Holiday Baking Championship Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Multivu

Tonight at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network is the season finale of Holiday Baking Championship where the winner will take home $50,000.  The three remaining finalists competing for the prize are Jennifer Barney, Stephany Buswell, and Joshua Livsey.  In the preliminary heat, the contestants have to grab two last minute holiday gifts and combine them into a dessert.  Then in the main heat, the contestants have to create a 12 Days of Christmas dessert that illustrates a line from the song.

Jen Barney's parents rented out a theater to watch the episode tonight and invited their whole town in a newspaper advertisement.  Who knows if that means she won, but we will have to watch the episode to find out.

I will update this post with the winner of Holiday Baking Championship after the episode airs.  Continue reading to see the winner.

Iron Chef Episode Where Bobby Flay Supposedly Quit Didn't Air As Scheduled

Photo - Twitter

On this past Wednesday night (December 13th), Food Network was supposed to air an episode of Iron Chef Showdown that featured Bobby Flay, but it did not air.  The episode was going to be the episode where Bobby Flay supposedly quit Iron Chef by revealing a t-shirt that said it was his last battle.  Bobby supposedly chose a t-shirt as he knew it would be hard to edit out of the show.  This episode was on the schedule all week and was being advertised, but when it got to Wednesday night at 9pm an Iron Chef Showdown episode with Stephanie Izard was on Food Network.

No advanced warning was given by Food Network that this episode would be moved/postponed, but Alton Brown responded to some fans on Twitter (pictured) saying it was his fault because he "didn't finish voice over patches in time."

Tory Miller, one of the chefs competing on the episode, actually had a watch party the night of the episode and everyone there watching was disappointed when the episode wasn't the one he competed on.  He even received no advanced warning of the postponement. Tory Miller also had a sold out $125 six-course meal planned Sunday for 100 people which was celebrating his appearance on the show.  He had planned to still have that dinner, but it looks like he has rescheduled.

This makes you wonder what kind of plans Food Network has for this episode of Iron Chef Showdown.  Are they doing heavy editing to edit out the original audio or the t-shirt?  Will they move this to the season finale and allow Bobby to quit for drama?  Or will it just be a normal episode?  We will have to wait and see, but when this episode has an air date, I will update this post.


UPDATE - A commenter below said the episode was released on Amazon Video the day the episode was originally scheduled to air.  He said it seems that Food Network was able to edit it where you couldn't see the t-shirt.  This makes you question Alton Brown taking the blame for not having voice overs done.  John Besh is a judge on this episode, so perhaps Food Network wanted more time to think about that.

Also on January 3rd, Food Network, Alton Brown and others on the show were all tweeting about the Iron Chef Showdown finale, so it seemed like Food Network decided not to air the Bobby Flay episode.  However, the episode is now scheduled to air on January 10th at 9pm ET.

UPDATE  2 - The episode aired, and Food Network edited out John Besh totally.  He was on the episode when it aired in Canada and when it was released on Amazon video.  Also, there were no signs of Bobby Flay's t-shirt.  More details with screenshots from the episode.

UPDATE 3 - Bobby Flay confirmed in February 2018 that he did quit Iron Chef with his t-shirt stunt and that Food Network wasn't thrilled about it.  He confirmed they had to black out his t-shirt, which was supposedly pretty expensive to do.

Mario Batali Is The Latest Celebrity Chef Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Eater New York released a story today where four women came forward to accuse Mario Batali of inappropriate touching over a period that spans at least 20 years.  Eater New York did dozens of interviews to validate these stories which include an employee accusing Mario Batali of repeatedly grabbing her from behind and holding her tightly against his body. "Another former employee alleges that he groped her and that, in a separate incident, he compelled her to straddle him; another alleges that he grabbed her breasts at a party, though she no longer worked for him at the time."

After details of these accusations came out, Mario Batali stepped down from his restaurant empire and ABC's The Chew has asked Mario to step away from the show while they "review the allegations that have just recently come to our attention."

Mario is quoted in the Eater article stating, "I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family."

After these stories surfaced, other chefs began to weigh in on Twitter such as Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio.  Tom Collicchio said that "no one should be surprised."  He later explained Mario Batali's behavior was well documented in Bill Buford's book Heat.

Earlier this month it was announced that Mario Batali would be returning to Food Network with new episodes of his hit show Molto Mario.  Six episodes were already filmed and they were scheduled to be on Food Network in early 2018.  Food Network hasn't commented on these allegations yet, so we will have to see if the new episodes of Molto Mario are ever shown.

UPDATE - Variety is reporting that Molto Mario's return is on hold and has a statement from Food Network that says, "Food Network takes matters like this very seriously and we are putting relaunch plans for Molto Mario on hold."

UPDATE - ABC has officially fired Mario Batali from The Chew.

Guy's Big Project Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Multivu

Tonight at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network is the season finale Guy's Big Project where the winner will win their own Food Network food road show.  The final two contestants on the show are Zane Caplansky and Rashad Jones. On tonight's show, Zane and Rashad will make their pilots with Guy Fieri who then sends them to Food Network to decide who will get their own show.

Airing right after the finale is an hour special of Guy's Big Project that has the description of "After an unexpected outcome, Guy Fieri reveals what comes next."  Also a more detailed description of the episode says, "In this one hour special, see the pilot from the winner of Guy's Big Project, which demonstrates their particular passions and the skills that they learned over the course of the show from host and mentor Guy Fieri."

