Food Network Star (season 7)

Contestants

Eliminated

• Howie Drummond – Highlands Ranch, Colorado
• Juba Kali – New Orleans, Louisiana
• Katy Clark – Long Beach, California
• Alicia Sanchez – New York, New York
• Justin Balmes – Marietta, Georgia
• Justin Davis – Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Orchid Paulmeier – Bluffton, South Carolina
• Chris Nirschel – Hoboken, New Jersey
• Penny Davidi – Los Angeles, California
• Jyll Everman – Glendora, California
• Whitney Chen – New York, New York
• Mary Beth Albright – Washington, D.C.
• Vic "Vegas" Moea''' – Las Vegas, Nevada

  Runner-Up

• Susie Jimenez – Aspen, Colorado

  Winner

• Jeff Mauro – Elmwood Park, Illinois

  Contestant Progress

Episodes

Week One: Lights, Camera, Cook

• Camera Challenge: The contestants created breakfast dishes representing their culinary points of view and presented them on camera.
• *Winner: Orchid
• Star Challenge: The contestants were divided into groups of three and got four takes to create promos with Alton Brown. Then, the groups headed to the Food Star Kitchens to create one dish on their own and one collaborative dish. After, they presented their dishes and promos to the Selection Committee, Brown, and special guests, including Extra host Mario Lopez.
• *Winners: Juba, Jeff and Orchid
• *Eliminated: Howie

Week Two: In the Line of Fire

• Camera Challenge: The contestants created pizzas that reflected their culinary points of view and presented them on camera. For the first time on Food Network Star, a contestant was eliminated after the Camera Challenge.
• *Winner: Penny
• *Eliminated: Juba
• Star Challenge: As the Camera Challenge winner, Penny was awarded the task of creating the teams for the Star Challenge. The challenge was to render dishes that were time-consuming, technically difficult and that had expensive ingredients accessible to untrained home cooks. The teams presented their dishes to the selection committee and to guest judges Anne Burrell, Scott Conant and Pat and Gina Neely. The contestants were not only judged on their culinary merits but also on their personalities in the kitchen.
• *Winners: Whitney, Mary Beth and Justin B.
• *Eliminated: Katy

Week Three: Dueling Desserts

• Camera Challenge: Each finalist went to a vending machine filled with Hershey candy. The type of candy they got was what they had to use in their dish. They then presented to camera once cooking was complete.
• *Winner: Jyll
• Star Challenge: The finalists were put into two groups with six people represented by Robert Irvine or Duff Goldman. As Jyll was the winner of the Camera Challenge, she picked which chef her group would be based on, and who would be in her group. Each made a dessert for 150 people and for the Selection Committee, as well as two group collaboration dishes.
• *Winners: Team Robert
• *Eliminated: Alicia

Week Four: Cougar Town and Paula Deen

• Camera Challenge: The finalists were given a Kellogg's product to cook with and had to present their dishes to camera. Michael Symon and Melissa d'Arabian were the guests for the challenge and helped give advice for further success.
• *Winner: Jyll
• Star Challenge: The finalists were divided into pairs to create a lunch for 150 people on the set of the TV show Cougar Town. Paula Deen was the surprise guest and shared words of wisdom with the contestants regarding their personalities. Each pair had to base their meal on a specific on-set job and what the workers doing the job would like to eat for lunch. Once all pairs had served those workers, the contestants then served a small table of people, including the selection committee, Courteney Cox and Brian Van Holt.
• *Winners: Jeff, Mary Beth, Orchid, Susie and Vic
• *Eliminated: Justin B.

Week Five: Diners, Drive-Ins and Fourth of July

• Camera Challenge: Guy Fieri took the finalists to a Mel's Diner in Hollywood. They were broken into five pairs and were assigned to do a specific segment similar to those done on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: open the show, interview the owner, interview the executive chef, interview the head server, and close the show. No winner was declared in this challenge.
• *Winner: None
• Star Challenge: The finalists had to prepare a Fourth of July meal for 150 people. First, they were assigned an original summertime meal to re-create. The finalists had two hours to prepare their meals in the Food Star Kitchen before packing up for presentation the next day. Once they got to the field where the Fourth of July event was being held, a special challenge was presented - they had to give a three-minute demo to all 150 people and the Selection Committee, before handing out the food.
• *Winner: Susie
• *Eliminated: Justin D.

