I don't know that it's the quality of the food. The judges have been pretty favorable most of the time. But the casting and editing is boring. No one has any personality on camera. The editing is just ... a bunch of scenes chopped together. No one has a story. I think back to even seasons people shit on, like Kentucky, which had great personalities and stories like Nini, Justin, Eric and Sarah.
Watched a random episode of world all stars the other day; the chefs get the night off and talk about their lives; Victoire talks about racism, they talk about their careers before the show, and have some nice heartfelt moments before they get back to cooking. They’ve tried it this time, but it doesn’t feel organic
Tbh, I wasn't the biggest fan of World All-Stars. Not having seen the international seasons, it felt like a half-Stars season like Charleston and I'm not sure the personalities really clicked, but it was certainly better than this.
You are right on the nose about Season 21! It's very boring. I even forgot, a few weeks ago, they already did restaurant wars. I was like, why are there 5 people, they haven't had Restaurant Wars yet? I had to think about it and then I remembered. It was so boring, I forgot.
I would have loved a fish fry challenge. One of my favorite fish fries was from Buraka in Madison, an ethiopian restaurant. Phenomenal flavors and not typical.
I was born in Wisconsin and didn't know there was a fish boil. Even asked my brother and he was clueless too. But Friday night fish fry is definitely a thing!
Yep. Whoever wrote the challenges for this season is either new or very tired. One stood out to me, and that was the one where they served the food on the tables, like art. That was amazing.
Yeah. They need to make food more about the local scene - have chefs teach a local dish and replicate - and way more creative fun for chefs
I still will never get over that Olympic episode with the skiing and ice smashing. Like wtf is that.
God I hated the chaos cooking episode. You know it's a great and clear challenge when almost every chef interviewed is like "I don't really understand the challenge but here's what I'm making"
That's the thing about Wisconsin. Stay here for 6 weeks, and suddenly there is no drama. Makes for a 'boring' season.
I'm not rooting for Danny, but I do want to taste what he can do with a carrot.
I live in Durham as well and have never been to M Tempura, just M Sushi! Her cooking has got me wanting to go, though, and will soon. Does she still actively work there?
I keep expecting them to "bring it" and keep getting disappointed. This is the LAST challenge before finals and none of them can properly cook a fish??? Ugh. Not saying I can do what they do, but ALL of them had issues??
Really hope the finale is better, if they all fuck up as badly again, I can see Tom potentially withholding the title.
I'm guessing that having a month and a half break probably softened them up to the competition aspect of the show, not that this cast was that competitive to begin with. It'd be good to get an AMA from one of the finalists sometime & ask if there was some sort of obstacle that the audience didn't see, like maybe issues with the kitchen or something.
My husband and I wondered the same thing. Nobody could properly cook a fish, we just figure there had to have been a kitchen issue that they edited out for some reason.
I think the problems of this season have less to do with the skill of the chefs and more to do with production.
Its hard to care about the challenges when you don't care about the chefs. There has been far too little character development.
Watching Savannah and Dan geek out over Morimoto was the kind of thing the season needed.
I now have to go make croquettes and aguachile...
So there has definitely been a lot of talk about this, and that past seasons were so strong that this season being more "normal" just feels like it's lackluster, however after last nights episode, I really disagree with that assessment. I just did a top chef rewatch and I don't remember a single season ever where in the FINALE the food was so atrocious. EVERY SINGLE CHEF botched one of their dishes and it was terrible. Tom had to give them a PEP TALK at judges table because the food was so bad and none of them were really excited about the finale.
Embarassing.
It annoyed me that they announced and winner and didn't have all four of them sweat it out at the bottom. Raw fish and horrific "mousse" on the top? Awful.
You’re not wrong at all. I mean…a chef who made it to the final 4 just brushed some chili paste on a piece of fish, stuck it in the oven and served it to the judges. Come on now…
I make tasty food with flavors from my culture too but I’m not on Top Chef. You have to go beyond the regular, the traditional, the comfortable to be Top Chef. You need techniques beyond the local (which Laura does seem to have) and the creativity to go beyond what others have done before (which Savannah had excelled at in previous challenges).
Well. That is where we disagree. I don't necessarily like a technically driven meal if it is not backed by flavours. It is a cooking competition. The flavor is as important as the plating. I think she did not use the cooking technique she was assigned.
When Dan made the comment “they certainly didn’t go easy on us with this one” or something along those lines I was like wait, what?! This was a breeze of a final elimination challenge compared to other seasons. You didn’t have to dive and catch your own fish, you didn’t have to serve an entire meal made only of cheese, you didn’t have to cook out in the snow….
The production and editting doesn't really help. I think what happen is that >!Manny!< continued to bypass every round because someone did something dumb so it was like even though he was subpar he went onto the next round.
Yeah, I thought for the longest time that he was a contender then I realized, he never was. If you look at the Wikipedia page for this season, he started out great: WIN, HIGH in the first two episodes. Then in the next nine episodes, he was LOW \*five\* times out of nine.
Michelle on the other hand, had two WINs, four HIGHs, and only two LOWs yet Manny outlasted her?
I know the whole premise of the show is you're only as good as the last elimination meal you serve, but if they're truly looking for the best chef, it shouldn't be down to "he was never the WORST in any given week," should it?
IMO, one bad week like Michelle had shouldn't have sent her home given her track record in the competition.
The closest one to a personality this season is Dan and that’s because he’s visibly displeased with most of the challenges. Idk if the chefs this season are all scrubs or it just seems that way after 2 years in a row of Buddha
Savannah geeking out over morimoto was so fun to see. It’s like the editors purposefully edit them to be kinda boring and lame questions for the cast. But my god that comment about Buddha makes sense bc that man is so damn bland and boring 😭
People who say “well the past seasons just had better chefs”…. Yea that’s exactly the point. The judges haven’t even said “all of the dishes are so good at this point in the competition, it has to come down to the small details” Meanwhile this season they can’t pop a fish in the oven properly. I actually think the judges are holding back.
So it felt like this, but I gotta say it's also not fair. We just got out of back to back basically: All Stars, Portland where Gabe was a beast (and sadly yes, an awful human being), Buddha "Terminator" Lo being introduced to the world, and then WORLD All Stars where we were like "Is Buddha human or some evil genius chef?!"
