resume impossible

ever since the wife started watching Food Network, i've always been kind of up-to-date as to what's going on in that channel, whether willingly or not. we enjoy watching "the professor" Alton Brown, never miss the Next FN Star Contest, and place bets on who beats Bobby Flay in whatever his next throwdown is. she follows Rachael Ray (whom i make disparaging remarks about), and she turns the tables on me when Giada is on. of course, we can't watch it all the time because (1) you won't have time for anything else and (2) you tend to get hungry watching all that food getting prepared and plated.

so it did come as a big surprise when the news came out that newcomer chef (on FN at least) Robert Irvine was fired from the network. Irvine, a huge ex-soldier, has a show, Dinner Impossible - each episode has him whipping up food under certain staged challenges - and we follow it enough to know who the hell he is. and it turns out the cut Englishman isn't who the hell he is. he never graduated from Leeds University, he never cooked in the White House, and he never (personally) prepared Princess Diana's wedding cake. FN tried to do as much damage control as they could, editing past episodes that reference his padded resume, and keeping the press away from the man. and of course, firing him as soon as possible ("not renewing the contract" is the euphemism).

well, i guess being fired counts as a blessing for him, because another Robert Irvine ended up differently.

this isn't to say the man cannot cook. and his military background would be an asset in the catering/restaurant business. i daresay the contestants from Hell's Kitchen would rather toil for Irvine than that screaming banshee Gordon Ramsay.

but i guess, if all else fails, with those big guns, he could always open his own gym, no?