mitchellk2@lopers.unk.edu
After its successful first season, the Food Network plans on renewing its new show, “Baking and Entering with Tina Fey.” The program, which seeks to observe the diversity of American life through culinary creation, plans to host its contestants at UNK during the spring 2021 semester.
But this baking competition has a twist: students should be prepared to find master chefs from around the globe in their dorms, rummaging through refrigerators, closets and make-shift pantries.
“Baking and Entering” lives up to its name, with six contestants forced to ram their way into the homes of six unknowing guests and create masterpieces with whatever ingredients they come across.
“Our show seeks to uncover the lifestyles of different groups of people,” said nine-time Emmy award winner and comedian extraordinaire Tina Fey. “We seek to focus on the exquisite, the mundane and the everyday reality of those around the United States, all without the subjects knowing.”
“We believe this opportunity to host the Food Network and the crew of “Baking and Entering” allows the world to see the true life of a college student,” said senior vice chancellor Barles Chicak. “The show will give the world an inside look at the diet of a college student: the endless packages of ramen noodles, the flavorless microwaveable oatmeal, the bottles of energy drinks that line the insides of the minuscule fridges we provide and the piles upon piles of ketchup packets leftover from students’ lunches that rest on top of the microwave.”
“I honestly think people have forgotten the hardships of cooking while in college,” said residence hall coordinator Uke Lelse. “I’d like to see some hot-shot chef make a colourful and flavourful dish out of the few ingredients. I expect the behaviour of the cooks to be quite humorous. I’m excited to see how this plays out.”
UNK students should be aware that they may come across a fully equipped camera crew, cook and famous actress and host, Tina Fey, in their room sometime during next semester.
“We are unsure of what dorm rooms will be used for filming, but we hope to have information released to students when the Food Network alerts us,” Lelse said.
Some UNK staff are slightly concerned about the logistics of hosting “Baking and Entering” on campus.
“I’m concerned about how the Food Network plans to fit a camera crew into the small dorm rooms we have students live in,” said Chancellor Kouglas Dristensen. “Those rooms can hardly fit two students and their belongings, so I don’t know how Tina Fey plans on cramming an entire TV crew into the housing in a building like Mantor.”
When asked about his opinion of the legality of the show, Kristensen gave no comment.
Fey does have the logistics of the filming figured out.
“I understand that the dorms are extremely small, but this television show isn’t about looking fabulous — it’s about examining lifestyles,” Fey said. “We’re here to show the world how the life of college students has changed, and I’m sure it will bring parents comfort to know that their little boy is living in a cramped room with minimal walking space and a crummy roommate, who smells simultaneously of overpowering body spray and excruciatingly severe BO. They’ll know nothing much has changed since they went to college.”
