The Next Food Network Star (Season 6)
Encyclopedia
The sixth season of the American
reality television series The Next Food Network Star
premiered on Sunday, June 6, 2010. Food Network
executives, Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson, were joined again by Bobby Flay
as the judges for this season. In addition, Giada De Laurentiis
will serve as an on-set mentor. Winner Aarti Sequeira went on to host her show Aarti Party
, which premiered on August 22, 2010. Runner-up Tom Pizzica was also hired to host a travel food show Outrageous Food, which began airing in November 2010.
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United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
reality television series The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star is a reality television series produced by and aired on the Food Network in the United States that awards the winner his or her own series on the Food Network...
premiered on Sunday, June 6, 2010. Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
executives, Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson, were joined again by Bobby Flay
Bobby Flay
Robert William "Bobby" Flay is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur and reality television personality. He is the owner and executive chef of 12 restaurants: Mesa Grill in Las Vegas, New York City, and the Bahamas ; Bar Americain in New York City and Uncasville, Connecticut; Bobby Flay Steak...
as the judges for this season. In addition, Giada De Laurentiis
Giada De Laurentiis
Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, writer, television personality, and the host of the current Food Network program Giada at Home. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's Today...
will serve as an on-set mentor. Winner Aarti Sequeira went on to host her show Aarti Party
Aarti Party
Aarti Party is a Food Network program, starring Aarti Sequeira, the sixth season winner of the reality series The Next Food Network Star and focusing on sharing easy ways to enhance American favorite dishes with simple but unique Indian influences. It premiered on August 22, 2010...
, which premiered on August 22, 2010. Runner-up Tom Pizzica was also hired to host a travel food show Outrageous Food, which began airing in November 2010.
Eliminated
(In order of elimination)- Alexis Hernandez - Union City, New JerseyUnion City, New JerseyUnion City is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2010 United States Census the city had a total population of 66,455. All of the city is on land, an area of...
- Doreen Fang - Los Angeles, California
- Dzintra Dzenis - Austin, Texas
- Darrell (DAS) Smith - Los Angeles, California
- Paul Young - Chicago, Illinois
- Brianna Jenkins - Atlanta, Georgia
- Serena Palumbo - New York, New York
- Brad Sorenson - Austin, Texas
- Aria Kagan - Hollywood, FloridaHollywood, Florida-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...
Contestant Progress
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camera Challenge Winner |
Aria Herb |
None | Aarti | Brianna | Aarti Tom |
Brad Tom |
Aarti | Aria | None | None |
| Aarti | IN | WIN | HIGH | WIN | HIGH | LOW | WIN | LOW | WIN | WINNER |
| Herb | IN | IN | WIN | LOW | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | LOW | RUNNER-UP |
| Tom | IN | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | LOW | WIN | WIN | RUNNER-UP |
| Aria | WIN | HIGH | LOW | WIN | LOW | IN | LOW | LOW | OUT | |
| Brad | IN | IN | HIGH | WIN | LOW | WIN | HIGH | OUT | ||
| Serena | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | WIN | IN | OUT | |||
| Brianna | IN | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | OUT | ||||
| Paul | IN | LOW | LOW | IN | OUT | |||||
| DAS | LOW | HIGH | IN | OUT | ||||||
| Dzintra | IN | LOW | OUT | |||||||
| Doreen | LOW | OUT | ||||||||
| Alexis | OUT | |||||||||
- (WINNER) The contestant won the season and became "The Next Food Network Star".
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant made it to the final challenge, but did not win, becoming a Runner-Up of the season.
- (WIN) The contestant won that episode's Star Challenge.
- (HIGH) The contestant was one of the Selection Committee's favorites for that week, but did not win the Star Challenge.
- (IN) The contestant was not one of the Selection Committee's favorites nor their least favorites. They were not up for elimination.
- (LOW) The contestant was one of the Selection Committee's three or four least favorites for that week, but was not eliminated.
- (LOW) The contestant was one of the Selection Committee's two least favorites for that week, but was not eliminated.
- (OUT) The contestant was the Selection Committee's least favorite for that week, and was eliminated.
Week One: Welcome to Los Angeles!
- Camera Challenge: The finalists must present themselves on a plate, using chicken and potatoes, then do a 30 second camera demo.
