Next Food Network Star Winners Who Are No Longer With The Network

Have you ever stood in your kitchen after finishing cooking a highly complicated, yet also delicious meal, and thought, "Wow, I should be the 'Next Food Network Star?'" Well, you might be in luck, because as previous season winners have cycled through and eventually off the network, there might just be an opening.

Food Network has never been shy about the goal of turning both amateur and professionals into household names. The premise of "Next Food Network Star" is to find home cooks, through tapes and applications, and narrow down a selected group down to eight finalists who will receive media training and culinary challenges, in order to host a show on Food Network. Launched in 2005, and having now run for 14 seasons, several of your favorite culinary celebrities have had successful careers launched from the show — most notably, Flavortown's own Guy Fieri in Season 2.

Of course, not everyone is built for the spotlight — or longevity on Food Network. Out of the 16 winners (two seasons had two winners each), nine of them have cycled off the channel to pursue their own projects and alternate careers. And since the show hasn't aired since 2018, it may not be making anyone the next household name anytime soon. Read more below about these "Next Food Network Star" winners, who are no longer with Food Network.

The first season of "Next Food Network Star" was one that produced two winners — they just happened to come on to the show as a team to begin with. Actors turned chefs Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh, hailing from Chicago, are both professional and life partners who go by the moniker "The Hearty Boys." They have run a successful catering business in Chicago for over 20 years and co-parent a son named Nate.

After winning "Next Food Network Star" in 2005, they were given the 30 minute Food Network show "Party Line with the Hearty Boys," which ran for three seasons and focused on entertaining. It broke barriers, showcasing the first real-life gay couple to have a TV series. Episode titles included "Buffet Cocktail Party," "Game Day Gathering," and "Seafood Party." However, the show was canceled relatively quickly. While their success on television and connection to Food Network was short lived, they have found much success in the real world.

Smith and McDonagh opened a restaurant in Chicago called HB: A Hearty Boys Spot (later renamed HB Home Bistro), wrote a cookbook titled "Talk with Your Mouth Full: The Hearty Boys Cookbook," and now run their successful catering business Hearty Boys full time. They describe their current signature event cuisine as "blending contemporary urban sophistication with casual charm," from weddings to corporate events.

Amy Finley was the Season 3 winner of "Next Food Network Star." Her tenure on the network was even shorter than The Hearty Boys — her show, "The Gourmet Next Door," only lasted six episodes before she chose to end the run prematurely due to a family crisis. She moved with her family to Burgundy, France, writing about the experience (as well as other quirks and joys of French cuisine) in a memoir released in 2011 titled "How to Eat a Small Country: A Family's Pursuit of Happiness, One Meal at a Time."

In a Kirkus Review of the book, which is highly rated, Finley's journey is described as very personal; she left the show to preserve her marriage. It is described as "a charming, bare-bones chronicle of a woman reclaiming her family and a couple reclaiming their relationship, all through the healing qualities of time, honesty, and food."

It appears that Finley may have left cooking behind in exchange for writing, at least for now: she told Food Network in an interview, when asked if she was pursuing a culinary career that "writing lets me explore the culture of food and cooking — the hows and whys of what people eat — and still be available to pick up Indy and Scarlett from school, which I love. And I love to write — I'm lucky."

Finley made one brief appearance back on Food Network after leaving: in 2012 she appeared on an episode of "Chopped" with other former "Next Food Network Star" winners, competing for charity alongside Melissa d'Arabian, Jeff Mauro, and Aarti Sequeira. However, she was eliminated in the second round.

The Season 4 winner of "Next Food Network Star" was Aaron McCargo Jr. The show he developed was titled "Big Daddy's House" and ran for six seasons from 2008 to 2011. According to Food Network, it "ranked as the number one 'In the Kitchen' weekend show during its initial six-episode run." The show focused on his family man appeal (he's married with three children) and joyful approach to cooking.

After his winning season, McCargo Jr. concurrently pursued other passions, including helping at-risk youth succeed. In 2008, he founded a mentoring program for young men aged 14 to 24 called Play To Win in his hometown of Camden, New Jersey. Because of his contributions to the community, the Mayor of Camden named September 25 as Aaron McCargo, Jr. Day, also in 2008, when he was given the keys to the city. His charitable efforts also extended to work for Great American Dine Out and Share Our Strength.

Perhaps more so than previous winners discussed here, McCargo Jr. continued to also make more television appearances outside of Food Network, including "The Today Show," "The Talk," "Good Morning America," and has regularly appeared on Spike TV's "Bar Rescue." He also wrote the cookbook "Simply Done, Well Done" in 2010, and launched a product line of both spices and barbecue sauces called McCargo's Flavor of Bold and Jersey BBQ, respectively.

In Season 5, Melissa d'Arabian was named the winner and given a show called "Ten Dollar Dinners," which ran for seven seasons between 2009 and 2012. The novel concept, given that d'Arabian is a mother of four, was demonstrating how to make a variety of meals for four people at $10 or less. Springboarding from the success of the show, d'Arabian wrote a "New York Times" bestselling cookbook titled "Ten Dollar Dinners: 140 Recipes and Tips to Elevate Simple, Fresh Meals Any Night of the Week," released in 2012.