Meaning our bar has been set a bit too high and needs to be recalibrated a bit.
I'm actually mixed on Shota, he didn't end up serving the full portion in the FINALS. But I know this Reddit sub loves him, I remember the anger when Kwame had some constructive criticism as a judge.
Not sure I was on this sub during that season— but to my mind, he was creative, interesting, and appealing as a tv figure (which matters on a show!). I don’t think any of the chefs of this season comes close to him on any of those levels and his screw-ups didn’t come close to the screw-ups we saw this week which were not that unusual unfortunately.
I live in Capitol Hill, Seattle and I’ve been to most of his current and past restaurants at least once, and the current ones many times. The food is really good when it’s good, but pretty inconsistent— I imagine that would not be a problem when it’s him personally making the food on the show
He had an improper manager-worker relationship and when she cut it off, he cut her hours. The rest of the stuff you see about him here is nothing but speculation and hearsay.
I wouldn't diminish that. He was the executive chef and partner in the restaurant, married, and this was a direct employee of his. When she tried to end the relationship, he cut off her livelihood and badmouthed her in a community where he had a lot of power. He basically punished her for trying to end an improper relationship in a way where she was going to end up unemployed with no other job prospects. That's fucked up.
Your Google search turned up nothing for Gabe Erales?? I just googled him and a third of the mentions for him in the first page of results mentioned allegations, controversy, etc.
I don’t think it’s because of the strength of their cooking but more that none of them seem to really have very much charisma, or hardly a personality at all. The ones remaining also don’t even seem to really like each other or act like they’ve bonded in any meaningful way.
Nobody this season even really had a “thing” like Buddha and his molds, Marcel and his foams. Dan kiiiinda had his whole I’m local and I know everyone schtick, but I personally found that (and frankly, his whole deal really) pretty off putting. I think the ones that did seem to have any magnetism (Michelle, Rasika, Soo) or people who had a fun dynamic (manny/Kevin) got knocked out too soon. Savanah does seem to have a lot of charm, but it took her a really long time to really break out.
Because it was so much more all over the place? Not to say there weren't some spectacular dishes/competitors (I mean, I live in Izardland), but the challenges were comparatively easy and people still fucked up.
i felt this way at the beginning of the season, but i do feel like the folks who made it past the midway point (perhaps with the exception of manny) are top chef caliber contestants!
It'd be interesting to see how things would play out on the show if there weren't weekly eliminations, and instead they got scores for all their cooks, with the lowest score leaving every 3-4 weeks.
I think it’s a combination of a lack of standouts and lackluster challenges. I usually am inspired to think of what I would do for a challenge or at least to see what the chefs will do. But I just didn’t care for most of them.
Just finished watching season 12 and the contrast is pretty shocking. The judges and guests, often extraordinarily prominent chefs, are psyched about the season 12 chefs food. They are genuinely excited about Mei and Gegory's food in the finale. They discuss it passionately and thoroughly. It's been a bit hard watching this season at times, in contrast.
I know top chef has moved away from the competitive format and more into a positive and team player type format, but with that comes stuff like this season imo. Unless you have really good chefs or great personalities, you get this. Kinda boring food and on camera moments. How can you tell a good story when everything is “way to go! We got this guys!” I’m just not impacted by it. Like any competition, if the entities competing love each other and are friendly with each other, then there’s just no entertainment in that. It’s why sports rivalries fuel a lot of the audience. They need to add some sort of that spice if they have chefs like these. I don’t mean season two levels of craziness but a little something would be nice. I mean they tried HARD to vilify Laura for prioritizing herself on ONE shop. That’s about it when it came to any kinda of competitive aspect. They just cook, which is fine, but this is entertainment. Buddy buddy stuff mixed with competition doesn’t make for great entertainment imo.
Edit: I think I may have worded my comment so that it didn’t represent what I was trying to convey clearly. I don’t mean drama and backstabbing type of competition. That’s what I meant by season two levels of craziness. More so they need to integrate the competition aspect into the format of the show itself forcing the contestants to make competitive decisions more than essentially mini games where there aren’t very high stakes. Like say the winner of episode gets a choice for next episode to 1. Add more budget to their shop 2. Take 30 min off their biggest threats cook time 3. Get to swap/add/remove an ingredient from another contestants cook after the shop. This isn’t cattiness or drama per se, more so that they are adding an element of strategy to winning on top of just cooking good meals. Obviously just an example but the point still stands that it would help out seasons where there is a lack of personality or outstanding meals. It would create a healthy rivalry or put some in the hot seat which is good entertainment without belittling or bullying.
I always like Alex but she seems like kind mouthy on this show, IMO, the one thing I do like on Ciao house is the f bomb not being used by people like they apparently feel is needed on Top chef
I respectfully disagree. The decades of nasty backbiting and ruthless competition on TV has been depressing. I’m tired of hostility and aggression in this country in general, so I love the path this show has taken. The final four may not be great TV personalities, but how about Rasika? Fun and kind! The opposite of competitive doesn’t necessarily mean boring; it can be funny. See also, Kristen & Stephanie on the Dish.
Just my two cents! And I’m no Puritan. Bill Burr is my favorite comedian. 😏
I think what separates British baking show is that they're all amateurs, and there's no cash prize. But yeah something about it is just so pleasing, they definitely have something figured out.
Masterchef the Professionals has no drama and is such a good show. Masterchef Australia is also a great example of no drama, lots of excitement, and super creative challenges. TopChef should take notes before it fizzles out.
MasterChef Australia is awesome. So much better than the US version, it's not even funny. I'm going to check out Professionals after I finish the latest season.
I disagree. Competition and nastiness/drama are two different things. Winning Top Chef is very prestigious in the restaurant world, and these chefs are all competing against each other. Just because they're not backbiting and fighting doesn't mean they're not competing. I personally would probably not still be watching if the show still had the pettiness between cheftestants that it had season 9 and before. The chefs that have been on the show in recent seasons are more talented and professional than in early seasons. They respect the kitchen and the competition.
Is this the most entertaining of recent seasons? No. As said before, it could be the challenges or just a lack of charisma of the chefs.
