreal teach you each week how to break down a cow.

 

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[Day2Day]

Alton, in that get-up, reminded me of the final scene of "Silence of the Lambs" Dr. Lechter off to have dinner with "an old friend". Using your imagination, I guess you could tie it into a show about food & preparing it !! As nasty as Giada was, Alto was pretty peeved and pissy.

[Bella]

I want Loreal to go far, far away.

 

But of course she'll appear on Chopped and who knows what other FN show.

 

Btw, I agree that Christopher had to go. LBH annoys the crap out of me, but Christopher was never going to win this thing. No matter how good a cook he is, if he can't do a basic demo, he's not going to work out. He really belonged on a different cooking competition. Maybe he tried out for one or two and failed.

 

He'll probably appear on Chopped, too. 

[TiffanyNichelle]

 

I am glad Christopher went home.  He comes off (to me) as extremely arrogant and I don't feel he takes direction well.  There's an air of superiority about him.

I was surprised that he went home on a challenge where he cooked the best dish but I agree, I did not like his attitude and I'm not that upset that he's gone.

[JTMacc99]

Anyway, on the other hand, it's seemed obvious to me (and many others) for a good long time now that Christopher wasn't necessarily all that interested in actually winning this thing. I suspect that the main goal was to get himself some really powerful publicity/name-recognition as a chef. And, to that end, mission most definitely accomplished. He clearly has gained quite a vocal fan in Bobby Flay, the only person on this show who is a bona fide chef/restaurateur/food authority. How many times has Bobby said (on camera) "This guy can cook!"? For a professional chef, that's worth its weight in gold.

That's a really interesting point.

 

This show has featured good chef / bad TV personality type people before, and they never get very far. But I do remember them and would be interested in eating their food.

 

And it is also really interesting when I ask myself the question, "Exactly what percentage of talented chefs out there would be able to step out of their kitchens today and be entertaining enough to carry a half-hour TV show?" It's got to be a percentage that starts with 0.0 and maybe even another zero or two after that.

 

When the Food Network wants to bring in guys like Christopher, and I believe that they do have a home for good looking talented chefs, they find much more success by putting them through Chopped or Next Iron Chef first. The next move is to use them as contributors on other shows like Best Thing I Ever Ate or other travel type shows. This is where a guy like Christopher could get comfortable being on TV. He could add a lot of information and show us that he truly does have a love of food, and he could do it in a scenario that just lets him talk about food rather than thinking about teaching. 

 

Eventually if he did get the hang of it, he could pitch a Sunday morning show to the network and because he's got some appeal, has the cooking chops to teach us something, and the experience of how to be a TV Food personality, THEN he might be able to pull it off.

[Lamb18]

I think Christopher should have stayed, but I agree with Uncle Benzene and others that Christopher did pretty well without winning.  He got his name and restaurant out there, and will probably get a lot of new customers at his restaurant, like Brian Voltaggio did after his stint on Top Chef. 

 

I was just happy that this episode had some cooking and a demo in it.  I wish the contestants had done better.  I wonder if there weren't that many talented people who auditioned.  Loreal continues to bug me.  I feel like she doesn't take herself and her profession seriously.  Even Sarah takes herself seriously as a cook - she's just mistaken in her opinions.

[phoenix780]

But Giada spelled it out very clearly. This is a very short process, and while that might be true, there was very little chance it was going to happen in the next 4 or 5 episodes.

 

I'm not so sure about that, because this show (like most reality shows) is 86% editing.  I think they could have gotten enough footage of him being a competent presenter to justify a victory, and then fix it during the time between this show airing and his show airing.  Unless there's no gap between those two things at all for some reason.

 

In the meantime, if his cooking really was "the best" that could serve as more than enough justification to keep him around for awhile, even if he stayed terrible.  

 

So I don't really get why you'd dump him and keep around some of the people who seem to be consistently mediocre in both areas. 