I will update this post with the winner with the winner after the episode airs.  We will have to see if the winner actually gets a show or just the pilot that airs after the finale.  The ratings for Guy's Big Project were pretty low for a Sunday night show on Food Network, so that could play into the decision making.

Continue Reading to see winner

Worst Cooks In America Returns January 7th - Anne Burrell vs. Tyler Florence

Photo - Multivu

Worst Cooks in America is returning to Food Network on Sunday, January 7th at 9pm ET/PT and this season will be Anne Burrell vs. Tyler Florence.  Anne and Tyler will each lead a team of cooking-challenged recruits and the contestant who makes the most impressive transformation will win $25,000 and bragging rights for their team mentor.  Worst Cooks in America is one of the highest rated shows on Food Network, so no surprise that it is returning for another season.

Anne Burrell has been on every season of Worst Cooks in America and has competed against Beau MacMillan, Robert Irvine, Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, and Rachael Ray.  Tyler Florence is trying to beat Anne after losing to her two years ago on Worst Cooks in America.

The competitors this year are: Brandon Arroyo (Cleveland, Ohio); Steven Crowley (New York, New York); Kayrene Curtis (Rocky River, Ohio); Jonathan Farhat (Livermore, California); Lily Frey (Anaheim Hills, California): Asaf Goren (Los Angeles, California); Robyn Hayden (Charleston, South Carolina); Sylvia Jefferies (Charleston, South Carolina); Hazell Mckenzie (Brooklyn, New York); Priscilla Nguyen (Hattiesburg, Mississippi); Skyler and Spencer Nick (Wauconda, Illinois); Kevin Pettice (Charlotte, North Carolina); Shatima Ruffin (Yorktown, Virginia); Sharon Shvarzman (Staten Island, New York) and Lacey Stout (Owasso, Oklahoma).

If you are interested in reading the contestant bios, episode descriptions, or reading the press release, here is a link with all of that info.

Food Network's December 2017 Programming Highlights

Photo - Food Network

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

• The series premiere of Cajun Aces premiering Saturday, December 2nd at 8pm.
• Jay Baron's Teeny Tiny Christmas on Sunday, December 3rd at 10:30pm.
• The season finale of Guy’s Big Project on Sunday, December 10th at 9pm. 
• The season finale of Holiday Baking Championship at 9pm on Monday, December 18th, followed by the season finale of Christmas Cookie Challenge at 10pm.
• A special episode of Holiday Baking Championship when runners-up compete for redemption and a chance to win the $10,000 grand prize on Monday, December 25th at 9pm. 
• New primetime episodes of Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, Iron Chef: Behind the Battle, Iron Chef Showdown, Vegas Cakes, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and Guy’s Grocery Games: Last Judge Standing, many of which have holiday themes.
• New daytime episodes of The Bobby and Damaris Show, Giada’s Holiday Handbook, Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, The Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and Valerie’s Home Cooking, many of which have holiday themes. 

Press release with episode descriptions and air dates is below.

Alton Brown Reaches Deal To Stay With Food Network

Last week in the Food Network related news, one of the topics was Alton Brown's Food Network contract coming to an end.  He posted the following message on social media (also pictured right), "With the end of the tour rapidly approaching and my food network contract ending, I spend a lot of time pondering my next move."

Variety.com is now reporting that Alton Brown has reached a multi-year deal to continue hosting and creating content for Food Network and Cooking Channel.  Alton is also expected to "develop new TV series and digital content in tandem with executives at both networks."  Alton's deals in the past have been three years at a time, so this one is most likely for three years as well.

In the Variety article, Alton also release a statement which said, "Food Network has provided me with a fertile creative home for nearly two decades and now I feel we’re in an even better position to explore the ever-expanding frontiers of culinary storytelling."

Alton Brown has already announced the return of Good Eats for next year, so who knows if his contract was ever in jeopardy of not being renewed.  Perhaps he used his social media post above as a bargaining tool or to gain leverage in negotiations. 

Food Network Related News and Links

Sorry for not posting in a bit, but here are some Food Network related news items from the past few weeks:

