Marc Summers Discusses ‘Rewrapped,’ Heading Up the Judging Panel, and Recreating Snack Food

Marc Summers Rewrapped Interview
Judge and Food Network Host Marc Summers poses for a portrait on set during the filming of Food Network's Rewrapped, Season 1. (Photo © 2014, Television Food Network, G.P.)

Marc Summers has hosted television shows for over 20 years, including the incredibly popular Nickelodeon series Double Dare, and he’s well known to Food Network audiences as the host of Unwrapped. He also keeps busy behind the scenes executive producing shows including Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible. But with Food Network’s new series Rewrapped, Summers has been tasked with leading the judging panel as chefs try and recreate classic snack foods such as Pepperidge Farm Cheddar Goldfish Crackers, Tastykake Glazed Cherry Pies, and Hostess Cupcakes.

Premiering on Monday, April 21, 2014 at 8pm, Rewrapped finds Summers and two guest judges weighing in and voting on how close the contestants have come in their attempts to duplicate the tasty treats. After being judged on how faithful their recipe is to the original snack food, the contestants then have to create an original dish that incorporates the snack food.

Marc Summers Exclusive Interview

You’re judging rather than hosting Rewrapped and we’re used to seeing you as the host of a show. How did it come about that you’re judging this new series?

Marc Summers: “You know what? There’s a long story there but here’s the bottom line: I’m just glad to be on television at this point in my career. It’s the only business in the world where the more experience you have, the less they want you. So as one gets older and grayer and maybe a little heavier, they’re looking for the tattooed, maybe pierced human of which that’s never going to happen with me.

I had a long and illustrious career with my friends at Food Network. They’ve been very, very, very nice to me throughout the years, first as talent hosting what is the longest-running show on the channel. Now, exec producing some of the greatest shows like, Restaurant: Impossible. I didn’t think I was ever going to be on TV again, quite honestly. When they came to me I could not have been happier to be included as head judge. Quite honestly, there’s a lot less pressure on me doing this, this way.

Joey Fatone is the host. He’s spectacular; he’s charming as heck. Obviously, he has a huge following from his boy band days, and all I have to do is taste the food and tell the contestants if I like it or not. As an exec producer I know all the responsibilities that a host has. Although, would I like to host another show down the road? Yes, absolutely. But am I happy as a clam to be head judge on this thing and all 15 episodes? No question about it.”

You know what’s funny? I read the synopsis of the show and immediately thought, “Why hasn’t this been done before?”

Marc Summers: “You know, it seems so obvious right there in front. The way I’m describing it, it’s basically Chopped with junk food, you know? We take an iconic item such as a Twinkie or a cupcake or a Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and first we have to recreate it, and then you have to do something sweet or savory. The contestants are intense because A) they finally got on Food Network, B) they’re all hoping to get discovered, and C) they want to prove how good they are. Here’s an opportunity to do it. We had a couple of winners when they were in house, they broke down and just started to cry. I went, ‘My God. Because you made the perfect Goldfish you’re crying?’ That’s how serious this thing is. It’s amazing.”

Was there any snack food that was deemed just too difficult to recreate?

Marc Summers: “You know, we’ve only done 13 and so far not. I mean in a perfect world…we did something like 500 episodes of Unwrapped…when we get to episode 396 we may have some really difficult things in Rewrapped, but so far we’re batting a thousand.”

Is there an episode you’ve filmed which you believe the audience is going to really get into, just based on what it is that you’re recreating?

Marc Summers: “You know the cool thing about it is everybody can identify with all these items because you’ve either seen them in a store, eaten them, or had somebody next to you consume these things. Although viewers can’t taste them, they know if they’re the right color or the right size or right texture and consistency.

I’m trying to think if there was anything that was super different. The guy who made the Hostess Cupcake who won the first round, he made it so it looked like it came right out of the factory. I mean, that icing that they do that has a particular sheen but a dough sheen to it, the right amount of squiggles on top. He nailed it. It was just amazing. His was a little richer chocolate-wise, a little fudgier than the real deal, so there’s points for the consumer who looks at it and says it looks exactly like it, but oh my gosh the flavor isn’t quite the same. There’s so many things to judge on.

It was fun. I almost think it’s like going to a party every day. You have Fatone there, he was always dancing around on the set and having fun. We just smiled and laughed all day. How bad can it be? You’re eating junk food 13 days in a row. It was a pretty good job.”

