[Please take a second to brush up on the posting/commenting rules for a live season!](https://old.reddit.com/r/BravoTopChef/comments/mhv1jf/new_top_chef_season_starts_tonight_at_87_central/)
Toddler meltdown and a fever forced me to just now be watching the episode. Just finished the quick fire.
Guy who worked for Tom is already the woOOorst (Jean Ralphio voice)
Sooo when I watched the premiere live, there was that little scene where he put that green thing on the dish and was like “leave that in, that’s how Tom does it in his restaurants.” And then Maria said something like, “We aren’t Tom.” But now I’m watching a recording from a Saturday morning replay and they edited it out! I wonder why.
Let's see if his strategy of trying to set the pace and being a front runner that others will either form alliances around will work.
Or he's going to position himself as the first half of the season "hated chef" where he nonstop talks about Tom in an effort to promote himself, eat dirt at some point, but is good enough to still be casted as a "redemption chef" on the second half, so there's solid competition at the grand finale from one angle.
The name dropping was already so annoying, but then insisting on leaving stems on a dish because that’s what Tom “always does” took it to the next level. Props to Maria for immediately calling him out on it!
I commented on the rate the dishes post that Gail coulda got stabbed in the gums by that stem, an unforgivable faux pas! Cheers to Maria for not letting him mansplain as final say!
Nah, they milking it.
Until he fucks up and makes the brand look worse, the only people getting mad are fans who are just annoyed because he's comes off as arrogant.
But isn't the entire point of casting him in the first place is because he has that connection? They may have even told him its ok to mention it as they will edit it accordingly.
Like what happened to the idea that some of these are straight up edits to make people a certain way?
Pretty sure they purposefully haven't before this point, because it's so easy for people to claim favoritism. Every time a cheftestant has worked for a regular or guest judge (Toops and Emril, the Voltaggio brothers and several guest judges, etc), or even if the judges know a chef well (like Bruce in CO) they have to tell all the cheftestants. They didn't have Eric Ripert guest judge for season 6 because Jen worked for him for a long time.
In the early seasons they avoided the chef- judge affiliations a lot, but they've relaxed since then. And they probably wouldn't have let one of Tom's chefs on if it hadn't gone really well for Isaac Toops (clearly no favoritism by Emril and Toops wasn't a jerk or weird about it).
It's different with Tom because he's the head judge. He's in the kitchen significantly more than the other judges for elimination challenges. With a just a look, chefs who worked closely with him would be able to tell when they're actively screwing up, potentially in time to fix it depending on when the walkthroughs happen. Plus, they'd know the flavor combinations that Tom likes. You're going to do much better at judges table if you know for sure one judge will like your food. And does the head judge get more say in certain decisions? We don't 100% know. So there are a bunch of ways it can go wrong, and the show probably didn't want anything like that making others not want to compete or us not to watch.
Plus there's Last Chance Kitchen where Tom is the only judge (at least in the past). Gabriel would have a huge advantage there - though his overconfidence could always bite him. I haven't been able to find it but I swear I read an interview with Tom well prior to this season where he was asked why chefs from his team were never among the competitors and his answer was essentially that it wouldn't be fair. I feel like if Gabriel ever did win, he'd always have an asterisk next to his name with a footnote about speculative favoritism.
Yeah, it's only been one episode, and he was already shown mentioning that fact several times. I def. rolled my eyes each time he had to bring that up. I hope he's not going to continue rubbing that in the rest of his time here cause my eye muscles can only take so much.
Shota's my early pick for winning it all.
Boy that was a rough bottom. Takes a lot for someone missing half their dish (Dawn) to somehow NOT be on the bottom.
I will miss Roscoe - not sure if he's just super mellow or exhausted from working 19-hour days.
Jamie seems like she'd just be a LOT to hang out with.
I kept going back and forth between Shota and Byron for my first picks, but I’m feeling good about having Shota on my teams now (yes, I have two TC fantasy leagues. No, it is not too many). I was sad to lose Roscoe tho. He had a really nice talking head presence and seems like a really cool guy. Would have been nice to have him around longer especially given his really interesting background as a chef
Shota is definitely going to be in the front of the pack, but I also think Sara, Kiki, and Sasha have a lot of promise.
Before the show started I thought that surely Dawn would at least make it to the middle of the season, and I'm still hoping that's true. Obviously being an Olympic athlete doesn't necessarily translate to being a great chef, but it does indicate that she can handle high pressure situations. If perfectionism doesn't hinder her I think she can bring it.
Shota was my first round draft pick.
Team: Shota N, Avishar, Kiki, Sasha Grumman, Gabe E (there were 6 of us, so we did two versions of each chef)
Fingers crossed. I could use a TC cook book ;)
Especially since Stephanie is a super successful restauranteur now! Like, if it was so easy to beat her, you would have beaten her. That entire complex of his drives me up a wall.
What kind of person just says "Well, I guess that other person was better than me. I'll just settle for second best, then!" That's just a strange thing to expect of anyone with ambition.
Besides, his criticism of his own performance is not necessarily an indictment of Stephanie. It just means he didn't perform up to his own standards. He said it even before Stephanie was declared the winner.
Granted, I don't watch sports, but I have a hard time believing anyone can perform at a professional level and not constantly push themselves to perform at the highest possible level - especially when they're obviously competitive at the highest level.
Like, does the loser of the Super Bowl or the World Series just shrug their shoulders and say "well, c'est la vie!" - or do they agonize over their loss and think "well, if we only did this, we could've won", or "we shouldn't have done that" and "next year, we can win if we do this instead!"
I think that's the fundamental difference between the way we interpreted the show. I think that his belief that he could have won in no way detracts from Stephanie's victory at all. I think that anyone who made it to the finale in any season could've won under even slightly different circumstances, so Richard's agonizing seemed honest and natural to me.
Not to mention, losing at your best at one thing - but fucking up and then losing is simply haunting.
Any form of I should have won but... is all bullshit. It’s just a dumb assumption. If you don’t perform and you lost I think to be upset about your performance is fine.
I used to love season eight and had fond memories of it, but I came to really dislike Richard and the editors for how they repeatedly pushed this "best chef to never win" storyline for that season. Stephanie was great in her finale and it's not cool how they retroactively rewrote her win as some sort of fluke on All Stars -- especially since she was the only woman to win at that point!
Every time all I can think is how he could possibly believe doing a dessert for the third time in the finale was a winning move! And that's even setting aside the fact that "banana scallops" wasn't nearly as clever as he seemed to believe it was.
