Best Of FNH, Next Food Network Star »
FNH ORIGINAL: Susie Fogelson Defends Keeping Debbie Lee On Next Food Network Star (Parody)
Published on: June 12, 2009 – 2:26 pm by Jillian Madison 
Comment
On last week’s episode of Next Food Network Star, contestant Debbie Lee purchased (and served) STORE BOUGHT angel food cake at the Food Network Sweet 16 party. Debbie then lied to the judges, and told them the angel food cake was a “group effort.” Sure. And Sandra Lee is Jamaican.
After Debbie lied, Bob Tuschman went on a 2 minute tirade about how important it is for the next member of the Food Network family to be “trustworthy” and to have “integrity” – and then, they eliminated… JEN ISHAM! Wait, what?!
Judge Susie Fogelson posted this video response on the FN Dish blog in an attempt to justify their decision:
(Many FNH readers think Debbie wasn’t eliminated because the judges already chose her to win before the show even started filming. This interview is a parody of Susie’s original video, which can be found on the FN Dish blog.)
Other posts on Food Network Humor:
---Susie Fogelson’s NFNS5 Clothes---Food Network Magazine Promoting Debbie Lee’s Hot Dogs
---Next Food Network Star: Episode #502 Recap
---Diane’s NFNS Theory
---Next Food Network Star: Episode #504
1 Trackback(s)
- Jun 15, 2009: Next Food Network Star: Episode #502 Recap « Food Network Humor
HA! I watched this video about 5 times and I’m still laughing to myself about it.
I think Debbie was chosen to win from the beginning, too. That’s the only way to explain why they didn’t fire her, even after Bob went rambling about how important integrity was.
How bad did Jen’s green beans have to be for her to get canned over Debbie, is what I want to know.
Really funny video!
The entire show is a scam!!!!! If Debbie Lee loses, I will be shocked. HILARIOUS!!!
Last year’s prechosen winner was clearly Aaron McCargo Jr. This year’s prechosen winner is clearly Debbie Lee.
I seriously loved this. Comedic genius IMO. Thanks for the friday laugh.
LMAO, that was brilliant (and honest, unlike the original video).
I loved this (once I was able to get it to play – darn aol!). Sadly, I could see this being closer to the truth of the matter than anything Susie actually did say.
Hell, I missed the first episode and I still loved this. VERY well done.
No doubt they need a ricer to win this thing, so kudos to you at FNH for calling it as it is.
This Susie chick sounds like Sean Connery. Am I daft ?
Haha great video! Fogelson was so blatant. It just occurred to me that Debbie might just be a distant cousin of Sandra Lee. Despite the ethnic differences, they do share a common surname and use store bought ingredients and pretend like their crap is five-star quality food. Right up Aunt Sandy’s alley! they could go club-hopping and vodka-chugging together one day :)
I really thought they (people on FHN) called her Debbie Lee as a joke because she made crappy food like Sandra Lee.
I watched the original video. Suze never once mentioned the whole integrity thing nor did she even mention Debbie’s cooking. But talked about the ’soul to soul’ connection that Debbie has with people. My question is; how can one have a souls to soul connection with someone when they are standing there lying and being deceitful? That what grifters and bigamists do.
As hilarious as yours was, I think the original was funnier(Unintentionally). A “Soul-to-Soul Connection” Hilarious BS. Keep up the great work.
It’s not “soul to soul.” It’s “Seoul to soul.” Susie was just referencing Debbie’s culinary point of view: Korean food meets southern cooking.
What a crock of shit. Susie has alot of guts to go on the record and defend this lying, cheating and deceptive non-team player. There isn’t any soul to soul. What I think should happen is putting my sole to the bottom of her ass….
Later on in the video Susy answered a question from a viewer in Texas, something like “Is it easier to teach someone to be a better cook or how to come across as a more likable and engaging person?” Susie Q’s answer–”Cooking”!! So when are they going to teach Aunt Sandy, Ray Ray, Aaron, et al how to cook?
FN is just checking off the diversity chart. Asian, okay *check* got it. What next? Hyspanic? Nope, sorry Pedro. Get in your taco truck and try again next year.
Susie’s got a girl-crush on Debbie Lee.
Nobody doesn’t like Debbie Lee.
Oh wait, that’s SARA Lee. Nevermind.
I hope hope HOPE that our speculations about Debbie being the prechosen winner are proven untrue. However, knowing the people at Food Network I don’t think this will be the case…Shame really, if the FN really wanted an “Asian-American Host” like Kitty said, I would at least hope for them to hire a chef that could teach me how to create REAL asian dishes, not southern dishes with an asian twist…. God knows I really don’t need Debbie’s special receipe for “southern-fried chicken with kung pao sauce”!!!
If you want real asian recipes, watch Simply Ming. He’s not on FN, but most will agree that the good cooks aren’t. Debbie Lee is to asian food as Sandra Lee is to haute cuisine, so if ethnic background in cooking is FN’s aim, they missed the target by miles.
When it comes to the Food Network, authenticity clearly takes a back seat to what THEY perceive as entertainment value. Too bad they’re way off the mark on both.
Rant:
When the Food Network first started, it was run by a bunch of chefs who shared a common love of food. Now, it’s run by a bunch of idiotic, clueless people with entertainment backgrounds, who wouldn’t know authenticity if it bit them on their saggy old white asses.
