Resumé: Impossible
Dang it! I live on the crumbling edge of food show addiction. The Suits at the Food Network know this and have succeeded in creating a dangerous serial viewer who needs his fix. One of the frequent indulgences that fills up my TiVo disk is “Dinner: Impossible”, starring Chef Robert Irvine. Well guess what? It’s not just the governor of New York who has secrets. According to a St. Petersburg Times article published February 17th, Robert Irvine ain’t who he says he is. He has claimed that he made Charles & Diane’s wedding cake, cooked for the royal family, is a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, and has cooked for four presidents. Apparently, very little, if any, of this is actually true!
If you have never watched “Dinner: Impossible”, you should. Chef Irvine pulls off some astonishing feats, creating dinner for hundreds of people under almost impossible circumstances and incredible time pressure. In one episode, he made something like 15,000 hors d’oeuvres! In another episode, he had to feed VIPs gourmet food at a baseball game by scrounging food and equipment from people having tailgate parties in the parking lot! It’s amazing to watch him in action, and he’s mighty entertaining and likeable on camera. He is (was) apparently a man on his way to the top. I don’t understand how he allowed himself to be caught in such a destructive pattern of misrepresentation, one that has ultimately cost him his show on the Food Network, and probably forever harmed his career and reputation.
Of course, how did the Governor of New York, supposedly the enforcer of good and right against the greedy wolves of Wall Street, get involved in a prostitution ring? Such self-destructive behavior has almost certainly ended the Governor’s career in public service and removed him from consideration as a future US Vice Presidential or Presidential candidate. And for that matter, why did Larry Craig, senator from my home state of Idaho, decide to hit on a guy in a bathroom in the Minneapolis airport? Is he crazy?! Heck, my kids have probably been in the same bathroom while enroute to Yooper land!
Back to Chef Irvine: Clearly, the Chef is uber-talented, but did the Food Network do the right thing by canceling his contract and show? Did he break the law? No. Was he hired and paid based on his background, or based on his skills and talent? Well, if his background is so important to his continued employment, didn’t the boys in the back office make a few phone calls and check it out? If someone walks into my office and says they’ve worked for four presidents, I’d be inclined to pick up the phone and check that one out for myself. And if someone was tasked with doing a background check and didn’t do their job, presumably they should be outta there too!
I’m glad it’s a decision I didn’t have to make, but the Food Network is a lesser media machine without Irvine in the line up.
Enough said. I’m going back into the kitchen where I can stay out of trouble.
– Chris