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Cook who padded Corps record one step closer to TV stardom

After dodging a bullet Sunday night, Josh Garcia is in the final four.

The former Marine cook — who spiced up his military and culinary credentials to help secure a spot on the reality television program “The Next Food Network Star” — was the final contestant to survive Sunday night’s elimination, following an episode of on-camera cooking demonstrations.

Now Garcia, 26, is just two episodes away from the finals, where viewers decide which contestant wins the six-episode deal as host of a new Food Network show. The episodes leading up to the finals are pre-recorded, with a panel of judges decides who stays or goes.

Not that any of the contestants, Garcia included, were looking very talented on Sunday. The five hopefuls were tasked with teaching viewers how to whip up some tasty dishes, but no one seemed very good at cooking for the camera.

“Can we just send them all home and start over?” asked guest judge Alton Brown, a Food Network personality who is the host of “Good Eats” and a commentator on “Iron Chef America.”

Garcia had a rough round, first by accidentally leaving his banana peppers at the supermarket (and blaming it on sabotage, poor grocery clerks, anyone but himself), then by attempting a complicated Caribbean pad thai dish in just five minutes.

“You cook too much food too fast, tell us too much stuff,” said judge Bob Tuschman, senior vice president for programming and production at Food Network, echoing remarks Garcia has heard throughout the competition. “The viewer ends up being road kill.”

Tuschman also warned Garcia about his attitude.

“When you make mistakes, you tend to blame people,” he said. “We’re in the very fortunate position of being able to select who we want to work with. And we’re not going to work with someone who points the finger and causes a bad scene for people.”

Still no word from Tuschman or other Food Network execs on what action might result from Garcia’s other mistake — lying about his military past and culinary training. Contrary to his initial claims, Garcia is not an Afghanistan veteran, did not graduate from the New York Restaurant School, and left the Corps not as a corporal at the end of a four-year enlistment, but as a private eight months early.

When confronted by Military Times in June, Garcia admitted to allowing Food Network producers to “believe what they wanted to believe” in order to secure a spot on the show.