The eighth season of The Next Food Network Star is about to begin and Bobby Flay is dishing on what we can expect from his new role as a coach (instead of a judge).
"I think that they may have taken a cue from the way I was judging these last seven years. I always felt like I was mentoring from the judging table as best I could," Flay said. "I always felt like I wanted to jump over the judging table and actually take these people under my wing, because you really get connected to them -- especially the people who kind of hang around for a while."
Flay also said that it's the three judges' very different personalities that make for an entertaining competition.
"The three of us coaches look at this very, very differently: My feeling is that if you can cook, I can teach you how to do television; Giada's feeling is if you have a personality, then I can teach you how to cook on TV; and Alton's philosophy is if you're quirky, I want to work with you," he said. "It really is our personalities -- I picked people that had some really good cooking chops. As long as they're comfortable with food, then I can get them to be comfortable in front of a camera. Obviously the other two coaches don't agree with that, but that's what makes this really fantastic."
The eighth season of The Next Food Network Star begins tomorrow at 9 pm on the Food Network.
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