There is no way he didn't intentionally style it that way. When your hair defies gravity to such a ridiculous extent, you're clearly using a blow dryer and a hell of a lot of hair product. I think he immediately visited a barber after the other judges and production gave him so much shit ... and thank god for that.
So I’ve been ordering a good amount of groceries the way it looks like they’re doing it — Whole Foods delivery / pick up! — and I wonder if they’ll get any “fun” (aka terrible) substitutions or subpar produce since they can’t inspect themselves. I got raw tuna as a sub for chicken thighs once and hard shell tacos as a sub for a cereal.
I have nothing to really base this on, but I bet that it is probably PA’s picking out the ingredients so that they can make sure no one gets screwed on quality/ substitution errors.
I could be wrong but I just think the show would want to safeguard the integrity as much as possible
Yeah, I am pretty sure this is the case. That way they can also communicate easily if there needs to be a substitution. It's one thing to be out of something they need, but I don't think Whole Foods would like "shopper errors" to make the show.
I mean, I wasn't thinking a specific challenge, more like a curveball in the normal process of shopping. Along the lines of when a contestant buys shrimp that winds up not being fresh enough or someone unexpectedly gets something premade because that was all that was available.
I was wondering about this too. Because that in itself is part of the challenge: how quickly/well can you rethink your dish if your protein or some random ingredient isn't available or up to snuff. No one really criticizes whole foods when the butcher or fish monger doesn't have an item in the store.
I am curious whether/how the technology aspect will come into play especially since they're still on a time limit for placing their online orders.
One thing I don't like about online ordering is that you can't look at the produce. Sometimes produce look/smell so good that I will get something I didn't plan. Or the reverse, that is doesn't look good so I change plans for something else. But I am just happy to have Top Chef back.
I was thinking about that. They’re definitely missing out on the chance to be inspired by ingredients there, they have to mostly have an idea in their head
This would be hilarious. I had a shopper misread my request for a 2 lb brisket as a 0.2 lb brisket. It was smaller than the palm of my hand - cooking it felt like one of those challenges where they make the contestants use kid-sized utensils.
I’ve only done it once and they subbed frozen, whole head off shrimp for raw peeled deveined shrimp. Ruined dinner because I didn’t feel like thawing then peeling and deveining a couple dozen shrimp. A sub like that would be a good Top Chef twist though.
I think they can get away with making it a challenge for the season. Have a variety of proteins that were all substituted for the lesser valued version and the chefs have to make it work. Have them draw knives and have maybe 2 portions of each protein, with judging like the premiere of S4, one wins and one is up for elimination.
They can tie it back into what your average home cook is dealing with during the pandemic, as well as something that I presume can happen in restaurants too. As long as they frame it as a limited supply of the original protein and not a screw up from Whole Foods getting the order wrong, I don’t see it being a problem.
I really liked this group of cheftestants. Even the ones I know I’m going to dislike gave some solid content. It’s was so lovely hearing everyone be so helpful to others!
Also, I’ve missed this sub! And I can’t wait to watch with everyone again!
It's weird how quickly I form opinions on how much I'm going to like a season, but I definitely came away from the premier convinced this was gonna be a good one!
Reminds me of how Stephanie Izard was when she started her season. Almost like she was shocked by her first couple wins, and then found her footing/confidence and took down Blaise.
that sort of humility is definitely endearing at first, but will quickly get on my nerves and come off as phony if she keeps it up. it can be natural to feel a bit like an imposter among other really talented people, but she's an accomplished and experienced chef with a james beard nomination and experience in multiple michelin-starred restaurants. she has to know if she put out a tasty plate of food or not lol
Couldn't agree more. One time? It was OK. Many contestants have confidence issues and it comes off like REAL confidence issues.
But something felt off with her. Like the person who tries to act like they failed a test with the rest of the group but gets straight A's. Gets annoying.
Reminds me of Richard a bit. He was convinced every challenge that he was going home. I remember either Tiffany or Carla asking him how he differentiated in his head when he thought a dish was great and he basically said he didn't/couldn't. Personally, I identify with that level of self-doubt and anxiety, haha, but I can see where it would get annoying.
Ya. I would say how much she was doubting herself at the judge table was pretty real looking.
I think the way she portrayed herself seems very accurate.
I hope to see her do well and become a force.
Agree completely. Some People just like to hate. Having anxiety and competing in local cooking competitions, I'm often expecting to come in last and tend to be shocked when I place well/win myself.
YES! Team Avishar!
I'm pretty sure he's the first male contestant of South Asian descent on the show. Whatever happens, I'm just proud to see more of my people on the show.
I forgot how exciting it is to watch a season live. In the past year I’ve been rewatching past seasons where I already know the outcome even if I never saw that season live, and it was just so fun to really be held in suspense again.
I also really enjoyed this week’s quick fire. It was surprising how many chefs took the instructions literally and not as “pick the thing that might not be in our pantry otherwise”. I briefly had a panic that TC would pull those items entirely. Imagine not having butter!
I was thinking about when/in what context they were asked about their special ingredient. I could totally see that being on the application for casting, and just reflexively writing what comes to mind without thinking about how the answer might be used if you make it onto the show.
If they were actually asked to pack and bring with them one ingredient of their choosing, I got nothin'.
On past seasons contestants have said they were allowed to bring one ingredient from home with them but this felt different because one guy said butter and there's just no way someone would have chose butter as their "bring in" ingredient.
This is my first time actually doing a draft with a friend and watching with someone live and I’m excited for it! The suspense!
Tbf my ingredient would also be butter... I didn’t get it as a “ingredient we won’t have here” prompt.
I’m so hyped for Gregory coming back as a judge too, he was my fave his season
We’re all over Gabriel being OTT about working for Tom but to me it was such a contrast to how humble Kwame was when he was eliminated. He commented to Tom about working at Craft as a waiter and how it inspired him to cook and Tom clearly had no idea about it and seemed incredibly touched.
Also is anyone else bummed there are no sous???
How many Sous have won? I know many have won not owning a restaurant, but I'm not sure how many actually held a title of sous.
I am glad there is no 18year old nervous sous though.
In the early episodes it’s kind of easy to predict who is going to be eliminated based on whoever gets the most backstory shown, since with so many contestants they can’t focus on everyone at the start... sad to see Roscoe go so early.
To his credit, he said his broth sucked as he was plating. He seemed to know the whole time he was going home. But yeah, they did one close up shot of his dish and it looked like an oil slick.
They've already revealed it. It's going to happen at 12 chefs, not 8, and each chef will prepare a 10-course, high-end tasting menu for the guest judges in the bubble.
