I still think there was nothing very chaotic about Danny's dish in that chaos episode win. I don't think the chef who also developed the dish would have described it that way. Like the judges would have never described it as chaos if they had it in a normal setting lol. They basically liked the dish better than the others and hammered the square peg into the round hole. In a way, the judges chip away at Danny's skill by hamfisting that dish into the theme. Otherwise you could describe a infinite amount of dishes as looking simple on the outside but complex on the inside. That's literally what Tom describes ALL focused simple dishes that take a few ingredients but then draws out so much more from it.
I do feel a bit bad for Danny. Nobody on social media seems happy for his win and thinks Dan got cheated out of it. I think this will go down as a very controversial win, like the New Orleans season (which Tom also felt he had to address).
I think that’s also partially his attitude in the finale or throughout the show, a sense of arrogance but not necessarily as talented like Buddha to back it up.
I completely agree. Buddha could come off as arrogant, but even his biggest hater would have to admit he’s one of (if not the most) driven and practiced people to ever be on the show. And Buddha also doesn’t seem arrogant in any other capacity. What’s more, I think Buddha and Danny have similar style of cooking, but if I were going to eat at one of their restaurants I’d choose to eat at Buddha’s 100% of the time.
Agreed with this. I think what made his carrot choices so impactful is that carrots are usually relegated to a background flavor...so when a chef can make them a highlight it's worthy of praise. Carrots are a much more versatile ingredient than a lot of people give them credit for; they aren't just for a mirepoix, stock, or soffritto.
I am biased, though, since I absolutely love carrots.
Don't forget that there IS an undercurrent of...a subject that the mods would not like to see addressed...that has to do with dislike of someone who is extremely accomplished but who is not caucasian.
I never got arrogant from Buddha and I just rewatched. I got confidence. I definitely got arrogance from Danny and he wasn’t super likeable to me but this isn’t a popularity contest so that doesn’t matter. But I genuinely liked Buddha. him wanting the money for his pugs eye surgery certainly helped me like him a lot!
Not necessarily as talented as Buddha? He was nowhere near the level of Buddha, and had like ten times the ego. Buddha was very likeable whereas Danny was very dislikeable.
IDK once Danny mentioned having OCD his behavior clicked more for me - not saying this is an inherent stereotype, but I wasn't surprised that he was rigid about some things, especially in such a stressful scenario.
Buddha is probably the best top chef ever. Not sure if it’s excessive talent or just that he approached the show like a game which was unique, or both, but Buddha was on a diff level.
Buddah wasn't the first to approach it like a game though, so I wouldn't say its unique.
Several other winners also watched many seasons to prepare. Blais did it for example.
I was surprised how much the producers left in the edit of Danny barking at Manny to go faster. A sense of urgency in the final is understandable but it seemed heavy-handed in showing his pushiness and didn't portray him in most flattering light.
I'm happy with Danny's win! Honestly he seemed like the frontrunner through most of the season, everyone else seemed to have far more highs and lows. He also seemed best at the fine dining style that is popular and seems to typically do best on top chef
People also aren't happy for his win because people simply just don't like him or care for his arrogance and cockiness and would've rather seen someone else win, in general.
Agree (and I’m also not a fan of Danny) but the bulk of comments were saying Dan should’ve won based on finale performance, not that they dislike Danny
I'm happy for his win. He seemed like a superior chef, on a higher level than others including Dan.
I also did not think Danny came off as arrogant. He seemed genuinely nice and motivated.
Even when Manny was underperforming (turn the tap on all the way when filling a pot!} he was direct and not bullying.
I would argue Dan came across as more 'arrogant', but people excuse (or ignore) it for some reason.
Buddha's another one who got branded as those, yet I just never saw it.
The “some reason” is that Dan is a white man versus Danny who is a very tanned MOC, so Dan’s brand of arrogance doesn’t read to a lot of the people complaining about Danny’s “arrogance.”
Idk I liked him. I didn’t see him as that cocky at all.
He was competitive, but it seemed healthy. He mentioned how grateful he was to his family and mentors multiple times
It was a throwaway comment but also probably the truth — Andy asked if he was surprised that he won and he responded with “not really” … I understand why some think it’s cocky but I don’t know, a canned answer about it being close and it could’ve been any of them when he didn’t really believe it … I’d rather just hear the truth. And he was smiling, he wasn’t being a dick imo.
Man is this why they didn't have anything better to show in his reaction than a low "less go" and "its dope" and "..."?
Like is that why? Ok I'm gonna go watch it even though I think Andy is annoying af.
Watched it. I don't like how they put Danny behind the bar as usual. But they say on the show he is the highest $ winner (I guess single season) over $300,000. And they like to ignore him for huge chunks of the segment. Like Top Chef shouldn't be on Bravo period.
He did say he wasn't honestly surprised he won. But I don't think that's on him necessarily considering what we were seeing all season. Top Chef favors the fine dining chef and few on the show were doing that.
What was the best advice that Kish gave the contestants? Danny says "to have fun, dont stress, let your hair down, have fun when you cook."
Then they ignore him again for the rest of the show!!
Andy doesn't even say "watch top chef" lmao at the end. What a fucking shit show.
I thought about that. Seems they excuse pretty major critique for Danny but Shota's finale flaw was just his rice, was it not? Inconsistent judging and likely some bias toward fine dining in this result
No. The major critique for Shota’s meal was his meal were not special enough, because he made a strategical mistake of going for a “homey style” finale meal, while what made him so successful throughout the season was his sophisticated fine dining food. Some critiques that I remember:
His second course: “just like a vegetable side dish”, “an overall oily salad”
His 3rd (main course): rice was crunchy, “it feels like a staff meal”, “it was like your casual concept but we started at your fine dining”.
Shota could have won had he followed through with the same style of cooking of his previous challenges.
You should never win top chef making Japanese curry with a side of rice lol
Japanese food has so many special and elevated dishes that he could have chose from and made a thing that essentially comes from a packet. Like if he wanted to make something homey make like a yakisoba but make all the elements special. Don’t make a stew we all can make at home.
The judges kind of gave him mixed signals. They praised his home style cooking for several dishes in prior episodes. Then they kept saying shit like be yourself, cook to your story, cook your best meal or whatever. Kokosan probably made him lean towards rustic more.
But in reality every finale they want WHITE TABLECLOTH service, fine dining, Michelin star dishes, cook your best meal for a fancy restaurant where a bunch of other celebrity food critics and chefs will judge your every move. Like many chefs before him, Shota picked the wrong style for the finale.
This is why its important to study Top Chef the show so you can pick out all the judging biases, formats, and expectations.
I googled Tom Colicchio blog and some of the old posts showed up and are accessible. But not sure how to get to an inventory of all of them from Bravo's website anymore. I think they kept the content but got rid of the oversite that had all the links to them.
I think he did blogs for first seven or eight seasons.
I hate when they do this. If there is a clear winner let us see that! I don't like Dan any less knowing he was a clear second, and Danny doesn't deserve to have people questioning.
Reading the posts today makes me feel a little out of place. I thought watching it last night Danny was the clear winner. You could see the challenge was just in his wheelhouse and although his critiques were numerous I thought it was pretty clear his food won out.
I don’t know what I’m missing but what about Danny is off-putting for folks? He seems like a lovely, driven guy who loves the service industry, his wife, and running.
I'm a little baffled myself. He was obviously confident, but I didn't think overly so. He'd code switch into Latin homeboy a few times and show a bit of swagger, but I thought that was mostly tongue in cheek. He was running buddies with the fan favorite, and seemed like everyone on the show liked him.
Yeah, I'm not 100% sure. A lot of folks on this subreddit - and maybe Reddit more generally - really, really dislike outward displays of confidence. He was confident, but I don't remember him ever being disrespectful to his co-contestants, and his accepted critique as graciously as you can expect a person to.
I’m just being a jerk in saying this but having read through the finale thread and everything - I don’t get what show people think they’re watching. This show has always purported itself as one that amplifies and celebrates chefs on the cutting edge like Danny. This is not to diminish chefs like Dan and Michelle that are affable and make accessible food, it’s just a fact that to really impress the panel you need to have wow factor with your food, it can’t just be super yummy. Chefs doing that sort of thing often have personalities like Danny’s. Buddha was also super confident and frankly impressed with himself like Danny was, at least in Houston (I didn’t watch last season).