In 2014, she followed up with a second cookbook, "Supermarket Healthy: Recipes and Know-How for Eating Well Without Spending a Lot," which is an Editors' Pick on Amazon, and her third book, "Tasting Grace: Discovering the Power of Food to Connect Us to God, One Another, and Ourselves," covers d'Arabian's relationship to religion through cooking.

When d'Arabian's own show went off-air, she continued developing projects online for FoodNetwork.com, including the web series "The Picky Eaters Project" and "Smart Carts" and appeared on other Food Network properties such as "Chopped" and "Guy's Grocery Games." She has also regularly appeared on other channels and programs such as "Hallmark's Home & Family," "CBS This Morning," and "The Rachael Ray Show." However, in 2023, she made an announcement on her Instagram page that she has changed career paths and is returning to her theatrical roots, pursuing an "MFA in Theatre Management & Producing at Columbia University" in New York.

Jumping to Season 10 in 2014, we encounter the most controversial of all the "Next Food Network Star" winners, cowboy Lenny McNab, who never even got to shoot a single episode of his own TV show, due to offensive comments coming to light after the airing of his season.

Although most of the remarks have been deleted from the internet, apparently some were sexually explicit and directed at fellow Food Network personality the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. He also allegedly posted bizarre videos from the toilet and while shotgunning beers.

The last information about McNab shared publicly via Food Network mentioned that he was an executive chef at a hunting ranch, and his LinkedIn appears to show that he's still in that position at Kessler Canyon in Colorado. His public social media hasn't been updated since 2015, so it appears he's learned his lesson.

Season 12 winner was Atlanta-based Tregaye Fraser, who was the first African American woman to win. Fraser co-hosted "Kitchen Sink," which premiered in 2017, running for two seasons. Fraser appeared on other Food Network properties "Guy's Grocery Games" and "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," but now instead of sharing the spotlight, she has her own show on Oprah's OWN called "Tregaye's Way" where she cooks family-friendly meals. Fraser was announced as one of four original cooking shows for the network in 2020.

Like many of her fellow alumni, she also published a cookbook in 2021 titled "Kitchen Conversations with Chef Tregaye Fraser." She also has a non-profit organization called Playing the Game Tour, bringing professional chefs to a variety of schools.

She frequently posts recipes on her social media, and if you're local to the Atlanta area and want the chance to meet Fraser in person, she's currently inviting guests to join a Friendsgiving celebration on November 17, 2024. The event features an "all-you-can-eat buffet, a fun adult game night ... a swag bag, and so much more."

Self-taught chef and Kentucky resident Jason Smith took the title of "Next Food Network Star" in Season 13, where he prevailed cooking "country bling," taking traditional country recipes and modernizing them. (His eye-popping ensembles only enhanced the theme.) Smith was used to being a Food Network winner — he previously also won "Holiday Baking Championship" in Season 3 and "Holiday Baking Championship: Kids vs Adults" in 2016. Additional appearances include as a judge on "Best Baker in America" and "Christmas Cookie Challenge."

Smith has several interests outside of the cooking world, including being an award-winning floral designer and event planner, and is involved with the School Nutrition Association. He has two cookbooks and merchandise available with variations on his nickname "Lord Honey" on his website.

Smith can currently be seen as a contestant on "The GOAT," airing on Amazon Prime Video in 2024, described as "who can be the best on a reality show," competing with other reality TV stars from "The Bachelorette," "Survivor," "Big Brother," "Love is Blind," and more.

The final season of "Next Food Network Star" had two winners who tied — and as of this writing, neither of them have created their own shows with the network as promised. The first to discuss is Christian Petroni, who already had some notoriety going into the season as a New York chef and founder of the Italian restaurant Fortina, and appearing on Food Network shows "Chopped Junior" and "The Kitchen."

While he has since appeared on more Food Network shows like "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," "Supermarket Stakeout," and "Beat Bobby Flay," since his winning turn, they are often one-offs that have not resulted in consistent work. He told Edible Hudson Valley in 2022 that he was happy to just be back with his family, working at his own restaurant.

Petroni also has his own branded t-shirts and cutting boards, and in January 2024 added more restaurants to his profile: he is the new culinary director for Cane Rosso, Zoli's NY Pizza, and Thunderbird Pies, all pizza places in the Dallas area. He'll be reworking recipes and working on hospitality with the staff. Who has time for their own TV show?

Christian Petroni's fellow winner, Jessica Tom, had also appeared on Food Network previously ("Cooks vs Cons") and has been keeping busy post-show, as well. Similar to Petroni, she never had the opportunity to launch her own show (despite making appearances on shows like "Good Morning America" and "The Today Show.")

However, as she studied fiction writing at Yale, it's only natural that her most notable project after "Next Food Network Star" was a novel titled "Food Whore: A Novel of Dining & Deceit," set in the New York culinary world where a young woman is ghost writing restaurant reviews. Kirkus Reviews said it was "fun and compulsively readable," BuzzFeed named it one of "31 Books You Need To Bring To The Beach This Summer," and esteemed movie studio DreamWorks acquired the film rights in 2015.

Tom also published a non-food related personal essay in The New York Times in 2020 titled "Waiting for My Baby Boy, Worrying About My Baby Brother" about her struggle to reconcile being pregnant while her brother was diagnosed with leukemia during the Covid pandemic.