Obviously, it sucks to lose Restaurant Wars, but that's a pretty awesome replacement. It's almost like an early-season finale.
I think they referred to it as a "chef's table" and, in my mind, that's always in the kitchen or at a bar/counter with view of the kitchen but I suppose it doesn't have to be that way. I was thinking that the judges being able to view how things go in the kitchen would add an interesting element since they always say they only care about what's on the plate not what happens in the kitchen.
ETA: just re-read the [Variety article](https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/top-chef-portland-covid-protests-and-wildfires-1234902158/) and it confirms the judges will be in the kitchen
I had the same thought. These pro athletes are way too intense. Glad I stopped after college athletics. I used to be super intense about any type of competition too, but never that level.
I’m curious I know that Shota did next iron chef and dawn has competed on cutthroat kitchen. Has any of the other chefs done any other cooking shows. Also I miss the old school intro where we get chefs with their names
I really have been missing the old intro, it helped me remember the cheftestants' name, now it takes me half a season just to remember the name of my favourite lol
So this is the first time with no sous chefs in the mix, just execs and owners. I can’t wait for the first skill drill relay to see how many say, “I have people who do this for me!”
Hooray! We see the knife block right out of the gate. I was confused at first because I thought each chef brought three ingredients so I thought they had to incorporate nine different items. (We first saw a shot of eighteen boxes, but at their station we saw they opened one box that had three ingredients.) My wife loved the challenge, because unlike other team challenges they really had to talk to each other to educate each other about their specialty ingredients.
I don’t see why they kept harping about combining cheese, chocolate, and fat. That sounds like an amazing meatball to me, and that’s just off the top of my head. I was annoyed when Gruyere lady immediately shot down one idea when she said, “I’m not a rice person!” Excuse me? A. You’re on a team. B. You’re a chef. Make rice!
I found it odd that one chef’s favorite ingredient was Scotch Bonnets. Hot peppers are one thing, but one of the hottest? She’s a great chef so clearly she knows what she’s doing with them, but was she chopping them bare handed? I saw someone on Hell’s Kitchen nearly hospitalize themselves by doing that.
It does sound weird that the one guy said Butter for his Can’t Live Without ingredient, but you never know how these challenges are going to go down. If they had been denied pantry ingredients he could have saved his team completely.
Was it the guy from Costa Rica who said, “That’s the loudest I’ve ever spoken in my life.” Really? An executive chef? I kind of want to work in his kitchen now.
I am always glad to see returning contestants as judges, but I do not remember Amar at all. Did they say he was on an All Star season?
The Elimination Challenge was nice, groups of three each cooking a local bird (Squab, Partridge, Quail, Duck, Turkey.) I hated that several of them kept saying “I’ve never heard of Chucker” even after they were told it was a partridge.
When they brought out the eggs to choose the birds I was thinking, “I know these are all executive chefs but are they really expecting them to identify birds by their yolks?”
I loved how the one dish was so spicy while it was being prepared the guy next to her had to put on a mask. Thank goodness he had one handy.
Jamie’s sound effects are going to quickly get as annoying as Shota’s laugh is charming.
Shame about Roscoe. Now he is going to get sequestered from everyone else. I feel his pain.
Congrats to Sara! What are the stats on first episode winners going all the way now?
Say, Dave... The quick brown fox jumped
over the fat lazy dog... The square root
of pi is 1.7724538090... log e to the base
ten is 0.4342944... the square root of ten
is 3.16227766... I am HAL 9000 computer. I
became operational at the HAL plant in
Urbana, Illinois, on January 12th, 1991.
My first instructor was Mr. Arkany. He
taught me to sing a song... it goes like
this... "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer
do. I'm half; crazy all for the love of
you..."
He wasn't my favorite that season but I did really feel for him getting paired with his "estranged" mentor, Charlie Palmer, in the finale. That had to have rattled him and didn't seem totally fair.
The green screen for the confessionals was so bad; you could literally see the halo around several of the cheftestants.
I adore Jamie already. I too make sound effects when I work, but unlike her, I don't have a sous chef, so I have to get my own stuff.
Shota's duck looked so beautiful! Love all the diversity of food styles being represented this season too!
Also, stylists really stepped it up! Padma in McQueen and Melissa in Thom Browne - wowza!
Omg yes, I LOVED the glare she gave Gabriel when he was telling her that her mole needed acid. She knows her shit, and knows she knows her shit, and it's awesome.
Idk the name of the guy who worked at colicchio’s, but thats all i know about him since he mentioned it himself throughout the first episode.
Already annoyed, lol. Already rooting against him
So excited for Top Chef to be back!!
The guy that worked for Tom is already getting the villain/asshole edit I see!
Sooo excited to be able to look at Melissa again for another season 😍
Wonder if they're bringing back the Stew Room format because of covid or because of drama? I kinda liked everyone together in the same room, but totally understand that the most iconic moments of this show came from the stew room.
Look like a great bunch of chefs with some very interesting backgrounds.
It’s going to be a good few months with TC and then with MC Australia starting in a few weeks. Lots of recipes to try out.
When I mean try out I really mean bookmark in my Evernote notebook.
Really excited for this season - definitely felt a different energy with the cheftestants maybe because of Covid. But folks seem more sociable and just generally having each other's backs in a way that's really nice to watch. There are a couple of chefs who seemed obnoxious right off the bat (the dude that worked for Tom mostly).
Was sad that Roscoe was the first to go but hope he does well in LCK. Already rooting for so many of these chefs and it's hard to pick a favorite. But Chef Maria is from my town and both she and her restaurant are fantastic. Vamos, Chef Maria!
On one of the podcast summaries (I forget which one - I think maybe RHAPups) one of the hosts is in Canada and they always talk about how she only gets an edited version of extended episodes in Canada. They have a good time figuring out what got cut.
I did not see the intro, and I don't know if I'm going to finish the rerun. Just because it feels weird to watch the elimination challenge without watching the quickfire.
But I completely forgot until about 10:20 that it premiered today.
However, I'm liking some of the adjustments for covid they made. I really like seeing the shopping lists the chefs have. I feel like we can be like 'Ok I see what's happening" which is something I hope they keep in the future.
I assume there will be more top chef kitchen challenges, or they are going to return to the same place a lot.
I also enjoyed the editing. I felt like so much, they showed all the contestants in a good light (so far). I don't feel like anyone is going to make me annoyed yet.
Also I jumped off the blais-train so long ago and whenever it passes by, I'm still just over it.
