Sunday, July 22
Live Blogging TNFNS Finale
This is what the Food Network Web site says about tonight's finale:
"Finale: The last two finalists fly to Miami and cook for all the Food Network stars at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival. Then it's back to New York, where the winner is revealed, live!"
Now, presumably, this would have been JAG and Rory. Will this footage still be shown?
9:01 Ooooh, Marc Summers is back! He didn't get fired from the show after all! They attempted to jazz up the Food Network studio even though it still looks like Emeril's set combined with some books and stuff from Martha's show in the background.
9:03 A recap. Hi Viven. Forgot about her! I miss Nikki! While I wait I'll read the newest comments on my JAG posts. Hmmm... racist, not-racist, we forgave Clinton, etc. Riiiight.
9:07 The "startling turn of events." They don't mention if this is live or not. Amy's dressed like a nun, Rory has some sort of keyboard pattern shirt.
I'm hoping that Marc gives 'em a physical challenge to determine a winner!
9:13 Rory mentions the "other show" and how she got to Vega, Texas. Nice job about not mentiong that until the last episode. Boot Hill Saloon and Grill is the name of her restaurant there. Sounds very Back to the Future III.
9:23 Marc mentions that a woman will definitely win this competion. Good observation. Let's take a lok at Amy's home life in San Diego. Cute kids on the beach. She lives on the same property as her parents. It all makes sense now. This show already half over and nothing has happened.
9:27 9 other finalists come out. Viven looks exactly like Janice Dickinson once again. Nikki's in a denim jumper. Adrien got some sort of Zac Efron hair going on. Tommy is tan! Lots of makeup? JAG walks out and gets big hugs.
9:32 I'm beginning to wonder if the footage of the "final two contestants" cooking at the South beach Wine and Food Fest in Miami (this past February) is going to be cut. All we get instead are recap clips and special "never seen before moments" including lots of shirtless men walking around the house. Paul has quite the abs, actually. Probably better than Adrien's.
JAG has glasses on to look... scholarly? Thoughtful? He thanks everybody. "It ain't over" he says. Hmmm... got more tricks up your sleeve JAGger?
9:42 Tuschelson comes out! Susie looks like she may be hiding a bump there. Looks very maternity-wear.
Fashion comment on Amy: is that a dickie?
Fashion comment on Bobby: your thick, pink & orange tie is huge. It's as thick as a steak.
9:49 No Miami footage yet. Guess they forgot to change the info on the Web. Sad.
9:55 Emeril shows up. Don't forget about the 2008 Mercury Mariner he reminds them. President of Food Network Brooke Johnson (Lilly Tomlin look alike?) comes out. Bobby Flay passes Emeril the envelope and.........
AMY FINLEY is the winner! I am honestly surprised, but think Amy will do all right. Robin Miller better get scared.
Not a very big to-do, though. A quick announcement and off we go into Dinner: Impossible!
While this season was an obvious improvement in quality, it still has a long way to go if it wants to keep up with some of the other, more famous food TV competition shows. Blah. Night night!
More info and pics to come tomorrow! Hope everyone enjoyed it!
"Finale: The last two finalists fly to Miami and cook for all the Food Network stars at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival. Then it's back to New York, where the winner is revealed, live!"
Now, presumably, this would have been JAG and Rory. Will this footage still be shown?
9:01 Ooooh, Marc Summers is back! He didn't get fired from the show after all! They attempted to jazz up the Food Network studio even though it still looks like Emeril's set combined with some books and stuff from Martha's show in the background.
9:03 A recap. Hi Viven. Forgot about her! I miss Nikki! While I wait I'll read the newest comments on my JAG posts. Hmmm... racist, not-racist, we forgave Clinton, etc. Riiiight.
9:07 The "startling turn of events." They don't mention if this is live or not. Amy's dressed like a nun, Rory has some sort of keyboard pattern shirt.
I'm hoping that Marc gives 'em a physical challenge to determine a winner!
9:13 Rory mentions the "other show" and how she got to Vega, Texas. Nice job about not mentiong that until the last episode. Boot Hill Saloon and Grill is the name of her restaurant there. Sounds very Back to the Future III.
