Hannah Hart's Food Network Show 'I Hart Food' Premieres In August

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It was announced last year that Youtube star Hannah Hart would get a show on Food Network, and there is finally an air date for her show called I Hart Food.  I Hart Food will air on Monday, August 14th at 10pm ET and it will be a six-episode series with half-hour episodes.

The show is a traveling show where Hannah will go to different cities to "discover local dishes" and have "awesome conversations".  The cities she is visiting include: Santa Fe, New Mexico; Asheville, North Carolina; Portland, Maine; Eugene, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota and Missoula, Montana.

Here is a preview of the show from Entertainment Tonight and here is another short clip from the Food Network Facebook Page.  It doesn't seem like there will be a budget, which was the plan a year ago when the show was announced, but we will have to tune in to find out.  It looks very similar to Diners, Drive Ins and Dives but just replace Guy Fieri with Hannah Hart.  I Hart Food will actually air in between Diners, Drive In and Dives episodes on Monday nights.

You may recall Hannah Hart judging last year on Food Network Star and she will also be a judge on this week's upcoming Food Network Star episode.

A press release with more information about the show is below:

Food Network Star Episode 4 Elimination - Plus Star Salvation

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On tonight's Food Network Star, the remaining contestants were divided into teams and competed in a "glamping" related challenge.  Each team had to use whatever camping food was in the back of their car to create a "glamping" meal.  The teams were pre-determined and were: Team 1 - Cory, Matthew, and Amy; Team 2 - Jason, Cao, and David; Team 3 - Rusty, Trace, and Addie.  Everybody also had to do a presentation in front of the judges that gave a useful tip.  Melissa D'Arabian and Andrew Zimmern were guest judges and helped Giada De Laurentiis decide the winners and losers of the challenge.  Bobby Flay was absent from this episode for some reason.

The judges decided that Jason, David and Cao were the winning team and were all safe.  Matthew, Cory and Amy were also all considered safe.  The judges decided that Trace Barnett did the worst in this challenge and he would be sent to compete on Star Salvation.

Star Salvation returned this week with Suzanne Lossia, Toya Boudy, Nancy Manlove, Blake Baldwin and Trace Barnett competing for a chance to rejoin the competition. This episode of Star Salvation can be watched here, and the judges eliminated two contestants from Star Salvation - Nancy and Suzanne.  Nancy and Suzanne will not be rejoining the competition and will not be the next Food Network Star.

Food Network Star Episode 3 Elimination

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On tonight's Food Network Star, the remaining ten finalists were split into two teams of five and had to put together a five-course meal.  Each course had a different theme: Appetizer - Jungle; Pasta - Forest; Dessert - Mountains; Seafood - Beach; Meat - Desert.  Addie and Cory were the team captains and Addie picked Jason, Cao, Amy, and Matthew while Cory picked Rusty, Trace, David, and Suzanne.   Each team had 30 seconds to present their dishes on camera and had to convince people to try their dish over the other team's dish.  Tyler Florence was a guest judge to help Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis decide the winners and losers of the challenge.

The judges decided that Amy, Jason and David were the top three in this challenge.  The bottom three were Cao Tran, Suzanne Lossia, and Trace Barnett, and Bobby and Giada decided to send Suzanne home.

Suzanne Lossia will go on to compete on Star Salvation (which begins next week) with hopes of rejoining the competition.

Food Network Star Episode 2 Elimination

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On tonight's episode of Food Network Star, the 12 remaining finalists were split into three teams of four for a Beauty and the Beast related challenge.  Each team was assigned a room from the Beauty and the Beast castle and had to cook a dish and decorate a serving station drawing inspiration from their room theme.  The teams were: Amy, Addie, Cory and Trace (theme - afternoon tea in the library); Matthew, Nancy, Toya, and Caodan (theme - brunch in the dining room); Jason, Rusty, David, Suzanne (hor d'oeuvres in the ballroom).  Sandra Lee was a special guest judge along with Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis and she helped decide the winning team.  Also, for this episode, two finalists are eliminated.

The judges decided that the library team was the winning team and Amy, Addie, Cory and Trace were all safe.  The ballroom team was also determined safe, so that meant Matthew, Nancy, Toya, and Caodan from the dining room team were all up for elimination.  In the end, the judges decided that Nancy Manlove and Toya Boudy performed the worst and both were sent home.

Nancy and Toya will go on to compete in Star Salvation with hopes of rejoining the competition.

