Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars on Fox.
It may be called “Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars,” but Lisa Vanderpump owned the Fox competition when one of her team of apprentices won season two in Thursday's finale.
The two-hour episode ended with competing pitches from finalists Jess Drew (Team Vanderpump), Roman Desmond (Team Vanderpump), and Ali Schlichter (Team Ramsay) in an attempt to win the $250,000 grand prize for their food and beverage businesses. It was then up to Ramsay and the “Vanderpump Rules” star, who joined Ramsay as his co-host/rival mentor for Season 2, to come to an agreement and decide who would win — and who would win the partnership.
“I know it hurts him a lot that I won,” Vanderpump said. diverse“But I think the key point of the last episode is when we come together and say, regardless of the competition, who’s going to win? I think it was hard, because all of the growth was in Ali in that last episode. It was incredible. And Roman, for someone so young. They were all great. But I said, I think I know who the winner is. And as much as that stuck in his throat, he had to admit it — Jess was our favorite girl and I won. And I like winning that way. He’s not used to losing. So if he’s going to lose, he should lose to me. And I reminded him of that from the beginning.”
The ultimate winner: Drew, whose company, Wine Baby, sells “high-quality, small-batch, accessible, chillable wines for wine drinkers of all levels,” with fun names like “Unwind” White Blend, “OMG?!? Fizzy Rosé,” and “Obsessed” Red Blend. The wines are sourced from California vineyards and made by the McBride Sisters Wine Company.
“The level of talent competing on Food Stars this season was truly exceptional. After weeks of intense competition, only one contestant was able to claim the title of Food Star. I am delighted to announce that Jess Drew, the creator of Winnie Baby, has been named Food Star. Less exciting was Lisa being named Food Star for the first time, which gave her a huge boost. However, I feel like I have already achieved the biggest win by recognizing Lisa’s incredible talent and bringing many of her qualities to the show.”
What ultimately led them to choose Drew over their final competitors?
“She did a really good show, and that was really her strength,” Vanderpump said. “She’s a natural speaker. Some of the other contestants we’ve seen have had a lot of trouble with that. The one time we saw her — I didn’t question her, but we saw her get out of control was when we did the show and she cut her finger and she was like, ‘I can’t do this,’ and she started crying. I was like, ‘Oh my God, come on, let’s get ourselves together.’ She really rose to the challenge and was so confident in her product.”
As for Drury, she remembers that particular moment on Season 2 of “Food Stars” well, and says it was the motivation behind her getting to the finish line.
“It was definitely the finger-slicing thing,” Drew said. “I think you could tell throughout the competition that I was so excited to be on Lisa’s team, but I think that fueled my drive to prove Gordon wrong all along. To prove that I could hold my own in the food business. The first opportunity I had to do it was at a trade show and I felt like I failed miserably. It came out great in the presentation, but in that finger-slicing moment, I really thought, ‘Okay, this might be the end of me.’”
With the grand prize of $250,000, Drew's plans to expand Whiny Baby are already in motion.
“The wine industry is so old and complex, and there are so many different layers to it,” she said. “And obviously people buy wine in traditional grocery stores. And the whole makeup of the wine industry makes it really hard for innovation and new people to come in, and maybe that’s why we don’t see it. So, before going to the show, I was fortunate enough to be on the shelves of major stores like Target, Gopuff, Total Wine, and more, but only in four states. Since the show, we’ve added about 20 more states to Total Wine, which is crazy and a dream come true. So we’re just working to spread awareness out there and hopefully get Whiny Baby on the shelves of every major store in every state.”
Watch Drury's winning moment on the Season 2 finale of “Food Stars” below.