Week Six: Food Truck Face-Off

• Camera Challenge: None
• Star Challenge: The finalists were greeted by Tyler Florence and put into three teams of three. Their task was to create food to be sold to 150 people from a food truck. Before the cooking started, each team had a few minutes to come up with a name for their truck, create a theme and decide what dish each contestant would cook. Each team filmed a commercial to be shown to potential customers, designed to entice them to the truck. When the customers arrived, the commercials were shown, and the customers picked up a ticket for the truck they wanted to patronize.
• *Winner: Vic
• *Eliminated: Orchid

Week Seven: Dinner Party for Wolfgang Puck

• Camera Challenge: The contestants had to make their own signature dishes based on their point of view. They had two hours to cook and once the cooking was complete, they had to do a two-minute demo to camera.
• *Winner: Whitney
• Star Challenge: Bobby Flay arrives at the finalists' house and announces their star challenge: create a meal for Wolfgang Puck and the Selection Committee. The chefs were to cook at the house, and were limited to items in their pantry and refrigerator. Whitney, as the Camera Challenge winner, assigned everyone a specific course to cook. Penny and Mary Beth were selected to shop for their table settings. They were met at the store by designer Sabrina Soto, who provided tips on how to select table settings.
• *Winner: None
• *Eliminated: Chris and Penny

Week Eight: Ina Garten and Rachael Ray

• Camera Challenge: The finalists left Los Angeles and went to New York City. Once they arrived, they went to Chelsea Market, and were greeted by Ina Garten. She presented them a coconut and almond cupcake that each contestant had to remake using their point of view. Once cooking was complete, they presented to camera and the Selection Committee.
• *Winners: Jyll and Mary Beth
• Star Challenge: All the finalists were going to be on The Rachael Ray Show. They were given a classic American dish and had to remake it with a modern twist. The day before they were going to be on the show, they prepared their dishes in the Food Network Kitchen. On the day of presentation they were greeted by Rachael Ray. She told them that they had to do a 30-second opening designed to entice possible viewers. They also had to do a 3-minute demo while answering an audience member's question.
• *Winner: Jeff
• *Eliminated: Jyll

Week Nine: Comedy Roast

• Camera Challenge: The contestants searched Chelsea Market, sampling different food to describe for a segment of The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Each chef made a selection, then presented that dish to camera, directed by Bobby Flay. None of the contestants prepared any food.
• *Winner: Jeff
• Star Challenge: The contestants had to prepare a traditional roast, which they would serve to the Selection Committee and a group of stand-up comics, while being roasted themselves. Jeff as the winner of the Camera Challenge, assigned his fellow contestants the roast they would prepare. Guest comedians included: Louie Anderson, Gilbert Gottfried, Judy Gold, Anthony Anderson and Aubrey Plaza.
• *Winner: Jeff
• *Eliminated: Whitney

Week Ten: Iron Chef

• Camera Challenge: None
• Star Challenge: The contestants were divided into pairs to be pitted against each other in an Iron Chef America competition, completing three dishes within an hour. Jeff, as the winner of the last challenge, was allowed to pick who he would go up against – Susie. The contestants were also assisted by a former finalist as sous chef: Jeff with Whitney, Susie with Chris, Mary Beth with Penny and Vic with Jyll. The contestants were asked to judge their opponent's dishes and to provide kitchen-side commentary during the battle they were not participating in. Vic and Mary Beth's secret ingredient was rack of lamb while Susie and Jeff's was lobster.
• *Winners: Susie and Vic
• *Eliminated: Mary Beth

Week Eleven: Cook for Your Life and Pilots

• Camera Challenge: The finalists had two hours to cook the best dish of their life. Once cooking was complete, they had one minute to present to camera. Once everyone presented, one finalist was eliminated; a first in Food Network Star history.
• *Winner: Susie
• *Eliminated: Vic
• Star Challenge: The two finalists joined Guy Fieri to film their pilots. They had four tries and had to be sure to have a story behind their dish and demonstrate how to make the dish. Once filming was complete, they presented their pilots to the Selection Committee, and a focus group made up of previously eliminated contestants.
• *Runner-Up: Susie
• *The Next Food Network Star: Jeff
• *New Show: Sandwich King - premiered on Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 11:30/10:30c AM