Reality Contest Shows are the bread and butter of cooking and food channels. One particular show, Food Network Star, gives us a unique competition in that the winner will actually get their own show. Unlike shows like “Chopped” where skill under pressure is the deciding factor, “Food Network Star” also judges how chefs will handle themselves in front of a camera. They have to have more than mad kitchen skills–they need to be able to engage the audience. With superstar chefs Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis as hosts and Executives Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson in on the selection, the stakes are high and viewers have often wondered what goes on behind the scenes and if there are any secrets to the show’s success.
Here are five things you may not know about “Food Network Star.”
Bobby Flay Affair
Yes, this Food Network star is easy on the eyes, but he was married to one of the most gorgeous women on television, Stephanie March, who played the serious yet sexy DA on “Law and Order”. But he cheated, with one of his assistants, so there went his marriage number 3. Apparently, the boyishly handsome New York guy who became famous for his southwest cuisine needs to constantly add some spice to his love life as well.
Would You Watch a Show Starring Guy “Ferry?”
Would a man with a big mouth and bleach blonde hair have been as successful had he not changed his name? Italians, like other immigrants, had their names “Americanized” when the came to the United States, so Guy was stuck with the last name “Ferry” until he reclaimed his Italian roots and decided to go by his ancestors’ real name “Fieri.” Guy has been the most marketable winner of “Food Network Star” hosting several shows, including “Diners Drive-Ins and Dives”, “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Guys’s Big Bite”.
One Contestant Found Murdered
Season 8 contestant Cristie Schoen Codd and her husband seemed to have a charmed life. She not only appeared on the competition show but she also made her living catering for television production sets. She and her husband were looking forward to having a child. Then she and her husband were reported missing when the did not come into work and were found brutally murdered.
Audience Divide
Viewers are divided about the authenticity of “Food Network Star”, many bloggers and commentators say that yes, they are all wannabe actors and the fix is in from the first, they contestants are playing scripted parts. Then there are the true believers who keep the faith that the show has only one goal: to make a talented culinary nobody into a star! Those who say it is fake cite that many of the winners have the same culinary point of view, while others who faithfully defend the show claim that there is not one iota of proof that it’s not 100% real.
Contestants Can Learn a Lot About Being a Celebrity From Giada
Yes, her smile can captivate and she knows basically everything about cooking “everything Italian” but she is also a savvy business woman, owning her own production company, Linguine Productions company a food brand bearing her famous name. GDL Foods. She’s a tough lady who worked her way to TV fame. She can roll with the punches, even when Nicole Kidman dissed her food on the “Ellen Show” To be fair to Giada, the food was a prop that had been sitting out for hours, it’s not like Giada invited her to her home and served her a dry flat bread pizza. The gossip columns went wild over this diss but Giada is keeping her pretty head over this exaggerated on air putdown.
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