What would you do?

So suppose you were contacted by a production company for the Food Network and you were asked if you wanted to participate in one of their "Cake Challenges". $10,000 goes to the winner. You're allowed to bring one assistant. The contest is in Denver, and they will pay your plane fare and hotel, but all other expenses are up to you. They provide kitchen space and some equipment, but you have to pre-bake your cakes and bring all your tools, and other ingredients like buttercream, fondant, chocolate, molds, rolling pins, etc. So that either means shipping it all out ahead, or making a really long drive.

The contest goes as such:
You have no idea what kind of cake you will be creating. You are told the theme and requirements only a half hour before you have to start decorating it. You get a half hour to do any design work, then you have either 6 or 8 hours to complete the cake. I get conflicting info on how much time you actually get. Then a group of judges determine the winner.
Oh boy.

So you've probably figured I've been offered this opportunity. It entails everything that I can't stand.....decorating in front of an audience, judges and cameras. Being under a time limit. Given no time to research the design and think out the architecture of it. These are all things that would lead me to tell any client that asked this of me to take a walk. I mean geez, I consider a week to be short notice in some instances. It's all crazy.

As I see it, the likelihood of me winning such an event is pretty close to zero. I don't do well under pressure. If I did participate I would have no expectations about winning.....it would be about the personal challenge of doing things I absolutely fear and dread to the core of my being. Does that sound fun to me? Not really. I'm 99% sure I'm going to turn this offer down.

So here's a question for you all......what would YOU do?

Actually, since Mike McCarey is established in Redmond, I think the Puget Sound already IS the cake epicenter of the world!:lol:

I'm still waiting to hear if I'm one of the candidates to go. The production co. compiles a list of possibilities, then "pitches" them to FN. Then decisions are made and we're all contacted about whether we go or don't go. I'm thinking a decision will come this week or next. A friend of mine in Philadelphia is also one of the candidates and we've been back and forth on the phone and email mutually "freaking out".

The part that freaks me out the most is that I have so little time to give the cake some thought before I have to dive into it. Usually when I design a cake, I think about it a while....especially if it's a new thing I've never done before (which is usually the case-I rarely do the same cake twice).
Only having a half hour to design and think is insanely crazy to me.:crazy:
Then, not knowing what you actually will need when it comes down to making the cake, so you really have to guess what you might use....then there's the hassle of getting it all there.....bleah!

The comforting thing however, was watching the sample show DVD the production company sent me. It was a similar challenge where the chefs did not know what they would be making. In that tiny design time period, they came up with ok designs, but nothing with much "flow" or focus. You could certainly tell the pressure was a big effect on what they came up with. Then some of the problems that ensued in the building of the cakes was fairly horrifying, but I'll tell you, it made for some pretty good (although heart-wrenching) television. If I did as poorly as one chef did, it certainly wouldn't be the worst thing.....and hey, THEY lived through it.....I think.:blush:

My husband says I have to do it (if they choose me). If I don't, he'll probably drag me to the airport kicking and screaming with an offset spatula and a piping bag......:lol:

Not just one......several!!! He won the Elvis birthday cake challenge, and the latest wedding cake challenge......he also just recently won the "Villains of Disney" challenge filmed last week. Oh, and he did a sports cake challenge where he did this cool matador holding a cake......and a cartoon cake challenge. Not only that, he's a regular judge at most of the OTHER challenges. Methinks he's almost an employee of the Food Network!!

Hey you guys, I really appreciate your words of support and telling me not to be such a wimp. And I really like that suggestion of beating up my assistant.:lol:
No! I wouldn't do that to my poor Robin! Robin rocks. She'll get me through this if anyone will. I'll be freakin' and she'll be as cool as a cucumber......

*gulp!*

Well, Kids.....it's official......
I'm in. I'm going. I may be a fool but......here goes nothin'!!!:eek:

March 16th. Denver. May the best offset spatula rule.....!

I know of at least two of the people I will be competing with:
http://www.michelledollcakes.com
and
http://www.michellebommarito.com

My goals:

• to finish my cake and have it be decent
• try not to be a dork, and
• try to enjoy the experience no matter how stressed out I get.

Hopefully if I keep my head on straight I will take lots of behind the scenes pics and write about the whole thing on my blog!!!

As for now, I gotta be doin' some preppin'!!!!:p

Thank you thank you thank you everybody!
Your encouragement means everything to me!

I do keep thinking about Duff. He's a fun guy....no doubt!
Just goes to show, it's not whether you actually win or lose,
it's how you play the game!!!:roll:

Actually a lot of what you say is some of what I was saying to myself as I was in the process of trying to talk myself out of it. Companies like Food Network do, in a way, trivialize our profession and tend to make it more glamorous than it is.

But on the other hand, when has it been a better time to be a chef? In the past, unless you were the type to make your own cooking show, like Graham Kerr and Julia Child, most chefs, even though talented and sometimes high profile, went largely unnoticed. Our career choice will always be somewhat unglamorous and **** hard work, no matter how good you are, but at least now, food, and careers in food are held in much higher regard than they used to be. When I was growing up in the 70's there wasn't one kid I knew who told me they wanted to grow up and be a chef. Now kids not only aspire to be chefs, there are even kids' cooking classes! I believe the quality of food, and the expectations from the public about food are much higher. That forces us to elevate our skills and our craft.....and that's a good thing, right?

Regarding exploitation, I feel I've been exploited by most of my employers by the quality and volume of work I put out vs. what I'm paid. For as hard as we work, wages are low, and if that isn't exploitation, I don't know what is!

I could turn down the whole opportunity and cry "exploitation!" and worry about how much money FN and their advertisers are making compared to me.....or.....I could participate and find that it might open a window to some new kind of path in my life......or not. I'll never know unless I go. Even if FN uses my image and makes millions and I see none of it, it makes no difference, because I'm not going to see millions of dollars anyway.....I chose this career for the enjoyment of it, not the money.

I've always concentrated on building up my resume, and being able to put a Food Network appearance on it is like sticking on a gold star. Experience and a nice resume gets you better job offers and better money......and that's all good, right? It's a heck of a lot better than blowing off a chance of a lifetime and being bitter......!

:roll:

Not going......

So, after mentally psyching myself up for this personal and professional challenge, baking a boatload of cake, cleaning, sorting and packing my equipment, buying ingredients, getting my airline tickets and hotel booked, release forms signed, recipes submitted, arrangements with my employer made, I got a call from the producer of the show who told me that due to "budget cutbacks" they can only afford to have four people compete in this challenge. Since I was the "new kid" on the block and relatively "unknown", I was the first to go. So I'm out. Not going.

Mr. Producer said I was on the list for future challenges, but who knows what that really means......maybe it's true, maybe not.

To say that I'm really bummed out at this moment is a great understatement. I really was getting mentally ready for this and almost at peace with it actually. I was getting some great ideas in my head for the kinds of cakes I might be able to pull off. I really feel like the rug has been pulled from under me. I guess that's TV for you.

The good news is that I'll be able to concentrate more fully on my new job, although I'm sure my new employers will be equally bummed to find out I'm not going either....they were psyched about it.:cry: