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Will Work For Food: Premiere Episode Review
Posted on January 22nd 2009 by Jillian Madison

adam gertler will work for food lobster fishermanAdam Gertler’s “Will Work For Food” is yet more proof that the Food Network is completely out of ideas. The new prime time show is a blatant rip-off of “Dirty Jobs” and “How’d That Get On My Plate”, except without the charisma of Mike Rowe or the personality of Sunny Anderson.

The premise is simple enough: man goes around the world doing food related jobs. But Houston, we have a problem.  Adam’s employers don’t seem to like him or even want him near them, which leaves the viewer feeling like they’re watching an awful job interview that’s going down faster than Paris Hilton. Out of options and unable to engage his guests, Adam resorts to asking them rapid-fire questions in a desperate attempt to fill the long and uncomfortable silences. This tactic backfires, and leaves Adam sounding more like an inquisitive 2-year old than an entertaining, witty host.

For Adam’s first job, he worked as a fisherman on a small lobster boat off the coast of Maine (because apparently we haven’t seen that job being done 1,000 times before on the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs and Lobster Wars). The lobstermen seemed annoyed by Adam’s presence, and simply uttered dismissive one-word answers to Adam’s annoying, incessant questions. “What’s this rope do? What’s this thing called? Where do you go if you have to throw up? What is that bait? How much longer?” The men on board the boat looked like they wanted to throw him overboard so they could just get their day over with.

Next, Adam traveled to California to harvest honey from the hives of 3 million bees (a gig which was, once again, already done by Mike Rowe on “Dirty Jobs” and Sunny Anderson on “How’d That Get On My Plate.”) Adam spent the entire segment complaining about the heat and wriggling around in his beekeeper suit like he was a schoolgirl in an uncomfortable church dress. His bumbling, whiny antics may have amused some, but we just found him wimpy and irritating.

Adam was charming and endearing on Next Food Network Star. We enjoyed watching him every week, and rooted for him to win. Sorry, Adam, but even after only one episode, it’s clear Will Work For Food isn’t doing you any justice at all. Everything about the show is awkward, almost to the point of being unwatchable, and we’re throwing down an early prediction that it will be canceled after the first season.

Did you enjoy the show? Will you keep watching? Share your thoughts in the comments. We love to hear ‘em.


Other posts on Food Network Humor:

---FNH REVIEW: Aarti Party Premiere Episode
---Sunny Anderson’s Watermelon Mojito
---Sunny Anderson Was Named After… AN AVON LADY
---Can’t Be Unseen: Sunny Anderson Edition
---Embarrassing Photos Of Sunny Anderson

    18 Responses

  1. Fooddude says:
    January 22, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    I liked Adam on the next food network star show – but hated this use of him. I watched and won’t again.

    Reply
  2. bill says:
    January 22, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    I have to say I had high expectations for this show and was let down immensely. This is unfortunately not the same Adam from Next Food Network Star. And Adam is certainly no Mike Rowe, who can engage and interact with all sorts of men with ease. I may tune in again if there’s nothing else on, but I won’t be setting my Tivo for this.

    Reply
  3. alex says:
    January 22, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    I just read the most ridiculous review of this show on that food network addict website. He gave it a glowing review and was just so entertained because Adam got stung by ONE BEE at the end of the episode. Is he paid to write those reviews?! Did he watch the same show we did? Because I hated it!

    Reply
  4. Chase says:
    January 22, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    While I found your review really funny, I didn’t mind the show at all. We’ve seen lobster fishing before but on huge boats with lots of crew members. This was a different perspective.

    Reply
  5. April March says:
    January 22, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    I only saw a few minutes of it, but I, too, thought it was a ripoff of ‘Dirty Jobs’ without the engaging and truly funny, Mike Rowe. And next week they are ripping off another of ‘Dirty Jobs’ great episodes, a visit to a geoduck clam farm. I think the FN needs to hire people that can actually come up with some ORIGINAL ideas!!

    Reply
  6. Scoobie-Doobie-Doo says:
    January 22, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    At least he’s not Sunny or Aarroon MacCargooo.
    Please, Food Network, some real cooking shows with people who know how to cook? Is that asking too much of a FOOD network????

    Reply
  7. Heidi says:
    January 22, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    Your review is right on the money. I was terribly disappointed with the first episode of this show. I loved Adam on TNFNS, but this is just a poor cross between “How’d That Get On My Plate” and “Blue’s Clues.”

    Reply
  8. Jed Clampett says:
    January 22, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    That dude over at Food Network Addict is pretty inconsistent.

    He gets all moist when anything Ina is on and is so in love with the Ass of Cakes crew it makes me hurl.

    Not surprising he got all worked up when Gertler got stung on his pecker.

    I think he is a FN shill.

    Reply
  9. Cuisineboy1975 says:
    January 22, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    I take it this show will last as long as “Ham On The Street” did. You get the idea.

