Getting “Real” About Reality Shows

Name: Getting “Real” About Reality Shows
Uploaded: 2025-01-22T04:06:27+00:00
Duration: 1 h 41 s

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hello everyone welcome to the lose weight by eating podcast I'm Audrey John's and I'm so excited to talk to you
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about my time on a reality show so I'm calling this episode getting real about
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reality shows I'm actually launching a second podcast called who's reality
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cooking and I'm going to be interviewing past and current reality cooking stars
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um this week alone I am interviewing somebody who was on the taste with me I'm interviewing someone who was on last
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um season of next L level Chef someone who's on this season of Next Level Chef
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so she won't be able to tell me everything she wants to tell me but with all of that said I thought well I should
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probably tell my story as well right so
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I figured this would be the right platform for it I don't want to turn the other
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podcast into the ay show right this is the lose weight by eating show this is
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the show I'm going to talk about my journey with weight loss and with the whole loseweight by eating brand and so
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I thought let's talk about it here and it would also give me an opportunity to encourage you to check out the new
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podcast so you can get that the same place you get this one um be it on
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YouTube or on Apple or on Spotify anywhere that you listen to your podcast you'll be able to get the new podcast
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called who's reality cooking with Audrey John's so let's get into my story now
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I'm starting this uh right before I'm going to talk with Dawn as my very first
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interview and admittedly I'm so relieved that the taste is not available anywhere
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free on streaming I told him hey I'm going to watch the show and then we can kind of catch up on camera and I'm
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trying to keep it very clean in between the the interviews and the hey are you
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willing to be on the show because I really want this show to be new and fresh and I want it to feel like a real
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reunion when I do reunite with friends or a real meeting when I do meet new
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stars so I told Don yesterday via text I'm going to watch all of our season of
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The Taste and I was so relieved when it wasn't out there because it's been 10 years and I still haven't watched it
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since the day that it aired and I'm going to get into why now I'm really
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excited to find out are they still kind of bait and switching people on these
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shows as they did with us uh so we will find out in the new podcast but this one
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is all about my time on the taste so I was on season two of The Taste there
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were three seasons my season aired on January 2nd 2014 and you might remember
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it it was very similar to the voice it was the blind competition in that they
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would taste one bite of your food so it would be on a little spoon you
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remembering now so you would taste the the judges would taste one bite of your
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food and then decide you know are you going to be eliminated are you going to stay and and all of that stuff that's
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very similar to the current cooking reality shows it was kind of a groundbreaker in
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the moment it was the the second show to ever be prime time for cooking reality
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and cooking competition shows and the hosts were Nigella Lawson Anthony
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bouraine so this was a really big amazing show and it was quite
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the amazing opportunity for all of us just to be able to be in the same space
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as some of these other chefs I was lucky enough to be chosen by Marcus Samson who
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is a Michelin star Chef he has cooked in pretty much every single white house
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administration since he you know jumped into the culinary scene and he is a
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great mentor and quite the stylist gentleman I will say um but let's take a
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little step back and let's talk about the casting call I had actually been doing eHow videos you may remember eHow
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it was um before YouTube became really really popular they did howto videos so
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it was considered at the time they posted they were the largest how-to website on the internet and this again
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was over 10 years ago so I don't know that they are still in production but
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I'm sure you can find the videos out there just look up Audrey John's eow and I was actually approached Ed by the the
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people at the taste to come to a casting call so a lot of people probably saw it on their social media or it was word of
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mouth I was lucky enough to be approached by the casting team and they asked me to come down to Los Angeles and
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try out so I stayed at a friend's house I stay at my friend Kate's house the night before Kate is was amazing we've
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unfortunately lost her um but Kate was kind of my inspir ation to learn how to
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cook she was such an amazing cook and so I made my dish at her house by myself
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don't worry I didn't get help and I had to bring it in cold and this is something we're going to get into but I
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don't think a lot of people realize that at least back then we'll find out more in the new podcast but back then the
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judges would taste the food cold and if only I had known that going into it I
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probably would have been creating foods that were better cold as with my other castmates but we'll get into that a
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little bit later I made a meatball dish and I brought it into the casting call
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in Los Angeles so you go in and it was either a big U of tables where you would
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stand behind and the judges were in the center and they were not the Anthony bour Nigel Lawson this was like a