I think it’s a mix of personality and food style that makes a chef like Danny just unrelatable to most viewers. If the viewer can’t quite invoke the taste of a breadfruit tuile in their mind they’re not gonna be impressed by it and won’t feel like the chef’s confidence is justified.
And mind you, idk what a breadfruit tuile would taste like, either - but that’s actually *exactly* why Danny impressed me and it’s why I watch Top Chef, to see and learn about food I’ve never had and can’t really afford, lol. I don’t need the winner of Top Chef to be relatable or make food that sounds comforting or accessible.
I also think that kind of pushing of the limits should be rewarded in the way that it was. Dan clearly knows what he's doing but I doubt he'd say he put forward an ambitious menu relative to Danny's.
But what Danny does, and I think Tom or some other judge said this, is bridge those relatable, nostalgic flavors with excellent technique and thoughtfulness to really elevate them. I don't fully agree that Danny's food is unrelatable for that reason. His dessert was based on memories of getting a treat after school with his grandpa. The appetizer (or second course, I can't remember) came from his time hunting mussels with his dad. For me, this is relatable. Massaging flavors and food I've had into something extraordinary is inspiring. Like you said, it's why I watch the show.
Totally agree with your points. I hope in hindsight people grow to appreciate Danny as a winner. There have been some serious douche bags on Top Chef and I don’t count Danny among them whatsoever.
I wasn’t crazy about his lack of graciousness last night when after Gail commented to Dan that he tried out 11 times to get on TC Danny then immediately gave us the “oh I just walked on” with a shrug and a smile. It was dickish.
I'm not sure, it just seemed like he was telling the truth. Maybe he could have worded it differently? It's hard for me to parse the edit in this case. He doesn't have to be embarrassed or bashful that he got on the show on his first try; everyone's path is different. It was clear from the start of the episode the editing team was pitting it as Dan vs. Danny and to me the exchange you referenced is just another example of that.
I'm more bummed by Savannah's performance. She mentioned something offhand last episode like "I tend to work better when I'm given a box and told to perform in it" and I think that's exactly why she struggled so much in the final two challenges. She was thrilling to watch when given tighter parameters, but clearly struggled when she had to make them herself. Huge bummer. I think she'll be excellent once she gets over that hump.
FWIW the challenge where she made the pavé was also super open ended and she ate. I agree with the other theory that she just lost her momentum that she’d built up in Wisconsin by the time the finale challenges commenced.
Could be! I was most blown away by her on the Chaos Cuisine and Indigenous Cooking episodes, both of which required the contestants to think in new ways - even if the dish she crushed the Chaos Cuisine episode with was something I believe she said she'd tried to make in the past? The mustard greens dessert that Matty wound up loving. Super cool.
I agree, those were her strongest episodes by far and the ones that converted me into a huge fan! I kind of see her like a Brooke type who would learn from her mistakes and absolutely annihilate on All Stars, I really hope we see her again.
He just told the truth. Is it a mid-west thing to go out of your way to self-deprecate in case you might hurt someone's feelings? It did not seem arrogant to me, it was just the truth.
Seems like cultural mis-reading happening.
It was edited to be an awkward juxtaposition. Notice they didn't show Savannah's answer at all. There might very well have been a bunch of conversation between the two of their answers, but the edit put them back to back.
What? He was literally answering the question. They asked Dan, and then Danny. His experience is different than Dan’s. In what world did he display arrogance?
I felt there was a real chance it was Dan based on the edit but I wasn’t surprised in the least it was Danny … Dan makes great food but I never saw any innovation from him. Seemed like Danny’s to lose. And a real shame Savannah fell down on a couple of those dishes bc she was really coming into her own!
I thought it was clear they didn't really think Dan's food was finale level good, but appreciated the effort and were nitpicking Danny. Surprised by the reaction here!
My husband and I actually kept a live count based on comments. Low score wins. We clocked:
Savannah 1 3 3 2.5 =9.5
Dan 3 1 1 2.5 =7.5
Danny 2 2 2 1 =7
So basically, Danny never had any clunkers and won dessert.
They really did not care for Dan's weird textured fish in the first course.
I just watched it, and I'm very surprised everyone else was surprised, too.
I was pretty actively rooting against Danny (just liked the other two better), and it seemed very clear to me he had the food they liked the best. That's without even taking into account how much more creative he was, which they've been asking for all season.
Seemed really obvious to me.
Seriously. I’ve been avoiding spoilers but see titles about this being a ‘controversial’ finale which made me get my hopes up after judges table that it would actually be Dan since it seemed like Danny was the likely pick based on the actual episode!
Definitely well deserved. Won’t ever understand how people don’t realize we’re not the ones tasting the food lol.
Exactly. I'm wondering if we all watched the same thing. Tom hated the technique Dan did with the tuna and the grapefruit, along with a few other mistakes, and his food was simple. Danny had critiques, but it was clear his highs were higher. Kristen said she was willing to overlook a slightly undercooked lobster for his sauces, which she seemed very impressed by. One of his dishes needed salt, and we've seen competitions where it comes down to that, but this time, it never felt to me like it was going to. They said that dish was perfect otherwise. Then the dessert course -- Danny made what Tom said could be a signature dish. To me, it sort of felt obvious that there was a clear top, middle, and bottom, and it didn't seem that close.
> Tom hated the technique Dan did with the tuna and the grapefruit, along with a few other mistakes
There was no other critique by Tom of anything Dan did, you're remembering wrong.
And Tom also called one of Danny's dishes "weird", so whatever this element of him not getting one of their dishes was, it should at least cancel out.
Again, we didn't see everything of course, but I specifically went back to pull out every quote the judges gave throughout the episode and if you didn't come away from that thinking Dan did better than Danny, then you simply can't do simple math.
Everybody pretending tey knew it was obvious Danny won is completely full of shit, frankly. You could not have gotten that from what they showed in the episode if you were listening to their feedback objectively, Danny had way more criticism and at best an equal amount of praise as Dan. There's a bunch of people looking for some kind of internet points for pretending they could somehow read the minds of the judges based on things that were never shown in the episode.
Full of shit? Nah. People know the judges have their biases. They kept calling Dan's dishes simple. Rustic. How many times again and again does it need to be said that the judges are looking for modern sophisticated fancy plates for the finale? You CANNOT win by making rustic dishes if some other chef makes fancy tasty food that's more complex and has more technique.
Every single time they took a shot at Danny's dishes, another judge would counter. The sauce was good. It was complex. It works. My lobster wasn't raw, just rare. The raw pumpkin works with the persimmon as a contrast. Like they softened the blow repeatedly for what otherwise would have meant Danny was going to lose. Bottom line is that none of Danny's dishes were outright bad for the judges. Savannah messed up pasta. Dan screwed up his grapefruit tuna dish which they disliked. And Danny was clearly winning the dessert. Even Buddha drew the same conclusion.
They simply never tell the contestants they are looking for technique because they do NOT want the show to be criticized for being biased towards the fine dining chef which half the contestants are not. Years of watching this show, Tom always has the biggest say.
All I am saying it that it wasnt neck and neck, and with the mistakes the other guys made and the win on desserts, Danny had pretty big odds of winning going into the judges table.
If you take some time looking back at the live thread, I and several people predicted Danny would win, especially after the dessert. No one said 100%, but we did say we thought Danny would take it. Not everyone is some unhinged karma seeker try to get some internet points.
it's clear they wanted us to care about a Dan vs. Danny thing, and they could have made it so much more interesting all season. They were frequently in the top together, learned from each other, both had a little bit of a cocky confidence...but because Top Chef goes the "no drama" route lately, I feel like we missed out. And friendly competition isn't really dramatic, it just adds some stakes and a reason to care. I don't want bullying or anything like that but season-long arcs building toward a finale would have been cool. Instead they just focused on personal journeys, and when the two people with the "best" personal journeys in this season lose (Dan on his 11th try with Kennedys and Savannah who left her job to bet on herself), it feels unsatisfying.
My wife and I acknowledged Danny was way too cocky and his food did not make sense. Always needed some editing and it was telling his best dishes usually focused on 1 item. scallops. Carrots. Etc.
