Twice-baked was twice-criticized.
Slippery Rock native Nathan Barnhouse got off to an inauspicious start this week on Fox’s “MasterChef.” The 20 cheftestants had to make something good out of a box filled with potatoes, and his twice-baked potato with carmelized onion, bacon and purple potato puree did not go over well with the judges.
“My dish looks like crap,” Mr. Barnhouse, 20, said.
“It looks like someone already ate it once,” guest judge Wolfgang Puck said.
Added Gordon Ramsay: “It just looks sad.” The puree, he deemed “smelly, like a dirty sock in there.”
Yikes.
Happily for Mr. Barnhouse, he aced the next challenge, correctly reconstructing a Ramsay fish dish. “This looks stunning,” Mr. Ramsay said, moving a clearly nervous Mr. Barnhouse to tears.
Also on reality TV
• There will be glitter.
The second all-star season cast for “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has been announced, and Pittsburgh’s Alaska (Justin Honard) is among the queens. Others include Roxxxycq Andrews, Adore Delano, Coco Montrese, Tatiana, Phi Phi O’Hara, Katya, Ginger Minj and Alyssa Edwards. Start your engines on Logo Aug. 25.
• There will be go-go boots.
Nia Sioux, one of the original girls from Lifetime’s “Dance Moms,” is spending the summer in New York City. She will join the cast of “Trip of Love,” a ’60s throwback dance revue at Stage 42. Nia, 14, began her dance career at the Abby Lee Miller dance studio in Penn Hills.
“We are all looking forward to welcoming Nia into the company,” said James Walski, the show’s creator, director and choreographer. “Being a fan of ‘Dance Moms,’ I have watched Nia grow into a strong, confident young girl with athletic and expressive ability.”
• Ready, set, bake!
Our favorite dessert returns July 1 when PBS airs season three of the “The Great British Baking Show.” The first two seasons aired on Sundays just before “Downton Abbey,” so this Friday night time slot seems a bit off, like adding bourbon to a strawberry trifle.
Still, there’s nothing like Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood judging a frantic crew of home bakers against the soothing backdrop of pretty expensive kitchen appliances and flowers from the meadow outside the tent. Bring on the Victoria sponge cake and make it scrummy!
Maria Sciullo: msciullo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1478 or @MariaSciulloPG.
First Published: June 18, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