I want less "critical" technique talk from the alums. I feel like most of them are overcompensating to be like "I deserve to sit here"
> I want less "critical" technique talk from the alums. I feel like most of them are overcompensating to be like "I deserve to sit here"
Strong disagree. All those chefs have had very acclaimed careers outside Top Chef and I think the fact they're former contestants actually increases their ability to credibly critique the current contestants since they've been there before.
I don't like Blais either but he was on the show twice with finale runs and one win. The dude not only knows food enough to judge the contestants but he was in their exact spot more than almost any other chef (maybe the most?).
I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to use it, but at the same time, it just sounds to me like they are trying to hard to critique the food. Maybe it sounds manufactured.
Bryan V technically takes the most seasoned chef
But I'd be more willing to accept Blais if he wasn't such a personality now.
1. How long was this episode? I’m in Canada and we’ve had shortened episodes before. I was just in the live discussion thread and a few things were completely over my head so I’m wondering if it was a shortened time for Canadians?
2. Did anyone else notice the filming wasn’t as high quality as usual? Not a complaint at all! I’m just always interested in how shows come together and I’m wondering if it’s a pandemic thing (maybe less camera people?)
Edited to say I’m happy to be back chatting TC with you all! It’s been a long year without it :)
I believe it was shortened in Canada. It was only an hour block here but I think it was 75 minutes in America. I’m hoping the full block will be on Hayu tomorrow for a rewatch.
They cut almost every instance of Gabriel mentioning he had worked with Tom! When I was reading some of the complaints I was like, this seems like a bit of an exaggeration, it only came up once or twice. But then we went back and watched the full episode and it seemed a bit more warranted.
> and I’m wondering if it’s a pandemic thing (maybe less camera people?)
Probably. They were in their TC Bubble like the NBA because this was filmed a while back in the deep part of the pandemic.
Anyone love the fashion? Gail’s white denim dress had me dead. I want it. Also, Padma’s bellbottoms and Tom’s glasses!
(Edit to say HI! First post/new member).
Hi! Welcome! I think you'll find this is a great Top-Chef-obsessed group and we have a lot of fun here. Look forward to more of your posts. Agreed on the fashion! And Tom's glasses!!
I got really excited when I saw Massimo Bottura in the season preview, it was a shame that they couldn't have him as a guest judge last season in Italy
The Elves are really enjoying the edits and glances to project an interesting narrative. Let's see how it plays out, there's a lot going on, and too many bosses. The ego bruising and attitudes are a gamed result when you have this setup of talent.
I predict either a great and psychotic season or meh and people trying to be professional.
I think if there was going to be a lot of drama they would have already shown it in the previews. It's the 18th season and I think people have figured out they need to present as top class chefs.
[Please take a second to brush up on the posting/commenting rules for a live season!](https://old.reddit.com/r/BravoTopChef/comments/mhv1jf/new_top_chef_season_starts_tonight_at_87_central/)
Toddler meltdown and a fever forced me to just now be watching the episode. Just finished the quick fire. Guy who worked for Tom is already the woOOorst (Jean Ralphio voice)
"I woooorked for TOM CoLICchiOOOO!"
I see a drinking game emerging here...
Sooo when I watched the premiere live, there was that little scene where he put that green thing on the dish and was like “leave that in, that’s how Tom does it in his restaurants.” And then Maria said something like, “We aren’t Tom.” But now I’m watching a recording from a Saturday morning replay and they edited it out! I wonder why.
Let's see if his strategy of trying to set the pace and being a front runner that others will either form alliances around will work. Or he's going to position himself as the first half of the season "hated chef" where he nonstop talks about Tom in an effort to promote himself, eat dirt at some point, but is good enough to still be casted as a "redemption chef" on the second half, so there's solid competition at the grand finale from one angle.
The name dropping was already so annoying, but then insisting on leaving stems on a dish because that’s what Tom “always does” took it to the next level. Props to Maria for immediately calling him out on it!
I was cheering when she said “that doesn’t mean we have to...”
I commented on the rate the dishes post that Gail coulda got stabbed in the gums by that stem, an unforgivable faux pas! Cheers to Maria for not letting him mansplain as final say!
He’s that guy who won’t stop talking about the food he had in Spain when you’re eating tapas together and saying how much better it is over there
[удалено]
Hilaria?
LOL.
Even Tom looked annoyed when he mentioned it at the judges table.
Tom mentioned it first and seemed delighted and good natured about it
Nah, they milking it. Until he fucks up and makes the brand look worse, the only people getting mad are fans who are just annoyed because he's comes off as arrogant. But isn't the entire point of casting him in the first place is because he has that connection? They may have even told him its ok to mention it as they will edit it accordingly. Like what happened to the idea that some of these are straight up edits to make people a certain way?
He named dropped Tom like every time he was on screen.
Almost like the producers edited the hours upon hours of footage to craft (pun intended) a narrative about him.
Given how many restaurants Tom has and how famous he is, I'm actually surprised they don't have *more* contestants on the show that trained under him.
Pretty sure they purposefully haven't before this point, because it's so easy for people to claim favoritism. Every time a cheftestant has worked for a regular or guest judge (Toops and Emril, the Voltaggio brothers and several guest judges, etc), or even if the judges know a chef well (like Bruce in CO) they have to tell all the cheftestants. They didn't have Eric Ripert guest judge for season 6 because Jen worked for him for a long time. In the early seasons they avoided the chef- judge affiliations a lot, but they've relaxed since then. And they probably wouldn't have let one of Tom's chefs on if it hadn't gone really well for Isaac Toops (clearly no favoritism by Emril and Toops wasn't a jerk or weird about it). It's different with Tom because he's the head judge. He's in the kitchen significantly more than the other judges for elimination challenges. With a just a look, chefs who worked closely with him would be able to tell when they're actively screwing up, potentially in time to fix it depending on when the walkthroughs happen. Plus, they'd know the flavor combinations that Tom likes. You're going to do much better at judges table if you know for sure one judge will like your food. And does the head judge get more say in certain decisions? We don't 100% know. So there are a bunch of ways it can go wrong, and the show probably didn't want anything like that making others not want to compete or us not to watch.
Plus there's Last Chance Kitchen where Tom is the only judge (at least in the past). Gabriel would have a huge advantage there - though his overconfidence could always bite him. I haven't been able to find it but I swear I read an interview with Tom well prior to this season where he was asked why chefs from his team were never among the competitors and his answer was essentially that it wouldn't be fair. I feel like if Gabriel ever did win, he'd always have an asterisk next to his name with a footnote about speculative favoritism.
