Tournament of Champions - Season 5 Discussion Thread

[Lamb18]

One win I AM glad about is Antonia's. I feel like she brought a new level of determination about this contest. She was out-randomizing the randomizer. I hope she takes it this year - she or Jet, now that Stephanie's gone. Mei Linn repeating would be OK, too.

[schnauzergirl]

57 minutes ago, Lamb18 said:

One win I AM glad about is Antonia's. I feel like she brought a new level of determination about this contest. She was out-randomizing the randomizer. I hope she takes it this year - she or Jet, now that Stephanie's gone. Mei Linn repeating would be OK, too.

Antonia's reaction after her win was so determined and joyful.  Maybe I'm over-analyzing it, but it seemed she was celebrating not only the win, but also unlocking the key to winning --creative  use of the randomizer.

[Bastet]

23 hours ago, susannot said:

However, I do like Nancy Silverton.  She really is an iconic chef of California cuisine.

I know her, but merely as an acquaintance, so our interaction amounts to talking briefly at parties several times over many years; I don't know much about her personally other than she's smart and quirky (genuinely quirky, not an affectation).  But I've had quite a bit of her food and it's delicious.  And when the pandemic first hit, she was front and center feeding laid-off restaurant workers in Los Angeles (she wound up getting COVID not too far into it, but obviously recovered fully).  So I always like seeing her turn up as a judge, and how much respect the cheftestants have for her -- thus how excited they get when she says something superlative.  These competitors are no slouches themselves, and some serve as judges on other shows, so it's cute how starstruck they sometimes get about So-and-So just said that about my food!

Edited March 6 by Bastet

[Ohmo]

On 3/4/2024 at 6:57 AM, bad things are bad said:

I have the same reaction sometimes.  I particularly dislike that stupid "dancing spice queen" crap. I know that's the one and only Guy's foolishness, but it bugs 

Add another person who feels the same way about Maneet.  Sometimes I really like her, and sometimes I don't. When Mimi asked her who she'd want to go up against, I thought it was unnecessary to say that she's competed against both people they were talking about and then do the mic drop.

Mimi was trying to make conversation and everyone knows who Maneet is in terms of TOC.  No need to rub it in.

Yay for Eric and yay for Antonia!  Watched both of them on Beachside Brawl S2

[Ohmo]

5 hours ago, schnauzergirl said:

Antonia's reaction after her win was so determined and joyful.  Maybe I'm over-analyzing it, but it seemed she was celebrating not only the win, but also unlocking the key to winning --creative  use of the randomizer.

I also think the fact that she's a host of other competition shows may be helping her.  I completely agree with you about her use of the randomizer, but I also think seeing a competition show from both the perspective of a host and a contestant may be giving Antonia some insight.

I don't get the appeal of Stephanie.  I don't dislike her, but I also don't think she's anything to write home about either.  She kinda just there for me.  I will not miss her.

[Gramto6]

On 3/4/2024 at 7:42 AM, dleighg said:

Also, I thought that move with the champagne bottle risked getting glass in the pot.

I can't believe it didn't, also some shards could easily have been in the bottle!  They may have done some "camera" magic to switch the bottles/pans??

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, Ohmo said:

I also think the fact that she's a host of other competition shows may be helping her.  I completely agree with you about her use of the randomizer, but I also think seeing a competition show from both the perspective of a host and a contestant may be giving Antonia some insight.

I don't get the appeal of Stephanie.  I don't dislike her, but I also don't think she's anything to write home about either.  She kinda just there for me.  I will not miss her.

Stephani, is she the one who said during judging that she should have concentrated more on the randomizer since it was clearly important.  Well, duh. 

[meep.meep]

So, up until this episode, the high scores were in the low 80s, but now they're cracking the 90s.  Is it one high scoring judge - I'd vote for Zimmern - or two?  Can't be Ming Tsai because he was on both panels.

[sugarbaker design]

18 hours ago, Ohmo said:

When Mimi asked her who she'd want to go up against, I thought it was unnecessary to say that she's competed against both people they were talking about and then do the mic drop.

