Chris and Penny need to die in a horrific kitchen accident.
Whitney and Jyll are my faves so far.
It’s a speech impediment of some sort, not an accent. She sounds like she has ill-fitting dental work.
I KNEW there was something missing from my DVR on Sunday but couldn’t put my finger on what. :mad: grumble grumble
I think Alicia going was the best for everyone involved. I find it telling that the moment she was eliminated was the one time she didn’t seem to be on the verge of bursting into tears. She almost seemed relieved. A few more days under all that pressure and something bad would have been bound to happen.
I still don’t get what they want us to think about Penny. Clearly she is an awful person even if she is a good cook. Either they are setting up some sort of redemption storyline which won’t cut it or they are just going to ride the Villainess train to the end. Either way no one will watch a show starring Penny.
My wife and second your opinion. Penny is NOT sexy, NOT attractive (unless you like to campy drag queen look), and IOHO, a bitch on wheels.
Orchid and Jyll are our faves, with Justin (the fishmonger) as the dark horse.
I think it was work she had done on her jaws and mouth…hold yours in the same position as she does (I mean did) and try to talk. You will sound like her.
The nice part is we won’t see her until the finals…
This was a pretty decent episode, actually. The candy bars into dinner thing was kinda gross though. The less said about that, the better.
Chris was getting such an obvious loser edit that I figured that the men had to win, because he was screwing up from the first minute of the show. And what’s with his propensity to wear long sleeved shirts? It looks like he’s got balloons under his shirt for muscles. If your guns are that big, dude, show 'em off. Seriously, everything he did was terrible, and he totally comes across as trying way too hard. The guys are irked with him too. He’s a dead man walking.
Jyll (seriously?) seemed to be overconfident, and I actually lost some respect for some of the women as they kind of went mean girl on annoying Penny. She deserved it, I know, but they got way too smug. Aside from Whitney’s cream puffs, and I think Jyll’s dish, their stuff seemed universally bad. It sucked for Susie that she had to settle for a funky pancake rather than the churros she planned.
Alicia’s weird speech impediment was obvious to me this episode, mainly because I had the volume up. It totally sounded like her teeth were too big for her mouth. Anyway, she was way too weepy. I don’t think crying over the competition bodes well for the NFNS. You can cry when you talk about your dear departed granny, but not because Alton Brown thinks your camera blurb sucks.
Vic is not seriously billing himself as “Vic Vegas,” is he? Because it sounds like a cheesy lounge act name. He’s Italian, so I’ll bet he has a perfectly lovely last name. Use that instead, dude.
Penny… less of a bitch this week, but still a drama queen. She definitely lacks people skills. What was up with her “I cook like you, but nothing like you” comment? It’s like she insulted that guy Duff for no good reason.
I already did, only she played guitar for KISS and went by the name Paul Stanley.
Justin B. has the cooking chops but ZERO charisma! I’d watch Whitney or Orchid’s shows, even if I hate what they cook.
Yeah, I’m getting a little tired of seeing the same editing tricks in this show season after season. I’m also a little tired of the bullshit “discussion” among the judges. I don’t believe that Bobby Flay really has enormous sympathy for Chris’ “puppy dog” willingness to please, or that any of them greatly admire Penny’s “toughness” to the extent they keep mentioning.
I also wonder about the sometimes conflicting and rarely actionable feedback they provide during the panel eliminations. This week, we got Bob “you need to make it look fun and bring out your personality” Tuschman nodding in serious agreement with Flay that “This is the Food Network, not the Fun Network.” And has Susie Fogelson ever said anything useful in these things? “Orchid, your cooking as always was great, but it’s not growing.”
This seemed to me to be another editing trick. I think Jyll just didn’t want to work with Penny, and the rest of girls agreed. It wasn’t the best strategy (I’d have kept Penny on my team and on a tight rein), but I don’t think it was necessarily catty.
I like Susie, but I don’t think it’s too much to expect her to account for necessary ingredients when planning her dishes. She forced herself into a situation where she had to improvise, and couldn’t carry it off. I bet her churros would’ve been terrific, though.
It’s Vic Moea. I could take a few stabs at pronouncing it, but I’d probably be wrong (“moy-ya”?, “mow-ah”?, “μ”?), and this may be why he wants the stage name.
Rundown of remaining finalists after episode 3:
Chris - Every week he shows progress. In the negative direction. At least he’s growing his resume, adding “buffoon” to the already established “boor” “stooge” and “frat boy” accomplishments.
