Congratulations to Amy Finley for winning the 2007 Next Food Network Star competition! She will get her own show on the network (her competition theme was 'The Gourmet Next Door'). I think this season was much better than the previous two. The production crew obviously learned a lot from Top Chef and integrated much better angles into each episode.

While I thought Paul deserved a shot at the finals, he was axed just prior to the final challenge. Really unfortunate given that Jag was probably next to last that week and eventually 'withdrew' from the competition after disclosures surfaced about misrepresentations of facts about his culinary and military backgraounds. I like Rory, but she's a bit ... I dunno, too 'shiny'. Amy is much more the Giada type, laid back, comfortable, and very pretty in a less makeup intensive fashion than Rory.

Great job Amy!!!!

The new Next Food Network Star is on right now. Who will it be? Amy Finley, the Gourmet Next Door, or Rory Schepisi, the Backyard Bistro? Soon we'll know!

Crazy ending to the 2007 Next Food Network Star series. All three contestants did really well in the last challenge, and the judges decided to send hom Amy Finley. Rory Schepisi and JAG (Joshua Adam Garcia) were left for folks to vote on. Well, after filming the series, the Food Network executives learned that JAG misrepresented facts about his service (he was not deployed to Afghanistan) and his training (he did not gradulate culinary school). So, they brought him in to discuss it, and he resigned from the competition. I'm sure the network made the call, and offered him the chance to go out gracefully and apologize and resign (instead of the negative reality that he was likely canned). So, Amy got to come back for the final vote. I love her! She was my favorite anyway, so I hope she wins. Go vote now through July 17th at 9am on the east coast. Go Amy!
UPDATE: This is the source article at Military Times that started the public discussion on Joshua Adam Garcia:

Garcia, who turns 26 later this month, was a Marine, enlisting Aug. 15, 1999, for a four-year enlistment that should have ended in 2003. Instead, Garcia was discharged eight months early as a private for reasons that the Marine Corps declined to discuss due to laws protecting his personal information.

Enlisted for more than three years with no promotions? Not even the Marine Corps is that tough.

In a follow-up interview Monday, Garcia was asked to explain why he called himself a former corporal. He owned up to non-judicial punishments that cost him rank, but he blamed his military troubles on a hazing conspiracy at his former unit. Garcia also claimed that he fought his administrative separation and was ultimately exonerated, but none of that can be independently confirmed because of privacy rules.

The Marine Corps has no record of Garcia’s rank being upgraded from private by any review board.

Likewise, the service has no record of Garcia ever deploying to Afghanistan, and certainly not as a member of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, the infantry unit Garcia said he accompanied to the war zone in 2002. In fact, Marine officials at the battalion’s home at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said the unit did not deploy to Afghanistan that year.