Next Food Network Star (Season 6) Returns... from LA LA Land

It's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!



Almost! Season 6 of The Next Food Network Star kicks off with a two hour premiere on Sun., June 6 at 9pm ET.

Some big changes are in store for the contestants this year. For the first time in the series' history, the majority of taping took place in Los Angeles—far, far away from the New York City Chelsea Market comforts of Food Network's home base, where every other season taped.

In a nod to West coast fashion, I'm guessing Bob Tuschman leaves an extra button unbuttoned on his blue shirt every week. Just watch and see!

Also, ice princess supreme established Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis will have what appears to be an increased presence this season as the Tim Gunn-like mentor of the bunch. Should be interesting, for sure.

The cast includes: Dzintra Dzenis (Austin, Texas), Doreen Fang (Los Angeles, Calif.), Alexis Hernandez (Clarksville, Ind.), Brianna Jenkins (Atlanta, Ga.), Aria Kagan (Hollywood, Fla.), Herb Mesa (Atlanta, Ga.), Serena Palumbo (New York, N.Y.), Tom Pizzica (San Francisco, Calif.), Aarti Sequeira (Los Angeles, Calif.), Darrell “DAS” Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.), Brad Sorenson (Austin, Texas) and Paul Young (Chicago, Ill.).

For their bios and more info, check out foodnetwork.com/star.

Absent this year will apparently be Ina Garten, who made her first appearance on the show in an episode last year. Those contestants have got to come to HER! Ina's not traveling to L.A. unless she catches wind of a good vanilla tree that only grows in Burbank.

Instead, we will be treated to appearances by Colbie Caillat, Eva Longoria Parker, and others.

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Soooo.... are you are excited for what will likely be a Hollywood-themed season?

Ellie Krieger Blogs for Huffington Post about School Nutrition

My favorite healthy nutritionist television show host former model Ellie Krieger is going to be in my neck of the woods this week to speak with members of Congress about updating the national standards for school food.

Check out the great post Ellie wrote for Huffington Post about.

Ellie writes: In order to implement needed changes, schools need more than just guidelines and calls to action. The fact is, it's cheaper and easier to buy, store and prepare overly processed, sodium-laden, artificially-flavored food than the fresh, additive-free, unprocessed food our children deserve. Not only do we need more money to purchase better quality food, we need the facilities to store and prepare it and the staff training to do so healthfully.

In addition to keeping tabs on Ellie's visit, I've been faithfully watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution every week on ABC (Sign the petition.) Anndddddddddddd... even though my favorite school foods growing up were chicken nuggets and pizza, I agree that something needs to be change. Go Jamie... and Ellie!

Claire Robinson New Host of 'Challenge'; Show Remains Boring

Sorry to all you "Food Network Challenge" lovers out there, but I've never been a fan. I think the challenges in general sound interesting, but I always find myself wanting to tune out after about 5 minutes. And after watching this past weekend's episode with new host Claire Robinson, I'm not planning on setting my TiVo to season pass anytime soon.

Based on the comments and emails I've gotten from fans of the show, many were just fine with Keegan Gerhard-- right?

Most of Claire's "hosting" consisted of standing in front of a greenscreen or backdrop, spouting out a few comments about things that had just happened, and then talking to the contestants while they tried to actually complete the challenge. Amazing!

It's not really her fault, though. Who's going to turn down a paid gig? Still, with her long dark locks and smoky voice, Claire sometimes makes me take a double-take to make sure it's not Rachael Ray who I'm watching. My inner-pessimist assumes this increased airtime for Claire is intentional on the part of executives, who hope millions of semi-regular viewers make the same mistake and watch this Rachael 2.0, unaware. (Like I've said a bunch of times before, Rachael ain't getting any less rich, and Food Net is chump change compared to the bucks bearing Oprah Winfrey's face that she's been getting the last few years.)

Soooooooo... I'm not impressed with the Challenge change. Are you?