Food Network Star Season 9 Season Premiere Sunday, June 2 at 9pm/8c

Food Network Star Season 9

Today the Food Network announced the cast and guests appearing in the ninth season of Food Network

Star. The show will premiere on June 2nd, and it's going to be pretty much exactly the way it has been for the past few seasons.

Food Networkpeople Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, and Giada De Laurentiis are still leading the action, and Food Network execs Susie Fogelson and Bob Tuschman are returning as judges. Viewers should get excited for guests appearances from Alex Guarnaschelli, Robert Irvine, and Guy Fieri (of season two).

The cast includes a mix of restaurant chefs, private chefs, enthusiasts, and people who have already appeared on food tv shows before. Two contestants stand out for having gained national attention for their culinary endeavors: Cleveland's food truck guru Chris Hodgson and Utah chef Viet Pham.

Hodgson — the chef of the Hodge Podge and Dim and Den Sum food trucks and the restaurant Hodge's— was a Food & Wine People's Best New Chef nominee in 2013. Pham is the chef of Forage, and was a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2011. Both Hodgson and Pham have appeared on Food Network before. Hodgson competed on season two of the The Great Food Truck Race, while Pham has beaten Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America and was the runner-up of Extreme Chef.



The Finalists:

Nikki Dinki (New York)
Andres Guillama (Waynesville, NC)
Rodney Henry (Baltimore)
Chris Hodgson (Cleveland)
Connie “Lovely” Jackson (Los Angeles)
Russell Jackson (San Francisco)
Danushka Lysek (New York)
Daniela Perez-Reyes (Haleiwa, Haw.)
Viet Pham (Salt Lake City)
Damaris Phillips (Louisville, Ky.)
Stacey Poon-Kinney (San Diego)
Chad Rosenthal (Ambler, Penn.)

Season 9 kicks off on Sunday, June 2nd at 9pm ET.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-next-food-network-star/index.html?vty=star