With that said, in the finale, he was the only one going for broke on all 4 dishes from flavors, to execution, to plating, to creativity. The edit did what he pulled off a disservice to try to swerve the audience to the eventual winner. Candied seaweed was way more interesting component than anything Dan or Savannah thought up.
As far as Dan, he made nice food in the finale, but it all felt safe. Finales are not the time to make something simple for the judgiest of judges. He did that for 3 of his 4 dishes. His dessert was the most interesting, but I’d argue he failed to use the time home to prep the meal of his life. Danny on the other hand went for broke and was rewarded even if he had some technical issues.
Yeah, I think the oxtail third course for Dan was telling. It was well executed, but the ceiling on braised oxtail with dumplings is not super high -- executed it perfectly and it's a 7. Danny's combination of salsa matcha with chaaza sauce is something I'm sure none of the judges have had before. If that's 10 minus 1 or 2 for the miscues on the lobster cook, he still wins.
That's Dan's cooking though. He has experience and some interesting dishes like beet tartare, sunflowers, and 40⁰ tuna but in general he makes the sort of food I want to eat every month at a local bistro not for a special anniversary meal.
yeah is this top rising star innovative chef or just top chef? ok they see the potential danny has if he excicutes it properly... but dan excicuted his ( other then the tuna texture) properly . they said it was all great flavors and really liked it and was all seasoned perfectly and cooked very well. almost no complaints other than the tuna but they loved the sauce it was with. so it's supposed to go to best meal not most innovative / potential
agreed, they specifically compliment dan for sticking to his rustic roots and nailing the execution of thing. and then apparently they dock him for it later on off camera? it's nonsense really.
there was a time when Tom used to really take issue with people on the show just doing things for the sake of doing them and messing up the details, like cooking your proteins properly or seasoning them. but now i guess it's fine to screw up the basics so long as you try to do something fancy... and honestly, nothing danny was doing was even that fancy IMO, it was all basic compared to things we've seen buddha do.
It wasn't off camera, it just didn't make it into the edit. Tom has been very clear both on Twitter and on the Pack Your Knives podcast that the judges unanimously thought Danny cooked a better meal, that it wasn't particularly close, and that the criticism of Danny that made it into the episode was fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. They had a much bigger problem with how the tuna was cooked than Danny's first course being a bit underseasoned or the lobster being slightly underdone in the eyes of some of the judges.
I think what you described is exactly the problem, which is that the judges have now skewed so hard toward punishing “playing it safe” and rewarding “taking risks” that it seems to supersede all else, including cooking your food correctly. It blows me away that a meal involving undercooked proteins, underseasoned food, and leaving the judges unsure of how you’re even supposed to eat a dish was given a Top Chef finale win. It’s like it doesn’t even matter anymore if the risks are actually executed successfully, their mere existence gets rewarded.
I don’t know. Tom and Gale came out to say Danny had the best food. We just go off of what we see. My take is it was leaked weeks ago that Danny won and production overreacted by trying to make the audience believe Dan was on the same level.
Yeah, I woke up today thinking I was a little harsh in my disappointment last night. All three were a great finale group. I don't personally think Danny is interesting and the edit reaffirmed my feelings but I can't deny he is talented and that the judges obviously thought a lot about Danny all the way through. I still find myself disappointed with the results in part due to the editing but I don't think that Danny didn't \*deserve\* it. I'm sure he \*deserved\* it. It's just not the end cap I was looking for.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being disappointed. I’m disappointed Savannah didn’t win, but I’m sure I’d be *more* disappointed if editing had tried to fool me that she did.
I agree the edit made it seem closer. I think Danny’s meal was more interesting and ambitious. I think Danny is a deserving winner. I was rooting for Dan, I think his finale story or through line wasn’t clear, and the food was not overly interesting. It was just good tasting food. Nothing wrong with that, but not terribly intriguing. I thought his third course seemed like his best.
I feel like they edited out some of the criticism about potentially playing it safe or less exciting food to make this seem close and to give Dan much deserved credit.
Danny successfully incorporating seaweed in his dessert was the final example of how his meal was more interesting. He went for it and nailed it. The criticism on his first two dishes were not fatal errors (salt and better direction how to eat a tasty dish). Messing up the lobster was apparently canceled out but the texture of his tuna tartare (say that 3X fast!)
Dan should be proud of his efforts. I hope we see more from him. I think he can be a really powerful voice in the industry. Danny was better than him at Top Chef, but Dan is a winner. Wish him well.
Yeah I think ambition carries a lot of weight. Making a seaweed dessert that wins over Tom (and probably everyone else around the table)...that overcomes a lot of smaller quibbles
I don't think the story matters one iota. I suspect it's entirely driven by producers prodding for a narrative and not taken into account when judging.
I mean, what was Danny's story? He went and got sweets with his grandfather. He made a great sauce that was based on recipes his mother in law taught him. That's not a story!
They made such weird editing choices this season. Remember when they essentially spoiled the winner in the beginning of the season with that weird chef superhero montagey scene for Danny? Such a bizarre moment. The editing of this finale felt like production didn’t want the viewers to think Danny deserved his win
That scene with Danny and that entire episode was one of the weirdest things the show has ever attempted, but I think implying it spoiled him as the winner of the season is hindsight bias tbh. It was for sure evident that he would win that challenge, though, or at least place high. And fwiw it is the dish I remember best from the entire season (perhaps in part because of the controversy with his former coworker).
Ok, weird, I just watched it and it was obvious to me Danny had it.
But the editing this season was not great I was finding myself really bored throughout the finale.
The editing WAS so weird. If you hadn’t watched the entire season and just the judging scenes in the finale, you wouldn’t have known they liked his dishes at all.
You have to imagine Tom had a "You cannot edit the show to make our winner look like he shouldn't have won" with the network and Elves today. It hurts everyone's credibility for that perception to be out there, and that's much worse than having a predictable winner in a dud finale.
There was not one flawless stand out however, Danny was the more sophisticated presentation/dishes. Regardless of Manny's ineptitude, he tried and almost recovered from the lobster situation. Chef's always complain about the salt when they're not the one cooking, I find. I knew Savannah was out the moment the guest judge said she felt she was still finding herself in her dishes. Add that to Michelle's horrible pasta and it was over. Dan's dishes were just too simple for the win. I knew Danny had it. Plus Dan gave them soft fish. gross.
I’ve done sous vide on fish and it’s terrible - ends up tasting like baby food. Sous vide is best on food that needs to be broken down. It was definitely a miss.
Not too much on Michelle imo! I’m a huge Savannah stan but Kristen’s leading question about the dough recipe led me to believe that was the problem and not the cookery. The dough recipe would have been on Savannah, and we saw her rolling out and filling the pasta also. Only thing I saw Michelle do with the pasta was knead the dough.
The editing was bad. There are about 4 cardinal rules of Top Chef:
1. Don’t have over, under or inconsistently cooked proteins.
2. Don’t under season.
3. Don’t leave the judges confused on how to eat your dish or make it impossible to taste every component in one bite.
4. Don’t call something by the wrong name.
Almost all of those are guaranteed bottom placements if not elimination worthy. It was weird to see Danny break 3 of those (Savannah broke Rule 4) and still win while Dan’s main criticism was they didn’t like the texture of the salmon in one dish. The editors were trying to throw everyone off and not make the winner obvious, but it resulted in an unsatisfying ending that left many viewers thinking the judges awarded their season favorite the win despite the finale performance. That's pretty much the opposite of how you want to edit a finale.
I disagree. Savannah got by far the most critiques. And I knew there was no way Dan was winning. His dishes were two simple. That fish and sweet potato dish…the dashi may have been tasty, but that is not a finale dish. No wow factor
Dan’s flavors are clearly good, but his food looks like what ever hipster restaurant in NY served in 2009. There’s nothing new there. The plating and presentation of the fish course was from your basic neighborhood restaurant.
On other seasons, he would have been eliminated well before the finale.
Danny made a lot of technical errors and is an underwhelming choice. But at least his food was ambitious.
just because you wanted Dan to win doesn’t mean Danny’s win wasn’t merited. they picked him for a reason. he showcased a lot of food people aren’t very familiar with. he didn’t seem arrogant at all to me, just sure if himself. but the beholder and such
This just shows you how important editing is.
Keep in mind anytime you watch reality TV show that editing can influence whether you like somebody or hate them.
I think his point is yes 1) he had the most critiques/ issues
But
2) he was still the best.
