As discovered in the previews, this week’s episode centered on
a mini Burger Bash competition. I really
liked this challenge because it allowed the stars to get really creative. Also, we got live presentations in episode
2! To me, it seems like these are always
a little bit later, but I could be wrong about that? The live presentations are one of my favorite
parts of the show because you really get to see how each one is around people. (Side note:
I really loved that they brought the dials back for the second episode
in a row! It really helps give you an image
of how well liked each one was by the people in the crowd.)
This week’s episode introduced what I believe could be the
first real rivalry of the season. Food
Network has been putting this “rivals” thing out there a lot this season, which
is interesting. I technically don’t
agree with the Russell/Viet one just yet, but these people probably know
something that I do not. The rivalry
they introduced/hinted at (a lot) tonight was Danushka vs. Nikki. This rivalry is mostly just Danushka dissing
Nikki, but really, even if Nikki was throwing some disses at Danushka (at this
point) I wouldn’t blame her! Danushka
called Nikki boring like vanilla (and the NFNS and Survivor worlds
collided!) She also said she would never
watch a show hosted by someone with the last name Dinki. This seems like a valid reason, am I right?
(Note: Sarcasm) Danushka also voiced a
lot of hate for Nikki’s presentation. In
all fairness, Nikki’s presentation was down a few notches from that of last
week’s episode, but she still did better and was more well liked than Danushka! Oh the drama inside of #TeamHannah at the
moment!
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| Way to go, Russell! A nice improvement over last week's episode! From 10th place to 1st! Let's keep it like this! |
A shining star emerged in tonight’s episode and, fun fact,
this shining star is a close friend of AustHan. (I don’t know how much of a lie
this is, but we’ll go with it.) That
shining star was, of course, Russell!
Russell was shown struggling a bit last week. His intensity needed to be toned down some in
order to bring his likability up, and he did a great job of doing this in
tonight’s episode! His “7 culinary sins”
make for a really interesting concept and a concept that worked very well in
tonight’s challenge! Of course, how can
you go wrong with bacon? I’m pretty sure
you can’t. Also, it’s pretty important
to note that tonight’s edit was very Russell heavy and seemed in much favor of
him, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing this guy for many episodes to come! #TeamHannah
Would this truly be a Hannah NFNS review/recap without a
section dedicated to Viet somewhere within the first few paragraphs? No, no it would not be. A lot of buzz has been surrounding Viet since
the premiere episode where people believe he’s too popular to be there? While I can see their viewpoints, I clearly
have to disagree. Viet is not the only
successful one in this bunch. (And that’s
all I’ll say on this topic.. Next.) Viet
made some more improvement in this episode!
He mentioned his fear for public speaking, but despite having to be the
first presentation, you could hardly tell he hated public speaking! He was much more comfortable in this
episode! The judges liked the
improvement and once again enjoyed his food.
My favorite Viet moment from this episode would be when he said that he
didn’t think he did that bad (after the competition ended) because others had
less coins than him. Keep the positive
attitude, Viet! #TeamViet
Some other notes to make about tonight’s episode:
In the previews, they made a huge deal about the Damaris
crying at judging thing. They made it
seems as if the “you’re isolating the male viewers” comment was aimed at her
after she shimmied during her presentation.
In reality, this comment was aimed at Andres. They told Andres this because he was tending
to imply that men can’t cook. In the
end, Andres’ story of weight loss wasn’t enough to keep him in the competition,
as the judges thought he didn’t want to use it to his advantage. They thought this was the thing that would
connect him the most with the audience, and he was therefore the one sent
home. I’m sad to see another go, but
happy to see that it was another #TeamAustin member. That currently makes the draft score: Team
Hannah (6) and Team Austin (4). I’m not
getting my hopes up just yet though!
“Cooking is as manly as growing a beard!” –Andres
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| Andres becomes the second eliminated from the competition, leaving only 10 hopeful stars to compete for the title of the Next Food Network Star! |
In this episode, Stacey and Chad both stayed consistent with
good performances. I would likely place
Chris in this category too, but I feel that he’s more in the lower middle of
the pack at this point. Nikki, as
mentioned before, didn’t perform quite as well this week, but the judges seem
to have a lot of confidence in her ability and I’m sure she’ll turn it
around. I was really hoping that
Danushka would turn things around this week, but I honestly don’t know if I can
see her ever doing this. She seems very
set in her ways and I believe her food may always remain in the less-inventive
section of this group. The drama she
wants to surround herself with (by disliking many of the contestants) will
probably also not play out well for her in the end game, if she were to make it
there.
My favorite moment from tonight’s episode was shown when the
burger enthusiasts were going around to vote for the different stars and trying
their burgers. A guy that looked
suspiciously like a long lost brother of Chad was quite the Chad fan! If you missed this moment of hilarity (at
least I found it hilarious) please, go rewatch that section of the
episode. It was glorious.
As for how the tokens played out in tonight’s episode, I,
with a little help (very little help) from Austin, compiled the results and
here they are!
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| So, #TeamHannah, being up one member, still won the token advantage, but only by 2 tokens! |
What did you think about tonight’s episode? Do you have any emerging favorites? Were any of your first impressions off? Let me know your thoughts by tweeting me @theonlytrace or @AustHansWorld, or simply leave a comment below!
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