Justin Case You’re Wondering Who I’m Voting For …

Next week is the season finale of Next Food Network Star. Jimmy and I have watched this season, and as it’s winding down, here are some of my thoughts about going into the finale next week.

I’m not crazy about this new format of having the three mentors with their teams. I like Giada, Alton, and Bobby. The problem is that it seems that keeping the three teams with an equal number of contestants took precedence over everything else. After the first three weeks, when one person from each team had been dismissed, it was clear that Bob and Susie were going to try to keep the teams even throughout the competition. I understand there is probably something to be said for having each of the three mentors with a contestant in the finale, but more important than that is keeping contestants that the fans like and will watch.

Going in to last night’s episode, each team had two members left, and three of the six remaining contestants were going to be sent home. Going in to the episode, I had no doubt that one member from each team would go, leaving one member from each team for the finale. And I was right. Well, almost. From Team Bobby, Nikki was eliminated (thankfully) but Michele moved on to make a pilot (ugh!). From Team Giada, Ippy was eliminated and Yvan moved on to make a pilot. When it came to Team Alton, Bob and Susie admitted this was the toughest decision they had to make. When the big reveal was made, for Team Alton, both Justin and Martie were given the green light for a pilot. They changed the rules and let both of Alton’s contestants stay. If, however, they had not gone to this format of wanting somebody from each mentor, they could have easily eliminated Nikki, Michele, and Ippy, and that would have let them keep just three for the pilot, Yvan, Justin, and Martie.

Ultimately I realize they want to tweak the format of the show to keep it fresh and to keep viewers coming back, but when they’re looking at the format for next year’s program, they need to leave this year’s format behind. If they want to continue having mentors and teams, that’s fine, but work something out so that decisions about elimination are made based on cooking and personality, not on making sure that each team keeps an equal number of contestants.

In the past, Season Two, when Guy Fieri won, was based on viewers voting after the field was narrowed to two contestants. The other seasons that I’ve watched, the judges have made the final decisions. This year saw a return to fan voting. I do like that idea; after all, the fans are the ones who will ultimately be watching, or not watching, the new show Food Network puts on the air. I’ve been keeping up with the fan vote on Food Network Online, so it’ll be interesting to see how that compares to the actual voting that will be taking place to choose this season’s winner. I’ll have to let you know if I still feel the same way about fan voting after a winner is crowned next week.

After it’s all said and done, though, we are left with four choices for the Next Food Network Star, and we get to vote. I can tell you who I am not voting for – Michele. There’s just something about her that sits the wrong way with me. I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly, but I know I won’t watch her show if she wins. I don’t see myself voting for Yvan either. He doesn’t get under my skin the same way Michele does, and of the dishes presented in the pilots, his was probably the only one I’d actually eat. His pilot was OK, but I don’t want to vote for something that’s just OK, which is why Martie’s pilot won’t be getting my vote either. Martie’s grown on me; she wasn’t one of my initial favorites, but she seemed to make the most progress since the beginning. That just leaves Justin. He’s a little weird, but he’s weird in an Alton Brown kind of way, and I really like Alton’s weirdness. Even though I’d never eat the Caesar Salad he prepared in the pilot, I think he would present some very interesting other things on Rebel with a Culinary Cause, and some of them might just be something I’d try. Now, I just have to convince Jimmy to agree with me so that our votes don’t cancel each other out.

Have You Made Your Choice for the Next Food Network Star?

Two weeks later, and I still haven’t decided on the one to root for in The Next Food Network Star. I can say, at least, that as of the beginning of Sunday night’s episode, the five I had chosen as my top five had not been eliminated. Those are Emily Ellyn and Justin Warner from Team Alton, Ippy Aiona and Martita Jara from Team Giada, and Malcolm Mitchell from Team Bobby.

This week’s episode featured season 2 winner Guy Fieri. By the way, can somebody explain to me how that “r” in Fieri sounds like a “t”? They always say “Fee-et-ee” but there is no “t” in Fieri. Anyway, Guy’s always a lot of fun, so we knew going in that this episode should be a lot of fun, even though the advertisements showed more than one of the contestants crying.

It’s really hard to write a blog about the show and not reveal any spoilers, so I’ll go ahead and warn you at this point that spoilers will be forthcoming. So, if you haven’t watched the episode but plan to, you might want to come back and read this blog after watching.

