I caught the last few eps in the marathon today (pfew - what a time saver!). The final three really did shine. I hope Aarti works out - she brings something different to the network.
Susie: if you ever feel like stepping out…
I have such a crush on that woman.
I bet they offer Herb and Tom non-cooking shows. Aarti deserved the win, though. Anybody who can get the reaction she got last week from the Iron Chefs deserves her own show.
Yay Aarti! I hope she sticks around and finds her niche on the network. Herb and Tom also have the potential to offer the network something special as well, but she really did deserve the shot at her own show.
I liked that all three seemed to be genuinely nice people- not a lot of whining or angst -and I was honestly rooting for all three. Knew Aarti was going to win but thought she did the worst of the three on the pilot ( at least, she was flatter than her normal self) but all did so well and over the series, she’s had the best food it seems.
I could easily and happily watch any of the three finalists in their own shows, and that is a first for me. In previous contests, the choice boiled down to “least awful”. I’d absolutley love it if Herb or Tom (or both) replaced some of their existing talent who shall remain unnamed.
I really like Aarti, and would love if Herb would do a full on Cuban/Spanish show.
I found it amusing that the winner’s show premieres next week, and that it’s entered in the channel listings as “Food Network Star Winner’s Show” at noon (Eastern) on Sunday.
Clever of them to conceal it like that from people whose DVRs show the next eight days or so worth of listings. Too bad that they had to go and make that website goof in June.
They’ll definitely do something with Tom.
Herb is honestly pretty generic.
Aarti Paarti is an AWFUL name for a show though.
How much do you want to bet she was teased in school and called “Farti Aarti”? I like her, but there just seems to be something juvenile about her. Maybe it’s the cutesy shirts she usually wears, or the 3rd grade hairstyle. I hope they give her a style makeover.
StG
I completely forgot to watch.
I really am looking forward to learning how to infuse an Indian element into cooking.
I remember that website goof, gotpasswords, and how irked I was when boneheads on another site didn’t spoiler it. I didn’t look at it, but even back then I was pretty sure Aarti was going to win. The “I lack confidence” bit was contrived for drama. She was top to bottom the best contestant.
This other forum is rife with “Artie,” “Aarty,” and other misspellings. Idiots, the woman’s name is spelled in the credits. Learn it!
The Indian pizzas looked excellent. Can’t wait to see her show.
In fairness to Tom and Herb, they made very good finishes. Nobody would have predicted Tom making it to the finals, but he turned it on, and could be the best example of a redemption in a competitive reality show (compare, of course, to Aria, who had pretty much the opposite trajectory). He’s not everyone’s cup of tea - I wonder if he cut his hair and started wearing chef’s whites, if that would have changed people’s opinions of him? Watching Top Chef, I’m used to good chefs being some of the most disheveled, sketchy looking people out there. (And they all smoke! TNFNS gets props for either choosing chefs that don’t, or at least hiding it.) Anyway. I think his food looked good and he had a knack for telling a story. He could replace the Neelys yesterday as far as I’m concerned.
Herb is still a psychological mess but his food got better. He did seem like a nice guy. I think his concept was good, but he wasn’t really able to execute it very well, at least not until the end.
I wonder if that woman who dissed Aarti in the focus group feels like a complete bitch now? Everyone else seemed to give positive feedback about the chefs.
I almost forgot.
Aarti’s red dress… definitely accentuated her “assets.” w00t!
I wonder if she was a plant, or if they cut out bad comments on the other chefs to make it more dramatic and less of a nearly-foregone conclusion.
My husband hadn’t watched the series - I watch it via DVR in the morning before he wakes up - but got up early this morning and saw the section with the pilots. He said pretty much that without seeing it before, he liked Aarti, her food looked good, and he said she seemed like the type of chef/show that the network needs.
They did. One of the clips going into a commercial break had someone in the focus group say “I wouldn’t watch his show.” But nobody said that during the show proper. There was a lot of editing going on.
I was thinking Tom would win. When the Focus group said he was a draw to young men which I know is a demo they want badly, I thought that would get him in.
But then again while I was a rooting for Tom, I thought Herb had the strongest pilot of the three but Bob called it the roughest so what do I know?
I just saw another site that The Food Network already has a show in the works for Tom… and it’s in prime time! I hope it’s true and not some rumor. (Which I happily passed along, you will note)
And the fat Mexican kid gets picked last again. 
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And the fat Mexican kid gets picked last again. 
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Awww. Should we start a letter-writing campaign to get Herb a show, too? I would love a show called “Cooking con Sabor”. He’s a talented guy, people seem to love his food, and I’ll bet his show would get higher ratings than some other ones I can think of.
Reason: Herb is Cuban and Puerto Rican
To Americans, that means “Mexican.” 
But Tom is basically a less annoying version of Guy Fieri - who already won TNFNS and is on Food Network 18million times/day. They don’t need a back up.
I was thinking it was going to be Herb or Aarti and wasn’t surprised at all with the result, though I don’t think I’ll be watching the show.