About Last Night: Top Chef

35 Comments

1. 1
   notwithoutmytv
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 12:12 pm

   Padma, we never Skype anymore. This long-distance relationship is killing me… even cardamom has no taste when you’re not here…

2. 2
   Derek Hazelton
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 5:03 pm

   Fucking up Pasta in an Italian challenge should be automatic dismissal… the person who went home shouldn’t have, that’s all I have to say.

3. 3
   vallegirl
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 5:35 pm

   By all judges accounts, though, all three of the bottom feeders sucked so bad they made the judges cry, but no one disagreed with the decision.

4. 4
   lestermaddox
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:28 pm

   I call foul! The self-proclaimed Italian (arsehat) who screws up pasta deserves to be sent home before the (very nice) non-Italian who screwed up risotto.

5. 5
   Jimbob Jones
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:29 pm

   Holy crap, I’m reading Bourdain’s blog, and LOL’ed at this: “I wasn’t around for the Quickfire, so maybe I missed why Padma was dressed like a Superfriend.”

6. 6
   sarcasatire
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:36 pm

   @Jimbob: My mom could not get over Padma’s bule. I had to keep telling her that it was the fabric and the cut that made it look like she was preggo 2.0.

   vallegirl: I think someone disagreed. Look closely, Padma was crying.

   Lester: I think since they all messed up, the producers got to choose and the chose the one who is nice but a little too boring. The other two are lightening rods of sorts who people love to hate. When it comes to reality shows, nice guys finish last.

7. 7
   Jimbob Jones
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:49 pm

   I dunno, sarcastire — by all accounts, the one thing producers are NOT allowed to mess with is the voting. In Bourdain’s book, which he wrote when he wasn’t working for TC and was published a good time before he came back — he says as much.

   And, from his and Tom’s blogs, it sounds like Tre’s dish just wasn’t good.

   Honestly, if they wanted to keep “villains”, why wouldn’t they have simply kept Marcel or Turdle around (who are much more hated than Isabella)? And, if they only care about ratings, why would they eliminate Jen (perpetual fan favorite, and someone I fully expected to see in the finale) in episode TWO?

   Believe it or not, Bravo doesn’t hate money. As unpopular as some decisions are, and as much as the producers must DESPISE losing certain people, I think the voting is legit. We may not agree with it (and think that some of their reasoning changes from week to week), but that doesn’t mean that they’re eliminating people for ratings.

   Otherwise, how did Hosea and Ilan and Kevin win their seasons? None of them were even CLOSE to being fan favorites, or thought of as the best chefs of their seasons.

   Sadly, it was Tre’s time to go.

8. 8
   sarcasatire
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:52 pm

   spoiler alert! lol

   I see what you’re saying, but I also see Padma tearing up like she didn’t want him to go. Maybe she was outnumbered. I still think raw, hard pasta is a lot worse than a risotto that’s a little thick.

9. 9
   Jimbob Jones
   Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:53 pm

   Plus, doing this for ratings would actually LOSE them viewers. Once the decisions were shown to be rigged, it would cause fans of the show to leave in droves. I know I wouldn’t watch it any more — it doesn’t have the panache of the Ramsay shows (which are about as formulaic and mind-numbing as they can get, but are good from a “let’s watch Gordo yell at some idiots” perspective).

   Say TC were rigged from the start — is it REALLY an interesting enough show to watch if it was all pre-determined? Without the “who will get eliminated/who will win” aspect, it has all of the entertainment value of a PBS cooking show.

10. 10
    Jimbob Jones
    Posted February 3, 2011 at 10:55 pm

    Crap! I didn’t even think of the spoilers!!! I got so caught up in the discussion… (and I’m normally pretty good about that)

    If you can, delete my posts, J-Mo.

11. 11
    sarcasatire
    Posted February 3, 2011 at 11:02 pm

    A lot of shows on Bravo have this tiny little disclaimer at the bottom that producers are consulted during judging and have a say in who goes home. It runs on Project Runway, I assumed TC had it as well. I’ll take a closer look next time the credits roll.

12. 12
    sarcasatire
    Posted February 3, 2011 at 11:05 pm

    I wouldn’t say that because producers have a say that it is rigged from the start. I would just think that other factors come into play when deciding the eliminated chef..more than just his dish. Sometimes the person’s popularity, maybe they want to keep them around longer. Sometimes, the unpopularity of a chef, knowing that there would be outrage if anyone is sent home IN PLACE of the most hated chef in the bottom three (as in Marcel’s case). This is of course, just a theory, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a cooking competition (on Bravo, no less), turned out to not be only about the cooking.

