Behind the scenes of a Food Network show

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of  your favorite food television program? If you are a fan of Michael Symon’s Burgers, Brew & ‘Cue, read on. A participant on the show, Tyson Ho of Arrogant Swine restaurant in NYC, dishes on what went into filming his segment of the Food Network program.

Ho explains many things that will comes as no surprise, like the fact that a large team of production assistants descended on his restaurant and set up several cameras to capture all of the activity. But there are some aspects of filming you may not realize. For starters, says Ho, “even though it was early spring and cold as balls, we were told to dress in warm-weather clothes–the episode was set to air in summer, and we had to look the part. We filmed the whole segment in shorts and T-shirts.”

Additionally, Ho said, the shots on the program don’t always follow the same progression as the filming. Since barbecuing a whole hog takes a long time, several hogs were used for production, although the editing makes it seem like one hog was used. Finally, the “customers” in all of the scenes – well, they aren’t just people off the street. Says Ho, they “had a small crowd of friends and family come out to serve as the restaurant “patrons” for the shoot. It’s common practice in these sorts of shows, in order to limit the number of star-crazed fans who might otherwise make a scene. These folks were real troupers-film shoots are long and slow, with multiple takes of virtually every shot, and my “guests” had to wait around for hours before it was time for their scene.