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Top Chef Conspiracy Theories


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I don't really think Top Chef is rigged but I'd love to have LCK judged by someone else. Eric Ripert. Bourdain. Gail Simmons. Rotating judges. Blind tasters.  Whoever. It'd make it a lot more interesting.

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Oh I actually just remembered that TC:Masters frequently employed Blind Tasters during the QFs with Curtis and the guest judges, I mean I guess one could argue that the talent gap was not as wide but it seemed that most of the chefs who were praised there were also praised during the elimination challenges and watching the chefs most knew when their dish had failed before people even tasted it. 

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7 hours ago, JeanneH said:

I'm trying to figure out which season you are referring to, as I thought the butchery, with Tom not even letting the guy finish, was some piece of beef. The closest I can come was the Seattle season, where they had a qualifier before the competition really began. They divided the cheftestants into groups of 5 or 6, then each group had to perform some task determined by 1 of 4 chefs (Tom, Emeril, Wolfgang Puck and Hugh Acheson), who would then decide who could go onto the competition from their group. Tom's group had to butcher a chicken. Jorel Pierce (Top Chef Masters) and Anthony Gray went home from Tom's group.  In the final Kristin and Brooke each had 3 sous chefs: Kristen was assisted by Joshua "Josh" Valentine, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Binder, and Sheldon Simeon. Brooke was assisted by Chris "CJ" Jacobson, Kuniko Yagi, and Stefan Richter. I couldn't find how they were chosen.  Anyway, is this the episode you were referring to?

As an aside, Stephanie Cmar, who was "Kristin's friend" that season, also did not qualify - she was in Emeril's group  and was eliminated because her cauliflower needed to taste more caulifower-y. She came back the next (New Orleans) season, and was the one who had to leave when Nicholas Elmi, the real loser that week, had immunity.

No, it definitely wasn't that season w/Emeril, Kristin & her friend Stephanie.   This was Collichio on Day 1.  This guy was young, arrogant, and ran his mouth.  I'm sure it was a pork chop he destroyed.  I'll have to look on Wiki, it was quite a few years ago, though.  Sorry, I just can't remember which season, but I'm sure it was a pork chop.  Strange, huh?

7 hours ago, dleighg said:

With @cooksdelight help I found this summary: The finalists were to pick their sous chefs in an anonymous tasting of their dishes from the challenge. Paul scored Barbara, Chris Crary, Ty-Lor Boring, and Keith Rhodes. Sarah would work with Nyesha Arrington, Heather Terhune, Grayson Schmitz, and Tyler Stone (who judge Tom Colicchio eliminated from the first 29 for his awful butchering skills while still in the kitchen).

Brilliant, that's it!  A thousand thank yous.  I am apparently suffering from CRS (can't remember s....).

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3 hours ago, Blonde Gator said:

No, it definitely wasn't that season w/Emeril, Kristin & her friend Stephanie.   This was Collichio on Day 1.  This guy was young, arrogant, and ran his mouth.  I'm sure it was a pork chop he destroyed.  I'll have to look on Wiki, it was quite a few years ago, though.  Sorry, I just can't remember which season, but I'm sure it was a pork chop.  Strange, huh?

It was TC Texas they had like 29 initial cheftestants all competing in the TC kitchen not like Seattle where they were cooking in the judges restaurant and Emeril and Tom went went around eliminating the cheftestants in sort of a Round Robin tournament of quickfire but Tyler didn't even get to cook a dish because both Tom and Emeril were horrified how he was butchering the pig.

I also don't know why the initial poster had quotes around Stephanie being "Kristen's friend," Stephanie is straight and she and Kristen  have been friends long before either was on TC and continue to be along with Stephanie's long term boyfriend.

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Posting here because it seems the most relevant place to dump my brilliant thought.

We need an emoji which indicates "We all know that what we see is what the editors want us to see, so my comments are related to what I've actually seen on a particular episode and not what might have been cut out in the editing room.  Thank you very much indeed."

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(edited)
11 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I also don't know why the initial poster had quotes around Stephanie being "Kristen's friend," Stephanie is straight and she and Kristen  have been friends long before either was on TC and continue to be along with Stephanie's long term boyfriend.

It doesn't mean anything, I don't care about that stuff. I could not remember if they were just co-workers or also friends, roommates, had something going on, had nothing going on or what. Took a stab at friends, quotes to indicate I wasn't sure if there was anything (or nothing) else to their relationship, or even if "friends" was right or not.

