Cutthroat Kitchen - General Discussion

[roctavia]

Danushka bugs... I'm glad she didn't win... her voice/attitude remains irritating and she wasn't pleasant to watch.

Her sorbets definitely didn't sound like sorbets even if all she had to work with was a cheese tray, which still seemed to have a pretty good selection of stuff on it.

[candall]

The potato sack one was the most recent one that irritated me. The big guy refused to give any of his fellow potato sack people time, and because he was bigger than them he could resist moving, leaving one competitor no time to get her potatoes cooked.

 

That potato sack sabotage went completely off the skids when two contestants could stay relatively unaffected at their respective stations as long as the third was totally shut out.  I was angry on behalf of the tiny woman. 

 

An unforeseeable combination of factors created the situation, though, so how to prevent that?  Have they finessed the rules enough to prevent a shackled contestant from saying, "Screw you, I'm twice your size and you can cook when I decide you can"?  Does production step in if things get too out of whack?  "Cut!  Hey, uncool, dude!"

 

With all the sabotages where cooperation is necessary, I'm surprised size and strength don't trump "sense of fair play" more often.  (I'm thinking about the see-saw.)

[paramitch]

Thank you! I assumed you meant Texas when you said the season best forgotten (season 9) but concur on season 2, as well. She was driving me nuts on Cutthroat Kitchen with her giggling, mugging, and incompetence. I hoped she would go out on the first round.

 

Nothing and nobody will ever make me like Betty, who I feel was the worst instigator and one of the clear leaders in instigating violence against Marcel on Top Chef. I'm aware not everyone loves Marcel, but I liked him, and felt incredibly bad for his experiences in Season 2. And Betty consistently did everything she could to make them worse. (As far as Marcel, yes, he could be a blowhard early on, but he also took his setbacks with grace and humility, and has emerged pretty visibly as a nice, talented and self-aware guy with no spite).

 

Meanwhile, Betty here seemed to have desperately wanted to use her latest 5 minutes of fame to show off a ton of plastic surgery (which made me pity her, because I can't condemn that even if to me it's the wrong choice in a sexist world), and also to chortle and giggle fakely pretty much nonstop. To the point where even Alton is visibly begging the cameras (us) "Please God make it stop." It was just so noxious and fake and not remotely believable. "Oooh! Giggle giggle! What a challenge! Giggle giggle! Whatever shall I dooooo?"

 

Alton's expressions, however, did make it all worthwhile.

 

I mean, I get it, and I assume some bargain-basement PR person told her to do that, but she was just unable to carry it off convincingly and to me it made Betty look worse than ever. Betty is not light and sweet. Even in alt-persona. She is not a "bat your eyelashes" type. She's already shouted and screeched her way through reality TV and nothing was going to change that unless (as with S1 Top Chef Tiffani, who I will always love) she showed simple real growth, maturity, humility and calm. But instead, we got this weird sort of "Body Snatchers Betty" and just... come on. Ugh.

 

I still cannot stand her -- and I felt she was the worst kind of person on TC -- the poisonous onlooker, the one who whips everyone else into a vortex of hate then later backs off and says, "What? Me?" She was consistently nasty, spiteful and unapologetic just at the edges of so many scenes. So I definitely took some delight in watching her <fake> giggle giggle giggle and then flail and fail. Delicious karma! Nobody deserves it more.

 

I agree... not a fan of Betty... I couldn't wait for her to go home...  Though that tandem sticks thing was an awful sabotage!!

 

But oh, the karma, the karma. I loved every delicious minute. What an awful, awful fake person. I cannot stand a bully.

 

I couldn't stand Danushka when I first saw her on Chopped but I warmed up to her when she was on NFNS.  I realized that she's self-aware and knows she's got a shtick and is playing it for good or ill.  I get a kick out of her now.

 

I have liked her grudgingly the past few years, as I've finally gotten that she's doing a very specific sort of schtick, and watching it that way, she's actually kind of funny and charming. I also appreciate that she doesn't hurt or embarrass others, and that she often owns her own mistakes or hubris. I don't adore her, but I do think she can cook, and that she can be at least mildly funny.

Edited January 21, 2016 by paramitch

[Amarsir]

The episode titles are one of the real gems about this show. (My favorite so far is "I Crisped a Grill and I Liked It".)  But they knew what side their bread is buttered on when they just called this episode "The One with William Shatner".