9:23 Marc mentions that a woman will definitely win this competion. Good observation. Let's take a lok at Amy's home life in San Diego. Cute kids on the beach. She lives on the same property as her parents. It all makes sense now. This show already half over and nothing has happened.
9:27 9 other finalists come out. Viven looks exactly like Janice Dickinson once again. Nikki's in a denim jumper. Adrien got some sort of Zac Efron hair going on. Tommy is tan! Lots of makeup? JAG walks out and gets big hugs.
9:32 I'm beginning to wonder if the footage of the "final two contestants" cooking at the South beach Wine and Food Fest in Miami (this past February) is going to be cut. All we get instead are recap clips and special "never seen before moments" including lots of shirtless men walking around the house. Paul has quite the abs, actually. Probably better than Adrien's.
JAG has glasses on to look... scholarly? Thoughtful? He thanks everybody. "It ain't over" he says. Hmmm... got more tricks up your sleeve JAGger?
9:42 Tuschelson comes out! Susie looks like she may be hiding a bump there. Looks very maternity-wear.
Fashion comment on Amy: is that a dickie?
Fashion comment on Bobby: your thick, pink & orange tie is huge. It's as thick as a steak.
9:49 No Miami footage yet. Guess they forgot to change the info on the Web. Sad.
9:55 Emeril shows up. Don't forget about the 2008 Mercury Mariner he reminds them. President of Food Network Brooke Johnson (Lilly Tomlin look alike?) comes out. Bobby Flay passes Emeril the envelope and.........
AMY FINLEY is the winner! I am honestly surprised, but think Amy will do all right. Robin Miller better get scared.
Not a very big to-do, though. A quick announcement and off we go into Dinner: Impossible!
While this season was an obvious improvement in quality, it still has a long way to go if it wants to keep up with some of the other, more famous food TV competition shows. Blah. Night night!
More info and pics to come tomorrow! Hope everyone enjoyed it!
Labels: food network, Next Food Network Star
posted by jacob @ 9:03 PM
35 Comments:
Yay for Amy! I may actually make an effort to watch her show just to stick it to FN about how wrong they were all season about what viewers find accessible (their preference for PERSONALITY at the expense of being informative is really starting to grate).
Also, the "Boot Hill Saloon and Grill" made me like Rory even less. She's a) starting a fairly upscale restaurant in Vega, TX, and b) decking it out in faux-Western tack to "remind" people about the glory days of the frontier? Yeah, that's exactly what people in a rural community in Texas need--some reality TV carpetbagger from New Jersey reminding them about the frontier at $30 a plate.
Paul actually has an amazing little body. Who knew? And I kind of wonder if he wasn't kidding when he said he and Jag were in love. . .
was that a she-male in the back? Maybe Jag is a Fag
Here are some comments and observations I have...
*I was on "Team Amy" all the way - I'm really glad she won. I wonder if they'll actually title her show "The Gourmet Next Door". It seems she wants to channel "The Barefoot Contessa" very much - but without Jeffery, Michael, a Hamptons compound, and a black 645i beamer convertible - she has a long way to go before she catches up with Ina! ;) I'm still glad Amy won though!
*Anyone who makes a "Back to the Future" reference is golden in my book - thank you for that! :-)
*As the first poser mentioned - I was DEFINITELY feeling a love vibe between Paul and JAG that went beyond friendship. There was just a little too much touching, crying emotion, and "friendship" that went on there. I think Paul's boyfriend had better get a little nervous, lol!
*Rory looked a lot more nervous/uncomfortable during the finale than Amy. That was just my own observation - not sure if anyone picked up on it. While Amy would smile and clap when Rory's family was introduced/etc...Rory looked really scared/bored/nervous whenever they would talk to Amy.
*Overall a pretty lackluster/boring finale - but I'm glad Amy won! Lets hope great things are to come from her!
oops - I meant to say "first poster" - not "poser". Oops! Sorry! :)
It sounds like the reason for this disappointing finale show was that they filmed a real one, with actual challenges for the two finalists -- JAG and Rory, and thanks to JAG they had to scrap it. Maybe they just didn't have the budget for a re-do.
