Tournament of Champions - Season 5 Discussion Thread

[Stardancer Supreme]

5 hours ago, eelpout said:

Maneet C. is a great chef, but... I will forever look slightly askew at the judging because based on the field of chefs, even with the large group this year, it's always fairly obvious when she is cooking.

 

Maneet is a great chef period. It may have seemed obvious to us, but the only finale judges that may have had an inkling would have been either Cat Cora or Lorena Garcia. Plus, Maneet didn't always go Indian in her choice of dishes or her opponent decided to try Indian flavors in their dishes to counteract Maneet. 

I believe Guy when he says that the judges are kept away from knowing who the contestants are until the very end. 

[dleighg]

Sure they don't know who the contestants are, but: Maneet has done well EVERY SINGLE YEAR. So clearly she's likely to be in the final. And despite statements to the contrary, she mostly does cook Indian food. I am too lazy to go back and count, but I would say that it's at least 80% of the time. 

I am NOT saying she didn't deserve to win. She is a master at the randomizer, and finds ways to use the randomizer items in multiple ways. But I also think that she may get a *bit* of a bump from the judges guessing that it is her, and thinking, the expert is in the house.

[DEL901]

32 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Sure they don't know who the contestants are, but: Maneet has done well EVERY SINGLE YEAR. So clearly she's likely to be in the final. And despite statements to the contrary, she mostly does cook Indian food. I am too lazy to go back and count, but I would say that it's at least 80% of the time. 

I am NOT saying she didn't deserve to win. She is a master at the randomizer, and finds ways to use the randomizer items in multiple ways. But I also think that she may get a *bit* of a bump from the judges guessing that it is her, and thinking, the expert is in the house.

Could get a bit of a bump, or be dinged…historically men generally win more than women and there could be a am unconscious bias against her as for her, particularly since she’d already won.  

[dleighg]

56 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Could get a bit of a bump, or be dinged…historically men generally win more than women and there could be a am unconscious bias against her as for her, particularly since she’d already won

fair enough. We'll never know

[eelpout]

21 hours ago, DEL901 said:

Could get a bit of a bump, or be dinged…historically men generally win more than women and there could be a am unconscious bias against her as for her, particularly since she’d already won.  

yeah, when I brought her up, I wasn't trying to say judges would go one way or another with her, just that as far as I can recall, her Indian flavorings have been unique in the contest.

[Stardancer Supreme]

Still, we are not going to downplay Maneet's accomplishments by saying she possibly had an unfair advantage. That just amplifies the unconscious bias women have been fighting against in almost every field competing against men.

[Ohmo]

On 4/7/2024 at 10:03 PM, Bastet said:

Blind judging and five out of five tournaments being won by women is not a coincidence, and more competitions need to get on the ball with this.

I'm not a fan of the term "blind judging".  In any case, however, I'm now beginning to question how "unaware" that the judging is.  While I think it's great that women continue to win, many of these chefs compete year after year.  Many of the judges judge year after year. 

The first couple of years, I think it could actually be said that the judging was impartial.  Now, most of the chefs are FN personalities, and some of the judges are, too.  Even people like Eric Ripert have been on TV.

With the repetition of both judges and contestants, all of these people know each other or know of each other.  At this point, the judges can likely make some guesses as to whose food is whose, even if they aren't consciously aware of doing so.

[chessiegal]

If I was someone like Eric Ripert I would judge on the food even if I had a hint of who made it. He doesn't owe anyone anything.

[Ohmo]

On 5/3/2024 at 3:18 PM, chessiegal said:

If I was someone like Eric Ripert I would judge on the food even if I had a hint of who made it. He doesn't owe anyone anything.

My point wasn't about Eric or anyone else.  It's about the fact that Guy has said the judging has been "unaware".  After several years when both the contestant pool and the judging pool haven't changed that much, that "impartiality" has been diminished.  These people all travel in the same professional circles.  If the contestant pool doesn't change that much, the judges are going to be able to make some guesses and unconscious bias may come into it.

It'd be cool  if Guy changed up the judging a bit:

An idea could be that as soon as the audience walks in, three members are selected.  They become the judges.  They don't see the bracket or the draw.  The fourth judge is a "name" chef who gets a vote but who's also there to answer questions from the other three judges about culinary natters.  This could start in the Elite 8 round.

OR

For the final judging, have a set of judges who haven't judged at all that season.

Edited May 9, 2024 by Ohmo