Mom competes to share her love for food, family on TV
A Seminole woman is one of five semifinalists for a Food Network reality based cooking show.
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
Published November 16, 2005
[Times photo: James Borchuck]
Angela Sackett of Seminole makes lunch with her daughter, Anna, 5, and sons Joshua, 7, right, and Brian Jr., 8. She is one of five semifinalists for the television show The Next Food Network Star. If she wins, Sackett will have a six-week television show on the Food Network and the chance to have her show picked up. "I'm giddy," Sackett said Monday. "I really feel like this is just a wild opportunity God has given me." To vote for a finalist in The Next Food Network Star show, go to foodnetwork.com.
SEMINOLE - Angela Sackett grew up in a broken home where cooking was not an art form, but when she married and had children, she saw it as a way to unite her family and show her love.
Now that love might make her a television star. She is one of five semifinalists for the television show The Next Food Network Star. If she wins, Sackett will have a six-week television show on the Food Network and the chance to have the show picked up as a permanent fixture on Food TV.
"I'm giddy," Sackett said Monday. "I really feel like this is just a wild opportunity God has given me."
The best part, she said, is watching her four children get excited over the prospect and telling her, "You're it. You're Supermom."
The show, which is preparing for its second season, advertised on the air and on the Web site, www.foodnetwork.com for competitors, said Mark O'Connor, vice president of public relations for the Food Network.
Interested cooks sent in three-minute videos of themselves cooking and instructing potential viewers. Food Network officials narrowed the candidates to 12. Now the list must be shortened to eight finalists, seven of whom have already been named. Finalist No. 8 will be determined by votes from viewers who go to the Web site where the remaining five candidates, including Sackett, can be seen on video.
It's conceivable, O'Connor said, that the votes could be in the millions because 6-million to 7-million people visit the site each month. Last year, several thousand people voted, he said.
Network officials look for "something that is different," O'Connor said. "Something that would fit into our roster of programing. A dynamic individual or individuals to be the next food network star."
Sackett has two tapes on the Web site. In one, she prepares her signature dish, Southwestern Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie, with her 7-year-old son Joshua. Joshua suggested she send in the tape.
"He's loving it because all his friends are going online, watching him," Sackett said. In her second video, Sackett is alone, preparing Mediterranean Breakfast Tarts. Breakfast, she said, is her favorite meal to prepare.
"To me, there is nothing better than waking up and being in the kitchen with our family, just relaxing," she said. "Cooking breakfast epitomizes the family for me."
Her competition for the show includes Stacy Pearl, a professional chef from Santa Fe, who prepares a chocolate torte with brandy. The other three are amateur cooks: Beverly Lee from Las Vegas fixes Asian Slaw Napoleon with Seared Salmon; Evette Rodriguez from Port St. Lucie, who prepares an omelet; and Mariela Petroski of Helena, Mont., who shows off her steak salad.
To win, the cook must have an idea that sets her show apart.
"We're always looking for the next niche in the world of cooking," O'Connor said.
Sackett's idea is a show that includes family and friends cooking together and trading stories.
"I would love to see a show where you've got friends in the kitchen and you're all learning from one another," Sackett said.
If she is chosen as a finalist, the Food Network will fly her to New York for a two-week "intensive boot camp," O'Connor said.
During that two weeks, they will be given tests as well as coaching in cooking skills and media training, he said. That process will be filmed and turned into five shows that will provide the basis for the final vote by viewers.
The winner's six-week television show will air on Saturday or Sunday mornings. The trip is paid for by the network and the contestants are fed but receive no salary. Online voting for the finalists began this week and ends Monday. Then Sackett has to wait until March to find out the results and whether she qualified for the finals.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
To vote for a finalist in The Next Food Network Star show, go to www.foodnetwork.com.
Voting ends Monday.
