Chef Spike Mendelsohn may have competed on Bravo's culinary reality show Top Chef -- twice -- but he still didn't expect to be recruited for Food Network's Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, which premieres Sunday at 9/8c.
"I got the phone call out of nowhere. I was actually quite surprised," Mendelsohn tells TVGuide.com. "I didn't expect them to cast me as part of this crew, alongside the other ones. I was definitely honored to have the opportunity. There are a lot of chefs involved that I look up to and I follow their careers. To be standing next to them, was kind of like, 'OK, you made it.'"
read moreThe Food Network has canned celebrity chef Robert Irvine.The host of Dinner: Impossible has come under fire in recent weeks for allegedly lying about certain elements on his résumé, including claims that he made Princess Diana's wedding cake, worked in White House kitchens, and graduated from the University of Leeds. The network released a statement saying that they would complete production on the current season of Dinner: Impossible, but would not be renewing Irvine's contract. In fact, they are actively seeking a replacement host for the show.In a (fake) statement, Gordon Ramsay's agent said: "Hello? Food Network?" — Mickey O'Connorread more