potatoradio

One positive aspect of this show: no cameos resulting in a solid ten minutes of the audience shrieking like twees at a Swift sighting. Oh, and the TikTok was funny. In addition to pointing out a sad reality. Otherwise: smug asshole says what? Yeah, I was just thinking how little attention is given to self-congratulatory d-bags and how we need more of that right now. Bravo for delivering, show?

Sebastian Bach: "There's batter on everything but the porkie balls! There's batter on the tongs! Batter on the...batter!" Dumb as hell, but was cracking me up anyway. Porkie balls. Note to show: watching someone with hundred mile nails cook is nauseating, Fear Factor style, not funny. When Antonia came over to "make sure she hadn't fried her nail in the deep fryer," I almost hurled. Come on, show. Notch that bar just a teeny weeny nitch higher? Please? I want to giggle, not lose my dinner.

Thank you for confirming - I looked at my wife and asked if she knew whether the Grandes were related and she said, "oh, I think he'd have mentioned it by now....many, many times." Don't know if it's by choice, but I appreciate it. I didn't mind Anne and thought she added a little gravitas to this circus, so I will miss that aspect of her being one of the hosts. Still, I prefer the "celebrity" version of this show because if you're going to go for hamfisted cartoonishness, at least cast people who have even a tiny bit of experience being entertaining (or trying to) in front of a camera. The "regulars" trying to out-silly each other....ugh. I can't. I usually laugh at least once during the celebrity edition. And it's kind of fun to see a new side to some of the ones I was familiar with (Johnny Weir, Tiffany and this season I'm not hating seeing an actual kind of funnybone in a contestant who played another version of Psycho Bachelorette). That said....come on, producers, turkey and chocolate? Nobody does that. You don't need to try that hard. The promo for kids cook whatever is going to get old fast with the kid shrieking "I LOVE ANIMALS!"

Uh, show? You have Gordon Ramsay. You don't need these half baked "theme" ideas to ramp up our interest. I will watch Ramsay in just about anything. I've eaten in Aaron's Johnny Sanchez restaurant (very, very good) and Joe has Lidia Bastianich for a mother, so I'm tuning in and I'm sold on just a plain old cooking competition, k? And this theme is even dumber than the "regions" theme from last season. I mean, even if the generations are so drastically different from each other, isn't everyone going to try to put up a "modern twist" on their dishes? Boomers may be older, but that doesn't mean stupid and that doesn't mean they're going to produce creamed peas and meatloaf because it's their generation. It is kind of interesting to think about maybe one challenge around each generation's food trends. Meat and two sides or casseroles from the 60s/70s. The beginning of a "healthy" eating craze (read: drink Diet Coke and eat McDonald's new salads) in the 80s, vegetarianism/organic in the 90s/00s, veganism/Paleo in the 10s. I mean, I'm generalizing like crazy, but I think a single challenge might have been fun. An entire show of annoying people screaming cliched sayings from their generation? Nah. Though there could be a drinking game to be had. Every time somebody screws up/mixes up their generation's "lingo," take a drink. Fer shur totally tubular gnarly dude that's a groovy ris AF dish far out. And there you go. You're drunk and this show is much better.

Oh, hey now! I'm the first to drool over the idea of fresh ocean seafood, mainly crab, but Chicago is on Lake Michigan, which has plenty of fresh catch fish of the day options. Even if they look a little strange from their annual St. Paddy's Day green glow up water. ;) I gag at the thought of eating straight off a table from a shared pile of food. If I want to relive my kindergarten finger painting days, I'll do that separately from a "fine dining" experience, thanks. Savannah somehow gives me a cross vibe of Leah Cohen and Sara Bradley. Neither of whom I liked and their immaculately conceived love child isn't really making me root for her, even though I give her all the props for playing the game well and her food does sound tasty. Sigh. Another one I really did root for gone in favor of the sucky, boring and whining Manny. Since my hopes of a Michelle, Raskika and Soo finale are long gone, I'm strictly a KK fan watcher now*. Oh, and Gail's wardrobe? Why did you dress her in that hideous bridesmaid get up? With a bow that was visible from Jupiter? Was that really necessary? Really? *KK = Kristen Kish. I'm watching for the host at this point, not rooting for any of the contestants.