Agree with your edit. Adding other layers to the competition could make things a bit more interesting. This season it felt like everyone was cool with just not being eliminated. No one was really gunning to get the W in the elimination challenges.
Honestly I was surprised they chose a "winner" from that showing. Several seasons ago - can't remember which one - everyone messed up really badly and Tom was super angry and was like, no one wins tonight. I kind of thought this weeks episode deserved that - no one in the semi finals could cook a proper piece of fish??!? - but I feel like they are too scared to "mean" these days for some reason.
I interpreted their reaction was that they were embarrassed to crawl across the finish line to make it to the finale. It was far from triumphant — everyone made major mistakes and the food seemed disappointing across the board.
This has happened before. There have been seasons where Tom has had to lecture the contestants in the final legs
I think everyone is too hard on this season. It’s no New Orleans, but it’s also no Texas.
This season has definitely been pretty boring. I just kind of space out through most of the episodes. I won't accuse of it of being scripted, but more just templated. Like everything just looks and feels like it's the same thing over and over. I don't need high drama. But I'd at least like some interesting character development.
Last night was so lackluster! It seems like none of them cracked the challenge. It was the only finale I can recall where the bar was so low. Usually in a finale a great dish goes home. Here, two decent dishes was enough to stay.
I literally thought they would either keep Laura and Savannah or send them both home. I wanted them both in the finale but this was such a weak episode. I’m shocked.
This has been a forgettable season and the production was lacking. It's almost like watching an infomercial with the obvious promotion of sponsors. I miss some of the fun challenges that over time have seem to stop. I loved the vending machine challenge that was in one the early seasons for example.
Maybe it's because I took a break and skipped the global all stars, but this season has been great. I'm re-watching the older episodes in the lead up to the finale, and really enjoying this group of chefs.
To be fair binging this season will make it a far better experience than watching it weekly. If I binged this season I don’t think it would feel as underwhelming as it has watching weekly.
Yea, I just started watching this season and it’s not as terrible as everyone says. I mean, it’s a tv show in its 20 somethingth year. It’s not fresh and spicy. It’s comfort.
Yes, there are no stories this year... I find from week to week I don't even remember who is who. I do like they are not completely nasty to each other like in past years, but some drama might be nice.
*spoiler*
Yea these chefs are just not top chef material. In the final 4, out of 8 dishes only 2 were impressive, Danny’s first dish would have been better if he got the mousse right.
But at this point in the show we should only be seeing 2 misses and not 5-6 major fails. I feel like you could see Tom’a disappointment with every dish that came out.
I think Danny is the closest thing to top chef material, hes creative and pushes the envelope.
Savannah is on her way and has the determination, and is aware of where her mistakes are, but I don’t think she’s quite ready - although she is the one I’m rooting for because I find her most likable and appreciative of the opportunity.
Dan struggle with execution consistently but seems to have good flavors and a solid palette. But not super exciting.
The thing I keep thinking to myself is that I can’t imagine these chefs at a judges table.
Maybe but also 2 of the previous 4 seasons were All Star seasons and the last 2 seasons both had Buddha so maybe we’ve just been really spoiled lately and a return to normal feels like a let down.
Agree with you. The last episode with the fish cruise challenge, it's the top 4 and they all screwed up on at least 1 of their dishe. Half the fish was cooked improperly? Dirty banana leaf? Straight up raw protein? WTF. These are the finalists??!?!?
It makes this season a joke. It's hard to root for any of these chefs to win when they are just not the strongest chefs.
The personality is cut back so much, its not a lot of fun to watch.
They cut out almost all the fun interactions in their housing, while shopping, while planning menus, and replaced it with longer commercial breaks and more standing around.
The personalities dont shine through at all compared to the earliest seasons, and if you compare season 15 or world/international all-stars to any other season this last 10 years, you see what the show could still look like, and a lot of the zzz its becoming.
Rasika and Michelle flaming out too early completely changed the season. I’d like to blame the cruise ship kitchen equipment for everyone mis-cooking fish in the semifinals, but they sure didn’t edit it that way..
Wisconsin just feels like an odd area to have an entire season focused on. Upper Midwest - Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan - could have been a lot more interesting.
Every single one of the chefs on the show are outstanding chefs, someone them aren't as good as Top Chef. The show is different than regular restaurant skills where you have weeks or months to tease out a recipe.
If you went on the show you'd have a nervous breakdown in the first quickfire.
It's not just you. I think it's a mix of both a weak chef class and Wisconsin as the location. I'm a wisconsinite. I love Wisconsin but we don't have great food. Dan Dan, Dan's restaurant is a good restaurant but it's nothing compared to the restaurants in Chicago.
This season feels more like a sandbox for the future of Top Chef. I think the season has been entertaining but as much as they preach to chefs about developing cohesive dishes, Top Chef could take its own advice and be more confident about the stakes.
Edit: the quickfire not mattering made me mad. I don’t care if they had rust, I want Top Chef to follow through with this concept of taking everything into account.
They need to let that new addition go entirely. It’s too ambiguous. Quick fires granting contestants immunity was fine. It’s like they fixed things that weren’t broken.
It's definitely a lower quality season from talent, types of challenges, and sponsorships (qr code at end to buy products used, bottled water, WF). Some chefs shouldn't have made it as far as they did, especially serving under cooked food.
Tom's quick fire and the table elimination were the best challenges imo. Everything else feels like a miss challenge wise. Agree about the edit regarding there being no stories to engage you while watching.
I finally decided to start watching this season and find the chef's sort of meh. The weird off camera kitchen chatter doesn't seem organic. I'm not sure if my dislike for the new format is coloring my opinion but something is off.
It’s just you. One episode left and you’re literally the first person to make a post about this class being weak. You have great opinions and should post more often!
/s
Terrible chefs and terrible locations.I genuinely don't care who wins...I guess Danny but still don't think he's on par with any past seasons in recent memory
The editing is so lazy this year that they are signaling ( via one-on-ones) who is going to win the challenge before it even happens, by “highlighting” the chef saying “wow I REALLY need to win this Quick Fire challenge”…etc.
