TV : The Next Food Network Star : Michael Thomas : Food Network

Michael Thomas

Where are you living/working now?

Venice Beach, California

What have you been up to since NFNS?

Cooking, traveling, surfing, doing culinary segments on The Tyra Banks Show, acting in a Jon Stewart comedy called Three Strikes and developing a new food show. Oh, and trying to have a good time as much as humanly possible.

What did you enjoy most about being on NFNS?

Cooking and hanging out with such amazing people. Also, kissing Paula Deen was pretty sweet.

Do you still keep in touch with other contestants?

I bounce emails and phone calls and hang out with a bunch of folks from in front of and behind the camera. Hans and I chat every few weeks and have hung out in California a couple of times. Hans is good people. He’s got his own show in Georgia, and it’s excellent. We got together last month and cooked for the "Master of Horror" Clive Barker and a dozen friends. It was free-form, tasty and a blast.

Any behind-the-scene happenings from NFNS you can tell us about?

We had a blast off-camera. However, when they started throwing weird obstacles at you, the fun rating went down and the stress level rocketed. Also, the Food Network offices are painted in colors named after food. They go deep.

How did being on NFNS affect your culinary career?

Being on NFNS (I do love acronyms) was an excellent crash course education in TV cooking and has been a great springboard into other culinary media opportunities.

What advice would you offer the next round of contestants?

Like any specific skill - practice, practice, practice. Also, try to enjoy it. It will show on camera and, more importantly, you can actually enjoy it.

When you look back, would you have done anything differently?

Of course, with hindsight, I would have practiced a lot more, so reading a teleprompter and multi-tasking while cooking was second nature. Not having a firm grip on those skills made me stress out and blunder. I’m better at it now, but at the time, it was very challenging.

Are you recognized from your time on NFNS?

I’ve been recognized from NFNS quite a bit. I attribute it to the giant audience that the Food Network has, the unprecedented popularity of the show and the fact that I have an afro.

What was the greatest lesson you learned from your time on NFNS?

Network television works in mysterious ways and reality entertainment is not reality, it’s entertainment. What you get is not always what you’ve seen, so you might as well enjoy the process.

Ideas from Foodnetwork.com

Search