Tournament Of Champions - General Discussion

[roughing it]

23 hours ago, dewelar said:

if they have clues to who the higher seed is in a round, that can affect their decision

However I don't think the judges are told that they are being presented with dishes from No. 8 seed and No. 1 seed.  

Also, it seems like the use of the equipment determined by the Randomizer doesn't amount to much in the scoring.  Brooke really cheaped out with her use of the round cast iron thing.  I thought she should have been "dinged" for that, but the judges never even mentioned it.  If that's the case, take the equipment out of the equation.

[Bastet]

11 hours ago, roughing it said:

However I don't think the judges are told that they are being presented with dishes from No. 8 seed and No. 1 seed.

Yeah, I haven't been paying terribly close attention, and I didn't watch this show last season (I didn't know it existed until this season), so I don't know how it worked before, but I don't see anything where, even if one of the two presenters indeed always introduces the dish of the higher-seeded chef - which, again, I haven't paid enough attention to see if that's true - the judges would know enough to ascertain that pattern. 

[candall]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:33 PM, Ellee said:

I thought I read Marc Murphy knew who is judges were.  Maybe that was after the judging... I don’t know. 

I don't think so.  When Marc watched the judges first walk out, he said, "Oh!  These are all my friends."

[Ellee]

4 hours ago, candall said:

I don't think so.  When Marc watched the judges first walk out, he said, "Oh!  These are all my friends."

Ok that clears it up.  Marc did ‘know’ his judges.  He just didn’t ‘know his friends’ would be the ones judging him.  

[dvr devotee]

Way back when they first competed against each other on Top Chef, I preferred Bryan to Michael Voltaggio. But in the years since, I've come to really like Michael, as well.

I knew Bryan was going to lose, as it seemed he was having the same issue they were always calling him out for last season on Top Chef--while he is a fantastic in technique, the passion, and therefore flavor, is just not always coming through in his food. And I'm pretty sure he blew Christian out of the water in the technique score, but the other scores just couldn't compete.

And I was honestly sorry to see Michael lose to Brooke. I really like Brooke, was thrilled when she won her TC:AS season, and was also thrilled she won TOC last year. But it's hard to believe Michael scored a 95 in his first round cooking, beating out Cat freaking Cora, but then this round his score was like...88 or something. And I also think he made better use of the takoyaki pan, though I actually thought he should have gone ahead and used it to make his empanada, too. But Brooke using it to toast her spices was really not at all in (what I thought was) the spirit of the curveball of the randomizer. But, I'm not a judge, or even a producer of the show, so what do I know?

Edited April 11, 2021 by dvr devotee

[dleighg]

watching it "early" on AppleTV (don't know why it was early) but (no spoilers) has *anyone* said anything really nice about Rocco the judge? Tiffany could only bring herself to say "he's been around the NY restaurant scene forever." Faint praise indeed!

[candall]

44 minutes ago, dleighg said:

watching it "early" on AppleTV (don't know why it was early) but (no spoilers) has *anyone* said anything really nice about Rocco the judge? Tiffany could only bring herself to say "he's been around the NY restaurant scene forever." Faint praise indeed!

I noticed that, too.  Brooke said how much she likes Traci Des Jardin and then she said, "Rocco. . . . I like Rocco, too."  LOL   Rocco had his own restaurant reality show when he was young pup and the scuttlebutt then was that he's a first class jerk.

I also noticed that he said he couldn't detect any Latin American flavors in Brooke's dish, immediately followed by Traci saying that "all" the flavors were Latin American.  Burn.

 

On the second watch, I thought it was clearer how Michael V. lost to Brooke.  That takoyaki pan has the round cups, but it's also cast iron.  Brooke took advantage of the scorching hot cast iron element, while Michael formed little golf ball shapes out of bamboo-filled avocado.  He could have used an ice cream scoop or a melon baller, or his hand, for the same thing.  I think she made better use of the "global chef's tool."  

Then Michael used won ton wrappers and wanted the item to be called an empanada.  But he formed the wrappers into won ton triangles.  Why didn't he make the little kidney bean curve with the fork tine edge?

She beat him two points for taste and two points for execution.   46-44 and 28-26.  He was ahead of her one point for presentation.  17-18.

