Does Nipa Bhatt have star quality in the kitchen? ¶ Viewers will find out over the next few months as Bhatt, a gregarious 36-year-old Indian cooking enthusiast from Victoria, Minn., vies with nine other hopefuls for her own Food Network show.
The fourth season of "The Next Food Network Star" premieres at 9 tonight and features a cast of mega-stars, including Martha Stewart, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay. Like most reality shows, it's a rollercoaster of quick cuts, sound bites, dramatic music and heavily perspiring contestants.
"I'm glad I did it," she said, "but I'm not doing another reality show."
Bhatt was born in India. When she was 5, her father moved the family to Chicago, then Hudson, Wis., for his job with Hewlett-Packard. She graduated from Hudson High School and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. "I'm a small town girl," she said.
Bhatt, plucked from a throng of hopefuls, had to leave behind her two children, 11-year-old son, Sunnie, and 9-year-old daughter, Ayisha, for a month last winter while filming in New York. The 10 contestants, including many professional chefs, a cookbook author and one stand-up comic, lived together sequestered in a New York City carriage house. They were allowed out only to tape the show and participate in zany antics that viewers love.
"Once, we were running in the middle of the night," Bhatt said. In another shot, Bhatt is teaching the group "Bollywood" dancing.
"We couldn't use cell phones or e-mail or even read a book," she said. "It was intense, emotionally, mentally and physically." She lost 10 pounds during the shooting.
Bhatt is no stranger to a culinary challenge. She and her husband, Sanjiv, a scientist, ran the Gypsy Curry House in Chanhassen for two years. She works full-time as a marketer at Intereum, a commercial architectural products company, teaches cooking classes around the Twin Cities and cooks for her family five nights a week.