• Chef John Besh, who frequently appears on Food Network, was the subject of an 8-month long investigation by The Time-Picayune where 25 women claimed they were victims of sexual harassment at his restaurants.  The full story is here and is quite long,  with women describing  "a company where several male co-workers and bosses touched female employees without consent, made suggestive comments about their appearance and – in a few cases – tried to leverage positions of authority for sex."  John Besh was also involved in a sexual relationship with an employee.  
• After these allegations came out, he stepped down from his position in his restaurant group.  He released an apology (full quotes here), stating, "two years ago, I deeply hurt those I love by thoughtlessly engaging in a consensual relationship with one member of my team. Since then I have been seeking to rebuild my marriage and come to terms with my reckless actions given the profound love I have for my wife, my boys and my Catholic faith. I also regret any harm this may have caused to my second family at the restaurant group, and sincerely apologize to anyone past and present who has worked for me who found my behavior as unacceptable as I do"
• John Besh recently appeared on the first episode of Iron Chef Showdown, which angered some fans as it was after all of this came out.  PBS pulled his shows from their network. (Link)
• When the Harvey Weinstein allegations were coming out, Sunny Anderson sent out a series of tweets where she was accused of "victim blaming" for saying the women coming out were late and not brave.  She received backlash for this and later took down the tweets. (Link)
• If you were a fan of Ginormous Foods, that show is now on Travel Channel and new episodes air Mondays at 11pm. (Link)
• Jason Smith will be appearing on an upcoming episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate on Cooking Channel. (Link)
• Cajun Aces is a new show on Food Network that will begin on December 2nd and will follow chefs Cody and Sam Carrol as they explore Cajun cuisine and culture.  "Each week, viewers can tune in to see the chefs as they take the freshest ingredients from their family farm in Batchelor, LA and create brand new dishes at both of their restaurants." (Link)
• Bobby Flay will be opening his first airport location for Bobby's Burger Palace inside Atlanta's airport. (Link)
• Guy Fieri's new show Guy's Big Project has had low ratings for its first few episodes.  Sunday night shows usually have good ratings on Food Network and the numbers for Guy's Big Project are well below the normal. (Link)
• Alton Brown recently posted this on social media, "With the end of the tour rapidly approaching and my food network contract ending, I spend a lot of time pondering my next move."  It appears his Food Network contract will end soon, but who knows if he is renegotiating a new one. (Link)

Halloween Wars Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Food Network

Tonight at 9pm ET on Food Network is the season 7 finale of Halloween Wars where the winning team will take home $50,000.  The final two teams are Team Ghoul'd with Liz Marek (cake), Mike Brown (pumpkin), and Christophe Rull (sugar) and Team Morbid Masterminds with Mike Elder (cake), Shannon Gerasimchik (pumpkin), and Charity George (sugar). Charity George of team Morbid Masterminds has competed on two Halloween Wars in the past but has yet to win.

On tonight's episode whoever can best illustrate the final seconds before a deadly danger strikes will be crowned Halloween Wars champion and win $50,000.  Fiona Dourif, actress from the hit horror franchise Child's Play, will be the guest judge.

I will update this post with the winner after the episode airs.

Continue reading to see winner:

Is Bobby Flay Quitting Iron Chef?

Photo - Multivu

Iron Chef is returning to Food Network on November 8th at 9pm ET with Iron Chef Showdown.  As discussed in a previous post, the show will feature two chefs who will compete in a chairman's challenge to create their best dish using a secret ingredient. Alton Brown will judge this challenge, and the winning chef will get to go up against an Iron Chef in a secret ingredient showdown.   Iron Chefs Michael Symon, Alex Guarnaschelli, Bobby Flay, Stephanie Izard, and Jose Garces will appear on two episodes each.

An article on Vanity Fair by Allen Salkin revealed that when filming Iron Chef Showdown this summer, Bobby Flay "tore off his apron mid-battle to reveal a T-shirt that read: “THIS IS MY LAST IRON CHEF BATTLE EVER.”  Looking at the picture above from the show, he has a lot of buttons to deal with to get to the T-shirt.  Bobby Flay supposedly chose the T-shirt rather than a verbal message as he knew production would not be able to cut that from the show.  The article said the production has plans to blur the shirt out when the episode airs, but the decision to blur the shirt wasn't final.  This doesn't mean Bobby Flay is done with Food Network overall as he is still involved with things such as The Bobby and Damaris Show, Beat Bobby Flay and Food Network Star.

According to the Iron Chef Showdown schedule, Bobby Flay is scheduled to be on the November 8th episode and the December 13th episode.  So if this T-shirt thing is true, I would expect it to be on the December 13th episode of Iron Chef Showdown.  I guess we will have to tune in to see what Food Network decides to do about the shirt.

UPDATE - After reports came out about the shirt, Bobby Flay released a statement to E! News stating, "This past summer when I was in production on Iron Chef Showdown, I wore a t-shirt to have a little fun during my last battle this season. In hindsight, it was probably not the best decision because it's just creating confusion. Food Network has been part of my family for over 20 years and will absolutely continue to be, and though there is a talented bench of Iron Chefs to tap, if I were asked, I'd be excited to return to Kitchen Stadium, whenever my schedule allows."

Worst Cooks In America Celebrity Edition Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Food Network

Tonight at 9pm ET on Food Network is the season finale of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition where the winner will receive $25,000 for their charity.  The two remaining celebrities are Perez Hilton (Team Rachael Ray) and Melissa Peterman (Team Anne Burrell).  Their challenge tonight is to cook a restaurant-quality meal for a panel of culinary experts and they will have coaching help from Rachael Ray and Anne Burrell.  I will update this post with the winner after the episode airs and you can discuss the episode/season in the comments.

Continue reading to find out the winner

Ree Drummond To Judge, Eddie Jackson To Host 'Christmas Cookie Challenge'

Photo - Food Network

Food Network announced a new series called Christmas Cookie Challenge that will begin on Monday, November 6th at 10pm ET.  There have been Christmas Cookie Challenge specials in the past on Food Network, but never a whole series.  Christmas Cookie Challenge will be seven episodes long and in each episode five bakers compete through two rounds for a prize of $10,000.  Former Food Network Star winner Eddie Jackson will be the host of the show.  Ree Drummond will be the main judge on every episode and there will be a rotating panel of guest judges that include: Kimberly Bailey, James Briscione, Damiano Carrara, Dan Langan, Jamika Pessoa, Jordan Pilarski, Aarti Sequeira and Joy Wilson. 