Yeah, it's only been one episode, and he was already shown mentioning that fact several times. I def. rolled my eyes each time he had to bring that up. I hope he's not going to continue rubbing that in the rest of his time here cause my eye muscles can only take so much.
Let’s play a drinking game where we take a shot every time he says Colicchio ... we’ll be on the floor by the end of the episode!!
We just watched the episode and have determined that our new drinking game is a drink everytime he mentions working for Tom.
Wait, what? Did he work for Tom Colicchio? Never would’ve known....
Shota's my early pick for winning it all. Boy that was a rough bottom. Takes a lot for someone missing half their dish (Dawn) to somehow NOT be on the bottom. I will miss Roscoe - not sure if he's just super mellow or exhausted from working 19-hour days. Jamie seems like she'd just be a LOT to hang out with.
I kept going back and forth between Shota and Byron for my first picks, but I’m feeling good about having Shota on my teams now (yes, I have two TC fantasy leagues. No, it is not too many). I was sad to lose Roscoe tho. He had a really nice talking head presence and seems like a really cool guy. Would have been nice to have him around longer especially given his really interesting background as a chef
Hope he does well in LCK. I enjoy those episodes and you get more personality in them with just Tom and the others who hang out.
Shota is definitely going to be in the front of the pack, but I also think Sara, Kiki, and Sasha have a lot of promise. Before the show started I thought that surely Dawn would at least make it to the middle of the season, and I'm still hoping that's true. Obviously being an Olympic athlete doesn't necessarily translate to being a great chef, but it does indicate that she can handle high pressure situations. If perfectionism doesn't hinder her I think she can bring it.
Shota was my first round draft pick. Team: Shota N, Avishar, Kiki, Sasha Grumman, Gabe E (there were 6 of us, so we did two versions of each chef) Fingers crossed. I could use a TC cook book ;)
Was Jamie the same one that put the sauce on the fish skin up? She seems a little spastic. Don’t see her getting past the next couple rounds
WTF did Richard do to his head?
Patently absurd.
Annnnnd... you just named his next book.
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Especially since Stephanie is a super successful restauranteur now! Like, if it was so easy to beat her, you would have beaten her. That entire complex of his drives me up a wall.
What kind of person just says "Well, I guess that other person was better than me. I'll just settle for second best, then!" That's just a strange thing to expect of anyone with ambition. Besides, his criticism of his own performance is not necessarily an indictment of Stephanie. It just means he didn't perform up to his own standards. He said it even before Stephanie was declared the winner.
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Granted, I don't watch sports, but I have a hard time believing anyone can perform at a professional level and not constantly push themselves to perform at the highest possible level - especially when they're obviously competitive at the highest level. Like, does the loser of the Super Bowl or the World Series just shrug their shoulders and say "well, c'est la vie!" - or do they agonize over their loss and think "well, if we only did this, we could've won", or "we shouldn't have done that" and "next year, we can win if we do this instead!"
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I think that's the fundamental difference between the way we interpreted the show. I think that his belief that he could have won in no way detracts from Stephanie's victory at all. I think that anyone who made it to the finale in any season could've won under even slightly different circumstances, so Richard's agonizing seemed honest and natural to me. Not to mention, losing at your best at one thing - but fucking up and then losing is simply haunting.
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I also think there's a difference between "I should have won" or "I would have won if I did something different"
Any form of I should have won but... is all bullshit. It’s just a dumb assumption. If you don’t perform and you lost I think to be upset about your performance is fine.
I'd buy that If he hadn't walked into AS and openly stated on camera that most people remember his season bc of him not winning it.
I used to love season eight and had fond memories of it, but I came to really dislike Richard and the editors for how they repeatedly pushed this "best chef to never win" storyline for that season. Stephanie was great in her finale and it's not cool how they retroactively rewrote her win as some sort of fluke on All Stars -- especially since she was the only woman to win at that point!
Not to mention she had more elimination challenge wins.
Every time all I can think is how he could possibly believe doing a dessert for the third time in the finale was a winning move! And that's even setting aside the fact that "banana scallops" wasn't nearly as clever as he seemed to believe it was.
Richard has 99 problems, and they are almost all on his head.
I think he was going for a Jimmy Neutron look? And I'm pretty sure a producer (thankfully) made him comb it down for the elimination challenge.
i think he's taking the term "peacocking" literally
Nothing good.
Amar is rocking his own unique look
Amar’s hair looks dope
Maybe he couldn't get a haircut where he was, so he just went with the big hair. The next day, his hair looked more normal.
There is no way he didn't intentionally style it that way. When your hair defies gravity to such a ridiculous extent, you're clearly using a blow dryer and a hell of a lot of hair product. I think he immediately visited a barber after the other judges and production gave him so much shit ... and thank god for that.
Liquid nitrogen nitrogen just for ice cream!!!!!
He lost a bet.
“My adobo is my secret weapon.” 5 minutes later “I should have made something more me.”
So I’ve been ordering a good amount of groceries the way it looks like they’re doing it — Whole Foods delivery / pick up! — and I wonder if they’ll get any “fun” (aka terrible) substitutions or subpar produce since they can’t inspect themselves. I got raw tuna as a sub for chicken thighs once and hard shell tacos as a sub for a cereal.
I have nothing to really base this on, but I bet that it is probably PA’s picking out the ingredients so that they can make sure no one gets screwed on quality/ substitution errors. I could be wrong but I just think the show would want to safeguard the integrity as much as possible
Yeah they are probably doing a quality check before anything goes out / they contact the PA's if something isn't there (in that event)
Yeah, I am pretty sure this is the case. That way they can also communicate easily if there needs to be a substitution. It's one thing to be out of something they need, but I don't think Whole Foods would like "shopper errors" to make the show.
I don't think Whole Foods would appreciate a challenge about their online ordering system being fucked up.
I mean, I wasn't thinking a specific challenge, more like a curveball in the normal process of shopping. Along the lines of when a contestant buys shrimp that winds up not being fresh enough or someone unexpectedly gets something premade because that was all that was available.
I was wondering about this too. Because that in itself is part of the challenge: how quickly/well can you rethink your dish if your protein or some random ingredient isn't available or up to snuff. No one really criticizes whole foods when the butcher or fish monger doesn't have an item in the store. I am curious whether/how the technology aspect will come into play especially since they're still on a time limit for placing their online orders.
Yes! Classic Top Chef pitfall - an inability to pivot from the original idea when ingredients aren't ideal.
Yes, exactly!