The episode began with Bobby, Giada, and Alton giving individual pep talks and advice to each of their team members. The advice is good, but the ultimate question is which potential star listened? Guy showed up and gave each team their instructions for the next team challenge. They would be hosting a food special – live, not taped. Each team was then assigned a theme. Team Bobby’s team had to cook for kids, Team Giada’s team had to cook for game day, and Team Alton’s team had to cook for Halloween. Each team met to discuss dishes and strategy before shopping.

The one thing that I did appreciate was how the teams worked together while cooking, sharing supplies when one forgot to buy flour and helping peel bananas when one’s mixture was lost in the wrong blender. When it was time to present their dishes, Team Alton went first. Justin, one of my top five, froze and faltered somewhat. The judges said his food (sardine bones) was good, but I can’t begin to fathom that. Judson might have found his point of view in trying to present food that has flavor but can help you lose weight. Martie did what Martie does best and talked and talked and talked, cutting short the time Emily, another of my top five, had to present. Judge Susie said it best when she said that they didn’t really work as a team, though I think Martie failed in that respect more than the others by leaving Emily just over a minute to present her dish. Out of these four, I thought Emily did the best, considering she did maintain her composure and pulled off a presentation in less than half the time the others had.

Team Giada went second. They blew the challenge out of the water. The judges seemed to like the food for the most part, but this team had amazing energy, and their live demo was just fun. Ippy, one of my top five, seemed to have more fun this time around, though his dish may have been the judges’ least favorite from Team Giada. Yvan and Linkie contributed to making the presentation fun, but they still come across as more irritating to me, and I doubt I would watch their shows. Martita, another of my top five, is quickly becoming my favorite. I’m not really interested in vegetarian dishes per se, but her presentations are great, and I could see myself watching her shows.

Finally, it was Team Bobby’s turn to present. Team Bobby may have had the toughest challenge because since they were cooking for kids, some kids tried their food, and you know how kids are. If they don’t like it, they will let you know. My only favorite from Team Bobby is Malcolm, and he didn’t talk about his own kids, but he’s still my favorite from this team. Michelle still grates on my nerves, and so does Nikki. Of all the teams, in my opinion, Team Giada did the best.

When the judges came to announce results, the startling news was that two teams tied for best presentation and both of them would be safe from elimination, and from the losing team, the remaining contestants would all be up for elimination. Teams Giada and Bobby were safe. I definitely agreed with Team Giada, and actually, I thought Giada’s team should have been the outright winner. Team Alton had to shoot darts at a map of the United States and then had to cook a dish to represent the state where the dart landed. Justin ended up with Nebraska, Judson ended up with Arkansas, Emily ended up with Arizona, and Martie ended up with Pennsylvania. Obviously, since Judson and Martie are not in my top five, I was hoping that Emily and Justin would win the challenge. My choice for the one to go home, before they even cooked, was Judson. I know Martie is a rambler, but she can sometimes be more interesting than Judson, who just bores me.

I was right. Judson was the one who was eliminated from this week’s episode. He seems like a really good person, and he has a lot to be proud of, but he really didn’t win me over as being the next Food Network star.

Finally, about six weeks into the show, I’ve almost made my decision about the one person to root for. Out of my top five, I’m going to choose one from each team to be the top three at the end: Emily from Team Alton, Malcolm from Team Bobby, and Martita from Team Giada. Right now, I’m thinking Martita will be chosen as the next Food Network star.

Lou Is No Loser on Celebrity Cookoff

I told you a couple weeks ago that I wasn’t overly impressed with the Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cookoff, and the reason for my unhappiness with the show is based on their choice of celebrities. Last night, the final two epsiodes of the series were shown, and while I’m glad a $50,000 donation was made to a charity on behalf of the winning celebrity, I’m not sad to see this series end. Should they decide to have a second season, I do hope they find celebrities with better personalities.

The first episode from last night had Lou Diamond Phillips and Taylor Dayne from Team Rachael compete against each other for a spot in the final epsiode. Coolio and Joey Fatone from Team Guy competed for the other spot in the final episode. Lou Diamond and Coolio were the winners, but all wasn’t lost for Joey and Taylor, who had a cookoff. Joey won and received a $5,000 check for his charity.