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casting crew or it was a an O I can't remember if it was closed off but it was
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I would say probably about 10 to 15 of us in the room and they were doing it all day long and they would have us come
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in they would test our food and if they liked it then we would be shuffled into another room to do a confessional so a
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confessional interview is similar to when when you see the talking head is
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what they would call it when you see the contestant just talking directly to the camera or maybe looking if you're
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watching me on YouTube I'm now looking to the side of it like I would have in the confessionals or you're looking at
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the producer but they are asking you questions and they're trying to prompt
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um emotion drama laughter what they're trying to convey in the moment and so I
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went into this confessional and I I think my little SOB session got me
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casted um I had been new to cooking and I was so excited at the opportunity to
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meet Nigella Lawson because it was a show that my mother and I had watched
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and specifically it was a show that we had watched when she was very ill and
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and and dying of cancer furthermore my last gift I ever got from my mother was
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how to be a domestic goddess by nigela Lawson so this kind of all felt like it was a coming home it was a an
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opportunity to make Mom proud or to uh reconnect connect with her in some
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way and I know that seems silly but for those of you who've maybe lost a parent I think you'll definitely understand
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what that feels like so they asked me you know why do you want to be on the show and I talked about how much I
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wanted to meet Nigella Lawson and they asked why and I had a SB session as I
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think I did a couple of times on the show but again so glad I can't watch it because it would just be so embarrassing
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but I think that got me the gig and I'm as much as I would have loved to
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have had Nigella as my mentor I don't think I would have been able to cook I
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think I would have been a little bit Star Struck and so it was really lucky in that I got to work adjacent to her
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and I got to meet her and I got to talk to her and I got to have her critique my food and and my my style of cooking but
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I didn't have to be you know Star Struck with the ticking clock going to get
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ready once I found out I was going to go in and try out you basically go I
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believe there were 32 or 36 of us who went to the actual Production Studio
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they flew people in they put me on a train from Pas robbles California down to Los Angeles and they basically just
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brought us all in and they had everybody try out and same thing is you know as
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with the show they were trying out our food blind so we would make the food they would film us making the food
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because who knows are you going to be in the show you're not going to be in the show and the whole first episode maybe
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the first two episodes were all for the tryouts and I wanted to be really ready
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for that and again I did not know they were going to be trying my food cold I was very lucky that the food I made was
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good cold I actually worked in a kitchen for a couple of days just as a line cook
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to kind of get the pace of the kitchen I was a home cook I was new to cooking I was great you know with the camera I was
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as you guys can see if you're watching Youtube I love interacting with the camera but that didn't mean I knew the
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pace of a kitchen and I was going to be walking into this studio with big chefs
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and I was completely intimidated at this time I was writing
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several food and wine articles in Pas California and wine region and so I
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reached out to one of the chefs I had interviewed and done an article on and he said yeah absolutely come on in you
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can you know you can help us out in the kitchen we'll get you acclimated on the speed of the
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kitchen and what to say you know when you do watch these shows now you'll see somebody saying behind or you know come
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up coming up behind you or you know knife if somebody's walking with a knife
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and so these were things things I had to learn not just for safety but also so I didn't make a fool of myself on
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television so I went in and I worked in his kitchen for a couple of days on the
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last day I made my dish if you work in kitchens you you know what a family meal
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is typically a family meal would be something that is made for the kitchen
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crew and often the serving crew as well right before a shift starts or right
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before a restaurant opens so I believe that they were open for lunch and dinner
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and so part of the family meal was the dish I was going to make for The Taste
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which was amazing because I got probably 30 25 to 30 people chiming in and
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telling me I would change this I would do this and it was all the servers it was the manager it was the the chef all
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the line Cooks you know all of the the sauté Cooks everyone chimed in and told
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me I would change this I would change that so I was really really lucky to have that opportunity and if you're
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watching this because you're going to go on one of these shows and you are a home cook like me I would really recommend
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reaching out to a restaurant if you know someone and say hey can I one get the
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pace of the kitchen and can I just come in and work for free and you know learn the ropes Andor two can I bring in a
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meal and have you critique it you know be as cruel as you need to be or as kind as you need to be
