Why oh why won’t they toss Debbie?!!! She lied! “I’m not a dishonest person!” “This is so hurtful!” Gag.
But Jamika does get an attitude. I don’t see what they see in Jeffrey.
I want Melissa to win. She seems to be the least “fakey” in personality.
What the hell is going on here? Not only did Debbie not use the capers, but then she lied about it. I guess she was at least smart enough to realize how easily she’d get caught before she went further with that lie, but still, this is far from the first time she’s acted sneaky. And then to top it all off she tried to cast herself as a martyr.
It kind of ticked me off that she wasn’t messed with on the TV demo challenge nearly as much as the other contestants. She was just missing a couple of pieces of equipment and they switched fish for chicken, while it seemed like the host was actively undercutting everything the other contestants did - pouring in extra ingredients, calling them by the wrong name, etc. Maybe I just don’t like Debbie much, but she seemed like she had an advantage in that challenge.
I agree! Bob even said “we didn’t make it hard enough for her.”
Jamika really doesn’t take stress well, and even if she had “her own show”, you bet she’ll still be under the thumb of the network and that not everything in her efforts will go well. Snapping at your potential future boss doesn’t look good - yes, they know they mixed things up for you, but try to take it on with good humor and like it’s a challenge for you to prove yourself at, not like they’re picking on you. If her future “Food Network star” appearance at a book signing or cooking demo has a little mishap, would she be left stammering and grouchy?
Debbie apparently never learned to take responsibility for problems/errors and tries to lie her way out of them. They’ve got everything on camera, and although she apparently went unnoticed by the judges with the first episode’s shopping list omissions and ‘blaming the team’ bad dessert, a prior incident was noted. To top it off she backpedals twice in this episode, first answering with a reflexive “I didn’t have any capers!” lie, then making her way eventually to “I guess I forgot”, and then getting defensive again later, provoking her “how can you do this to me” whining.
Jeffrey is smart and cool under pressure, and apparently he’s got some kind of in-person charisma that doesn’t translate well across the camera - judging by previous comments about how wow he is, including the introductory segment of the first episode. But I guess that’s wearing thin even for the judges.
Melissa continues to kick butt. I said “wow that’s a lot of habaneros” about two sentences before Michael Symon did, and then I thought back to her “taste all the peppers for heat before using” tactic in one of the earlier competitions. Sure enough, she figured out how to pull that off without blasting anyone’s tastebuds.
I think Flay and Symon were very impressed with Melissa’s dish. They know what those peppers can do, and she harnessed them perfectly.
Debbie needs to be fed to the wolves.
Actually she lied twice immediately. First she said they were in the dressing, then she said she never got any. I wouldn’t go anywhere near a compulsive/reflexive liar like that if I were a corporation.
Debbie seems competent, but I have few hopes for a show. She really is a near clone of Sara Moulton who couldn’t keep a show, but actually has some industry cred.
Jeffery seems like a nice enough guy, with good home cooking talents, but does anybody really care about amateur fusion cooking, I mean people who don’t already have the same knowledge he does?
Sadly the Prize of a show of their own really looks like a red herring, and the whole contest is only drama for it’s own sake.(not that I’m complaining, I watch the show cause I find it interesting)
Oh you’re right, I forgot what order she threw out excuses/lies in. It was indeed (IIRC) ‘they’re in there’ then ‘what capers, I got anchovies and olives’ then ‘oops’. And then later on with the judges she said (something I can’t remember) about the capers and was called on her previous tale-telling, which led to pouting.
I guess I have to wonder why most of these winners haven’t done well on the network; the network obviously gets a lot of entries for the competitions. (Off to Wikipedia to look up the shows…)
Season 1: Steve and Dan, The Hearty Boys - charismatic couple, show about party food, lasted a season. Not enough call for party planning, maybe? Dislike of the jokey duo?
Season 2: Guy Fieri - a success story, spawned four (!) shows of his own and guest appearances on others.
Season 3: ‘Jag’ gets booted due to lying, Amy Finley wins - show lasted one season and Amy claims she found it too stressful and turned down a second season.
