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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; It was inconsistency that did him in.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Aidan McFarlane was chopped in the second round of Tuesday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;Chopped Junior&#8221; on the Food Network.</p><p>The 11-year-old competed against three other contestants &#8212; Bella Coonis, 12, from La Mirada, California; Jeremiah Valaroso, 12, from Maui, Hawaii; and Guinevere Shea, 11, from Elkins Park &#8212; vying for the $10,000 cash prize.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m an adventurous chef,&#8221; McFarlane said during his show interview.</p><p>McFarlane started strong, boasting that he had &#8220;the skills to pay the bills.&#8221;</p><p>The competition is three rounds in which contestants must create dishes from mystery ingredients in a basket.</p><p>McFarlane&#8217;s first round was an appetizer. His basket consisted of arctic char (a fish), cotton candy, dandelion greens and tiny ice cream bites. He had 30 minutes to come up with his dish: a seared arctic char with dandelion salad and a sweet dressing.</p><p>Judge Amanda Freitag told McFarlane that his dish was &#8220;really pretty.&#8221; But the two guest judges &#8212; Kardea Brown, a food blogger, and Broadway star Andrew Rannells &#8212; critiqued him on his consistency.</p><p>&#8220;The dressing I did have, helped with the bitterness,&#8221; Rannells quipped to Rannells about the sparcity of sweet dressing on McFarlane&#8217;s plate.</p><p>Luckily, Valaroso was &#8220;chopped&#8221; for forgetting his dandelion greens on Freitag&#8217;s plate, giving McFarlane a chance to redeem himself.</p><p>The three contestants were then given an entree basket of skirt steak, sea beans, mozzarella sticks and canned spaghetti rings.</p><p>After having host Ted Allen open the bottle of truffle oil, McFarlane went on to create a dish he makes at home: truffle butter steak. Looking down a can of spaghetti rings, McFarlane had an idea and made dressing for a side salad using the tomato sauce from the can.</p><p>However, the judges, although they liked the taste of his dish, again commented on the inconsistency of the dressing on the salad and the doneness of his steak. It appeared McFarlane gave Brown a well-done steak but Rannells a rare steak.</p><p>&#8220;The inconsistencies of the dressing, we had to chop you,&#8221; Rannells told him.</p><p>As he left the &#8220;small set&#8221; with a smile on his face, McFarlane said &#8220;winning isn&#8217;t everything.&#8221;</p><p>During an interview with the Times Leader after the show, McFarlane said he would have made upside down cake for the dessert portion of the show, if he made the cut.</p><p>&#8220;He would have just flipped whatever they gave him (in the basket),&#8221; Diane McFarlane, Aidan&#8217;s mom, said.</p><p>Connis went on to win the $10,000.</p><p>Aidan didn&#8217;t want a watch party, so he watched with his family. Friends of his were on a bus trip coming home and they watched the show via video chat.</p><p>According to Diane, Aidan&#8217;s school, Wilkes-Barre Academy, raised close to $400 for St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen during Tuesday&#8217;s dress down day honoring Aidan&#8217;s appearance on the show.</p><p>Even though he came up just short on his episode, Aidan is hoping to get called back to a future &#8220;redemption show.&#8221;</p><p>Otherwise, he&#8217;s going to enjoy his summer playing baseball.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Aidan McFarland, of Wilkes-Barre, watches an episode of the Food Network&#8217;s &#8216;Chopped Junior&#8217; with his family on Tuesday. Around Aidan is sister Lydia McFarland, mom Diane McFarland and grandmother Rose Fendrock. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_choppedjunior01-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Aidan McFarland, of Wilkes-Barre, watches an episode of the Food Network&#8217;s &#8216;Chopped Junior&#8217; with his family on Tuesday. Around Aidan is sister Lydia McFarland, mom Diane McFarland and grandmother Rose Fendrock. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_choppedjunior02-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Aidan McFarland&#8217;s mom, Diane, congratulates him on his third-place finish on &#8216;Chopped Junior,&#8217; which aired on Tuesday on the Food Network. Looking on is Aidan&#8217;s grandmother Rose Fendrock. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_choppedjunior02-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Aidan McFarland&#8217;s mom, Diane, congratulates him on his third-place finish on &#8216;Chopped Junior,&#8217; which aired on Tuesday on the Food Network. Looking on is Aidan&#8217;s grandmother Rose Fendrock. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Aidan McFarlane competed on Food Network&#8217;s &#8216;Chopped Junior&#8217;</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>LISTEN IN</strong></p><p>Aidan will be interviewed by 98.5 KRZ&#8217;s morning show, &#8220;Rocky and Lissa,&#8221; at 6:50 a.m. Wednesday morning.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre boy ‘chops’ his way to stardom on ‘Chopped Junior’