Rachel Ray may have been the most surprised nominee of all at the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on Friday night. She beat out four time winner, Ellen DeGeneres for the Best Talk Show. DeGeneres is still riding high with her fifth win in the Best Talk Show Host category.
The quirky talk show host is driven by an ambition that seems boundless. How she gets it all done is a mystery. Her other wildly successful ventures include her 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels on $40 a day and her magazine Every Day With Rachael Ray. She also has four of the top 10 best selling cookbooks – another lucrative venture for the multimedia queen. We can’t forget about her cookware which is featured in kitchen shops across the nation.
Part of Ray’s appeal seems to be her no nonsense approach to cooking. She knows her way around the supermarket and got her start doing live cooking demonstrations in that venue. She did stints as both manager and buyer for Manhattan grocer Agata & Valentina. Prior to that, she worked the candy counter at Macy’s and even did a teenage stint at a soda fountain.
The recipes dished up by Ray aren’t of the haute cuisine variety. She sticks with ingredients that can in be found in the homes of mainstream American’s, and it generally is of the comfort variety. Her natural appeal is the speed with which she prepares her healthy fare. Regrettably, she entertains with a goofy monologue as she assembles each mouth watering dish. After viewing a few of her 30 minute segments, you’ve heard the same lame commentary in an unending cycle.
Love her or hate her, she understands food and is making a fortune in an ever growing empire. She portrays herself as just a simple, small town girl who clings to her family and her Sicilian and Cajun roots. She is wounded by celebrity gossip and has taken the tabloids ‘to task’ for reporting trouble in her relationship with husband John M. Cusimano, the lead singer of the band The Cringe.
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Photos: WENN