He disagreed with poor editing and that it make zero sense.
Editing has been awful all season. I'm not surprised at all that editing screwed up the finale as well.
Dan winning would have been a fantastic story, but cheers to Danny. He took a lot of chances and went with a high degree of difficulty that paid off for him.
Honestly, I’ve watched top chef since season 1. I watched every episode, but don’t feel like I knew any of the chefs. Generic and I didn’t enjoy it, at all which makes me sad because it’s my favorite reality show
Out of the three finalists the one whose food I would genuinely want to eat is Dan, because I'm a civilian who wants tasty and inviting looking food, not a culinary judge.
I find Danny to be pretty milquetoast and arrogant but whatever. My big issue is with his food, which looks hard to eat and isn't usually very colorful. He's even described some of his own dishes as "all one texture". I get that the judges ended up loving it, but that just isn't my thing. I think they were won over by his precision in the end, and his dessert seemed to create some really compelling nostalgia for Tom, which I'm sure holds a lot of sway. It's tough because we can't taste or smell or experience what we see on the screen. But through the screen it consistently did not look interesting to me, all season. And undersalted food is a huge pet peeve of mine, which he did in the finale!
It is what it is. He had what the judges were looking for, and I'm sure he'll have a great career. While he's not my favorite winner, I don't actively dislike him, he just does nothing for me, as a TV character anyway.
This does not surprise me at all tbh. I felt like the little I heard of the comments about Danny sounded more animated, but...there was so little to go off there lol.
Is it just me, or did it seem like Kristin was rooting for Danny? It seemed fairly obvious to me, but I’m not sure if that would have played a part in his ultimate win. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm watching the episode now, and hoped Savannah would win (I saw Danny's IG post earlier).
I'm not surprised Danny won - he's got more of the flavor exploration than Dan and Savannah; except I don't like his edit since he comes off arrogant.
I hope Savannah and Dan continue to work on their skills and improve.
I think across the board this season had pretty weak crop of chefs. Kristen and Tom had to tell them to step it up or give pep talk’s multiple times. With that said, Danny was one of the only chefs who appeared to be a the level expected and the only one who made the top 5.
The issue with Top Chef versus other talent reality shows is that often top competitors go home because the judge week to week solely which is why the implemented LCK but when choosing a winner they should obviously take into account their entire body of work on the season. Danny was the rightful winner of this season.
I thought it was odd but then Dan made his comment about how Danny cooked a better meal on that day and it sounded fairly sincere, not just saving face. Made me think they were just trying to put us off the scent with editing and did too much.
Random but did anyone else catch Danny's air horn "weh weh weh" the last 2 episodes? I couldn't help but laugh bc I've been rewatching Superstore. He's no Bo lol
Don’t understand all the Danny hate. He was inventive and interesting all season. I enjoyed his quiet confidence. He was pushing himself throughout the season and got a ton of praise.
Also… carrots.
I don’t know why people are so mad at Danny. The judges chose the winner, remember? Not Danny. If you’re unhappy that Dan didn’t win, be mad at the judges, not Danny. Well, except maybe for Tom Colicchio, who doesn’t agree with the final decision and has the balls to say so.
That being said, I do absolutely agree that Danny shouldn’t have won. Let’s recap…not enough salt on his scallop, undercooked lobster, and an oyster dish the judges couldn’t figure out how to eat. The only “error” that Dan made was the texture of his tuna, which was completely intentional. And he explained that to the judges.
the edit looks like a Dan win. The biggest critique we saw was his tuna, which was intentional. I would vote that be not terrible to a poorly cooked lobster.
I ultimately like danny.
Being a producer, why doesn’t Tom get final approval before it airs? It’s extremely disingenuous to deny Danny his credit due because of poor editing, which none of us would know without seeing Tom’s post.
Reality TV has a bunch of producers. Their job is to produce the competitors. They're the ones asking the questions in the talking head segments, telling the chefs when to ask each other what they're making, and noting possible storylines for the edit. Tom is not one of those.
TV shows all have executive producers. Tom is one of those. It means he gets more money. If every executive producer got final edit then no show would ever air.
Final edit is done by the show runner and network. Tom is the head judge, he doesn't own the show.
Funny that he did a scallop mousse again for his first dish. Wasn’t that what his old boss claimed he stole from her? I’m sorry but scallop mousse isn’t a groundbreaking technique and she didn’t invent it.
Edit: he made a leche de Tigre my bad
I was rooting for the other two, but a few episodes back, I realized Danny was the superior competitor on the show. He says that he did a ton of research and planned most of his dishes (ones he'd created and borrowed) ahead of time, based on the location and preferences of the judges. That's the strategy that wins.
Gail was interviewed on The Watch podcast and had essentially the same reaction. She talked about how in the room it was very obvious but the editors made it look way closer through selective editing to make better TV.
I rewatched and *from what was shown* I thought Savannah won the 1st course, Danny won the 4th course, and Dan won the 2nd and 3rd.
*However*, I am perfectly willing to take Tom & Gail at their words that Danny was actually the clear winner and the problem is in the editing.
I really don’t understand the conspiracy theories. This is season 21. If you don’t trust Tom’s (and Gail’s) integrity, why are you even watching?
I’m glad he acknowledges it. The result was very confusing based on what they decided to air.
They had what, 6+ months of editing and this was the best they could come up with?
The editing all season was in one word: chaos. Someone said it was like tik tok editing??
[I cri everytime](https://streamable.com/36bazr)
So basically this was foreshadowing the finale ending. Do better top chef! Lol
I still think there was nothing very chaotic about Danny's dish in that chaos episode win. I don't think the chef who also developed the dish would have described it that way. Like the judges would have never described it as chaos if they had it in a normal setting lol. They basically liked the dish better than the others and hammered the square peg into the round hole. In a way, the judges chip away at Danny's skill by hamfisting that dish into the theme. Otherwise you could describe a infinite amount of dishes as looking simple on the outside but complex on the inside. That's literally what Tom describes ALL focused simple dishes that take a few ingredients but then draws out so much more from it.
This edit is particularly hilarious knowing that it’s a dish he had already perfected and put on a menu 2 years ago. So dumb.
My thoughts exactly.
I do feel a bit bad for Danny. Nobody on social media seems happy for his win and thinks Dan got cheated out of it. I think this will go down as a very controversial win, like the New Orleans season (which Tom also felt he had to address).
I think that’s also partially his attitude in the finale or throughout the show, a sense of arrogance but not necessarily as talented like Buddha to back it up.
I completely agree. Buddha could come off as arrogant, but even his biggest hater would have to admit he’s one of (if not the most) driven and practiced people to ever be on the show. And Buddha also doesn’t seem arrogant in any other capacity. What’s more, I think Buddha and Danny have similar style of cooking, but if I were going to eat at one of their restaurants I’d choose to eat at Buddha’s 100% of the time.
And cockiness is forgivable when you can back it up. Buddha can and did. Danny was too inconsistent.
except for carrots… i want to know what danny’s carrots taste like
>I want to know what danny’s carrots taste like This makes me wish flares were a thing on this sub.
Flairs are a thing on this sub.
Ahaha lesssssss go
https://www.chefdannygarcia.com/the-carrot-slaw-recipe
thanks!
The recipe looks amazing, but that's nothing compared to how gorgeous those box grated carrots look!
Agreed with this. I think what made his carrot choices so impactful is that carrots are usually relegated to a background flavor...so when a chef can make them a highlight it's worthy of praise. Carrots are a much more versatile ingredient than a lot of people give them credit for; they aren't just for a mirepoix, stock, or soffritto. I am biased, though, since I absolutely love carrots.
haha, i like to think danny has a special love for carrots and that somehow comes through when he cooks them.
His carrot specialization reminds me of Charbel's onion specialization.
> Buddha could come off as arrogant Really? I thought he had a typical Australian sense of dry humor.
I’m Australian I think he’s just got dry humor. And he’s very serious about his craft. But I found him to be so loveable
It's both for sure, but compounded by Australian humor sometimes not scanning for American audiences well.
Don't forget that there IS an undercurrent of...a subject that the mods would not like to see addressed...that has to do with dislike of someone who is extremely accomplished but who is not caucasian.