I was disappointed that Coolio beat Joey. While this wasn’t my favorite Food Network show, since I was watching, I chose Joey and Lou Diamond to be the two I’d like to see in the final episode. At the end of the show, I was glad Joey beat Taylor and glad to see her gone.

Immediately following the first episode, Food Network aired the season finale. As it started, I was still cheering for Lou Diamond to take out Coolio. The next thing I know, Rachael and Guy give Lou Diamond and Coolio an assistant to help with the formidable task for the final challenge. Just when I thought I was Taylor-free, she popped back in to be Lou Diamond’s assistant. Joey, obviously, returned to help Coolio.

The final task was for each man to set up his own fine-dining establishment. Joey and Taylor were placed in charge of decorating the restaurant with items chosen by Lou Diamond and Coolio. Decorations and supplies were provided for them. Ten minutes into the episode, Coolio was calling Lou Diamond and Taylor “Deco-hogs” because he thought they were monopolizing all the chairs. Then showing his vast degree of maturity, he aruged, “quit” and walked out after Taylor chose a chair he wanted.  Here’s the thing. All the items were up for grabs, on a first-come, first-served basis. If he wanted the chair, he should have taken the chair before she did. Considering the ultimate goal of this show was to win $50,000 for a charity, it’s very childish to walk out over a chair, when you’re that close to winning.

After coming to his senses (or perhaps somebody backstage reminded him why he was there), he returned and chose some items for the decor so Joey could go to work. Coolio and Lou Diamond went to the kitchen and started cooking while Joey and Taylor decorated. Finally, time expired and Taylor and Joey were greeting guests. At the beginning, Lou Diamond’s restaurant, Blessings, seemed to be doing well and Lou Diamond took the time to greet his guests. Over at Coolio’s restaurant, Chez Coolys, Joey had to tend to guests who had an extended wait period and when Joey went to try to get Coolio to do something so the guests could be served, what did Coolio do? Why, act like Coolio the stubborn little child again.

Coolio did make an impression on the judges Rachael and Guy brought in, though. Of course, no one has disputed he can cook. Based on everything they’ve said on the show the entire time, Coolio can cook, but I just don’t like him and his attitude. Lou Diamond, though, had much more personality, and his food looked much better to me. And I’ll freely admit, I’m biased. I’m more of a Lou Diamond fan than a Coolio fan.

Finally, Rachael and Guy were ready to deliver the results. And when the results were revealed, I was very pleased to see that Lou Diamond had a resounding victory over Coolio, with a score of 28 to 23. Coolio’s charity of Music Saves Lives will receive $10,000 for his second-place finish, and Lou Diamond’s charity of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign will receive the $50,000.

And now that this season of Rachael vs. Guy is over, I can say I’m only looking forward to another season if they get some celebrities with better personality. What I’m really looking foward to is the next season of Worst Cooks in America.

Celebrity Contestants Lack Key Ingredient

Food Network keeps coming up with new ideas for competitive cooking shows. The most recent offering is the Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cookoff. The concept sounds interesting enough: Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri mentor the celebrities on their teams in cooking challenges. The winning celebrity’s charity of choice will receive a $50,000 prize. Even though my husband and I are watching the series, it’s not the best one we’ve watched. We get more excited when the commercials for the upcoming season of Worst Cooks in America air.

Part of the fun of Worst Cooks is that the people on there seem to know absolutely nothing about cooking. They burn water. The mentoring of returning champ Ann Burrell and her new competitor Bobby Flay will be some true mentoring, and it’s fun and interesting to watch the progress these non-cooks can make over the course of the series. On Rachael vs. Guy, they chose celebrities who can cook and who enjoy cooking, but they are not professional cooks. They, too, do need the mentoring to get through the challenges they are presented. This could be an interesting show. The problem is, even though we’re still watching, it’s not the most interesting show.

The challenges aren’t the problem. As challenges go, they’re as interesting as anything that shows up on Next Food Network Star, Worst Cooks, or Chopped. The mentors aren’t the problem. Rachael and Guy are two of our favorite Food Network hosts. The judges aren’t the problem. The first challenge was judged by a group of 150 guests and was based on taste and entertainment. The second challenge was appropriately judged by students ready to graduate from pastry school. The third challenge was appropriately judged by three of the Chopped judges – Scott Conant, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Marcus Samuelsson. So, if the problem isn’t the hosts, the challenges, or the judges, what is the problem? The celebrities.

