Tournament of Champions - Season 6 Discussion Thread

[mlp]

I was happy with this round because all four of the people I wanted to win did win.  

I know Wolfgang Puck's reputation as a chef of course but, every time I've seen him on a show, I've thought "egotistical little twerp."   Last night wasn't much different.  At least he didn't make any off color comments.

[dewelar]

On 3/2/2025 at 11:18 PM, Maverick said:

 I like Alex in general, but I get bugged when she judges on this show.  She competed exactly one time as a top seed, got beat by an 8 seed but comes back introduced as an awesome judge the contestants ooh and aah over.

Eh, Alex has bugged me (and Mrs. Dew) for a while now, at least since the early days of Chopped, when she was our favorite judge for at least the first few seasons. Anyway, given the circumstances of said loss, I expect the powers that be would prefer it was flushed down the memory hole, so we may never see her in the tournament proper again.

[MerBearHou]

Alex seemed like she was too “on”, trying to come up with a number of humorous-to-her metaphors and clichés when she was describing the food. It really bugged me as well.  

Edited March 5 by MerBearHou

[dleighg]

On 2/18/2025 at 6:35 PM, HyeChaps said:

I wonder if the chefs stuck with Hunter describing their dishes were at a disadvantage.

(I've been out of the country so late to the party) I had exactly the same thought when I saw Hunter in that role. Stop trying to make Hunter happen!!!

[dleighg]

On 2/24/2025 at 12:18 AM, Ancaster said:

we haven't all heard of the Botoxed pastry chef whose name I've already forgotten

The ONLY reason I know her is that she's a judge on the Halloween Baking Championship (and lets herself be heavily made up and costumed, along with the other judges, which is part of. the fun of that show)

[chessiegal]

Since Guy is one of the executive producers of this show, I don't think Hunter is going anywhere. Hunter is listed as a cast member on the show's IMDb page.

[dleighg]

I just watched the Casey Thompson battle. Man, does that woman bathe in the tears of virgins, or what? When they said she was on Top Chef season 3 (which was nearly 20 years ago) I was shocked. The woman has not aged. I kind of hoped she'd win, but I think her mushrooms-like-a-sponge did her in.

[Stardancer Supreme]

601:

The judges: Maneet Chauhan, Alex Guarnaschelli, Wolfgang Puck.

Randa was especially gregarious this season opener! I have always said that the key to winning TOC is to beat the Randomizer into submission.  For tonight's matchups, I got 3 of the chef wins I was rooting for.

Rocco Dispirito vs. Tim Love - Rocco wins!  It was funny that Tim expected Alex to be the "warm and fuzzy" judge. Has he met her? LOL. Rocco scored higher on Randa and Presentation.

Kevin Lee vs. Casey Thompson - Kevin wins! Kevin scored higher with Randa.

Adriana Urbina vs. Adam Sobel - Adam wins. He scored higher on all three points. Here's hoping that Kevin Lee takes him out in the second round.

Antonia Lofaso vs. Maria Mazon - Antonia wins!  Listen, I love the Princess Warrior (eye rolls on that nickname), I really do. But is she going to stress us and herself all the way to the end to lose by one point again?  She took the longest to agree to go back to TOC. While 4 heavy hitters are out of contention, there is still Jet Tila to get past... If TOC wishes to extend the trend of women winners, that's fine. However, Antonia has a hard way to go with all the women in this year's bracket who may be just as deserving as her.  I did laugh when Maria said she would "go Mexican" on Antonia if she loses TOC 6. No pressure, right? 

 

[DEL901]

Last week, three men and a woman won. Hoping for the opposite happens this week.  I’m routing for Shota, but I prefer the w9men 8n the other matches. 

[MerBearHou]

In the Simon portion where he’s talking to the judges tonight, did you see Jonathan’s little dog in his arms?  So cute.

[Grizzly]

In Stef v Michael, as soon as Guy said it came down to the randomizer, I knew Stef had lost. Darn vanilla.  Poor Stef looked so sad. Hope Michael can beat Britt. Was very pleased for Kaleena. It was so helpful that they mentioned all the shows she had been on. I had watched them but didn't put 2 and 2 together. Shota continues to be adorable and can really cook. I want him to win this part of the draw.

[MerBearHou]

I really like all 4 of the losing chefs tonight so that was tough to see.  On the other hand, I do like most of the winning chefs.  High, high level of cooking going on — wow.  

[GiandujaPie]

I haven't been able to watch this for more than few minutes at a time because they have a bell that dings every few minutes and it drives my dog nuts. Her ears perk up and then she either starts to howl or bark. It's pretty funny but annoying so I always end up turning it off or having to watch it on mute. 

[Stardancer Supreme]

602:

The judges:  Alex Guarnaschelli, Mei Lin, Jonathan Waxman (and Katsu!).

Stephanie Izard vs. Michael Reed - Michael Reed wins! He scored higher on Randa.

Brittanny Anderson vs. Shota Nakajima - Shota wins! Shota is my cooking bias, so I was happy for his win. Shota also had the highest score thus far.

Kaleena Bliss vs. Chris Consentino - Kaleena wins! She is new and pretty awesome to watch. I did notice that Guy would call her by her first name and refer to CC by his last name.  Not too buddy buddy with Chef Consentino, huh?

Britt Rescigno vs. Chris Oh - Britt wins!  Chris was hella cocky, and it bit him in the end. Better luck in TOC 7, OMG. I have to stop watching this show before dinner; now I want tempura and Asian food! I wanted to eat everyone's dishes.

[Bastet]

Stephanie vs. Michael - I'm bummed about this one.  I've had both their food, and I like hers more, plus she remains one of my favorite Top Chef winners, so I pretty much always root for her.  I hate potatoes, so I didn't want that component of either dish, but they both looked so good I would have loved to taste the rest.  It all came down to him using the vanilla better.

Brittany vs. Shota - I like both of them, and was hella impressed by her win against the Titans, but have "known" Shota longer, so I started out torn.  The way he was dripping sweat everywhere again grossed me out, though (sweat is one of the few things I find gross, and only when dripping like that; he'd worn a sweat band the last time after dripping like mad at first, so I don't know why it was missing this time), so I became Team Brittany.  Mackerel is not a favorite, but they both made enticing dishes and the way he got that perfect skin was impressive.

Kaleena vs. Chris (Cosentino) - I have liked her since she won Beachside Brawl, and like her more with each show I see her on.  I like how serious she is while cooking, I like how she talks about living with anxiety, and I appreciate what I've read about her commitment to running kitchens without the toxic attitudes that have so long been a staple of the industry.  I liked every ingredient in both dishes this time, so I'd have cleaned my plate, but hers appealed to me more -- that loin was perfectly cooked, and I think it was smart to stuff the pepper rather than the pork.

Britt vs. Chris (Oh) - I've had his food and it's delicious, and his dish was more to my taste (in addition to hating potatoes, I also hate coffee), but I'm still blown away by her previous performances on this show and that plate was visually perfect, so I was rooting for her and am glad to see her get the win.