Food Network Star Recap: July 17, 2011

Well, I can’t say after watching tonight’s Food Network Star I’m any closer to knowing who will win, but I’ve definitely found an excellent contestant in case Food Network ever wants to produce a show called America’s Most Obnoxious Dinner Guest.

Did anybody else think that Wolfgang Puck took his celebrity judge status a little too far when he dragged Our Gal Jyll back to the kitchen and gave her an Evelyn Wood-style crash course in risotto?

True, the stuff Jyll served up looked like it would be better suited to filling a cavity-ridden molar, but Puck’s singling her out like that and showing off how he could do it oh so much better had a definite “neener-neener” quality to it.  I think Jyll would have preferred to go stand in the corner with a rice cooker on her head while Wolfie used a slingshot to fire Brazil nuts at her.

Nevertheless, I thought Jyll held it together pretty well.  She seemed to adopt the attitude of “Shit howdy!  A free cooking lesson with Wolfgang!  This is way better than that “Everything’s Coming Up Cupcakes” class at Sur La Table!”

And perhaps I’m being too hard on Wolfgang.  After all, could it be I read the entire situation wrong from the get-go?

Maybe it wasn’t that Wolfgang was so disgusted with Jyll’s risotto he had no choice but to tear away from dinner and run to the kitchen.  Maybe he was just trying to get away from everyone else at that damn table.

Consider the tedium…. Bob Tuschman endlessly showing off what he knows about whoopie pies.  Giada de Laurentiis forever manipulating the conversation so she can work in the word “free-TAH-TAH.”  Bobby Flay’s non-stop bragging about the new limit on his Gold AmEx.  Susie Fogelson throwing back one too many Moscow Mules and getting a little “handsy” under the table.

I’d have probably bolted for the kitchen too.

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Tags: Alicia Sanchez, Bob Tuschman, Bobby Flay, Chris Nirschel, Cupcake Wars, Dinner Impossible, Food Network, Giada De Laurentiis, Giada De Laurentis, Howie Drummond, Jeff Mauro, Juba Kali, Justin Balmes, Justin Davis, Jyll Everman, Katy Clark, Mary Beth Albright, Next Food Network Star, Orchid Paulmeier, Penny Davidi, Robert irvine, Susie Fogelson, Susie Jimenez, Vic "Vegas" Moea, Whitney Chen, Wolfgang Puck