After months of being sworn to silence, Jeffrey's Saad's secret was out last night. The LA based real estate agent came in second place on The Next Food Network Star, losing top honors to stay-at-home, self trained cook Melissa d'Arabian. Jeffrey, of course, has known the outcome of the show (which taped last winter in NYC) along with his wife and two children - but for his friends - it's been an excruciating cat and mouse game. "Does he seem any different? Ok, if he won, why are the kids enrolling in school next year? Wouldn't they be moving to NY to start taping his new show? Why does he seem so happy if he didn't win? He must be the winner!" While we played the guessing game, the entire Saad family remained completely mum on the topic, a feat for which they deserve serious kudos.
Jeffrey & Nadia Saad
The Saad's watched the finale at their home surrounded by friends and family after a fabulous take out meal from a local Persian restaurant. "He deserves the night off - don't ya think?", his wife Nadia chimed in. Okay, admission time. So you want to know how good the food always is at the Saads? Anytime you go to there for dinner, everything is fantastic. Jeffrey usually cooks - but even if it's take-out, you know its gonna be great. So, whatever is served, even if not sure what it is, you just eat it. You basically become an indiscriminate diner. So when I saw a small white dish, next to some olives, filled with what looked like nuts, I grabbed a few and popped them in my mouth. But instead of a salty crunch, my teeth came down on something hard and clammy. Nope, they weren't nuts - they were the pits from the olives! Nice!
During the final commercial break, we were all dying from tension and demanded a pause with the clicker while we took bathroom breaks and ran into the kitchen for a final glass of wine. Jeffrey ran into the kitchen too - uncorking a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. Again, we all started crazily whispering, "Okay, why would he be doing that, if he didn't win? Oh my God , he must have won, why else the champagne?" Afterwards, we pumped Jeffrey for inside information, and yes some of us wanted to talk smack about Melissa, but Jeffrey refused to do it. All this classy guy would say is, "Look these are TV executives, they're in the business of getting ratings. They voted for the person who they think will bring them the best ratings. Period. I respect that."
So, he didn't win the network's grand prize, but, make no mistake, Jeffrey Saad is a winner. He's a 42 year old guy, who went for it against all odds. Over thousands of competitors, he made the final cut to become a contestant for a grueling competition where most of his competitors were in their 20's. In doing so, he rediscovered his professional passion and now he'll refocus his career. He did what so many of us in middle age only dream of. I'm placing my bets on the fact that you'll see Jeffrey Saad on TV really soon - either at the Food Network or elsewhere.
*** Keeping with my faux pas on the olive pits, I actually cooked an appetizer at the party with Jeffrey and videotaped the entire thing for SheSez. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, the tape had no audio. Maybe the audio plug pulled out while I was still reeling from my insane olive pit move? I'll run the recipe anyways on SheSez tomorrow. Stay tuned for that!
hello, thanks for this info. I just want to know where we could see Jeffrey i person please email me back thanks. and let him know we believe in him and we consider him as a winner no matter what he is truly a FOOD NETWORK STAR, and i pray he could have show too on FN and we will watch it, thanks
Posted by: vici | August 04, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Hi Vici - Jeffrey is looking at several different options right now. Read his blog and I'm sure he'll announce something when it happens. I agree, he should have his own show. It would be fantastic as he has great energy and know-how! I love his approach to food and cooking!
Posted by: Linda G. | August 05, 2009 at 09:11 AM
Linda, thanks for the info. where is jeffrey's blog by the way? thanks again.
Posted by: vici | August 05, 2009 at 01:15 PM
His site is:
http://jeffreysaad.wordpress.com/
Posted by: LindaGrasso | August 06, 2009 at 02:42 PM
Thanks so much Linda, I really appreciate these info's you have provided me, i am really a big fan of Jeffrey, I even wanted to see him in person if you could help me, too. Thanks and regards.
Posted by: vici | August 06, 2009 at 09:18 PM