 

Last night I felt like this undermined the cooking cred of their current stars.  Now though...in a way it reaffirms why their stars are stars, because there's a suggestion that you can teach cooking skills but you can't teach presentation skills.  This is where my brain starts to wander to try and make this more entertaining.

[TudorQueen]

Giada really did let her bitch flag fly, especially during her argument with Bobby. High dudgeon, deep offense... and if looks could kill, Bobby and Christopher would lie entangled in a liebstdod

 

But Alton was in a terrible mood, too. The way he tore into Sarah (whose 'don't salt, just throw bacon on the grill' really was dumb), snarling that he didn't want to hear any arguments, "We are the triumvirate and THIS IS TRUTH!" was truly uncomfortable to watch, especially since it turned out Sarah was in no real danger of going home.

 

I want to like Lenny but I just can't. And I can't see myself watching his show. I might watch Nicole or Emma, depending on what FN really does with them.

 

Hard to imagine this is a show I used to look forward to every week, and miss when it was done.

[cooksdelight]

 

I wonder if there weren't that many talented people who auditioned.

 

 

I personally know of two who did. And have sent in video several times, for several seasons. They are not loud, crazy, over-the-top loons, however, which is probably why they never got a second glance. They ARE, however, excellent chefs.

[Aquarius]

Lenny:  Carny folk!  My people!

 

There were some serious WTF moments in this episode.

 

This:

One of the most interesting scenes of this episode to me was when the judges were talking with Christopher and gave him a correction and he enthusiastically said "let's do this..." Giada with a hateful look snapped at him in a really aggressive way "WE already did this...." and I was like, no-none of you had to fight your way through a game show to get on the food network.  And, I think one of you actually gone on due to your last name and family connections (you know that I'm looking at you Giada....).  I just don't understand her intense dislike for Christopher.

She was venomous then, and during the elimination, her lip was curled in the most nasty snarl.  I mean, what the hell did Christopher do to her??

 

And also, what was that whole thing about Ruben apologizing for speaking Spanish, and Giada said something about "empowering that element"?  I think that entire conversation must have been highly edited; it made little sense.

 

My cable (it's Comcastic!!) cut out during Chris' presentation, so I didn't get to see his Obama impression.  But it's sort of telling that the kudos went to someone who did an impression, someone who walked out in front of the podium and mentioned the rollercoaster, and someone who referred to herself as Butcher Babe.  Cooking is very clearly a secondary consideration. 

[heebiejeebie]

Lenny makes my skin crawl.  And could you really have those over bugged eyes and rictus grin on the air?  How on earth would you be able to differentiate between his over the top phony attack of the grin and, say, a stroke or massive coronary?

[ari333]

Wowza Giada / Little Big Head was a real bitch. gees.

 

I had to watch and rewatch and still couldn't figure out why NPR's (aka Emma) crabcakes stuck to the grill.

[cooksdelight]

She didn't spray the grill with PAM or something like that. If you stick raw crabcake on a hot grill, or a hot pan, with nothing...it will stick like a tick on a hound dog. I noticed Lenny using PAM because he got the big flame-up when he did it. His fish didn't stick.

[bobbyjoe]

The one moment I liked this time was when Chris started talking about getting kicked out of the military for being on drugs.  For all of this show's constant yammering about "tell the viewers about your background," you could feel the judges having to bite their lips to keep from blurting out "wait, wait, we just meant for you to say something like "Mama mia, I'm Italian, and my grandma sang "O Sole Mio" while squeezing an accordian between her legs every time she made a lasagna"-- we didn't mean for you to really talk about something real."