 

Also I liked the idea of a "Man Cave" special. It reminds me of my favorite episode of Good Eats. (Which you ladies may remember as the one where he taught us flower arranging while you were out of the room.)  But I do feel it needs equal time. There have been episodes with 4 women but it needs a fun, playful, embracing of the attitude like this had.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Amarsir

[SnideAsides]

My personal favourite ridiculous episode title pun has to be Hakuna Frittata.

[gryphon]

I really enjoyed tonight's episode--I am so glad chef Patrick from Lombard, IL won.  (I probably liked him the best out of the chefs because he's close to my age)  But I could see him as a teacher or dad as well.  He seemed like a good guy.  I was impressed at how well he did with the cement mixer. 

[mlp]

I enjoyed last night's episode too and was also rooting for Patrick, partly because I liked him and partly because he was so darned good looking.  I didn't want him and his great smile and handsome face to leave my screen.  :)  I hope they bring him back for an all-star round one day.  

[Amarsir]

I've been wondering for a while if the show isn't at risk of running out of "everyday" foods to make. Breakfast Enchiladas, Bibimbap, and Concrete seem to indicate that they are. (In season 1 an episode had Tacos, Eggs Benedict, and Crab Cake. Or Sandwich, Barbecue, and S'mores.) Breakfast enchiladas are a distant third behind breakfast tacos and burritos, and I'd never heard of concrete. (Bibimbap is a fair choice for Korean food, though I wouldn't blame someone for never having made it.)

 

Not that they've never had repeats either (burgers several times) but imho part of the appeal is the everyday nature of the dishes. I hope that doesn't change.

[SnideAsides]

I think part of the issue is that the dishes they do use seem to keep being the same general kinds of things. I mean, I get why they keep doing Italian and Thai and British food, and I get that there are probably demographics reasons behind Mexican and soul food dishes coming up disproportionately often, but they rarely stray outside of those examples and desserts. They aren't even doing French and Chinese dishes as often as they used to. Certainly there's more they could be doing - like, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Greek, Indian, and Spanish are all pretty major cuisines with many usable ideas and between them I think we've only had six or seven dishes in the show's history (including a grand total of zero Spanish dishes) - but if the players were all confused by the concept of scones (of all things) I'm not going to hold it against them if they go with pepperoni pizza over a traditional dish from some obscure former Soviet country, you know? I just wish there was more balance so it wasn't so predictable.

[Amarsir]

So that was interesting. We got an answer to the oft-wondered question "What happens if there's an accident?"  Which I suspect is actually two answers:

 

1) They announced a "stop everything" at the first sign of injury. That "time out" stuff probably happens way more often than we know: when was the last time someone ran so short on time they didn't have a plate or left something out? Both injuries and flops happen reasonably often on more straightforward competitions, but are virtually unheard of on the show with seesaws and weedwhackers.

 

2) I would have guessed that "extra cash for the best dish" was the easiest fix, though I wonder how much it would have been if that person hadn't spent any. It was very convenient that the round winner happened to be one of the biggest spenders ever.

[NikSac]

Just finally got to see this episode. Did they really have to cut (no pun intended) to the blender of red sauce right after the cut off finger issue? Eek.

Other than that gross out, I will say I kind of want to try stuffed Swiss chard now.

[gryphon]

Ugh, I really disliked the winner this time around. Her voice gave me a migraine--and the 2nd place chef grated as well.  I wish The Pink Haired Italian chef would have made it through to the final.  She was the only one I liked out of this cast.  The winner, Chef Golden - Too many talking heads!!!! Shut up and cook. 

[Amarsir]

I have a pretty high tolerance so I thought they were fine, but I do agree that editing cut in way too many of her TH shots. Someone there must have loved her.

 

I like the idea of "teach us how to make" on Alton's After Show. Spring Rolls are not especially complex, but I like the suggestion of putting the shrimp outside the bundle so they show through better.

[Maverick]

 Why are they casting people with sob stories on CK now?  I thought those were reserved for  Chopped, GGG and various holiday specials.   

[NikSac]

I was wondering the same thing, Maverick. Although the one with the best sob story last night was also the first eliminated, so maybe the sob story's not weighted as heavily on this show? 

[SnideAsides]

"This is our judge for today. They don't care what you've had to endure. And guess what? THEY DON'T CARE."

[jcbrown]

Could not believe that the insanely chirpy oddball Chef Kate won the latest episode. I could not stand her in the first round and still think she is too precious to tolerate in real life but she grew on me a bit by the end of the hour.

