The Bachelor – Season One

So last night, I got home from decorating the church, had been there since a little before 1pm and it was about 7:30pm when I got home. VBS starts tonight and I had to turn the church into a big backyard for tonight. So anyway, I get home and I was channel surfing, since the only thing I knew I wanted to watch, The Next Food Network Star didn’t come on until 10pm, I had some time to kill. What did I find but on VH1, a Bachelor marathon, it started at 6pm, and they showed every episode of the very first season back to back! WOW! I was excited.

I never watched that first season, in fact, I didn’t like the concept and so avoided it until Andrew Firestone’s season, and for some reason it hooked me, and so I have watched since then. I like going back and watching Alex’s season, espically the differences.

In that season, the Ladies lived in one house, called the Ladies Villa and the The Bachelor lived somewhere else, but on the night of what is now the Rose Ceremony, but used to be called Invitation Night, the ladies all arrived at the Bachelor’s place.  Chris Harrison was still the host, although with poofier hair back then, and he really stressed to the ladies that they were in control, they could refuse a rose if they wanted. 

Another thing about Invitation Night was that it was much more casual. I like that everyone was dressed nice, but not in ball gowns, the gals had on slacks and sweaters or dresses or skirts and shirts, but not the long things. It just seemed more natural. Also, all the ladies sat around the room on couchs during the invitation process, instead of standing in rows like now. I think it was nicer and much more natural and normal feeling, and not as much drama and tv-ish.

Th other thing I really like was deliberation. We got to see Chris and Alex head into a seperate room, where all the ladies pictures were and the talked about the week and the decision, it was nice, we really got to see more of him and why he picked the way he did, also each lady was able to leave a video message for him, to be played in the room before he picked. I liked that lot, wish they would bring that one back.

Trista was the runner-up, or I guess I should say that she was let go in the final rose ceremony, and we all know that she went on to be the first Bachelorette and found her true love in Ryan, married and started a family in Colorado.  I was shocked to watch and see that so many, well Robin  (or was it Rhonda) was so openly against her, claiming she was there for the wrong reason. I did not know that people questioned her motive before.

Shannon was let go at number three, and all I can say is how did she ever make it that long! I am telling you, all she ever did pick fights with him. I mean he is asking her the hard questions, tryingto understand her and get to know her, and she startsin on him about how hard it is to answer those, and she will tell him later and just basically fighting with him, and then he never finds out the answers that he was asking. When she finally goes, she says that she wanted someone who would love her for who she was, and Alex wasn’t that person, well how do you know? You would never open up and talk to him when asked, you picked a fight instead, so how was he suppose to know you.

It was great to see the old episode, and now that I know they are going to be on vh1 all month, I am going to have to check out some of the other seasons that I missed.

 

The Next Food Network Star – Season Four, Episode One

So last night was the beginning of a new season of The Next Food Network Star.  This is the fourth season, and I was so excited to see it begin. I have watched all three of the previous seasons, and although I do watch alot of reality stuff, I tend to like Bravo, Food Network and HGTV so much better than the big guy channels (abc, nbc, and cbs).

So it begins with each contestant arriving at a studio and we learn a little bit about them and once they are all there, the selection committee arrives and welcomes then and tells them the first challenge is right around the corner. Who comes around the corner but Alton Brown and he tells them they need to define their signature style in one sentence. So he lines them up, puts them in front of a camera and they each get one line, some do well and some, well, are forgettable. Alton sends them home to sleep before the first cooking challenge in the morning.

Next morning, and they are paired into teams to cook three dishes in 30 minutes. Okay right there I am thinking you need to do really simple, really fast dishes, because that is like 10 minutes per dish. The three dishes, one needs to be cook a’s signature style, one is cook b, and third is a combination of the two. I can tell you that time mangement was probably the biggest problem that they all had last night. 30 minutes goes by alot faster than you realize when you are cooking.

So down to who was in the bottom, and who went home. Who went home was:  Kory, she was a stand up comic and wanted to marry that with cooking, She just came across as too nervous and unsure of herself.

Okay, my pans and picks…..

Lisa! UGH! Oh man, this women looked like she was trying to channel Victoria Beckham, the haircut, the sunglasses, the dress and heels, and yes she cooked in 4 inches heels, but she was just too much. She said her style was to deconstruct something and something about three c’s and I was lost, along with all the other chefs. Hopefully she will be going home soon!

Nipa…..okay, she was not bad, but she thinks she is alot better than she is, and that is something that the judges called her out on, and what does she immediately say in the PI after that? I knew I wasn’t going home because no matter what they say I am still the queen of spice. Okay, you need to be taken down a peg or two, girly.

Shane….he’s 19 years, used to be over 200 lbs and so he learned cooking to focus on making the food instead of eating it. I like him. I think he might be a good cook, but I think at 19 he is completely in awe of some of the chefs he was cooking for last night and just got nervous. I hope that now that he has made it through one challenge he will calm down and do better.

You know, that this point, I really haven’t had enough chance to see them all cook to tell you who I like the best, but those are my thoughts so far! What did you think?