I’m always drawn to this show. I love how they mold the talent to make a TV chef.
They picked the right one to go home. Alexis had zero confidence. How sad for him that Wolfgang Puck said his beignets were inedible.
My early pick to win is Aria. She seems to be a natural!
I agree. Aria just seems to be very relaxed in front of the camera. Let’s see if she has the cooking chops to go along with that.
Alexis bugged me from the get-go. Glad he’s gone.
What, we’re the only two people watching this year?
I’m watching. I predict the next one to go is the one, when told she was too apologetic, said, “I’m sorry”.
lmao!
Was she the one near the end of the last group?
This season seemed different than past seasons. Not just because they moved to the left coast but it seemed more organized or something. For example, the way they identified the challenges as “Camera Challenges” and “Star Challenges” seemed to change the tone of the show somehow to me.
She was the one that didn’t finish her soup: didn’t get the beet reduction in it. Asian woman, long hair. I think she was in the bottom two.
I forgot a new season was even starting, so I tuned in maybe 20 minutes from the end, with no idea who anyone was or what had happened. I have to remember to program the DVR.
I have to say, though, that if Wolfgang Puck told me I’d made something that was inedible, I’d probably want to not cook anything ever again. 
Caught the repeat tonight and really enjoyed it. The mix of personalities is just right – a couple of standouts, a few intensely annoying types, some losers, and a weirdo or two. And that’s just the judges! (rimshot)
Aria is my favorite and seem slike the frontrunner, with a winning, charming persona, ability to lead her team, and apparently good food. Doesn’t get frazzled by her mistakes, either, which seems important in a cooking show host. Unfortunately, I have a long history of becoming a fan of contestants with lots of talent who seem to be frontrunners and then lose unjustly (like on American Idol with my beloved Melinda Doolittle!) so I’m not holding out hope here.
Second favorite is Aarti, though I’m not getting her “party” shtick, aside from the fact that it rhymes. She’s got a nice personality on camera, but needs to relax a bit, as the judges said.
Dzenis or whatever her name is… wow, she’s apparently the dzesignated crazy person. I don’t blame her for having an eye injury, and in fact I was annoyed by the people who were bitching about her “choosing” to go the hospital (mostly Brianna, the pretty feather-haired African American woman, who seemed to think she’d gone on purpose). But her obnoxious attitude in front of the judges re: the dessert really pissed me off. First whining about the dessert not being her choice, and then saying that she didn’t want to describe a dish she hadn’t tasted… I’m sorry, why didn’t she? Did the doctors say she wasn’t allowed to taste, either? When the judge (I don’t remember which one, maybe Flay?) asked her if she’d claim the dessert, she should’ve said something graciously thanking her teammates. Ugh. Definitely do not like her.
My favorite of the guys is probably guy with the hat, who cooked the salmon that all the chefs were in ecstasies over. Not keen on DAS, who keeps referring to how goodlooking he is (I think he’s got a nice body but nothing special in the face department, meow!), or the big goofy fuzzy guy. The so-called improv chef is a bore with little personality so far.
I was certain Doreen would be going home before Alexis – she’s dull and wimpy. Alexis at least seemed like he had some charm off-camera. Still, if Wolfgang Puck says his food would cause a divorce, that’s a non-starter. I kept wanting to like Selena, because I love Italian food, but there’s something phony about her, and I didn’t like her bitchface over Dzenise’s phone shtick.
I enjoyed the 15-second promo segment with Alex Finkman. Though was he really the best they could get? Yowsa. His resume isn’t exactly impressive. I just found it hard to believe that these contestants were gobsmacked by the challenge, or the one asking them why they cooked a particular dish. Have they never seen the show before? Have they never seen The Food Network before?!! It was like they had no idea what’s required for a cooking show host. How do you go on a competition like this without having thought about what kind of show you’d produce? Crazy.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Sorry for going on, but I really did enjoy the episode and look forward to the rest of the season.
I appreciate you “going on”! I love your insights. Looking forward to hearing from you this season.
Bumpity bump.
Don’t have much to contribute but love reading what others have to say.
I think Doreen was the right choice, though I really want Dzintra to go because watching her makes me physically uncomfortable.
I do wish Aarti would dump the self-doubt and start strutting her stuff. She’s a great cook, a babe, and has a fun personality. But if she doesn’t start getting mean and trusting her chops, she’s gonna get beat out by someone less appealing but with an ego that can take some hits.
“Shut up Dzintra, be quiet Dzintra”. Oy, she made me twitchy.
Some of those dishes really seemed to have very little to do with the item that they were supposed to be inspired by. I give credit to the comedian guy for at least including his item (caramel corn) in his dish, even if didn’t quite work out. But what the hell did duck have to with cotton candy? As far as I could tell the only thing cotton candyish about Dzintra’s dish was the little pieces of fruit on there.
I just want to get it down early that I think Herb is going to win it all. He’s got a concept that the food network is lacking (health food), has pretty good energy and so far seems able to cook.
I cannot *stand * Dzintra!
I am thinking this is Aria’s contest to lose. The judges seem to love her and with few exceptions so far they have also liked her food. The main strike against her is she fills a niche that is already crowded on the network (it is in fact the same niche last season’s winner filled).
Nope…I watch too. DVR’s last nights episode, so shhhhhhhh!
Alexis was wrong from the start.
I think Aria and Aarti will be the two finalists. They have a charm that makes you want to watch them.
Aria reminds me of rachael ray…
OMFG!
My eye has something in it! Man up and get your task finished! I agree with Brianna - I’d have to lose an arm before I would give up my shot at aTV show. I hope she leaves within the next two weeks.
Dzintra is a Dzumbass
I found that whole team to be pretty damn obnoxious. The whole team sitting around bitching about her going to the hospital, and how real chefs need to sack up and get back to work when something unfortunate happens. Yeah morons, when something like a team members can’t go happens maybe you should suck it up and deal with that by working harder rather than a group whine, damn hypocrites.