I voted for Rory, but after seeing their bios I started to regret it, because I realized that Amy needed a win a lot more than Rory did. Rory has this huge restaurant in Vega, where everone loves her, and Amy, who studied cuisine in Paris, is cooking for -- her family! Maybe God is a bit of an egalitarian after all. You know, spread the wealth a little.
Anyway, thanks a lot for your blog. It's a relief to know that I am not the only "Food Network" addict.
Yea Amy!
I'm glad Amy won. I agree that Rory's Vega clips were a total turn-off. But I kept wondering - where was Amy's French husband in her clips? They never mentioned him, but she had talked about him before.
I thought the finale itself was disappointing - like you said, flat. I felt the same way last year. The FN doesn't really know how to jazz it up so that the last few minutes feel exciting, rather than clunky and anticlimactic.
My other criticism of this season was that it seemed to have a lot fewer regular FN stars participating. We had Bobby just about every other week, Giada and Alton a few times, and Paula once or twice? But then we got the new Guy (who was great, but he's still the new guy) and barely a glimpse of RayRay. What I really liked about season 2 was that so many of the stars seemed to come on to really TEACH the contestants.I remember Dave Lieberman and RayRay really spending a lot of coaching time with them. This season overall was blah, but I will check out Amy's show.
Where is Amy's husband? Not on camera, not in her myspace, not in the audience. And her last name is her family's.
I was really disappointed. I felt like Rory cooked food that I would try at home. I felt really bad for Rory; she was obviously very upset after they made the annoucement. They just find of pushed her out of the way into Michael's arms. I like others wanted to know where Amy's husband was....maybe he is not so much into the "French" cooking as Amy thought!!!
What a banal finale. It would have been more interesting to enter a coma for an hour. After watching this show, I felt as pathetic as one of those entertainment-starved Minnesotans in the audience of A Prairie Home Companion taping. I saw very little new content in the show- it was essentially a boring rehash of the entire season. Marc Summers looked like an over-powdered, animatronic wax figure that just had the Ryan Seacrest program downloaded into his USB port. And what’s with that jive-assed top 40 disc jockey delivery? That aint rot…as they say in Texas.
A glaring omission in this show was the complete absence of any voting results. I’m sure that somewhere in the fine print of a legal document is a provision that states that (notwithstanding the voting results) the FN can select whomever they damn well please when the winner is announced. So why not stop insulting the audience and dispense with the illusion that there was some sort of legitimate election?
It was a good thing that Amy won, because Rory’s victory would have surely resulted in the demise of her start-up restaurant. The happiest person in the audience was probably Rory’s banker. Who would want to finance a new restaurant with an absentee chef? After the celebrity thing wore off, the place would have had to sink or swim on the quality of its food. The eats Rory served at her shakedown party looked pretty tasty, but with her absence, the restaurant would have degenerated into another insipid Tex-Mex joint. All’s well that ends well.
Congrats to Amy-I didn’t think she had it in her. Frankly, though, I’m more interested in checking out Ingrid Hoffman’s new show. She looks simply delicioso!
Yay AMY!
She's down to earth. Which would
you rather have in your kitchen?
She's calm, she's smart. I think
although FoodTV's viewership is
expanding to new territories,
what happens when you put it up
to a vote is that you get a
reflection of the viewership,
the core viewers. That's why Amy
and not Rory. Frankly, it would
have been nicer to see something
really really new cusisinewise
for the network, but hardly any
of the 11 had that, not even JAG
now that there's Ingrid. I have
a feeling Amy will push herself and
find new twists and new ways to
make cuisine we've seen look good.
I am 50-50 on whether she'll peter
out in a year or whether she'll
turn into a franchise on the
network. Probably she's not going
to be completely through the
roof on ratings, and probably
she'll do better than just putting
on her show and then going away
quietly. I hope she has staying
power because some of the people
on FoodTV aren't very likeable to
watch (as people) and she's
easygoing in personality.
conrad5 - that's a really good point about the lack of voting results - I wonder if America really voted for Amy or if she won because FN wants her on their staff. I was very surprised to see JAG back on the finale show and I thought it would have been more appropriate for him not to have been there.