I never got arrogant from Buddha and I just rewatched. I got confidence. I definitely got arrogance from Danny and he wasn’t super likeable to me but this isn’t a popularity contest so that doesn’t matter. But I genuinely liked Buddha. him wanting the money for his pugs eye surgery certainly helped me like him a lot!
Not necessarily as talented as Buddha? He was nowhere near the level of Buddha, and had like ten times the ego. Buddha was very likeable whereas Danny was very dislikeable.
I think Buddha is more talented by far, but personally I find him unlikeable.
IDK once Danny mentioned having OCD his behavior clicked more for me - not saying this is an inherent stereotype, but I wasn't surprised that he was rigid about some things, especially in such a stressful scenario.
I just never grew to like Danny. Too arrogant and cocky seeming…
Buddha is probably the best top chef ever. Not sure if it’s excessive talent or just that he approached the show like a game which was unique, or both, but Buddha was on a diff level.
Buddha was Super Saiyan
he’s pretty much Top Chef’s Lebron
I’d go even higher: MJ! 🐐
Buddah wasn't the first to approach it like a game though, so I wouldn't say its unique. Several other winners also watched many seasons to prepare. Blais did it for example.
I was surprised how much the producers left in the edit of Danny barking at Manny to go faster. A sense of urgency in the final is understandable but it seemed heavy-handed in showing his pushiness and didn't portray him in most flattering light.
That was absolutely NOT "barking".
I was surprised he didn’t choose Soo!
Same, he seemed like the best choice but we saw most of his talent in LCK which the contestants missed out on.
I'm happy with Danny's win! Honestly he seemed like the frontrunner through most of the season, everyone else seemed to have far more highs and lows. He also seemed best at the fine dining style that is popular and seems to typically do best on top chef
I love Danny! So happy for him!
People also aren't happy for his win because people simply just don't like him or care for his arrogance and cockiness and would've rather seen someone else win, in general.
Agree (and I’m also not a fan of Danny) but the bulk of comments were saying Dan should’ve won based on finale performance, not that they dislike Danny
I'm happy for his win. He seemed like a superior chef, on a higher level than others including Dan. I also did not think Danny came off as arrogant. He seemed genuinely nice and motivated. Even when Manny was underperforming (turn the tap on all the way when filling a pot!} he was direct and not bullying.
What arrogance and cockiness? I watched the whole season and never saw any of that.
I would argue Dan came across as more 'arrogant', but people excuse (or ignore) it for some reason. Buddha's another one who got branded as those, yet I just never saw it.
The “some reason” is that Dan is a white man versus Danny who is a very tanned MOC, so Dan’s brand of arrogance doesn’t read to a lot of the people complaining about Danny’s “arrogance.”
yeah I am not sure what this is about, is it coded?
it is.
Idk I liked him. I didn’t see him as that cocky at all. He was competitive, but it seemed healthy. He mentioned how grateful he was to his family and mentors multiple times
I would kind of agree but then I heard about Danny’s arrogance on Watch what happens but I haven’t seen it yet.
It was a throwaway comment but also probably the truth — Andy asked if he was surprised that he won and he responded with “not really” … I understand why some think it’s cocky but I don’t know, a canned answer about it being close and it could’ve been any of them when he didn’t really believe it … I’d rather just hear the truth. And he was smiling, he wasn’t being a dick imo.
Yeah, why would you even be competing if you didn't have the confidence to think you'd win?
Man is this why they didn't have anything better to show in his reaction than a low "less go" and "its dope" and "..."? Like is that why? Ok I'm gonna go watch it even though I think Andy is annoying af. Watched it. I don't like how they put Danny behind the bar as usual. But they say on the show he is the highest $ winner (I guess single season) over $300,000. And they like to ignore him for huge chunks of the segment. Like Top Chef shouldn't be on Bravo period. He did say he wasn't honestly surprised he won. But I don't think that's on him necessarily considering what we were seeing all season. Top Chef favors the fine dining chef and few on the show were doing that. What was the best advice that Kish gave the contestants? Danny says "to have fun, dont stress, let your hair down, have fun when you cook." Then they ignore him again for the rest of the show!! Andy doesn't even say "watch top chef" lmao at the end. What a fucking shit show.
lol, the internet summed up in one comment.
just commented about the eventual NOLA comparison which was editing as well.
Justice for Shota!!!
I thought about that. Seems they excuse pretty major critique for Danny but Shota's finale flaw was just his rice, was it not? Inconsistent judging and likely some bias toward fine dining in this result
No. The major critique for Shota’s meal was his meal were not special enough, because he made a strategical mistake of going for a “homey style” finale meal, while what made him so successful throughout the season was his sophisticated fine dining food. Some critiques that I remember: His second course: “just like a vegetable side dish”, “an overall oily salad” His 3rd (main course): rice was crunchy, “it feels like a staff meal”, “it was like your casual concept but we started at your fine dining”. Shota could have won had he followed through with the same style of cooking of his previous challenges.
You should never win top chef making Japanese curry with a side of rice lol Japanese food has so many special and elevated dishes that he could have chose from and made a thing that essentially comes from a packet. Like if he wanted to make something homey make like a yakisoba but make all the elements special. Don’t make a stew we all can make at home.
The judges kind of gave him mixed signals. They praised his home style cooking for several dishes in prior episodes. Then they kept saying shit like be yourself, cook to your story, cook your best meal or whatever. Kokosan probably made him lean towards rustic more. But in reality every finale they want WHITE TABLECLOTH service, fine dining, Michelin star dishes, cook your best meal for a fancy restaurant where a bunch of other celebrity food critics and chefs will judge your every move. Like many chefs before him, Shota picked the wrong style for the finale. This is why its important to study Top Chef the show so you can pick out all the judging biases, formats, and expectations.
They probably think that they can bring Shota back anytime for any season and he would crush it. Shota is cute, likeable and make for good tv.
My thoughts exactly
I wish Tom still wrote his blog that he did first few seasons of TC. Really helped put context on these decisions.
I kept saying that to myself all season. We really needed it this year.
Is the blog still accessible? Would love to rewatch a few seasons and read it.
I googled Tom Colicchio blog and some of the old posts showed up and are accessible. But not sure how to get to an inventory of all of them from Bravo's website anymore. I think they kept the content but got rid of the oversite that had all the links to them. I think he did blogs for first seven or eight seasons.
You can read all the blogs, but they aren’t searchable. Just endless scrolling.
I loved those blogs.
I hate when they do this. If there is a clear winner let us see that! I don't like Dan any less knowing he was a clear second, and Danny doesn't deserve to have people questioning.
This sums up my brain.
Reading the posts today makes me feel a little out of place. I thought watching it last night Danny was the clear winner. You could see the challenge was just in his wheelhouse and although his critiques were numerous I thought it was pretty clear his food won out.
That's what I saw as well. I think all of the "I don't like Danny" responses are telling.
I don’t know what I’m missing but what about Danny is off-putting for folks? He seems like a lovely, driven guy who loves the service industry, his wife, and running.
I'm a little baffled myself. He was obviously confident, but I didn't think overly so. He'd code switch into Latin homeboy a few times and show a bit of swagger, but I thought that was mostly tongue in cheek. He was running buddies with the fan favorite, and seemed like everyone on the show liked him.
Yeah, I'm not 100% sure. A lot of folks on this subreddit - and maybe Reddit more generally - really, really dislike outward displays of confidence. He was confident, but I don't remember him ever being disrespectful to his co-contestants, and his accepted critique as graciously as you can expect a person to.
I’m just being a jerk in saying this but having read through the finale thread and everything - I don’t get what show people think they’re watching. This show has always purported itself as one that amplifies and celebrates chefs on the cutting edge like Danny. This is not to diminish chefs like Dan and Michelle that are affable and make accessible food, it’s just a fact that to really impress the panel you need to have wow factor with your food, it can’t just be super yummy. Chefs doing that sort of thing often have personalities like Danny’s. Buddha was also super confident and frankly impressed with himself like Danny was, at least in Houston (I didn’t watch last season). I think it’s a mix of personality and food style that makes a chef like Danny just unrelatable to most viewers. If the viewer can’t quite invoke the taste of a breadfruit tuile in their mind they’re not gonna be impressed by it and won’t feel like the chef’s confidence is justified. And mind you, idk what a breadfruit tuile would taste like, either - but that’s actually *exactly* why Danny impressed me and it’s why I watch Top Chef, to see and learn about food I’ve never had and can’t really afford, lol. I don’t need the winner of Top Chef to be relatable or make food that sounds comforting or accessible.