Mimi was trying to make conversation and everyone knows who Maneet is in terms of TOC.  No need to rub it in.

Nini.

[Ohmo]

5 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Nini.

That's right. Thanks.

[Lamb18]

On 3/5/2024 at 3:29 PM, Ohmo said:

I also think the fact that she's a host of other competition shows may be helping her.  I completely agree with you about her use of the randomizer, but I also think seeing a competition show from both the perspective of a host and a contestant may be giving Antonia some insight.

I don't get the appeal of Stephanie.  I don't dislike her, but I also don't think she's anything to write home about either.  She kinda just there for me.  I will not miss her.

I can see why people think that about her as she doesn't have a personality that lights up a TV screen. I've always liked her and rooted for her since she was on Top Chef season 4 and won it. On that show she was calm, pleasant and professional, and she's always been that way. She's a chef first and TV person second. But I can see why she would not impress anyone from just her 20 minutes or so exposure on TOCC.

 

Also to note, I think there are three competitors from Top Chef season 4 in this comp: Stephanie, Antonia and I believe Dale Talde is showing up? Is there any TC season that has larger representation here?

[Stardancer Supreme]

On 3/5/2024 at 9:53 AM, Rammchick said:

Yeah, Shota!

Not only is Antonia "Princess Warrior", she's "Warrior Princess" too -- not everyone can say they have two nicknames!

 

If I am not mistaken, "Warrior Princess" is Antonia's actual chef nickname. I'm willing to bet that Guy reversed it because that phrase is copyrighted (Xena). At this point, Guy is just going to be the carnival barker that he is. 

Episode 3: "Stakes Have Never Been Higher!"

The judges: Nancy Silverton, Ming Tsai, Andrew Zimmern

Matchup 1: Eric Adjepong vs. Stephanie Izard - Eric Adjepong wins!  I've never really warmed to this Iron Chef, so I'm okay with her going home. I really wanted to taste EA's dish. (I have got to stop watching these shows hungry!)

Matchup 2: Antonia Lofaso vs. Casey Thompson - Antonia Lofaso wins!  I figured that CT was way out of her element in the TOC kitchen, plus going against the Princess Warrior who was determined not to lose. CT was going to lose anyway, considering that she didn't utilize the Randomizer to its fullest potential. 

Matchup 3: Lee Ann Wong vs. Adam Sobel - Lee Ann Wong wins!   I'm glad Mama Wong took this because AS is just so smug and smarmy for a chef who got 1 win last year. Then to make something he hadn't made before and assume that this would be a winning dish... And Lee Ann Wong got the highest points tonight. 

Matchup 4: Maneet Chauhan vs. Nini Nguyen - Maneet Chauhan wins! Nini might have had a chance if Randa hadn't decided to throw a curveball in the protein. Turkey wings are hard to process in 30 minutes. I probably would have fried them without stuffing them. Then Nini almost missed plating her dish! I admire chefs who can turn out a dish in short amounts of time; I couldn't cook at my best if I was being rushed, which is why I don't try out for shows like this. 

Well, all the folk I was rooting for won tonight. It's going to be a fun time next week!

 

[Yeah No]

Very late to respond here.  I have been disappointed in some of the upset wins this season.  I would rather have seen Stephanie and Brooke win.  I was happy about Antonia winning, though.

I hear what some of you are saying about Maneet.  She has gotten under my skin with her arrogance a few times, but actually not so much in this episode.  I have seen her act worse on Triple G and "Chopped".

I liked Casey on her Top Chef seasons, and this was the first time I'd seen her on a cooking competition since then.  I always wondered why she didn't get more into that.  I thought if anyone would have it would have been her.  It was nice to see her again but obvious that her lack of recent experience competing was her downfall here.

I tend to tune out Guy and his ridiculous nicknames.  And his yelling on this too.  At least this season he doesn't have laryngitis like he did last time.  My husband refuses to watch this show because Guy gets on his nerves.  I get that, but it is a good show and has all his favorites on it, so whatever.

My Comcast schedule finally got corrected and now all the episodes are correctly marked.  Thank goodness, that was driving me nuts!