More Details About Iron Chef Showdown - Premiering November 8th

Photo - Multivu

In July, it was announced that Iron Chef would be returning with Iron Chef Showdown and that Alton Brown would be the host.  Now there is more information about the show and it will premiere on Food Network Wednesday, November 8th at 9pm ET.  Iron Chef Showdown will be 10 episodes long and Iron Chefs Michael Symon, Alex Guarnaschelli, Bobby Flay, Stephanie Izard, and Jose Garces will appear on two episodes each.

On each episode, two chefs will compete in a chairman's challenge to create their best dish using a secret ingredient.  Alton Brown will judge this challenge alone, and the winning chef will get to go up against an Iron Chef in a secret ingredient showdown.  Iron Chef Showdown sounds a lot like Beat Bobby Flay to me, but with secret ingredients and different chefs.

A press release about Iron Chef Showdown is below.  Also, I put the episode descriptions from the release below so you can see which chefs are competing:

Marcela Valladolid Leaving Food Network's 'The Kitchen'

Photo - Food Network

Today at 11am ET is the season 14 finale of The Kitchen on Food Network.  Marcela Valladolid announced on Instagram that this will be her final episode on the show.  It seems like traveling from the west coast to the east coast for the show and being away from her family were deciding factors.  Marcela posted the following message on Instagram about her leaving the show:

"Friends and followers, after 14 seasons and 182 episodes, this Saturday is my last episode of #TheKitchen. I’m a west coast gurl with a West coast family and it’s time for me to be here and share with you the stories and recipes that I truly share with my family and friends. Thank you for watching and following. It truly was a blast and I am so grateful to the cast and crew for this incredible journey! 4 years of monthly trips east. I birthed and nursed two babies. I made the best of friends. I learned so much and, half the time, I sort of felt like I was cheating life because I was having too much fun and getting paid for it. Katie, Sunny, GZ and Mauro... I’ll miss you guys. Besos familia, it brought me great pride to be the Latina face on one of the most popular shows on the @foodnetwork! Diversity and inclusion should always be a priority. Thank you.❤️"

The 15th season of the show begins next week and it appears from the episode descriptions that there is no replacement for Marcela and Food Network will continue doing the show with just Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee, Sunny Anderson, and Geoffrey Zakarian.

Fun fact about Marcela - She appeared on The Price is Right in 2004 and won a car (Link).

Marcela also addressed leaving the show on her blog in this post.

Pillsbury Bake-Off Returns With Food Network As Partner

Photo - Multivu

The Pillsbury Bake-Off contest will return this year after not having a competition since 2014.  This year is the 48th Pillsbury Bake-Off contest and they have paired with Food Network and Ree Drummond.  The winner of the contest will receive a trip to New York for an appearance on Food Network’s The Kitchen, a feature in Food Network Magazine, a kitchen makeover from GE Appliances and $50,000 in cash. Also four category winners will each be awarded a trip to New York for an appearance on The Kitchen, a feature in Food Network Magazine, a suite of GE Appliances and $5,000 in cash.

You can enter the contest through November 10th and if you are interested here is the website.  A press release about the contest is below:

Food Network's October 2017 Programming Highlights

Here are some of the highlights of the Food Network programming scheduled to air on the channel in October.  There are many Halloween shows and specials:

Photo - Multivu

• Three different Halloween Wars related shows - Halloween Wars (Sundays), Road to Halloween Wars (Sundays) and Halloween Wars: Hayride of Horror (Mondays).
• Chopped: Alton’s Challenge premiering Tuesday, October 10th at 10pm
• The finale of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition on Wednesday, October 11th at 9pm
• Halloween Baking Championship finale on Monday, October 30th at 9pm.
• New primetime episodes (many with Halloween specials) of Best Baker in America, Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Ginormous Food and Guy’s Grocery Games
• New daytime episodes (many with Halloween specials) of The Bobby and Damaris Show, The Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and Valerie’s Home Cooking
• New web series Smitten Kitchen with blogger Deb Perelman

The press release with episode descriptions and air dates is below:

'Guy's Big Project' Premieres November 5th - Winner Will Get Traveling Show

Photo - Multivu

Guy Fieri will be hosting a show called Guy's Big Project on Food Network that premieres Sunday, November 5th at 9pm ET.  Guy's Big Project is a six episode series that is searching for Food Network's next travel series and the person to host it.  The contestants (some competing in pairs) will be put through a series of tests with eliminations each week.  In the end, the final contestants will produce a pilot, with Food Network selecting the winner who will receive their own travel show.  Alex Guarnaschelli and cooking show producer Mark Dissin will be on every episode to help Guy Fieri judge the contestants.

This show sounds pretty similar to Food Network Star, but everyone's POV will be a different traveling show.  Some other differences are that the show is only six episodes long and the winner will actually get their own show.  With Food Network Star lasting 10 or so weeks with no guarantee of a show and Guy's Big Project only being 6 weeks with a guarantee of a show, it seems like it is better to be a contestant on Guy's Big Project.

Two of Food Network's most popular shows are Food Network Star and Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, so this looks like an attempt to blend them together.