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and they were amazing and I felt as ready as I was going to be so I I packed
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up my bag and a couple of my Nigella lost some books because I wasn't about to go and meet her face to face without
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being prepared and no I never had the the um
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the opportunity to ask her to to sign any of them I I do kind of kick myself
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for that but again specifically how to be Domestic Goddess was the the last gift my mother gave to me and so the
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thought of bringing it on set and possibly losing it or damaging it it just it wasn't really worth
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the the the chance of ruining my mother's last gift to me so I I left
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them all in my room but I did pack up a huge bag jumped on the train and rode it all the way down to Los Angeles and they
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picked us all up and brought us to a Lovely Hotel I believe it was the
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Hilton right by Universal right I think walking distance from uh
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from the the Universal City walk either that or there was a shuttle again this was 10 years ago but that was where the
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cast would hang out I was very excited to get down there and
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try out I met a lot of amazing people and we'll get to all of that but I do
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want to note we all got and this was such a huge Miss opportunity for
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the for the production team was we all went shopping at Whole Foods and it was
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the most amazing Whole Foods I had been to and I probably ever have been to thus far if you live in a big city you know
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what a a downtown Whole Foods is like this was downtown Los Angeles Whole Foods or maybe even downtown Hollywood
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it was the coolest Whole Foods I've ever been to it was at least two levels if not three and we were given a certain
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amount of time and a certain amount of money we could just run all over the store and get what we needed we also
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once we were done a lot of us stocked our fridges in our room to save money you know some salads or what have you
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that you could just kind of eat out of your room as well but it was really fun
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and such a missed opportunity because you have all of these food enthusiastic
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people running through a Whole Foods getting everything they need they either gave us 30 minutes or an hour perhaps
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Don will remember when I interview him and I'll have to make that note to ask but it was really such a missed
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opportunity and I I don't believe they did it in season 3 or that they showed it but it was fun being able to choose
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the foods we were going to cook with furthermore they also did stock the kitchen with you know the basics like
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flour olive oil salt pepper all of that so after we were done with Whole
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Foods we all went back to the hotel and I remember all of us or at least the
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majority of us sitting outside by the pool and just talking and I believe
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somebody brought a guitar even and we just hung out for hours and for me it
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was the very first time I ever got to hang out with a group of people who were as enthusiastic and as obsessed about
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food as I am and it was really
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exciting and eye openening and thrilling and in that moment I I made some amazing
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friends and friends who didn't even get picked on the show I'm still friends with to today and we will get to meet
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some of those people as well on the who's reality cooking podcast so as I
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notied as I noted I went in I really wanted to meet nigela Lawson of course I wanted to meet Anthony Bourdain who
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wouldn't and I was very very curious about Marcus Samuelson I had read one of
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his cookbooks I had heard all about red rooster his amazing restaurant but at this point he hadn't
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been doing a lot of These reality cooking competitions so I go in and I made a
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take on a Greek meatball nacho and if
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you are familiar with lose weight by eating you know I really do love my comfort foods and I love some Nach
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shows with that said I needed to make meatballs from scratch that's not so hard but I also wanted to make bread
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from scratch I actually made a flatbread
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from scratch in under an hour and I remember later on perhaps that night or
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the next day people were talking about it and somebody said are you the one who
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made bread in an hour and I'm like yeah and this was a big Chef who I think made it to the final three so I kind of felt
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one I felt like I I wasn't good enough to be in this group of people and to be
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honest I I really wasn't maybe if I tried out now I I have 10 more years under my belt of doing this but I was
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very excited to be able to hold my own at least in that moment I made the bread in under an hour
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I served my dish and one of one of the chips was a little too
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crunchy so not only did I have to make the bread but then I had to toast it so it was like a chip right and they were I
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believe I I had them I had sliced them into triangles just like you would have a tortilla chip one of them was a little
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bit too too crunchy so I didn't make that team I don't remember what
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Nigella said about the foods specifically and I don't remember what
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Anthony said specifically in this challenge but I do know that Marcus
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Samuelson did choose me which was just I was shaking it was such a strange and
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amazing opportunity and right in front of me are these huge chefs I mean these
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are culinary gods and goddesses literally and I remember thinking I can't hear
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them because we're up on a sound on a sound stage and so it's miked for the audience it's not miked