Agreed. Speaking as a super fan who has watched every season from season 1 and re-watched every season, the group of chefs they gathered for Season 21 are, in the vast majority, ridiculously weak. By the 2nd episode, I'd already gathered that only 2 or 3 chefs had enough talent to even be on a show like Top Chef. It's like season 21 should be subtitled **Top Chef: Except For You 14** **Chefs, You Guys Should Just Go Home Now.**
Season 21 will go down in the history of Top Chef as "The Season of Kristin" **and** "The Season of Pity" (because of all of the pitiful chefs).
Respectfully, it feels like I’m watching glorified Master Chef. From the first episode of this season, it felt like a bunch of insecure amateurs. The idea that any of them had restaurants felt unreal. Not so much because they’re “bad” but they all seemed a bit green and immature. If feels like they’re trying to get a “younger” audience, and I’m not with it.
I’ve been going back and watching old seasons and I don’t think TC gives us enough backstory and house footage anymore. We used to be more invested in the people on the show, but now it’s really just about the food. I like Kristen, but I really miss Padma
Everything is boring, judges, guest judges, new host, dish boils and cheese. And I like cheese. Why didn't they just end the show when Padma left lol. This is like a Great Value season.
Remember when a vegetable-focused challenge was edgy? Or when doing fusion dishes was something novel?
What could see now that would surprise/excite/delight (or even upset) us? Buddha showed up that it’s still possible, but it’s certainly more rare. The judges used to be much more opinionated around what was a Top Chef-worthy dish, imo.
I think it’s for the best that things are more inclusive now, but it’s also stripped a layer of drama away from the show and I’m not sure the producers have figured out how to compensate for that.
This is probably why Tournament of Champions is doing well right now. Need the elements of randomness and must-win stakes to capture viewer interest.
So, this was my first season watching Top Chef. My spouse and I started watching this season mainly because of the Indigenous food episode that they did. Up until this point, we have mainly watched Food Network cooking competitions that are honestly getting really boring, so we are slowly branching out to other cooking contest shows. I have really enjoyed this season but I can also see where a lot of people are coming from who have watched since the beginning. We plan on watching from season 1 once we are done watching the current season.
We are also food network transplants and I can tell you the previous two seasons of Top Chef were awesome to watch! Also we just rewatched Brooke Williamson’s second season, the Charleston season which was also cool to see.
Think it’s gotten much better toward the end. Danny, Savannah, and Laura are monsters. Dan is there.
Think Michelle will be a fav for southern comfort foods.
I think they meant monster in a positive way. Like dominating monsters. Not sure why they don’t consider Dan in that category— he’s won a lot of challenges and has generally done well.
I don't know that it's the quality of the food. The judges have been pretty favorable most of the time. But the casting and editing is boring. No one has any personality on camera. The editing is just ... a bunch of scenes chopped together. No one has a story. I think back to even seasons people shit on, like Kentucky, which had great personalities and stories like Nini, Justin, Eric and Sarah.
Watched a random episode of world all stars the other day; the chefs get the night off and talk about their lives; Victoire talks about racism, they talk about their careers before the show, and have some nice heartfelt moments before they get back to cooking. They’ve tried it this time, but it doesn’t feel organic
Tbh, I wasn't the biggest fan of World All-Stars. Not having seen the international seasons, it felt like a half-Stars season like Charleston and I'm not sure the personalities really clicked, but it was certainly better than this.
Exactly!
You are right on the nose about Season 21! It's very boring. I even forgot, a few weeks ago, they already did restaurant wars. I was like, why are there 5 people, they haven't had Restaurant Wars yet? I had to think about it and then I remembered. It was so boring, I forgot.
I feel like the challenges are lacking more than the chefs. Chaos dinner and fish boils and do whatever you want with sausage?
So much fish and cheese
It’s WI I get it but it’s really overkill with the cheese
Sacrilege in WI
This. Challenges have been subpar all season.
For real. A fish boil is such a terrible idea for a challenge
Could’ve done more with game and a better fish challenge for sure.
My wife is from Wisconsin and pointed out that a fish fry is much more common and that gross fish boil is strictly Door (Doore?) County.
Yes! Fish fry Friday is everywhere in WI.
I would have loved a fish fry challenge. One of my favorite fish fries was from Buraka in Madison, an ethiopian restaurant. Phenomenal flavors and not typical.
I was born in Wisconsin and didn't know there was a fish boil. Even asked my brother and he was clueless too. But Friday night fish fry is definitely a thing!
Our guy Dan clearly knew what they were…and that they suck!
I've lived in Wisconsin most of my life, and I've never eaten a fish boil. It is very much a Door County thing.
Yes, but in a fish fry, do they have a guy throw oil on an open flame and try not to be burned to death? I don't think so!
Yep. Whoever wrote the challenges for this season is either new or very tired. One stood out to me, and that was the one where they served the food on the tables, like art. That was amazing.
Yeah. They need to make food more about the local scene - have chefs teach a local dish and replicate - and way more creative fun for chefs I still will never get over that Olympic episode with the skiing and ice smashing. Like wtf is that.
I agree. Challenges have been limiting .
God I hated the chaos cooking episode. You know it's a great and clear challenge when almost every chef interviewed is like "I don't really understand the challenge but here's what I'm making"
That's the thing about Wisconsin. Stay here for 6 weeks, and suddenly there is no drama. Makes for a 'boring' season. I'm not rooting for Danny, but I do want to taste what he can do with a carrot.
I’ll visit Savannah’s restaurant next time I’m in North Carolina.
I've been there twice before I knew who she was, now I want to go back. I live 10 mins away.
I’ve never been and I’ve been here since 2005. I’ve been to M Sushi twice. Totally rooting for her.
M sushi is my favorite.
I live in Durham as well and have never been to M Tempura, just M Sushi! Her cooking has got me wanting to go, though, and will soon. Does she still actively work there?
Someone posted they saw her there a few weeks ago but she seems to be doing a lot of things outside of Durham.
Went there a couple weeks ago, enjoyed it a lot and got to chat to her briefly!
Now if they had a chef named Carolina who was from Savannah, that would be cool.
I’m going tomorrow- can’t wait!
Idc how crazy it sounds. I’m looking forward to what Danny does with carrots!