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, Yeah No said:

My husband refuses to watch this show because Guy gets on his nerves.  I get that, but it is a good show and has all his favorites on it, so whatever.

Has he tried it and noped out upon being yet again irritated by him, or just refused to even take a look because of Guy?  I ask because this is the only thing for which I will endure Guy as he gets on my nerves immediately in anything else, and I spend surprisingly little time rolling my eyes at him because of all the great stuff going on here.

[Ohmo]

32 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Has he tried it and noped out upon being yet again irritated by him, or just refused to even take a look because of Guy?

Guy's a lot, I'm not gonna lie, but I can handle his routine because he seems genuine about showcasing and promoting chefs from all different life experiences.  That's what's made what's happened with Darnell so tough.  TOC has helped showcase that women are awesome chefs.  We saw Tobias deal with anxiety before competing, and I've seen Eric, Tiffani, Brooke, Antonia, and Michael Voltaggio be excellent mentors on other shows. Guy has played some sort of role in all of that. I'm sure it depends on the situation as to his degree of influence.  If none of that is genuine, I don't want to know because I'm cynical enough as it is. I hope most of Guy's efforts have been what they appear to be,

[Gramto6]

As much as I am put off by his on camera persona, I do think Guy is genuine in everything he takes on. He worked hard during the fires in CA organizing the feeding of people and first responders, for that alone, I admire him.  He genuinely seems to like these chefs and to bring the new ones the recognition they deserve. ToC is his only show I can watch start to finish, though.  I like the "At the Ranch" shows but in small doses.

[Lamb18]

I hope Dale wins.

Glad Voltaggio won even though he dressed like a firefighter. I think a Voltaggio is Antonia finale would be super exciting.

[DEL901]

13 minutes ago, Lamb18 said:

I hope Dale wins.

Glad Voltaggio won even though he dressed like a firefighter. I think a Voltaggio is Antonia finale would be super exciting.

Unfortunately, they will be going against each other in round 3.  They are both in the West A bracket.  

[Lamb18]

I am so surprised Dale beat Karen. It sounded like everything was going Karen's way. Glad Dale won!

12 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Unfortunately, they will be going against each other in round 3.  They are both in the West A bracket.  

Rats. Too bad they don't have everyone compete, get a score, but the ones that move on have the highest scores. So a match could have both people move on or both people not qualifying. 

[DEL901]

If you want to check out the brackets, this is a good link and includes all five seasons. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournament_of_Champions_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournament_of_Champions_(TV_series)

[Lamb18]

Who won between Shota and Carlos? Anthony? My sister called so I missed the outcome.

[DEL901]

41 minutes ago, Lamb18 said:

Who won between Shota and Carlos? Anthony? My sister called so I missed the outcome.

Carlos won by one point!!!!!   Noooooooooo!

[Grizzly]

10 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Carlos won by one point!!!!!   Noooooooooo!

On the plus side, we can root full throttle for Jet.

[MerBearHou]

I was watching the Oscars so missed tonight and last week too.  Has Chris Scott competed against Tiffani yet?  What was the outcome?  

[DEL901]

4 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I was watching the Oscars so missed tonight and last week too.  Has Chris Scott competed against Tiffani yet?  What was the outcome?  

I’m just watching now.  Scores are 85 to 93.  Tiff won.  

[Ohmo]

I was so bummed that Karen and Shota lost.  Dale seems nice enough, but I like Karen. Carlos's ego is annoying.

Speaking of ego, I'm glad that Tiffani dispatched Chris.  He was quite chesty on the Soul Food Cook-off, and I was not a fan.

Glad that Michael handled Christa.

I wonder what Carla Hall would have thought of Dale's dish?  When she judged, she commented that someone's dish looked like a Meat and Two, and she didn't mean it as a compliment.  Meat and Two was actually what Dale intended.

[Ohmo]

Putting this under spoiler tags because it's about the preview for next week.

Spoiler

I wonder if Tobias has another anxiety attack?  He's backstage with Guy, and Guy turns and asks for the camera to be turned off.

