The Truth Behind Lisa Garza's Sudden Silence Online

In case you're wondering why Lisa Garza's been absent from the blogosphere (I'm starting to miss those rants, actually), don't believe what D Magazine's blog Side Dish posted last week.

Blogger and senior editor Nancy Nichols claims she received a note from "Shane, the nice PR person from the Next Food Network Star" indicating that all finalists, including Lisa, were asked to discontinue blogging to "protect the integrity of the show."


Well, Nancy then went on to refer to this "nice PR person" as SEAN in the next paragraph. Confusing? Could she be making this excuse up?

Probably. (Food Network hasn't gotten back to me yet to confirm if the statement is legit.)

Apparently, Lisa's much-debated performance on Rachael Ray (and how it was edited for NFNS) upset Lisa enough to stop her from blogging completely.

Some of you wondered how I confirmed that the email I received last week was indeed from the real Lisa Garza. Well, beside the fact that you can find the email by doing a basic Google search, Lisa's email was also sent to the aforementioned Nancy Nichols and a PR rep named Stacey.

THEN, in what can only be chalked up to old-fashioned rules of the "Reply All" function, I was CC'd on emails the rest of the day.



So while Nancy of Side Dish reports on the blog that she:
"... was fuzzy and out of focus and frankly, a little hurt that she [Lisa] just shut up without giving me notice."

Nancy's email that I was CCd on reads:
"I need some sort of official reason why Lisa isn't going to blog anymore, In the meantime, I'm going to speculate that something weird is going on. All I'm going to say is that Lisa has decided to shut up and I'm waiting to hear why. Build it up a little and let it go easy."

Also telling is her concern over Lisa giving away too much:
"Honestly, Lisa you may be too close. From where I sat last night I thought they treated you fine. You know too much and are trying to control a situation that is out of your hands. Have they censored any of the other contestants? Probably not because they aren't as outspoken. However at this point in the show, I think you risk giving away the ending if you protest too much."

I should note, that Lisa's responses (if there were any) did not CC me. Also, nothing in the email conversation back and forth gave away any pertinent information that would violate Lisa's confidentiality agreement.

But she came VERY close! Here's a lesson to all: always check who you're CCing... and NEVER CC a blogger if you don't want your words posted! :-)

Nancy, you shoulda known better.