Just Eyeball It Exclusive Interview: Winner of the The Next Food Network Star, Melissa d'Arabian

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The fifth season of the Next Food Network Star started 10 weeks ago. Ten people who love to cook were all trying to be the next “star” on the Food Network and get their own show. The most well-known contestant of the competition is Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Guy’s Big Bite, Guy Off The Hook), who won the second season competition.

In the end, it was the stay-at-home mom, Melissa d’Arabian, who won this season’s competition. Melissa is 40 and from Keller, TX. She pairs her varied culinary and life experiences to provide food lifestyle solutions and approachable recipes for today’s families. As a stay-at-home mom to four young daughters, she efficiently budgets time and money to prepare the finest in fresh, home-cooked meals every day. Melissa finds culinary inspiration in family, friends, cooking classes, and world travels. I had the chance to interview her the day after she was eliminated, along with a few other media outlets. Here is what she had to say…


How does it feel to be The Next Food Network Star?

Melissa d’Arabian: I am thrilled to be the Next Food Network Star! I am also glad to have gone every step of the way with Jeffrey. Next Sunday, August 9th, is the launch of my new show: Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d’Arabian. What is so great about this show is that even if you aren’t on a budget, it is still a show that will make you feel empowered about cooking. The challenge is not about figuring out how to find a way to feed your kids hot dogs for dinner, but how to feed them shrimp for the same amount of money. I think people will be really surprised by the ingredients I use and recipes I have come up with!

What are you most looking forward to doing as The Next Food Network Star?

MD: I would say definitely connecting and sharing with people is top priority. That is why giving the audience personal stories is so very important to me. I want people to embrace them! I want to share “war stories” with not only stay-at-home Mom’s, but career women and men as well.

Do you feel as though the show painted a realistic picture of you? Was it a true portrayal?

MD: First of all, with hundreds of hours of filming, it is impossible to fit everything into 47 minutes each week! I was floored by the editing given how much complex material they had to work with. I think the editing was very fair and captured the general story beautifully. I mean, did I just blurt out to a bunch of strangers, “Hi, my mom committed suicide….” Of course not!! But… they just can’t fit everything into every shot. I thought the editing team did a phenomenal job!

During the demo during the finale, the show title was “Kitchen Survival Guide” but it was changed to “Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d’Arabian” for the Food Network show? Why?

MD: Budget cooking IS a survival guide, and my waters swim deep in that area. For years as a career girl I worked on techniques to save money as well as analyze budgets. You know, find out how to work it! I think it is great topic and a much-needed one. However, the show is really about the food, and how to make delicious food. All my recipes were ones I already had and are straight from the heart.

If you had to collaborate with another contestant to do a show, who would it be and what would be the theme of the show?

MD: Oh wow, that is a good one. I would love to collaborate with Katie Cuvato about creating recipes for pregnant women, as it was mentioned last night in the blooper and or gag real (with a laugh), what foods are good for a woman breast feeding? What you should and should not eat while you are carrying or even afterward? It is an important topic and Katie would be ideal for that!

Favorite challenge?

MD: The Iron Chef America Challenge with Michael Symon was my favorite. That was when I really realized that I had a real shot at making the finale!

Why did you try out for the show to begin with?

MD: I was speaking to a number of moms group and women’s groups in my community. The topic I spoke most on was about all of my money saving techniques. So sharing my war stories with everyone is a very organic part of who I am. So The Next Food Network Star seemed like a great opportunity to expand that and continue on that path. So it actually felt like a very organic extension of what I was already doing.

After what challenge were you least confident that you were safe and moving on to the next week?

MD: The first challenge. After cooking in the Food Network kitchen for the first time with flour everywhere. And then when Bobby Flay comes in and I lost track of where my crust was, and my measurements were off. After cooking, I felt very sure I was going home. I felt very much in over my head.

Favorite Food Network stars and shows?

MD: I love Iron Chef America! I love it! I love how the chefs don’t seem to worry about that cameras at all and just go 100% to finishing their challenges. That has been my husband and I’s Saturday night date for a long time. We get the kids to bed, TiVo the show, and watch it on Saturday nights. I have to say I love Giada! I love watching her shows, because she appears so warm on the camera. And I have to say she is even more beautiful and warm in person. She is just lovely, and my husband loves her of course. She it was a real treat to meet her for sure.

Favorite meal to cook and eat, if different?

MD: Growing up we had a special birthday dinner, which was a marinated steak. My mom would use a flank steak or a skirt steak. That was our big treat growing up, and that dish has become part of what I cook. That is actually my husband’s favorite meal that I cook, and it has become a birthday tradition for my family as well. It certainly is not the hardest or complex recipe I make, but it tastes good and it brings back many memories for me.

My favorite meal to eat is breakfast in bed when my husbands makes it. We take turn cooking breakfast for each other on Saturday mornings and let the other person sleep in. My husband makes these wonderful waffles, so that has to be my favorite meal to eat.

What have you learned about yourself through this experience that other moms could also discover about themselves?

MD: I watched The Next Food Network Star, the whole season. As a viewer, I’m watching myself thinking, Holy cow that woman is going home and she deserves to go home because she is just really out of her element. Somewhere along the line, I started rooting for me as a viewer.

Interestingly, I started rooting for myself and believing in myself as a third-person viewer several weeks before I started rooting for myself and believing in myself as a participant. It taught me that I can underestimate myself. It took me longer to believe in myself when I was myself than when I was the viewer watching me. Sometimes maybe I don’t see my own worth as quickly as I could.

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!