 

On the others:  Lenny runs around in a cowboy outfit and Loreal makes cutesy puppets out of chicken and meat.  I have no desire to watch a show hosted by either of these people, because I'm not seven.  Emma was probably the liveliest we've seen her since this season started; for once, her voice and delivery were actually at a level that might keep someone awake, provided that person had just mainlined two quarts of Red Bull directly into their veins and shotgunned eight or nine cups of coffee.  Sarah's burger must have been really, really, really (and I mean reeeeallly) bad, because she's blonde and Bobby still criticized her cooking.  Reuben bringing up hospitals and surgical gloves while handling raw chicken-- yes, I really want to visit his family's restaurant now.  Nicole was...  wait, was Nicole even on this episode? I wanted to dare Alton to keep asking audience members if they could tell us what each chef had just made (not just Christopher).  I imagine over half the time they'd still say "uh, something with chicken?" or "uh, I'm just guessing but I think it was some kind of burger-ish thing?"

[Nutjob]

I couldn't help but giggle after Loreal went for "butcher babe."

 

Because

 

And

.

 

(Both of those are marginally NSFW because, well, questionably adorned boobs.)

 

Not sure that's the demographic Food Network are targeting, but oooookay...

Edited June 30, 2014 by Nutjob

[dahling]

Time elapsed in demo before Christopher touched food: 1:45 (according to Alton, ad nauseum).

Time elapsed in last week's episode before any contestant touched food: 60:00

 

Based on their own criteria, they're really fucking this thing up.

 

I don't have more to add except to agree: Giada was a super nasty bitch, Alton's looks and mannerisms are starting to make me uncomfortable, and that "we are the triumvirate" thing WAS totally creepy and intense and weird. Weirder still when Butcher Babe was safe.

 

This show used to be like a summer love affair for me, I looked forward to every episode and missed it all week long. Now... eh. Sad that they can't do better with what is apparently their most successful show.

[potatoradio]

Alton, honey. "The triumvirate"? Without a trace of irony? You and Giada...get to a proctologist. Something clearly has crawled up your butts and died. I sense you both are deeply bitter and unhappy that you keep getting contracted into this farce of a show and given painful, painful lines to deliver and personas to perform, but that is not my problem. You are stinking up the teevee with the "evolution" of your brand. Hate to say it, but take a cue from Bobby Flay. He's coming off as the most likable AND the most knowledgeable -- and all he's doing is holding his nose and rolling his eyes and fulfilling his contract.

 

"Weeeee had to do it, toooooo, Chrissssssstopherrrrrrr PRECIOUSSSSSSSSSSSS." Good god, Giada, take it down a notch or seventeen, k?

 

Why does L'Oreal have a southern twang? I've heard people just south of Indianapolis speak with a twang, but Lafayette is further north. Has the Mason Dixon line moved lately? And Hoosiers are known more for pork than for beef, no? So, shouldn't her best friend be a hamhock?

 

So...it should have been OBVIOUS for a Coastal Cooking POV woman from New Jersey to visit the coast of Mexico for a Fourth of July dish served at a U S of A amusement park? Hokay. My next question is WTF is Coastal Cooking, anyway? And no lame "fresh, local ingredients prepared simply and deliciously." If Nicole seriously has cooking chops to show me, a landlocked (and very sad about it) viewer, how to do something with readily available fish in my area (and yeah, I'm talking canned tuna), I'm in. But if it's a show where she walks down to the docks and picks up the sustainably fished catch of the day and grills it...well, what exactly am I going to learn? Show me how your grandparents would have made delicious dishes from zebra mussels and Asian carp, lady.

 

Does Knott's Berry farm just have really small coasters? Because, usually, when one drives up to an amusement park, one can plainly see the coaster tracks and would realize that, hey, maybe we're not here to pick strawberries!

 

 

 

 

[cattykit]

 

The way he tore into Sarah (whose 'don't salt, just throw bacon on the grill' really was dumb)

ICBW, but I thought it was Loreal who waved the bacon over the grill and pretended that was seasoning. 

 

Anybody think it's time -- since this franchise is clearly not going away -- for TNFNS All Stars?  There's a glimmer of that in the initial casting of Chad and Martie in Star Salvation, but maybe it's time for a season of people who might have been eliminated on a bad day or an especially ridiculous challenge.

 

LBH has no business judging cooking expertise or star power.  AFAIK she has neither. 

