If there is one constant on “Food Network Star,” it’s that team challenges are a recipe for disaster. That proved true Sunday night, but former Chattanoogan Jernard Wells advanced to the third round of Food Network’s competition.
In the first of two challenges Sunday night, the 12 remaining contestants were asked to pair up in two-man teams to shoot a one-minute report on a unique food vendor in downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market.
Wells partnered with fellow Southerner Monterey Salka, a Nashville chef and former model. The two chose Olio Wood-Fired Pizza as their travelogue video choice. The camera spent little time on their video prep, which on TV means there was little drama.
When their video played back, Wells’ adrenaline rush had him talking loudly, almost yelling, at the camera while Salka seemed to watch helplessly. Judge Bobby Flay compared Wells’s bluster to the Big Bad Wolf and said he thought Wells was going “to huff and puff and blow the place down.”Judge Giada DeLaurentiis admonished Salka that she “got lost a little bit.”
For the second challenge, the same pairs went head to head in cooking battles. Guest judge Joseph Wood Simmons, better known as Rev. Run from Run D.M.C., chose one American classic dish and one ethic dish for each pair. Their challenge was to combine them in an extreme mashup.
The Rev assigned Wells and Salka macaroni and cheese and gyro. Wells prepared a lamb and Greek yogurt mac and cheese.
When the 30-minute cooking time expired, Rev. Run literally turned the tables on each pair. Placing two tables on the studio floor, the Rev. explained each pair would bring their dishes to the tables, where they were to describe them to his friends and family. That studio audience would decide whose dish they wanted to taste based on the descriptions they heard and gather around that contestant’s table.
Wells turned on his smooth Southern charm for his description. After Salka gave her description, Wells broke out a couple dance moves and called it “putting the butt in rebuttal.”
His presentation won over the crowd. Wells crushed Salka, no audience member chose her gyro. All the tasting winners were declared safe, and Wells advanced to next week.