Teddy Folkman (Photo by inked78)

For the poor guy who was told that Granville Moore’s chef Teddy Folkman was going to open a Granville Moore’s in New York… he’s not. And go figure, he also wasn’t on an Alaskan cruise or fishing in the Caribbean. Those were just some of the excuses made up by staff for Folkman’s recent six week hiatus while he filmed the next season of the Food Network’s The Next Food Network Star, DCist has learned.

TV viewers will soon get to see Folkman face a number of challenges as he works for a grand prize of his own Food Network television show. For those not familiar with his previous television dossier, he faced off with Bobby Flay in a moules frites throwdown. The first episode of the new season of The Next Food Network Star will debut June 7 at 9 p.m.