Chef Alex McCoy prepares ramen on the latest Food Network Star. (Photo courtesy Food Network)
Well, live television was the death of our hero.
DC Chef Alex McCoy was competing in this season of Food Network Star, and he did reasonably well, but he finally was eliminated from the competition in the ninth episode! So close!
Let’s recap.
At the beginning of the episode, contestants were given a small challenge and then later they competed in a bigger challenge — a typical setup for Food Network Star.
This week, both challenges revolved around participating in a live television segment. In the first, the remaining four contestants prepared a dish and appeared individually in two-minute segments with blogger and model Catherine McCord. Each contestant had 30 minutes to prepare a meal to fit a theme. Alex received the theme of preparing a one pot meal “for a hot date.”
As something “romantic, fun and exciting,” Alex chose Portuguese Fish Stew with pepper, celery, garlic and onions. The dish was heavy on prep, but our man made the deadline.
Alex’s One Pot Date Night Meal: Portuguese Fish Stew #FoodNetworkStar pic.twitter.com/001hLUfhjW
— Food Network (@FoodNetwork) August 3, 2015
In his live presentation, however, Alex stumbled, particularly at the end where he ran out of time after talking too much.
Food Network Star host Bobby Flay told Alex he missed too many opportunities during his live presentation, and then ran out of time and didn’t invite the mentor in his live segment to sample his food.
Unfortunately, this set up a disastrous second half of the program, where contestants were challenged to do the same sort of thing on a bigger scale. The four remaining contestants were tasked to operate as an ensemble to produce a fake show called “Summer Live,” where each man would present a five-minute segment around a theme and involve and engage with their co-hosts while doing so.
Former NFL football player Eddie Jackson won the earlier challenge, so he was able to assign themes to his competitors, and he chose the most difficult ones for each person. He gave Alex the theme of preparing a summer dish for a family reunion.
As Alex noted several times, the only family reunion he ever attended was in Indonesia where the guests ate soup. So he decided to whip up Bacon Ramen for his dish.
Alex’s Family Reunion Dish: Bacon Ramen #FoodNetworkStar pic.twitter.com/Y1JkdylQWh
— Food Network (@FoodNetwork) August 3, 2015
With 45 minutes to make a dish, Alex cooked up Bacon Miso Ramen with Soba and Teriyaki Pork, much to the mystification of his competitors who thought Alex’s “culinary point of view” with sandwiches would have been an easier road to travel when cooking for a family reunion.
Alex noted that executing a demo in a timely manner has been his biggest problem in the series so far, and that proved to be the case again.
The ramen confused the hosts, who didn’t see the appeal of hot soup in the summer nor for such a large group of people. Alex also didn’t involve his fellow contestants in a co-hosting capacity during his segment.
Still Food Network Star host Giada De Laurentiis complimented Alex’s food, saying “It is very good. When it comes to this kind of food, Alex knows his stuff.”
Good soup or no, the hosts determined Alex hadn’t done enough to avoid elimination this week, and they cut him! Their loss! Alex gave an exit interview to Food Network Star blogger Maria Russo, and you can read it here.
From there, Alex went on to a web series, Star Salvation, where the contestants cut from Food Network Star compete to reappear in a future season of Food Network Star. So perhaps we’ll see him out there again!
Meanwhile, watch Food Network Star, Season 11, Episode 9, on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2aDtVNXoaE]