Jeff - Finally made a good sandwich in the first challenge, and then fell flat again. I’d really like to see a sandwich themed show on FN, but I don’t know if Jeff is convincing enough for the judges.
Justin B. - Nice kitchen rescue after the Christastrophe, but he just can’t sell himself or his food. At least he’s genuinely improving, but I think he’s going completely against his undemonstrative nature. Nice guy, probably a great cook, but nobody should give him a show.
Justin D. - Back to bland. I just can’t see him pulling off a final slot. Maybe this is more editing chicanery, but there was no “star” quality to his ep 3 performance.
Jyll - They really seemed to punch up the ‘lack of leadership’ from Jyll, as if this is a quality viewers really look for in a cooking show host. I don’t believe she was actually as blithe and unaware as they tried to show with the editing (obvious from other scenes in the girls’ kitchen that she was more active in the team coordination). I’ve noticed that FN producers do this sort of thing to keep the frontrunners less obvious and maintain drama. For that reason (and the fact that Jyll is one of the few finalists who could actually be watchable for a half hour at a time), I’m picking Jyll as one of the final two.
Mary Beth - She’s showing some good creativity, but uneven performance. The mistake with her cookies isn’t one she should’ve made, but the real error was the execution of the milk shake. Makes me wonder if there was a refrigeration problem not shown in the final edit.
Orchid - It’s still hard for me to tell what kind of cooking chops Orchid actually has beyond her core business. Also, is FN going to follow the Aarti win with an Orchid win?
Penny - Was there an investigative setback that prevented the FBI/ATF takedown? Too many civilians in harm’s way? Or maybe they’re just waiting for Penny and Chris to line up nicely for the sniper? (I should say that, based on the food I’ve seen her prepare, I think I’d enjoy eating at Penny’s restaurant. No need for the chef to come out and greet me, though, thanks.)
Susie - Yet another contestant I want to like, but isn’t stepping up. I’d still watch a Susie Jimenez show in preference to Whitney or Orchid.
Vic - Just not feelin’ the love for Vic Vegas. Whenever he has the chance to shine individually, he fails to launch. I wish I could tell what kind of cooking he wants to show me, but I couldn’t tell you based on what they’ve shown in the first three episodes.
Whitney - Not wowing me with her presentation skills. Maybe she could be coached into tv competence, and she’s light years beyond Justin B. in camera presence, but she’s not holding my interest.
xenophon41-If Orchid is the best chef, why WOULDN’T she win? :rolleyes: Fitting post/username combo.
Because the most important criteria for selection is: what Food Network wants to put on tv this year. It has nothing to do with the quality of food, and isn’t completely determined by the individual appeal of each contestant, although that’s more important. FN may have a distinct idea of the type(s) of show they’re looking for, and I just wonder if they have a niche that Orchid can fill which isn’t being filled by Aarti, or that hasn’t already failed in a previous attempt.
You and I might watch an Orchid show and differentiate it from other similar shows, but since we’re talking about network executives here, they might think “bubbly Asian female chef” is a fungible commodity, and they already got one.
I don’t get the post/username thing, by the way. Could you explain?
I don’t get this either. The snark, I mean.
Orchid is a retread of one of the contestants last year (Debbie?) and they already have an Asian fusion show with Aarti (granted, it’s Indian vs. East Asian). It would be far more interesting, I would think, to have a show on sandwiches or Middle Eastern food - more diversity and presumably, greater interest among viewers.
Not saying she can’t win, but I think the odds are stacked against her.
I wonder if they’d consider doing an ensemble cooking show? It seems kind of weird that shows about food are so personality driven.
I’d love to see an America’s Test Kitchen type of show instead of yet another lame “challenge” or competition show. Something that would let the real working chefs and the home cooks share what they’ve got without having to carry the infotainment on their own.
That kind of show could have room for a Justin B. and an Orchid and a Whitney - and even an occasional Penny - without getting stale or requiring a capital - P Personality.
Yeah, I’m thinking like a morning show, where you have two anchors, and maybe the others revolving around. I think Justin Fishmonger would be fun to watch in a segment, but I’d be afraid that his eyes would burn through my soul in a 30 minute show.
In a lot of ways the model they’re using is archaic. I mean, Julia Child, all the old school cooking shows revolve around one or two personalities. In today’s culture an ensemble would work much better.
Wow, could Justin B have been any more pathetic in his attempt to imitate Guy Fieri?
No. No, he couldn’t. Bleah.
I HATE Penny!
I fell asleep before the end. Who got cut?
Current thread here.