Really having voting results wouldnot make much difference either. Like American Idol and other shows
there really is no way to know if they just add 50,000 votes to the person they like. You'd really have to work their to know the difference.
I will say this. My work associates me with a certain major beauty pageant. There I can tell you that the judges votes do play an important role but the pageant itself reserves a certain percentage of votes, meaning they can torpedo a certain candidate if they don't like her. There are many reasons for this, the main one being that there are certain factors that they voting judges/public cannot see. For example, let's say a candidate tells a judge one day before the broadcast, "If I win, I won't be doing many public appearances andf will demand a re-negotiated contract"..Obviously, this will raise huge concern about the viaiability of the candidate. Another reason: Candidate becomes hyserical when she is away from her family 3 weeks and as the beaty pageant holder, she'd be away from them for 1 full year. Another reasons she could be a big problem.
I would be willing to bet Food Network has a similar mechanism built in for whatever reason. We will never know. It is possible they found out some things about Rory they did not like, maybe people reacted to her poorly at the Food and Wine Fest so they did what they needed to to pick Amy. On the other hand, maybe it was 100% fair and square and every single vote was counted and they were ready to pick the real winner. Unless Tuschmann or Suzie or Bobby Flay write some tell-all book about TNFNS, we will never know.
I am pissed that Amy won. She didn't even seem to want the prize and was whining and crying about missing her family at one point. Rory, on the other hand, seemed much more committed.
I have no doubt Rory would have been able to keep her new restaurant and show afloat. After all, like Bobby Flay said in a recent interview, "The good thing about TV is they shoot it once and they shot it a lot."
ITA that the finale was boring, clunky, and anticlimatic. I felt like sucker after watching it, too. Especially considering the final result!
Above quote should have read, ". . show it a lot." Pardon the typo.
I'm happy for Amy, and I agree with some others that said that she needed it more than Rory (with Rory already having been on TV before, having her own restaurant, coming from a rich family, etc). I felt a little bad for Rory, but she kind of seemed like a sore loser when they announced Amy as the winner. She turned her back to the camera and was crying. At least that's what it looked like. I honestly wish Jag had won, but he kind of messed things up for himself, unforunately. But at least the prize is going to someone that deserves it.
I was shocked at the infomercial quality level of production and editing in the finale. The quick cuts to audience clapping were the worst.
It really aseems like the JAG thing messed everything up.
Amy needed it more than Rory? Hello Last time I checked San Diego wasnt the ghetto? I think it looked like a commune more than a home and very odd living situation (also noting the missing hubby) But to say she needed it more seems insulting to Rory. This is saying that if you come from money you dont deserve to move ahead no matter how hard you work.
The Gormet Next door will just be another show I wont watch. Just no interest in watching a pretentious wanna be, I see enough of them around town here. Rory seemed more down to earth. Jag was still my favorite - personality and cooking wise had the most to offer to me.
Oh I dunno, watching Jag and Paul interacting with each other made for some intriguing television in the second half of what otherwise was a dull finale.
Did Rory seem to have a real meltdown after the results were read? As mentioned, she kept her back to the camera, everyone seemed to gather around her to console her, and the camera went out of its way to avoid showing what was going on at her side of the stage.
Truly looking forward to your captioned pics from the final. The other ones you've done for previous epis of TNFNS have been classic, and this finale had lots that could be fodder for captions.
So, where does male bonding end and homoeroticism begin? Hmmm? Could it be the Adrienne/Tommy chicken mating dance? The shirtless men montage? The JAG/Paul caress fest? BINGO!!!!
Speaking of the JAGoff, was there a drop-off of clapping when he walked out? Did anyone else notice this? Finally, the "Poopy Sport" award goest to Rory. Turning her back so you could have a cry was poor sportswomanship. I bet the camera guys were in a panic:"Cut away! Cut away!" She really thought she was going to win! She always seemed smug and self-obsessed. I'm glad Amy won. Anyway, maybe now we can look forward to seeing Rory's "talents" displayed in a more fitting venue, say in Maxim or Playboy????