 

[MerBearHou]

10 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

I’m just watching now.  Scores are 85 to 93.  Tiff won.  

Darn.  I love Chef Chris.  

[Rammchick]

Have we always been mispronouncing Scott Conant's name?  All night, everyone pronounced it, "Conn-ant", when it's always been said as, "Cone-ant" in the past.

Poor Shota 😭.  Better luck next year!

 

[dewelar]

9 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Poor Shota 😭.  Better luck next year!

 

Sadly, I think Shota beat himself by not showcasing the randomizer items enough. I often have trouble predicting who's going to win, but I called this as soon as I saw how little he used the chard and especially the sauerkraut. It's too bad, because Carlos was working my last nerve. I don't remember much about him from past seasons -- has he always been so abrasive? Anyway, here's hoping Jet goes three-for-three against him.

[Infie]

I was so irritated with Nancy Silverton being ... offended?  that Karen did such a good job with the canned green beans, outright saying that she felt like Karen elevated them undeservedly.  Isn't that supposed to be a plus in this competition?  Taking a randomizer ingredient and making it shine?  Nancy, your snobbery is showing!  

[Tippi]

Joe and Shota were my favorites, so I'll be able to watch the rest of the competition without a big rooting interest.  I still would like to see someone different win this year.

What kind of score is it going to take to win?  We're getting scores in the 90s pretty routinely in the early rounds.

[susannot]

I was surprised that neither chef tenderized their top round in the last contest.  As all the judges said of both chefs, top round is a tough cut of meat.  I couldn't believe that Tiffani scored a 93 for a tough plate of meat.

[Bastet]

18 hours ago, Ohmo said:

Dale seems nice enough

I haven't yet had a chance to watch as I wasn't home last night -- is this "Angry Dale" from Top Chef (Dale Talde) or another Dale?  If so, he went to an anger management therapist after his original TC season aired (upon seeing how he came across and having his mom say she was embarrassed by his behavior), and was noticeably improved when he returned for his All Stars season, so it will be nice if he's still doing well on that front.

But, whatever Dale it is, I'm bummed about Karen being eliminated.  A lot of my favorites are going out in the first round this time (the Jeopardy! ToC is not at all going my way either, so I seem to be some sort of curse with my rooting interests right now).

At least Tiffani won.

[Trey]

17 minutes ago, Bastet said:

A lot of my favorites are going out in the first round this time (the Jeopardy! ToC is not at all going my way either, so I seem to be some sort of curse with my rooting interests right now).

That's what I was thinking about me!

At least MV made it through.  

[Mondrianyone]

I was glad Voltaggio won, both because (aside from the fact that he's clearly an amazing chef) of how kind I've seen him be to young chefs and what a bad sport Crista Luedtke was when she lost in the last tournament. Voltaggio only looks intimidating.

Back on the subject of nicknames, if Guy insists on using them, he needs to find a writer (I'd volunteer). "Dancing Spice Queen" has been rotated back and forth between Maneet and Aarti Sequeira. And last night he called Shota "Ninja," which used to belong to Nyesha Arrington (what happened to her, I wonder?). If he had to give Shota a clichéd Japanese-associated name, why not "Shogun"? It works better with his actual name. Step up that nickname game, for Pete's sake, and stop recycling them.

[MerBearHou]

It is, indeed, the formerly Angry Dale from Top Chef.  Like Tiffani who really has worked hard on improving her temperament from how she came across in those early days, seems like Dale has put in a lot of work to be a better version of himself.  Good for both of them.  I didn't root for or enjoy watching either one back in the day, but now I really like both Tiffani and Dale.  

Ditto -- I am losing a lot of chefs I really like in these early rounds.  

[DEL901]

41 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

I was glad Voltaggio won, both because (aside from the fact that he's clearly an amazing chef) of how kind I've seen him be to young chefs and what a bad sport Crista Luedtke was when she lost in the last tournament. Voltaggio only looks intimidating.