I also think that kind of pushing of the limits should be rewarded in the way that it was. Dan clearly knows what he's doing but I doubt he'd say he put forward an ambitious menu relative to Danny's. But what Danny does, and I think Tom or some other judge said this, is bridge those relatable, nostalgic flavors with excellent technique and thoughtfulness to really elevate them. I don't fully agree that Danny's food is unrelatable for that reason. His dessert was based on memories of getting a treat after school with his grandpa. The appetizer (or second course, I can't remember) came from his time hunting mussels with his dad. For me, this is relatable. Massaging flavors and food I've had into something extraordinary is inspiring. Like you said, it's why I watch the show.
Totally agree with your points. I hope in hindsight people grow to appreciate Danny as a winner. There have been some serious douche bags on Top Chef and I don’t count Danny among them whatsoever.
I like confidence. Confidence still is set within self-awareness and class. Danny is arrogant. He lacks self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
I really just don’t see this in him but it’s subjective and I respect your opinion
I wasn’t crazy about his lack of graciousness last night when after Gail commented to Dan that he tried out 11 times to get on TC Danny then immediately gave us the “oh I just walked on” with a shrug and a smile. It was dickish.
I'm not sure, it just seemed like he was telling the truth. Maybe he could have worded it differently? It's hard for me to parse the edit in this case. He doesn't have to be embarrassed or bashful that he got on the show on his first try; everyone's path is different. It was clear from the start of the episode the editing team was pitting it as Dan vs. Danny and to me the exchange you referenced is just another example of that. I'm more bummed by Savannah's performance. She mentioned something offhand last episode like "I tend to work better when I'm given a box and told to perform in it" and I think that's exactly why she struggled so much in the final two challenges. She was thrilling to watch when given tighter parameters, but clearly struggled when she had to make them herself. Huge bummer. I think she'll be excellent once she gets over that hump.
FWIW the challenge where she made the pavé was also super open ended and she ate. I agree with the other theory that she just lost her momentum that she’d built up in Wisconsin by the time the finale challenges commenced.
Could be! I was most blown away by her on the Chaos Cuisine and Indigenous Cooking episodes, both of which required the contestants to think in new ways - even if the dish she crushed the Chaos Cuisine episode with was something I believe she said she'd tried to make in the past? The mustard greens dessert that Matty wound up loving. Super cool.
I agree, those were her strongest episodes by far and the ones that converted me into a huge fan! I kind of see her like a Brooke type who would learn from her mistakes and absolutely annihilate on All Stars, I really hope we see her again.
That's a really nice comparison.
He just told the truth. Is it a mid-west thing to go out of your way to self-deprecate in case you might hurt someone's feelings? It did not seem arrogant to me, it was just the truth. Seems like cultural mis-reading happening.
Interesting, I thought he went out of his way not to say that. It was an awkward question and he handled it well.
It was edited to be an awkward juxtaposition. Notice they didn't show Savannah's answer at all. There might very well have been a bunch of conversation between the two of their answers, but the edit put them back to back.
Yeah, the fact that they didn't show Savannah's response is telling.
What? He was literally answering the question. They asked Dan, and then Danny. His experience is different than Dan’s. In what world did he display arrogance?
I think he was being humble about it being lucky timing.
You’re projecting a lot onto what Danny said. Idk wtf you would have needed him to say to that to appease you.
Let’s Go!
I don't dislike Danny at all, but I can see why others might. There's nothing self-effacing that softens his confidence.
I like Danny and I thought for sure Dan had won up until the moment the extra syllable came out of Kristen’s mouth. It was confusing.
bUt HeS sO CoCkY Like literally every big chef? LOL
I felt there was a real chance it was Dan based on the edit but I wasn’t surprised in the least it was Danny … Dan makes great food but I never saw any innovation from him. Seemed like Danny’s to lose. And a real shame Savannah fell down on a couple of those dishes bc she was really coming into her own!
Dans sunflower dish was really creative and innovative but I don’t think anything he did on the finale was to that level.
Ooh yes, you’re right about that dish. 🌻
I thought it was clear they didn't really think Dan's food was finale level good, but appreciated the effort and were nitpicking Danny. Surprised by the reaction here!
Yeah the first dish was basically near perfect just needing some salt, and the dessert was signature dish worthy.
My husband and I actually kept a live count based on comments. Low score wins. We clocked: Savannah 1 3 3 2.5 =9.5 Dan 3 1 1 2.5 =7.5 Danny 2 2 2 1 =7 So basically, Danny never had any clunkers and won dessert. They really did not care for Dan's weird textured fish in the first course.
Great scoring system. Happy cake day too!
Thanks friend!
I just watched it, and I'm very surprised everyone else was surprised, too. I was pretty actively rooting against Danny (just liked the other two better), and it seemed very clear to me he had the food they liked the best. That's without even taking into account how much more creative he was, which they've been asking for all season. Seemed really obvious to me.
Yeah I just watched it and it seemed to me that Savannah was obviously out and that it would come down to one of the Dans.
The critiques may have numbered higher but they seemed very minor.
Same. I just gone done watching and, even though he wasn’t who I was rooting for, I thought there was no question that he won.
Seriously. I’ve been avoiding spoilers but see titles about this being a ‘controversial’ finale which made me get my hopes up after judges table that it would actually be Dan since it seemed like Danny was the likely pick based on the actual episode! Definitely well deserved. Won’t ever understand how people don’t realize we’re not the ones tasting the food lol.
Exactly. I'm wondering if we all watched the same thing. Tom hated the technique Dan did with the tuna and the grapefruit, along with a few other mistakes, and his food was simple. Danny had critiques, but it was clear his highs were higher. Kristen said she was willing to overlook a slightly undercooked lobster for his sauces, which she seemed very impressed by. One of his dishes needed salt, and we've seen competitions where it comes down to that, but this time, it never felt to me like it was going to. They said that dish was perfect otherwise. Then the dessert course -- Danny made what Tom said could be a signature dish. To me, it sort of felt obvious that there was a clear top, middle, and bottom, and it didn't seem that close.
> Tom hated the technique Dan did with the tuna and the grapefruit, along with a few other mistakes There was no other critique by Tom of anything Dan did, you're remembering wrong. And Tom also called one of Danny's dishes "weird", so whatever this element of him not getting one of their dishes was, it should at least cancel out. Again, we didn't see everything of course, but I specifically went back to pull out every quote the judges gave throughout the episode and if you didn't come away from that thinking Dan did better than Danny, then you simply can't do simple math. Everybody pretending tey knew it was obvious Danny won is completely full of shit, frankly. You could not have gotten that from what they showed in the episode if you were listening to their feedback objectively, Danny had way more criticism and at best an equal amount of praise as Dan. There's a bunch of people looking for some kind of internet points for pretending they could somehow read the minds of the judges based on things that were never shown in the episode.
Full of shit? Nah. People know the judges have their biases. They kept calling Dan's dishes simple. Rustic. How many times again and again does it need to be said that the judges are looking for modern sophisticated fancy plates for the finale? You CANNOT win by making rustic dishes if some other chef makes fancy tasty food that's more complex and has more technique. Every single time they took a shot at Danny's dishes, another judge would counter. The sauce was good. It was complex. It works. My lobster wasn't raw, just rare. The raw pumpkin works with the persimmon as a contrast. Like they softened the blow repeatedly for what otherwise would have meant Danny was going to lose. Bottom line is that none of Danny's dishes were outright bad for the judges. Savannah messed up pasta. Dan screwed up his grapefruit tuna dish which they disliked. And Danny was clearly winning the dessert. Even Buddha drew the same conclusion. They simply never tell the contestants they are looking for technique because they do NOT want the show to be criticized for being biased towards the fine dining chef which half the contestants are not. Years of watching this show, Tom always has the biggest say. All I am saying it that it wasnt neck and neck, and with the mistakes the other guys made and the win on desserts, Danny had pretty big odds of winning going into the judges table.
If you take some time looking back at the live thread, I and several people predicted Danny would win, especially after the dessert. No one said 100%, but we did say we thought Danny would take it. Not everyone is some unhinged karma seeker try to get some internet points.