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for the people standing in front of them and I remember it was difficult to hear them and maybe my ears are ringing a
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little bit too but I just remember being
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completely Star Struck they asked me about myself and I told them about lose weight by eating and you know how I'm
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trying to bring that the food that you crave to everyone in a healthier new way
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and one of the greatest compliments of my life was Nigella saying the world
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needs your food the world needs to learn how to eat healthy but
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eat the foods they want right I just finished a a recipe and I I just published it on the on the website it's
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a Irish mashed potato webs or Irish mashed potato recipe and it has real
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bacon in it so I love using the foods that you actually crave but maybe just smaller amounts of them creating it in a
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healthier way and she said you really the world needs your food and that was such a huge moment so I I ran backstage
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my family was waiting for me my daughter was just the tiniest little shrimp at the time and I was so excited I was
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crying I was jumping up and down it was such an amazing amazing moment and then
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we were hustled back to the shuttle and Lisa Anne is amazing that she didn't
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get chosen however you guys are going to meet Lisa an in the what's reality
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cooking podcast because she was on Master Chef and she did so well on Master Chef she got her own reality show
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out of it so I can't wait for you to meet her but in that moment it was my family and me and Lisa Anne and her
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family and she hadn't gotten Chosen and we were on this bus on the way back to
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the hotel and they were so excited I remember saying sh everybody just let's
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celebrate when we get back because in the back of the bus was this charming
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wonderful woman who I'm still friends with to this day who didn't get chosen and so I remember vividly thinking we I
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need to have some Grace in this moment and you know she's I I know that she's much more accomplished as a chef than I
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am I just got lucky in that moment and that was my my first day on The
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Taste I know that they filmed for two days so I had a day off after that but
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then they brought us back and we had to do photos
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and all kinds of other production things and for
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continuity it's very interesting when you watch these shows it's like like
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okay we're going to cook this and now we're going to go straight into the next competition and they make it look like
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it's all the same day but it's not the same day that's just not possible for
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for the lighting crew for the camera crew for for the the sound crew and then
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all of the legality around with sag to make sure everybody's getting their breaks on time and all of that and
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there's just no way you can really truly film a whole episode in just one day so
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we were wearing our clothing from day one for a good four days and I still
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have the red dress I I remember it just
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smelled it smelled of food and just any other thing you can imagine after you've
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worn something for 4 days and been you know nervous and excited I remember
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talking to my friend Sarah who was on the same team as me and she said I'm
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going to go home and burn this shirt we were stuck wearing the same clothing for
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several days of shooting and I still have the dress it's still in a a bag to
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bring to the dry cleaners but I'm never going to wear it ever again I I lived in that thing for a whole week I don't ever
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want to put it back on but I just don't have the heart to throw it away so I still do have my my stinky red
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dress and you know if we end up doing a patreon here on the lose weight by eating podcast perhaps I will show
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photos and or maybe even get it cleaned we will see
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but on to the next leg of the story The the people who did not get chosen go
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home and that was very Bittersweet and those of us who did get
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chosen stayed and our families got sent home and we were sequestered which uh if
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you've ever done one of these shows or if you've ever done
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a high media pool you know if you're on a jury for a trial you would know what
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that's like however none of us were prepared for the fact that we were not going to be allowed to be away from
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production for you more than maybe 3 hours I believe we were initially given
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initially and we're going to get to that because they definitely cracked the whip later
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on so we were sequestered we we had to basically stay on the grounds of the
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hotel and if we didn't we had to tell them where we were going and we had to check in when we came
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back and we go into episode three I have
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written here so I do believe that the initial picking of the teams was two
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episodes and episode three was called my life on a plate and oh you know what I have here the the
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there were two our sequesters but again these are my notes I wrote the other day so perhaps it was two or three and
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we we we end up cooking together as a group but before we do that and again I
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can't watch the shows right now so they're not because they're not available to on streaming at this time
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I'm I'm hoping at some point we'll be able to and then maybe I can do a a rebuttal to my own podcast and I can
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talk about what really did you know make sure I've got the timelines correct but
