I will note that I do enjoy the British Baking Show, for that very reason. In the times I’ve watched competition shows on Food Network, they haven’t (IMO) had that same sort of sweetness and cooperation.
I have no idea if it’s of the slightest interest to you, but “Forged in Fire” is the same way - the blacksmiths help each other out with advice, support and actual assistance all the time.
See I do see cooperation and mutual respect in the ones I watch. TOC, Guy’s Grocery Games, BBF. There has only been one time I’ve seen a real back stabbing move. I forget the name, but It was the one where they would roll up in a neighborhood somewhere and each chef would raid the pantry and fridge of a house and then they’d setup and compete right in the street. One house only had one kind of meat, some frozen steaks I think. After the first round one chef had the best dish and was able to take one item from the station of the chef with the lowest score. She took his only meat, and then never even used it! He was pissed, I was pissed. Everyone wanted her to lose after that. I’ve never seen any kind of negative drama other than that.
As for Forged in Fire, I don’t watch it as much these days, but I definitely went through a phase of being semi-obsessed with it. Also a show without negative manufactured drama, I agree.
I’m trying to think of a show where they don’t.
Okay, I’ll acknowledge that the subject of this thread (Beat Bobby Flay) is an example, BUT those are people who know each other and are giving each other a hard time in good fun. It’s an issue of friends teasing each other rather than actual competitive trash talk and go-for-the-throat competition.
Usually, on every Food Network competition the chefs are complimentary of each other. It’s very common for them to even help each other, such as sharing an ingredient. It’s not even that unusual on some shows for one competitor to finish early then immediately go to another competitor to help someone who is struggling.
People are so nice, so often, you sometimes wonder if it’s genuine, but I’m sure shows like the British Baking Show have the same questions.
I think it’s in part because they all had to work very hard to get where they are, and they recognize and respect that in each other. Plus many of them have known each other for a long time. You almost never see any negative trashy reality tv type drama. I wouldn’t watch it then either.
Top Chef has been pretty nasty in the past. But most of the Guy Fieri/Bobby Flay/Duff competitions have been historically very supportive and collaborative.
I’ll note that Top Chef is a show on Bravo, not a Food Network show.
I’ve never watched that one. Probably because it’s on Bravo.
I first got into it watching Guy’s Grocery Games when I was up at my families Wisconsin Dells vacation house, without internet, but with cable, so we settled on food network one day. Then after I got home started watching everything I could in that vein on Discovery plus. Covid lockdown was perfect for binging these shows.
I just started watching the new show The Julia Child Challenge on Disc+. It is very reminiscent of the vibe on the great british baking show.
I’m just picking one of the many eyebrow comments to bring it back to this discussion. Why is the theory that he planted fake ones on? Why couldn’t it be the opposite: During that week, he hadn’t trimmed them? I have a friend that has crazy caterpillar eyebrows if he doesn’t trim them (he’s overall a very hairy guy). And he does trim them to keep them under control.
That’s fair, and the fact that enough of you have disagreed with me on my observation makes me have to re-evaluate my observation. 
Though I’m not really planning to start watching more Food Network competition shows, I happily note that I may be off in my evaluation of them. (That said, I still dislike the more over-the-top hosts.)
If you have Discovery Plus, I recommend The Julia Child Challenge. Based on what you’ve said I think this would be right up your alley.
If you don’t enjoy them, don’t watch them. You are doing exactly the right thing about this.
I totally respect that. It would be different if you said, “I watch these shows constantly and I can’t stand them, they are terrible.” I’d ask why you are so masochistic. 
Back to BBF, I always have a problem with the judging. They say it’s “blind” judging, but the contestants are right there. So when they’re tasting Bobby’s food and say “this dish definitely needs more chili’s” and you see Bobby’s giant eye-brows raise, the judges have a pretty good idea who’s dish they’re tasting!
I think the judges are unconsciously biased towards Bobby and his win record shows that.
If the dishes were judged like TOC, I’ll bet his record would be a lot different.
MtM
Well the stakes aren’t nearly as high. The prize for TOC this year was $100,000 I believe.
The prize for beating Bobby Flay is just getting to say you beat Bobby Flay. Being on the show is the real benefit.
What I wonder is how they often seem to have judges that specialize in cuisine related to the contender’s signature dish. Coincidence? Or do they pick judges that would work for either contender?
That drives me crazy as well. All they have to do is have the judges vote before making comments!
I also wondered about the “blind judging” portion. I don’t think it really is a blind judging at all, there is no poker face.
This seems like a good place to drop this comment:
Why hasn’t Chopped raised their prize money? The show has been on since 2007! Guy’s Grocery Games’ prize is “up to” $20k. That said, Supermarket Stakeout (which has a new season starting soon) is only $10k, too.
Speaking of Supermarket Stakeout, and along with that Jeff Mauro’s show Kitchen Crash, don’t y’all think the premise is totally unfair? I think competitions should have equal ingredients. These shows have a certain amount of luck. I don’t like them.
My name is Rebo, and I’m a Food Network addict.
Being able to refer to yourself as a Chopped Champion is worth a lot.
I kind of agree about the stakeout type shows. It necessitates creativity, which is good, but it’s easy to get screwed in that format.
My major takeaway from BBF is …
Edit. Don’t extend your reach. Don’t make too many sides or swamp your main dish with too many components.
Keep it simple, and execute each and every component flawlessly.
That’s a culinary ethos that I’ve ascribed to Flay after watching the show.
It also helps inform my (what passes for) cooking.
Fancy doesn’t just run you out of time in the ‘reality’ cooking shows. It increases the risk of things going awry.
Buen provecho !
Yeah, the more components you do the more there is to critique. I’ve seen someone do like 3 different versions of crostini, and while they were doing it the judges were commenting that you had better make all 3 taste really great, because they all will get judged separately.
With BBF it’s all about the key ingredient for the first round. Often the loser makes something else the star of the dish or just has too many other things going on.
I’ve picked up a number of tips from watching these shows. The biggest one is probably acid. When you feel like something is missing from the taste of a dish, it probably needs a hit of acid. Lemon juice, or zest, apple cider vinegar. It definitely makes a difference.