13. 13
    sarcasatire
    Posted February 3, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    Producers do have a say in who gets sent home. Here is a screencap of the disclaimer I was talking about:

    http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2010/08/whats-on-tonight-rigged-b-s

14. 14
    vallegirl
    Posted February 3, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    Tom said the decision was unanimous and Bourdain gives a really good explanation as to why. Just because she’s crying doesn’t mean she disagreed. Maybe she just liked the person. Maybe she just took a bong hit right before the announcement and her eyes were watering. Maybe the air conditioning was causing a throat irritation. Or maybe she agreed with the decision but was still saddened by it.

    And every competitive reality show runs that legal disclaimer. Not just on Bravo. It’s just a pro forma disclaimer. And at the start of every season someone sees it and has a Eureka! moment.

    But competitive reality shows do have to conform to quiz show laws. Producers cannot tell the judges how to judge or who to send home. Tom has said that the “consultations” are generally to inform production of who the winner and loser is so that they can block shots to get both the announcement and the contestants response. That’s it.

    It could all be a one-world, Freemason, Illuminati conspiracy and Tom’s a grand warlock of the fifth element, but he’s probably telling the truth. Because in no world would a producer rig a show to help Hosea Rosenberg and Kevin Sbraga win.

15. 15
    sarcasatire
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 12:09 am

    Consulting producers on eliminations doesn’t make a show ‘rigged.’ That’s an exaggeration, IMO. But if a group of three contestants wind up on the bottom, by the judges decision, I do not think it would be unheard of for a producer to have input on which of three gets sent home, using factors that include more than just the success/failure of their most recent dish. Not saying they have the power of veto over the judges, but possibly their vote counts, as well. Producers don’t choose the winners, but I do believe they help select who loses. Again, just my opinion. None of us really knows for sure.

16. 16
    ohralphie
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 5:18 am

    I tend to believe Bourdain. He wouldn’t lie, he has no reason to. He doesn’t need Bravo money or exposure. Plus, it would fit his basic personality to rage about ‘non chefs’ having a say on eliminations.

    I would love to get Nads opinion on this — I know he/she doesn’t work on Top Chef, but perhaps as a reality producer he/she can explain this disclaimer.

17. 17
    itchy
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 5:37 am

    Wait….Nads is a he/she? This is what I get for never watching cooking shows.

18. 18
    thiajok
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 6:05 am

    LOLOLOL! Poor Nads. Congrats to her, too, about her job with RHWoM.

19. 19
    LAC
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 6:18 am

    Not happy…that all I am gonna say. I will put away my tickets for his gun show in my memory book. Now on the male side, stuck with weedy, fatty, orangey, mambo italiano, and not so angry asian. There goes my libido…

    And for fuck’s sake – undercooked poorly made pasta gets to stay?

20. 20
    ohralphie
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 6:18 am

    Forgive me, Nads — I often get called a guy and I didn’t want to assume your gender

21. 21
    notwithoutmytv
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 6:41 am

    Nads is ALL WOMAN, baby!

    I think the idea that viewers would leave in droves if they knew producers made the decision (or had a REALLY healthy say in who stays or goes) is naive. Reality TV is bigger than Oprah’s swollen head; nobody stopped watching the genre after people figured out that shows have storywriters and are scripted. I’m sure it’s a balancing act, but these Machiavellian producer-types know how to work the sex-appeal, scream at your TV, and villain you love to hate angles. And they do, I’m sure.

22. 22
    itchy
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 8:44 am

    Nads never should have posted that photo of her with a mullet. Apparently, some of us still haven’t recovered from the trauma.

23. 23
    vallegirl
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 8:51 am

    I have a friend who works in competitive reality production, and funnily enough we discussed the “disclaimer” the other night, and she confirmed it is illegal for the producers to have any real say in who loses a challenge because of the quiz show laws.

    Plus, the show is produced backwards. Knowing at least who makes the finale dictates some of how the show gets edited, but also knowing who wins and loses the individual challenges dictates how the individual episodes get edited. Things that seem “rigged” are likely more a result of editing to tell the story of the episode and leaving things that didn’t apply out.

    Plus, there was a perfectly good culinary reason to keep one over the other. And that reason was the person who stayed had three components on the plate, and two of them were both quite delicious and fit the challenge parameter. The person who left had two components, neither of which were good, neither of which really fit the challenge parameters and one of which was referred to, by the judges as “gummy,” “stiff,” “gluey,” and “cement.” Mmmm. Delicious. The chef loss because the dish was unanimously chosen as the worst.