The eight celebrities who started the series were divided into two teams of four. Rachael’s team included musician Aaron Carter, Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders, musician Taylor Dayne, and actor Lou Diamond Phillips. Guy’s team included Miss America Alyssa Campanella, musician Joey Fatone, musician Coolio, and actor Cheech Marin. It’s just hard to choose anybody from this particular list to get behind and root for.

Part of the problem is personality. While they may be really good at whatever talent made them famous, they’re not as inspiring as celebrity cooks. Most of them are so lacking in personality that I think the only reason Jimmy and I are still watching is habit. We watch Food Network, and we like Rachael and Guy, so we keep watching. I’ve had a hard time trying to decide who to root for, but I finally decided to root for Lou Diamond Phillips on Rachael’s team and Joey Fatone on Guy’s team. I simply dislike them (as contestants on this show) less than I dislike the other celebrities on the show.

I’m sure we’ll keep watching until the end, but if Food Network does this show again, I strongly suggest they consider some celebrities who will present some more personality with their cooking. That’s one of the things they look for in their series The Next Food Network Star. It wouldn’t hurt to consider it for this show as well.

It’s Hummus vs. Hubris on Next Iron Chef

As you already know, my husband and I are huge Food Network fans. We have particular hosts we love to watch, including Giada de Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, Guy Fieri, the Neeleys, and Robert Irvine, just to name a few. We also enjoy the competition shows, such as Next Food Network Star, Chopped, and Next Iron Chef. So, when this season of Next Iron Chef was being promoted, we anxiously awaitedthe  October 30 premiere of the Super Chefs. Of course, we had our favorite picked out the moment we saw the lineup. We’re for Anne Burrell all the way.

Ideally, I would’ve liked to see it come down to Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine in the final episode, with Anne winning. I like Robert Irvine, but I like Anne better, and I do enjoy watching her beat him, as she did on Worst Cooks in America and Chopped. I was hoping for showdown number 3, with Anne coming out on top again. Last week, when Chef Spike chose to put Anne and Robert together for a team, it was quite funny, especially for those of us who know their history. It was with great relief that we learned that they were not the bottom team and did not have to face off against each other in the premiere episode. There was hope that they still might get the chance to fight it out in the finale.

That hope died tonight when Robert Irvine was eliminated from the competition. I was speechless. Robert manages to complete Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible challenges all the time. Robert is very well respected among the chefs employed by the Food Network. How can it be that it is episode 2, and Robert is gone? For what it’s worth, which isn’t really much since he was eliminated, the decision wasn’t unanimous. At least one of the judges wanted Robert to stay. And I’m going to guess that more viewers would have liked for Robert to stay than for Chef Michael Chiarello to stay.

Robert Irvine is such a popular chef, it was startling not just to viewers but also to the other Super Chefs that he was eliminated so early. And as Alton Brown pointed out, because his hummus was too thick. Personally, I thought Chef Chiarello’s attitude was too thick. Of course, since this is Super Chefs, there are going to be some Super Egos to contend with, and while the viewers get to see all the comments the chefs make after their food has been evaluated, I’m guessing that the judges don’t get to see all those comments. And that’s probably a good thing since if I were one of the judges and I heard one of the competitors dissing how I judged, I’d be more likely to eliminate them.

Tonight’s episode was a huge wake-up call to fans and chefs alike. If a chef like Robert can be eliminated so quickly, anybody can. As for this fan, though, I still have a preferred order for elimination, which simply calls for all the chefs I’m not really familiar with or that I just don’t like as well to go first. The next ones I’d like to see go are Michael Chiarello (didn’t like his attitude), Elizabeth Faulkner (just don’t really know anything about her), and Chuck Hughes (don’t really know anything about him). After that, Geoffrey Zakarian, Marcus Samuelsson, and Beau MacMillan would be the next three to go, leaving Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli to compete for the final spot. Since I can’t have Anne and Robert in the finale, then let’s have Anne and Alex and add a female Super Chef to the prestigious Iron Chef crew.

Of course after tonight, it’s hard to speculate about who will win this competition, but it’s certainly going to be interesting to watch, and it’s not going to be an easy task for the competitors. But since it is Next Iron Chef, it shouldn’t be easy for them. One thing I’m wondering, though. When this is over, will those who serve as Chopped judges be any more sympathetic to those competitors than they were before? That may be as interesting to watch as these episodes are.

