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.”

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Alex McCoy presents a 4th of July meal on the latest Food Network Star. (Photo courtesy Food Network)

Once again, this season’s Food Network Star Comeback Kid rose to the occasion.

And so DC Chef Alex McCoy delivered one of his best episodes yet in the reality show competition last week after nearly facing elimination from the contest in the previous week.

“Last week, I was on the bottom but it wasn’t like I edged anybody out. Someone walked off! I’ve got a lot to earn from the judges this week, and I’m going balls to the wall with the food,” Alex said.

Among five finalists last week, all were men, and the contestants faced a small challenge followed by a bigger one, as usual, this episode.

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Former Miami Dolphins football player Eddie Jackson (above) teamed up with DC Chef Alex McCoy last week. (Photo courtesy Food Network)

Today, on the Food Network at 9pm Et, catch the sixth episode of Food Network Star, Season 11.

The competition includes two chefs from the DC area — restaurant owner Alex McCoy and blogger Emilia Cirker. The two survived last week’s episode, “The Perfect Match,” and they both did particularly well in that episode’s challenges. Here at ParklifeDC, we’ve been behind Alex this season, so we are going to recap his progress last episode to bring you up to speed before tonight’s challenges.

In the opening challenge last week, Alex and seven other remaining contestants faced a cook and critique challenge. Each contestant chose their favorite ingredient, and Alex chose Asian five spice powder (Sichuan pepper, fennel seeds, cloves, star anise and Chinese cinnamon). But instead of cooking with that ingredient, each chef swapped ingredients with a partner after a surprise announcement by Food Network Star hosts Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis.

Alex swapped ingredients with contestant Dominick Tesoriero of Staten Island, who chose ricotta as his favorite ingredient. With Dom’s ricotta, Alex chose to make a Smoked Salmon and Ricotta Sandwich. But after the contestants prepared their dishes, Bobby and Giada surprised them again and asked them to switch back so that the original selector of the ingredient would critique the meal made from it.

Dom called Alex’s sandwich “classic” and said he would enjoy eating it at a brunch. Alex hailed Dom’s Beef Noodles with Five Spice Broth as good — an Italian chef’s take on an Asian dish. Both men performed well in the challenge, but neither won it.

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Alex McCoy in Food Network Star, our DC choice to win this thing! (Photo courtesy Food Network)

We’re back with an update on the third installment of Season 11 of Food Network Star, where we’ve been cheering on DC hometown Chef Alex McCoy, one of 10 contestants to compete in this episode.

Alex again survived to fight another day, avoiding elimination in this reality show contest, where chefs must demonstrate some cooking chops as well as camera skills. In avoiding elimination, Alex kinda slipped up in one challenge and then bounced back in a second challenge, which has been a bit of a pattern for him recently!

This third episode of the 11th season was called “Trendy Dinner,” and Food Network Star hosts Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis explained that their television network sometimes focuses on trendy or flashy food. So for the first challenge, the chef contestants faced the task of making photo-worthy food that would compel them to taste it from the picture, following the trend of young diners posting picture of their meals on social media.

Alex answered the challenge with crabcakes, giving some love to our area state of Maryland. But to remind folks he’s “the sandwich guy” in the competition, Alex made crabcake sliders — specifically, crabcake sliders with sambal remoulade and rocket radishes.

And the crabcakes looked terrific! Until Alex capped them with the buns, obscuring the yummy crabcake from view.

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Chef Alex McCoy (Photo courtesy Food Network)

Well, a personally busy week last week kept me from chatting about the latest episode of Food Network Star until now, but now I’ve got a bit of time to update the progress of Chef Alex McCoy on the second episode of the show’s 11th season shortly before the third episode airs tonight.

Alex avoided elimination quite handily in the second episode with a terrific display as a “Comeback Kid.” He and the other 10 contestants faced two challenges — making a quick dinner from leftovers and then baking a sweet and savory dish for assessment by top patry chefs.

The chef did pretty well in the first challenge but blew everyone away in the second, in part by carefully listening to the feedback from Food Network Star hosts Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis.

In the first challenge, Alex prepared a fried rice with the ingredients found in the refrigerator offered to contestants. Each contestant, including Alex, presented their meal in a 30-second video. Although Alex did well, Bobby and Giada dogged him a bit for going off theme, as Alex has presented himself as a “sandwich guy.” Alex explained that sometimes he wants something different when he comes home from a day of making sandwiches, and Bobby Flay suggested Alex could simply explain that.

However, the judges actually enjoyed late night fried rice. Bobby said, “I thought it was flavorful; I thought it had spice to it.”

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DC’s Alex McCoy did well on the first episode of Food Network Star. (Photo courtesy of Food Network)

The new season of the Food Network Star debuted Sunday night, featuring two DC contestants — Alex McCoy and Emilia Cirka.

Our little DC blog is unabashedly in support of Alex, who performed rather well in the first episode! At the beginning of the show, he and the other 11 contestants gave a bit of a personal introduction in 30 seconds to Food Network hosts Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis.

The hosts liked what Alex had to say, but they wanted more charisma from him. Like a few other contestants, he didn’t smile enough during his introduction. Thankfully, the contestants got a chance to re-do their introductions in 30-second video presentations. The next day, the contestants presented their 30-second videos to 100 Food Network fans who gathered for a food festival catered by the contestants.

Alex and the other contestants were given an hour to cater food for the 100 guests, and Alex chose to make Choripan sandwiches with pork belly. This fit with Alex’s focus, as he introduced himself as a sandwich expert who travels the globe for inspiration. The concept is very much similar to what Alex did at Duke’s Grocery, where he cooked tasty sandwiches and other fare until leaving in January.

Everyone was wowed by Alex’s video, in which he was succinct and charming. Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis cheered Alex for taking their feedback to heart (mostly by using his winning smile during his introduction). Appearing on the show as a guest judge, J.D. Heyman, deputy entertainment editor of People magazine, called Alex “a budding celebrity.”

The reaction to his sandwiches, however, was a bit mixed. Guests seemed to like them but they found them a bit overdone perhaps. Alex didn’t get a lot of screen time compared to some of the others, particularly the “problem children” of the competition. But he was smooth and built up to a fine performance. We expect him to surprise folks more as the season progress with both his personality and his food.

In the end, Alex made the cut and avoided first-round elimination quite handily. Catch up with him (and Emilia) along with the other remaining contestants in the second episode of this edition of Food Network Star on Sunday, June 14, at 9pm ET.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: