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Tony Luke brings reality show to Philly

Look out for "Frankenfood" in the coming weeks.

Tony Luke Jr. (Photo by Curt Hudson)
Tony Luke Jr. (Photo by Curt Hudson)Read more

CHEESESTEAK impresario Tony Luke Jr. will shine the bright lights on his hometown, bringing his new reality show "Frankenfood" to Philly from Feb. 24 to 26. Luke and his co-star, NYC chef Josh Capon, will film at local restaurants.

"Frankenfood," which was picked up by Spike, features amateur cooks going head-to-head to create unexpected food innovations. The winner of each episode gets $10,000 and his or her item on the menu of a local restaurant.

Luke and Capon held auditions for "Frankenfood" in Philly back in November.

Behind the scenes in Sochi

There's a Philly face making sure that the fans at the Shayba Ice Hockey Arena in Sochi don't miss a thing. Artie Halstead is normally senior producer of Comcast-Spectacor's 3601 Creative Group, choosing what goes on the big screens at Flyers games at the arena. Halstead commuted to Sochi for the first time to do the same thing for Olympic hockey games.

The Glen Mills native told me via email that there was some initial culture shock when it came to Russian living. He and his colleagues bonded with their hotel owner over "a homemade beverage Russia is famous for" and a plate of sausage, communicating through Google Translate. "About halfway through the second plate we later found out the sausage was made from horse," Halstead said. "Again, it was a culture shock at first, but it was actually pretty good."

DN on the TV

The People Paper's very own rock stars Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman will turn into TV stars this weekend when they lead "Black & White and Dead All Over," a documentary about the newspaper industry and Laker-Man's fierce brand of investigative journalism. Check it on WHYY on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and Monday at 10 p.m.

Laker and Ruderman also have a book on deck, based on their Pulitzer Prize-winning exploits: Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love, on bookshelves near you March 11.

Meet the 'Voice'

BEN-FM's Marilyn Russell brings back her Mile of Meet Valentine's Day soiree at the Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant (4120 Main St.). It's the 10th anniversary of the singles mixer, so this year Russell had to up the ante. She invited local contestants on "The Voice," including Matthew Schuler, who hails from Yardley. Schuler will perform for the singles looking to mingle. Other hosts include Russell herself, lady-about-town Maria Papadakis, Skin Palette's Susie Celek, former "Bachelorette" contestant Craig Robinson and Fox 29's Dr. Mike. The free event takes places from 6 to 10:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Roast T.O.

Speaking of Celek, she'll also get her hosting duty on with business partner/BFF Julie Dorenbos when they play emcee at the Philly Sports Roast on Feb. 20.

Founded by Joe Conklin and Al Morganti, the first roast takes on the much-maligned (and recently divorced) Terrell Owens.

Presenters include Jon Runyan, John Clarke, our very own Stu Bykofsky, Bernie Parent and, oddly enough, Santa Claus and a cardboard cutout of Donovan McNabb.

It all goes down at the Crystal Tea Room (100 E. Penn Square). For more info, go to phillysportsroast.com. All proceeds go to All Hands Working, an organization founded with the help of former Eagle/firefighter Danny Watkins.

Twitter: @PhillyGossipDN

Online: ph.ly/DNGossip