This will totally be a gender reveal spectacle gone bad. Lake Michigan whitefish should be smoked. It is soooo good that way and you don't get a mouthful of kerosene! But I guess watching smokers wouldn't be as "interesting" as watching a pyro with a death wish come THIS CLOSE to setting himself on fire. Store bought chips. Goodbye, Manny. You're dead to me and Soo was robbed.

Thank you, show, for NOT trying to make Carlos happen. WHEW. I thought for sure, with the prize being a trip to Hawaii, that he was being set up. Dear Carlos, have a watch of this show and listen to Marcel, the winner, who talks about how he grew up. The faster you grow up, the better, OK? I know you mentored under Malarkey and maybe think you have to imitate him, but on teevee competitions, "high energy" doesn't always translate to a win. Yay for Marcel. I didn't watch his TC season until years after it aired and even then, although he gave a distinct obnoxious vibe, he seemed easily ignored, so I never understood all the rage-stroke vitriol directed at him. He handles himself with grace and humbleness that's really appealing. A little too much time for "show us your sob story" at the end and I wish the ending hadn't been crammed into an hour, but still, I enjoyed this far more than I expected to and am glad it will be back. And I hope it's back with blind judging. That would improve it immensely.

Hadn't thought of this aspect of being FOH, but you're 100% correct. Good strategic opportunity lost there. I like RW and I miss choosing drinkware and decor. It's all such a fun fantasy of possibility until the reality sets in, of course. Kaleena seemed very ready to leave and very over this show. And I can't say I blame her. This season just seems so meh. Unfocused. I still think this is a pretty lackluster group of cheftestants, but at least there's no screaming drah-mah. And I like KK a lot. "I maybe would have chosen a different team?" That's how Top Chef snark is delivered! What exactly is a "cohesive" menu if not reflecting a theme such as....seafood or Asian/Mexican fusion? Not as though they were looking at a menu with paella and hot chicken and pomegranate ice cream. With a pink squirrel drink as palate cleanser.

Was in San Diego recently and got to dine at Animae (founded by Malarkey, at least in part). I don't normally pick up on decor that much, but the place was drop dead gorgeous. Every detail, down to the silverware and cocktail glasses, met the art deco theme. Nothing at all what I'd expect from Shenanigans, but my wife told me this was his fine dining endeavor, not the Cali fresh cuisine of his other restaurants. I was seriously impressed. The crab fried rice could have used more crab flavor, but the seafood dish I had was amazing. It was in a broth that was like a lobster bisque and included scallops, mussels and prawns. Not a big mussel fan, but was worth it! My wife had a cocktail made with waygu beef fat and it was incredible - not beefy flavored, but gave such a different mouth feel than the usual cocktail. Also, waygu wontons were pretty tasty and the Taiwanese chicken....wowsers! My wife's sirloin (couldn't bring ourselves to cough up the $ for a waygu entree) was very flavorful and tender. We had the chocolate cremeux for dessert and was completely worth it. Such depth of flavor and texture contrasts. Definitely worth the splurge and I was really pleasantly surprised - not what I would have expected from Malarkey, but he does do fine dining awfully well! Also fun, at the Padres game the next night, the managing chef threw out the first pitch. Wouldn't put it on par with Craft Steak, where I had the lobster bisque I will never forget, but definitely glad we went.

Does anyone else feel tired while watching this? It's like yawning; very contagious to hear someone say how exhausted they are. Pretty soon I'm feeling drained myself and all I do is sit on the couch and eat dinner! I would have preferred Mika and Carlos to be the two who went home, so I knew they wouldn't. Boo on losing Chris and Martel, both of whom I really found to be engaging personalities and I wanted to try their food for sure. Yeah, blind judging just needs to happen. That was so unbelievably awkward and not subjective.