 

In previous large crowd demos, they've had to cook for the whole crowd, who didn't just sit there and watch the judges eat.

 

 

Why does L'Oreal have a southern twang? I've heard people just south of Indianapolis speak with a twang, but Lafayette is further north. 

Isn't she from Lafayette, Louisiana?

Edited June 30, 2014 by cattykit

[cooksdelight]

Does Knott's Berry farm just have really small coasters? Because, usually, when one drives up to an amusement park, one can plainly see the coaster tracks and would realize that, hey, maybe we're not here to pick strawberries!

Oh, they've got coasters. The big scary ones. My aunt and I went to the restaurant just to have lunch, you don't have to go inside the park for that. And I could clearly see coasters and rides.

https://www.knotts.com/things-to-do/roller-coasters

They must have brought them in the back entrance, where the crew and staff enter.

http://www.anaheimhotels.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Knotts-Berry-Farm.jpg

[Nutjob]

Either that, or they blindfolded them, because you can see those coasters pretty long before you actually get to the park.

[cooksdelight]

Maybe Emma thought the berries grew on the coaster rails. :)

[MaryHedwig]

Either that, or they blindfolded them, because you can see those coasters pretty long before you actually get to the park.

You can see them from the freeway.  Actually for me Food Network Star lost a lot of credibility here.  Those lines about real berries and a real farm had to be scripted.

[susannot]

He clearly has gained quite a vocal fan in Bobby Flay, the only person on this show who is a bona fide chef/restaurateur/food authority. How many times has Bobby said (on camera) "This guy can cook!"? For a professional chef, that's worth its weight in gold.

 

I'm completely over this show and will never watch again.  They ADMIT that Christopher was the best cook, but sent him home?  This show is clearly not at all about food.  It is about finding some miserable, mediocre television personality who will never be heard from again.  What's the point?Eff it.  Also, I hate Giada with the force of a thousand beaming suns.

[Rick Kitchen]

I'm horrified at the thought that Lenny-the-Shtick is going to win this crapfest.

 

Christopher must have rejected Giada's advances, why else was she so horrible to him?  And I loved Bobby's hate to her when he wanted Christopher to stay.

 

I did have to laugh that they assigned foods to these people and then told them to incorporate them into their POV.  What if one chef's POV was vegetarian food and they had assigned them steak?

[leighdear]

I took exception to Christopher claiming he was from New Orleans.  He's not, he's from Pennsylvania.  He's simply been cooking in NO for a few years.  He did this interview before appearing:

http://theadvocate.com/features/people/9280218-123/food-network-orders-up-a

I got about as much from him as I would looking at a printed recipe.  No personality, no passion, no authority. 

 

But at the same time, food needs to taste good on these challenges.  Once a "star" goes in the studio, the recipes they are cooking have been tested, evaluated, adjusted and perfected to a T.  Nobody films a show without being 100% on top of every recipe they do.  

 

Recipe mastery can be taught, personality can't.   I know that if an engaging chef on my TV screen is making something that sounds & looks good to me, I can find their recipe online or in a book.   I want to watch somebody that makes me WANT to make their food. 

 

These on-the-fly demos are obviously hard to master.  But for craps sake people, SALT is your friend! 

 

Sarah needs to pack her tiara & go.  Bobby has a green chili cheeseburger that's fantastic, I've made it many times.  She doesn't even come close.  And NO, Texas doesn't make GCC's like she does.  She's ridiculous. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/green-chile-cheeseburgers-recipe0.html

 

Edited July 1, 2014 by leighdear

[cooksdelight]

(moving to spoiler thread)

Edited July 1, 2014 by cooksdelight

[theatremouse]

I took exception to Christopher claiming he was from New Orleans.  He's not, he's from Pennsylvania.  He's simply been cooking in NO for a few years.

This doesn't bug me so much unless I'm forgetting a bit where he implied his background was specifically from New Orleans? I think it's common enough nowadays with people moving fairly far fairly frequently that it's sort of 50/50 whether when someone says "from city X" they mean "grew up in" vs meaning "currently live in and consider home".