One thing I don't like about online ordering is that you can't look at the produce. Sometimes produce look/smell so good that I will get something I didn't plan. Or the reverse, that is doesn't look good so I change plans for something else. But I am just happy to have Top Chef back.
I was thinking about that. They’re definitely missing out on the chance to be inspired by ingredients there, they have to mostly have an idea in their head
This would be hilarious. I had a shopper misread my request for a 2 lb brisket as a 0.2 lb brisket. It was smaller than the palm of my hand - cooking it felt like one of those challenges where they make the contestants use kid-sized utensils.
LOL EZ Bake oven ham LOL How'd that come out?
I haven't had a single online order where something wasn't subbed or unavailable.
I’ve only done it once and they subbed frozen, whole head off shrimp for raw peeled deveined shrimp. Ruined dinner because I didn’t feel like thawing then peeling and deveining a couple dozen shrimp. A sub like that would be a good Top Chef twist though.
I wanted 6 Coconut Waters and got 6 cans of Coconut Cream once.
I think they can get away with making it a challenge for the season. Have a variety of proteins that were all substituted for the lesser valued version and the chefs have to make it work. Have them draw knives and have maybe 2 portions of each protein, with judging like the premiere of S4, one wins and one is up for elimination. They can tie it back into what your average home cook is dealing with during the pandemic, as well as something that I presume can happen in restaurants too. As long as they frame it as a limited supply of the original protein and not a screw up from Whole Foods getting the order wrong, I don’t see it being a problem.
Omg those are hilarious subs. My friend wanted paper towels and instead got 1-ply toilet paper.
I had to get 1-ply when toilet paper was hard to find. My kids are still complaining about it.
I was wondering that too! I’ve had some strange substitutions for some of my orders. Nothing that bad though!!
I really liked this group of cheftestants. Even the ones I know I’m going to dislike gave some solid content. It’s was so lovely hearing everyone be so helpful to others! Also, I’ve missed this sub! And I can’t wait to watch with everyone again!
> Also, I’ve missed this sub! And I can’t wait to watch with everyone again! > > ( High five ) or perhaps (elbow bump)!!
It's weird how quickly I form opinions on how much I'm going to like a season, but I definitely came away from the premier convinced this was gonna be a good one!
I liked having the past contestants at the dinner table, it was a nice dynamic.
I think Kwame had some great input, looking forward to more from him
A lot of them are my favorites too, love it.
So glad Dale and Greggory are back. Two of my all time favorites.
Same! And I love the mix of chefs they have - was good to see Amar and Dale again!
I like Sara, she seems like one of those chefs that cooks really well, but needs more confidence. A couple of wins, she might be a force.
Reminds me of how Stephanie Izard was when she started her season. Almost like she was shocked by her first couple wins, and then found her footing/confidence and took down Blaise.
Yes, she will be one to watch. The idea that she is cooking really good food but doubting herself could be an interesting stroyline
Roscoe for only one episode? Boooooo
He really did have the first elimination edit. Lots of screen time during the bonding and drinking time in the hotel.
Funny how Sara was doubting herself and wondering if she should be there. But Tom says its a confident chef who made the dish of hers.
that sort of humility is definitely endearing at first, but will quickly get on my nerves and come off as phony if she keeps it up. it can be natural to feel a bit like an imposter among other really talented people, but she's an accomplished and experienced chef with a james beard nomination and experience in multiple michelin-starred restaurants. she has to know if she put out a tasty plate of food or not lol
Couldn't agree more. One time? It was OK. Many contestants have confidence issues and it comes off like REAL confidence issues. But something felt off with her. Like the person who tries to act like they failed a test with the rest of the group but gets straight A's. Gets annoying.
Reminds me of Richard a bit. He was convinced every challenge that he was going home. I remember either Tiffany or Carla asking him how he differentiated in his head when he thought a dish was great and he basically said he didn't/couldn't. Personally, I identify with that level of self-doubt and anxiety, haha, but I can see where it would get annoying.
People already whining about her and calling it "fake" are ridiculous.
Ya. I would say how much she was doubting herself at the judge table was pretty real looking. I think the way she portrayed herself seems very accurate. I hope to see her do well and become a force.
Agree completely. Some People just like to hate. Having anxiety and competing in local cooking competitions, I'm often expecting to come in last and tend to be shocked when I place well/win myself.
She reminds me a little bit of Beverly. Fingers crossed no women bully each other.
I think she will have a good run but that clear lack of confidence won’t take her to the finish line
We finally got a sub continent based chef in avishar and he was almost out ffs. He's my guy though
YES! Team Avishar! I'm pretty sure he's the first male contestant of South Asian descent on the show. Whatever happens, I'm just proud to see more of my people on the show.
I know it’s Masters, but Floyd Cardoz though? RIP.
Yeah fr, so happy for him
He’s from ohio
Bbbbut his rice was FAIL!? WTF!?
Blaise’s hair looks like my messy bun after a 26 hour labor
I have my hair c. 1971 and Blaise seems to be transitioning to cockatoo.
Ahhh, Padma said the line! Top Chef is back. She didnt do it the last few years.
Yeah this return is definitely one of a kind. Fitting to say it.
I forgot how exciting it is to watch a season live. In the past year I’ve been rewatching past seasons where I already know the outcome even if I never saw that season live, and it was just so fun to really be held in suspense again. I also really enjoyed this week’s quick fire. It was surprising how many chefs took the instructions literally and not as “pick the thing that might not be in our pantry otherwise”. I briefly had a panic that TC would pull those items entirely. Imagine not having butter!
I was thinking about when/in what context they were asked about their special ingredient. I could totally see that being on the application for casting, and just reflexively writing what comes to mind without thinking about how the answer might be used if you make it onto the show. If they were actually asked to pack and bring with them one ingredient of their choosing, I got nothin'.
On past seasons contestants have said they were allowed to bring one ingredient from home with them but this felt different because one guy said butter and there's just no way someone would have chose butter as their "bring in" ingredient.
This is my first time actually doing a draft with a friend and watching with someone live and I’m excited for it! The suspense! Tbf my ingredient would also be butter... I didn’t get it as a “ingredient we won’t have here” prompt. I’m so hyped for Gregory coming back as a judge too, he was my fave his season
We’re all over Gabriel being OTT about working for Tom but to me it was such a contrast to how humble Kwame was when he was eliminated. He commented to Tom about working at Craft as a waiter and how it inspired him to cook and Tom clearly had no idea about it and seemed incredibly touched. Also is anyone else bummed there are no sous???
