The Next Food Network Star #7: I Love Red Lobster

Last night's episode of The Next Food Network Star saw Jamika (#2 on my list of contestants last week) being sent home by the judges. This wasn't a big surprise as the girl has been spiraling down into dark, depressing depths for a few weeks now. I'm not exactly sure what happened to Jamika. She began the show as a breath of fresh air and ended her stay as one of the gloomiest folks around. I guess she just gave up as she obviously wasn't having any fun. Rarely a smile crossed her sour face, and when she told the judges that she was pissed off about the challenge and didn't know what she was doing, her goose was pretty well cooked at that point. And what was up with that blue ballgown she wore to the elimination room? Seemed like a very odd fashion choice (paging What Not to Wear). I was disappointed to see Jamika leave because I still believe she possesses the talent to be a great television cooking host. But her heart just wasn't in the game anymore, and it was no longer pleasant to watch her compete.

Here are the remaining three contestants in order of my preference:

1) Melissa (#1 last week): I really didn't understand the reason for the first challenge when all their live demos were rigged for disaster. Oh sure, mishaps can certainly happen on TV, but these contrived ones seemed unnecessarily cruel. I guess the judges were in the mood for some laughs this week. I also thought Debbie had it kind of easy in her segment when compared to the rest of them. It would've been more fair to have them all react to the same problems. The annoying talk show host sabotaged Melissa's demo by adding all kinds of crap to her recipe, which just seemed bizarre. No one would ever do such a thing--and I didn't think it was very funny. I'm still rooting for Melissa to win.

2) Jeffrey (#3 last week): I thought it was amusing that they had a Red Lobster challenge since I just ate there on Friday night with my father--and we, of course, had too many of those decadent cheddar biscuits. I must confess that I still enjoy the seafood restaurant, which was my favorite place to go for my birthday when I was growing up. But back to the show--although Jeffrey won the Red Lobster challenge with his recipe for wood-grilled fresh fish, the judges really put him on the spot this week by questioning his star quality. I would have to agree that the guy can come across as somewhat vanilla or bland on camera, but I still think he has enough charisma to develop into a decent Food Network Star.

3) Debbie (#4 last week): I wish I liked Debbie more because she does possess star quality AND she knows how to cook. But it's bothered me ever since the first episode that she doesn't hold herself accountable for her own mistakes. Her initial gut instinct is to lie. Instead of just confessing last night that she simply forgot to use the capers as instructed, Debbie told the judges that she did use them in a sauce before finally fessing up. This unattractive quality just makes her look bad--and it's her one major fault. Without it, she would be the perfect candidate for the job.

Any of the three remaining contestants could host their own cooking show, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. For some reason I thought next Sunday was the grand finale, but I guess they will be eliminating one more person in order to have only two left cooking for the last episode on August 2. See you next time!