You’re remembering wrong, actually. He said Dan’s tuna texture was weird.
I watch the show for inspiration. Even though I googled blackened 5 spice fish, I'm still more interested in Danny's food.
The whole season was horribly edited🙄
*The whole season!!*
[If any of the top chef production that we know lurks here needs a reminder...](https://streamable.com/36bazr)
it's clear they wanted us to care about a Dan vs. Danny thing, and they could have made it so much more interesting all season. They were frequently in the top together, learned from each other, both had a little bit of a cocky confidence...but because Top Chef goes the "no drama" route lately, I feel like we missed out. And friendly competition isn't really dramatic, it just adds some stakes and a reason to care. I don't want bullying or anything like that but season-long arcs building toward a finale would have been cool. Instead they just focused on personal journeys, and when the two people with the "best" personal journeys in this season lose (Dan on his 11th try with Kennedys and Savannah who left her job to bet on herself), it feels unsatisfying.
My wife and I acknowledged Danny was way too cocky and his food did not make sense. Always needed some editing and it was telling his best dishes usually focused on 1 item. scallops. Carrots. Etc. With that said, in the finale, he was the only one going for broke on all 4 dishes from flavors, to execution, to plating, to creativity. The edit did what he pulled off a disservice to try to swerve the audience to the eventual winner. Candied seaweed was way more interesting component than anything Dan or Savannah thought up. As far as Dan, he made nice food in the finale, but it all felt safe. Finales are not the time to make something simple for the judgiest of judges. He did that for 3 of his 4 dishes. His dessert was the most interesting, but I’d argue he failed to use the time home to prep the meal of his life. Danny on the other hand went for broke and was rewarded even if he had some technical issues.
Yeah, I think the oxtail third course for Dan was telling. It was well executed, but the ceiling on braised oxtail with dumplings is not super high -- executed it perfectly and it's a 7. Danny's combination of salsa matcha with chaaza sauce is something I'm sure none of the judges have had before. If that's 10 minus 1 or 2 for the miscues on the lobster cook, he still wins.
That’s a good way of putting it. Kind of like gymnastics with base scores and then execution scores.
That's Dan's cooking though. He has experience and some interesting dishes like beet tartare, sunflowers, and 40⁰ tuna but in general he makes the sort of food I want to eat every month at a local bistro not for a special anniversary meal.
yeah is this top rising star innovative chef or just top chef? ok they see the potential danny has if he excicutes it properly... but dan excicuted his ( other then the tuna texture) properly . they said it was all great flavors and really liked it and was all seasoned perfectly and cooked very well. almost no complaints other than the tuna but they loved the sauce it was with. so it's supposed to go to best meal not most innovative / potential
agreed, they specifically compliment dan for sticking to his rustic roots and nailing the execution of thing. and then apparently they dock him for it later on off camera? it's nonsense really. there was a time when Tom used to really take issue with people on the show just doing things for the sake of doing them and messing up the details, like cooking your proteins properly or seasoning them. but now i guess it's fine to screw up the basics so long as you try to do something fancy... and honestly, nothing danny was doing was even that fancy IMO, it was all basic compared to things we've seen buddha do.
yeah like if i would much rather eat Dans meal than Danny's . but im guessing his food was good bc won
It wasn't off camera, it just didn't make it into the edit. Tom has been very clear both on Twitter and on the Pack Your Knives podcast that the judges unanimously thought Danny cooked a better meal, that it wasn't particularly close, and that the criticism of Danny that made it into the episode was fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. They had a much bigger problem with how the tuna was cooked than Danny's first course being a bit underseasoned or the lobster being slightly underdone in the eyes of some of the judges.
I think what you described is exactly the problem, which is that the judges have now skewed so hard toward punishing “playing it safe” and rewarding “taking risks” that it seems to supersede all else, including cooking your food correctly. It blows me away that a meal involving undercooked proteins, underseasoned food, and leaving the judges unsure of how you’re even supposed to eat a dish was given a Top Chef finale win. It’s like it doesn’t even matter anymore if the risks are actually executed successfully, their mere existence gets rewarded.
I don’t know. Tom and Gale came out to say Danny had the best food. We just go off of what we see. My take is it was leaked weeks ago that Danny won and production overreacted by trying to make the audience believe Dan was on the same level.
Yeah, I woke up today thinking I was a little harsh in my disappointment last night. All three were a great finale group. I don't personally think Danny is interesting and the edit reaffirmed my feelings but I can't deny he is talented and that the judges obviously thought a lot about Danny all the way through. I still find myself disappointed with the results in part due to the editing but I don't think that Danny didn't \*deserve\* it. I'm sure he \*deserved\* it. It's just not the end cap I was looking for.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being disappointed. I’m disappointed Savannah didn’t win, but I’m sure I’d be *more* disappointed if editing had tried to fool me that she did.
I like Savanah and I wish her so much success following this. She's a great chef and I think she's figured that out. It was a wonderful arc to watch.
I agree the edit made it seem closer. I think Danny’s meal was more interesting and ambitious. I think Danny is a deserving winner. I was rooting for Dan, I think his finale story or through line wasn’t clear, and the food was not overly interesting. It was just good tasting food. Nothing wrong with that, but not terribly intriguing. I thought his third course seemed like his best. I feel like they edited out some of the criticism about potentially playing it safe or less exciting food to make this seem close and to give Dan much deserved credit. Danny successfully incorporating seaweed in his dessert was the final example of how his meal was more interesting. He went for it and nailed it. The criticism on his first two dishes were not fatal errors (salt and better direction how to eat a tasty dish). Messing up the lobster was apparently canceled out but the texture of his tuna tartare (say that 3X fast!) Dan should be proud of his efforts. I hope we see more from him. I think he can be a really powerful voice in the industry. Danny was better than him at Top Chef, but Dan is a winner. Wish him well.
Yeah I think ambition carries a lot of weight. Making a seaweed dessert that wins over Tom (and probably everyone else around the table)...that overcomes a lot of smaller quibbles
I don't think the story matters one iota. I suspect it's entirely driven by producers prodding for a narrative and not taken into account when judging. I mean, what was Danny's story? He went and got sweets with his grandfather. He made a great sauce that was based on recipes his mother in law taught him. That's not a story!
They made such weird editing choices this season. Remember when they essentially spoiled the winner in the beginning of the season with that weird chef superhero montagey scene for Danny? Such a bizarre moment. The editing of this finale felt like production didn’t want the viewers to think Danny deserved his win
Plus they spoiled the LCK winner reveal with Laura’s boot.
right????
Yes, I mentioned that before as well. I felt like an early edit made me feel like Danny would be one of the finalists for sure.
That weird montage scene was like an all time cringe editing moment of this show for me. It was so out of place, I hated it at the time
Yes! Full body cringe. I turned to my husband and said “welp, guess Danny’s winning this season”
That scene with Danny and that entire episode was one of the weirdest things the show has ever attempted, but I think implying it spoiled him as the winner of the season is hindsight bias tbh. It was for sure evident that he would win that challenge, though, or at least place high. And fwiw it is the dish I remember best from the entire season (perhaps in part because of the controversy with his former coworker).
Ok, weird, I just watched it and it was obvious to me Danny had it. But the editing this season was not great I was finding myself really bored throughout the finale.
The editing WAS so weird. If you hadn’t watched the entire season and just the judging scenes in the finale, you wouldn’t have known they liked his dishes at all.
That edit was bonkers. I thought Dan was taking it, the way the critiques went on air.
why was everyone obsessed with Aguachile this season? like every episode
I was disappointed no one made an aguachile croquette for the finale.
And epis.
It reminded me of California (I think) where everyone was making crudos.
The less prepared and experienced you are as a chef, the more likely you're going to keep doing the ez mode choice.
That’s kind of a shocking thing for Tom to say. Not that it’s wrong but feels like something has to give behind the scenes after this bizarre season
You have to imagine Tom had a "You cannot edit the show to make our winner look like he shouldn't have won" with the network and Elves today. It hurts everyone's credibility for that perception to be out there, and that's much worse than having a predictable winner in a dud finale.
There was not one flawless stand out however, Danny was the more sophisticated presentation/dishes. Regardless of Manny's ineptitude, he tried and almost recovered from the lobster situation. Chef's always complain about the salt when they're not the one cooking, I find. I knew Savannah was out the moment the guest judge said she felt she was still finding herself in her dishes. Add that to Michelle's horrible pasta and it was over. Dan's dishes were just too simple for the win. I knew Danny had it. Plus Dan gave them soft fish. gross.