Bakers vs. Fakers Most Likely Cancelled

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Season 2 of Bakers vs. Fakers premiered two weeks ago on Wednesday, May 24th and it appears that Food Network has removed the show from their schedule.  A new episode will not air tonight and there are no episodes on the upcoming schedule, meaning the show is most likely cancelled.

According to the press release for season 2 of Bakers vs Fakers, this season was supposed to be 13 episodes long, so they cancelled this pretty early.  Usually when a show is cancelled, Food Network will air the remaining episodes in a random timeslot (like 4am), but it appears they have not done this yet.

The reason for the cancellation is probably due to low ratings.  According to Showbuzzdaily, the 5/24 episode had 557,000 viewers (0.15 key demo) and the 5/31 episode had 651,000 viewers (0.19 key demo).

Season 1 of Bakers vs. Fakers premiered in January 2017 and was six episodes long.  Buddy Valastro was the host of season 1, while Lorraine Pascale was the host of season 2.

Food Network Star Episode 1 Elimination

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Tonight on the season 13 premiere of Food Network Star, we were introduced to the 12 contestants competing and the winner of Comeback Kitchen was revealed.  The two remaining contestants from Comeback Kitchen were Matthew Grunwald and Jamika Pessoa, and Matthew was revealed as the winner who would get to compete on Food Network Star.  Matthew competed on season 11 of Food Network Star and was on Comeback Kitchen the past two years, so this is three years in a row for him being on the show.  If you think you recognize some of the contestants this year, here is a post about what other shows they have appeared on.

For the first challenge of the season, the finalists had thirty seconds to introduce themselves to judges Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis.  After that, they had thirty minutes to make a dish that would showcase their POV.  The contestants then had a minute to present their dishes to Giada, Bobby and special guest judges Monti Carlo and Robert Irvine.

Food Network Star Season 13 Contestants - Where Have You Seen Them?

This Sunday at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network is the start of season 13 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.  Also listed is their POV from the Food Network Star Talk blog.

• Cory Bahr (Monroe, LA) - Chopped season 12 (won). POV - seasonal, regional, as local as you can get. Just keeping it simple, stupid.
• Blake Baldwin (Flemington, NJ) - No previous reality television appearances.  POV - healthy cooking can be delicious without being difficult.  This is due to his weight loss after college.
• Trace Barnett (Brilliant, AL) - No previous reality television appearances. POV - budget-friendly, schedule-conscious and very consistent with Southern fare, but in a lighter, fresher way.
• Toya Boudy (New Orleans, LA) - Guy's Grocery Games: Impossible, also has a YouTube cooking channel.  POV - Cajun and Creole cuisine made simple.
• Addie Gundry (Lake Forrest, IL) - Cutthroat Kitchen (won Halloween special), Cutthroat Kitchen Time Warp tournament. POV - easy, elegant entertaining - all things food and beverage that are easy to make yet elegant to serve for any entertaining occasion.
• Rusty Hamlin (Atlanta, GA) - Rusty's RockFeast: Backstage With Zac Brown Band on FYI.  POV - Southern-inspired chef with Louisiana Cajun Creole roots who goes around the country and does what I call cooking off the cuff — whatever’s local and whatever’s coming out of the ground, the sea, the refrigerator, the cabinets is what we’re going to make an amazing meal with.
• Suzanne Lossia (Detroit, MI) - Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Also has authored a book.  POV - Turning Middle Eastern into American flare, turning it into an American way of looking at it.
• Nancy Manlove (Texas City, TX) - Cutthroat Kitchen (won), Cutthroat Kitchen Time Warp Tournament. POV - Nanna in the kitchen.
• Amy Pottinger (Honolulu, HI) - No previous reality television appearances, but tried out for Food Network Star season 11 according to this video. POV - Exploring new culinary worlds and growth is within anybody’s grasp.
• David Rose (Atlanta, GA) - No previous reality television appearances. Has done work with Big Green Egg and also has done local news food segments.  POV - French-Jamaican-Southern fusion.
• Jason Smith (Grayson, KY) - Holiday Baking Championship (won). POV - country bling - take old, dying country recipes, and I bring them back to life and make them modern, elevated and fancied up a little bit.
• Caodan Tran (Dallas, TX) - Cooks vs. Cons. Has also tried out Amazing Race and Food Network Star in the past (link).  POV - Vietnamese-inspired with kind of flavors and touches from California and Texas

You will obviously recognize the Food Network Star: Comeback Kitchen winner as they have previously competed on Food Network Star.  If I have missed any appearances on any shows, let me know in the comments and I can update this post.

If you are interested in learning more about the contestants, their bios from the press release are available here.

As always, visit the site after each episode airs to discuss the episode and who went home.