Edited by JeanneH
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25 minutes ago, JeanneH said:

It doesn't mean anything, I don't care about that stuff. I could not remember if they were just co-workers or also friends, roommates, had something going on, had nothing going on or what. Took a stab at friends, quotes to indicate I wasn't sure if there was anything (or nothing) else to their relationship, or even if "friends" was right or not.

No worries, when I tried to describe Kristen & Stephanie (a chef I was super happy to see return)....I initially called them "roomies", but then I remembered they weren't, they lived across the hall or something.  Whatever.  I agree wholeheartedly with your "doesn't mean anything".  Too many whiners in this life without worrying about petty semantics.

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IIRC there was speculation that they were more than friends because Stephanie for sure (can't remember about Kristen) kept mentioning in her THs that they were just!friends! There was "doth she protest too much?" musings. Not that it matters, a great friend is a great friend regardless of gender, sexuality, etc. 

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1 hour ago, Toothbrush said:

IIRC there was speculation that they were more than friends because Stephanie for sure (can't remember about Kristen) kept mentioning in her THs that they were just!friends! There was "doth she protest too much?" musings. Not that it matters, a great friend is a great friend regardless of gender, sexuality, etc. 

She said people speculated about that because they spent most of their time together (they worked together and lived in the same building) and had a matching tattoo. I also don't believe she kept mentioning it she said it on the one episode she was on in Seattle and the only mention of Kristen in NO was that her bff had won already so there was pressure.

My bff joke that 90% of brunch spots speculate that we are a lesbian couple raising a daughter together because our weekly ritual is to take her daughter out to brunch and our boyfriends rarely join and I an equally hands in when it comes to "parenting" her when we are our in public. Hell even when are boyfriends our present we have been mistaken for a lesbian couple.

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1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

She said people speculated about that because they spent most of their time together (they worked together and lived in the same building) and had a matching tattoo. I also don't believe she kept mentioning it she said it on the one episode she was on in Seattle and the only mention of Kristen in NO was that her bff had won already so there was pressure.

My bff joke that 90% of brunch spots speculate that we are a lesbian couple raising a daughter together because our weekly ritual is to take her daughter out to brunch and our boyfriends rarely join and I an equally hands in when it comes to "parenting" her when we are our in public. Hell even when are boyfriends are present we have been mistaken for a lesbian couple.

I thought Stephanie mentioned it more than once, but my memory sucks..lol! 

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Stephanie has a boyfriend, and she congratulated me on my recent engagement.... so I can say with certainty she and Kristin are friends, nothing more. Not that it matters... LOL, I'm sure people speculated about their closeness.

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2 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Stephanie has a boyfriend, and she congratulated me on my recent engagement.... so I can say with certainty she and Kristin are friends, nothing more. Not that it matters... LOL, I'm sure people speculated about their closeness.

Congratulations!

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(edited)

I've never been much for conspiracy theories around this show.  The main thing to keep in mind is that the whole thing is always filmed months before the first episode airs - so that the editors always know the order in which each cheftestant left and who won the whole enchilada BEFORE they even start editing the rough cut into the final broadcast version.   I think when you see these "redemption" storylines for returning reality show contestants it's a signal that the editors are painfully aware the person in question is at best polarizing and at worst largely disliked (as Richard Blais was and is) - it's how it seems to play out on Survivor and Project Runway also.    All this focus on Brooke's "redemption" was, in my opinion, shoehorned lavishly into each episode in order to have the whole thing make sense to the audience by the end -  I think they knew that Brooke came across as cold and bloodless, even with her devoted motherhood being emphasized - many here felt she appeared entitled and condescending.  As far as that goes plenty of people were equally annoyed with Shirley for the opposite reason - a loud, passionate steamroller who pandered to the judges and the audience with her let-me-serve-you-my-Chinese-heritage-in-this-dish approach to the contest. I need to add here that I liked them both myself but I'm just saying what I read from others.  Sheldon was the fan favorite and it would have made more sense to engineer a win for someone who came across so well on television.  And I can't remember Tom ever telling any other cheftestant when they were booted that he/she was destined to be one of the greatest American chefs ever - he certainly didn't say that to Shirley or to Brooke.

Edited by ratgirlagogo
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