FOOD NETWORK REVEALS CAST FOR NEXT IRON CHEF: REDEMPTION
Premiering Sunday, November 4th at 9pm ET/PT
NEW YORK – August 7, 2012 – Food Network reveals the cast for returning primetime competition series The Next Iron Chef: Redemption with a roster of elite competitors, most returning for a second chance at the ultimate culinary title. The fifth season is all about redemption, with many cast members taking another shot to prove their skills are Iron Chef-worthy, along with some newcomers who have their own redemption stories. The cast includes: Nate Appleman, Amanda Freitag, Eric Greenspan, and Jehangir Mehta from The Next Iron Chef: Season Two; Elizabeth Faulkner, Alex Guarnaschelli and Spike Mendelsohn from the cast of The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs; and first-time Next Iron Chef competitors Tim Love and Marcel Vigneron. Premiering on Sunday, November 4th at 9pm ET/PT, Alton Brown will again host this 8-episode, top-rated series, which recently completed production in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The tenth slot will go to the winner of a web-exclusive competition taking place on FoodNetwork.com, the four chefs taking part in the web battle are: Duske Estes and Robert Trevino, who have previously competed on The Next Iron Chef, and newcomers Lee Anne Wong and Madison Cowan.
In The Next Iron Chef, the contestants bet on their culinary skills and put their reputations on the line for the chance to compete in legendary Kitchen Stadium. The winner will join the ranks of chefs including Bobby Flay, Marc Forgione, Jose Garces, Masaharu Morimoto, Michael Symon and Geoffrey Zakarian as a member of the Chairman’s team on Iron Chef America.
I’ve got a hunch we’ll be seeing something of this nature for Food Network Star next year as well. Thus far there has been no casting call for season nine and I’ve heard a few comments from former cast members. However, no one has been willing to go on record about it.
Next Iron Chef 3
I am curious to see what unfolds on the Next Iron Chef 3.
The original was amazing television that was made up of past Food Network stars like Aaron Sanchez and eventual winner Michael Symon and introduced us to some new ones like Chris Cosentino (who now co-hosts Chefs vs. City with Sanchez) and TLC’s John Besh (Inedible to Incredible).
The drama of that first season lay in the fact that every contestant was an established star chef who realized that winning NIC could mean the difference between a six figure salary and a seven figure salary. Also adding to the chemistry was the fact that most of the competitors were old friends. Though there was a little friendly trash talking there was a strong sense of camaraderie among that first group.
Season 2 was not very good. With few exceptions (Amanda Freitag, Eric Greenspan, Nate Appleman and Jose Garces) there were few truly well-known chefs in the contest. What there seemed to be was an over-abundance of was contrived drama and a gaggle of idiotic challenges that did nothing to prove who was best qualified to be an Iron Chef.
There was also Jehangir Mehta, a pastry chef of all things vying to be the Next Iron Chef. Mehta, though talented, seemed to get moved along each week despite a number of tragically failed challenges, cheating and other undesirable behavior. It was clear by season’s end that Mehta was not there because he was a plausible Iron Chef but because the Food Network knew viewers would hate him and tune in just hoping he’d get eliminated. Adding to the failure of Next Iron Chef 2 was the fact that the eventual winner, Jose Garces shot three battles as an Iron Chef in 2009 and has since been invisible.
Speculation has been rampant: Has Batali finally completed his long, drawn-out exit? Is Cat Cora stepping away to spend more time with her growing family? She was on MasterChef you know? Maybe Flay, Symon or Morimoto is leaving? The most popular assumption is that there has been some kind of falling out between the Food Network brass and Chef Garces.
Season 1 produced Michael Symon who is the winning-est Iron Chef in the history of the show having taken home victory over 80% of the time he’s gone out. Season 2 produced, well, nothing really. So just what does the third season hold? Will it elevate someone new to a title that signifies the best of the best or will it be another one hit wonder? I guess we’ll all have to wait until October.
Meet this season’s contestants HERE.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my exclusive interviews with Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Michael Symon as well as the newest Iron Chef, Marc Forgione HERE.
ICA: Garces vs Yang
Tonight sees the debut of Next Iron Chef winner Jose Garces. Garces beat out nine other prominent chefs last summer to take the highly coveted spot in the “veritable pantheon” that is Kitchen Stadium. Garces is actually 2-0 in Kitchen Stadium after defeating Iron Chef Bobby Flay in 2008 and edging Chef Jehangir Mehta in the NIC finale last year.
The Iron Chef’s first opponent is no “Glass Joe”. Rachel Yang of Seattle’s popular Joule has worked for the likes of Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Alain Ducasse. It was while working for the latter at the Essex House in New York that Chef Yang met her future husband and Joule co-owner Seif Chirchi. Chirchi will be serving his wife in the battle as sous chef. Yang’s style is a fusion a Korean and classic French cuisine.
Of Ecuadoran descent, Iron Chef Garces was born and raised in Chicago. However, today he makes his home in Philadelphia where he is the creative force behind five restaurants that explore various Latin cuisines from the Basque region (Tinto) to Mexico’s interior (Distrito) to Chifa which is both a Latin-Asian fusion cuisine popular in Peru and the name of the restaurant. Garces also guides the kitchen at Mercat a la Planxa, a Catalan restaurant in Chicago.
Garces’ first restaurant, Amada (an authentic Andalusian tapas bar) opened in 2005. 2008 was a very busy year. Not only did he appear on Iron Chef but he also published his first cookbook, Latin Evolution. Additionally, two of his restaurants (Distrito, Mercat a la Planxa) were named to Esquire Magazine’s list of the 20 Best New Restaurants. In just five years, Garces has gone from rookie restaurateur to Iron Chef.
The judges for the episode are PR magnate Jennifer Baum, restaurateur and general hottie Donatella Arpaia, and legendary chef Jose Andres. The theme ingredient was a Hawaiian moi.
