First off, a little mea culpa: I fully intended to be more active on this blog – until life and laziness got in the way. After a while I thought, “Who really cares what I'm doing anyway?” Well, the fact is, this can be quite therapeutic – so now, like so many others, I blog. I promise to keep you posted on what's going on in my world from now on.
If you told me two years ago after “losing” The Next Food Network Star that tonight I'd be celebrating the premiere of my second Food Network series (albeit a mini one), I would have said, “Mom, it just doesn't work that way. The world is too cold and cruel to reward silly me with all of my wildest dreams.” Well, once again, it turns out that Mom was right.
Tonight is the premiere of Kid In A Candy Store, a new Food Network show that explores the world of sweets through my eyes. (Actually, through the camera of the very talented John Ealer.) We've been working on this show since March, traveling the country from Utah to Texas, Tennessee to Maine, with me stuffing my face all the way. Taffy, chocolate, cupcakes, Peeps, brownies and ice cream: what a sweet ride its been. As I begin my new life as a 500 lb. diabetic, its hard to feel anything but thanks for the extremely rare opportunities I've had over the past two years.
The Next Food Network Star began the madness, and confirmed what I had always expected: life in front of the lens isn't for everyone, but it just might be for me. The stress and excitement of that competition challenged my resolve and introduced me the world of Food Network first hand, as well as some friends I plan on having for a long time, including Aaron “Big Daddy” McCargo Jr., Shane Lyons ( I hate how wise that 22 year old is!), Kelsey Nixon (but more on Kelsey later) and even Ms. Lisa Garza (she's really quite something). I may not have won. I may have had some embarrassing stumbles along the way. But I survived, and was rewarded with the greatest prize imaginable, a TV show: Will Work For Food.
If The Next Food Network Star was television boot camp, then being in the field for WWFF was being in the trenches of battle. I was all by myself with the thing I've wanted more than anything my whole life, and no real clue what to do with it. I think the concept of that show is amazing, and the production company did as good a job as they could with a very green me as the host, but let's face it: I had a lot to learn. The experience was invaluable, from the things I learned about jobs in the food world to all the fascinating people I met on the road. (I've made several trips back to New Orleans to hang with John Burke, the king of Cajun Caviar.) Part of me wishes that show would re-up and start making new episodes after an extended hiatus, a la Family Guy, but I won't hold my breath.
After Will Work For Food, I was asked to work on a one-hour food special called Extreme Sweets. There, I learned the joys of eating insects and chocolate-covered habanero chiles. That special was the impetus for the new series,Kid In A Candy Store. In the interim, I've been fortunate enough to participate regularly on Best Thing I Ever Ate, which makes me ridiculously hungry when I watch it. (I usually want to go immediately to one of the spots featured on the show, but I think that the people at the restaurant would be like, “Wasn't he the guy on the show? And he came in the same day? What a dork.” What can I say? Bobby Flay can make a burger sound damn tasty.)
I also got to be a challenger on both Chef vs.City and Food Network Challenge, paired up for both with fellow finalist and winner of season four of The Next Food Network Star, Aaron McCargo Jr.. Both times, we won – and that felt good, even if the Chef vs. City victory came down to a wrong turn.
I even had a little trilogy of Freakiest specials on the now-defunct Fine Living Network. Freakiest Festivals: I cooked at a road kill cook-off. Freakiest Vacations: I was an actual merman, in the tradition of Derek Zoolander. Freakiest Foods: I tried to eat 10 lb. hamburger that was also on fire. After that last stunt, I determined that such challenges were best left to another Adam.
And here we are are at last. July 12, 2010: Kid In A Candy Store kick-off day. People often congratulate me on my success, but what I'm really good at is failing. I wanted to be an actor and that didn't work out, so I pursued my passion for food and opened The Smoked Joint with my brother and friends in Philadelphia. The restaurant, while a critical darling, failed to turn a profit and closed. My sob story was just the sort of drama that appeals to those who cast reality shows, and I landed on The Next Food Network Star. Which I lost. My efforts were rewarded with my very own show, which lasted one season. Fail. Where most would be sent packing to reality show contestant heaven (which is probably more like purgatory), I managed to stick around just a little longer: a new series, more Best Thing I Ever Ate episodes, a sweets special airing this October and a new show called After Party, which premiers July 18 on Cooking Channel following the final five episodes of NFNS with fellow finalist Kelsey Nixon and Sunny “For Real” Anderson. I guess it is true when they say “Winning isn't everything” – at least it hasn’t been for me.
Thanks so much to everyone who has been in my corner. Enjoy the show.
-Adam
