Food Network Star: Cooking goes live, but are fans still tuning in?

After surviving the beat Bobby Flay challenge, Food Network Star cooking goes live this week. The finalist must take on food trends and a live stream cooking demo.

The Food Network  is trying to cover every possible scenario that a food television personality would have to tackle. In Food Network Star cooking goes live, this week’s episode opens with the finalists attempting to make ginormous food, which conveniently plugs a Food Network show. These ginormous foods must incorporate a current food trends.

Food Network Star ginormous food photo from Food Network

Ginormous foods might be an entertaining late night show, but very few people would actually want, or could, eat these dishes. I’m not trying to be downer, but I don’t think that my entire family could eat one of these dishes. Truthfully, I doubt that eating these dishes was the whole point. Still, the challenge is a little silly.

The first challenge didn’t have any huge missteps, issues, or blunders. The dishes, like hamburgers, grilled cheese, and stuffed French toast, were all good, likeable dishes. Amy’s dish, the Dutch baby pancakes was the only dish that was slightly non-traditional. I think that this aspect helped her win. Plus, it was one of the few times her presentation was actually good.

If I had to choose a winner based on the dish I wanted to eat, the winner would have been Jason. His stuffed French Toast created in a paella pan looked divine. Made with bourbon, the stuffed French toast dish looked perfect for brunch. Who wouldn’t want to go to brunch with Jason?

Food Network Star, cooking live demo, photo from Food Network

The elimination challenge put the finalists cooking and teaching skills to the test. The Food Network Star cooking live demo had finalists teaching an online live stream cooking segment. While many people love watching Food Network, more and more people are trying to cook the dishes from the shows. This type of live cooking demo needs to be easy to follow, interactive, and fun.

If you were hoping for some big, shocking result from this week’s episode you might have been disappointed. As seen throughout the competition, Jason’s cooking live demo was stellar. He was quick-witted, personable, and engaging. All his classic Southern phrases were sprinkled into the demo. But, more importantly, his dish looked good,  his demo was easy to follow, and he kept his cooking within the timeframe. Also, Jason’s tomato cutting tip was genius. Finally, a really good tip that proves he is a food authority. Jason easily moved onto next week.

Even though many Food Network Star fans want him eliminated, Matthew managed to survive another week. His demo was full of energy and some people like watching him. Maybe it’s like watching a bad soap opera, you keep hoping that there will be a huge train wreck event and you don’t want to miss it. But, his dish was confusing and hard to follow. Very few home cooks could complete those dumplings in the limited time. Maybe next week there will be a train wreck.

Rusty did well this week. His down-home, guy next door charm is fun to watch. I think that he should share more stories about his cooking for bands. People are always looking for that behind-the-scenes celebrity story. I would like to cook along with Rusty and this demo showed it.

Food Network Star, bottom two, photo from Food Network

The bottom two finalists were Amy and Cory. Cory is hands down the better chef. He could probably make limp vegetables and boring chicken breast taste good. Unfortunately, his on-camera personality isn’t the best. Too bad there isn’t a voiceover or sidekick with him. Someone else has to do the fun, engaging parts while Cory makes the food.

Very few fans understand why Amy is still in the competition. Week after week, she has made silly, sometimes inexcusable, mistakes. While her personality showed this week, she did the unforgiveable during her cooking demo. She didn’t wash her hands after handling raw chicken. Even my kids know you don’t touch anything after handling raw chicken. It will make you sick.

Food Network Star, Cory eliminated, photo from Food Network

Even though Amy did a huge kitchen wrong and the judges refused to eat her dish, Amy survived and Cory went home. Someone at Food Network must really like Amy or want a stay-at-home mom/food blogger on the network. If someone tried to serve me a dish that could have salmonella, I wouldn’t have that person over to my house ever again.

Next: What if Jason doesn't win Food Network Star?

Who knows what will happen next week on

Food Network Star

? Can the show get any stranger? We will have to watch on Sunday night and see.