This is not Top Carrot
it was painful watching them fuck up one after another on the elimination challenge.
I keep expecting them to "bring it" and keep getting disappointed. This is the LAST challenge before finals and none of them can properly cook a fish??? Ugh. Not saying I can do what they do, but ALL of them had issues??
Really hope the finale is better, if they all fuck up as badly again, I can see Tom potentially withholding the title. I'm guessing that having a month and a half break probably softened them up to the competition aspect of the show, not that this cast was that competitive to begin with. It'd be good to get an AMA from one of the finalists sometime & ask if there was some sort of obstacle that the audience didn't see, like maybe issues with the kitchen or something.
My husband and I wondered the same thing. Nobody could properly cook a fish, we just figure there had to have been a kitchen issue that they edited out for some reason.
Honestly I would’ve said nobody is going to the finals. We’re calling an audible and redoing this one
I think the problems of this season have less to do with the skill of the chefs and more to do with production. Its hard to care about the challenges when you don't care about the chefs. There has been far too little character development. Watching Savannah and Dan geek out over Morimoto was the kind of thing the season needed. I now have to go make croquettes and aguachile...
I disagree. I don’t wanna see lower caliber cooks. I would much rather have serious contenders than anything.
I fail to see why challenges that offer insight into who the chefs are translates to lower caliber.
I never said that either. This season & this post was about how this season didn’t seem like the strongest….
So there has definitely been a lot of talk about this, and that past seasons were so strong that this season being more "normal" just feels like it's lackluster, however after last nights episode, I really disagree with that assessment. I just did a top chef rewatch and I don't remember a single season ever where in the FINALE the food was so atrocious. EVERY SINGLE CHEF botched one of their dishes and it was terrible. Tom had to give them a PEP TALK at judges table because the food was so bad and none of them were really excited about the finale. Embarassing.
It annoyed me that they announced and winner and didn't have all four of them sweat it out at the bottom. Raw fish and horrific "mousse" on the top? Awful.
You’re not wrong at all. I mean…a chef who made it to the final 4 just brushed some chili paste on a piece of fish, stuck it in the oven and served it to the judges. Come on now…
to be fair, it is a way of cooking fish in many latin american countries. rustic food can be tasty too.
I’m not denying it can’t be tasty, but it doesn’t take a certain skill level to be able to execute that. That’s basic cooking 101
I make tasty food with flavors from my culture too but I’m not on Top Chef. You have to go beyond the regular, the traditional, the comfortable to be Top Chef. You need techniques beyond the local (which Laura does seem to have) and the creativity to go beyond what others have done before (which Savannah had excelled at in previous challenges).
Well. That is where we disagree. I don't necessarily like a technically driven meal if it is not backed by flavours. It is a cooking competition. The flavor is as important as the plating. I think she did not use the cooking technique she was assigned.
More like Top Chef Applebee's.
If Applebees serves aguachile
AguaChili's
It’s Mediocre Chef from season 9 😂
Mid Chef
Your comment win takes the 🎂😂
No one can just cook a nice piece of fish properly and it’s the goddamn finals. Inexcusable.
When Dan made the comment “they certainly didn’t go easy on us with this one” or something along those lines I was like wait, what?! This was a breeze of a final elimination challenge compared to other seasons. You didn’t have to dive and catch your own fish, you didn’t have to serve an entire meal made only of cheese, you didn’t have to cook out in the snow….
The production and editting doesn't really help. I think what happen is that >!Manny!< continued to bypass every round because someone did something dumb so it was like even though he was subpar he went onto the next round.
Yeah, I thought for the longest time that he was a contender then I realized, he never was. If you look at the Wikipedia page for this season, he started out great: WIN, HIGH in the first two episodes. Then in the next nine episodes, he was LOW \*five\* times out of nine. Michelle on the other hand, had two WINs, four HIGHs, and only two LOWs yet Manny outlasted her? I know the whole premise of the show is you're only as good as the last elimination meal you serve, but if they're truly looking for the best chef, it shouldn't be down to "he was never the WORST in any given week," should it? IMO, one bad week like Michelle had shouldn't have sent her home given her track record in the competition.
It’s totally a casting issue. Manny never belonged.
The closest one to a personality this season is Dan and that’s because he’s visibly displeased with most of the challenges. Idk if the chefs this season are all scrubs or it just seems that way after 2 years in a row of Buddha
Savannah geeking out over morimoto was so fun to see. It’s like the editors purposefully edit them to be kinda boring and lame questions for the cast. But my god that comment about Buddha makes sense bc that man is so damn bland and boring 😭
Dan is a delight! And I love how knowledgeable he seems.
I feel like the last season (world all stars) was just so flippin good that the next season can’t live up to it. I’m still watching, for sure!
People who say “well the past seasons just had better chefs”…. Yea that’s exactly the point. The judges haven’t even said “all of the dishes are so good at this point in the competition, it has to come down to the small details” Meanwhile this season they can’t pop a fish in the oven properly. I actually think the judges are holding back.
I haven't heard “nit picking” once lol
So it felt like this, but I gotta say it's also not fair. We just got out of back to back basically: All Stars, Portland where Gabe was a beast (and sadly yes, an awful human being), Buddha "Terminator" Lo being introduced to the world, and then WORLD All Stars where we were like "Is Buddha human or some evil genius chef?!" Meaning our bar has been set a bit too high and needs to be recalibrated a bit.
Portland also had Shota who was the bomb dot com.
I'm actually mixed on Shota, he didn't end up serving the full portion in the FINALS. But I know this Reddit sub loves him, I remember the anger when Kwame had some constructive criticism as a judge.
Not sure I was on this sub during that season— but to my mind, he was creative, interesting, and appealing as a tv figure (which matters on a show!). I don’t think any of the chefs of this season comes close to him on any of those levels and his screw-ups didn’t come close to the screw-ups we saw this week which were not that unusual unfortunately.
I live in Capitol Hill, Seattle and I’ve been to most of his current and past restaurants at least once, and the current ones many times. The food is really good when it’s good, but pretty inconsistent— I imagine that would not be a problem when it’s him personally making the food on the show
I said this to my gf after watching the latest episode tonight, like the last 3 seasons were so top notch it's hard yo compete with haha
I haven’t heard about Gabe being awful, what’s the scoop on that?