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we ended up getting it ourselves into a little bit of
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trouble we had some contestants go missing and they ended up cutting the
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2hour sequester down to one hour and that's not even enough time to go and get food so we were really kind of stuck
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in this pod and that's when they started trying to
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create drama for the show and and I get it you know this is a reality show I
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definitely went into it knowing there would be a certain amount of drama but what I was not prepared for
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was that they would mic us from the moment we stepped onto the lot until the
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moment we left and so we're talking about somewhere between 15 to 18 hours with a
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mic on each day and only maybe an hour of filming and I'm really excited to
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talk to some of the other taste mates or taste buds as we call ourselves within
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our little season 2 group to find out if anyone noticed that audio was pulled
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from inaccurate timing and I'm sure it was but I remember saying oh I need to take
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my mic off I need to go to the bathroom and they're like no no you have to wear
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it and I remember going and like putting my hand over my mic CU I didn't want
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them to be able to they didn't want them to hear me peeing right but I think they were trying to catch us shitalking each
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other and even more so when we went into the confessionals we would go into so we
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were on the universal lot we had two of the big sound stages one Sound Stage had
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the whole The Taste Kitchen for all four kitchens for
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all four teams and then behind it they had
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trailers and I'm the same kind of trailer that you're probably thinking right now not fancy just empty just like
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a a trailer that you would bring boxes in from out of state and they had made
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it look in the back like a kitchen they did a beautiful job if you guys get to watch the confessionals you'll be so
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surprised that these were actually trailers and then they lit each one according to the team and we were Team
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Green which is why I'm wear in green today and they brought us in there and
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they they would say something along the lines of well so and so said this about
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you what do you have to say about that and you know so and so was talking
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crap about you I'm I'm really trying to mind my p's and q's on the lose weight by eating podcast because the S and the
28:35
F bombs are definitely going to hit on the other one so I'm trying to be clean here but they were trying to get us to
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sorry guys talk the rest of the the cast and they would keep us in these
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confessionals for hours on end I remember one of them was about three hours and I was just completely broken
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down because they were just telling me this person said this about you and this
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person said this about you and this person said this about you later on I ask them and they say no but you know
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you take it with a grain of salt but then you actually watch the show when it airs and not if that's on camera either
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so it makes me wonder were they just trying to create drama and again this is a show I get it I'm cool with that to an
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extent right so we we go back to our hotel and
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we're under 1 hour sequester now because someone I don't want to R anyone out but
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one gal went missing and I think if you watched the show you
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probably know who because she goes missing again later and so we were under sequester and
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I remember I was in my room and I get a knock on the door and I open the door
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and it's Sarah and she's on my team she's the gal with the Mohawk such she's such a badass she's the toughest chick
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I've ever met she's hysterically crying I'm like what's wrong she said they made me do it they made me do it I'm so sorry
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and I'm like what and they had held her in that confessional for at least an
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hour longer than me because I had been back in the hotel for quite some time and they got her
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to to create drama and she was just mortified and she was like no I I I love
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being on the team with you and you're so great and I want us to be friends and I'm so sorry and I'm like stop it's okay it's okay and I I want to be very very
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very clear here still to this day Sarah is one of my favorite people and I would never hold that against her and and
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we're going to get to more fun Sarah stuff and I'm really hoping I can interview her as well on the the other
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podcast too so we get down to day or episode
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four we've already lost two people I believe I know Jay was one of
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them and I love Jay he's so sweet Jay has done so many shows he's worked with Mar the Stewart I already have been in
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talks with him to do the other podcast with him as well and I believe Raina went home as well but again I can't
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watch the show so I'm not 100% sure but spoiler alert I if if you're going to
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watch it you might want to turn this off and then come back later episode 4 I went home so we are getting ready for
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our team cooking and the first time we did this we were sitting in front of the
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the trailers for The the other sound so so I mentioned earlier sorry I'm jumping
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all around but I mentioned earlier we had two sound stages so one was for the taste and for the the confessional
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trailers and then the other one was for these like the star trailers that you
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see that the stars get to hang out in and they created four of them they had four of them and then they created these
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little outside areas for each of the judges and I think Nigel was all
