In his blog Colicchio mentioned that he would have liked to be able to discuss the dishes and the progression of the meal with the other judges, which the format didn’t really allow him to do. Although he also said that in this case he didn’t think it would have made any difference in the outcome.
I think it makes for better television if eliminations are final. The stakes are higher–one bad night and even a great chef can be eliminated for good. And when the chefs in the finale are the ones that have been competing on the “show proper” for the entire time, I think it makes their journey and their final contest more fitting. Last season was the first time they used LCK, but they had the LCK winner enter the show again when there were still four other chefs (and she got eliminated in the next episode).
I didn’t realize how much I was rooting for Brooke until she started losing. Something about Kristen was different for me when she came back and she kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Not sure if it was the LCK redemption thing or if she was acting different, but I think it’s the latter.
I didn’t mind the episode too much as it aired, but afterwards I found it weak. I think it could have been an extended episode and the scoring system made winner a foregone conclusion. I mean, just a few minutes left and they’re eating the dish. Not enough time to do another round.
I like the idea of live cooking in front of the judges and former contestants and families, but maybe do that in the semifinals, or at least build the suspense better and give us more insight into their dishes (why they picked them, how they’re making them).
Hated, hated, hated the format of the finale.
I liked both Brooke and Kristen, and probably thought that Kristen was a little bit better than Brooke, but I still just hated the way the win came. I don’t like the “Let’s screw with your head” aspect of having winners and losers of each individual round discussed and announced before the next round. There’s already enough tension, especially with the added tension of cooking before a live audience. Also, it didn’t allow judges to judge the meal as a whole. And, potentially the whole thing could have been decided after 3 components. That really sucks if your true standout dish was going to be the dessert.
I fully expected the wins and losses to toggle back and forth between the two, until TA-DAAAA, the dessert course.
Both women are phenomenal chefs, and the win could have justifiably gone to either one.
(and this season was STILL better than Texas…bleah!)
~VOW
I liked both chefs, but Tom consistently favored Kristin in his blogs and Hugh consistently favored Brooke. It felt like Hugh’s was more of a reaction to Tom, but I’m guessing. Read Tom’s last blog, it’s either defensive, overly blunt or an unnecessary slam on Brooke.
Can you quote the part you’re referring too? I think he was just being frank about why he voted the way he did.
Did I miss how the teams came to be? I sure thought Kristen had the stronger team, or at least the team I would have preferred as mine. Stefan the Horndog was on Brooke’s team, I’d like to have seen how that all went down.
On the format, they should have had the judges write the choices on cards or something where they couldn’t be swayed by the way the votes were going. Just cook for the judges and maybe the table of previous TCs, but 5 courses for 160 in 3 hours? I think that contributed to the dishes being a little simplified, at least from where I was sitting.
All they said was “they’ve already picked their teams”. That was another thing I didn’t like about the format of the finale – they threw us in right in the middle of it.
Doubtless it was filmed and they decided to toss it in editing when the show started running long. Have to agree that this was an annoying format - due to the show’s running time there was zero suspense about who was going to win. That and the hooting and hollering and lack of discussion sort of killed the mood. All of these cooking competitions ( not just Top Chef, which is better than most ) are getting more and more artificial high drama injected into them with gimmicks to the point that it is becoming tiresome. Glad they’re tossing the format.
Personally I was pro-Brooke, but any of the final four ( to throw Sheldon and Lizzie into the pool ) would have been fine with me. A generally likeable bunch this year, with only a couple of annoying whackadoodles.
Something Brooke said during one of the judging phases (maybe the fried chicken one?) made me think that she was just passing the title to Kristen without trying. I wish I could remember exactly what it was because it made me :boggle:
Brooke choked, IMO, plain and simple. There were a couple of instances where she couldn’t remember her ingredients and/or tell her sous chefs what exactly to do. I also think her choice of sous chefs had a lot to do with it – individually they’re very talented, but as a group they weren’t as cohesive as Kristen’s.
Ohhh…now I remember! Tom asked Brooke something, and Brooke replied something like, “I just wanted to prove to everybody that I won all those challenges on my own, and it wasn’t because Kristen wasn’t there.” I wish I could remember the exact quote and at the point she said it. That’s when you threw it away, IMO,
Is there no reunion special this year? I was looking forward to hearing how much they hated Josie and what not.