Military TV, Television - Military Times

Garcia makes final 3 in bid for Food Network fame

Those tears on Josh A. Garcia’s face didn’t come from chopping onions.

The former Marine chef made it through another round Sunday night on the reality show “The Next Food Network Star,” surviving to cook another week as one of the final three hopefuls.

But his success did not come easy, as Garcia was again the last contestant selected to remain in the running for a six-episode deal as host of a new Food Network show.

“He totally fell off the mountain this week,” said judge Bob Tuschman, the network’s senior vice-president for programming and production. “He was bad.”

Most of the show’s episodes, pre-recorded months ago, feature panel of judges narrowing the field to the final two. Then the voting is opened to viewers to make the final choice, to be announced in the July 22 episode.

Garcia — known on the show by the nickname “JAG” — has drawn fire for spicing up details of his military past and culinary training in his bid to become a contestant on the series. Despite originally claiming otherwise, Garcia is not an Afghanistan veteran, did not graduate from the New York Restaurant School, and left the Corps not as a corporal at the end of a four-year enlistment, but as a private eight months early.

When confronted by Military Times in June about his lies, Garcia admitted to allowing Food Network producers to “believe what they wanted to believe” to secure a spot on the show.

None of that helped him Sunday as he failed miserably at the “Iron Chef” challenge, based on the popular Food Network show of the same name, in which contestants were given one hour to whip up three dishes using a mystery ingredient in a head-to-head match-up. Garcia and his opponent were given chicken, while the other two competitors used the more delicate striped sea bass.

Criticized in past episodes for his elaborate meals, Garcia attempted to tone down his kitchen work and ended up with bland food that failed to impress the judges. His poor performance left Garcia in tears as the four finalists prepared to faces the judges.

“We were all positive that you were just gonna crush this thing, and for some reason — I don’t know what happened,” said Bobby Flay, an “Iron Chef” competitor who was a guest judge for the event. “Maybe you got overwhelmed.”

After giving two other contestants the go-ahead, the judges were undecided as to who should go home, and asked Garcia and fellow contestant Paul McCullough to plead their cases a final time. Garcia promised to work harder, and talked about his love of cooking.

“JAG, his passion is so real,” Tuschman said, as the judges discussed the fate of the pair.

“Well, either he’s the most passionate person in the world about food, Flay said, “or he’s going to win the Academy Award.”