So it’s been twenty-four hours since the newest episode of the Next Food Network Star, but we didn’t want to offer up our recap of this week’s episode until we could give it to you with a few “DVD Extras” courtesy of recently-eliminated contestant Teddy Folkman. Hope you’re still hungry!
This week’s episode opened with a real surprise: Rachael Ray actually paid a visit to the Food Network studios to lead the contestants through a challenge. The remaining six had to come up with creative ways to get kids to eat tofu, brussels sprouts and squid. To judge them? Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray and three precocious youngsters.
Seriously – these kids weren’t exactly Children of the Corn or anything, but they were far more media-savvy than your average ten year-old. No complaining about squid…they talked about how Debbie’s presentation was better than Katie’s but both were good. No pushing tofu around the plate…they liked how Jeffrey and Jamika engaged the audience with their narratives. And no hiding brussels sprouts…well, actually, Michael and Melissa took care of that by frying it into a “puppet” and smashing it into potatoes, respectively.
At the end of the first challenge, Rachael Ray had some yumm-o feedback for everyone…except for Jamika. She didn’t seem to have much to say other than to chastise her for poor time management in her direct-to-camera. Ouch.
No ‘winner,’ per se, but all of the contestants were issued their second challenge: Come on Rachael Ray’s show and do a live (before a studio audience) demonstration in which pairs of competitors cook an adult version of a kids’ meal.
What they made, how they did, and a note or two on what we didn’t see (from Teddy) after the jump. (more…)