Blue Collar Joe’s on Food Network Challenge (spoiler alert)
Daniel Knight. Photo by Cathy Benson/The Roanoke Times
Daniel Knight, owner of Blue Collar Joe’s in Botetourt County, finished in fourth place among four contestants on the Food Network Challenge last night. The challenge required each contestant to create several doughnuts for the judges, as well as to make a sculpture of an animal entirely out of doughnuts.
Daniel told me after the show was filmed but before it aired that it was a hectic few days, and I could definitely tell from watching the show last night that it was a stressful event. All four contestants were critiqued heavily by the judges, and the time constraints caused some problems for Daniel, as well as the others.
Also, may I just ask: What does creating a huge sculpture out of doughnuts have to do with a person’s ability to make good doughnuts? I got a bit annoyed watching these talented doughnut craftsmen (and women) burn up a lot of time creating silly doughnut creatures when they could have been focusing on the unique gourmet doughnuts instead. Daniel’s creations included a banana pudding-filled doughnut, a balsamic-berry basket pastry and an ambitious doughnut with pear, pomegranate and pistachio topping. One judge called him a “closet pastry chef,” a nice compliment, I think.
Daniel did not get a chance to finish the legs and haunches on his dog sculpture, which must have hurt his score with the judges, as did the fact that he didn’t get to finish topping his secret ingredient doughnut in round one. His sculpture was looking really good, though.
However it turned out, I will judge Daniel and Blue Collar Joe’s instead on the dozen donuts I picked up for a dinner party on Saturday night. I was in charge of dessert and thought it would be fun to show up with fancy donuts instead of a cake. You should have seen my friends’ faces light up when I opened the box and they saw all the crazy colors and toppings. We quartered each donut and sampled them all, including the Dreamsicle, the Nutty Buddy, the red velvet cheesecake, berry, cowtail, lemon and more. Delicious, decadent, and downright fun.
Thanks to Daniel for representing Southwest Virginia on the show. Congrats to him for being selected as a contestant, which is truly an honor in and of itself. If you missed or forgot to record the show, click here for rerun times.
April 11, 2011 - 1:21 PM
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I saw the show & agree. What purpose was served in creating some gigantic sculptures most of which were not finished, glazed, etc? The emphasis should have been on creating the basic donuts. There are too many shows which, for lack of intelligence & an excess of time, dream up bizarre things for people to do- then find arrogant, obnoxious “experts” to “judge” the performances.
Can’t wait for his new store in downtown Roanoke!!!
That’s exactly how I eat them with friends. Quartered so everyone can sample all the flavors! Sooo good. Nothing else like.
I am also proud the Daniel and Blue Collar Joe’s represented the Roanoke Valley. Great job Daniel!!!!
Da’ heck with those cranky judges! Dan, your donuts are all winners. A-1 in my stomach, er, I mean book.
I was also annoyed with the showpiece task on the show and think it was a little silly. They should have followed the 3 round formula that some of the other challenges have done in the past.
Daniel represented the area very well and we are proud of him!! (even though he was robbed….. that elephant was so gross!)
I’m proud that he was on there, and agree the sculpture task was silly. They should have been allowed to focus all of their time on just making doughnuts.
If Daniel had had time to finish his sculpture it would have been the best, he was off to a good start. That doesn’t matter really, because I don’t PLAY WITH MY FOOD I EAT IT ! Blue Collar Joes donuts are the best anywhere. They should have had one round for the “expert” judges to prepare donuts- now wouldn’t that have been a mess?
That judge from Doughnut Plant in NYC was a total pain!!! Bobby Flay did a throwdown with him a while ago and he was a whiny and very unprofessional about everything…not an ‘expert’ judge at all in my opinion! I’ve had his doughnuts too…don’t hold a candle to Daniel’s.
Loved watching Daniel create his donuts! They are awesome! You can’t beat ‘em! I agree with everyone else, the donut sculpture was useless. Daniel had a great idea for his and it would have been the best if he could have finished it but he concentrated on the most important thing-THE DONUTS! YUM!
Usually I don’t watch the shows that have the hateful woman judge Carrie (I think), but I made an exception Sunday evening so I could watch Daniel.
I wish they would have at least given us a score for TASTE. We know BCJ would kill them on taste.
I live on the opposite side of the valley and I’m on a diet, but I still sneak in one of Daniel’s doughnuts whenever I can!
Eh.
Decoration wize, they’re nice, but honestly I can take it or leave it. I’m eating the food, not looking at it.
The taste of the frosting and garnish on the doughnuts are amazing.
The doughnut itself isn’t really that impressive to me. I’m no doughnut expert, but they seem a little too dry and tough for a doughnut.
Either way, getting selected to be on Challenge is an honor in and of itself, so congrats on that!
Hi Everyone! This is Daniel from Blue Collar Joe’s. I’ve just finished reading through all of these wonderful comments! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I can’t tell you how much it means to all of us here at BCJ’s. And to think…Joe’s is only 2-1/2 years old and in that time we’ve gone from nothing to being featured on Food Network. It really has been an amazing ride!
Regarding the show itself….Well, obviously I wish I’d placed higher than I did. But it was a good contest and I lost fair & square. I won’t begrudge any of my competitors. They were great! We all had a lot of fun with each other throughout the contest. (In fact, we were scolded a few times for having too MUCH fun.)
And about the judges…The judges were awesome! Seriously! They were friendly, complementary, and really REALLY nice! I had a great time laughing & talking with them throughout the competition. (Umm…maybe THAT’S why I ran out of time!) It’s a shame that they edited all of that stuff out.
All-in-all it was a tremendous experience. And I never would have been there without the support & encouragement of our dedicated customers and followers. So, from me to each of you…THANK YOU!
Daniel Knight (aka Joe)
We have Daniel on Our Blue Ridge today live at noon on WSLS 10. Lindsey: I totally agree with your comment about the doughnut “creatures”. Ridiculous! Daniel is one of the nicest guys I know and I could survive on the Blueberry Cheesecake doughnut!
I agree on the comments about the sculptures… I thought the dog was taking great shape. It was smart using light and dark donuts instead of trying to glaze it down.
Still I want to try the banana pudding donut so you better let us know when it’s on the menu. I will make a special drive out to gt one.
Great article. Couldn’t agree more with Lindsey’s assessment, although I would have mentioned the sour-faced female judge who on past shows as well as this one seems to take on the “bad cop” role just for the satisfaction it seems to bring her. Life goes on and the reward is that we can daily enjoy the sheer luciousness of Daniel’s creations and the judges will have to do without.
Thanks for stopping by, Daniel. Congrats!
Now, I am thinking they probably edit the show to make it more suspenseful, and I guess some viewers like tough judges or think it makes the show more interesting. It is good to know that everyone was nice “behind the scenes.”