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Whimsical and Anthony Bourdain is all you know like hard and rough and cool
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and Marcus had brought us in and we had sipped some whiskey which I sore I wouldn't drink on camera but then you
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know this amazing Chef is like you need to try this so of course you know I had a little SI but I'm a bit of a
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lightweight so I had to just have a sip just for taste so now day number four
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episode number four we're doing another little powow but this one's in the kitchen
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and here's the drama I have a real problem with and I still to this day
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lose sleep over it and and part of why I wanted to do this
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is because I wanted to talk about it so we're all standing around and Marcus
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Samuelson is frying some chicken I love some real Fried Chicken yes
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and I turn to shayu who's also on my team who's also going to do the other
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podcast and I asked him a question about it and he he answers the question sh is
33:24
an amazing Chef classic trained Chef I'm just a home cook I don't know what the hell I'm doing I'm definitely the
33:31
weakest link on my team probably the weakest link in the entire show again if
33:36
I did it now perhaps i''d be somewhere in the middle like bottom middle but I
33:42
turned to him and I ask him a question and we're miked of course we're filming we're miked and he answers and I say oh
33:50
I I want to use that you know either it was I feel like it was the fryer and I
33:56
feel like like that's why I asked him that question because lose weight by eating we don't fry anything right it's all healthy and I think I said oh I want
34:02
to use that so we go backstage and they
34:08
they've got us you know sitting around having coffee they've got the cameras on us still we
34:13
were great something coffee was sponsoring the show so you know they had a curig there and we were supposed to
34:20
like get the coffee and talk about it and we were just hanging out in in the green room and three producers come
34:28
in and they say we have an issue we have a big issue someone's
34:36
cheating and we're all like oh my gosh who who who and they say
34:44
Audrey you cannot tell your Mentor that you're going to be cooking something and
34:49
then expect him to taste it and not know it's yours you can't use chicken legs
34:55
and I'm like I didn't do that and they saywell we have you on
35:01
camera and I said great show it to me and they say well well you can't use chicken legs and I'm like okay I'm not
35:07
going to no you can't okay I'm not going to I want to see this footage I want to
35:13
see we have it we have it on audio we have it on on on uh camera you were
35:19
cheating and I'm like I was asking sh you and part of me is what I'm assuming
35:27
is is they only heard through audio but did not because
35:32
what when you're using your camera phone audio and video is at the same
35:38
time right it's on the same it's on the same device but when you're doing a big
35:43
production like this audio and visual are completely separate so my assumption
35:48
is that I was whispering to Shay you a
35:54
good8 feet away from Marcus and they thought I was talking to Marcus
36:00
and still to this day this bothers me still to this day they have never shown
36:07
any of this footage they have never proved anything and the show is no
36:13
longer still airing here in the United States so I'm sure that footage is lost
36:19
but this is something I'm really eager to talk to shayu about and see if he remembers and I don't want to
36:28
I really assume it was just audio because if it was visual then we
36:36
have a possible race issue that I'm speaking to
36:42
there's three white people and two African-Americans in the room and I speak to one African-American and they
36:48
think it's the other one I'm like I don't want to call race card here I I don't feel like as a white woman it's it
36:54
would be appropriate for me to and that's why I want to talk to sh about it but I I have to assume it was all just
37:00
audio because they would not have pieced them together right and if they had they would have seen it was clearly me
37:07
talking to Shu so I feel like they were trying to create this drama if it had
37:12
genuinely been Audrey's cheating they would have pulled me aside they would have kicked me off the show
37:20
right so I'm assuming because they waited until the cameras were on
37:27
on all of us we were all still miked of course as we were all day long but I
37:34
they waited until we were all in the green room and then they came in and so
37:39
my assumption is that's what happened and this is the kind of thing that happens within reality shows is if
37:46
they're not getting the drama they want they're going to create the drama and I don't know that's I I feel like I
37:54
need to get my piece of the story out because as I talk to others I'm curious
38:01
if they even remember this I'm still 10 years later losing sleep over this I kid
38:07
you not at least once a month I lie in bed wondering wondering wondering so I wanted to bring that up
38:14
here and kind of clear the air on that so that when I talk to my other
38:21
teammates we've got a frame of reference of where I was at so and I'm I'm filming
38:26
this on Monday February 26th so there's that I just kind of want to have my
38:33
information out there so that then we can revisit with others and perhaps I'm
38:39
remembering it incorrectly but there you go on that
38:44
so episode 4 comes around and this happens and we had been there for a good
38:51
two to two and a half weeks at this point because they're not just going to
38:56
be back to back each show takes about 3 days just to record and then do to Sag
39:04
rules and laws you have to have a certain amount of time off so we would have days off and so we were there for
39:10
about two and a half weeks and at the time I was struggling with a nerve
39:15
disease I had gotten from a a wrist surgery called CRPS it's also known as
39:21
RSD and it's very similar to fibromyalgia now for those of you wondering I am currently in remission uh
39:29
on really rainy days like today I might be a little extra achy but otherwise I'm
39:34
in remission but at this time I was not I was on strong medication both for
39:40
nerve issues and for pain medication unfortunately not on anymore thank goodness and I was getting regular nerve
39:48
blocks and what a nerve block is is they put you under and the surgeon will
39:54
inject basically flood the nerve with medication that will numb it for
40:00
lack of a better explanation and I was having this done at the USC pain center so in between episode the filming
40:09
of episode 3 and episode 4 I contacted the USC pain center which
40:15
was really really close and I said listen I'm going to have another couple of days off I have to schedule a nerve
40:21
block because I am just in so much pain I have the the nerve in my my right hand
40:28
and I am right-handed it traveled all the way up to my right
40:34
shoulder and I also have it in my left hip so standing for a long periods of
40:40
time can be difficult especially on those hard concrete floors
40:46
that they had a standing on which is would be fine for anyone else but for me my leg would go completely numb and I
40:54
was worried I was going to fall and hurt myself or dealing with knives we're doing dealing with fire and heat it was
40:59
just not safe and I was I was miserable I was in a ton of pain and
41:06
so I had scheduled a nerve block to happen in between episode 4 and episode
41:12
5 so we were going to have a break and I was going to get the permission to go over there and then come back I wasn't
41:19
going to tell anyone outside of the production crew cuz I was kind of um ashamed of it which