The press release about the show from multivu is below:

Food Network Related News and Links

Photo - ABC

Here is some recent news involving Food Network shows and chefs/personalities from the Food Network:

• Tonight is premiere of Best Baker in America at 10pm and it is also Food Network Star winner Jason Smith's first appearance on Food Network since winning the show (he will be a judge).
• Ree Drummond is building a 3-story hotel in Pawhuska, Oklahoma that will have 8 rooms, which she recently wrote about on her blog. (Link)
• Damaris Phillips had a pilot with called Super Southern Eats on Food Network that aired in July.  After the pilot aired, the ratings were good enough to began filming new episodes shortly after.  It now looks like the show has been renamed Southern and Hungry and will actually air on Cooking Channel rather than Food Network.  Southern and Hungry with Damaris Phillips and Rutledge Wood begins October 9th on Cooking Channel. (Link)
• A Guy Fieri fan recently dined at his 600th restaurant that has appeared on the show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. (Link)
• Ayesha Curry from Food Network's Ayesha's Home Kitchen is the newest "CoverGirl." (Link)
• In other Ayesha Curry news, she is also going to co-host ABC's The Great American Baking Show, which is scheduled to start in December. (Link)

Great Food Truck Race Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Food Network

Tonight at 9pm ET on Food Network is the season finale of The Great Food Truck Race season 8 where the winning team will win $50,000.  The two remaining trucks competing for the prize are Mr. Po' Boys and Braised in the South , which you may have known ahead of time if you read the season 8 spoiler post.

On tonight's episode the final two trucks are in Savannah, Georgia and for their first challenge they have to cook in a new mobile selling vehicle: pedicabs.  Each team has a half hour to make as much food as possible to sell out of their own pedicabs, and the team with the most profits gets a $500 bonus. Next, the teams travel through the city, where they sell head-to-head in new locations.  At each location, they receive a new shellfish to include in a dish, and the team that sells the most fish dishes gets $500.   The team that sells the most in the end will win the $50,000 prize.

I will update this post with the winner after the episode airs.  (Continue reading to see the winner)

Alton Brown's 'Good Eats' Returning To Food Network As 'Return of the Eats'

Photo - Food Network

Alton Brown was at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend and made an announcement regarding the return of his hit show Good Eats. Alton has been teasing the return of Good Eats for quite some time and launched a YouTube channel in the past with Good Eats type videos, but this is the first somewhat official announcement of the show's return.

He stated that a show called Return of the Eats will be premiering next year on Food Network and also streaming online.  Return of the Eats will be a half-hour show that will have additional scenes available for streaming viewers.  Alton also joked about having to cut down on the Diners, Drive Ins and Dives episodes that air on Food Network saying they will now have to go from 8 hours to 7.5 hours of that show.

Alton has said in the past that Food Network owns the rights to Good Eats, so he wouldn't be making anything by bringing it back.  I am not sure if the new show being called Return of the Eats changes anything.


Video of Alton Brown announcing Return of the Eats is after the break:

Special Alton Brown Chopped Tournament Premieres in October

Photo - multivu

A special Chopped tournament called Chopped: Alton's Challenge will premiere on Food Network on Tuesday, October 10th at 10pm ET/PT.  Chopped: Alton's Challenge will be a five-episode tournament where 16 chefs compete for a $50,000 grand prize.  Four chefs will compete on each of the first four episodes with the winning chef advancing to the finale for a chance to win $50,000.

In each episode, Alton Brown is a judge and will also demonstrate a different scientific approach to cooking before the competition begins.  The scientific approaches include: fermentation, smoking, dehydration, and molecular gastronomy.


Press release with episode descriptions from multivu is below:

Food Network's September 2017 Programming Highlights

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

Photo - multivu

• The series premiere of The Bobby and Damaris Show on Sunday, September 3rd at 12:30pm
• The finale of Guy’s Grocery Games: Superstars on Sunday, September 17th at 8pm
• The finale of The Great Food Truck Race on Sunday, September 24th at 9pm
• A new season of Halloween Baking Championship on Monday, September 25th at 9pm
• New primetime episodes of Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, Chopped After Hours, Cooks vs. Cons, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy’s Family Road Trip, I Hart Food and Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition
• New daytime episodes of The Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman and Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and Valerie’s Home Cooking

The press release with episode descriptions and air dates is below:

The Great Food Truck Race Season 8 Preview and Spoilers

Photo - multivu

This Sunday at 9pm ET is the season 8 premiere of The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network.  This season will have food truck novices who are competing to win a $50,000 grand prize.  The six-episode season has a southern theme with stops in New Orleans, LA; Pensacola, FL; Tuscaloosa, AL; Nashville, TN, Athens, GA, and Savannah, GA.

The food trucks competing are: Braised in the South (Charleston, SC), The Breakfast Club (Philadelphia, PA), Mr. Po’ Boys (Dallas, TX); Papi Chulo’s Empanadas (Cherry Hill, NJ), The Southern Frenchie (Little Rock, AR), Stick ‘Em Up (Rogersville, TN) and Wicked Good Seafood (Falmouth, MA)

More information about season 8 of The Great Food Truck Race such as episode descriptions, team bios and pictures can be found at multivu if you are interested.

One interesting thing about this season is that Mr. Po' Boys actually competed on a Food Network pilot called Great Food Truck Rally.  The pilot of that show premiered in May 2017 and Mr. Po' Boys won the episode and the prize of money for their own food truck.  They said they were called by The Great Food Truck Race producers to see if they wanted to compete, but they had to find a third person to compete with them - Link.  The pilot of Great Food Truck Rally will actually replay in primetime on Food Network after the 5th episode of The Great Food Truck Race.


