You Can’t Make This Up
By Andrew Zimmern
In an ironic and horribly bittersweet turn of events, Susan O’Boyle Jacobson dropped dead of a heart attack last Tuesday evening, April 18. She was fifty-six and had no history of heart problems, according to her stepson Drake, whom I spoke to only because I called Susan at home to congratulate her on her victory at the Mall of America Food Network Challenge that I blogged about last week. Susan was the winner of the Candy Castles competition that took place Tuesday. She was the hometown darling, an underdog to be sure, and eventually the winner of $10,000. She was overwhelmed with excitement when I interviewed her the morning of the event and kept pointing out her family and friends in the audience. When asked why she thought she could win, she told me that she would make a candy castle so mouthwatering and visually alluring that the kids in the Mall would rush up to break off a piece. It was that kind of perspective (the judges were your typical culinary contest hardasses, not wide-eyed ten-year-olds) that made her so charming and ultimately worthy of the top prize. And then she dropped dead. I think she would be laughing the hardest if she was still with us, and in her thrill of victory and her family’s and friends’ agony of defeat, there is an exclamation point to Warren Zevon’s admonition, famously uttered in the weeks before he passed on “ to enjoy every sandwich.” E-mails to the Food Network PR honchos querying their plans to air the show or not have gone unreturned.
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Yeah. It's a shock to a lot of industry folks. Unfortunately, I can't claim to be one of the people who knew her well. I finally met her in person at the bake show in Rochester back in February. Very sweet, gracious and helpful, took me behind the scenes to the workshops and we made plans to get together to discuss other topics. The Minneapolis ACF guys paid a little tribute to her at their last meeting. She was admired by many.
Posted by: Mike on April 27, 2006 at 3:51 PM
I watched this Challenge the other night, and noticed the show was dedicated in her memory, so I googled her name to find out what happened and came across your blog. Was it really necessary to use the phrase "dropped dead"?? How tacky and disrespectful.
Posted by: Anonymous on May 9, 2008 at 9:54 AM
I agree with the previous poster who said how tacky you are to use the term "dropped dead" in reference to Susan. You are being disrespectful, whether you realize it or not.
Posted by: Katie on May 10, 2008 at 1:42 PM
I did the same as Mike and also agree with Mike's comment. Perhaps a change in wording would have been more sincere.
Posted by: Dana on May 10, 2008 at 4:06 PM
I saw the “Candy Castles” competition episode on Food Network and if the above “interview” was in keeping with Susan’s sense of humor and motivation when it came to creating scrumptious confections for kiddies she probably would have had a chuckle over this whole “dropped dead” PC debacle. Come on folks, in keeping with the Zimmern style, "dropped dead" is a perfectly acceptable euphemism. Drop (no pun intended) your membership in the politically correct bunched underwear club and get over it. Celebrate Susan’s life, family, her creations, and her ability to make others happy with her talent. I can think of no better way to be remembered.
Posted by: Sam on May 14, 2008 at 5:18 AM
I was watching the challenge the other night; she was definetly my favorite!
Then I saw the dedication to her. How sad, she seemed like a charming woman. May her soul rest in peace.
Posted by: Caroline on August 4, 2008 at 8:59 PM
I would have been one of the customer's in the mall who would have eaten the upside-down ice cream cone even though it was made out of icing and I don't like ice cream. The cake was so beautiful what a shock to learn at the end of the show that Mrs. Jacobson died. God has such a beautiful person in his kingdom.
Posted by: Karen Davis on August 5, 2008 at 6:26 PM