[Intuition]

 

This season may, in my opinion, kill off this show once and for all. The outrage from people on various boards that a chef who could cook was let go in favor of characters is pretty fierce.

 

@cooksdelight - What other boards if you don't mind me asking?  PM me if necessary.

[chessiegal]

There can be outrage on all the Boards in the world, but unless the ratings drop, FN will not change one single thing. If people are outraged, it means they are still watching, which is all FN cares about.

[Accidental Martyr]

Why does L'Oreal have a southern twang? I've heard people just south of Indianapolis speak with a twang, but Lafayette is further north.

 

Isn't she from Lafayette, Louisiana?

Yes.

[Padma]

First, what a difference with Reuben's beard cut. Much improved.

As for Christopher, it isn't that I was so attached to him. It was that I hate how FN eliminates good cooks (who in this case were even also telegenic) who are a little awkward on camera while keeping BIG PERSONALITIES who can't cook well at all.

 

I think Christopher was a lot like Bobby and Bobby's made the "low key personality" work on the FN so I think there's still room for another. Keeping what's-her-name on instead (and they might as well make her a narrator because she seems the only one who gives her commentary constantly.)

[Kromm]

I love Nicole probably even a bit more for being self-aware of her own "bitch face".  Good on her.  And she's gorgeous, so we just KNOW it's only a matter of time until Giada turns on her and tries to cut the legs out from under her.  'Cause Giada?  That bitch'll stab ya if you try treading on her territory.

[RealityGal]

The one moment I liked this time was when Chris started talking about getting kicked out of the military for being on drugs.  For all of this show's constant yammering about "tell the viewers about your background," you could feel the judges having to bite their lips to keep from blurting out "wait, wait, we just meant for you to say something like "Mama mia, I'm Italian, and my grandma sang "O Sole Mio" while squeezing an accordian between her legs every time she made a lasagna"-- we didn't mean for you to really talk about something real."

 

 

 

Your grandma sounds awesome!  I'm not sure if you can cook, but you should try out for the show with that story.  After all, Kenny couldn't cook, and he didn't appear to have an awesome grandmother either.  

 

JK - I know thats not your grandma, but she still sounds awesome.

There can be outrage on all the Boards in the world, but unless the ratings drop, FN will not change one single thing. If people are outraged, it means they are still watching, which is all FN cares about.

 

That is so true.  I actually think they prefer outrage on the boards because it means the show has "buzz" and you know those FN executives love words like "buzz"  I think the most I talk about a reality show is when I get annoyed with it.

 

I think Bobby sees himself in Christopher when he was first starting out. He was nervous and stiff the first few times I saw him on TV. Maybe he'll take Christopher under his wing the way he did with Kelsey and put him on the Cooking channel. Or as someone mentioned above, Top Chef would be a much better fit for Christopher. If he's been a chef for as long, and under the people he's worked for, he could shine on that show.

 

I get the impression Christopher probably tried out for Top Chef and didn't make it.  I would imagine that if you're a chef of his caliber and are looking to "make the leap" in to chef stardom you probably send in audition tapes to every show that could help you accomplish that goal and take the first offer that comes along.  I think Christopher probably realizes he isn't a "personality" per se which would fit in much better with Top Chef- because the Vetigello brothers (yes, I totally spelled that wrong) were button cute, but IMO had personalities as spicy and zesty as vanilla pudding.  However, they could succeed on Top Chef because those boys could really cook.  

[potatoradio]

Yes.

Oh--ooops! I thought she kept talking about Hoosiers during her demo and I clearly got cornfused. Thanks for the clarification!

[cooksdelight]

I think anyone would stand a better chance on Top Chef than on this trainwreck, because their challenges involve cooking. Not clowning for the cameras. TC judges don't give a rat's ass if you are telegenic or not, they want to know if you have the chops to cook good food. I think Christopher falls into that category, based on the few times he got to cook on this show. Each time, they praised his food.

