Not much of a surprise. We got our surprise last week, I guess.
Yay for Amy! I couldn’t see Gummy Girl winning. New Jersey comes to Texas - wasn’t quite the right feel for me, even if I am from Texas. (Maybe because I am from Texas!) 'Cept those fries with cheese that she made on Rachael’s show looked nummy.
I can get into a lot of what The Gourmet Next Door cooks.
Jag and Paul sure looked chummy. Heh. It was funny, I couldn’t even remember some of the earlier contestants.
I agree with the yea for Amy, but God what a boring finale show. It was like everybody attending their own funeral and hearing the eulogies. And Jag? He shouldn’t have been brought back at all, in my opinion. (I realize that opinion won’t be popular, but it’s mine. :))
I agree that Jag shouldn’t have been brought back either.
Let’s not be popular together! 
I only caught this from time to time, including the one where Paul went home - but I missed “JAG’s shocking moment.”
What was it?
I wanted him back, but so he could be roundly booed by the audience.
<Kevin Kline> “I’m dis-ap-point-ed!” </kk>
Now, who’s actually going to watch Amy’s show?
He lied about serving in Afghanistan, and he lied about graduating from culinary school. Then, when confronted by the evidence, he lied again. He finally came clean and they replaced him with Amy.
His backstory was heavily fictionalized. For example, he had actually been in the military, but his claims of deployment to Afghanistan were straight-up bullshit. After the first part of the series was taped and had aired, in the lead-up to the finale, his exposure on television led amateur investigators to tip Food Network to Jag’s lies. At a press conference where he was introduced as one of the two finalists (along with Rory; Amy was the last one axed to determine the final pair), he was confronted with the truth and given an opportunity to confess, but he stuck to his false history. As a result, FN forced him to withdraw and brought back Amy.
After he was chosen to be one of the final 2, it was discovered that he lied about some things in his past, including graduating from culinary school and serving in Afghanistan. There was a screen explaining this, and it also said that he was given a chance to clear this up during an interview, but didn’t or something. Then they showed a scene where he was brought back to talk to the judges and he admitted that he never graduated, and that he did serve in the military but not in Afghanistan. Then he said he wanted to withdraw himself from the competition and they agreed. Amy was called back because she was the third place finalist.
I was expecting him to at least apologize at the final show but he didn’t. No one pressed him on camera about why he lied, but no one seemed that mad at him either. Kind of got a big WTF from me.
Thanks.
I’m surprised that Amy didn’t make it to the final two anyway. From the episodes I caught, she seemed like an excellent candidate.
– shaking fist at Liberal –
Curses on your shorter message and faster fingers!
Is no one going to answer the poor girl’s question? 
I thought it was a little strange that Jag’s transgress was more or less ignored. He was given an opportunity to make a statement, and it would have been nice if he had apologized for making shit up. Instead he gave some b.s. about how the finalists got him, and it’s all good…
He fell from my favorite to not much cop at all in my eyes in a few weeks.
Gummy Rory actually edged ahead in my mind a little. I get where she’s coming from, and as a native West Texan I thought it would be cool to have some semi-authentic cuisine from my neck of the woods (granted, she is from Jersey originally). I don’t quite get the “gourmet next door” angle that Amy is working.
I would have watched a show with Jag or Rory, but I don’t think I’ll be watching Amy’s. Happy for her that she won, though.
Last… what the fuck happened to Lagasse? It looked like someone shoved a valve stem in his mouth and pumped him up! (I don’t watch his show, but I had no idea he had gotten so fat…)
Why would they want dirty laundry dragged out when they’re having the coronation of a new princess?
Which raises the question of why they dragged him in at all.
Yeah, but it was a pink elephant in the room kind of moment. If it hadn’t happened last week, it wouldn’t be an issue so much… I would have voted for a “Jag’s busy, but sent this video message” option.
Speaking of which, Jag and Paul seemed… really chummy.
Even after they fired JAG, shouldn’t they have had some kind of a head-to-head cookoff between Rory and Amy? Did I miss that? When were viewers given the chance to vote?
-k-
It’s a strange story (I don’t know how much they said about Rory’s background on the show, I’ve never seen it). Here’s what amarillo.com said about it (it’s subscription)
(Mine)
She came in second on that one, too. I haven’t heard how long ago that show aired or how long she’s been in Vega.
That was my original issue with Gummy Rory. She’s already been on a reality TV show!
Let me update Warhol’s statement for the 21st century…
“In the future, everyone will be a reality show contestant for 15 minutes.”
Am I the only one who thought Amy’s family all living together in a compound was a bit freaky-deaky? The way it was presented, it seemed just a bit too close.
And, there was no mention of Amy’s husband (or the father of her kids or whatever). Normally, when it is a single mother raising kids, that angle is played up at least a little, but there was none of that here. Amy’s husband (or whatever) was simply neither mentioned or seen.
Maybe it’s just not a big deal anymore.