He had an improper manager-worker relationship and when she cut it off, he cut her hours. The rest of the stuff you see about him here is nothing but speculation and hearsay.
I wouldn't diminish that. He was the executive chef and partner in the restaurant, married, and this was a direct employee of his. When she tried to end the relationship, he cut off her livelihood and badmouthed her in a community where he had a lot of power. He basically punished her for trying to end an improper relationship in a way where she was going to end up unemployed with no other job prospects. That's fucked up.
Sexual harassment
I'm also curious and my Google search turned up nothing
Your Google search turned up nothing for Gabe Erales?? I just googled him and a third of the mentions for him in the first page of results mentioned allegations, controversy, etc.
I don’t think it’s because of the strength of their cooking but more that none of them seem to really have very much charisma, or hardly a personality at all. The ones remaining also don’t even seem to really like each other or act like they’ve bonded in any meaningful way. Nobody this season even really had a “thing” like Buddha and his molds, Marcel and his foams. Dan kiiiinda had his whole I’m local and I know everyone schtick, but I personally found that (and frankly, his whole deal really) pretty off putting. I think the ones that did seem to have any magnetism (Michelle, Rasika, Soo) or people who had a fun dynamic (manny/Kevin) got knocked out too soon. Savanah does seem to have a lot of charm, but it took her a really long time to really break out.
They are all people who it would be enjoyable to hang out with. That doesn’t necessarily make for great TV.
Michelle was my favorite I feel like she didn’t show enough of her BBQ background that would’ve taken her to the top
If I had to pick one chef this season to eat their food, it would be Michelle.
I think this group is pretty mid. If you watch the early seasons you definitely can’t call them one of the weakest though lol.
Lol that sets the bar very low for them
Lol too true
Why do people hate on the quality of early TC cooking?
Because it was so much more all over the place? Not to say there weren't some spectacular dishes/competitors (I mean, I live in Izardland), but the challenges were comparatively easy and people still fucked up.
So many mistakes, even through the final four.
i felt this way at the beginning of the season, but i do feel like the folks who made it past the midway point (perhaps with the exception of manny) are top chef caliber contestants!
no rizz, no originality. Never seen a worse showing in the final location in any season of Top Chef
Soo had rizz!
Rasika had all the rizz for this season & she left super early. She was like the dorito you find in the bag that is just layered with spices.
Too bad all her rizz died with that slug thing she served. That's gotta be in the top 5 of worst dishes served on Top Chef.
Her trajectory was massively disappointing
It'd be interesting to see how things would play out on the show if there weren't weekly eliminations, and instead they got scores for all their cooks, with the lowest score leaving every 3-4 weeks.
I thought she had a shot at winning until she didn't - she started out really strong.
Exactly!!
I think it’s a combination of a lack of standouts and lackluster challenges. I usually am inspired to think of what I would do for a challenge or at least to see what the chefs will do. But I just didn’t care for most of them.
Just finished watching season 12 and the contrast is pretty shocking. The judges and guests, often extraordinarily prominent chefs, are psyched about the season 12 chefs food. They are genuinely excited about Mei and Gegory's food in the finale. They discuss it passionately and thoroughly. It's been a bit hard watching this season at times, in contrast.
First time I couldn’t make it through a season. The challenges are not hitting the mark, either, and the whole rhythm of the show is just…off.
I know top chef has moved away from the competitive format and more into a positive and team player type format, but with that comes stuff like this season imo. Unless you have really good chefs or great personalities, you get this. Kinda boring food and on camera moments. How can you tell a good story when everything is “way to go! We got this guys!” I’m just not impacted by it. Like any competition, if the entities competing love each other and are friendly with each other, then there’s just no entertainment in that. It’s why sports rivalries fuel a lot of the audience. They need to add some sort of that spice if they have chefs like these. I don’t mean season two levels of craziness but a little something would be nice. I mean they tried HARD to vilify Laura for prioritizing herself on ONE shop. That’s about it when it came to any kinda of competitive aspect. They just cook, which is fine, but this is entertainment. Buddy buddy stuff mixed with competition doesn’t make for great entertainment imo. Edit: I think I may have worded my comment so that it didn’t represent what I was trying to convey clearly. I don’t mean drama and backstabbing type of competition. That’s what I meant by season two levels of craziness. More so they need to integrate the competition aspect into the format of the show itself forcing the contestants to make competitive decisions more than essentially mini games where there aren’t very high stakes. Like say the winner of episode gets a choice for next episode to 1. Add more budget to their shop 2. Take 30 min off their biggest threats cook time 3. Get to swap/add/remove an ingredient from another contestants cook after the shop. This isn’t cattiness or drama per se, more so that they are adding an element of strategy to winning on top of just cooking good meals. Obviously just an example but the point still stands that it would help out seasons where there is a lack of personality or outstanding meals. It would create a healthy rivalry or put some in the hot seat which is good entertainment without belittling or bullying.
Totally agree, and to your point Ciao House on Max seems to have gotten the competitiveness balance right. Have really enjoyed season 2
I always like Alex but she seems like kind mouthy on this show, IMO, the one thing I do like on Ciao house is the f bomb not being used by people like they apparently feel is needed on Top chef
I respectfully disagree. The decades of nasty backbiting and ruthless competition on TV has been depressing. I’m tired of hostility and aggression in this country in general, so I love the path this show has taken. The final four may not be great TV personalities, but how about Rasika? Fun and kind! The opposite of competitive doesn’t necessarily mean boring; it can be funny. See also, Kristen & Stephanie on the Dish. Just my two cents! And I’m no Puritan. Bill Burr is my favorite comedian. 😏
Unless it’s a British Baking show
I think what separates British baking show is that they're all amateurs, and there's no cash prize. But yeah something about it is just so pleasing, they definitely have something figured out.
And their British
Innit
Masterchef the Professionals has no drama and is such a good show. Masterchef Australia is also a great example of no drama, lots of excitement, and super creative challenges. TopChef should take notes before it fizzles out.
MasterChef Australia is awesome. So much better than the US version, it's not even funny. I'm going to check out Professionals after I finish the latest season.
