Food Network Star (season 11)
The eleventh season of the American reality television series Food Network Star premiered June 7, 2015 on Food Network.[1] Food Network chefs Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis returned to the series as judges, with Alton Brown not returning for undisclosed reasons.[2] This season also continued the inclusion of Star Salvation, a six-week[3] webseries that featured the most recently eliminated contestant competing against the remaining previously eliminated contestants for a chance to re-enter the main Food Network Star competition.
| Food Network Star | |
|---|---|
| Season 11 | |
| No. of contestants | 12 |
| Winner | Eddie Jackson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Food Network |
| Original release | June 7 – August 16, 2015[1] |
| Season chronology | |
This season also returned to the practice of the winner of the competition being chosen by the Food Network staff, rather than by viewers as in the three previous seasons.[4]
Contestants
Winner
Runners-up
- Jay Ducote – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Dominick "Dom" Tesoriero – Staten Island, New York
Eliminated
(In order of elimination)
- Christina Fitzgerald –St. Louis, Missouri
- Matthew Grunwald –Scottsdale, Arizona
- Sita Lewis – New York, New York
- Rosa Graziano – Los Angeles, California
- Rue Rusike – Brooklyn, New York
- Emilia Cirker – Reston, Virginia
- Michelle Karam – Santa Barbara, California (withdrew)
Dominick "Dom" Tesoriero – Staten Island, New York(Returned to competition after winning Star Salvation)- Alex McCoy – Washington D.C.
- Arnold Myint – Nashville, Tennessee
Contestant progress
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentor Challenge Winner |
— | — | Dom | — | Rue | Eddie | Jay | Alex | Eddie | — | — | |
| Eddie | HIGH | HIGH | LOW | WIN | HIGH | HIGH | LOW | LOW | HIGH | LOW | WINNER | |
| Jay | HIGH | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | RUNNER-UP | |
| Dom | LOW | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | LOW | LOW | OUT | IN | RUNNER-UP | ||
| Arnold | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | LOW | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | OUT | ||
| Alex | IN | IN | IN | WIN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | HIGH | OUT | |||
| Michelle | IN | IN | WIN | LOW | LOW | IN | QUIT | |||||
| Emilia | IN | LOW | IN | IN | HIGH | OUT | ||||||
| Rue | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |||||||
| Rosa | IN | IN | LOW | OUT | ||||||||
| Sita | IN | LOW | OUT | |||||||||
| Matthew | LOW | OUT | ||||||||||
| Christina | OUT | |||||||||||
- (WINNER) The contestant won the competition and became the next "Food Network Star".
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant made it to the finale, but did not win.
- (WIN) The contestant won the challenge for that week.
- (RETURNED) The contestant won Star Salvation and returned to the main competition.
- (HIGH) The contestant was one of the selection committee's favorites for that week.
- (IN) The contestant performed well enough to move on to the next week.
- (LOW) The contestant was one of the selection committee's three or four least favorites for that week, but was not eliminated.
- (OUT) The contestant was the selection committee's least favorite for that week, and was eliminated.
- (QUIT) The contestant voluntarily left the competition.
Star Salvation
This season of Star Salvation was hosted by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and season 7 winner Jeff Mauro.[3]
| Contestant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 41 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dom | IN | WIN | ||||
| Rue | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |
| Alex | OUT | |||||
| Emilia | IN | IN | OUT | |||
| Matthew | IN | IN | IN | OUT | ||
| Christina | IN | IN | OUT | |||
| Rosa | IN | OUT | ||||
| Sita | OUT | |||||
^Note 1 : Having withdrawn from the competition, Michelle did not compete in Star Salvation this week.
- (WIN) The chef won Star Salvation and returned to the main competition.
- (IN) The chef continued in the competition.
- (OUT) The chef lost in that week's Star Salvation and was eliminated from the competition.
Episodes
Week 1: Food Star Food Festival
- Top 3: Jay, Eddie and Arnold
- Bottom 3: Dom, Matthew and Christina
- Eliminated: Christina
Week 2: Savory Baking
- Top 2: Eddie and Arnold
- Bottom 3: Emilia, Sita and Matthew
- Eliminated: Matthew
Week 3: Trendy Dinner
- Top 2: Dom and Arnold
- Winner: Michelle
- Bottom 3: Eddie, Rosa and Sita
- Eliminated: Sita
Week 4: 4th of July Cookout
- Winners: Eddie, Arnold and Alex
- Bottom 3: Dom, Michelle and Rosa
- Eliminated: Rosa
Week 5: The Perfect Match
- Top 4: Eddie, Alex, Jay and Emilia
- Bottom 4: Arnold, Dom, Michelle and Rue
- Eliminated: Rue
Week 6: Improv
- Top 2: Eddie and Jay
- Bottom 3: Alex, Dom and Emilia
- Eliminated: Emilia
Week 7: Food Truck Throwdown
- Top 2: Jay and Arnold
- Bottom 4: Dom, Eddie, Michelle and Alex
- Withdrew: Michelle2
^Note 2 Michelle chose to withdraw from the competition to be with her family. She did not compete in Star Salvation.
Week 8: Lifestyle Brand
- Top 2: Jay and Alex
- Bottom 3: Arnold, Eddie and Dom
- Eliminated: Dom
Week 9: Live TV
- Top 2: Eddie and Jay
- Bottom 2: Arnold and Alex
- Eliminated: Alex
Week 10: Dish of a Lifetime and Pilots3
- Top: Jay
- Bottom 2: Eddie and Arnold
- Eliminated: Arnold
^Note 3 Dom returned to the competition, having won Star Salvation.
Week 11: We Have a Winner
- Winner: Eddie
- Show on Food Network: BBQ Blitz
- Runners-up: Dom and Jay
References
- Russo, Maria (April 29, 2015). "Food Network Star, Season 11: The Search for Star Power Is On This Summer | Star Blog". Food Network. Scripps Networks Interactive. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- Dehnart, Andy (April 29, 2015). "Alton Brown out of Food Network Star season 11". Reality Blurred. WordPress.com. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- "Star Salvation". Food Network. Scripps Networks Interactive. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- Matt (August 9, 2015). "Food Network Gossip: Food Network Star Winner Poll". Food Network Gossip. Blogger. Retrieved December 14, 2015.