Drama surrounds Detroit pop-up chefs on Food Network competition

“The Great Food Truck Race” show on Food Network has passed the halfway point through its season 16 run, and Detroit-based pop-up Khana is not only still in the running but has been the meat of the show’s biggest storyline so far.

Caution: spoilers ahead.

Chef Maryam Khan and her team survived all the challenges in the first five Sundays of the eight-episode season.

Episode three featured a cameo from actor Kumail Nanjiani who showed up to try Khana's food, but that wasn't the only surprise. Khan and her teammate Al Jane shocked other food truck contestants in the same episode when they announced Khana would be parting ways with their fellow Detroiter, sous chef Jake Nielsen, citing communication issues.

"There have been some team dynamics that have, unfortunately, taken a turn for the negative here, particularly between Jake and I ... and I think that we have decided that we are parting ways with Jake as a team," said Khan at the end of the episode.

“He’s saying things under his breath constantly, he doesn’t trust in the process that I’ve been building for five years,” said Khan in an interview earlier in episode three.

“I work very hard and I do my best in the Khana kitchen, unfortunately I feel like I’m being ignored or treated unfairly,” Nielsen said on the show.

The move to dismiss Nielsen was described by fellow competitors as “not OK” and “tacky." Without Nielsen, the Khana truck, which sells Pakistani-inspired street food, was at a disadvantage with only two team members.

"Never in this history of the show has someone got fired from a truck on camera," said host Tyler Florence. "You're taking a big risk."

The July 2 episode started with another bombshell from Khan and Jane. They flew out chef Carl Harris from previously eliminated food truck the Block to join their team. While the Block is based in Indianapolis, the IndyStar reports that Harris is from Dallas.

Flying Harris out on their own dime put the Khana concept at a $219 disadvantage starting episode four, but they got a boost early on when they won the first challenge featuring celebrity chef Antonia Lofaso. The Khana team won a $300 head start for the main challenge that day, and also got to shut down an competing truck for one hour.

Though they won, Khana seemed to be in a lose-lose situation because they were going to make an enemy no matter which truck they chose to shut down temporarily. While they ultimately chose pro-team Lisa’s Crêperie, the head start and sanctioned sabotage of another team wasn’t enough to put Khana at the top. Week four winner was Da Bald Guy, a Hawaiian comfort food truck, for the fourth week in a row.

The theme of this season of "The Great Food Truck Race" is David vs. Goliath, and producers pitted seasoned food truck operators with chefs who have a concept of some sort, but no truck of their own. Khana is on the rookie team; they’ve been operating as a pop-up in Detroit since 2018 but don’t have a food truck beyond the one provided by the show for the purpose of competing.

Khan, 30, told The Detroit News ahead of the season premiere that she felt confident while filming.

"I thought I was going to come into this with imposter syndrome … someone with no guns … and once I got there and took it all in I realized I'm actually really confident in myself and I've done so much work to get here, and I hadn't reflected on any of it until that moment when I was surrounded by people who I viewed as professionals,” she said.

Last week, the chef addressed the online backlash about her team on her Instagram.

“Seems like there are a lot of comments floating around these days about how I do things, how I should be doing them, what people think of me, etc. etc.,” she wrote. “Funny thing is that most of these comments are coming from people who have never even had a single conversation with me.”

Sunday night's episode saw the rivalry between Lisa’s Crêperie and Khana continue to fester with trash talk, but ultimately ended when the crêperie food truck came in last place with the lowest number of sales. Khana came in second of the remaining five trucks.

See if the Detroit team can blaze through another week when “Great Food Truck Race” episode six airs 8 p.m. Sunday on Food Network.

Metro Detroit's next chance to taste the Pakistani-inspired street food of Khana is 2-9 p.m. Aug. 6 at Chroma, 2937 E. Grand Blvd. in Detroit. The pop up will be one of many local concepts serving food at the Hospitality Included food, music and art festival.

More:Detroit Pakistani street food pop-up Khana battles on Food Network's 'Great Food Truck Race'

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens