Well, that wasn’t easy. Choosing a winner among Herb, Aarti and Tom was like choosing a favorite flavor of ice-cream. They are all good, but maybe just depends on which day you are asked to choose. The three of them delivered awesome pilot shows with Rachael Ray directing them, and the judges had probably the most difficult decision facing them yet. What’s more, each of the three have unique points of view that offer something different to the network. But choose they did, and we have the results right here. Oh, and this season the judges also enlisted the help of a focus group to help them choose a winner.
So first Rachael sat down with each of the contestants to figure out what they would be cooking. Aarti chose pizza with an Indian twist. Herb made a frittata with chicken and sausage, and Tom made a roasted chicken with marinated mushrooms.
Each of them struggled at first, but found their groove as they worked at it. Herb was talking too fast and not cooking, and wound up going four-plus minutes over his allotted time. But he improved as soon as they let him tape photos of his family to the camera. Odd, but it worked.
Aarti was losing her grip fast, but once she got comfortable with the camera, she was just awesome, looking every bit as natural as anyone else on the network. Her food, though, didn’t look as appetizing to me as the other two dishes.
Tom was being Tom, babbling jibberish at first. But once he realized this and relaxed, he was hilarious and quite entertaining, and he also looked natural.
The three were allowed to watch their pilots together and also watch the reactions of the focus group, but not the focus group’s comments afterward. Bob Tuschman called Herb a “seasoned pro” and Susie said, “You’re a star.” For Aarti, Bob said she has star quality and Susie said she is a “natural.” They told Tom that they loved him and so did the focus group, as he made everyone laugh and delivered a great dish.
When the three judges deliberated, Bob said something interesting that also crossed my mind too…that Tom reminded him of Guy Fieri. He said that choosing Tom could lead to a huge success story the same way that Guy did, but what he didn’t say was that if they chose Tom, they might have a Guy Fieri clone…different, yet the same. Hmmm.
I have to commend Food Network too for making this just a one-hour finale instead of dragging it out. So the decision seemed like it came fairly quick…the winner of Food Network Star Season 6……Aarti! In the end, I think it was her unique point of view and ease on camera that won it for her…plus, remember how Bobby Flay and Michael Symon were freaking out over how good her food was last week? Don’t think that wasn’t a huge factor in this decision.
So “Aarti Paarti” will begin airing next week. And I am willing to bet that Herb and Tom will also land gigs on the network the way that Adam Gertler and Kelsey Nixon did. In fact, I’m almost glad Tom didn’t win because his potential is too great for a 30 minute cooking show.
Folks, it’s been fun blogging this season for you, and I can’t believe it’s over already. It was a fun and interesting season with lots of great talent, and I admit I think the judges really did a great job of choosing the three finalists, and they made a good decision too. We’ll have a chance to ask Aarti a question or two on a conference call today, so look for that later this week. Thanks for reading and hanging here with me this season!
