Food Network starts off the seventh season its hit reality competition with a two-hour premiere. The format hasn’t changed, and the show started to drag after the first hour, but on the bright side I know more contestants’ names at this point than I would otherwise.
The fifteen competitors are introduced as they arrive at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, then head into the kitchen for their first camera challenge. They have to make breakfast, then present on camera. Of course, since it’s their first time on camera, most of their presentations are disastrous, and they’re not sure what their point of view is. No one’s dishes are especially bad, though Vic failed to plate his lobster, a main aspect of the dish. Friendly, charming Orchid Paulmeier wins the camera challenge, while disastrous presenter Juba (although he had the best food) and “mediocre” Mary Beth stand out as the worst of the bunch.
Next, Alton Brown and the contestants shoot promos at farmers’ market. They’re divided into teams of three, so there’s drama as they all have to work with each other for the first time. Here’s the list of the five teams:
Vic “Vegas” Moea-Jyll Everman-Howie Drummond
Penny Davidi-Alicia Sanchez-Justin Davis
Orchid Paulmeier-Jeff Mauro-Juba Kali
Whitney Chen-Mary Beth Albright-Justin Balmes
Katy Clark-Susie Jimenez-Chris Nirschel
As soon as she’s told her group, self-described “sexy” chef Penny Davidi automatically had an uncalled-for problem with her teammate, emotional former model Alicia Sanchez. Meanwhile, Katy and Susie ignore odd man out, Chris.
From what I saw of online viewer reaction, many thought Alton was too rough on the contestants, but I really didn’t think he was so bad. All he did was tell Alicia to speak up, and she burst into tears. He was just trying to help the contestants make the best promos they could, and he probably wouldn’t have gotten his point across if he asked them nicely. For instance, he was right in that Jyll shouldn’t read off the teleprompter, but even after he told her no, she fought him on it anyway. Other than that, Katy knocked over her huge tray of props, Howie and Vic each messed up so Jyll only had one take, and not even Alton could understand what Juba was trying to say.
After that ordeal was over, Alton told the contestants they would have to stay in their groups for the next challenge – serving a meal to him, the usual judging committee, Mario Lopez and other media personalities. Naturally, there’s chaos when the teams try to shop for ingredients. Penny and Alicia resume their childish arguing, while Chris actually tries to buy beer “to share with the guys” instead of an expensive chocolate Katy needed for her recipe.
In the kitchen, Penny inexplicably starts ranting about why she hates increasingly upset Alicia, which, ahem, “comes to a boil” when Penny doesn’t help teammate Alicia with their pear dessert. By then, honestly, I’m already sick of their pointless arguing. Crybaby Alicia is clearly an easy target for aggressive Penny (who in the preview for the next episode goes after other contestants as well). This type of rivalry is what drives these competition shows, but I swear, if NFNS keeps this up I will start watching it on DVR just so I can fast-forward every time Penny’s face shows up on screen.
Later on, Alton, the media personalities, and the judges watch the contestant’s promos after each team presents their dish. Juba makes the mistake of trying to prove himself by taking over the presentation, he doesn’t explain their unusual dessert dish title as well as his teammates, more personable Orchid and Jeff, would have. And even though Vic’s dish doesn’t make it to the table because of a kitchen collision with Jyll, Howie makes a worse impression because of his terrible gnocchi.
Because of this, and his incredibly ungrateful attitude towards teammate Jyll’s help, Howie is the first one asked to leave. Personally, I’m really surprised he was picked for the top fifteen in the first place since he only had a career in radio to his name. He even admitted himself that he was an amateur in the kitchen. If he hadn’t been sent home first, he would’ve definitely been the next to go. He couldn’t have possibly lasted long in the competition without the cooking skills.
Top Picks: Orchid, Jeff, and Jyll. Whitney has promise but so far she isn’t memorable.
Going Home Next: Juba or Vic. Juba would’ve definitely been bottom three this week if he hadn’t been on the winning team. Juba’s presentation skills are beyond repair, but if the judges don’t like Vic’s food, he could be safe for another episode. And Vic is clearly a wannabe Guy Fieri 2.0, so the judges also might send him home for lack of original personality.