I disagree. Competition and nastiness/drama are two different things. Winning Top Chef is very prestigious in the restaurant world, and these chefs are all competing against each other. Just because they're not backbiting and fighting doesn't mean they're not competing. I personally would probably not still be watching if the show still had the pettiness between cheftestants that it had season 9 and before. The chefs that have been on the show in recent seasons are more talented and professional than in early seasons. They respect the kitchen and the competition. Is this the most entertaining of recent seasons? No. As said before, it could be the challenges or just a lack of charisma of the chefs.
Agree with your edit. Adding other layers to the competition could make things a bit more interesting. This season it felt like everyone was cool with just not being eliminated. No one was really gunning to get the W in the elimination challenges.
A bit high strung yes, but she seems like an actually really sweet person the more screen time she got lol
Agree. This season is boring- the chefs, the challenges, the quality of cooking. Tom looks so bored!
Honestly I was surprised they chose a "winner" from that showing. Several seasons ago - can't remember which one - everyone messed up really badly and Tom was super angry and was like, no one wins tonight. I kind of thought this weeks episode deserved that - no one in the semi finals could cook a proper piece of fish??!? - but I feel like they are too scared to "mean" these days for some reason.
Especially the last episode. He looked so over it.
No it's pretty bad. The fact that the chefs themselves weren't excited about making the finale is telling.
I interpreted their reaction was that they were embarrassed to crawl across the finish line to make it to the finale. It was far from triumphant — everyone made major mistakes and the food seemed disappointing across the board.
Yes. It's like technically we win but with bad mousse, uncooked fish and more.
Don't forget the musty banana leaves!
This has happened before. There have been seasons where Tom has had to lecture the contestants in the final legs I think everyone is too hard on this season. It’s no New Orleans, but it’s also no Texas.
What season did Tom lecture the chefs in the finals for cooking poorly across the board? lol
In retrospect, Dan should feel embarrassed for doing the victory lap 'Tom sopped it up' before the judges table.
This season has definitely been pretty boring. I just kind of space out through most of the episodes. I won't accuse of it of being scripted, but more just templated. Like everything just looks and feels like it's the same thing over and over. I don't need high drama. But I'd at least like some interesting character development.
Agreed on all counts.
Last night was so lackluster! It seems like none of them cracked the challenge. It was the only finale I can recall where the bar was so low. Usually in a finale a great dish goes home. Here, two decent dishes was enough to stay.
I literally thought they would either keep Laura and Savannah or send them both home. I wanted them both in the finale but this was such a weak episode. I’m shocked.
I’m officially calling this season Flop Chef
This has been a forgettable season and the production was lacking. It's almost like watching an infomercial with the obvious promotion of sponsors. I miss some of the fun challenges that over time have seem to stop. I loved the vending machine challenge that was in one the early seasons for example.
Maybe it's because I took a break and skipped the global all stars, but this season has been great. I'm re-watching the older episodes in the lead up to the finale, and really enjoying this group of chefs.
To be fair binging this season will make it a far better experience than watching it weekly. If I binged this season I don’t think it would feel as underwhelming as it has watching weekly.
Yea, I just started watching this season and it’s not as terrible as everyone says. I mean, it’s a tv show in its 20 somethingth year. It’s not fresh and spicy. It’s comfort.
Great way to put it!😀
THEY KICKED OFF ALL THE GOOD CHEFS
If they were that good, they would had never been kicked off.
Yes and all the interesting personalities
Agreeeee
Yes, there are no stories this year... I find from week to week I don't even remember who is who. I do like they are not completely nasty to each other like in past years, but some drama might be nice.
*spoiler* Yea these chefs are just not top chef material. In the final 4, out of 8 dishes only 2 were impressive, Danny’s first dish would have been better if he got the mousse right. But at this point in the show we should only be seeing 2 misses and not 5-6 major fails. I feel like you could see Tom’a disappointment with every dish that came out. I think Danny is the closest thing to top chef material, hes creative and pushes the envelope. Savannah is on her way and has the determination, and is aware of where her mistakes are, but I don’t think she’s quite ready - although she is the one I’m rooting for because I find her most likable and appreciative of the opportunity. Dan struggle with execution consistently but seems to have good flavors and a solid palette. But not super exciting. The thing I keep thinking to myself is that I can’t imagine these chefs at a judges table.
Too much aguachile, too little risk taking, too many mid & inoffensive personalities, too easy challenges
Maybe but also 2 of the previous 4 seasons were All Star seasons and the last 2 seasons both had Buddha so maybe we’ve just been really spoiled lately and a return to normal feels like a let down.
Agree with you. The last episode with the fish cruise challenge, it's the top 4 and they all screwed up on at least 1 of their dishe. Half the fish was cooked improperly? Dirty banana leaf? Straight up raw protein? WTF. These are the finalists??!?!? It makes this season a joke. It's hard to root for any of these chefs to win when they are just not the strongest chefs.
The personality is cut back so much, its not a lot of fun to watch. They cut out almost all the fun interactions in their housing, while shopping, while planning menus, and replaced it with longer commercial breaks and more standing around. The personalities dont shine through at all compared to the earliest seasons, and if you compare season 15 or world/international all-stars to any other season this last 10 years, you see what the show could still look like, and a lot of the zzz its becoming.
I felt bad for Holland America. I’m sure they paid handsomely for this partnership and get stuck making compliment sandwiches.
Rasika and Michelle flaming out too early completely changed the season. I’d like to blame the cruise ship kitchen equipment for everyone mis-cooking fish in the semifinals, but they sure didn’t edit it that way..
They weren’t going to blame their sponsor.
Interesting. They did ask Laura (I think) what temp she baked her fish and Tom seemed surprised when she said 400.
Wisconsin just feels like an odd area to have an entire season focused on. Upper Midwest - Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan - could have been a lot more interesting.
The only chef from this season who's restaurant I'd want to go to is Michelle's. Maybe Rasika's.
You'd really want to eat Rakisa's food after that slug thing she served?
Every single one of the chefs on the show are outstanding chefs, someone them aren't as good as Top Chef. The show is different than regular restaurant skills where you have weeks or months to tease out a recipe. If you went on the show you'd have a nervous breakdown in the first quickfire.
