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| Photo - Multivu |
The contestants competing this year are:
Luca Della Casa (San Antonio); Emma Frisch (Ithaca, NY); Nicole Gaffney (Atlantic City, NJ); Loreal Gavin (Indianapolis); Chris Kyler (Stafford, VA); Kenny Lao (New York); Christopher Lynch (New Orleans); Lenny McNab (Debeque, CO); Aryen Moore-Alston (Memphis); Sarah Penrod (League City, TX); Reuben Ruiz (Miami) and Donna Sonkin Shaw (New York)
Some more info on the season:
- Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, and Alton Brown are all mentors/judges again. They will not have teams and compete against each other as they did in season 8.
- The season begins June 1st and goes through August 10th with there being 11 episodes.
- Looking at the contestant bios, it looks like the usual ethnicities are represented, and there is the usual person that has lost weight, and someone who will be cooking healthy. Seems like they cast the same type people every year, and just plug in different contestants.
- The web series Star Salvation is back for a 2nd season, and this year it will be hosted by last year's winner Damaris Phillips and Geoffrey Zakarian.
- In a new twist, two fan favorites from past seasons will be in the first Star Salvation challenge and compete against the first eliminated contestant. There will be 6 episodes of Star Salvation, and the contestant that wins will re-enter the competition on July 13th. So we could see someone from a past season become this season's Food Network Star. I have heard people say they want an "all-star" type season, so this may satisfy them. If one of the 'fan favorites' wins, I am sure people will claim it is fixed.
- The challenges on the show include: a Cutthroat Kitchen competition, viral video challenge from YouTube Space LA, visit to Knott’s Berry Farm, Las Vegas buffet and pool party-themed challenges and an on-camera appearance on the Rachael Ray show.
- Guest stars include Food Network personalities Alex Guarnaschelli, Robert Irvine, Jet Tila and Rachael Ray.
- Four finalists will film pilots, which will be directed by Robert Irvine. Three pilots will be selected by Bob Tuschman, Susie Fogelson, Giada, Bobby, and Alton. These three will be voted on by the public with the winner getting their own Food Network show.
The Press Release is below along with tons of information such as pictures, cast bios, and episode descriptions
From Multivu:
FOOD NETWORK STAR RETURNS FOR TENTH SEASON WITH NEW CAST OF CONTENDERS AND MORE INTENSE CULINARY CHALLENGES
Food Icons Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay Back as Mentors/Judges in Season Premiere on Sunday, June 1st at 9pm ET/PT
Web Exclusive Series Star Salvation and Audience Vote Also Return, Winner to be Announced in Season Finale on Sunday, August 10th at 9pm ET/PT
NEW YORK - April 24, 2014 - Food Network’s long-running competition series Food Network Star is back for a tenth season in June, with culinary icons Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay leading the charge to discover the next promising face in food television. The twelve new contenders are put to the test in a season filled with unique competitions challenging their kitchen and on-camera chops, to find out who has the talent and charisma to follow in Alton, Giada and Bobby’s footsteps and helm their own show. Exclusive web series Star Salvation also returns, giving one eliminated contestant the opportunity to rejoin the on-air competition, which culminates in an audience vote to determine who wins the ultimate prize - their own show on Food Network. Shot in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, Food Network Star season ten kicks off with a one-hour premiere on Sunday, June 1st at 9pm ET/PT, and the winner will be named in the season finale on Sunday, August 10th at 9pm ET/PT.
“Every season, viewers love seeing new talent emerge on Food Network Star,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Food Network. “Watching three superstars of the food television world – Alton, Giada and Bobby – help the finalists hone their food, voice and on-camera skill is fascinating, fun and compelling.”
The finalists are: Luca Della Casa (San Antonio); Emma Frisch (Ithaca, NY); Nicole Gaffney (Atlantic City, NJ); Loreal Gavin (Indianapolis); Chris Kyler (Stafford, VA); Kenny Lao (New York); Christopher Lynch (New Orleans); Lenny McNab (Debeque, CO); Aryen Moore-Alston (Memphis); Sarah Penrod (League City, TX); Reuben Ruiz (Miami) and Donna Sonkin Shaw (New York).
In the season premiere, the contestants are welcomed to Los Angeles for their Star-making journey by Alton, Giada and Bobby, who invite the cast to their own red carpet premiere party that very night at a Hollywood studio backlot. Each finalist must present themselves to a select group of tastemakers, including E! personality Ross Mathews, and prepare their most impressive party bite for the challenge judges Alton, Giada, Bobby and Food Network executives Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson.
Upcoming episodes feature a Cutthroat Kitchen competition, viral video challenge from YouTube Space LA, visit to Knott’s Berry Farm, Las Vegas buffet and pool party-themed challenges and an on-camera appearance on Rachael Ray. Guest stars include Food Network personalities Alex Guarnaschelli, Robert Irvine, Jet Tila and Rachael Ray.
Web series Star Salvation returns for a second outing on Sunday, June 1st and goes live just after Star’s east coast airing. Available exclusively on FoodNetwork.com/Salvation and hosted by last season’s Food Network Star winner Damaris Phillips and Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, the six-episode web-only culinary contest gives eliminated finalists a chance to re-enter the competition. In a nod to the show’s tenth season, two fan favorites from past seasons return in the premiere Salvation challenge to battle the first eliminated finalist. The winner will re-enter Food Network Star on Sunday, July 13.
