Today marks the first day of my being Bobby Flay on iron Chef America, season four. This is the third time I am working on the show. It's pretty cool because a lot of the production people have been hired back each season, so it tends to be the same group that I get to hang out with. One notable exception is my good friend Maureen who was the body double for Kat Cora, the female iron chef, for the last two seasons. She is super busy with real freelance work, editing a feature documentary, so she couldn't commit the time. I on the other hand, along with the other body doubles for Mario Batalli and Morimoto, are back. It's pretty fun because we get to catch up after six or seven months. Anyway, the day was pretty uneventful except for the fact that I woke up at 6 a.m. for a seven o'clock call time. We weren't actually needed until about 930, so I'm going to make a note of that for the next time they tell us to arrive at 7 a.m.

One of the great things about this gig is that I don't have to stay on the set the entire day. All I do, all my job entails, is stand on the stage for about five minutes until they are done shooting the introduction of the challenging chef. When this is over and the director says "moving on," I change back into my clothes and leave. I was out the door by about 10 a.m. on Friday and on the upper west side to tutor a student at 1030. I went home afterwards, did a 4 mile run, showered, wrote a few e-mails, and then came back to iron chef for my afternoon call time (which I showed up an hour late for), and ate lunch for an hour with the crew because they were all running late. When that was over, I went back up to the upper west side and did in other two hours of tutoring. This job is so ridiculous.

Here is the back story of how I got to be “Faux Flay” or “Chef Jeff,” for those of you who have not heard:

About a year and a half ago, I was working at a private high school as a part-time math tutor. Every morning I arrived to school, the receptionist in the lobby told me I looked just like Bobby Flay. I said I didn't know who Bobby Flay was in that I never watched the food network nor did I watch the American version of iron Chef America. (Although the Japanese version of iron chef is awesome and I've watched that several times.) She insisted I looked just like him and kept telling me to go and cook her something. A few weeks later I was checking out the production job web site Mandy.com to see if there was any work as an extra on a film. Low and behold, there was a listing from the food network looking for a stand in for Bobby Flay. I sent the following e-mail in response along with a photo of a candid photo of myself:

“I have been told I am a spitting image of Bobby Flay. I didn't even know who he was until someone said I should go cook something for them. That said, I have no experience acting, but I have been behind the camera for several years. I thought I might have a random shot at this. I am 6 ft, 170 lbs. I am in shape (ran a marathon a month ago). I realize this is a long shot, but I am very professional and if it's worth anything, a fun guy to have on the set. I, of course, happen to think I'm better looking than Mr. Flay, but I hope that doesn't compromise my chances of being picked. I am not afraid of getting up close and personal with knives or raging flames and the like.”

And within five minutes, I was chosen.