24. 24
    vallegirl
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 8:52 am

    ETA – I meant it’s edited backwards.

25. 25
    featherhead
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 9:57 am

    J-Mo, I cannot wait till your full recap! I keep checking back to see if you have it up yet. Sadpandaface! Did you see that TurkeyHair is getting his own show on Syfy?? Please, I’m begging you to recap that one as well!! It’s called Quantum Cooking (or something like that) and it starts in March. Guess what it’s about??

26. 26
    featherhead
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 10:13 am

    Just wanted to correct the name – Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen. I can just imagine the snark that will come out of this one. I saw some of his twitter on the page and guess what? He’s still an asshat!!

27. 27
    Snootchy Bootches
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 10:47 am

    I would rather eat my own spleen than tune into a show specifically to watch Marcel. What moron gave him his own show? Did the producers think that his hairstyle might trick comicbook geeks into thinking he might be Wolverine?

28. 28
    notwithoutmytv
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 11:42 am

    I’m not sure any mammalian brains are really “thinking” about programming over there at Skiffy. I think this strange amalgamation of clock radios, smart phones, and remote car starters developed a hive mind, took over the programming and started putting wrestling, reality shows about make up artists, and cooking shows on the schedule. Because the hive mind has a different understanding of “science fiction” than we do. (The name change to “Syfy” was the clock radios’ idea. The smart phones couldn’t talk them out it.)

29. 29
    notwithoutmytv
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 11:47 am

    Reality competitions are governed by a quiz show law? Really? Huh. Learn something new every day. (Although my learning curve has been described as skid marks leading over a cliff, so I spend a lot of time re-learning what should be familiar.)

30. 30
    Derek Hazelton
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    I think we all know the reason that the person who went home did was because of the fact that the person who should have went home creates more drama. Quite frankly, regardless of quiz show laws or whatever, a reality show feeds off of drama and the two people who were in the bottom that didn’t go home are infinitely more drama than the person who left.

    @ Vallegirl: I get your point that the risotto was horrible, but I find it annoying (to say the least) that another person undercooked pasta and tried to pass it off in the stew room as purposely “al dente.” He’s an asshole, more so than Marcel, because at least Marcel can own up to his mistakes in the kitchen and overcompensates with bravado.

31. 31
    JimbobJones
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    @Derek — as much as I liked the person who was sent home, and dislike one of the ones who remained, I just don’t buy it. By all accounts (and that’s all we really have to go buy), both dishes had problems with their main component (pasta vs risotto). Eliminating that, that left the sauces/garnishes… it seems like the non-eliminatee just had better food (outside of the main component, which sucked in both dishes).

    And I dislike pasta-person more than I disliked TurkeyHair, so saying that person should STAY goes against everything I believe.

32. 32
    sarcasatire
    Posted February 4, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    @Derek, good point. It brings to mind another Bravo show, The Fashion Show, where drama queen Calvin made it to the finals, even though he never won a single challenge and was up for elimination at least 3 times during the season. The peaceful peruvian, Eduardo, who barely got any screen time, won at least four challenges but was sent home when the final three were announced. Why? of course, the show realized that to lose Calvin was to lose ratings. He MADE the show worth watching. Iman was great, too..but she only showed up during judging whereas we witnessed Calvin’s antics for the full hour. Had Calvin been sent home earlier, the producers and judges would’ve collectively sighed, “oh here go hell come!”

33. 33
    Fan-Ann
    Posted February 6, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    Scanning the comments I read NWMTV’s about the villain who hates angels; thought yeah that sounds right. Then, re-reading it I realised it was “villain you love to hate angles.”…….never mind.

34. 34
    Alafoss
    Posted February 7, 2011 at 12:57 am

    Notwithoutmytv’s comment about the SyFy channel may be one of the greatest comments ever posted on any website since the dawn of the internet.

    I happen to agree with the idea that these shows aren’t rigged simply because of the quiz show laws, as explained by vallegirl. I would be a clear violation and I doubt the magic elves want to spend a year in prison just to get better ratings for Top Chef.

35. 35
    itchy
    Posted February 7, 2011 at 1:42 am

    @Fan-Ann: not to worry, NWMTV’s comments usually make things go all blurry for me. They’re like the TVgasm equivalent of Rohypnol.