Out of curiosity, do you read the judges’ blogs? These often have a lot more info about why someone won or lost. There have been a number of times where the edit made it look like the judges were on the fence, and then Colicchio says in his blog “This was an easy decision because X.” There have also been times where a judge will say “We argued about this for hours, and in the end, I was outvoted.” (E.g., Gail wanted to send Josie home instead of Kristen in restaurant wars, but couldn’t convince the others. That one was doubly interesting because Tom said “I would have voted differently if I knew what happened in the kitchen.”)
Cool!!
I found the format of the finale fairly boring. Bunch of people sitting around while the chefs cooked. I channel surfed some because I just couldn’t take an hour of that.
[SPOILER]I’m disappointed for Brooke. Especially because the wins were so overwhelming for Kristan They almost didn’t need Hugh there for tie breakers.
[/SPOILER]
Nice result! I gotta say I like both of these chefs and would gladly eat anything either of them put in front of me.
Still, I was pulling for the ultimate winner.
Overall, this has been a much more enjoyable season than last year.
The winner cooks not far from me!
I’m pleased with the winner, although I guess I would have been pleased with either at this point. I really enjoyed seeing her proud father at the end.
I’m not sure how I feel about the format. One problem with having it end whenever someone has won three is you can figure out the outcome based on how much time is left – if there’s no time for course five, then you know course four seals the deal. Plus, then you don’t get to see course five. If I were in the audience, I would be saying “Hey, what about our dessert?”
[spoiler]I knew Brooke was in trouble when she said she was doing fried chicken. It seems like a bad idea to try to redeem one of your failed competition dishes. Even if it’s good, it’s still something they’ve eaten before from you. If it’s between something new and delicious and something old but redeemed, I suspect the new dish would win most of the time. It also seemed like the judges were waiting for more from the finale dishes.
The final two were really talented, and I was going to be happy no matter who won.[/spoiler]
Exactly. I was watching, checked the time, and knew who won before a bite of course four was taken.
I didn’t like the format. It was too easy to manipulate for drama. Better if they all voted at once for each course, so there was no temptation to alter your decision based on previous votes. Even still, I’d have preferred the usual format.
I didn’t like the format either. And now the Top Chef withdrawals begin.
I liked this format because the former TC chefs in the audience are so into it. I think given the chance, most of them would’ve been glad to go down and help out on the floor.
I’ve been reading a book called “Millionaire Households and their Domestic Economy”, written in 1903 by a former head housekeeper from an American household similar to Downton Abbey. She talks about the sense for fraternity the chefs have, coming to help a brother chef when a big house would have a large party.
StG
I would have been happy with either chef winning, though I was rooting for Brooke since she was a bit of an underdog and also had actually been through the entire gauntlet of the Top Chef filming (LCK was a gauntlet of its own, but a much different animal.)
I liked the format of cooking and judging in front of an audience, but I didn’t like the way they decided a winner. I’d have preferred they looked at the meal as a whole (like at the end of each episode of Chopped) instead of the Best of 5 approach. Knowing that there were only 4 mins left when they started deliberating the fourth round made it pretty anti-climactic as well.
Great season overall.
I didn’t like the format. It felt too rushed. It was like Top Iron Chef.
I also don’t like the whole Last Chance Kitchen thing. I liked Kristen a lot and thought she got a raw deal when she was knocked out of the regular competition, but I don’t think she or anyone else should be able to get back in at the end and win it all. Even though it appears that Kristen was clearly the best chef, I still think eliminations should be final.
Yeah, I think she made a pretty terrible decision to throw herself on her sword for Josie, of all people. She should have had to live with that.
Why? I mean, the rules of the show are the rules of the show. If the rules are “eliminations are final”, that’s fine. And if the rules are “eliminated chefs go into LCK, and the winner of that comes back at the end”, that’s fine also, as long as they’re generally consistent and fair with the rules.
A good season overall, but I agree about the timing of the final round ruining the suspense entirely.
I agree. It would only be unfair if Brooke wouldn’t have had the same chance of winning her way onto the show after an elimination. It’s kind of like a double-elimination tournament, which isn’t any more or less inherently fair than single-elimination.
That said, I would have rolled my eyes a bit if the Save-a-Chef winner made it back onto the show, only because that makes it less about skill and more about popularity. But Last Chance Kitchen is just as much a test of skill as the regular show.
I’m not saying any rules were violated. I’m saying I don’t like the rules.
Why not?
Tom just said on Twitter that they probably won’t use that format anymore.
Did he say why?
That he, and fans he’s heard from, didn’t like the format. (prefered traditional version)