Would-Be Food Star Survives Week 1

Welcome to Season 7 of Food Network Star, when we hope Marietta’s Justin Balmes goes a long way in the competition to win his own TV cooking show.

Justin is a former line cook and fishmonger who’s now a butcher and a Harry’s Farmers Market team member.

His bio video at FoodNetwork.com tells an intriguing life story of food setting a troubled young man on the straight and narrow—and of a mother who was a horrible cook.

“My biggest challenge is that I’m a perfectionist, and I’m afraid that I won’t be perfect right away,” Justin says when we meet the tall, tattooed bicycling enthusiast on the premiere episode Sunday night.

Sure enough, perfect he’s not.

To be fair, we have no idea how Justin does on the opening challenge—making a sophisticated breakfast that represents the chef in 45 minutes, then presenting it on camera in 60 seconds.

Justin gets about a second of camera time in the kitchen—it looks as if he makes some kind of dish involving a fried egg—and that’s it. Others among the 15 contestants are cooking up more drama in the kitchen, and apparently he’s neither the best nor the worst in presenting his dish on camera.

Let’s hope his slow introduction to America is not a harbinger of a brief stay in the Food Network spotlight. For that matter, let’s hope he gets some time in the spotlight.

That spotlight comes during the next challenge, when Justin teams up with Mary Beth Albright and Whitney Chen to create a group promo for their would-be food shows. The team has four takes to get it right under the direction of one of our own, Alton Brown.

“I know I can cook, but I’m worried about the camera work,” Justin says. Hmm, foreshadowing, the key to great TV editing.

Three times Mary Beth hands off the promo to him; three times he drops the ball (while at least holding on to a big fish). On the fourth and final chance, he manages to finish his promo about rocking out different cuts on the proposed Kitchen Workshop, and he passes to Whitney, but only after a far-too-dramatic pause.

“I feel horrible,” Justin says. “Face plant, fail.”

The same team works together to create a four-course meal in two hours. Again, the lack of drama in the kitchen prevents us from seeing Justin and friends doing much cooking, but his braised lamb shank over pan-roasted beets is a hit with the judges.

His confidence is equally well done as he tells the judges about his nervous camera debut: “With a little polish, I could knock that out of the park.”

“I like the way you look; I like the way you cook,” one judge tells Justin. “I just felt I needed a crowbar to get to know you.”

Keep that crowbar handy because Justin finishes safely in the middle to survive to Week 2, airing Sunday night at 9 on Food Network (Channel 57 on Comcast). You can vote for him as a fan favorite up to 10 times a day.