Anyway, the clip I posted above was from a 2005 episode of the A&E series Airline. Martie Duncan just happened to be featured in one ep. She was having problems leaving Baltimore, I think. Coincidentally, this rerun showed up this past week or so, which is how I snagged this clip.
6/17
Lots of manufactured drama this week, it seems. Team Alton was presented as being off in the weeds at the first turn, but were the team that nailed not only the food but the presentation. Retro Girl got zero screen time, apparently because she is smoking all the other contestants (except Justin, who is spooky good.) The elimed chef is the one I called at the start of the episode. Totally out of her element with that dessert. Martita seemed to lose it this week as well. What happened to the stories, chica? You are representing my town, bitch. Step it up! 
(Her father founded a small chain of Mexican restaurants in the area that were OK, but not great. Until recently, when they took a serious step up in goodness. Maybe Martita got hired as a consultant?)
So who’s in the best shape at the halfway point? To me, Team Alton and Team Tits seem to be fairly even. Team Bobby will only survive if there is a fix in. My order of finish:
- Justin
- Ippy
- Yvan
- Martita
- everybody else.
They had the right duo up for elimination this week, it looks like. South Africa/Southern Gal (Likki?) was out of her element on this one.
I’m kind of surprised and disappointed that Retro Gal and Spiky-Haired Butch Gal have been so… middle of the pack. silenus probably has the order right unless someone steps up their game.
Even though I don’t think Linkie should win in the end, she did kind of get screwed this week. She seemed to be totally unfamiliar with Mexican food. I’m not sure why the rest of her team didn’t seem to care how much she was floundering.
Grill girl is also not going to win.
The rest of her team didn’t care about her losing because it’s not their ass on the line. If they actually made use of the team dynamic, the producers could easily manipulate the game to where team’s actually care about the team itself as a unit, but they don’t.
I know it’s been brought up before but is there truly a more subtle team dynamic at play at all that I’m missing or is it basically just a free for all? With the shitty cooks of course wanting to make sure their team does well so they’re safe from elimination, but not vice versa.
I’m very upset that Linkie is gone. Now we’ll never find out what “Linkie” is a nickname for.
(My wife and I have been obsessing about this. I know, first-world problems. Still.)
And yeah, 4 posts up (for some reason, all the user names on the board are presenting as squiggles this morning) is probably correct. We pegged Lipstick Boy as the winner back in Week 2 or 3, and the rest of that rundown sounds right as well.
I think the whole Girl on Grill => Grill Next Door is a perfect example of why the contestants have so much trouble. Be authentic unless you need to make up a character (like Nadia G or Guy Fieri) to be interesting. Stay true to your POV - unless you change it to something better.
Oh and Judson, cooking healthy is the kiss of death on Food Network Star.
It’s got to be possible to make that interesting, right?! I think his problem was that he was flailing around and settled on that out of desperation for his “theme.”
I’m not the biggest fan of what’s-her-name who’s their designated “healthy food so we can claim it’s not all food porn” cook (looked it up: Ellie Krieger), but at least she’s trying.
I liked this week. The contestants are starting to coalesce into definable shapes from their nebulous blur of a few weeks ago. I’ve even learned a couple of names!
I like Lipstick Boy as a cook, I think he’s got some terrific cooking chops (heh heh) but unless he does a weird food show, I don’t think his personality makes me want to continuously watch him. On the other hand, I like Retro Girl’s personality and not her food. If only those two can immediately pump out a weird baby that will inherit the best parts of each parent, I’d watch that show for sure. They can’t be any worse than Melissa D’Arabian
Hawaiian Guy still looks like he’s stoned half the time. He did a good job being more open and assertive, but he’s got a long ways to go. One segment in one episode doesn’t turn him from looking like a slacker chef into the Gordon Ramsey of the bunch
I am really really getting annoyed with Old Girl’s ramblings. She’s not only wishy-washy and incoherent, she hurts her teammates.
Butch Girl was perfect with Guy there. She needs to lobby for Guy to be her mentor.
Her name is Mari-Leen “Linkie” Marais.
Thank you!
Sunday, June 24th’s elimination:
[spoiler]Retro Girl.
Fine by me, I was getting tired of her schtick.[/spoiler]
So moving along, why are Giada, Alton, and Bobby even on this show? Did they even contribute at all to this episode? Yes yes, “they add star power and familiar names to draw an audience.” but whatever. They’re not adding a damn thing. The teams could be split up into colors and the “team” dynamic they have going wouldn’t change what-so-ever.
I want Marti “I’m Afraid of Pennsylvania” and Grill Girl to go home yesterday but none of the remaining people strike me as stars.
I think Retro Girl has more skeletons than she has closet space.
So, on the one hand, I approve of Retro Girl’s refusal to exhume dead relatives for a cute story on the Food Network. On the other her “I love the past because it was such an easy an uncomplicated time” statement made me hate her. Almost as much as I hate “I like to drive to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods” Grill girl. By the end of the episode, I was ok with either of them leaving.
The right person got elimed.
Now by my count, we are in for a couple of double-elimination weeks. 4 weeks left and 8 contestants. Figure 3 go into the last episode, and we get to vote for who wins.
I expected that as Alton was talking to Retro Girl, she was going to break down and say that in the 50’s, uncles didn’t touch you or something like that.
As a followup to my post last week on Girl on Grill => Grill Next Door, I feel like a genius that Tom and Susie said she wasn’t authentic after they had her change her concept. What I really love was that Grill-Girl called them out on that shit and all of the sudden they love her and how honest she is.
Yup. I’m kind of having issues with their “must have drama and trauma!” requirements; why can’t we ‘get to know’ these contestants without hearing about what terrible things each endured and might not tell semi-close friends but are expected to divulge to strangers on TV?
That being said, maybe some of them are so awkward on TV and unable to easily connect in other ways, they need this kind of “love me!” sort of thing.
I feel the same way about Retro Gal - I wish she’d have been able to “sell” why retro is charming, but too little, too late.
Grill Gal still scares me. It’s pretty appropriate she’s on Bobby’s team; he was hit with a lot of “the audience thinks you’re a jerk” stuff and did that Throwdown show to humanize him. (Nothing like getting your ass kicked by a grandma at making mac-n-cheese to make you more appealing, I guess.)