Back on the subject of nicknames, if Guy insists on using them, he needs to find a writer (I'd volunteer). "Dancing Spice Queen" has been rotated back and forth between Maneet and Aarti Sequeira. And last night he called Shota "Ninja," which used to belong to Nyesha Arrington (what happened to her, I wonder?). If he had to give Shota a clichéd Japanese-associated name, why not "Shogun"? It works better with his actual name. Step up that nickname game, for Pete's sake, and stop recycling them.

Nyesha is a judge on Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef, along with Richard Blais. 

Edited March 11 by DEL901

[Rammchick]

7 hours ago, dewelar said:

Sadly, I think Shota beat himself by not showcasing the randomizer items enough. I often have trouble predicting who's going to win, but I called this as soon as I saw how little he used the chard and especially the sauerkraut.

I don't disagree.  I think Shota is a little more limited than some of the other chefs.  He has a harder time with ingredients that don't classically fit in Japanese food, like sauerkraut.  That being said, the more practice he gets in competitions like this, the better he's going to get at it.  Such a sweet guy!

[cameron]

20 hours ago, Infie said:

I was so irritated with Nancy Silverton being ... offended?  that Karen did such a good job with the canned green beans, outright saying that she felt like Karen elevated them undeservedly.  Isn't that supposed to be a plus in this competition?  Taking a randomizer ingredient and making it shine?  Nancy, your snobbery is showing!  

Not a fan of Nancy.  The can green beans have been used before in this contest and commented on how hard it is to do something worth with them.  Thought that was a stupid comment on her part.

[FormerMod-a1]

I thought she meant it failed at elevation, because later on she commented on how it didn't work. 

[bad things are bad]

Well, someone at Food Network didn't complete the Darnell purge.  I was watching Cheap Eats on the Cooking Channel this morning and there was Superchef in the Louisville episode.  When Mario Batali got the (deserved) boot, it became as if he had never existed on either channel 

[dleighg]

23 hours ago, Infie said:

I was so irritated with Nancy Silverton being ... offended?  that Karen did such a good job with the canned green beans, outright saying that she felt like Karen elevated them undeservedly.

I think she just expressed herself poorly. She went on to say that a crisp green bean would have worked better in a tempura (well yeah), so she was trying to do something that didn't make sense with the green beans.

And on another note I'd always wondered if there was some unseen extra time between the spin and the cook, because they have to stock the refrigerator with the protein for example. I paid attention this time to the "meat and dairy fridge" and it had a great big empty space before the spin, and just after the spin the tray of round steak had appeared, and there was certainly enough time for that. Similarly a basket of corn appeared in the pantry. So I think it's quite doable. 

[roughing it]

In what way did Karen ever earn a #2 seed?  Ok, so she made the top 8 before, but never to the final four.  I would put her as a #4 seed at best.

Canned green beans.  Ugh.  No matter what you do, canned green beans may as well be called green bean mush.  Yuck.  I agree with Nancy, you can tempura fry the green beans but they will still be mush inside.  Again, yuck. 

[cameron]

1 hour ago, roughing it said:

In what way did Karen ever earn a #2 seed?  Ok, so she made the top 8 before, but never to the final four.  I would put her as a #4 seed at best.

Canned green beans.  Ugh.  No matter what you do, canned green beans may as well be called green bean mush.  Yuck.  I agree with Nancy, you can tempura fry the green beans but they will still be mush inside.  Again, yuck. 

Just rewatched this episode for the third time and find it interesting that both Scott and Marcus liked Karen fried items.  Nancy thought they were too elevated.  She must prefer them straight out of the can approach. Not sure what her problem was.

[schnauzergirl]

1 hour ago, roughing it said:

In what way did Karen ever earn a #2 seed?  Ok, so she made the top 8 before, but never to the final four.  I would put her as a #4 seed at best.

Canned green beans.  Ugh.  No matter what you do, canned green beans may as well be called green bean mush.  Yuck.  I agree with Nancy, you can tempura fry the green beans but they will still be mush inside.  Again, yuck. 

I had the same question about Karen.  That #2 seed puzzles me.

[chessiegal]

I'm hard pressed to think of what you can do with canned green beans. I grew up hating vegetables and didn't realize until I left home it was because they all came out of a can. Once I was on my own, I started using frozen and fresh. What an epiphany.

