I arrived at 6:30 and did my routine check of the greenroom which was actually pretty full at that point. I decided to clear out to save room for the guests, but on my walk out passed one of the office assistants who produced a short segment on the show this morning - a chef who makes a thousand-dollar pizza (!) Kelly - assistant turned producer - was talking with the chef about getting started in our prep kitchen so he would have time to make his masterpiece. He was insisting he needed his assistant to run back to his restaurant because he forgot one ingredient. Kelly asked if he could at least get started with the cooking, but the chef adamently shook his head and explained that his assistant could run and be back quickly. Kelly finally asked what ingredient had been left behind, and the chef explained "the pizza pie". So we now have a chef prepared to come on the show for his thousand dollar pizza - with no pizza.
Time now is 7:56 and I just followed up - pizza is accounted for and set up outside on our plaza after a marathon sprint by the chef's assistant. When the pizza pie actually arrived we had a different food segment taking over our prep kitchen, so the chef had to prepare everything outside where his segment is taking place. A very chaotic morning for a few people, but on air we saw a calm and happy chef serving caviar-covered pizza to our hosts, complete with pizza crust. Behind the camera I saw a very relieved producer smiling and taking the first deep breath she had time to take all morning. In the newsroom one newswriter summed it up: "A thousand dollar pizza...what next?"
Kelly will be adding in her two cents a little later today with a blog of her own - stay tuned!