For more Food Network Star, fans can visit FoodNetwork.com/Star all season long for exclusive interviews, video, blogs, behind-the-scenes footage, photo galleries and more. Fans can also connect with each other and the show’s stars on Facebook at Facebook.com/FoodNetwork and on Twitter with the hashtag #FoodNetworkStar.
Food Network Star is produced by LEG/Triage Entertainment.
# # #
FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers' best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and averages more than 9.9 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine's rate base has grown tenfold and is now the second largest monthly magazine on the newsstand, with over 11.6 million readers. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24-hour networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com) and Great American Country (www.gactv.com), is the manager and general partner.
Also, here is tons more information for the show from Multivu as well:
To see the video preview - click on Video -> Go To Content
To see the photos of the contestants - click on Photos -> Go To Content
To see the contestant bios and episode descriptions - click on Docs -> Go To Content
Yeah, if I have time, I will probably do a post on where we have seen some of these contestants before
ReplyDelete"Who do you think the returning fan favorites on Star Salvation will be?"
ReplyDeleteThe pie guy!
I kid, I kid.
Figure they find it easier to cast from talent they've already seen. I mean, they're lazy with everything else repetitive this season, so why not extend that to casting?
ReplyDeleteAs I've seeing so far, other than the Cowboy and Cutthroat Chris, the other finalist who've been on a national show is Donna Sonkin (Miss Ticking Clock from VH1's 'Tough Love: New Orleans'), other who worked for Emeril and was consultant on the HBO show 'Treme' but never apperared on camera. The other finalists are personal chefs, restaurateurs or have done local TV or online videos.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else read the actual episode descriptions and realized they mix up the months June and July a few times? Guess FN doesn't have a proof reader!
ReplyDeleteHaha, good catch... June, July, To-ma-to, To-mah-to... In the latest issue of Food Network magazine, they also refer to Macarons as Macaroons on the cover and throughout the issue.
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily on point - but does anyone else hate Cutthroat Kitchen as much as I do?
ReplyDeleteLots of these chefs make the rounds on the FN shows. Saw a contestant from Chopped as a judge on Beat Bobby Flay.
ReplyDeleteYes! Watched it a couple of times at the beginning. Worthless show.
ReplyDeleteHey, watch it with that!
ReplyDeleteIt's probably Danushka or that guy that lied years ago. America loved them!
I would rather they not bring Giada back as a judge. Can her and bring on someone like Anne Burrell or Ree Drummond instead. Maybe ABC should look into hiring her away from the Food Network and put her on The View. Then again, she'd probably drive Whoopi Goldberg crazy.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely become a closed circle
ReplyDeleteThey do that all the time...A lot of these contestants make a career out of it.... or get more than their 15 sec. of fame. I saw one of the winners of Tyler Florence's food truck reality show on Cutthroat Kitchen, and he won that one too.... They probably have a database of these aspiring chefs.
ReplyDeleteI actually like it.
ReplyDeleteAs long as it is not Penny the Witch from the Middle East
ReplyDeleteIt's not just FN doing it. Last season's The Taste had one or two competitors that appeared in past FN shows, and one of the judges was a competitor on Top Chef.
ReplyDeleteOh good lord, I hate her with a passion. No, Penny, you are not as hot as you think you are, nor are you as great a cook as you profess to be.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that made me really want to slap the taste out of her mouth was when she was on an episode of Chopped with various FN personalities, and she was gloating that she made it to the second round because she was better than the chef that got Chopped (despite the fact that it was because he was the only one to forget a basket ingredient) and boasted that Michael Symon and Marcus Samuelsson (the other chefs she went against) were afraid of her (WTF? Afraid of her face, maybe).
I like it. Seeing what kind of fucked up sabotages the contestants get saddled with and watching Alton revel in their suffering is a joy to watch.
ReplyDeleteSome of the sabotages are downright sadistic, like making them cook their food on a wok while it's upside down, picking the herbs for their dish out of a garbage bag full of herbs mixed with lawn clippings, harvesting the oil for frying by pressing it out of fish oil pills, or forcing them to stop cooking and pedal a bike to power a blender until it makes enough drinks for several people.
FN will never get rid of Giada if they can help it. They know she has two things that get people to watch her, and it isn't her ears.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely despise that show!
ReplyDeleteI saw that episode and was floored by her attitude. Thank goodness it looks like her 15 minutes of fame are up.
ReplyDeleteOh no, don't even kid about that!!! I could NOT STAND pie guy.
ReplyDeleteVic Moea!
ReplyDeleteIf you mean Marcus Samuelsson...he's also a regular judge on "Chopped."... Ludo Lefebvre was on Tony's shows on the Travel Channel (FN's sister network) - No Reservations and The Layover.
ReplyDeleteI was referring to last season, which had Tony Bourdain, Brian Malarkey, Nigella Lawson, and Ludo LeFebvre as the judges. This season has Marcus subbing for Brian, who did not get along at all with Ludo last season.
ReplyDeleteLudo was also on Top Chef Master twice and judged one challenge on Top Chef season 8.
ReplyDeletePenny Davidi? Only in my worst nightmares.
ReplyDeleteShe also told Amanda Freitag that she had no right to say a dish had too much saffron because she felt Amanda didn't know anything about saffron.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about that until you mentioned it. I remember seeing that episode & I was surprised (shouldn't have been) that she had the nerve to say something like that.
ReplyDelete