I really don’t like just randomly giving someone immunity. That takes the gambling metaphor a bit too far, I think.
So far, I like:
Preeti (who couldn’t open the clams) (and is disturbingly androgynous)
Kevin (who won)
Both the brothers
The Haitian guy (once I got used to his accent/style of speech)
Dislike:
Mike (of course) (but then we pretty much have to)
The lame woman who won the yellow chip and then didn’t try for the $15K. I mean, either you’re good enough to have a reasonable chance to win Top Chef or you aren’t. If you are, then you won’t be losing in round 1 anyhow, so go for the $15K. If you’re not, then 1 round of immunity won’t help, and might as well take a shot at the $15K. Wimp.
Yeah, but they have what, 17 chefs? Wouldn’t have really worked out.
Also, the blogs are up at Bravo’s website. It sounds to me like there’s a really good group this year, unlike last season. I wonder how they compare to Season 4.
I agree. “We’ve assembled the most accomplished group of contestants ever, and yet we’re going to reward them based on pure random chance!!!”
Also agreed.
I actually would have preferred that the mushmouthed blond woman be eliminated. She managed to not only cook the seafood badly, and make a crappy bland sauce, but to fail to explain either her inspiration or her failure coherently. I think we’re looking at this year’s Leah, only even more boring.
I’m not too worried, unless they end up doing it every episode. I think it was a one time thing. Anyone who needs immunity on the first challenge is not going to last long on this show.
I just found out one thing that bothers me about this seasons contestants, although to be fair it bothers me about every reality show. Most of these cheftestants (lord, how I loather that term) were recruited, which means that they were chosen for their “character” as much as their ability (although their abilities do appear to be outstanding). So that means as loathsome as Mike is, he’s being encouraged to be as misogynist and arrogant as possible to make good tv. I just watched a few web-exclusive clips on Hulu, and it’s obvious that his clips are selected so that we are sure to hate him. I hate being manipulated like that. I guess I got spoiled by the Top Chef Masters series, where a chef’s asshattedness wasn’t a major focus of the show. I did like Gail Simmons’s comment on his attitude, though.
I’m well aware of the selective editting and leading questions that all reality shows have, but it’s pretty hard to have a good opinion of someone who says something like “There’s no way a girl should be able to beat me.”
That’s just common sense. The cooties would get in the food. But I do think there’s a pretty strong set of cooks this season. Obviously it’s just the first episode, but I haven’t noticed anyone who I’d say obviously doesn’t belong there.
Gods, Mike is an asshat! He makes me not want to watch, but I want to see how they perform. And they always seem to keep one idiot who just pisses off everyone, until either they win or get sent home late in the season.
I was disappointed at so many of them not knowing the definition of vice and would bet, if they could have, they would have sent Eve home, too. Her lackluster, flavourless food was at least prepared better. I haven’t had seitan, but I’ve heard it’s just awful. Why in the world would one prepare it, shoddily at that, and serve it to class A chefs?
I was appalled the team let Preeti shuck clams after freakin telling them she had never done that before! WTF was wrong with them? They deserved to lose for that.
It will be interesting to see how this season progresses.
For me, once again, perhaps the most disappointing part of the show is how many extremely successful (in terms of both culinary accomplishments and financial success) chefs there are in the group. If i wanted to see a contest between a bunch of chefs with Beard awards and Michelin stars, i’d watch *Iron Chef *or something.
For me, a show like Top Chef (and this is true for Project Runway, too) is most interesting and appealing when it gives a chance to people who have not yet really had a whole lot of success, but clearly have talent. Whether it’s young chefs just starting out, or older chefs who have been running their own catering business and now want a shot at restaurant glory, i much prefer thinking that the contestants are green and hungry enough that both the glory and the financial benefit of winning would be of real, lasting benefit to them.
A whole bunch of already-successful executive chefs just isn’t that interesting to me.
I know! The others on her team were slagging her off for being so slow, but she told them beforehand that she’d never done it before. It was clear that at least one of her teammates knew how to do it, so why none of them stepped up and offered to switch is beyond me.
It seemed to me that a couple people staked out their preference for the relay early and she very meekly went along with it. They really didn’t ask, but she also didn’t exactly volunteer that info either (she asked if a clam was like an oyster, but didn’t say “I’ve never done this before” until after the race had started).
And I think she looks like the dude from Slumdog Millionaire.
Kevin the bearded guy, who won the elimination challenge
The brothers
The girl who won the quickfire
Wolfang Puck was great as the guest judge
Giving extra incentive through cash prices in the regular competitions
I didn’t like
Giving 15.000$ in the quickfire, as opposed to spreading it out to the eliminations. Everyone already has an incentive to do good in the quickfire, as you can only win in it. it’s the elimination challenges that could use that more, so people would play to win instead of playing it safe. I’d rather see 3 elimination challenge winners get 5k each, than for one quickfire winner getting 15k.
The sexist guy obviously. While there is a lot of editing done in Top Chef, there is only so much editing can do. That guy is clearly a douche.
Tattoos
The regular judges. I’m already missing Gael Greene, Jay Rayner, and even James Oseland a lot. Tom, Gail and Padma just don’t seem as good at commenting the dishes to me.
I thought the clam shucking girl was stupid for not speaking out more loudly and thinking she could just figure it out on the spot. Her team was stupid for letting her do it after they heard she had never done it before.
Overall it wasn’t as bad as I feared after coming from Top Chef Masters, but I’m still missing the Masters atmosphere and the critics a lot. Hopefully there’ll be a second season coming out next year.
Yes. I’m already missing the atmosphere and inspirations from Top Chef Masters quite a bit.
Random thoughts:
Wow, so many tattoos. It seems like half of the contestants are inked.
I too was grossed out by Jen Z, a.k.a. Earlobe Person Who Can’t Defend Her Dish Properly. She was number one on my list for people who have to go. Number two and three are Mike and the girl with the lip piercing. For a chef to have a mouth piercing seems like strange and off-putting to me.
Nobody has really grown on me yet. Hector seems pretty lame after having seen Rick Bayliss rock the haute cuisine mexican food on Top Chef Masters. Kevin is probably my most favorite thus far.
If someone said to you, “Do you shuck a clam the same way that you shuck an oyster?” would you assume that they had shucked clams before, or that they had not shucked clams before?
Like I said earlier, it’s only been one episode so that might be mixed around. And they usually give away prizes for the winners of the elimination challenge as the seasons go on.
That sounds like a whole lot of money for just a Quickfire win - have there been prizes that extravagant so early before? I thought a previous (and later in the season) winner got something like an autographed diSpiritu cookbook as kind of a lame prize, at one point.
Wow – nobody even mentioned Ashley Eyebrows? My daughter and I were mesmerized by her… I know looks shouldn’t count in a competition like this, but surely a chef shouldn’t be so homely her face causes onlookers to lose their appetites.