[Bastet]

19 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I think Shota is a little more limited than some of the other chefs.  He has a harder time with ingredients that don't classically fit in Japanese food, like sauerkraut.  That being said, the more practice he gets in competitions like this, the better he's going to get at it. 

In his Top Chef season, there was a cheese challenge where the cheftestants had to showcase it five (IIRC) different ways and Shota knocked it so far out of the park none of the others who had exponentially more experience with cheese came close, even though this was nearing the end of the competition and everyone left was hella good.

Editing, of course, plays a role because it determines what we see, but in that TC challenge Shota was shown to talk about how out of his wheelhouse it was, but we weren't shown anything here other than one remark about not cooking with chard; we were, though, shown Jet - watching the two of them conceptualize and cook - talking about the randomizer increasingly being the difference maker and how Carlos was really leaning into that.  And Shota's loss came down to one randomizer point.  So I'm not sure how much Shota's lesser experience with the ingredients played into his loss, as he spoke knowledgeably about how you need to cut tri-tip against the grain, the water content of chard, etc.

Although Shota was not my number one favorite in his TC season, he came close; I adored him, and have continued to like him on everything else I've seen.  I only have a vague sensation that I didn't like Carlos rather than specific memories, but I was bummed how that one came out.  I laughed at Carlos's negative reaction to tri-tip as the protein, as I had one roasting in the oven as I watched, but that was after having marinated it for 48 hours.  It's one of the few cuts of beef I like, but I would not want to quick cook it!  (I love chard, too, and almost changed my side dish upon watching, but I had some broccoli that needed to be used.)  I also would not want his side, but that's just because I hate beans.  I can't resent his win, but I wish Shota had prevailed.

It was interesting to see Mike Voltaggio back given Brooke got knocked out in her first round match-up; last time he competed against her, she won for the fourth time in a row and he said he was not going up against her again.  I thought his and Christa's dishes both looked great, but his was more interesting as often happens.

With Karen vs. Dale, I didn't yearn to eat either meal just based on personal preference -- I'll eat tilapia even though I prefer not to, so I'd have been happy with either fish preparation on its own, but I hate sweet potatoes and green beans (any which way, never mind out of a can) so wouldn't want any of the sides.  I am the absolute opposite of enamored of a retro, local, neighborhood meat and two (or three) meal, unlike the judges who only knocked Dale's on presentation grounds.  I liked Karen's flavor profile better so if I had to eat the sides from one chef, I'd take hers (especially since one of his cheeses was cream cheese, which I don't like; again, while I eat a wide variety of things, my personal dislikes featured heavily in this match-up) so I found it notable she only got one less point than Dale on taste; he won on use of the randomizer (because she, of course, outscored him on presentation).  Bummer; I've always liked her. 

I'd have no idea what to do with top round, so was curious to see what Tiffani and Chris did.  Neither one did anything to convince me top round would make it onto my short list of beef cuts I like.  I liked the rest of the randomizer ingredients, so if I was handed those dishes with a ribeye instead, I'd have gone to town.  It was clear from the judges' comments Tiffani had won big, and indeed she got five more points than him on flavor (and two more on randomizer; they both got 9 on presentation).  Given who she picked to get the $5k, I'm happy she had the highest score of the night.  I now remember reading a few years ago that the number of lesbian bars in the U.S. had fallen below 20, but had forgotten all about that until Tiffani said there are only 22.

I'm going to have no idea who to root for when Tiffani and Amanda go head to head.  Maybe Amanda, since Tiffani has won before.  But that's one where I'll be happy no matter who wins.

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, dleighg said:

And on another note I'd always wondered if there was some unseen extra time between the spin and the cook,

Yes, but just a few minutes per an interview with one of the winners (but I don't remember who; it will be buried somewhere back in the General Discussion thread, though).

[susannot]

Tournament of Champions questions, answered: behind the scenes of Food Network’s competition – reality blurred

I think this article answers the question about timing.  Google reality blurred.

Edited March 12 by susannot