Season 4: The producers cut out viewer voting. Aaron’s show is in its second season.
Hmm. OK, looking that over, I guess it hasn’t been as awful as I thought; somehow I assumed there had been more seasons. Steve and Dan, plus Amy, had “failed” shows in terms of cancellation/non-renewal/star leaving. Guy has apparently been a big success for the network, and Aaron’s show made it to a second season.
Debbie is a dead woman walking. They’ve rode out this “Debbie is a liar” line since the first show and she hasn’t recovered. Despite her discomfort with truth, she does appear to have really good food. But part of being TNFNS is being likable… she’s failing there. I think she’s gone next.
I did think the challenge on the morning show was stupid. I’m all for realistic demonstrations of people’s ability to stay cool under pressure, but WTF? It seemed like a dumb party trick, and I found the judges sitting back snickering as the contestants flubbed their way through a little… skeevy.
Jamika is one of those people that gets down when things don’t work 100% her way and she can’t get over it. Whenever she had a tough challenge the loss “lingered.” Case in point with the demo and her final dish.
I like Jeffrey, but I don’t think I’d ever try anything he cooks. He might be good on an upscale Fieri-type show where he’d visit fusion restaurants. Melissa has been solid, she’s likable, but I’m not sure if I’d watch her. But one of these two will win the show, I expect.
Too bad that Debbie is liar and annoying; I might enjoy her food. But every time she has to say something it’s so condescending and self-serving. Being called out for lying is “hurtful?” Then stop lying and fess up, take responsibility and move on. She also went on about how she’s the only one “cooking fried chicken and kimchi.” Dangerously close to pandering; Jeffrey, Jamika, and at times, Melissa incorporate different cultural and regional cuisines. She ain’t the only one!
I swear, she rehearsed those lines in a mirror and thought they sounded great. How wrong she was. :rolleyes:
Three seasons, actually. With that in mind, the only “failure” is Amy, and they did (supposedly) offer her a second season. Plus, second place finisher Adam Gertler got his own show, too.
I assume you mean Melissa, there…and I really have to take issue with the Sara Moulton comment. “Actually has some industry cred?” Uh, yeah…the executive chef of *Gourmet *magazine for the last 23 years definitely has some industry cred. “Couldn’t keep a show?” She hosted Cooking Live for over six years, then did Sara’s Secrets for another three.
Man, I sound like a Food Network apologist, don’t I? Well, if Debbie wins, my interest in defending FN will stop real quick…
Yeah I meant Mellisa. And I have no idea what you are taking issue with. Moulton had much more experience and cred, and the network dumped her because her show was too much about cooking technique and not enough excitement. Why would they want a poor-man’s version?
I agree, she keeps trotting out that line or something similar to it, but I can’t remember anything she cooked that had a remarkably Korean, or even Asian, aspect to it that I couldn’t come up with. I think she (or a friend) came up with this angle and is using it for all it’s worth to try and distinquish herself.
Odd thoughts on the “quickfire” 
- were the producers working stresses specific to each contestant? If not, each contestant should have had the same set of disasters with which to cope.
(Scruff takes the extra point for grammar) - if Michael were still on the show, he might have melted down from having the cameras so close
- was that in fact a real show, or was it a complete setup?
On the main challenge:
- Debbie is not my favorite person. But she has survived now for two weeks because someone messed up worse.
- Jamika gets quite surly (sharp,pissy) when things go awry. And things have gone awry now for a couple of weeks.
- Melissa is coming out of her shell. I liked her “Bob Tuschmann School of Stress Reduction” – talk slower as she gets more stressed, and her body and mind will follow.
- It was interesting to hear the AD or floor manager yell “Everyone stop, back to your stations” or whatever. Having been on a TV set (well, having run one!) it was a bit of real television. Also, from the way our heroes did what they were told (not usual in talent), they must be used to being bossed around.
Final random thought: In the opening credit sequence, when each of the major on-air talents do the “Do you have what it takes…”, you can really get a sense of the character of each talent from just that one sentence.