If You Were Cast for Star...

By: Debra Puchalla

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Melissa d'Arabian, host of Ten Dollar Dinners and winner of Star season 5, has advivce for this year's hopefuls.

If you were cast as a finalist for The Next Food Network Star, wouldn't you want to know what works with Bob and Susie? And what Bobby Flay is really like when he comes into the kitchen and you're frantically trying to represent your true culinary point of view? And whether you should act larger than life or (warning: here comes the cliche) be yourself?

There's no need to mess around with guesswork; instead go to a reliable source. Like Melissa d'Arabian. Melissa, winner of The Next Food Network Star season 5, has been uberbusy with creating recipes and producing her show Ten Dollar Dinners and traveling and talking to fans and, oh-by-the-way, being a wife and mom to four young daughters. But she found a few minutes to sit down and share how she feels a year later, plus her advice for the twelve Season 6 Star finalists.

"They really need to trust that they are enough," Melissa says, "... to know who they are, put their arms around that, celebrate it, and bring it to the table." See what else Melissa said, then check out her top recipes and visit her Facebook page.

Remember all the others from Season 5? Catch up with Jeffrey, Debbie and others.

You can, of course, also see what the other Star winners are up to, too, including Aaron McCargo, Jr. and Guy Fieri. Visit foodnetwork.com/star for interviews with all the past seasons' finalists and learn who's cooking what, plus watch videos and get new recipes all season long.