[Psychobunny]

I found Chef Kate to be one of the most annoying contestants ever.

[NikSac]

Aw man, I'm only about halfway through the episode (recorded it) and she is annoying the crap out of me. She WINS?  Ugh.

[Amarsir]

Could not believe that the insanely chirpy oddball Chef Kate won the latest episode. I could not stand her in the first round and still think she is too precious to tolerate in real life but she grew on me a bit by the end of the hour.

I was the other way around. At first I thought she was cute and quirky and the longer it went on, the more I wanted to stab something sharp into my eardrums.

 

Always nice to see another stop on the Richard Blais network tour. So far this year CC has had him, Tim Allen, and William Shatner as guest judges. I wonder if that's something they deliberately intend on doing more of.

[candall]

I found Chef Kate to be one of the most annoying contestants ever.

Stabby.

[Hero]

Chef Vincent was pretty cute and I loved his accent. I like how he Chef Kate played off of each other. It looked like they were both having fun.

[Falafel]

Question about how this show works. Sometimes I go in Netflix and just watch a few in a row, but sometimes the decision-making confuses me. Like there was this one episode where the sabotage was having to cook with a little camp torch thing and so the contestant was unable to cook her shrimp completely. But the dish was nachos -- she could've still had a passable dish without it. So why serve raw shrimp instead of none at all? Are their rules about changing your dish after the sabotage, or are their rules that you must have a protein in certain dishes? Sometimes I just feel like they keep their plan no matter what sabotage they have and it doesn't make sense to me. 

[candall]

Question about how this show works. Sometimes I go in Netflix and just watch a few in a row, but sometimes the decision-making confuses me. Like there was this one episode where the sabotage was having to cook with a little camp torch thing and so the contestant was unable to cook her shrimp completely. But the dish was nachos -- she could've still had a passable dish without it. So why serve raw shrimp instead of none at all? Are their rules about changing your dish after the sabotage, or are their rules that you must have a protein in certain dishes? Sometimes I just feel like they keep their plan no matter what sabotage they have and it doesn't make sense to me. 

The fine print with this show is pretty murky.  I was wondering, in an earlier post, what happened if two contestants were yoked together and Chef One had the brute strength to prevent Chef Two from completing his/her dish.

 

I've seen some instances where the sabotage made it impossible to complete the assignment in any form you'd expect the judge to find acceptable.  So are the judges told in advance when they need to be a little more open-minded?

 

It's such a whacky show, I ask myself why I watch it, but then I usually do.

[SnideAsides]

They do test every sabotage to make sure it's possible (I know they rejected "use moose antlers instead of a whisk" for a mousse challenge because they couldn't get the needed air into the dish), but I wonder if perhaps they don't think to test whether it's possible to cook a dish if you get hit with all of the sabotages in a round?

[Falafel]

I suspect they have to test the sabotages because some of them, if not calibrated properly, could force someone to lose. i.e. they forced someone to grate a huge wedge of cheese before they could continue. They definitely need to test that make sure it wouldn't take forever because I've never seen a sabotage prevent someone from finishing their dishes. One guy didn't plate his dishes after he was forced to stop cooking for 5 minutes, but he didn't plate his stuff because he didn't manage his time properly.

 

I'd just be curious what the rules are because I watched another episode last night where a guy was planning to cut up apples and peaches for a pancake breakfast, but his knives were replaced with tin foil, so instead he used bananas and made bananas foster. In his interview, he claimed he got chocolate and bananas "just in case" but it pretty obvious those interviews are a) done after the show ends b) are guided to narrate the show and aren't really meant to give us true insight into what the contestants were doing. So who knows. But if they auction the right to foce someone to use coffee creamers for all their milk, do they have to re-do anything where they used milk? In one episode, they had to make sandwiches or something, and some guy took ALL THE BREAD in the pantry. How is that allowed? I'd do it every time. Oh we have to make omelets? *takes all eggs*

 

Despite the craziness with the sabotages, my least favorite part of this show is actually the judging. Sometimes a judge will eliminate someone for not actually making the dish they were asked. Other times they'll eliminate someone just because it was the dish they enjoyed the least, even if the other dishes weren't what was assigned. Personally, I think Chef Tila picks up on the craziness in some of this dishes better than Chef Antonia, which I like, because you'd hope a judge could tell if you made your paella with pepper-flavored jelly beans or whatever it is. But I wish the judging were more consistent. I'd like a three-judge panel, but I realize this isn't a serious cooking showed like Chopped and that's not really the point of it. (It was fascinating to see someone who won Chopped come on Cut-Throat Kitchen and go out first. Some of these people may be great chefs, but their sabotage strategy absolutely sucks.)