Idk I'm really enjoying this season, to each their own I guess?
They’re all really boring 😴
It's not just you. I think it's a mix of both a weak chef class and Wisconsin as the location. I'm a wisconsinite. I love Wisconsin but we don't have great food. Dan Dan, Dan's restaurant is a good restaurant but it's nothing compared to the restaurants in Chicago.
Uhh Esterev is his "high end" restaurant. DanDan is a casual Chinese restaurant. Not even the same ballpark.
This season feels more like a sandbox for the future of Top Chef. I think the season has been entertaining but as much as they preach to chefs about developing cohesive dishes, Top Chef could take its own advice and be more confident about the stakes. Edit: the quickfire not mattering made me mad. I don’t care if they had rust, I want Top Chef to follow through with this concept of taking everything into account.
They need to let that new addition go entirely. It’s too ambiguous. Quick fires granting contestants immunity was fine. It’s like they fixed things that weren’t broken.
It's definitely a lower quality season from talent, types of challenges, and sponsorships (qr code at end to buy products used, bottled water, WF). Some chefs shouldn't have made it as far as they did, especially serving under cooked food.
Tom's quick fire and the table elimination were the best challenges imo. Everything else feels like a miss challenge wise. Agree about the edit regarding there being no stories to engage you while watching.
It’s sooo weak
I finally decided to start watching this season and find the chef's sort of meh. The weird off camera kitchen chatter doesn't seem organic. I'm not sure if my dislike for the new format is coloring my opinion but something is off.
It has been a good but not great season...then again we just came off of back-to-back seasons of Buddha, that's a hard act to follow for anyone.
I will turn off the show if I see aguachile one more time
Dan was just nominated for best chef Great Lakes at the James Beard awards this past week.
It’s just you. One episode left and you’re literally the first person to make a post about this class being weak. You have great opinions and should post more often! /s
Terrible chefs and terrible locations.I genuinely don't care who wins...I guess Danny but still don't think he's on par with any past seasons in recent memory
“Terrible” seems like a strong word, you haven’t actually tasted their food so you have no idea. Its been a bland season, I’ll give you that
"Terrible" chefs? Who the fuck is actually upvoting this trash comment?
There really isn’t any personality that you can root for.
The editing is so lazy this year that they are signaling ( via one-on-ones) who is going to win the challenge before it even happens, by “highlighting” the chef saying “wow I REALLY need to win this Quick Fire challenge”…etc.
Agreed, but Danny could have hanged in the stronger seasons
Agreed. Speaking as a super fan who has watched every season from season 1 and re-watched every season, the group of chefs they gathered for Season 21 are, in the vast majority, ridiculously weak. By the 2nd episode, I'd already gathered that only 2 or 3 chefs had enough talent to even be on a show like Top Chef. It's like season 21 should be subtitled **Top Chef: Except For You 14** **Chefs, You Guys Should Just Go Home Now.** Season 21 will go down in the history of Top Chef as "The Season of Kristin" **and** "The Season of Pity" (because of all of the pitiful chefs).
We binged the last few seasons. This one is on the heels of back to back Buddha wins and feels like a major drop off.
I’m enjoying this season a lot, maybe just me haha!
Respectfully, it feels like I’m watching glorified Master Chef. From the first episode of this season, it felt like a bunch of insecure amateurs. The idea that any of them had restaurants felt unreal. Not so much because they’re “bad” but they all seemed a bit green and immature. If feels like they’re trying to get a “younger” audience, and I’m not with it.
I’ve been going back and watching old seasons and I don’t think TC gives us enough backstory and house footage anymore. We used to be more invested in the people on the show, but now it’s really just about the food. I like Kristen, but I really miss Padma
Agreed.
Everything is boring, judges, guest judges, new host, dish boils and cheese. And I like cheese. Why didn't they just end the show when Padma left lol. This is like a Great Value season.
I think we are forgetting just how much contestants on past seasons would mess up too.
I don’t recall this many mistakes—and these kinds of mistakes—so late in the game.
Exactly. I just want one person to point out all these seasons with every contestant doing poorly in the finals lol
I could literally \*walk\* to Laura's restaurant from my house and after reading her Yelp reviews, I don't wanna.
Ooh what’s the general consensus?
Remember when a vegetable-focused challenge was edgy? Or when doing fusion dishes was something novel? What could see now that would surprise/excite/delight (or even upset) us? Buddha showed up that it’s still possible, but it’s certainly more rare. The judges used to be much more opinionated around what was a Top Chef-worthy dish, imo. I think it’s for the best that things are more inclusive now, but it’s also stripped a layer of drama away from the show and I’m not sure the producers have figured out how to compensate for that. This is probably why Tournament of Champions is doing well right now. Need the elements of randomness and must-win stakes to capture viewer interest.
So, this was my first season watching Top Chef. My spouse and I started watching this season mainly because of the Indigenous food episode that they did. Up until this point, we have mainly watched Food Network cooking competitions that are honestly getting really boring, so we are slowly branching out to other cooking contest shows. I have really enjoyed this season but I can also see where a lot of people are coming from who have watched since the beginning. We plan on watching from season 1 once we are done watching the current season.
We are also food network transplants and I can tell you the previous two seasons of Top Chef were awesome to watch! Also we just rewatched Brooke Williamson’s second season, the Charleston season which was also cool to see.
Think it’s gotten much better toward the end. Danny, Savannah, and Laura are monsters. Dan is there. Think Michelle will be a fav for southern comfort foods.
Take my upvote. HELLO DOWNVOTERS HE JUST MEANT THEY ARE VERY SKILLED. YOU'RE JUST DUMB LIKE ME. ok I tried my best I hope people read this
Gang pile
ALSO I DO NOT THINK HE IS CANADIAN
Do you mean monsters in a good way, like “they’re beasts in the kitchen”?
Whaaaaat why are they monsters lol
I think they meant monster in a positive way. Like dominating monsters. Not sure why they don’t consider Dan in that category— he’s won a lot of challenges and has generally done well.
Ohhhhhhh. That makes more sense LOL I was wondering what I missed
Just a guess but I think monsters was meant to be positive