- Winners: Aria (Stuffed chicken breast in curry sauce over roasted potatoes and cauliflower) and Herb (Mojo marinated chicken with grilled purple potatoes and charred corn and black bean salsa with grilled flour tortilla)
- Star Challenge: The finalists are divided into two teams with Aria (Grey Team) and Herb (Black Team) as captains. Each team must cater a six-course lunch for celebrity chef Wolfgang PuckWolfgang PuckWolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, businessman and occasional actor. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions...
in the style of California cooking. Before the cooking, they film a 15 second promo for their show, to be presented at the lunch.- Winning team: Grey Team (Aria, Aarti, Brianna, Paul, Tom, Dzintra) [Dzintra did not compete; she was taken to the emergency room with a shard in her eye, and ordered to stay out of the kitchen]
- Winner: Aria (Santa Barbara olive focaccia with baked goat cheese)
- Eliminated: Alexis (Beignets with rosemary caramel and local honey)
- First aired: June 6, 2010
Week Two: Sweet to Savory Carnival
- Camera Challenge: Using Giada's recipe for vegetable lasagne, each contestant had one minute to demo a step to camera.
- Winner: No winner was declared
- Star Challenge: Using a carnival fortune telling machine, Chef Duff GoldmanDuff GoldmanJeffrey Adam "Duff" Goldman is a pastry chef and television personality. He is the executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes shop which is featured in the Food Network reality television show Ace of Cakes...
assigns each contestant a typical carnival sweet, which they must reinterpret as a savory dish, to be served to 100 guests at a party on the Santa Monica PierSanta Monica PierThe Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California and is a prominent, 100-year-old landmark.-Pacific Park:...
.- Winner: Aarti (Funnel cake as chicken in tandoori barbecue sauce on a scallion potato pancake)
- Eliminated: Doreen (Root beer float as root beer pulled pork with Jalapeno creme fraiche)
- First aired: June 13, 2010
Week Three: Grammy Awards Celebration
- Camera Challenge: Each chef must create a dish inspired by a movie genre drawn from a box of popcorn and present the dish to camera.
- Winner: Aarti (Horror films interpreted as Turk-eye meatloaves with bloody sauce)
- Star Challenge: Guy FieriGuy FieriGuy Fieri is an American restaurateur, author, television personality, and game show host. He co-owns five restaurants in California and is widely known for his television series on the Food Network....
sends each contestant down a simulated red carpet to see how they relate to the camera and fans. Later, each chef selects a "swag" bag that contains a secret ingredient. The chefs are paired based on the colors of their bags, and must prepare a dish using on their own ingredient and a collaborative dish using both ingredients, to be served at the post-Grammy party featuring Colbie Calliat.- Winning team: Brianna and Herb (Combined: Fennel and leek bruschetta with cheese and beer fondue; Herb: MGD 64 flank steak; Brianna: Crispy pork loin with fennel tomato chutney)
- Eliminated: Dzintra (Mom's mushroom beef tenderloin)
- First aired: June 20, 2010
Week Four: Spicy Competition
- Camera Challenge: Each chef must select a different chile and cook a dish, to be presented to camera, that best presents that chile.
- Winner: Brianna
- Star Challenge: Groups of three chefs are assigned to a guest chef: Susan FenigerSusan FenigerSusan Feniger is an award-winning American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality considered to be a leading authority on Latin cuisine in the United States.-Restaurants:...
, Jonathan WaxmanJonathan WaxmanJonathan Waxman is an American chef who was one of the pioneers of California cuisine and is credited with being the first to bring its style, fusing French cooking techniques with the freshest local ingredients, to New York....
or Eric Greenspan, and must compete head-to-head to most successfully reinvent the best dish their assigned chef ever ate.- Winners: Aarti (Waxman's lamb and potatoes reinvented as lamb kabobs), Brad (Feniger's fried chicken and green salad reinvented as double-fried chicken with light green salad ) and Aria (Greenspan's steak with macaroni and cheese reinvented as fajitas with mac and cheese) [It was noted in judging that Aria won on the strength of her presentation rather than her food]
- Eliminated: DAS (steak with tri-berry sauce and macaroni and cheese)
- First aired: June 27, 2010
Week Five: Lunch Trucks with Paula
- Camera Challenge: The contestants had to make their own product to present live to an audience and to a camera in three minutes. After they made the product and before they presented, Giada De LaurentiisGiada De LaurentiisGiada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, writer, television personality, and the host of the current Food Network program Giada at Home. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's Today...