    FN running out of GIMMICKS is more apropos. Since actual cooking shows are beneath Tuschman and Fogelson, their time will come eventually.

    Reply
  10. roxanne dupuis says:
    January 22, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    I don’t know about Adam Gertler. Seems like spoiled little Jewish kid that desires the limelight but doesn’t really have anything to offer. The guy is not a chef. Worked as a waiter ( can you say unemployed actor)and on TNFNS series proved he ain’t that special a cook. He did prove he could be a annoying little prick though.

    So WTF is he doing on FN anyway ? He either gave Tuschman head or his Daddy helped him secure a show.

    I concur with CuisineBoy1975 and find too it is obvious the FN creative well is empty. I don’t think Tuschman or Fogelson know WTF is going on trying to turn FN into a reality station with 2 nd rate hack players.

    Time to bring in some new blood.Someone with real network experience, not a shitty cable TV background.

    Reply
  11. Lydia says:
    January 26, 2009 at 5:49 am

    I liked Adam enough on his show that I’ll be pulling for him. Hopefully after a few akwakrd epdisodes, he’ll find his groove. I mean come on… a man who names his restaurant “The Smoked Joint” can’t be ALL bad.

    I LOVE the idea of the food network humor page. I’m sure I’ll die a little each time y’all mess with Paula Deen and her butter y’all.

    Reply
  12. Beth says:
    January 26, 2009 at 9:38 am

    Well, it was better than watching Aaron McCargo, Jr.

    Reply
  13. Cee says:
    January 26, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    Didn’t they make this show before with the crazy hair guy that looked like Kramer? I think it was called Glutton for Punishment. Did not care for it then, hate it now.

    Reply
  14. Jon McKenzie says:
    May 28, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Obviously, Adam took this gig because he needs the money. It shows. Everyone watching this could tell this is not the show he wanted to do. “The Next Food Network Star” so-called competition is a farce, anyway. They’ve taken the viewer’s input completely out of the equasion, I’m sure now they have a “winner” in mind before they even start filming the show, and the rest of the “contestants” are just cannon fodder. Lambs for the slaughter at the altar of Goddess Susie, She of the Grim, Soulless, Dead Shark Eyes. The challenges are all subjective and impossible to win. “You each have a bowl of Spanish onions and a bag of rock salt! Make apple pie with just that! You have ten minutes! GO!” And, hey, I’d like to see cutie-pie Cat Cora make Coq au Vin in just 45 minutes! Seriously, did Aida Mollencamp have to do ANY of that shit to get the show Adam should have done? Can Jim O’Connor or Mark Summers even crack an egg? I’ll go out on a limb and say that, without even seeing an episode, the finalists for Season 5 of TNFNS will be Eddie Gilbert and Jamika Pessoa

    Reply
  15. Jon McKenzie says:
    May 28, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Obviously, Adam took this gig because he needs the money. It shows. Everyone watching this could tell this is not the show he wanted to do. “The Next Food Network Star” so-called competition is a farce, anyway. They’ve taken the viewer’s input completely out of the equasion, I’m sure now they have a “winner” in mind before they even start filming the show, and the rest of the “contestants” are just cannon fodder. Lambs for the slaughter at the altar of Goddess Susie, She of the Grim, Soulless, Dead Shark Eyes. The challenges are all subjective and impossible to win. “You each have a bowl of Spanish onions and a bag of rock salt! Make apple pie with just that! You have ten minutes! GO!” And, hey, I’d like to see cutie-pie Cat Cora make Coq au Vin in just 45 minutes! Seriously, did Aida Mollencamp have to do ANY of that shit to get the show Adam should have done? Can Jim O’Connor or Mark Summers even crack an egg? I’ll go out on a limb and say that, without even seeing an episode, the finalists for Season 5 of TNFNS will be Eddie Gilbert and Jamika Pessoa, with Jamika winning it all because she is photogenic and African-American.

    Reply
  16. Syoger Bear says:
    August 2, 2009 at 12:17 pm

    I disagree with all this negative crap about Adam Gertler. This show is great, and Adam is great. He’s fun, energentic and knowledgeable. And the show has been renewed more than once, and they don’t ignore the ratings, regardless of their “lack of creativity” as some claim. I love Aaron McC and his show is one I always watch, but Adam should have won NFNS. The reason they gave Adam a show was because they ripped off his demo idea from the show and gave it to Aida Mollencamp, who is so dull I’d rather watch paint dry. Some of the questions they gave her on the one show I tried to watch were so simple you had to be from another planet not to know.

    Reply
  17. stuart pidasso says:
    August 12, 2009 at 10:36 am

    The reviews reflect exactly hou I felt about WWFF. However, Adam needs to be given a little more credit, in that he is willing to make an ass of himself just to get a name for himself. I find him appealing, and has so much more to offer than we have seen yet.

    Reply
  18. Joi says:
    September 9, 2009 at 9:55 am

    I loved the show and would definitely watch it again. I thought Adam was charming and amusing.

    Reply

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