Did anybody notice that in the taped clips, Amy kept talking like her show was a done deal? Like, "In MY show, I'll do this," etc. And I don't think Rory talked like that in her clips. It looked like after those clips were shown that she seemed a little hurt that Amy did that.
So, while I voted for Amy, I did feel a little bad for Rory because Amy just felt like she had this thing sewn up. A little too smug for me.
And I also noticed her husband was missing. He wasn't in the clips OR the finale???
Very pleased that Amy won! I'd watch her over Rory in a heartbeat-- guess that makes me pretentious. *eyeroll*
~sbp
I voted for Amy because I believe she is the better of the two. I would never vote based on "needing it more". What's up with that? The right person for the job is not based on need. I think that's disgusting.
I finally watched the tape of the finale of TNFNS3. I don't think Rory is a loser. She got plopped down in Vera, TX, on some other reality show, on which she lost. But, she found Vera was a nice place to settle down, as she explained, and a boyfriend who's a cowboy by trade, and started her own restaurant, plus, the locals demanded Food Network be added to the local cable supplier's roster so they could watch her on TNFNS3.
And she's a loser?
Sorry, I reviewed the page, and it's VEGA, TX.
It must be planet Vega, if they weren't getting the FN.
I, for one, am glad that Amy won and I'm looking forward to her show. I don't really get those who say she's pretentious and snooty. Sure, she's been to France, but is that a reason to dis' her? She always seemed poised, well mannered, and genuine. Even her "meltdown" was sedate, in comparison to JAG's histrionics. In any case I'd rather watch her than some of the loudmouthed "performers" that populate the network.
I did find it very odd that Amy's husband, who was mentioned earlier in the show, wasn't so much as hinted at in the finale. Marital trouble? Could this be what prompted her breakdown mid-season?
Speaking of JAG, his body language clearly communicated he did not want to be at the finale. Aside from the public shame he's endured, I'm sure TFN people had him over a barrel.
And what was with the touchy-feely with Paul? The occasional hand holding to show how close they were I get, but he lingered a tad much, I thought. More than that, the near constant placement of his hand on Paul's thigh was, um, odd to say the least. At times I couldn't help but feel that Paul looked uncomfortable. Is/was there a love connection we don't know about? You gotta wonder.
With Rory, the restaurant in Texas is probably the best thing for her. She's used TFN to promote the place and will probably get a lot of customers just from the fame factor. Plus the food actually looked pretty good, which makes me wonder why she didn't demonstrate that same level of cooking on the show? Her poor sportsmanship after the announcement of the winner was telling as well. She seemed to think she had the entire thing in the bag the whole episode, so I think it came as a huge shock when she didn't get it. It would be very interesting to know what actually went on behind the scenes this season.
AMY FINLEY KNEW THAT SHE WAS GOING TO WIN THE NFNS BEFORE THE VOTING WAS COMPLETE! FOOD NETWORK RIGGED THE COMPETITION IN LIGHT OF JAG's RESIGNATION!
The text messege votes were also rigged! Amy's went through when Rory's were denied!!!
Check out this link!!!
http://www.fox6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoID=337422
AMY FINLEY KNEW THAT SHE WAS GOING TO WIN THE NFNS BEFORE THE VOTING WAS COMPLETE! FOOD NETWORK RIGGED THE COMPETITION IN LIGHT OF JAG's RESIGNATION!
The text messege votes were also rigged! Amy's went through when Rory's were denied!!!
Check out this link!!!
http://www.fox6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoID=337422
Jacob, did you have any more pics and info from the finale? We need captioned photos!! :)
"Anonymous said...
Jacob, did you have any more pics and info from the finale? We need captioned photos!! :)
11:25 PM"
There was so much recap that I didn't think the finale would all that great for captioned photos:-/ I thought it was pretty boring for the most part, but feel free to send in your own and i'll post 'em!
Rory was soooo robbed. She earned it obviously by being in the final two righteously, not by default.
Amy's got an erie attitude. I don't think I'll be watchin the gourmet next door.
Oh, my gosh!!! I just saw the hyperlink from above, and Amy admitted that she knew that she was GOING TO WIN!!!! WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THIS?????
RORY IS STILL MY HERO. ANY WORD ON AMY'S MIA HUSBAND YET????
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