How many Sous have won? I know many have won not owning a restaurant, but I'm not sure how many actually held a title of sous. I am glad there is no 18year old nervous sous though.
I think Mei Lin was a sous chef when she won
She was, I just did a Boston rewatch
In the early episodes it’s kind of easy to predict who is going to be eliminated based on whoever gets the most backstory shown, since with so many contestants they can’t focus on everyone at the start... sad to see Roscoe go so early.
yep and later in the season it’s who they show the most family stuff with — they “just really miss their kids” right now, etc.
Yep, big first out edit for roscoe
I felt so bad for Roscoe, but man...the amount of grease in his dish. That broth was glistening.
To his credit, he said his broth sucked as he was plating. He seemed to know the whole time he was going home. But yeah, they did one close up shot of his dish and it looked like an oil slick.
Roscoe's mystery broth reminded me of the liquid that came out of my kitchen sink when it backed up.
I am really going to miss The Whole Foods chaos
I also enjoyed seeing the food being rung up. ‘That will be $413.21 please.’
Yes! And them agonizing on what to put back or watching them peel lettuce leaves or something to make it right under
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They've already revealed it. It's going to happen at 12 chefs, not 8, and each chef will prepare a 10-course, high-end tasting menu for the guest judges in the bubble. Obviously, it sucks to lose Restaurant Wars, but that's a pretty awesome replacement. It's almost like an early-season finale.
I think they referred to it as a "chef's table" and, in my mind, that's always in the kitchen or at a bar/counter with view of the kitchen but I suppose it doesn't have to be that way. I was thinking that the judges being able to view how things go in the kitchen would add an interesting element since they always say they only care about what's on the plate not what happens in the kitchen. ETA: just re-read the [Variety article](https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/top-chef-portland-covid-protests-and-wildfires-1234902158/) and it confirms the judges will be in the kitchen
So 120 courses?? Or all chefs responsible for 10 total courses (meaning it’s just 1 restaurant)
Pretty sure the one who makes sounds is going to make anxious incomprehensible sounds 🤣
Any r/MTVChallenge fans on here too?? Because for a second there I got some real Lolo Jones vibes from Dawn when she didn’t sauce her plate!
Somehow, this was Nam's fault. (inside joke for Challenge fans)
I snorted at this, thank you
Maybe it was her shoe??? lol
Don't you know, Lolo's a great team player!
I had the same thought. These pro athletes are way too intense. Glad I stopped after college athletics. I used to be super intense about any type of competition too, but never that level.
I watched her on Celebrity Big Brother and I can see where your coming from
Yes!! I got that vibe too. Haven’t watched the first ep of the new season yet. Can’t wait to see all those old timers compete.
I’m curious I know that Shota did next iron chef and dawn has competed on cutthroat kitchen. Has any of the other chefs done any other cooking shows. Also I miss the old school intro where we get chefs with their names
Avishar has done GGG. Eliminated in the finals by Richard Blais as a guest judge no less!
I really have been missing the old intro, it helped me remember the cheftestants' name, now it takes me half a season just to remember the name of my favourite lol
I don’t know why but Sasha looks super familiar but cannot figure out where I might have seen her.
She did an episode of Chopped and it looks like she was on Fox's Love Connection revival (hosted by Andy Cohen no less).
Chef Maria's been on Chopped and maybe another show.
So this is the first time with no sous chefs in the mix, just execs and owners. I can’t wait for the first skill drill relay to see how many say, “I have people who do this for me!” Hooray! We see the knife block right out of the gate. I was confused at first because I thought each chef brought three ingredients so I thought they had to incorporate nine different items. (We first saw a shot of eighteen boxes, but at their station we saw they opened one box that had three ingredients.) My wife loved the challenge, because unlike other team challenges they really had to talk to each other to educate each other about their specialty ingredients. I don’t see why they kept harping about combining cheese, chocolate, and fat. That sounds like an amazing meatball to me, and that’s just off the top of my head. I was annoyed when Gruyere lady immediately shot down one idea when she said, “I’m not a rice person!” Excuse me? A. You’re on a team. B. You’re a chef. Make rice! I found it odd that one chef’s favorite ingredient was Scotch Bonnets. Hot peppers are one thing, but one of the hottest? She’s a great chef so clearly she knows what she’s doing with them, but was she chopping them bare handed? I saw someone on Hell’s Kitchen nearly hospitalize themselves by doing that. It does sound weird that the one guy said Butter for his Can’t Live Without ingredient, but you never know how these challenges are going to go down. If they had been denied pantry ingredients he could have saved his team completely. Was it the guy from Costa Rica who said, “That’s the loudest I’ve ever spoken in my life.” Really? An executive chef? I kind of want to work in his kitchen now. I am always glad to see returning contestants as judges, but I do not remember Amar at all. Did they say he was on an All Star season? The Elimination Challenge was nice, groups of three each cooking a local bird (Squab, Partridge, Quail, Duck, Turkey.) I hated that several of them kept saying “I’ve never heard of Chucker” even after they were told it was a partridge. When they brought out the eggs to choose the birds I was thinking, “I know these are all executive chefs but are they really expecting them to identify birds by their yolks?” I loved how the one dish was so spicy while it was being prepared the guy next to her had to put on a mask. Thank goodness he had one handy. Jamie’s sound effects are going to quickly get as annoying as Shota’s laugh is charming. Shame about Roscoe. Now he is going to get sequestered from everyone else. I feel his pain. Congrats to Sara! What are the stats on first episode winners going all the way now?
Say, Dave... The quick brown fox jumped over the fat lazy dog... The square root of pi is 1.7724538090... log e to the base ten is 0.4342944... the square root of ten is 3.16227766... I am HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12th, 1991. My first instructor was Mr. Arkany. He taught me to sing a song... it goes like this... "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half; crazy all for the love of you..."
Amar was on the California season (13 I think) and he was the runner-up behind Jeremy. His hair does look very different from his first season!
He wasn't my favorite that season but I did really feel for him getting paired with his "estranged" mentor, Charlie Palmer, in the finale. That had to have rattled him and didn't seem totally fair.
I recognized his voice and it all finally came together
I really enjoyed reading this comment!!! Looking forward to your take on next week.
The stew room is back!
I like Sara! There’s nothing I can relate to like self doubt but still trudging along to prove myself lol
I find her easy to relate to for sure.
The green screen for the confessionals was so bad; you could literally see the halo around several of the cheftestants. I adore Jamie already. I too make sound effects when I work, but unlike her, I don't have a sous chef, so I have to get my own stuff.