The Next Food Network Star Is …

When The Next Food Network Star began last night, three contestants remained. Susie Jimenez was the front-runner, and the second spot was a toss-up between Jeff Mauro and Vic Moea.

Preceding the season finale, Food Network aired its first reunion show. All the former contestants were there, previously unseen footage was shown, rivalries were discussed. The reunion show proved enlightening about the relationships among the contestants and made clear one point. Several of my students say they look forward to getting out of high school so they can get away from the drama. The reunion show proved drama never goes away, especially when that many strangers move into a house together, and they all have the same goal. Honestly, some of the clips shown made high school look like a piece of cake.

The reunion show ended, and the finale began. There was an immediate cook-off to eliminate one of the three, which would allow only two to make a pilot. It had appeared that early into the series, Susie had become the judges’ sweetheart. They offered her advice for improvement, but it never really seemed they were as harsh with her as they sometimes were with the other contestants. This seemed evident yet again when Susie was deemed safe after the cook-off challenge, leaving either Vic or Jeff to be eliminated. I can’t say I was terribly surprised when Vic was eliminated. He had struggled more than Jeff during the last few competitions.

Jeff and Susie made their pilot episodes, directed by season two winner, Guy Fieri. Both did an admirable job, and both had points of view that I would be interested in watching. I preferred Jeff’s pilot, but I still believed that Susie was their sweetheart and thought they would choose her. I was surprised, therefore, when Bobby Flay announced that the next star would be Jeff.  Pleasantly surprised, that is.

Over the past three episodes, Jeff had won me over, and apparently, he also won over the judges. My biggest complaint is his new show will premiere on Sunday at 11:30 A.M. I will be in church on Sunday at 11:30 A.M. In order to get to watch it, I’ll have to DVR it. There’s nothing wrong with using the DVR, except finding time to watch everything that ends up on there. I’ve noticed, though, that a lof of their new programming is aired on the weekends. I would prefer they air some of these new shows in the evenings. Over the course of the week, I had the opportunity to watch last week’s episode of The Next Food Network Star at least four times. Why not show me a rerun of one of the weekend morning shows instead?

So, how well will Jeff do? Given his premise of being The Sandwich King, he should do well. Americans, in particular, love sandwiches, and we’ll try making anything into a sandwich, especially if we have a talented, funny guy showing us how to do it. But what about Susie and Vic? Given the history of Food Network, they have a decent shot of ending up with a show of their own.

When looking at information about the previous seasons, there were no star names that I recognized from either season one or season three. From season two, Guy Fieri is the only name I recognize. Big Daddy Aaron McCargo, Jr., season four’s winner, is still around and doing a few things for Food Network, but so is his runner-up Adam Gertler. Season five only has Melissa d’Arabian to show for its efforts. Aarti Sequeira, winner of season six, still has her show, but so does the third runner-up of season six, Tom Pizzica. I’m not sure what happened to season six’s second-place finisher. And now with season seven in the books, Jeff Mauro, The Sandwich King, will entertain us with all sorts of sandwiches. It’s just as likely that Susie Jimenez will still get to spice it up, and Mama’s Boy Vic Moea still has a shot at a show of his own. The interesting thing about The Next Food Network Star is that each season provides the potential to produce multiple stars.

Congratulations to The Sandwich King, and I look forward to finding new ways to make good sandwiches.

Mary Beth’s Luck Runs Out Tonight

For the past two weeks, my husband and I both predicted Mary Beth would be the one to leave The Next Food Network Star. Both weeks, we were wrong. At this point, I’m wondering if we should apologize to Jyll and Whitney. We didn’t think either of them would be in the final three either, but perhaps by predicting Mary Beth’s exit, we jinxed them. If so, sorry about that. Surely, though, this will be Mary Beth’s week to leave the show.

It’s nothing personal against Mary Beth; she seems like a nice enough lady, but we would not watch a show hosted by her. To us, she just doesn’t have the energy, creativity, or personality of Guy Fieri, Giada De Laurentiis, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, Robert Irvine, Anne Burrell, or Bobby Flay.