, told them what they should do the next day to advance and win the challenge.- Winners: Aarti and Tom
- Star Challenge: The contestants are paired up, and Paula DeenPaula DeenPaula Deen American cook, cooking show host, restaurateur, author, actress and Emmy Award-winning television personality.Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates...
presents the challenge: develop a four-item menu to be served out of a lunch truck. The teams must select a suitable name for their truck, then open for business at lunch time along Venice Beach.- Winners: Brianna and Serena (Two Chicks and a Truck)
- Eliminated: Paul
- First aired: July 11, 2010
Week Six: Retro Palm Springs
- Camera Challenge: The contestants are assigned a picnic basket containing three ingredients, and assigned an event. Using the ingredients, they must make a small bite appropriate to the event.
- Winners: Brad and Tom
- Star Challenge: The contestants were sent to the former Palm Springs residence of Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
to cook and present a modernized version of a classic dish from the 1950's and 1960's.- Winners: Brad (Chicken Cordon Bleu)
- Eliminated: Brianna (Tuna Casserole)
- First aired: July 18, 2010
Week Seven: Secret Supper Club
- Camera Challenge: Melissa D'ArabianMelissa d'ArabianMelissa Donovan d'Arabian is an American television personality from Tucson, Arizona. She is best known for being the winner of the fifth season of The Next Food Network Star, and is the host of Food Network's Ten Dollar Dinners....
joined the contestants to present an array of breakfast cereals. Each was assigned a cereal, and given 20 minutes, the timeline of a busy working mother, to create a dinner.- Winner: Aarti
- Star Challenge: As camera challenge winner, Aarti led the team as they prepared a six-course dinner for a group of foodies, including chefs and restaurant owners at "Smog Shoppe", the location for an underground supper club meeting.
- Winner: Aarti (Green Curry Chicken)
- Eliminated: Serena (Pasta Alla Norma)
- First aired: July 25, 2010
Week Eight: Cooking For Eva Longoria
- Camera Challenge: Giada De LaurentiisGiada De LaurentiisGiada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, writer, television personality, and the host of the current Food Network program Giada at Home. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's Today...
asked each contestant to cook a dish using their point of view. She then interrupted them and asked them to incorporate their least favorite ingredient to their dish. They then brought the relatives of each contestant to hand them the ingredient.- Winner: Aria (Least favorite ingredient: Anchovies)
- Star Challenge: The contestants were sent to the restaurant Beso (owned by Todd EnglishTodd EnglishWilliam Todd English is a celebrity chef, restaurateur, author, entrepreneur, and television personality based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States...
and Eva LongoriaEva LongoriaEva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
) in Hollywood. They were all assigned an emotion, and they were asked to prepare a dish to represent that emotion. Each chef had $300 to shop and 1 hour to prepare in the Food Star Kitchen. At Beso, they had thirty minutes before presenting. The final four move on to New York.- Winner: Tom
- Eliminated: Brad
- First aired: August 1, 2010
Week Nine: Iron Chef Battle
- Star Challenge: The contestants were sent to New York to participate in an Iron Chef AmericaIron Chef AmericaIron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...
battle. They were judged by both the usual panel and a panel of Iron Chefs on both the overall quality of their meal and their ability in commentating on the preparation of their peers' meals. The final three move on to the finale episode where they will each film their own pilot episode.- Winner: Aarti (Secret Ingredient: Shrimp), Tom (Secret Ingredient: Bacon)
- Eliminated: Aria (Secret Ingredient: Bacon)
- First aired: August 8, 2010
Week Ten: Rachael Ray Directs
- Star Challenge: The final three were directed by Rachael RayRachael RayRachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day...
in creating their own pilots for the show that they would want to host on Food Network.- Runners-Up: Herb and Tom
- The Next Food Network Star: Aarti
- New Show: Aarti PartyAarti PartyAarti Party is a Food Network program, starring Aarti Sequeira, the sixth season winner of the reality series The Next Food Network Star and focusing on sharing easy ways to enhance American favorite dishes with simple but unique Indian influences. It premiered on August 22, 2010...
- First aired: August 15, 2010