And so the individual cooking competition portion begins! Everyone has one hour to cook a “comfort food” dish, and the judges will be choosing blind their favorite and least favorite.
Renatta is making an apple butter crumble, and Erika asks Gabrielle whether she should make a beef stew or pasta dish – Gabrielle urges her towards the stew.
Trying to start conversation, Uno asks Diane if she’s making a Korean dish. Diane OF COURSE takes this opportunity to try and create a blood feud with Uno over it and says, “do you really want to start?” Uno is honeybadger and couldn’t give a shit and says, “why do you have to fight about it? I’m just asking.” Diane declares herself an a-hole and everyone at home collectively shouts “DUH!”
So yes, Diane is making korean food. Yeesh.
Anyway, unlike Diane, on Malarkey’s team, Ponytail and Tattooed Jeff are getting along famously and giggling. It’s nice to see chefs cooexisting and not spitting in each other’s dishes or accidentally tipping a jar of sziracha into a dish. Or just being a general bitch to everybody. Refreshing
On Ludo’s team, Sarah is LITERALLY having a meltdown. This poor girl is so clueless and Ginger Paul calls her damsel in distress, I call her a nitwit. She starts lighting paper towels on fire and just standing there like a moron saying, “What do I do with this?” Ummm, how about you PUT THE FIRE OUT DUMBASS! Gregg the Sexy Spoonful runs over and extinguishes the flame not once, but twice! What I found hilarious about it is that the first time I chalked it up to nerves, but the second time she does it I have to wonder if she’s a little slow and I worry she may light her hair on fire next. Put that mane in a ponytail lady!
Like, um, what do I do with this?
Stop drop and roll, bitch!
Gregg interviews that he’s trying to put a positive energy into the group and he’s kind of stepping up as the leader when Ludo’s not there. It kind of makes sense, he seems very knowledgable and also very likeable. He genuinely wants everyone to do well, and is interested in what his teammates are up to. He kindly tells Shawn he may want to put a little more salt on his dish, and Shawn is like “whatever, leave me alone.” Hrmmmmm, you know, this may come back to bite him later. (It totally does.)
Lauren the country bumpkin decides to make Shepherd’s pie but she’s never made it before. Gabrielle warns her that may not be such a good idea, but Lauren’s like, “Bitch pleeze, I got immunity aright?” Which, good point but also, you will make yourself look like an ass if you mess this up horribly with a bad dish right after you make the winning dish. (It totally does.).
Everyone is just sweating and scrambling to deliver for this first challenge: Micah’s making a mediterranean chicken dish that reminds him of his dead Dad (nobody can hear your sob story Micah!), Uno is making sticky chicken wings, Diane is making an ass of herself, Khristianne is making a seafood and coconut milk dish and yummm that sounds good.
If you like it, spread it!:
11 Comments
I just don’t know. I’ve enjoyed it, but like I said in the minicap, it really threw me for a loop when the broke from the name of the damn show, THE TASTE, to decide final judging. I would have enjoyed your alternative eyediosmio, or if they decided who was going home but didn’t reveal the decision till after they talked to them. Either way, I’m going to give it anotherepisode or two and see how I feel.
Diane is a complete and total toolbitchdouchenozzlecanoe. Cannot stand her!
I absolutely love Kristianne. I loved that she stood up for Michah and told the rest of her team \you are not a good person\ I thought of all of the places tvgasm would have caught the Hills reference.
@Chelsea: I love Khristianne, too! And ESP the way she stood up for Micah.
It was weird the way ponytail and tattoo Jeff were smirking
The Hills reference totally escaped me, truth a certain couple burned a hole in my brain where
My memory of that show should be. Sad face.
@ TVKimmy: if they do thus show again, they rally should change the format. BUT, truth b told I thought they let the right people go based on their initial tastes/reactions.
I also have a feeling people are gonna get nasty.
@eyediosmio, I actually kind of enjoyed this show and I’m glad you’re recapping it, I love your take on things and I plan on watching it until the very bitter end.
