Paula Deen Will Appear on MasterChef Tonight

Beleaguered ex-Food Network star Paula Deen will be appearing in the second episode of tonight's back-to-back airing of MasterChef. Tulsa World reports that the episode was actually filmed back in March; long before the scandal caused by Deen's racist deposition testimony resulted in a media shitstorm, lost sponsorship deals, and finally ended with a legal settlement.

Although Deen will be on air tonight, Fox does not mention her on their press site. Apparently MasterChef's Facebook page had a post about the episode yesterday that included Deen's photo, but "We Support Paula Deen" claims that it was pulled. They speculated that it was "probably because of anti-Paula comments."

According to the L.A. Times' sources, Fox apparently tried to work around including Deen in the episode but solutions like editing her out or not airing the episode were not workable. Deen was on the show last year, and shouty MasterChef judge Gordon Ramsay described her appearance as a "huge success." Forced to leave her in the show, Fox's ratings will reveal whether audiences are ready to watch the fallen grease queen.

Update: Here's the video.

· Fox serving up 'MasterChef' episode starring Paula Deen [LAT]
· All Paula Deen Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All MasterChef Coverage on Eater [-E-]