Edited April 12, 2021 by candall

[Grizzly]

YES! Darnell won, I can relax the rest of the show. I don't care who wins the other cooks.

[binky101]

Sweating the second matchup, but my favorite WON and I am so excited. The third and final battle, the chefs in that bracket are both my favorites, and then, well, that happened! Also so thrilled that Darnell won over "Sweet T" Faison. I can go to bed happy tonight.

[Svafa]

I hadn't seen Darnell before last years tournament but I'm glad he beat Tiffani. His dish looked amazing. I'm not sure what to think of the tie between Antonia and Jet, but happy I get to see them both cook again. Bring in Alton Brown as a judge and my dreams of a Cutthroat Kitchen reunion will be complete. 

[jabRI]

On 3/20/2020 at 5:44 PM, TexasTiffany said:

Simon Majumdar has never heard of zoodles before? Zoodles have been a thing for years now. I am surprised. 

I found it really hard to even recognize rocco, he was on such a health kick, did he gain it all back and then some? not critizing, i can relate

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, Svafa said:

I hadn't seen Darnell before last years tournament but I'm glad he beat Tiffani. His dish looked amazing. I'm not sure what to think of the tie between Antonia and Jet, but happy I get to see them both cook again. Bring in Alton Brown as a judge and my dreams of a Cutthroat Kitchen reunion will be complete. 

I love both Antonia and Jet so I'm glad they both moved on as well but did they mention how that is going to work next round with an odd number of cheftestants? 

[emmawoodhouse]

23 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

I love both Antonia and Jet so I'm glad they both moved on as well but did they mention how that is going to work next round with an odd number of cheftestants? 

They're having a cook off next week. 

[Bastet]

Well, boo.  I've liked Darnell and his food the few times I've seen him cook, but I "know" Tiffani so much better from her Top Chef appearances, and I liked her ingredients a lot more than his tonight, so I was rooting for her.  (Also, as a bonus, her wins pissing people off makes me laugh.)  But his dish was very visually appealing, and I'd have eaten it, it just included several things I don't particularly care for while hers used things I love - purely personal preference.

I didn't see round two, just the result being announced, but I'm happy Maneet won because I still haven't even committed the other guy's name to memory yet.

I'm just settling in to watch Antonia vs. Jet, which I already know ends in a tie; interesting.  I prefer her, but like him, too, so it will be interesting to see them have to compete against each other again.

Now that I've seen their round - damn, that was some seriously good food!

Edited April 12, 2021 by Bastet

[mlp]

I was so happy that Darnell beat Tiffani that I actually jumped up and clapped - and there's no one here but me.  I wish I could try that chicken with date sauce.  Now, if somebody can just beat Brooke, I'll be overjoyed.  

I was very happy that Maneet won too.  I've always liked her.  I don't dislike Christian but he's so unkempt that I tend to find him less than sanitary, probably unfairly.  His wife needs to burn the bulky sweater he's been wearing since FNS.

I love Antonia and I looooove Jet so I was sorry they were facing off against each other.  I wonder what the odds are of a tie like that happening - with no producer hanky panky.  I also wonder how much real time they had before having to cook again.  They were both stressed out.

[ShortyMac]

So happy Tiffani got knocked out - bye!!!!

Happy Maneet won.

Darnell's dish looked so good.

A cookoff between Antonia and Jet will be fun. 

[dleighg]

7 hours ago, candall said:

Rocco had his own restaurant reality show when he was young pup and the scuttlebutt then was that he's a first class jerk.

 

I have the impression that he got "famous for being famous" more than for being an amazing chef. As I recall that was at the very beginning of chefs becoming "names" and I just don't think he's at the level of "names" today such as the other judges tonight. 

[dleighg]

Does anyone else have doubts about an actual tie? I'm an engineer, so I can get nerdy about numbers-stuff. But they say that the scores are out of 100-- but clearly the judges EACH give up to one hundred points, and they divide by 3 and then round, because otherwise the amounts the judges are supposed to give in each category would not be integer numbers (for example they get up to 50 points in taste, which doesn't divide by 3). Since they only ever show integer number scores, they are rounding most of the time. From the presentation, it seems that each judge gave exactly the same score in each category (otherwise rounding would come into play). I guess it's possible.....

