Yiivititimaev: "I ... happy"

- Marina del Rey, Calif.
- After signing final papers and undergoing a basic health check Sunday afternoon which cleared him to make his Feast Fest debut at the Oct. 26 exhibition in Punta Gorda, Fla., late-offseason add-on Ondrej Yiivitimaev conveyed in broken English his ebullience.

"I['m] ... happy. Very happy [to be] here, very happy [to] know [that] I [can] go [to] Florida [for the Oct. 28] exhibition ... Very happy [to] know [that] I [can have a] chance [to] prove my skill[s]. Very happy [to be] here [with all of these other] prestigious chef[s] ... [I am] ready [to] learn [about the] Americana tradition [that is] Thanksgiving ... Ready [to] help [Feast Fest achieve a score of] 100. Very happy. Very happy."


FF Wire Service

Yiivititimaev Submits Final Papers, Cleared for Oct. 26 in Punta Gorda

- Ondrej Yiivititimaev has been cleared as of Sunday afternoon for the Oct. 26 Edelyn Cooking Arena stand. He signed final papers cementing his contract Sunday, and underwent a thorough health evaluation that cleared him for two Sundays from today.

Fellow October signee Kevin Olschmiere is in the process of clearing final papers.

FF Wire Service

Wilkin: "I'm happy where I am"

- New York

- Feast Fest defector Hillary Wilkin, current Head Chef of the event's main rival, the New York City Thanksgiving Contest, apparently told Competitive Cooking Magazine's Joel Brennan that she had no misgivings about leaving Feast Fest to head chef the nation's second most prominent cooking competition.  Joel Brennan announced a snippet from his interview with Wilkin on Twitter Sunday:

"Wilkin: 'I'm happy where I am, I loved my time at Feast Fest but have no desire to leave the NYCTC. Feast Fest helped me get here.'"

- Joel Brennan (@ccmjoelbrennan) 21:07 UTC 12 October 2014

Wilkin left Feast Fest in 2013 after five years with the event after she was hired as the new Head Chef of the New York City Thanksgiving Contest.

FF Wire Service

McAllister on Shelstinnia: "She was limp ... she basically did nothing."

- Co-Head Chef Jim McAllister admitted Saturday to having had problems with FF chef Rina Shelstinnia, who will not be returning to Feast Fest.

In a interview with an issue of Competitive Cooking Magazine yet to be published, McAllister reportedly admitted that "we, the chef body, had numerous problems with Rina Shelstinnia and felt that she wouldn't be compatible with us for 2014, and some of us actually told that to the scouters when we heard they were about to make a decision on the level of energy they should invest in pursuing re-signing her.  We said, 'Well, you know, if you sign her, it's not the end of the world, not like Stephen Dreim [a chef regarded as highly conceited who chefs wanted scouters not to try to lure back after he left in 2012], but she'll just sit in the back and not do much, not contribute.'  We tried to tell them they'd be throwing their money away on her."

It's unlike McAllister to stir a controversy pot, especially now that he's one of the three Head Chefs.  But McAllister seemed to know that that observation would be coming, adding in the interview: "People will say about what I've said regarding Rina, they'll say, 'Whoa, Jumping Jimmy?  He never says anything negative about anyone, he never stirs controversy.'  But I don't see it as controversy because the consensus among the chef body was a unanimous decision and that unanimous decision was that she wasn't a contributing factor in any of our efforts here at Feast Fest.  She was limp, she was there, but she just hung around; she did basically nothing."

McAllister's comments came in an issue of CCM planned to be released in November, as part of a plethora of interviews of Feast Fest chefs.

Shelstinnia had no comment to McAllister's remarks.

FF Wire Service