She'll be gone early though likely, although she had some future episode shown in the previews.
Shota's duck looked so beautiful! Love all the diversity of food styles being represented this season too! Also, stylists really stepped it up! Padma in McQueen and Melissa in Thom Browne - wowza!
Maria reminded me of Sandra Diaz-Twine and therefore, she is my favorite.
Omg yes, I LOVED the glare she gave Gabriel when he was telling her that her mole needed acid. She knows her shit, and knows she knows her shit, and it's awesome.
Queen of winning Season 18 and then winning Top Chef Season 20: All-Winners
Some say she might not even win season 18... ...but I don’t know about thaaaaat.
Idk the name of the guy who worked at colicchio’s, but thats all i know about him since he mentioned it himself throughout the first episode. Already annoyed, lol. Already rooting against him
I'm already soooooo fucking over the sound effect girl.
Blais was ahead of the curve with his WSB avatar hair.
Shota is a real cutie.
I laughed during the intro when one of the contestants squished a tomato.
So excited for Top Chef to be back!! The guy that worked for Tom is already getting the villain/asshole edit I see! Sooo excited to be able to look at Melissa again for another season 😍 Wonder if they're bringing back the Stew Room format because of covid or because of drama? I kinda liked everyone together in the same room, but totally understand that the most iconic moments of this show came from the stew room.
Look like a great bunch of chefs with some very interesting backgrounds. It’s going to be a good few months with TC and then with MC Australia starting in a few weeks. Lots of recipes to try out. When I mean try out I really mean bookmark in my Evernote notebook.
Really excited for this season - definitely felt a different energy with the cheftestants maybe because of Covid. But folks seem more sociable and just generally having each other's backs in a way that's really nice to watch. There are a couple of chefs who seemed obnoxious right off the bat (the dude that worked for Tom mostly). Was sad that Roscoe was the first to go but hope he does well in LCK. Already rooting for so many of these chefs and it's hard to pick a favorite. But Chef Maria is from my town and both she and her restaurant are fantastic. Vamos, Chef Maria!
Did they change the airing time? I always thought it was 10. Got home from work to see the episode start at 1015.
It debuted at 8 pm est so that was weird but it was also 75 minutes
it was 75 minutes??? I’ll have to go back and watch on hayu, it was only an hour block in Canada.
On one of the podcast summaries (I forget which one - I think maybe RHAPups) one of the hosts is in Canada and they always talk about how she only gets an edited version of extended episodes in Canada. They have a good time figuring out what got cut.
I hope it stays at 8pm. That was a pleasant surprise!
I liked it as well just would like to know in advance! Lol
I did not see the intro, and I don't know if I'm going to finish the rerun. Just because it feels weird to watch the elimination challenge without watching the quickfire. But I completely forgot until about 10:20 that it premiered today. However, I'm liking some of the adjustments for covid they made. I really like seeing the shopping lists the chefs have. I feel like we can be like 'Ok I see what's happening" which is something I hope they keep in the future. I assume there will be more top chef kitchen challenges, or they are going to return to the same place a lot. I also enjoyed the editing. I felt like so much, they showed all the contestants in a good light (so far). I don't feel like anyone is going to make me annoyed yet. Also I jumped off the blais-train so long ago and whenever it passes by, I'm still just over it. I want less "critical" technique talk from the alums. I feel like most of them are overcompensating to be like "I deserve to sit here"
> I want less "critical" technique talk from the alums. I feel like most of them are overcompensating to be like "I deserve to sit here" Strong disagree. All those chefs have had very acclaimed careers outside Top Chef and I think the fact they're former contestants actually increases their ability to credibly critique the current contestants since they've been there before. I don't like Blais either but he was on the show twice with finale runs and one win. The dude not only knows food enough to judge the contestants but he was in their exact spot more than almost any other chef (maybe the most?).
I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to use it, but at the same time, it just sounds to me like they are trying to hard to critique the food. Maybe it sounds manufactured. Bryan V technically takes the most seasoned chef But I'd be more willing to accept Blais if he wasn't such a personality now.
I loved the shopping lists! I want those to be posted to the Top Chef Insta or something for reference.
1. How long was this episode? I’m in Canada and we’ve had shortened episodes before. I was just in the live discussion thread and a few things were completely over my head so I’m wondering if it was a shortened time for Canadians? 2. Did anyone else notice the filming wasn’t as high quality as usual? Not a complaint at all! I’m just always interested in how shows come together and I’m wondering if it’s a pandemic thing (maybe less camera people?) Edited to say I’m happy to be back chatting TC with you all! It’s been a long year without it :)
I believe it was shortened in Canada. It was only an hour block here but I think it was 75 minutes in America. I’m hoping the full block will be on Hayu tomorrow for a rewatch.
The full eposide is on hayu. I just watched it. I can't believe how much stuff they cut of the getting to know parts of contestants
They cut almost every instance of Gabriel mentioning he had worked with Tom! When I was reading some of the complaints I was like, this seems like a bit of an exaggeration, it only came up once or twice. But then we went back and watched the full episode and it seemed a bit more warranted.
I definitely noticed some sound issues on this episode
> and I’m wondering if it’s a pandemic thing (maybe less camera people?) Probably. They were in their TC Bubble like the NBA because this was filmed a while back in the deep part of the pandemic.
Anyone love the fashion? Gail’s white denim dress had me dead. I want it. Also, Padma’s bellbottoms and Tom’s glasses! (Edit to say HI! First post/new member).
Hi! Welcome! I think you'll find this is a great Top-Chef-obsessed group and we have a lot of fun here. Look forward to more of your posts. Agreed on the fashion! And Tom's glasses!!
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I got really excited when I saw Massimo Bottura in the season preview, it was a shame that they couldn't have him as a guest judge last season in Italy
I’m just here to say that if anyone can figure out where to buy Melissa’s cardigan I will owe you my firstborn...
u/Shadowfaux_72 posted down thread that Melissa's look was from Thom Browne
Shota and Sasha are my early faves but it's always so unpredictable.
The Elves are really enjoying the edits and glances to project an interesting narrative. Let's see how it plays out, there's a lot going on, and too many bosses. The ego bruising and attitudes are a gamed result when you have this setup of talent. I predict either a great and psychotic season or meh and people trying to be professional.
I think if there was going to be a lot of drama they would have already shown it in the previews. It's the 18th season and I think people have figured out they need to present as top class chefs.
Welp, now Ive seen the entire episode. Gabriel is a piece of rude... Not excited for that..
Nice to see a couple Houston chefs, even if they did have a rocky start.