When filming The Great Food Truck Race, the food trucks advertise their locations on social media (which are later removed) and local newspapers do stories on the race while it is filming.  This makes it possible to determine the order of elimination down to the final two trucks. If you are interested in seeing which trucks are eliminated in each episode, and who the final two trucks are, continue reading. Obviously it is a spoiler, but it just reveals the final two trucks and not the winner.

Food Network Star Winner Jason Smith To Be A Judge On 'Best Baker in America"

Last night, Jason Smith was crowned the season 13 winner of Food Network Star, but nothing was announced regarding his future on Food Network.  Today a press release was put out that he will be a "featured judge" on a new series called Best Baker in America.  The show is scheduled to premiere in September, but there is no official date or time yet.

Jason was a winner on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship, so it isn't surprising that he would be put into a show about baking.  Plus it seems like there are plenty of baking shows popping up on Food Network.  Whether Best Baker in America (with Jason as host) was planned before Food Network Star was filmed is only known by Food Network insiders.  It appears that those who want to see Jason on his own cooking show will have to wait.

The press release that mentions Best Baker in America is below:

Food Network Star Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Food Network

Tonight at 9pm ET on Food Network is the season 13 finale of Food Network Star where the winner will be announced. The final three contestants are Cory Bahr, Rusty Hamlin, and Jason Smith. On the episode tonight, we will get to see each of their full pilots as well as the top moments of the season. A poll on this website reveals that people are overwhelmingly rooting for Jason to win with approximately 80% of the vote, followed by Cory at 17%, and Rusty at only 3%. Judging by the comments on that post, it seems that while people are rooting for Jason, people either love him or hate him.  Also, remember the winner is no longer determined by viewer voting, so it could be anybody that wins.

There is no guarantee that the season 13 winner of Food Network Star will get a show, so we will have to see if anything is announced for the winner on tonight's episode.

I will update this post once the winner is announced and will also update the post with any information about the winner's show (if there is one).

Continue reading to know the winner (Spoiler):

The Bobby and Damaris Show Premieres September 3rd on Food Network

Photo - Food Network

Last month I did a post about Bobby Flay and Damaris Phillips' new talk show that would be on Food Network.  Now their talk show has an official name and an air date.  The Bobby and Damaris Show will premiere on Sunday, September 3rd at 12:30pm ET.  The show was filmed at Bobby Flay's house and Bobby and Damaris will "cook together and chat up a storm."  Some guests that will appear on the episodes include Ina Garten, Alex Guarnaschelli and Katie Lee.

Below is a short press release about the show and episode descriptions for the first four episodes.

Food Network Star Season 13 Winner - Poll

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Season 13 of Food Network Star is down to the final three contestants and each of them have produced their pilot. Cory Bahr, Rusty Hamlin, and Jason Smith all produced traveling show pilots and they probably didn't have any say in what to do for their pilot.  This was more of a final challenge than the contestants actually filming a show that they envisioned for themselves.

The full pilots will not be shown until next week's episode, so it is hard to even determine who did the best or what their pilot is even about.

There is always a poll on this site to determine who people are rooting for to win. So vote below to let everyone know who you want to win and feel free to discuss in the comments.  Last year Tregaye had the least amount of votes in the poll, but ended up winning the season.

UPDATE - Jason Smith ended up winning.

Food Network Star Episode 10 Elimination

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star, the winner of Star Salvation was revealed and rejoined the competition.  Cory Bahr won Star Salvation and joined Jason, Rusty and Matthew for the first challenge.  Each of the contestants had to cook the dish of their lives and had help from contestants already eliminated from the show.   Former Food Network Star winner Eddie Jackson was there to help judge this challenge.  The three contestants who had the best dishes got to film a pilot for a show and the pilot was directed by Guy Fieri.

The judges determined that the final three would be Cory Bahr, Rusty Hamlin, and Jason Smith. They each shot traveling type pilots with the help of Guy Fieri.

Next week the winner of Food Network Star will be announced and we will see if there are any plans to actually produce a show with them involved.  I will have a poll up shortly to see who everybody is rooting for to win although there is no actual voting by the audience this year.

UPDATE - The poll is now up if you want to vote.

Food Network's August 2017 Programming Highlights

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

Great Food Truck Race - Source: Multivu

• The winner of Food Network Star season 13 will be announced on Sunday, August 13th.
• The series premiere of the heavily advertised I Hart Food on August 14th at 10pm ET.
• A new season of Chopped: Grill Masters on Tuesday's where the winner will receive $50,000.
• Guy Fieri traveling the country with his family on an RV in Guy's Family Road Trip which begins Friday, August 18th.
• A new season of The Great Food Truck Race starting August 20th (I will try to do a post on order of eliminations if the info is out there).
• A new season of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition starting on August 23rd.  Click here to see the celebrities on this season.
• A new season of Guy's Grocery Games: Superstars Edition starting August 20th.  Click here to see the superstars on this season.
• New primetime episodes of Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped Junior, Cooks vs. Cons, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Texas Cake House.
• New daytime episodes of The Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman and Trisha’s Southern Kitchen.