And Guy's son continues to add nothing to the proceedings.

Edited April 12, 2021 by dleighg

[FormerMod-a1]

So sad Tiffani lost.  Her food is always described as having incredible flavor on all the shows she's done.  I was hoping for a Tiffani/Brooke final 2.  Now I worry for Brooke.  I love her, she's always so level energy-wise and people underestimate her - she is one great chef!  SO happy Maneet won - I love her too.  As for the tie between Antonia and Jet - I wonder if the judges purposely gave the same scores for each chef (i.e. remembered they gave the first chef a 46/30/20 and did the same for the 2nd).  They did say they all thought they both should move one.  I'm not even saying they talked amongst themselves and decided to do that, just thinking if they truly thought the dishes were equal and great they would give the same score. 

[dleighg]

21 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

As for the tie between Antonia and Jet - I wonder if the judges purposely gave the same scores for each chef (i.e. remembered they gave the first chef a 46/30/20 and did the same for the 2nd). 

that makes tons of sense, given their comments. Thanks for your insight!

[dewelar]

I see the show continues to feed my conspiracy theory  😄 , as Simon again presented the dishes by all three higher-ranked chefs. Oh, and all three won or tied their rounds as well.

[bad things are bad]

Quote

So sad Tiffani lost.  Her food is always described as having incredible flavor on all the shows she's done.

I'm actually sad she lost because it seemed to me that Darnell was not doing anything at all that was really Greek. Tiffani did do a couple of things that made sense for Greek food--a tomato sauce, the spinach puree, a Greek salad (should have put some olives and feta in that, just sayin'), whereas Darnell decided to do what he wanted and call it Greek. It's what killed Marc Murphy and I don't understand why it wasn't really held against Darnell. 

I did worry that Maneet would get penalized for doing a more Eastern European dish when the rules were quite specific that it should be Western European. Austria kind of straddles the line, I guess, but the borscht...no. But I am very glad she won. 

[Harry24]

1 hour ago, bad things are bad said:

I did worry that Maneet would get penalized for doing a more Eastern European dish when the rules were quite specific that it should be Western European. Austria kind of straddles the line, I guess, but the borscht...no. But I am very glad she won. 

That was so weird!  I’m not very knowledgable about food, but even I can tell that the name Romanov is, you know, RUSSIAN.  And I remember that borscht is, you know, RUSSIAN.  So wtf with Austria, Maneet?  Am I missing something?  Nancy Silverton certainly went with it, although Marcus queried the borscht.

[Stardancer Supreme]

I was rooting for Darnell, Maneet, and Jet.

I was happy that Darnell won. I thought he was going to get dinged for not using the whole chicken for his dish.  It seems that you can play fast and loose with the Randomizer results if your dish turns out well.  The judges seemed to think that if you get a coconut opener, you should have some coconut in your dish, which Darnell did have.  Tiffani just used the mallet.

How stressful to make Jet and Antonia cook again next week! 

The food looked sooo good! I have to make sure to have snacks when I watch this show.

[Grizzly]

The way Nancy Silverton and others have been raving about the food, next year Guy is going to have more chefs apply to judge than compete.

[Harry24]

10 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

The way Nancy Silverton and others have been raving about the food, next year Guy is going to have more chefs apply to judge than compete.

What other shows has NS judged on?

[emmawoodhouse]

3 hours ago, Harry24 said:

What other shows has NS judged on?

She's been a frequent judge on Top Chef.

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

She's been a frequent judge on Top Chef.

She's been on Chopped as well.

[pdlinda]

20 hours ago, jabRI said:

I found it really hard to even recognize rocco, he was on such a health kick, did he gain it all back and then some? not critizing, i can relate

Yes, I agree with you.  His appearance was the first thing I noticed after several years of him espousing his "slenderizing" cuisine (including cookbooks)! 

I lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago and have kept it off.  I know first hand exactly what is involved in maintaining weight loss and I specifically stick to "watching" the foods presented on shows like this (that I love) and tasting with my eyes!!

[jabRI]

Not a fan of Brooke's, really like Amanda, so was sad at the outcome.  Having watched Brooke for 2 seasons on TC, just found her to b a bit of a cold fish, never really seemed to cook from the heart for me.

