Reality Rumors

One of the Food Network’s Iron Chefs says he is ready to do the impossible.

The network on Monday announced that Ohio chef Michael Symon will take over as host of the “Dinner: Impossible” series, which challenges its chef to prepare meals under extreme conditions.

Symon, who won the network’s The Next Iron Chef competition in 2007 and appears on its Iron Chef America series, replaces Robert Irvine, who left last month following revelations that he’d exaggerated details of resume.

Irvine had hosted the show for four seasons. The network says Symon will begin taping 10 new episodes this week. They will begin airing this summer. Also new to the show will be a one-hour format.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenges that are going to be thrown my way and nothing gets me more pumped than someone telling me that something is ‘impossible,’” Symon said in a statement

Symon, who is chef and owner of Lola and Lolita restaurants in Cleveland, graduated from The Culinary Institute of America and was named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the Ten Best New Chefs in America in 1998.

Source: AP News

The Food Network has decided not to renew the contract of the British star of its series “Dinner: Impossible” after discrepancies on his resume came to light.

Robert Irvine fibbed when he said he had been knighted, cooked for Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding, and was offered a castle by the Queen of England, the Times of London reported.

Irvine’s deceptions were first exposed by the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.

“I was wrong to exaggerate in statements related to my experiences regarding the royal family,” Irvine said in a statement released by the network announcing his contract wouldn’t be renewed. “I am proud of my work while serving in the Royal Navy and on board the royal yacht Britannia, also as part of the guest chef program in the White House with the United States Navy, in addition to my culinary accomplishments. I should have stood on those accomplishments alone, without embellishments.”

The Times of London quoted a Food Network spokeswoman as saying, “We appreciate Robert’s remorse about his actions, and we can revisit this decision at the end of the production cycle, but for now we will be looking for a replacement host.”