The fact that this websites exists – and (gasp) actually has visitors – is proof they’re doing something very, very wrong.
If Debbie Lee IS actually the winner of this season’s NFNS, it will be the most controversial thing to happen on the network since Bobby Flay stood on the Iron Chef cutting board. It will be proof that the Next Food Network Star is the SHAM we’ve always known it to be, and that the executives are the biggest scum on Earth: people who lie to OUR faces, while lecturing us on how important honesty is.
I can’t wait to see how this one pans out.
Well said, Jill! I totally agree. If Debbie really is the winner, and was not eliminated when she served store bought food and lied about it, it’s obviously because she was pre chosen to win and then the entire show is a lie.
I just read an article in the Boston Globe that also made a good point:
“It might as well be called the search for “The Next Food Network Brand,” because if the Food Network has its way, the show will be just the beginning: a weekly platform from which to launch cookbooks, pots and pans, housewares, and perhaps even dog food, all reinforcing the Food Network brand.”
I totally agree with you, Jen. Tuschman, let alone Susie Whoever, probably had no clue what the Food Network was until they were hired for the network.
Although I don’t like the idea of Debbie Lee winning, I’m going to have play devil’s advocate here. Green beans are really simple to cook–cut off the ends, season them and sautee them. Green beans are boring, sorry.
Then again, green beans aren’t boring until Tuschman insults the green beans as “inferior” on his blog. Then you’re offending Whole Foods, where most of the competitors buy their ingredients. Nice job, Tuschman!
^Eh, I meant Eddie’s “BLAST Bowl,” but still, Tuschman insulted Whole Foods.
“wouldn’t know authenticity if it bit them on their saggy old white asses.”
LOL, Jill! You have such a way with words. I love this website!!!!!
Green beans may be boring, but learning how to prepare them properly is not. But I guess TFN has already covered Cooking 101 with Claire’s 5 Ingredient show. On the other hand, winning a competition with a store-bought cake may not be boring, but it IS stupid.
Tuschman is a fucking idiot. He speaks with a forked tongue and is a two faced weasel.
I have a buddy who works with a production company that produces a program for FN and word on the street is he can’t be trusted, surrounds himself with woman and can’t get along with men (except if in a relationship).
Susie Fogelson, on the other hand, apparently is OK to work with and is generally well liked.
I’m going to go even further out on the limb and suggest this: Not only was Debbie Lee pre-chosen to win–the whole store-bought cake debacle was orchestrated in order to drag in viewers. Unfortunately, nothing sells like controversy and/or cleavage. Food Network is sinking fast, and they know it. With all their other shenanigans of late (a lot of which end up on this site!), I can totally believe them cooking up a fake scandal for their fake reality program.
If Debbie Lee wins, I’ll never watch FN again. That will be the straw that breaks it for me.
I mean TV is in a real bad funk now, where just about anyone will watch anything. All you need today for a show is a pulse.
I think this outrage exists here at FNH as food people tend to have higher IQ’s and a respect for the subject at hand.
Susie Fogelson should be shamed for doing this video. Nice backbone bitch.
Call it dumbing down .
[...] calling it now: Debbie Lee is going to win the entire competition this year. I think she was pre-chosen to win the show before it even started filming, the same way I think they chose Aaron McCargo to win last [...]
Jill- love this website.
As for the NFNS, after Amy won it the year before Aaron Mccargo, I no longer watched it. Just read the updates on here. I think it’s a definitely a sham of a show. I defend my prior comments on Susie Fogelson being a c–twad.
Jillian, the Food Network should hire you to consult them on their shows and talent (not like you’d accept!) You have your finger on the pulse of what most of us are thinking.
Enjoyed the recap once again.
Hmm, she mentions a “bad judgement call” just as Guy’s pic appears. Coincidence?
Lately, I’ve been watching Lyon in the Kitchen on the Discovery channel, where there some pretty nifty recipes. Then I think of Nathan Lyon losing to Guy Fieri, which pretty much sums up TFN these days.
Please leave Debbie alone. I think she’s a great cook. The ingredients for the dessert weren’t there and she bought the angel food cake.
Haha by the way Kitty is an idiot. What a dumb post! There is already a latin food show (Simply Delcioso). And if they really wanted an Asian food cook they could have picked Nipa last season. (and for those other idiots to follow…India is in Asia).
PLEASE KICK DEBBIE. SHE SUCKS!!!
Debbie. Lying sack of lying liar lies. *seethes*
Debbie Lee at least she is keeping in character, I will say that much! After watching the “Red Lobster” episode last night, my head is still spinning! Granted Jamika was at the end of her rope, Debbie stood there and lied through her teeth once again, and got away with it!!!! Debbie even knew that she should’nt have gotten away with such a stunt.
Foodnetwork next star is towing a fine line and maybe they just don’t care; but I would not watch a show with the likes of a snake charmer, fraud like Debbie Lee!
My DH and I call Debbie the “Sumo Chef” because she looks like one of those scary wrestlers. If FN is looking to fill a gap in their programming, Debbie’s wide girth will more than suffice. She’s not pleasant to look at, and I wouldn’t waste my time.
Food Network and integrity? Two words: Robert Irvine.