  The full press release with episode descriptions and air dates is below:

Guy's Grocery Games Superstars Cast - Premieres August 20th

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Guy's Grocery Games will have a five-episode Superstars Tournament that will premiere August 20th at 8pm ET on Food Network.  This is the second "Superstar Tournament" for Guy's Grocery Games, which is already airing its 14th season despite premiering in late 2013.  There are eight celebrity chefs competing and one will be eliminated each episode until they are down to the final four.  These four chefs will compete for $40,000 to give to a charity of their choice.  The chefs competing on Guy's Grocery Games: Superstars Tournament include:

• Rocco DiSpirito
• Elizabeth Falkner
• Tregaye Fraser
• Alex Guarnaschelli
• Antonia Lofaso
• Brian Malarkey
• Marcel Vigneron
• Justin Warner

Justin Warner and Alex Guarnaschelli also competed on the first Superstars Tournament which Alex won for her charity Alex's Lemonade Stand.

The episode descriptions of Guy's Grocery Games: Superstars Tournament from Food Network are below:

Food Network Star Episode 9 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star, the four remaining finalists first had to do a live report on location while visiting popular food trucks.  Sabin Lomac was on hand to help Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis judge the first challenge.  The judges felt Matthew did the best and he got an advantage on the second challenge.

On the second challenge, the finalists had to film their own special called "Up Your Game (Day)" where they had to demo a special game-day dish while facing challenges along the way. Matthew's advantage was being able to pick the dish that he had to cook and also assigning others their dishes. ESPN's Jamele Hill and Jayme Sire (who will be a floor reporter on Iron Chef Showdown) helped Bobby and Giada judge the challenge.  Jason and Matthew were determined winners of the challenge and were safe from elimination.  In the end, the judges decided that Amy would be eliminated and sent to compete on Star Salvation.


On Star Salvation, David Rose, Cory Bahr, and Amy Pottinger competed for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and as is normally the case with the last episode of Star Salvation, there was a cliffhanger at the end.  David was eliminated, so either Cory Bahr or Amy Pottingeer will rejoin Matthew, Rusty, and Jason next week and will have a chance to be the next Food Network Star. 

Iron Chef Showdown Coming To Food Network

Alton Brown posted a video (below) on his Facebook and Twitter pages announcing a new Iron Chef series called Iron Chef Showdown.  Iron Chef America didn't air for quite some time on Food Network, but in April 2017 Iron Chef Gauntlet premiered and Stephanie Izard ended up winning the competition to become an Iron Chef.  Even with a newly crowned Iron Chef, there wasn't any official announcement that Iron Chef the show would be returning until now.

Iron Chef Showdown will be a "fresh take on fan-favorite Iron Chef America," but it isn't too clear from the video or this article on foodnetwork.com what will be different.  Alton Brown will be the host and Mark Dacascos returns as the chairman.  Also former ESPN Sportscenter anchor Jaymee Sire will be a floor reporter.  The Iron Chefs that will be on the show include: Bobby Flay, Jose Garces, Michael Symon, Alex Guarnaschelli and Stephanie Izard.  Iron Chef Showdown will premiere in late 2017, but there is no official date yet.

Food Network Star Episode 8 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star, the remaining contestants had to take some inspiration from Josh Denny and his show Ginormous Food.  They were each assigned a food to make and had to make it 'ginormous.' Amy won this challenge and got some extra mentoring from Bobby and Giada as a 'prize.'

The finalists then had to stream a 15-minute meal from start-to-finish while viewers were supposedly cooking along.  Alex Guarnaschelli (Alex1310) was there to try to follow along with the presentations and cook the same dish.  She also helped Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis judge the contestants.  Bobby and Giada declared Jason, Matthew and Rusty safe and Cory and Amy were up for elimination.  In the end, they decided that Cory did worse and he was sent to compete on Star Salvation.

On Star Salvation, Addie Gundry, David Rose and Cory Bahr competed for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and the judges eliminated Addie from Star Salvation.  Addie Gundry will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

Worst Cooks In America: Celebrity Edition Cast Announced

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A new season of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition will premiere of Food Network August 23rd at 9pm ET/PT and the cast has just been announced.  It will be Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray mentoring and the celebrities appearing on this season include:

• Nora Dunn - Actress, comedian (Saturday Night Live)
• Carmen Electra - Model, actress. Known for being on Baywatch, in Playboy, and married to Dennis Rodman and Dave Navarro.
• Erik Estrada - Actor most known for role in CHiPs
• Vivica A. Fox - Actress in many films - most notable - Independence Day
• Perez Hilton - Celebrity gossip blogger
• Carson Kressley - TV personality/designer - best known for role on Queer Eye 
• Sean Lowe - TV personality who was on the Bachelorette and was also on The Bachelor.
• Melissa Peterman - Actress best known for being on Reba.

The celebrities will compete for $25,000 for a charity of their choice.  What do you think about the cast this year?  How many celebrities out of the eight do you know?

*More detailed bios about the contestants from the press release can be found here.

The press release from multivu is below:

Damaris Phillips Getting Bigger Role On Food Network

Photo - Instagram

Damaris Phillip's show Southern at Heart ended in early 2016 after five seasons on Food Network.  Ever since then, she has been appearing on other game shows as a judge/competitor such as Guy's Grocery Games, Bakers vs. Fakers, Kids BBQ Championship (co-host), and Beat Bobby Flay.

