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Philly chef to compete on 'Next Food Network Star'

She's Katie Cavuto and the season starts in June.

The Next Food Network Star -- which Camden's Aaron McCargo Jr. won and Philly's Adam Gertler was runner-up last time out -- has a Philadelphian among the 10 contestants in the season that starts June 7.

She's Katie Cavuto, 30, a registered dietitian. She owns the personal-chef/in-home-nutrition service Healthy Bites and, in a neat burst of good timing, married Andrew Boyle, who's in commercial real estate, just last week.

She grew up in West Chester, the second of four Cavuto kids. Mother Jeanne teaches at Stetson Middle School and father Robert owns Carpets by Cavuto. She was a gymnast since age 3, and was on the Junior Olympic National team in 1997 but got hurt and did not compete in college. She has degrees from Tufts and Johnson & Wales.

Bobby Flay will lead the selection committee for the Food Network. Also on the list: Brett August (Washington Heights, N.Y.), Melissa d'Arabian (Keller, Texas), Teddy Folkman (Alexandria, Va.), Eddie Gilbert (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Jen Isham (Orlando, Fla.), Debbie Lee (West Hollywood, Calif.), Jamika Pessoa (Atlanta, Ga.), Michael Proietti (New York, N.Y.) and Jeffrey Saad (Los Angeles, Calif.).

Among this season's challenges, according to a press release:  catering a party for Food Network stars, impressing the "Barefoot Contessa" in the Hamptons and preparing a meal for returning soldiers on the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. The show also flies to Miami where the finalists must survive a beachside wood-grilling challenge for Red Lobster and create dinner at a screening of the movie Julie & Julia (in theaters Aug. 7).

Finale will be Aug. 2. Winner gets a six-episode show, as McCargo and Gertler did.