Agreed. And Michael Symon can hold his own as a host, so, while I don't mind Guy F., it's nice to see someone else emerging as a fun and engaging host. If they are determined to make Carlos happen, they should always make him cook for twelve hours BEFORE appearing on camera. Tired Carlos is a bit more palatable. Still hoping he doesn't win. I can stomach the Volts far better now that they aren't THE VOLTAGGIOS, ALL HAIL THE MOST TOTES ADORBS BROS TO EVER APPEAR ON TV AREN'T THEY AMAZING, OMIGOD OMIGOD. They seem more down to Earth when I've seen them appear on things lately. The TV dinner plating challenge had me rolling on the floor laughing, especially Chris Oh putting brownie bits in the top bowl of a tower. Points for giving the challenge the one-finger salute while still playing and maintaining a fun attitude. I will never watch one of these shows without a craving for fried shrimp and fried chicken. Thank goodness we don't have a frier in our kitchen.

When I saw the kielbasa/polish sausage, I remembered the ep of MasterChef AU where chef/judge Gary (and maybe Matt, too) nearly passed out from the horror of having to try a dish made with "kranksy." My wife and I, both Midwesterners, were all confused, wondering what in the world a kransky was and why it was so horrid. Turns out it was a plain old innocent little kielbasa, which had us both laughing our heads off. Blood sausage it is isn't, gentlemen. Big sausage fan here and I simply must have a Korean corn dog now. Must. Find. *Gordon Ramsey voice* URGENTLY! Speaking of that dish and Masterchef AU....what is with pro golf being such an apparent breeding ground for golfers with big chef dreams? Soo is the third contestant I've seen who apparently decided to turn in the irons for a shot at chef whites. I mean, OK, 3 out of thousands is hardly a trend, but still.....have noticed. I was surprised that one of the rules wasn't to elevate a dish by making one's own sausage. And I don't mean buying ground chorizo and shaping it and calling it handmade sausage. I really enjoy the challenges on other shows where the contestants have no choice but to grind meat themselves and figure out the spices. Would have been way more interesting than wrapping bacon around a hot dog because...duh! If we're doing write in campaigns for new sausages, I'll start penning pleas for Mr. Lapchoing.

Man, I keep telling myself that Christina's obnoxiousness may be primarily from anxiety and a natural Type A competitiveness, but good lord, I think she needs to go home. The histrionics, the fake "oh my Gooooddddd, you LIKED it?! Oh my goooodddd....I can't believe how much confidence this gives me for my DREAM...." Stop, please just stop. You do NOT have a confidence problem, lady. Also, you maybe should stop saying that you have put your dreams on hold because of your special needs child. That is not coming across the way you think it is. Also, I'm not so sure I want to be a patient of yours if you're in the ICU constantly whining about how you'd rather be making a lamb chop. However, since the second drop always seems to benefit you, I would not be surprised if the magical elves liked your whining enough to fix this for you. Grrrrrr. Should be Izayah, Von and Zach in the finale. Yeah, I know, I know, that would be all men. Sigh. This woman would actually be excited to watch the finale between those three instead of Zach and two very fretful, thirsty, nails-on-chalkboard-voiced people.

I have a bad feeling the network/powers that be really, really want to try to make Carlos happen. No, thank you. Man, they give Jet Tila all the fun jobs, don't they? Perpetual TOC bridesmaid and then having to eliminate half the contestants on this show, whereas the judges in later eps just have to eliminate one. He deserves better. The judging should absolutely be blind. I have been spoiled after TOC. It's fun to play the "where have I seen him/her before?" game. The chef from Africa cracks me up. "I had to fetch water every day...yeah, I can handle 24 hours of standing." I also like the firefighter chef and the Navy vet chef. And the guy from Food Trucks....Seoul Sausage, I think? He's funny and makes really good looking food. Favorite line so far, "I went to a fresh French market...he went to the grocery store!" (said in the most sneering, spitting French accent possible). ROTFL. This is more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Not only am I sick and tired of cameos, my grouchy arse is sick and tired of the audience having kittens at the sight of said cameo. Ugggggggggh. How about we just line up all the cameos on stage, then have a two-minute fever dream-hysteria fit for the audience, and be done with it? That said, when Kristen Wiig just gets back to being funny in a sketch, she's really freaking good and elevates the entire thing. But, rarely can she just be a funny comedy actress. Most of the time she's KRISTEN F*CKING WIIG, B*TCH! Pilates was really funny. And, wow, pigs are flying somewhere because the musical guest could SING and I didn't mind listening to her.