Aarti Sequeira was crowned The Next Food Network Star's sixth-season winner during Sunday night's pre-taped finale broadcast of the culinary competition series.
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"I'm waiting for it to all sort of sink in and for me to realize, 'Oh my god!' I mean really, it just feels magical, like this is the beginning of something," Aarti said after her victory was revealed.
"I don't think I was mature enough to do something like this five years ago. It doesn't matter where you are, just hold on, just keep going -- because something huge could happen."
Aarti defeated Herb Mesa, a 41-year-old personal trainer and chef from Atlanta, GA, and Tom Pizzica, a 32-year-old unemployed chef from San Francisco, CA, during last night's finale.
The Next Food Network Star's sixth-season finale featured the three remaining finalists each filming pilot presentations of their proposed new cooking shows at Food Network's New York headquarters. Food Network star Rachael Ray directed the finalists' pilots.
After the pilots were filmed, they were shown to a focus group of Food Network viewers who were questioned by The Next Food Network Star's selection committee -- network executives Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson, and Iron Chef America star Bobby Flay. Tuschman, Fogelson and Flay then determined the winner.
Aarti's pilot for her proposed Aarti Paarti cooking show featured her preparing an Indian pizza with mango, chutney and paneer. Herb's Cooking Con Sabor pilot featured him cooking a frittata with chicken sausage while Tom prepared a roasted chicken stuffed with portobello mushrooms in his Big Chef pilot.
"This has been a grueling 10 weeks. A lot of hard work, not a lot of sleep, but it's brought you here," Bob told the finalists before the selection committee deliberated on their decision. "We brought the right three people back. You all three, honestly have star potential."
"Unfortunately we can only crown one," Bobby noted.
Aarti's new daytime cooking show -- now called Aarti Party -- will premiere Sunday, August 22 at 12PM ET/PT
About The Author: Steven Rogers
