One-time “The Bachelor” star Jesse Palmer says his new hosting gig꧂ on Food Network’s “Food Truck Face Off” is a far cry from his experience on the dating show a decade ago.
“This is obviously a completely different genre versus what I did in 2004,” says Palmer, laughingꦐ. “There’s a lot of heat in this show — but it’s confined to the kitchen.”
That said, the current ESPN colඣlege football analyst thinks there’s plenty of drama and heartache on “Face Off,” whic🌳h premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday.
“There’s a lot of emotion,” he says. “It’s the ultimate re🃏ality television — there’s🅰 no doubt about it.”
There’s a lot of heat in this sh🌟ow — buౠt it’s confined to the kitchen.
- 'Food Truck Face Off' host Jesse Palmer
On “Face Off,” two-person teams create and sell street-friendly fare in a competition to win a customized food truck for one yeღar. A panel of judges rates the taste, service and presentation of the team𓆏s’ cuisines, which range from Southern-fried to vegetarian Indian.
In a final showdo🎃wn, competitors face off ⭕to raise the most money — and thereby win their coveted vehicle — alongside other already-established food trucks in cities including Miami, LA, Austin, Texas, and Palmer’s hometown of Toronto, Canada.
“I think people think it’s an easy thing — just no stress, that ༺you’re laughing, having a good time in the kitchen with your buddy,” says Palmer, a 2001-04 quarterback for the New York Giants. “It could not have been more the opposite.”
Contestants come from a variety of backgrounds and levels of expertise. Whether they’re seasoned restaurant chefs or amateur cooks armed with family recipes, they must juggle an intense mi𓆏x of challenges, including long lines of impatient customers, supply shortages, technical issues (like sudd꧟enly non-functioning propane stoves) and flavor-starved recipes that turn off the judges’ palates.
“It becomes pretty obvious how important winning this thing is to them and how it can change their lives. But the challenges they had to go through were very physically, very emotionally taxin✱g,” he says. “It sounds cliche, but blood💯, sweat and tears — all of those things were shed on this show.”
Palmer — a profesꦡsed “huge foodie” who turns 36 on Sunday, Oct. 5 — says hosting the series made sense for him because he’s a big fan of food trucks. When he’s not on the road, the Manhattan resident finds himself eating street food a few times a week.
“I’ll always carry $20 cash on me in case I find a food truck,” he says. “There are so♚ many times in this city when you’ll be walking around, doing errands or whatever, and all of a sudden there’s just one there on the corner and you go, ‘Oh, dumplings … I’ve got 10 bucks; let’s just do it!’”
However, Palmer 🌸— who is currently single (his relationship with 2004 “Bachelor” winner Jessica Bowlin ended shortly after the finale a🀅ired) — says the thought of stepping behind a grill himself is too daunting, even for a former pro football player.
“It’s way harder than I imagined. People said, ‘Well, could you do it?’” I would never be willing to run one꧙ of those things, ever,” he confesses. “Ther🍎e’s no way I could.