Eating junk food for 13 days in a row can get a little hard on your stomach. Was that ever a problem?

Marc Summers: “Here was the only problem. Because I hadn’t been on camera doing fresh shows for about three years, I worked for months and I exercised, and I was on the treadmill three days a week and I was doing weights three days a week. I got back down to my fighting weight. After 13 days on the set with all that junk food and tasting three dishes a day times 13, I pretty much put all the weight back on in less than two weeks. It’s an occupational hazard when you’re working at Food Network but it goes with the territory, unfortunately.”

I’m horrible cook and I once caught a grilled cheese sandwich on fire. I’m bad at it, but I’m addicted to the shows. Do you find a lot of people who don’t actually cook are really into Food Network?

Marc Summers: “Oh, like crazy because they live vicariously through the chefs and then they become like rock stars. You can always go to the website and look at a recipe and maybe download the recipe. Will you ever do it? I don’t know if you’ll ever do it or not. You know, I barbecue. I don’t cook so much in the kitchen. My wife is the queen all cooks and she’s spectacular, but I don’t do it that much. I’m either barbecuing outside when I’m in California or I’m going to a restaurant when I’m living on the East Coast.

I admire people who mess up a kitchen and make the most fantastic food ever, but I’m not one of those guys. You and I would have a lot in common. Although I can admit, I have not set fire to a grilled cheese sandwich like you have.”

It looked horrible and was really disgusting. Tell me about your judging style on Rewrapped. How do you decide how mean you can be? Are you nice all the time?

Marc Summers: “Here’s the deal: I’m not like Simon Cowell but I am extremely honest and I am not playing the ‘everything tastes good’ situation. There was one line which I heard they kept in which I was surprised about. When you make the Goldfish, the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, they are a certain size and how do you make them? There’s no cookie cutter, so one guy used aluminum foil to try and form it, another person used a hanger to try and do it, but one of the people who put it in in round one made it look like it was in need of its own zip code or something. It was huge and I made some comment that I thought that the Goldfish looked more like a sperm whale. I said, ‘I could have used any other kind of whale but I wanted to use the word sperm on Food Network,’ and somehow they kept that in.

I get to be semi-comedic and irreverent, but I do tell the truth. When it’s good I’ll tell you it’s good, and often times I would have to say, ‘You really missed the mark on this deal,’ which you don’t want to do because people work very hard. But if you can’t be honest there’s no point in doing the show.”

You have to walk that line where you don’t offend them but you give them constructive criticism. That’s a difficult line to walk.

Marc Summers: “I try to do it with a sense of humor and a smile on my face. The problem is, and this is a big problem, people have been watching me on television for 25 years. They have a certain feeling about who I might be, even though they’ve never met me. I am basically a nice guy but I am brutally honest. If it sucked I had to tell you it sucked, unfortunately, but I did it with a smile on my face and nobody got mad. There were a few people who I think were disappointed perhaps. But, also, when you have 30 minutes to recreate an iconic food item, the pressure’s on. If you don’t get it just right the whole world’s going to collapse.

The best part about our show is you can come from behind and win. Often the people in the recreate round didn’t do well but they did so well in the innovate round that they came back and went from third place to first place. That’s a potential situation on our show and that’s why I think people will tune in.”

Do both of the rounds hold the same amount of weight?

Marc Summers: “Yes, they do. The same amount of points so it’s equal. You could have 12 points in round one and come back and get 28 in the second round, and depending upon how your opponents did you could win.”

Do you like the idea of having a rotating judging panel with you or would you rather have had the same judges for each episode?

Marc Summers: “I would have loved to have had somebody on all the time because you build a bond and a camaraderie. Certainly Joey and I had it I think. We’re rotating the middle judge simply because they are the president of the food company that you’re representing. They know their product probably better than anybody. It’s fun.

When I did Double Dare Robin was my assistant for all eight years I was there. Harvey, for the most part, was my announcer. You build up this camaraderie and you can read each other’s minds. It was not a problem, certainly, but it’s hard to adjust to different judges every day. But that’s what you do.”

Without giving away any spoilers, can you say what the worst thing was that you tasted during the season one episodes?

