Food Network's June 2016 Programming Highlights

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Here are some of the highlights of the Food Network programming scheduled to air on the channel in June:

• A new Cutthroat Kitchen tournament called Cutthroat Kitchen: Time Warp Tournament that begins on Wednesday, June 1st where each episode has a different theme/decade.
• Guy Fieri is in Cuba for two episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Friday June 3rd and June 10th.
• A new season of Cake Wars premieres on Friday, June 10th at 10pm.
• The finale of Kids BBQ Championship on Monday June 27th where the winner takes home $20,000 and a feature in Food Network Magazine.
• New Primetime episodes of Food Network Star, Beat Bobby Flay, Guys Grocery Games, Buddy's Family Vacation, Chopped, Chopped Junior, Celebrity Food Fight, Kids BBQ Championship, and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
• New Daytime episodes of The Kitchen, Farmhouse Rules, Patricia Heaton Parties (new season), Valerie's Home Cooking (new season), The Pioneer Woman and The Kitchen Sink.

Press Release with episode descriptions and air dates is below:

Food Network Star Episode 2 Elimination

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star the remaining contestants have to do a culinary travelogue report in which the winners would gain an advantage.  Then the contestants are challenged with mashing up two different cooking styles into one dish which is compared to the food equivalent of a rap battle.  Haylie Duff and Rev Run are the guest judges and help Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis determine who should get an advantage and eventually who would go home.  On tonight's episode two contestants are actually sent home.

There were teams of two and each person who did better than their partner was determined safe.  Melissa Pfeister, Monetery Salka, Aaron Crumbaugh, and Erin Campbell were the bottom four.  After the judges deliberated, they decided that Melissa Pfeister and Aaron Crubaugh would be the two contestants eliminated.  That shouldn't be too surprising as Melissa didn't mention anything on her Twitter about her being on the show.  Aaron and Melissa will go onto compete on Star Salvation in a few weeks.

Food Network Star Episode 1 Elimination

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Tonight on the season 12 premiere of Food Network Star, we were introduced to the 12 contestants competing and the winner of Comeback Kitchen was revealed. Martita Jara from season 8 ended up winning Comeback Kitchen and if you are interested in where you have seen some of the other contestants, here is a post about them.

The first challenge for the contestants was to make a 30-second video to explain what they are all about that would be showed at a VIP event in Los Angeles.  Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, Tyler Florence and Valerie Bertinelli were the judges of this challenge and decided who needed to go home.


The top three contestants from the challenge in this episode were Rob Burmeister, Ana Quincoces, and Monterey Salka. The bottom three were Aaron Crumbaugh, Melissa Pfeister, and Havird Usry. The judges decided that Havird Usry would be the one going home due to his burnt chicken and he will go on to compete in Star Salvation with hopes of rejoining the competition.

What do you think about the contestants this year?

Food Network Star Season 12 Contestants - Where Have You Seen Them?

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This Sunday at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network is the start of season 12 of Food Network Star.  As is usually the case, you will probably recognize many of the contestants from other reality shows on Food Network and other channels.  Here is a list of the Food Network Star contestants for this season and where you may recognize them.

• Rob Burmeister (Staten Island, NY) - Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Cutthroat Kitchen: Evilicious Tournament, Restaurant Stakeout
• Erin Campbell (Woodbury, MN) - Holiday Baking Championship (won - prize $50,000)
• Damiano Carrara (Moorpark, CA) - Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Spring Baking Championship. 
• Aaron Crumbaugh (Spokane, WA) - Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Cutthroat Kitchen: Evilicious Tournament, The Amazing Race season 6
• Tregaye Fraser (Atlanta, GA) - Guy's Grocery Games, Cutthroat Kitchen (won)
• Yaku Moton-Spruill (San Francisco, CA) - Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Cutthroat Kitchen: Evilicious Tournament
• Melissa Pfeister (Los Angeles, CA) - Has not appeared on other reality shows, but has 171k Twitter followers due to her revealing pictures and love of sports - mainly Ohio State.
• Ana Quincoces (Coral Gables, FL) - Appeared on The Real Housewives of Miami on Bravo.  Also has her own cookbooks, which are available on Amazon. She was arrested in 2015 for driving with a suspended license.
• Monterey Salka (Nashville, TN) - Cutthroat Kitchen: Camp Cutthroat (won 1 episode), Esquire's The Next Great Burger
• Joy Thompson (Thomasville, NC) - Restaurant owner who has done local news segments.  It was recently discovered that her restaurant owes around $240,000 in back taxes and penalties (Link).
• Havird Usry (Augusta, GA) - No previous television. Executive chef at an Augusta, GA restaurant.
• Jernard Wells (Atlanta, GA) - Paula's Party, Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell, Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Cutthroat Kitchen: Evilicious Tournament

Obviously the contestant who rejoins the competition from Comeback Kitchen will have competed on Food Network Star in the past as well.  It seems like Cutthroat Kitchen was the breeding ground for Food Network Star contestants this year with half of the contestants competing on the show, with some competing multiple times.

If you area interested in any more information about the contestants, there is plenty of information included in the press release and on the Food Network Star website.  Also, if I missed any television appearances by the contestants, let me know in the comments and I can make updates.

*Somewhat related - In an interview with Aaron Crumbaugh, it says Food Network contacted him to see if he was interested in auditioning.  After interviewing he had to get a background check by a private investigator.  I wonder if this is required after the Lenny Mcnab fiasco.

As always, there will be Food Network Star episode recaps here where you can discuss the episode and who went home.

Restaurant Impossible - Broad Street Bistro Update

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Tonight on the season finale of Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in North Versailles, Pennsylvania to makeover Broad Street Bistro. In this ambush episode the owners' son, who is a trained chef, contacted Restaurant Impossible. The owner Tasso has only had the restaurant for a year and a half, but he is struggling due to the atmosphere, the food, and the service.  His wife Kathy doesn't like how he is always at the restaurant and Tasso refuses to accept help from his son Yianni despite being a chef.  Robert ends up doing three ambushes on this episode: one on Kathy, one on Tasso, and another "surprise ambush."

As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Broad Street Bistro to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Restaurant: Impossible):