Food Network Star 7/3/11

At least tonight I don't have a cat on my notes, even if I do have one on my lap!

Before we get to the challenges on 7/3, we see a few scenes at the house.  Whitney is having a crisis of confidence and discusses it with her mother, who gives her the advice to be herself and "just enjoy every single minute of every single day."  Penny rants about how the girls don't like her while Dave says, "Uh, hello, paranoia? It's for you."  This continues later in the episode, and Jyll points out to Penny some of the behaviors that are alienating her from the others.  I find it rather amusing that Penny's complaining about all the drama when she's the one causing it!  Don't complain about the alienation if you're not willing to do anything to get along with other people.

The Camera Challenge is to film segments of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  This might be the first Camera Challenge since the show format split like that to not have a cooking-based Camera Challenge and to not announce a winner before the Star Challenge.  As the segments are described, Dave initially thinks, "Oh, please, give me the opening!  Or at least not interviewing the server."  Then he hears the time limits and says, "Geez, 15 seconds.  On second thought, I'll interview a chef, please!"

Susie has the opening segment and immediately earns a personal foul for inappropriate use of the hands - too much gesturing.  Chris starts out his interview bouncing like a bobblehead, and Guy seems like he teaches a lot more and a lot more effectively than most of the other stars who appear on the show.  When interviewing the owner, Mary Beth is way too stiff and Orchid thinks that this task doesn't have anything to do with food.  It's all about food, honey, you just need to find the connection.  Justin D tries to act like Guy when Guy encourages him to show more personality. During one of the takes, Guy says to him, "You've got 4 seconds left, what are you going to do with it?"  My thought: "Put in another double-negative?"

Penny keeps bringing the focus to herself during her interview of Piper the waitress, continually interrupting and asking about what she wants to talk about, and one of the other competitors points out that "Penny doesn't care about highlighting anyone but Penny."  She says afterwards that, "I feel like the interview with Piper didn't go the way I wanted [it] to."  Dave replies, "Why? Because it wasn't about you? You can't interview yourself!"

Star Challenge: Creative All-American Foods, as sponsored by MGD 64.
Dave's response: "Let's see how well we can lie about MGD 64 being our friend."

Chris doesn't look like he bought enough shrimp to feed 150, but we'll see.  I like Jeff's use of the beer, but I don't think Mary Beth's dish is unique enough.  Jyll should know by now that even if you're not used to a certain cuisine, you can't ask others for advice on an individual challenge!  Orchid hopes her brisket will magically become tender with just 2 hours of cooking.  I doubt that'll work any better than my magic therapy wand.

As we get to the food festival, the competitors learn that they will be the entertainment as they each demo their dish.  Susie's back among the judges this week, and Dave is glad to see it, "not that I minded looking at Giada last week!"

As Susie starts her demo, she makes us both nervous as she stands in front of the table talking rather than cooking.  She does finish on time, without even looking like she is hurrying.  Jeff plays around with a guitar and jumps off of the stage at the end.  From Dave: "Really, Jeff, again? You're gonna go big, ball of fire and all that? You're gonna get burned one day, son."  To me, Jeff looks like he's had too much MGD 64.  And why start out making us look at your butt?  Vic starts and ends well, but Dave points out that, "I think Vic missed an opportunity in the middle, where he could have answered my question of, 'What's an aioli?'"  Whitney makes her own ketchup, and Dave likes.  "What a nice, easy-to-demonstrate thing to present.  Now I want to make my own ketchup at home!"

Thanks to Mary Beth's presentation, we now have 2 episodes in a row with a mention of the idea of Bobby without pants on!  Maybe that's what Food Network Nighttime really ought to be!!  Dave wonders whether this episode was originally filmed on No Pants Day.

Before evaluation, Jyll has a solo moment on camera where she talks about her dish and the other competitors.  I'm getting sick of the "I didn't want to compete" line from her.  Also, Jyll, it's not up to you to judge other people's motives.

Given the yelling between the women, it looks like the competitors listen when they're told not to hold back during evaluation!  Justin D explains the problems with showing his personality by saying that he's a private person.  If you're a private person, why do you want to be on tv?  Penny complains about not feeling cared for, but honey, this isn't the place to find love!  (Or sex, for that matter...we are ALL glad you got off of the sex in the kitchen kick.)  Aside from the judges telling Penny that she had 2 bad performances, there was no real mention of the camera challenge at all during evaluation.  It was almost like it had never happened!

So, Dave, what do you think about Susie telling Chris that, "We want to see more of you"?  "For an episode and a half, I haven't said, 'Chris, get off my tv.'  I think he's really taken the comments to heart, and even though I'm not big on his antics and actions in the kitchen and the frat boy stuff he still does there, when he's in front of the judges or the public, he looks a LOT better."

We'll see when Dave and I are able to watch and blog about the episode on 7/10, given that we'll be on vacation at the time.