The Travel Channel's newest food competition show Food Wars is already something of a hit, and a lot of its success has to do with show host Camille Ford. Before Food Wars, Camille was basically an unknown. She'd done a little Broadway theater, some TV news bits, and was co-host of a Sirius Satellite Radio show for a while. In the interest of getting to know this new food media personality a little better, we dug up Ten Fun Facts About Camille Ford:
10) Camille produced and starred in 2006 off Broadway hit Jitter, which was listed as one of New York Magazine's Top Picks.
9) Ms. Ford had a cameo in recent web series The Concierge, where she played hotel guest who thought she contracted herpes from her room's bed sheets.
8) She is both an athlete and adventurer, who enjoys sky-diving and competitive running. Camille also has some impressive pole-dancing skills.
7) Camille is very into DIY. She once made a working hot-tub out of spare lumber and some odds-and-ends from the hardware store.
6) Ford is also something of a food history buff, which is why she wanted to do the show. From an interview with Suite101: "I love American history. And so the idea of being able to go through small, iconic towns and kind of seeing where the history of the food was made, and seeing what made America great ? which was people kind of getting together and making foods and learning how to do it, and finding out who does it best." [Suite 101]
5) She once posed for a photo shoot dressed up like a character from Avatar.
4) Camille is a champion arm wrestler:
3) Curiously, under many of her credits she is listed as "Camille Burford." Perhaps Ford is actually an abbreviated stage name?
2) Camille once appeared on TLC's Say Yes to the Dress.
1) About those pole-dancing skills: Camille actually started a company called "Sassy Pole Girls" where she lead pole-dancing parties in people's homes. Of course, this was a no-nudity, no-boys-allowed kind of thing geared at aerobics and female empowerment. The price of a two hour party was $650 and all participants even got to wear Camille's hand-made headbands.
[Photo: The Travel Channel]