Tune in
› What: “Food Network Star”› When: 9 p.m. tonight› Where: Food Network (check your local cable channel listings)› Information: http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-star.html
If Jernard Wells can cook scallops underwater on hot stones while wearing a scuba mask, cooking in a fully stocked TV studio should be a piece of cake for this pro.
Chef Wells, a former Chattanooga restaurateur, is one of 13 candidates vying to be the next Food Network celebrity when the 12th season of "Food Network Star" launches tonight at 9 p.m.
He's no stranger to the TV network's contests, having competed on "Chef Wanted With Anne Burrell," and "Cutthroat Kitchen" three times - where he not only cooked underwater but also prepared a dish while riding a 12-foot-high seesaw - but the stakes are higher tonight.
"Food Network Star" is a competition in which hosts Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis, along with guest judges from Food Network's pantry of stars, put chefs to the test in a variety of weekly challenges. The winner of "Food Network Star" gets a cooking show. Past winners who have become household names include Guy Fieri ("Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives"), Melissa d'Arabian ("Ten Dollar Dinners") and Jeff Mauro ("Sandwich King" and "The Kitchen").
"Giada is very sweet and skillful; she has a great eye for talent," says Wells about cooking under the watchful eyes of the two hosts. "Bobby is the bigger taskmaster. He has been doing it so long, he can instantly look at the dish and pick it apart.
"You can't shoot too much bull in front of Bobby because he's heard it all," laughs Wells.
Wells grew up in Mississippi, where he started learning to cook at age 7 from his father.
"My father was a chef. He later became disabled. Cooking was all he did every day, because he felt that was his way to contribute to the family. I enjoyed (cooking with him.) At that time I never knew it was developing into what it did," says Wells.
Wells was 16 when his father died. Then a junior in high school, the teen chef opened his first restaurant, working out of his mother's kitchen to support the family. He paid his way through culinary school in Memphis, studied cooking overseas, and has worked with Tyler Perry and Paula Deen. On Father's Day 2007, he and Barack Obama (who had just announced his candidacy for president) were two of the featured chefs at the 20th anniversary of Chicago's Real Men Cook event.
Wells opened his fifth restaurant, Bon Appetite Bistro, in 2009 in Ringgold, Ga., after moving to Chattanooga. He put his own spin on hot wings, patented the sauce and introduced the product to the area at Chattanooga Wing Co., a business he opened in 2013. He partnered with LeMont Johnson to create a Southern cuisine restaurant inside Chatt Inn in 2014. He currently lives in Atlanta, where he does contract services for several restaurants.
And somewhere along the way, the father of nine children found time to write a cookbook, "88 Ways to Her Heart: Cooking for Lovers from the Kitchen to the Bedroom."
Fans of "Food Network Star" know the competing chefs are constantly grilled by judges as to their "culinary point of view," meaning what type of show they envision putting on air.
"When it comes to cooking, it has always been about my family and friends," Wells says. "Those are some of my most memorable moments when I reflect on my life.
"What I would like to do is a travelogue show where we would go to a restaurant, try its unique dish, then come home and create that same dish. I do that now with my kids. We are food connoisseurs," he describes.
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.