[Stardancer Supreme]

Rocco has a health issue now. I read about it in an interview.  Still, I'm sure he can get clothes that don't look so tight.

[Emkat]

Petroni's disgusting apron makes me want to puke.

Totally not buying this "tie" but I get it... it's a TV show and ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! 

Brooke carrying around that stupid belt is just ridiculous. 

[Stardancer Supreme]

44 minutes ago, Emkat said:

Brooke carrying around that stupid belt is just ridiculous. 

Why? She earned it! It's also part of the game.

[Grizzly]

4 hours ago, Emkat said:

Brooke carrying around that stupid belt is just ridiculous. 

My question about the belt is, is it on the counter when the judges are there? Brooke puts it on the counter while she's cooking, and she takes it with her after Guy reads the results.

[JTMacc99]

Me watching this last episode:

Fast Forward.  Randomizer and early plan from each chef for Battle 1. FF. Judging. FF through commercial. Results - Yep, that made sense based on what the judges said.  FF. Randomizer and then FF so I don't have to listen to Christian at all.  Judging. FF through commercial. Results - Yep, that makes sense and good for her.  FF to the next randomizer. Get a drink for myself and watch it all the way to the crazy tie.

And then lastly, get mildly annoyed that the final episode is now TWO HOURS long.  I get that they filmed all this in a short time, but I totally would have been fine with them stretching out the competition over a few extra weeks to keep the episodes at an hour long.

[Ciarrai]

9 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Me watching this last episode:

Fast Forward.  Randomizer and early plan from each chef for Battle 1. FF. Judging. FF through commercial. Results - Yep, that made sense based on what the judges said.  FF. Randomizer and then FF so I don't have to listen to Christian at all.  Judging. FF through commercial. Results - Yep, that makes sense and good for her.  FF to the next randomizer. Get a drink for myself and watch it all the way to the crazy tie.

And then lastly, get mildly annoyed that the final episode is now TWO HOURS long.  I get that they filmed all this in a short time, but I totally would have been fine with them stretching out the competition over a few extra weeks to keep the episodes at an hour long.

Your episodes are an hour? They're two hours for me, but half an hour is a recap.

[emmawoodhouse]

59 minutes ago, Ciarrai said:

Your episodes are an hour? They're two hours for me, but half an hour is a recap.

No, the OP wanted only two battles per week for an hour show. And thus, there would be more episodes.

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

No, the OP wanted only two battles per week for an hour show. And thus, there would be more episodes.

I'm actually glad it's over already.  Some of these competition shows seem to go on  forever.  This one is enjoyable to me because it's fast-paced and the outcome is also fast.

[Koalagirl]

On 4/12/2021 at 11:18 PM, Stardancer Supreme said:

Rocco has a health issue now. I read about it in an interview.  Still, I'm sure he can get clothes that don't look so tight.

He had spinal surgery. 
https://www.thefocus.news/celebrity/rocco-dispirito-weight-gain/

[schnauzergirl]

So hoping for a Jet win.  The way some feel about Tiffani I feel about Antonia.  

[MerBearHou]

43 minutes ago, schnauzergirl said:

So hoping for a Jet win.  The way some feel about Tiffani I feel about Antonia.  

Ditto here.  Love Jet always.  Antonia is sort of OK to me, but she seems to *always* win.  I was delighted when Darnell beat Tiffani.  

[kicotan]

Anybody here know what the rules are for the equipment use?  It seems sort of arbitrary as long as they use it in some kind of way, even if not for what it was originally intended.  NS mentioned in her commentary she thought the coconut opener shouldn’t be used to flatten the chicken and I think it contributed to Tiffani’s loss to Darnell.  Fast forward to Antonia using a spaetzle maker as a steamer...crickets. Jet was robbed!

[schnauzergirl]

15 minutes ago, kicotan said:

Anybody here know what the rules are for the equipment use?  It seems sort of arbitrary as long as they use it in some kind of way, even if not for what it was originally intended.  NS mentioned in her commentary she thought the coconut opener shouldn’t be used to flatten the chicken and I think it contributed to Tiffani’s loss to Darnell.  Fast forward to Antonia using a spaetzle maker as a steamer...crickets. Jet was robbed!