Edited April 21, 2016 by Falafel

[Amarsir]

 I'd like a three-judge panel, but I realize this isn't a serious cooking showed like Chopped and that's not really the point of it. 

Another complication is that they would need to make 3 dishes. Sometimes they are struggling to make 1 bite. (And yet succeed.)

 

I think all of the judges pride themselves on how flexibly they interpret a dish, but it's always going to be subjective. They're not going to automatically disqualify someone for making a burrito in a lettuce wrap because they don't know what could have caused it. But they do have to knock it if all the other dishes are without obvious flaws.

 

And I'm sure there's a secret rule list for this show, with stuff like "you can start boiling water before the round starts" and probably some rules about sportsmanship. But I've never been able to turn one up.

[Amarsir]

Question: How??

 

How is it possible to be good enough to get on Cutthroat Kitchen and yet literally scream at a live lobster? How is it possible to not know how to handle one and yet be confident enough to pick it over other seafood options? And then to win? Well I guess anything is possible on Cutthroat Kitchen.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the first time Helping Hands was done as a sabotage it was a Bob, right? Combining 2 contestants is worse. It reminds me of the early days when they did station swaps and I really didn't like those.  For all the sabotage testing they do, they can't test how another contestant is going to screw your dish up for you.

[mlp]

I don't like any of the sabotages that require the chefs to hold hands, be joined together, etc. and there were two of those last night.  Ick.  It's partly because I think they should be allowed to succeed or fail on their own but mostly because I don't like strangers in my personal space and it makes me uncomfortable watching them. 

 

 

In one episode, they had to make sandwiches or something, and some guy took ALL THE BREAD in the pantry. How is that allowed?

 

As I recall, that was in an early episode and hasn't happened since.  I've suspected that the producers made a rule after that and taking all of something is no longer allowed.  In fact, I've noticed that, if something very specific is required, there are often three or four packages of whatever on the shelf to the left of the door as they go in and they each grab one of them.

[spiderpig]

Question: How??

 

How is it possible to be good enough to get on Cutthroat Kitchen and yet literally scream at a live lobster? How is it possible to not know how to handle one and yet be confident enough to pick it over other seafood options? And then to win? Well I guess anything is possible on Cutthroat Kitchen.

 

I was bugged about that too. These weren't home cooks. 

[Fostersmom]

On April 4, 2016 at 1:09 AM, Maverick said:

 Why are they casting people with sob stories on CK now?  I thought those were reserved for  Chopped, GGG and various holiday specials.   

The most recent episodes have been driving me nuts with the constant playing up the to camera chefs. It's like they think they are on a  cheesy variety show, auditioning for their very own headlining act. 

[Maverick]

Given that about 70% of the contestants on Food Network Star are recruited from other shows where they mugged for the camera, they're not far off.

[candall]

On ‎4‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 10:39 PM, Falafel said:

Some of these people may be great chefs, but their sabotage strategy absolutely sucks.

Hmm.  I guess the biggest compliment I can pay this show is to agree you need to be more than "just" a great chef.  You have to be a crafty great chef!

 

I saw (or read, duh, no memory) Alton's strategic tips for the show and the most interesting one was to pick up ingredients in the pantry to make an alternative target-dish, in case you lose your basics to sabotage.  Good advice, but such a challenge, with 60 seconds to shop and all that adrenaline.

Another tip was never to increase the bid by more than $100.  I know they condense what they show of the bidding, but I think some of these whackadoos really do start out screaming "SEVEN THOUSAND!"

 

Agree that Helping Hands jacket gives way too much control over your food to an opponent, particularly since the weaker chef in this twosome couldn't even see.  Imagine watching those hands dump an entire cellar of salt on your food.

Retire that, along with "steal all the bread."

[spiderpig]

Mr. pig's from Boston, so I found the Boston Cream Pie challenges hilarious.

[Amarsir]

On 5/2/2016 at 5:18 AM, candall said:

Hmm.  I guess the biggest compliment I can pay this show is to agree you need to be more than "just" a great chef.  You have to be a crafty great chef!

