I admit it, I am a reality show loser. I never really got into the mainstream shows like “survivor”, but show me a kooky, off-beat reality show and I am hooked... see Rockstar:INXS.

Now add cooking to the reality show format and you got me, in fact you had me at cooking. The show that I am talking about is "The Next Food Network Star". The winner of the show was promised a series on Food Network. It could have been great or really lame, based on the contestants. I guess you could say that about every reality series. Lucky for me, the contestants were well chosen and interesting. This show was the exact opposite of every old "The Real World" which is populated by uninteresting, slackjawed goobers. I watched EVERY EPISODE; I thought about it all the time and couldn't wait for next week's show.

The winners were a team, Dan and Steve. During the reality show, it was clear that they would be hard to beat. They came in practiced and pretty well polished with only a slight twinge of gayness, mostly because they are really gay. I mean, really gay as in real-world gay couples, not TV/stereotype gay couples. I am actually looking forward to seeing their show even if they we not my favorite of the show. It will be interesting to see how someone that came in slightly above the average amateur.

The only problem? They called their show “Soup 2 Nuts” during “The Next Food Network Star”, which I liked. It was cute and, like them, an appropriate level of “gay”. Now the real show is called “Party Line”, which to me is just not gay enough. I am sure I will get over it..

Good luck Dan and Steve!