YES!  I thought I'd misheard when somebody (Simon?) said Antonia was using it as a steamer.  Same judges, but for me a major inconsistency.

[mlp]

1 hour ago, kicotan said:

Anybody here know what the rules are for the equipment use?  It seems sort of arbitrary as long as they use it in some kind of way, even if not for what it was originally intended.  NS mentioned in her commentary she thought the coconut opener shouldn’t be used to flatten the chicken and I think it contributed to Tiffani’s loss to Darnell.  Fast forward to Antonia using a spaetzle maker as a steamer...crickets.

I'm not sure but I thought the issue was that Tiffani used just the hammer part rather than the actual opener itself - which Darnell used.  

[kicotan]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

I'm not sure but I thought the issue was that Tiffani used just the hammer part rather than the actual opener itself - which Darnell used.  

Indeed!  And she deserved the docked points.  I’m just wondering why the judges didn’t even mention that Antonia used the equipment as a steamer while Jet smashed garlic with it AND made spaetzle rice noodles.  To me, that would have put him at an advantage when it came to judging equipment usage.

[roughing it]

The judges were more concerned about the equipment this time, than they seemed to be with Brooke/Michael V pairing.  I thought Brooke should have been dinged big time for using that cast iron muffin type pan just to toast spices, which I thought was a major copout, but....crickets...

[Ellee]

Did anyone watch ‘Chef Boot Camp’ with Cliff Crooks?  

I’m about to watch now.  
 

[Catfi9ht]

In a way, I'm glad there are only eight episodes of this show, and we're at the end because I don't think I'll watch next season.

This season the show seems to be pushing a narrative rather than just be a cooking game show.

Why did Elizabeth Faulkner lose her spot and Michael V's brother get one sight unseen? Why did Brooke get credit for toasting spices on her takoyaki pan but Jet made spaetzle with the spaetzle maker and get the same score as Antonia who used it as a steamer? Why get specific about "Western Europe" as a region then don't ding Maneet for making a dish that's Eastern European?

Also, the exact scoring tie of Jet and Antonia seems really fake. You have three judges who score then the scores are averaged. Since there are three judges, the odds of the scores dividing perfectly by three are much smaller than having scores that end in decimal points. Why didn't they use the decimal points to decide who won? I think it's because they realized they needed another match-up to have three matches in the final episode.

If you're going to push a narrative rather than truly have a competition show then be honest about it. Don't pretend it's a competition show and enforce the rules differently based on your desired end result.

The egos and trash talk seems to be creeping in too which I despise and is the main reason I don't watch Chopped. Speaking of ego, they brought in Scott from Chopped to be a judge. Gross.

I also like the blind judging. I think that should be a requirement for every cooking game show. It's not like the judge's knowledge about a particular contestant would help them judge their food better anyway. It seems to only serve prejudices rather than inform.

I really do like Justin and Simon in their roles. It seems more useful to me than the similar role in Iron Chef America. Plus, I find their knowledge of food and cooking very interesting. It doesn't always translate well, for me, on other shows.

Using knowledgeable "sideline reporters" to present the dish for a blind tasting is my favorite aspect of this show. However, this season leaves alot to be desired for me.

[dleighg]

7 minutes ago, Catfi9ht said:

Also, the exact scoring tie of Jet and Antonia seems really fake. You have three judges who score then the scores are averaged. Since there are three judges, the odds of the scores dividing perfectly by three are much smaller than having scores that end in decimal points. Why didn't they use the decimal points to decide who won? I think it's because they realized they needed another match-up to have three matches in the final episode.

I made the same observation awhile back. One respondent said that perhaps the judges (each) decided to give the exact same scores in each category since they really thought they both were worthy. Honestly that's the only way the exact scores could have possibly happened (if they did). 

[Catfi9ht]

8 hours ago, dleighg said:

I made the same observation awhile back. One respondent said that perhaps the judges (each) decided to give the exact same scores in each category since they really thought they both were worthy. Honestly that's the only way the exact scores could have possibly happened (if they did). 

Interesting. If collusion is okay then again the show is pushing a specific narrative and not an actual competition show. There really isn't a way the scores would be identical other than to cheat the system.

I definitely accept some fantasy aspects of reality shows but don't insult my intelligence.