Jeff, Vic, and Susie are making food that is much more visually appealing and creative, and according to the judges, food that just tastes better than Mary Beth’s. For that reason, we are hoping not to jinx either of them by predicting one more time that Mary Beth will be the contestant eliminated on tonight’s show.

When we decided to try our hand at determining who would be the next to leave the show, we both had Vic and Susie in the top two; Jimmy had said that Vic would be victorious, while I chose Susie. However, after watching the last two episodes, I’m starting to think Jeff just might have a shot at this. Fortunately for him, he has recovered from the “Balls on a Roll” fiasco. Since then, he’s the one who’s been on a roll, winning camera challenges and cooking challenges. He has become more sure of himself while Vic and Susie have floundered.

At this point, I still believe that Jeff, Vic, and Susie will be the final three, and Mary Beth will be eliminated tonight. Depending on how things play out in tonight’s episode, I may have to revise my final prediction, though. If Jeff performs like he has on the last two episodes, Vic and Susie will have their work cut out for them. And the more I think about it, a guy who can be charming and funny and has a show all about sandwiches might be a lot of fun to watch.

Cooking Up a New Star on Food Network

My husband and I started watching The Next Food Network Star with Season 4. We found a marathon of Season 4 on TV leading up to the finale, and we watched them all. By the time the finale came on, we liked both Big Daddy and Adam Gertler, but we didn’t care so much for Lisa Garza. In the end, we were rooting for Big Daddy to win and were pleased when he did. Until we ran across this marathon, I wasn’t all that familiar with the show. I hadn’t really heard of it before, but Jimmy told me that Guy Fieri had won Season 2. That was a name I recognized, but even as we were watching Season 4, at the time I had no idea how many seasons there were or which one we
were watching. Since then, I’ve read the names of the winners of Seasons 1 and 3, but I can’t really tell you anything about them. Also since then, we haven’t missed a season. My Season 5 favorite was Melissa d’Arabian, but Season 6 was a tough one and I couldn’t choose between Aarti Sequeria and Tom Pizzica.

Now we are watching Season 7, and last week was the midterm. From the beginning, Chris and Penny were two of our least favorites, so we were very happy to see both of them leave. It has been difficult to pick a favorite this season, in part because there was too much drama going on between the contestants and it distracted from the competition. With Chris and Penny now gone, the drama will
hopefully be gone as well, and the focus can be on the food competitions. Most of the remaining contestants are likeable; it’s time to choose who I would be willing to watch, and who I’d like to win.

Whitney needs to loosen up. She seems to have a sparkling personality in there somewhere, but because of her background as an engineering consultant, she sometimes gets lost in being too technical. Her point of view of “Gourmet Classics” does sound interesting to me. Jyll had Vic pegged correctly when she referred to him as a “big teddy bear” in their food truck commercial. He’s a very likeable guy, and his point of view of “Mama’s Boy” resonates well with me because I have three boys of my own. Susie is perky and knowledgeable. She’s finding her groove as the show goes on, and her point of view of “Spice It Up” and playing up her Mexican roots will benefit her. Mary Beth is trying too hard. Her food is hit-and-miss, but as a food writer she has proven she knows food. Her point of view of “Sunday Supper” would resonate well with anyone who likes the tradition of Sunday family dinners.

Jyll needs to get a grip on her nerves. It’s OK to try to be tough and act like things don’t bother you, but Jyll takes it too far. It wouldn’t hurt for her to show a little emotion instead of being a doormat. I like her point of view of “Jyllicious Bites”; finger foods are some of my favorite. Jeff’s point of view of “Sandwich King” would also be interesting to watch. There are days when nothing beats a good sandwich. In order to make it to the end, though, he needs to rein in his sometimes over-the-top antics.

Six contestants are left. With three (I think) episodes left, it’s time to choose my favorite and the one I want to win. I asked Jimmy to do the same. Here’s how Jimmy sees it playing out. The remaining finalists will leave in this order: Mary Beth, Whitney, Jyll, Jeff, and Susie. Jimmy has chosen Vic to win it all. My list isn’t too different than his. I have the remaining contestants leaving in this order: Mary Beth, Jyll, Whitney, Jeff, and Vic, with Susie winning it all. That said, though, I would watch a show with either Vic or Susie on it,
but I doubt I would hang around very long for any of the others. Now that we have somebody to root for, I’m anxiously awaiting the next episode.