BLANCHESTER — A local food blogger and cook took home some Food Network glory.
Heather Johnson of Blanchester was the winner of Wednesday’s episode of the Guy Fieri show “Guy’s Grocery Games” (“Triple G”). Johnson was one of four Fieri superfans chosen to compete on the episode.
“It was amazing. I can finally talk about it,” said Johnson, whose voice was affected by the lively watch party. “It was so fun to hear people’s reactions … and to see them explode in response to the ending.”
Johnson — who operates the food blog thefoodhussy.com — had to keep her win a secret for a long time, as the episode was filmed in January.
“It was so hard,” she said. “If I slipped up I had to cover it. Like ‘I won by being there.’ I’m not a good secret keeper.”
Johnson’s story was featured in Wednesday’s News Journal, prior to the airing of the show.
There were two rounds in the episode. The first round saw the four cook a green chili burger, with parts of the recipes blocked out. The second round saw them picking a favorite recipe and cooking it. Johnson picked “Hunter’s Hero” which she described as a meatball sub.
In the end, she was the winner and collected a $20,000 prize. With that money, she said on the show she was going to use it for a beach vacation. But seeing as she already had a beach vacation this year, she’ll save it and put some of it into her business.
“But there is a beach in my future,” she added.
When asked about interactions with Fieri, she told the News Journal that Fieri is very much the guy you see on camera. One interaction she loved was, when making the hero, she said to him she wished she got Fieri’s brand of marinara sauce.
“He went and got his brand and brought it to me,” she said. “I said, ‘Thank you, sweetpea’ and he winked at me.”
When asked if she would do the show again, she replied, “Please bring me back. I’d go back in a heartbeat.”
She’s now one of three Greater Cincinnati people to compete on the show, along with Kayla Robinson of Arnold’s Bar and Grill, and Christian Gill from Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey.
“I think they should do a Cincinnati episode with the three of us,” she said.