41:26
is really silly and now that I'm saying that out loud I'm going to have to reprocess that but
41:34
we we go into episode 4 and you know we're having
41:40
the big drama happen that's being created I'm in extreme pain and then we
41:47
do our group Challenge and in the group
41:52
challenge we cook four different dishes each of us Cooks our own dish and then
41:58
one gets chosen by our Mentor Marcus Samuelson and that one is the one that
42:03
goes up and Sarah made a delicious amazing dish that had a Quil EG on
42:11
top probably not taking into consideration that this would be eaten cold so a quail egg it's runny
42:20
cold it was divine I think there was even some homemade uh an onion Jam that
42:29
she made with it I this was the greatest thing I've ever eaten in my life but by the time that it was eaten by the guest
42:36
judge who apparently did not like eggs unfortunately we found out later it was a problem
42:42
so we we do our cooking I have a little we're going to talk about my me
42:49
too issue later but it happens during this episode it is not Marcus and it is
42:54
not anyone on my team and we send up our team dish which is
43:02
Sarah's dish and they this dish loses unfortunately
43:09
again it was absolutely delicious I think eatting eaten hot it was much
43:14
better than cold and that's just that's just how it is so we're standing there and and
43:21
they're trying to create more drama as they do in these shows and they they ask they put us all in a
43:29
row probably strongest to weakest but I know the first two people they ask I
43:35
don't know which order they're in it's Sarah and Shu and they say who's the
43:40
weakest link who needs to go home and they him and ha they don't want to say it we all really like each other I I
43:47
think out of all the teams at this point we are still to this day the closest and they say Audrey and they
43:53
were right at this point I was by Leaps and Bounds the weakest link not
44:00
just in our team but on the show again at this point I had only been cooking for a couple
44:06
years so they get to Don and Don really doesn't want to say it either I remember
44:12
and I'll definitely ask him about that as well and you know he HS and haw and
44:17
says Audrey and then they get to meet you know they're trying to create drama what did they want me to say Sarah because it was her dish it's it's BS
44:25
she's amazing and so I say me and I remember and I it
44:30
thumbs me out that they didn't capture it or put it on camera but everyone
44:36
gasped because we're standing on this big Sound Stage and here's Marcus's team and then on this
44:43
side on in the middle sorry if you're watching on YouTube you're seeing me like with my hand gestures but on the
44:49
left of all of us was Anthony Bourdain's team on the right of all of us was Nigel Lawson's team and then finally you know
44:56
further down was the other team and I remember hearing the gasp and I said me
45:02
I need to go home I should be the one to go home I want my team to win I should be the one to go
45:07
home and so I kind of fell on my own sword and this was for a few reasons one
45:13
I genuinely was the weakest link and I really wanted my team to win two I was
45:18
completely exhausted and in so much pain and I didn't know if I could keep going and three that whole drama thing that
45:26
they had tried to stir up earlier I did not want to become what they were trying to turn me into on this show so I bowed
45:33
out I left and that night I I hear a little
45:41
sh and I go to my door cuz you sometimes they would slip a call sheet under our
45:47
door whatever we might need for the next day I figured maybe it was you know boarding information to get back home
45:54
and it was a card I still have this card and again if we do if we end up doing a patreon I will take a photo and send it
46:01
to you after I get her permission I still carry it in my wallet to this day
46:06
it was Sarah's business card and on the back of it was the sweetest most amazing
46:12
message just saying how much he respected me and how good it was to get to know me and Sarah
46:21
is a gem she's one of the most amazing human beings I've ever met and Sarah if
46:26
you're listening or watching this I still have it I still carry it around it is um one of my most prized
46:33
possessions so I go home I I get back into my normal life I
46:40
think they come out and film me for my my get to know you moment where they
46:46
they have me walking through the farmers market and all of that and a few weeks
46:52
later I go back for the finale they bring us all back for the finale
46:57
and it was really different cuz it was like the pressure was off for most of us and I
47:06
remember so we were still I believe we were still sequestered even though we had been you know released from the show
47:13
and then brought back for the finale and I must have been because the food at the bar was
47:19
horrific and um I remember you know I never wanted to eat it but you were kind of forced to cuz it was too expensive in
47:26
the restaurant and so I remember going to the bar and sitting there with Louise
47:32
and another spoiler if you haven't watched it you should probably turn this off right now so the night before Louise
47:40
and I are sitting and it wasn't like she and I were buddy buddy this was probably the first time we had had a a one-on-one
47:47
conversation and she's amazing by the way and she is just really struggling
47:54
with the fact that she doesn't feel like she can beat the other
48:00
chefs and a spoiler Louise totally wins she's absolutely amazing and as someone
48:06
who's written four cookbooks I'm so so so so so so happy that a a a food
48:13
stylist wins because food stylists to me they have to be classically trained or
48:19
just as good as a classically trained Chef plus they have to make it look pretty plus they end up cooking food
48:27
from all these different chefs and I know she had worked on um GID
48:33
delores's show at one point I know she's done a ton of cookbooks I even talked to her about maybe being my food stylist
48:39
but it didn't work out so a chef is great but they're always cooking their
48:44
own food and a home cook is great but they're always cooking their own food but a food stylist is cooking their own
48:51
food and everyone else's food and making it look pretty so so I think in the moment and I don't I know I could not
48:58
have given her this perspective in that moment because I had yet to ever write a cookbook or really know what a food stus
49:04
did but she was really struggling with the fact that you know I don't deserve
49:10
to be here and I'm not going to win and I'm going to make a fool of myself I don't think she said that but it was in
49:15
that same mode and she was really struggling with it and we had a really great conversation I remember telling
49:21
her you're so talented and you're so fun on camera and just go out there and have
49:27
fun just go out there and make yourself proud you should be proud that you've gotten to where you're at and again
49:33
spoiler alert um Louise wins um taste season 2 and we we go into
49:43
the into the lot on universal we go onto the sound station they have built us
49:49
some bleachers and we're all sitting in the bleachers and I'm having like a full
49:54
pain attack and doing my very best not to let it get caught on camera which it did it thank you thank you and we were
50:03
not ever allowed to bring our phones on set but we did we all totally snuck our phones in
50:12
on set for this last finale now we were all very respectful we weren't you know taking photos of it while it was
50:18
happening but this was possibly our last chance to be on this set and damned if
50:23
we were not going to get photos of it on crappy old like what iPhone 2 or something it was 10 years ago so we we
50:32
brought our phones on and at the end we took photos together and I remember
50:37
sitting in Marcus samuelson's chair and taking a photo we've not totally not even realizing that Jack Bon is right
50:44
behind me remember taking photos with my friend Cassie who was also on the show
50:50
and with Anthony Bordain and Nigella Lawson and they eventually whisk the
50:57
four judges away you know send them all home
