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Kingfisher Kookers Versus Network PRESS RELEASE |
| THE NEW VERSUS ORIGINAL
SERIES BARBEQUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES PRESENTED BY KINGSFORD CROWNS THE BEST BBQ CHEF IN AMERICA STAMFORD, CT (October 12, 2006) – The meats have been marinated and the cookers fired and stoked, and the best pit masters in the country are lined up ready to do battle, apron to apron and VERSUS, a network that celebrates competition in all its forms, will crown the greatest BBQ chef in America in the new original program, Barbeque Championship Series. This competitive bracket-series tournament filmed at the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off at John Ascuaga’s Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada August 30-September 4, 2006 features six of the nation’s top BBQ chefs, six challengers, and six amateurs vying for the grand prize of $75,000 – the biggest in ‘cue history. The mouth-watering competition begins Sunday October 22 at 10:00 p.m. ET on VERSUS. Barbeque Championship Series is a co-creation between Chris Lilly and John Markus, the show’s Executive Producers. Lilly is one of America’s best-known barbeque chefs and ten-time world champion and is Vice President of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, AL, and Markus is an Emmy-Award winning veteran sitcom writer. The series will be hosted by Pat Parnell who is currently the host of NBC’s coverage of the Dew Action Sports Tour and, in 2006, served as the play-by-play commentator for snowboarding during 2006 Torino Olympics and Tava Smiley, also the host of HGTV’s I Want That! Kitchens and TLC’s home organization show, Clean Sweep. The first six episodes will feature the opening rounds of the competition in which three cooks face-off over three distinctly different dishes, all competing for a chance to make it to the semifinal and final rounds. In the two semifinal rounds, six barbeque chefs remain, and they’ll be challenged by three different dishes cooked on three different barbeque pits with three discriminating judges to impress. After the two semifinal rounds, two barbeque chefs will have survived six of the toughest dishes in all of the competition and now the $75,000 grand prize will be decided. Someone will earn the most coveted title on the circuit; the first-ever Barbeque Championship Series Grand Champion. But before the winner can claim their prize, they must pass the approval of a diverse panel of judges—“The Athlete”, former Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets NBA player Darryl Dawkins “Chocolate Thunder”; “The Actress”, Megyn Price who is currently starring in the CBS new series Rules of Engagement and starred from 2001 to 2005 on the WB series Grounded for Life; and “The Celebrity Chef”, Michel Richard a highly acclaimed French chef who is the owner and executive chef of restaurants Citrus and Citronelle in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC and Bistro M in San Francisco. “From Kansas City to New York City, barbeque popularity is at an all time high in the U.S.,” said Gavin Harvey, President of VERSUS. “The challengers featured in the show are fueled by competition and are elevating backyard fare from ordinary to extraordinary. The show is a perfect fit for the network that celebrates competition in all its forms; even when it’s over the grill.” In total, eighteen competitors are vying for the coveted title of the best barbeque chef in the country. Will one of the six champions, who have won countless national competitions, take home another title? Or will one of the challengers or wild card competitors knock the champions out of the competition—it’s anyone’s game as the competitors head to their grills. The eighteen competitors include: The Champions • “Bad” Byron Chism of Santa Rosa Beach, FL, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and creator of Bad Byron’s Butt Rub®. He has won over 30 Grand Championships and over 20 Reserve Grand Championships. • Ray Lampe a.k.a. “Dr. BBQ” from Lakeland, FL, has written two cookbooks, Dr. BBQ’s Big-Time Barbecue Cook and Dr. BBQ’s Barbecue All Year Long, and in 2005 won the New York State Championship along with a Reserve Grand Championship at the Wisconsin State Championship. • Johnny Trigg, “Smokin Triggers”, of Alvarado, TX, is one tough Texan. He won the Jack Daniel’s Championship in 2000 and 2003 and has won over 40 Grand Championships nationwide. • Mike Davis from Marietta, OK, manages a trucking company and is one of the top BBQ chefs on the circuit so far this year. He has a total of eleven Grand Champion titles and eleven Grand Reserve Champion titles. Some of his awards include: 