Josh Lyons, Food Network Star Season 8 Finalist

Josh Lyons

After spending years in a rock band, Josh, 42, decided to go to culinary school to fuel his other passion: food. He worked at every level of the restaurant industry — from busser to bartender to line cook — and is now a sushi chef and restaurant consultant in Jupiter, Fla.

Josh Lyons' Videos

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Ep. 3 Reaction: Josh's Exit 02:47

Josh's Grilling Tip 01:10

Casting: Josh Lyons 02:59

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Team Giada's Rock-and-Roll Chef

Josh Lyons, a sushi chef and restaurant consultant from Jupiter, Fla., who moonlights as a singer in a rock band, was the first member of Team Giada to say goodbye.

Josh's Journal

Josh stuck around for three episodes, long enough to fill pages of his Star journal with notes and ideas for upcoming challenges.

In the Weeds

Josh was in trouble from the start in the premiere's Restaurant: Impossible challenge. His team forgot to pick up eggs, so he had to rework his idea for a dumpling soup on the fly.

Presentation Prep

Here, Josh jotted down notes before presenting to Robert Irvine, the network and the mentors. Unfortunately, they weren't wowed by his presentation or his greasy soup. He ended up on the bottom for Team Giada.

Producers' Challenge #1

In the season's first Producers' Challenge, Giada urged Josh to think of a personal story to present along with his Mother's Day dish. He succeeded and was able to prevail over Cristie in the pitch room to stay in the competition.

Arthur Avenue

Josh made it through to the next challenge, in which the finalists led food tours of iconic New York neighborhoods. Team Giada went to Arthur Avenue, the Little Italy of the Bronx, where Josh took notes on his location, Peter's Meat Market.

Safe

Josh's sausage-and-peppers crostini inspired by the meat market didn't make much of an impression on the judges, but thanks to strong dishes from some of his teammates, Team Giada took home the win in this challenge. Josh was safe this week.

Asian Inspiration

Between challenges, Josh wrote out notes for recipes he'd like to use in the competition. He wanted to show the judges his skill with Asian flavors but, unfortunately, he never got a chance to make them his tuna tataki trio.

Full of Ideas

More recipes that Josh wanted to keep in his back pocket: Japanese barbecue ribs, apple pie and mochi. Had he stuck around longer, perhaps these dishes would have surfaced later in the competition.

Risky Move

The Chopped dessert challenge was a curve ball and took all of the finalists out of their comfort zones. Not only were they working with wacky ingredient combinations, but they had to compete against their own teammates. Josh decided to go all out and make Danish-style doughnuts called Ebilskevers: "I'm just going to wing it and make it Asian-inspired."

Getting Comfortable

Josh's overcomplicated dessert landed him in the bottom for the second time. "You tried to shove a lot into a short time period. There's a Josh in there that I think is really interesting, but we're not getting him because of all the complications," said Bob Tuschman. He tried to take that advice to heart in the Producers' Challenge.

Downtime

While waiting in the stew room to find out his fate, Josh planned ahead. Without recipes, he jotted more down from memory so he'd have them ready at crunch time.

Back in the Pitch Room

Giada made her argument for Josh in the pitch room: "I finally saw a point of view, mixing his heritage with his passion, which is Asian infusion," she said. She thought Josh could improve his camera presentations with time, but Bob and Susie decided this was his week to go home: "When he gets up to perform, it's 120 miles per hour. That doesn't work here," Susie said.

Spent

After three team challenges and two Producers' Challenges, Josh was "beyond exhausted, spent and depleted," he wrote in his journal.

Team Giada's First Farewell

Josh left the competition with a new POV to run with: "This experience was very unique. I think it's clarified my direction, fusing Asian cuisine with European. I've presented it to some of the biggest chefs in the world and they did give me some positive feedback. I'm going to take those words and create something awesome."