51:03
and we were then they start setting up this is great you guys so they send
51:11
the judges home these are stars I get it they have stuff to do and then they
51:17
start tearing down the set and putting up decorations and putting out food and
51:23
champagne and we're going to have a ratp party and I'm like oh my gosh we get to do a real Hollywood rap party not like rap
51:32
the music like rapping of the show we weren't invited they didn't invite any of the
51:40
contestants they only invited the crew which the crew damn well deserved it because they worked hard but the 16 of
51:48
us only one of us got paid because she won we were all there working for free
51:54
never made a single dime off of the show unless she got cookbooks like I did and Cassie did it
52:00
was again I really don't want to curse on loose we by eating podcast but it was you guys it was just are you
52:07
kidding me we just gave our hearts and souls and made fools of oursel on television and we don't even get to have
52:13
a free glass of champagne so we were pissed we were all really like are you
52:20
kidding me I'll go back to the hotel and I'm in my room
52:26
and I get oh man I forgot this I get a text message from Brad I got to I have to call Brad so
52:33
Brad was on Anthony Bourdain's team and I get a text message from him and all it
52:38
says is along these lines is something like get down here now like okay and I
52:44
knew he was in the bar I knew what he meant and I get down to the bar and it's him and Jack pipon sitting at a table
52:51
together and if you don't know who Jack pipon is do you know who Julia child is
52:56
because Jack was on her show for years and years and years so now I can officially say that my degrees of
53:03
separation between me and and Julia Child are one right so I get down there
53:09
and here is this food God it seemed to me like even Anthony
53:18
bouran was a little star struck by this man this is who this is okay and we're all sitting there and we're drinking
53:24
wine and remember my friend Patty Patty Bellow is a a wine maker in pel rubbles
53:31
and she had sent me with a bottle so I went running back up to my room and brought down a bottle of I believe it
53:37
was her Mero or one of her red blends and she was so excited later on to find out that Jac Bon had drank her wine but
53:43
we open up the wine you know food is flowing and and at some point you know Jac well first of all jacqu is telling
53:50
us all these great stories about you know about how he met Julia Child and the stories he had heard about her
53:57
beforeand and and if you're watching me right now I'm like so animated because it was such a huge moment for me to meet
54:04
him and at one point so they have a piano player in the bar at this hotel
54:11
and at one point he gets up and he goes over to the piano player and he talks
54:16
him for a moment and then he dedicates a song to us and he stands up there and he
54:22
sings to the whole cast The Taste who was down there in the moment a a song in French cuz he's
54:31
French this is like this doesn't happen to anyone but we got to experience it so
54:36
with that said it was that we didn't go to the rap party but I don't think any of us were sad about it after
54:43
that night because we got to hang out with jacqu so that is my story from the
54:51
taste I again I watched it the the moment it came out I watched it live I I
54:59
ended up getting a cookbook deal with Harper Collins because of it so I'm I'm grateful for my
55:05
time I do want to give some takeaways however they did some of us
55:11
dirty so Cassie specifically was on lud's
55:17
team and Cassie is the most adorable
55:22
human being ever she has this nervous giggle that is very rare but they played
55:29
it on a loop they did her so dirty it was
55:36
heartbreaking and TSH poo picked it up and they made fun of her and I remember
55:43
her calling me I'm sure she called quite a few of us totally crying because they
55:49
were making fun of her on TSH boo because they took one giggle she did once one nervous giggle who does not
55:55
have a nervous tick right and they played it on a loop throughout the whole show with
56:01
me they I would be saying oh yeah my reader like this and my reader like that and they would make me resay it to say
56:08
my fans and then they would turn around and tear me down because I said I had fans I still to this day don't use the
56:14
word fans I am a you know D or lless celebrity at
56:20
best but I they did me dirty and that they did a lot of us dirty um they really
56:28
edited it to create the drama they were looking for unfortunately the show didn't do better because of it because
56:34
it was only in for three seasons but like I said I I met some lifelong
56:40
friends and if you subscribe and tune in over at who reality cooking podcast you
56:47
will meet some of them I like I said I got a four cookbook deal the moment that
56:54
I was was released from the show on air so not the moment that it actually
56:59
happened but the moment that it aired I had four messages from four different
57:05
literary agents and I picked one Celeste fine thank you Celeste and Celeste uh
57:13
got me a cookbook deal with Harper Collins and I've written four cookbooks for them so I don't regret going on the
57:20
taste I I don't like the way treated some of
57:26
us personally I don't really care about what they did to me I'm I'm pissed about
57:32
what they did to Cassie I'm I'm you know I I'm I'm pissed about the the me too
57:37
thing we're going to talk about that at some point when I feel up to it but I'm
57:43
glad I went on it I'm glad I made the friends I I did and here's on my notes I have would you
57:50
do it again probably if I knew what I know
57:57
now maybe maybe I really don't know I I watch these shows now and I'm in awe of
58:06
the contestants and I don't know that I would have the confidence to um get up there and and
58:15
and do my thing so I don't know if I would do it again but I don't regret it
58:20
so that's my story this is a much longer podcast than I had anticipated
58:25
however because it is not the inspirational exciting thing that I want
58:31
this podcast to be you can keep listening because there's another one coming I'm going to launch two today so
58:39
that you have two podcasts so thank you for following along with me I'm sorry if
58:45
it was long and rambling I'm trying to tell my story best I can remember again it was 10 years old but later on today I
58:52
get to interview my friend Don who was on The Taste with me he was right behind me he had the big beard my daughter
58:59
thought that he was Santa Claus when she met him was so cute and that's my time
59:06
on the taste I felt like this was a better platform for it because I really want the their platform to be for the
59:14
people who've been a contestant I want to give them that moment I want them to be able to see their piece I want them
59:20
to be able to say they roped me into saying this or they looped my giggle or they pulled me
59:28
into confessional and kept me there for 5 hours until I agreed to talk crap about someone I hope that's not still
59:35
happening and if it is you know admittedly it does make for good TV but
59:40
that platform is going to be for those chefs and those home Cooks to say their
59:47
peace and with that said I am going to give them the questions ahead of time
59:52
and as long as it's before I'm done editing I'm going to let them cut out things that they said I I feel like we
59:59
go out there and we work for free on these shows because we do not get paid unless you win and we're talking months
1:00:05
sometimes of not getting paid and I feel like we now need to be
1:00:11
able to say our peace and talk about all the great things that come about of it and also talk about the things to look
1:00:16
out for like if you're trying out for one of those shows your food better tastes even better cold than it does hot
1:00:24
and I'm going to you on that note so thank you so much for following Along on this very long- winded podcast about my
1:00:30
time on the taste again I'm Audrey John's happy cooking and stay tuned for another episode of the lose weight by
1:00:37
eating podcast next bye

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