Marc Summers: “There really wasn’t a worst. There was some peculiar things, like, “Really? You’re going to do that with potato chips? Does that make any sense whatsoever?’ But that was my job. I’m from the Midwest so I’m a basic steak, chicken, potatoes and salad with Kraft French dressing on it. All of a sudden I’m being given some exotic thing like a soup with potato chips or a meatball that’s encrusted with chocolate chip cookies, and you have to let your mind go and say, ‘Look, I have to be open-minded.’ The things often that I thought would be the most bizarre are the ones that tasted the best and ended up winning. You do have to have an open mind about this.”

It seems like that would be difficult if your taste buds are telling you you’re going to hate a food item because it’s not normally something you’d eat, but because you’re tasting it for a competition you have to give it a chance.

Marc Summers: “Wasn’t there one food your entire life you never tried and you were 23 and said, ‘All right, I’m going to try it. I know I’m going to hate it.’ You tried and it you go, ‘Oh man, why did I just start eating this now? I should have been eating this my whole life.’ I didn’t have pizza until I was about 13 years old. It scared me and I didn’t know what it was growing up in Indiana. It always looked weird. Then I remember going to New York when I was 13 and I was with some friends and they said, ‘Try this.’ Then I was addicted and now my favorite food in the whole world from the time I was 13 until now is pizza. I gave up 12.5 good years without eating it. I made up for lost time, trust me.”

I did that with yogurt. I just thought the word itself sounded horrible and I didn’t want to eat it.

Marc Summers: “Now you love it, right?”

Yes, exactly. How many episodes do you think this can actually go? Are you expecting renewals and for this to run for the next 10 years?

Marc Summers: [Laughing] “Your mouth to God’s ears, that would be fantastic. Do I think that there’s 300 episodes of Rewrapped? Yes, I do. I mean, listen if we get to 100 I’d be happy, 100 in anything. I’ve exec produced 89 episodes of Dinner: Impossible and over 100 of Restaurant: Impossible. Unwrapped, like I said, we did three, 400. Double Dare we did 525. I’m certainly used to doing long runs of the programs and it would be great to go out on a bunch of fireworks on this one, doing a couple hundred shows. I’d love it.”

Do you still do stand-up?

Marc Summers: “You know, I haven’t done stand-up in a while. Although I did in Chicago last week go to Comedy Sports and there was a mention online on Twitter that they did a salute to Double Dare on Sunday night, so I popped in last Sunday and hosted the show and did a little stand-up with them and did some improv and that was fun. I do it from time to time. In fact, I’m working on a one man show right now with some guys from Broadway. In fact we’re meeting with the producers tomorrow night, and we’re trying to put a retrospective one year in the life story of Marc Summers. I think it’s going to be funny and I think you’ll learn a lot about things that most people are unaware of and then we’ve got a big surprise at the end with some prizing. Hope to have that up and running by the end of this year or first part of 2015. Always looking for something new and different to do.”

That sounds like a huge endeavor. Is it a little scary to think about?

Marc Summers: “Scary is good at this point in my life. I’ve done a lot of stuff that has been fun, and at this point I’m pretty comfortable. I sang at Studio 54 Below a few weeks ago in New York City. Never sung in front of any humans and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so I worked with some people, they wrote some original material and we did it. I’m sort of checking off the bucket list here and doing the one man show would be the next one to do.”

Being given the opportunity to be a part of any Food Network show is an incredible – and life-changing – experience, so what’s the best advice you can give to someone who is auditioning for any of the network’s shows as a cook?

Marc Summers: “It’s not about the food, it’s about the personality. All the people who are on that network are good chefs, starting with Bobby Flay – he was probably the king of all Food Network – and then you go to Rachel and Giada and Guy Fiere, certainly Robert Irvine. But if you think back on all those people I just mentioned, their personalities were gigantic and they came off the screen. So you must have some sort of charisma that connects with the audience because the people at home can’t taste the food.

After you become successful if you have a restaurant, chances are they’re going to go to your restaurant. But you have to have something else that stands out prior to that, and all those people do. I just went to Bobby Flay’s new restaurant Gato in New York, spectacular. Here’s a guy who doesn’t have to cook anymore and he loves it. He’s on the line every night. I’ve been there twice so far and there he is in the back sweating with everybody else cooking, and it’s some of the best damn food I’ve ever had in my entire life. Those that are successful still are in kitchens, still are cooking because it’s their passion and that’s what it’s all about.”