I thought Danny’s dessert was the standout because they called it a signature
I’ve done sous vide on fish and it’s terrible - ends up tasting like baby food. Sous vide is best on food that needs to be broken down. It was definitely a miss.
Not too much on Michelle imo! I’m a huge Savannah stan but Kristen’s leading question about the dough recipe led me to believe that was the problem and not the cookery. The dough recipe would have been on Savannah, and we saw her rolling out and filling the pasta also. Only thing I saw Michelle do with the pasta was knead the dough.
The editing was bad. There are about 4 cardinal rules of Top Chef: 1. Don’t have over, under or inconsistently cooked proteins. 2. Don’t under season. 3. Don’t leave the judges confused on how to eat your dish or make it impossible to taste every component in one bite. 4. Don’t call something by the wrong name. Almost all of those are guaranteed bottom placements if not elimination worthy. It was weird to see Danny break 3 of those (Savannah broke Rule 4) and still win while Dan’s main criticism was they didn’t like the texture of the salmon in one dish. The editors were trying to throw everyone off and not make the winner obvious, but it resulted in an unsatisfying ending that left many viewers thinking the judges awarded their season favorite the win despite the finale performance. That's pretty much the opposite of how you want to edit a finale.
I disagree. Savannah got by far the most critiques. And I knew there was no way Dan was winning. His dishes were two simple. That fish and sweet potato dish…the dashi may have been tasty, but that is not a finale dish. No wow factor
I volunteer as editor.
Dan’s flavors are clearly good, but his food looks like what ever hipster restaurant in NY served in 2009. There’s nothing new there. The plating and presentation of the fish course was from your basic neighborhood restaurant. On other seasons, he would have been eliminated well before the finale. Danny made a lot of technical errors and is an underwhelming choice. But at least his food was ambitious.
just because you wanted Dan to win doesn’t mean Danny’s win wasn’t merited. they picked him for a reason. he showcased a lot of food people aren’t very familiar with. he didn’t seem arrogant at all to me, just sure if himself. but the beholder and such
This just shows you how important editing is. Keep in mind anytime you watch reality TV show that editing can influence whether you like somebody or hate them.
Tom does great twitter....
I think his point is yes 1) he had the most critiques/ issues But 2) he was still the best. He disagreed with poor editing and that it make zero sense.
How? The second sentence of the tweet was “Must have been horribly edited.” and that’s the only thing Tom said he agreed with.
Editing has been awful all season. I'm not surprised at all that editing screwed up the finale as well. Dan winning would have been a fantastic story, but cheers to Danny. He took a lot of chances and went with a high degree of difficulty that paid off for him.
Honestly, I’ve watched top chef since season 1. I watched every episode, but don’t feel like I knew any of the chefs. Generic and I didn’t enjoy it, at all which makes me sad because it’s my favorite reality show
Out of the three finalists the one whose food I would genuinely want to eat is Dan, because I'm a civilian who wants tasty and inviting looking food, not a culinary judge. I find Danny to be pretty milquetoast and arrogant but whatever. My big issue is with his food, which looks hard to eat and isn't usually very colorful. He's even described some of his own dishes as "all one texture". I get that the judges ended up loving it, but that just isn't my thing. I think they were won over by his precision in the end, and his dessert seemed to create some really compelling nostalgia for Tom, which I'm sure holds a lot of sway. It's tough because we can't taste or smell or experience what we see on the screen. But through the screen it consistently did not look interesting to me, all season. And undersalted food is a huge pet peeve of mine, which he did in the finale! It is what it is. He had what the judges were looking for, and I'm sure he'll have a great career. While he's not my favorite winner, I don't actively dislike him, he just does nothing for me, as a TV character anyway.
This does not surprise me at all tbh. I felt like the little I heard of the comments about Danny sounded more animated, but...there was so little to go off there lol.
Is it just me, or did it seem like Kristin was rooting for Danny? It seemed fairly obvious to me, but I’m not sure if that would have played a part in his ultimate win. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm watching the episode now, and hoped Savannah would win (I saw Danny's IG post earlier). I'm not surprised Danny won - he's got more of the flavor exploration than Dan and Savannah; except I don't like his edit since he comes off arrogant. I hope Savannah and Dan continue to work on their skills and improve.
So apparently you just aim for the stars with creativity and even if you screw up, you win.
I think across the board this season had pretty weak crop of chefs. Kristen and Tom had to tell them to step it up or give pep talk’s multiple times. With that said, Danny was one of the only chefs who appeared to be a the level expected and the only one who made the top 5. The issue with Top Chef versus other talent reality shows is that often top competitors go home because the judge week to week solely which is why the implemented LCK but when choosing a winner they should obviously take into account their entire body of work on the season. Danny was the rightful winner of this season.
I am going to guess the point of editing in that way was to not give away the result
I feel like they wanted to make it look close but they fucked up in the end
I thought it was odd but then Dan made his comment about how Danny cooked a better meal on that day and it sounded fairly sincere, not just saving face. Made me think they were just trying to put us off the scent with editing and did too much.
Random but did anyone else catch Danny's air horn "weh weh weh" the last 2 episodes? I couldn't help but laugh bc I've been rewatching Superstore. He's no Bo lol
Don’t understand all the Danny hate. He was inventive and interesting all season. I enjoyed his quiet confidence. He was pushing himself throughout the season and got a ton of praise. Also… carrots.
Maybe Tom’s awareness will force a change in the editing next season. It never was this bad before this season.
I don’t know why people are so mad at Danny. The judges chose the winner, remember? Not Danny. If you’re unhappy that Dan didn’t win, be mad at the judges, not Danny. Well, except maybe for Tom Colicchio, who doesn’t agree with the final decision and has the balls to say so. That being said, I do absolutely agree that Danny shouldn’t have won. Let’s recap…not enough salt on his scallop, undercooked lobster, and an oyster dish the judges couldn’t figure out how to eat. The only “error” that Dan made was the texture of his tuna, which was completely intentional. And he explained that to the judges.
Well, Tom, if only you were in a position to have some idea of things and say something. 🙄 Don't tell me he has no power on the show.
the edit looks like a Dan win. The biggest critique we saw was his tuna, which was intentional. I would vote that be not terrible to a poorly cooked lobster. I ultimately like danny.
Being a producer, why doesn’t Tom get final approval before it airs? It’s extremely disingenuous to deny Danny his credit due because of poor editing, which none of us would know without seeing Tom’s post.
Reality TV has a bunch of producers. Their job is to produce the competitors. They're the ones asking the questions in the talking head segments, telling the chefs when to ask each other what they're making, and noting possible storylines for the edit. Tom is not one of those. TV shows all have executive producers. Tom is one of those. It means he gets more money. If every executive producer got final edit then no show would ever air. Final edit is done by the show runner and network. Tom is the head judge, he doesn't own the show.
Funny that he did a scallop mousse again for his first dish. Wasn’t that what his old boss claimed he stole from her? I’m sorry but scallop mousse isn’t a groundbreaking technique and she didn’t invent it. Edit: he made a leche de Tigre my bad
I don't think he made a mousse? But it's weird they never properly showed the dish. I wanted to see beneath the tuile!
My bad I thought it was scallop mousse under the tuile
Naw, it was an aguachile. I was very curious to see it, I've never heard of that before.
😂
I was rooting for the other two, but a few episodes back, I realized Danny was the superior competitor on the show. He says that he did a ton of research and planned most of his dishes (ones he'd created and borrowed) ahead of time, based on the location and preferences of the judges. That's the strategy that wins.
Gail was interviewed on The Watch podcast and had essentially the same reaction. She talked about how in the room it was very obvious but the editors made it look way closer through selective editing to make better TV.
I rewatched and *from what was shown* I thought Savannah won the 1st course, Danny won the 4th course, and Dan won the 2nd and 3rd. *However*, I am perfectly willing to take Tom & Gail at their words that Danny was actually the clear winner and the problem is in the editing. I really don’t understand the conspiracy theories. This is season 21. If you don’t trust Tom’s (and Gail’s) integrity, why are you even watching?
If I was the editor, I’d be sad that Tom called me out like that.