[smiley13]

After reading some interviews with Hair Product, she was actually living in CA when she tried out for the show.  She had moved from Indianapolis to CA following some guy.  She then went back to Indianapolis and worked at the butcher shop until she went to shoot the show.  So I wonder how long she has actually worked as a butcher?  Or did she think this was some quirky "in" to get her on the show?

 

Not sure how long it has been since she lived in Lafayette.

[JTMacc99]

That is so true.  I actually think they prefer outrage on the boards because it means the show has "buzz" and you know those FN executives love words like "buzz"  I think the most I talk about a reality show is when I get annoyed with it.

As a result of what I do for a living, I've had the chance to spend some time with network executives from all parts of the business, so not just programming (like Bob, who is a really nice guy, and super smart), but also finance, engineering, and HR.

 

They're all pretty much like anybody else who has a lot of responsibility within any organization. They worry about the people who work for them. They worry about whether or not the decisions they make are going to help their business grow. For the most part, they do what they think is the right thing to do.

 

I've never really asked any of them if negative reactions on social media is something they embrace in the vein of any buzz is good buzz, but I have a feeling that most of them would prefer not to have a lot of negative reactions.  (And you are right, the marketing group is a big fan of "buzz".)  I think everybody who watches TV, especially reality TV, enjoys it more when a show has heroes and villains. As we hit the final 7 of this season, I've absolutely picked my hero and a couple of not so much villains, but duds I can't wait to be shown the door. 

 

And in my experience, I think the people running social media for the Food Network would like to see negative reactions about certain contestants in social media, because that means people are invested, but I don't think they like to see overwhelming negative reaction to the general execution of the show. That's not the kind of buzz they're looking to get. As long as one of these remaining contestants starts to earn enough praise for his or her food, they still have a chance to pull this out of the fire.  But I'll guess that during the next season, they sacrifice a couple of the bad cooks right up front to appease the angry mobs.

Edited July 1, 2014 by JTMacc99

[cooksdelight]

Will they sacrifice Giada? Please?

[TaraS1]

Was Giada beaten with a big spoon as a child?  She looked like she was ready to climb over the table on that chick.

[MortysCleaningLady]

Was Giada beaten with a big spoon as a child?  She looked like she was ready to climb over the table on that chick.

 

I don't want to defend Pageant Girl, but why did Giada taste with the serving spoon?  On Top Chef, the producers supply a seemingly endless supply of utensils to the judges.  Of, Giada could have borrowed the one from Cowboy Lenny's pocket.  <insert barfing smiling> 

 

Doesn't Giada even have tiny plates and bowls for tasting on her own show?  She never eats with the servers.

[Day2Day]

Cooksdelight,   Were else but the Food Network will she get that much "X-POSURE"???????She loves those "lean-over" shots !!

[Totale]

And in my experience, I think the people running social media for the Food Network would like to see negative reactions about certain contestants in social media, because that means people are invested, but I don't think they like to see overwhelming negative reaction to the general execution of the show. That's not the kind of buzz they're looking to get.

 

Then maybe they should try to produce a better show.

[JTMacc99]

Then maybe they should try to produce a better show.

Hee! True, but I was thinking about the people who run the social media part of the business. They're more at the mercy of the content. They probably don't even get warned that the next episode is going to cause a big stink. They'll just go about their business posting things like "What did you think of tonight's elimination?" and then get surprised when there are waves of people straying from the usual reactions about the contestants and into "The Food Network is a joke!" territory.

 

From there it starts turning into spinning and damage control in the present, and definitely running it up the chain of command to the content producers that whatever it is they are doing is NOT generating the right kind of response.

 

It's going to take a while for them to fix the problem they created and produce a better show. Since I like this show, I'm kind of hoping that by the time we get down to the final three that I've at least got some level of confidence that the winner is genuinely enthusiastic about great food, likeable, and hopefully nice to look at. They haven't really given me too much of that combination recently.