I’m not surprised Ludo did not return the high five – no other nationality hi fives, it was something one taught a toddler to do, similar to ‘peek a boo’ but one morphed into an adult behavior whilst the other remained in the nursery. It would be fun to reverse them and have adults peekaboo each other!
I’m liking the show so far; I agree the final elimination goes against the format, but at that point I understand why they’re doing it (so all the judges will still compete as much as possible?).
Can I tell a little story about kids drinking in Europe? My sister (a teacher here in U.S.) was visiting relatives in Wales; she went to a PTA meeting out of curiousity. They served hard cider to the kids at the meeting. A PTA MEETING – hard cider – unbelievable!!
Although I agree that Gregg is easy on the eyes, I think he may be at best a narcissist and at worst the next Ted Bundy?
I’ll start off by saying that while I still think Bourdain is a pompous ass, he was actually quite pleasant while guiding his team during the immunity challenge. It surprised me.
Diane definitely took her loss on Chopped hard, becase he was never even near this level of bitchiness. I get why she’d be upset, the judges told her her dick was absolutely perfect but still eliminated her because she totally forgot a basket ingredient. Still no excuse for breaking the Bitch Meter here.
The elimination bothered me on many levels. For starters, they broke the show’s premise by knowing who cooked what for elimination. Second, I hate double eliminations on the first day of competition. Third, because they eliminated Renatta for making a dessert. I fucking hate how so many chefs think so slowly of desserts, despite them being staples of a full meal. It reminds me of when Lauren auditioned and the male judges said they weren’t looking for “a dessert cook”. Fuck you, you pisswads! Desserts are just as valid as any other meal, and I respect any non-baker or non-pastry chef who can make a great dessert, because I sure have seen pastry chefs making savory dishes with no problem. Methinks so many chefs are just so scared about making desserts (see so many of them on Top Chef) that they automatically dismiss desserts.
Seriously, Renatta’s dessert can’t have been bad to get her eliminated, seeing as how Malarkey loved it. Nobody liked Shawn’s dish, he should have gone home. At least one judge loved Renatta’s dish, Shawn’s was pretty unanimous in that it lacked seasoning. Seriously, why would you not kick out the guy who didn’t season his food? It’s cooking 101, the most basic stuff about cooking! Salt and pepper! I’m not a good cook and even I know to season my food and taste it as I cook to adjust it! Man, it pisses me off that they let lack of seasoning slide!
@Chris: I totally agree regarding the dessert issue on these shows, what is more comforting than sugar? SERIOUSLY! Although I wonder if it was the way it was presented on the spoon, or perhaps the flavors weren’t complex enough. I think you can get more complex flavors out of a savory dish than a simple apple crumble, that could have been the issue.
And Shawn, what a derp. I find lack of salt is always an issue, in restaurants and on these shows. Tsk Tsk! Hopefully he keeps that in mind next time, but on these cooking shows people get in their own way all the time.
@JustDucky: Gregg is a harmless doof, he really tries too hard. My husband says he seems like the kind of guy to drink too many beers then smash them on his forehead before he passes out on your couch. Ha!
@Derek: Thanks my friend! HOpefully this show gets a little more amusing, right now it’s kind of cruising.
@zerocool: My husband’s family is Old World, he tells me they used to give the kids a little sambucca for a tummyache
@moonshine: Honestly, I can never FATHOM Ludo ever having high fived anyone. And she wanted a high five over something simple. Grrrrrrrl, do not insult the Ludo with your childish antics! Also, she needs to get her head on straight before she burns down the whole building. Yeesh!
And LOL at the peekaboo, I can see Sarah doing that – hee!
@moonshine, I would LOVE it if adult “peek-a-booed” instead of high-fiving. Makes me giggle to think about it.
And @eyediosmio, I’m loving your Mary Poppins references for Nigella. I was thinking of unicorns and rainbows, and perhaps Care Bears, but Mary Poppins is much better. Thanks for your great recaps. (BTW, I, too, cry all too easily. Even if I could cook I’d never make it on one of these shows.)
So far, this show has been a bit dull (I’ll ignore the idiotic ending that goes against the whole show concept). Hopefully it’ll pick up, because I really WANT to like it.