2006 Grand Champion at the American Royal Invitational and Grand Champion at the American Royal Open in 2002 and 2005. • Bart Clarke of Stillwater, OK, is super-competitive and all business—there’s no doubt he’s on the top tier of all BBQ chefs. He was the Grand Champion of the Jack Daniel’s competition in 2000 and the Grand Champion of the American Royal Invitational in 2003. • Myron Mixon of Vienna, GA, is widely acknowledged as the greatest whole hog cooker on the planet. He is a three-time Whole Hog Grand Champion winner and two-time Grand Champion Jack Daniel’s Contest winner. He also placed first three times for hogs and has two Grand Championship wins at Memphis in May World Championships and has three first place wins for hogs at the Jack Daniel’s BBQ Invitational. The Challengers • Ed “Fast Eddy” Maurin of Kansas City, MO, is a fireman, has his own line of BBQ cookers, and in 1998 was the Grand Champion of the Pork Expo. • Adam Perry Lang from New York, NY, is a true New Yorker and wants to beat the good-ole’ boys in their own backyard. He was trained by acclaimed chef Daniel Bolud and was the 2005 Champion at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines and received first place in pork at the American Royal Invitational. • Jack McDavid of Philadelphia, PA, became a chef because he was hungry while attending college. He cooks more than 140,000 pounds of ribs per year and in 1999 Food & Wine magazine rated him best chef in America. • Mike Wozsniak of Brimfield, IL, a retired industrial control engineer is a self-taught chef. He selects and kills his own hog for key competitions and has won eighteen Grand Championships in ten different states. • Ernie Mellor from Memphis, TN, started a catering company in Memphis in 1987 and is a wild game hunter whose recipes are featured in Field & Stream magazine. He cooks exclusively on massive cast iron pits that he shapes himself. • Joe Davidson of Bixby, OK, has more BBQ cooking titles, trophies and blue ribbons—at last count, 300—than almost any other outdoor chef. Joe puts on a great show and loves showing off his home-grown, outdoor grilling skills. Wild Card Competitors • New York City Firefighters Mike “Zof” Zofchak, Gerard “Jerry” Boner, Gerard “Ammo” Amitrano, and Dave “Beansie” Bruno make up team Ladder 55. Their usual BBQ fare is served up to the firehouse; this team doesn’t compete on the BBQ circuit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t win. • Sara Horowitz of Dallas, TX, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, can keep her cool when the flames heat up or she can summon her culinary skills to take on the BBQ champions. • Emma Feigenbaum from New York, NY, is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute. Even though she is the youngest of the contestants, her scrappy personality and street-smarts might help her in this competition. • James Britt of McCalla, AL, has achieved national fame in the field as a pit mogul and won the 2003 and 2005 Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational. • Hillard Pouncy, of Willingsford, PA, is a Princeton professor who cooks in backyard contests on a weekly basis in Philadelphia. • Lee Ann Whippen from Chesapeake, VA, is feisty and beautiful and has a tremendous talent for barbeque to go along. She has won state championships in Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. The Full Schedule Follows (subject to change): Oct. 22 10:00 p.m. ET Ray Lampe vs. Ed Maurin and Lee Ann Whippen Oct. 29 10:00 p.m. ET Mike Davis vs. Joe Davidson and Hillard Pouncy Nov. 5 8:00 p.m. ET Bryon Chism vs. Adam Perry Lang and James Britt Nov. 12 10:00 p.m. ET Johnny Trigg vs. Mike Wozniak and Mike Zofchak Nov. 19 10:00 p.m. ET Bart Clark vs. Ernie Mellor and Emma Feigenbaum Nov. 26 10:00 p.m. ET Myron Mixon vs. Jack McDavid and Sara Horowitz Dec. 3 10:30 p.m. ET Semifinal Round One Dec. 10 10:30 p.m. ET Semifinal Round Two Dec. 17 10:30 p.m. ET Final VERSUS (VERSUS.com) celebrates competition in all its forms. The network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events like The Tour de France, the America's Cup, the Dakar Rally, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), Professional Boxing, the Boston Marathon, AMA Motocross and Davis Cup. Now in more than 70 million homes, the network features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can't find elsewhere. The network offers unique, competition-themed original programming and is the exclusive home of Survivor in syndication. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States. ### MEDIA CONTACTS: aphillips [at] olntv [dot] com kbradshaw [at] olntv [dot] com |
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