First Impressions of 'The Next Food Network Star'

Sunday night was the premiere of the sixth installment of 'The Next Food Network Star,' and after watching the two-hour opening, the new location in Los Angeles looked good, the contestants were appropriately anxious, and adding Giada De Laurentiis as a mentor seems like a wise move. That's not all ... Here are my first impressions of 'The Next Food Network Star,' including my prognostications for who's got a great chance to win the whole enchilada!

Bobby Flay is becoming very Colicchio-esque. Have the people in charge of the Food Network directed Bobby Flay to be more like 'Top Chef's' Tom Colicchio this season? That's not a bad thing, mind you. Tom is wonderful on 'Top Chef,' so maybe the idea is to get Bobby -- who's also really good on his many, many shows -- to be more interactive with the contestants. That said, in the first two-hours, Bobby was getting more involved, going into the kitchen and checking up on the progress of the players.

What's with the "deers in the headlights"? Every one of these 12 people has worked very, very hard to reach the level of getting onto this show. Therefore, why are so many completely intimidated the experience. Haven't they watched the other five seasons? Don't they know that they're going to be facing cameras? That they're going to have to work against the clock? That they should have a culinary point of view that they can articulate to judges Susie Fogelson and Bob Tuschman?

Has Aria already won the competition? I know, I know. How can I presume that Aria's the best contestant after just two hours? Well, in the opening, Aria -- a private chef -- really distinguished herself. She could be the run-away winner based on making a positive first impression. Right from the start, she was confident, sharp, ebullient. On camera and off, Aria looked like a winner.

Was that case of sabotage I saw? Generally speaking, 'The Next Food Network Star' is not a cut-throat reality competition. The players rarely go after each other. In fact, the show is pretty civilized for reality TV. But when the group was divided into teams and Herb was in charge of buying the groceries for his team, did Herb try to screw over Brad by getting him a salmon that needed to be fileted and deboned? That put Brad in a really tough position and he could have been sent home for delivering a bad course. Fortunately, Brad faced the challenge and showed his skill by doing a great job with the prep. Then his cooking was superb and the judges loved his dish. Brad wound up on the fast track to remain on the show for a long run.

Players need to be prepped. If you're trying to be a Food Network star, you have to know how to cook a piece of chicken in 45 minutes. Serving raw chicken should get you thrown off the show. Last night, the first person to go was Alexis Hernandez. He was awful on camera doing a 15-second promo, and worse than that, he served uncooked beignets to Wolfgang Puck (and the other judges). He had no confidence, his food was inedible. How did he make it on the show?

Who's going to win? Well, Aria's got my early vote, but she's not the only hot commodity. Brad also was impressive with his food, although his lucky hat is not very attractive. He should lose it. Tom has a Seth Rogen quality and came through with the cooking, but needs to sharpen his on camera style. Herb has a lot of energy and the fitness angle going for him, so he could stick around for a while, too.

Those who have a ways to go include DAS, he of the uncooked chicken; Aarti, who needs to assert herself; Doreen, who was apologizing way too much for me and the judges; Serena, who's pretty and perky, but might be trying too hard; Paul, who doesn't want to be funny even though he assures us that he's a riot; and Brianna, who was all over the place to prove she's all about fun. The jury is really, really out on Dzintra, who suffered an eye injury and wound up not cooking in the challenge.

Who are your early favorites in 'The Next Food Network Star'?