It appears that Food Network will be giving her a more prominent role moving forward.  This weekend a pilot called Super Southern Eats is airing with her as a co-host.  It airs Saturday night at 9:30pm ET, Saturday at 12:30pm ET, and Friday at 5pm ET with the show description stating:

"Damaris Phillips and Rutledge Wood kick off the most delicious road trip in central Georgia, where the Southern staples shine. They find an unbelievable breakfast at a gas station, where they devour legendary sausages, fried pork chops and lard-filled biscuits. Then, they hit up a BBQ joint in the college town of Athens, Ga. where smoked pork is the star before stopping at a legendary Atlanta institution to see how they've been making fried chicken for generations."

On Instagram, Damaris said the show is actually produced by Guy Fieri, so it will probably have similarities to Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. (Link)

Besides this show, Damaris Phillips and Bobby Flay will be coming out with a new talk show.  Bobby Flay said in an interview with Fox News, "Later this summer, I’m filming a new show and it’s a day time show for Food Network with Damaris Phillips and it's going to be a talk show talking about food. It’s not even named yet but I’m pretty excited about it!"

The show apparently has a working title of Bobby & Damaris (Link), but nothing is official with that show title.  Looking at Damaris' Instagram, it appears there was some filming done in June with Bobby Flay in the Hamptons, but I don't have confirmation if it is for this talk show.  Katie Lee posted the above picture around the same time and said, "Always great when you get to work with friends.!"

Damaris seems to be one of the few winners of Food Network Star (season 9) that actually gets decent air time on Food Network.

UPDATE 7/25/2017 - It looks like Food Network decided to move forward with Super Southern Eats after looking at the ratings.  Damaris Phillips and Rutledge Wood have photos and videos on social media that show they are already filming new episodes.

Food Network Related News and Links

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Here is some recent news involving Food Network shows and chefs/personalities from the Food Network:

• There is a disturbing Guy Fieri swimsuit for sale (pictured) that has been making the rounds on the internet. The company selling them has many similar ones, such as a Donald Trump one and a hairy chest swimsuit. (Link)
• Guy Fieri will have a new show called Guy's Family Road Trip in August, where he travels around with his family in an RV. (Link)
• Great Food Truck Race is returning for another season that starts August 20th. (Link)
• Giada De Laurentiis just launched a new line of pasta sauces, seasonings, and chef's tools with Williams Sonoma. (Link)
• Ree Drummond will begin filming the 17th season of Pioneer Woman very shortly.  This is one of the highest rated shows on Food Network and their highest rated daytime show. (Link)

Here are a couple financial related Food Network links:

• The stock for Scripps Network Interactive (Symbol: SNI), who owns networks such as Food Network, jumped almost 15% today due to reports that Discovery and Scripps are in merger talks. (Link)
• Bobby Flay announced that he would be going public with his burger chain restaurant Bobby's Burger Palace.  He will attempt to raise $15 million for expansion in an initial public offering and the stock symbol is expected to be FLAY. (Link)

For some reason, there is a lot of recent Food Network real estate news:

• Ayesha Curry and her husband Steph Curry are selling the house where Ayesha's Homemade was filmed. (Link)
• After more than a year on the market, Bobby Flay actually raised the price of his New York condo that is for sale.  It was a strategic decision by his real estate agent, and perhaps it worked as the listing made news. (Link)
• Katie Lee just listed her Hampton's home for sale for $5.5 million. (Link)
• Ina Garten also has a New York City condo on the market for $2 million that was listed in March 2017. (Link)

Food Network Star Episode 7 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star, the remaining contestants had to make a traditionally slow cooked meal in only 30 minutes.  Also that meal had to be portable and you needed to be able to eat it with one hand.  Jason won this challenge and got had the advantage of being able to pick his team for the second challenge, which was a challenge based on Food Network's show Beat Bobby Flay.   The teams were Jason, Rusty and Matthew vs. Amy, David, and Cory.

Anne Burrell was a special guest judge on this challenge and each team had to cook a dish making tomatoes the star of the dish.  Jason's team ended up winning and they were all safe from elimination.  Amy, David, and Cory then had to compete against Bobby Flay and beat him to stay in the competition.  They each prepared their signature dish, while Bobby had to make all three of their dishes in the same amount of time.  Cory was the only chef to beat Bobby Flay, so he was safe.  Amy's score was closer to Bobby's score, so it was David Rose that was eliminated and sent to Star Savation.

On Star Salvation, Trace Barnett, Addie Gundry, and David Rose competed for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and the judges eliminated Trace Barnett from Star Salvation.  Trace will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

Food Network Star Episode 6 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star, the remaining contestants finally got to do an individual challenge and had to make their best potato dish and then host a summer social for a crowd.  Amy won the first challenge and got to pick which summer social theme she would take and got to assign everybody else their theme.  Tiffani Thiessen was there to help Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis judge the summer social challenge.

The judges decided that Rusty and Jason did the best job on the challenge and they were considered safe.  That meant any of the five remaining contestants could be eliminated.  In the end, Addie Gundry was the one eliminated and sent to Star Salvation.


On Star Salvation Toya Boudy, Trace Barnett, and Addie Gundry competed for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and the judges eliminated Toya Boudy from Star Salvation.  Toya will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

*This post was not sponsored by Lipton