On a podcast once, Alton said that he thinks the best chef wins 90% of the time. Now that was back in early seasons so his impression may have changed, but it stuck with me as an interesting observation.

I liked both of the final chefs in this last (Pesto) episode. But I definitely admired the winner for keeping her bankroll intact while mostly flying under the radar.  We still see the occasional bit of foolishness but I feel on average the savviness of competitors has gone up.

[Winter Rose]

I know this show uses guest judges every so often but Richard Blais was just here a couple weeks ago. It's not even that I have a problem with him but lately I feel like I can't turn food network on without seeing him.

[NikSac]

I must have missed Richard Blais last time he was on. I generally like the judges on this show but I really, really disliked him. I know this show's already kind of intentionally obnoxious, but I thought he was over the top irritating.

[Hero]

I hate Richard and his obnoxious, cocky attitude. 

[Amarsir]

I'll take the other side on that. I love Blais and am generally happy to see him. 

However I'd rather he gets his own show than pop up here and there. Especially since Cutthroat Kitchen's use of 3 rotating judges means we already don't see them that often.  And I think his know-it-all persona is likable in the same way that Alton is likable. But because they have that similarity that's another reason to not need both together.

[spiderpig]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Monti Carlo!

I was expecting Simon or Jet or Antonia, and ole Monti descends the steps.  Ugh.

[spiderpig]

Is this what we can expect now that Kermit/Bob has left FN?

[gryphon]

Anyone watching the Cutthroat Kitchen thru the decades?  Simon looked pretty damn good in that suit....

[spiderpig]

5 hours ago, gryphon said:

Anyone watching the Cutthroat Kitchen thru the decades?  Simon looked pretty damn good in that suit....

And Gentile looked pretty damn good in that Marilyn dress.

[Amarsir]

On 6/3/2016 at 5:13 PM, gryphon said:

Anyone watching the Cutthroat Kitchen thru the decades?  Simon looked pretty damn good in that suit....

The jacket was a little too big for him, to the extent I actually started wondering if that was on purpose as a 50s style I didn't know about. But otherwise I thought it was a good look.

[candall]

Banana PUUU-DING. 

Hearing that woman say "pud'n" 50 times made me crazy.  OKAY, YOU'RE FOLKSY.

*********

The time warp contest is pretty fun.  Bongo Jet was just as great as Crooner Majumdar, and Alton cracked me up for both shows.

**********

Who would've thought "punch and canape' " would be so difficult?

No-fry Chicken Kiev guy got hosed.

 

.

Edited June 10, 2016 by candall

[SandyToes]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 5:07 PM, candall said:

Who would've thought "punch and canape' " would be so difficult?

I know!  Loved Bongo Jet!  I thought the protest signs and were peace sign pan were awful challenges to work around.

I do like how Alton is now providing more hints about how to work around the sabotages, and how many contestants (appear) to think their way through the challenge, and stop bidding. I know the talking heads are all done after the fact, but I like that some of them don't necessarily run from challenges. Some even end up better off when they win those dig-through-the-jello-type sabotages.

Just caught the dessert round of the 70's.  Gal in the disco ball was so cute!  Her spinning around and trying to open bottles, zest oranges over her head was hysterical.  Guy who won did not impress me much, but again, I only saw dessert. 

Edited June 16, 2016 by SandyToes

[candall]

13 hours ago, SandyToes said:

Just caught the dessert round of the 70's.  Gal in the disco ball was so cute!  Her spinning around and trying to open bottles, zest oranges over her head was hysterical.  Guy who won did not impress me much, but again, I only saw dessert.

And did you recognize Richard Blais?  He was prettier as a glam rocker than I'd ever realized from his usual hipster-intellectual look. 

 

The first time I baked a quiche, the eggs had been accidentally omitted from the recipe.  Did not turn out well.

[Amarsir]

So I guess Blais is officially a regular CC judge now. I don't mind; he really seems to get into the spirit of it. But it's a bit of a shame since there was never enough Jet, Simon, and Antonia for my taste.

I'm enjoying the tournament. It's a fun idea, and using winners certainly does raise the average skill a bit.

[gryphon]

Loved Disco Ball Girl. I was not impressed with the winner.  The incidental music for all of the Time Warp episodes has been excellent! 

[spiderpig]

I love this show.  It doesn't pretend not to be bullshit.  (Is that a double negative?)

The contestants know what they're getting into and take the challenges in stride.  So do the judges.  Seeing Simon in a themed costume cracks me up.