S11.E05: This Meat Is Offal!

[Drogo]

The celebrity recruits put their culinary knowledge to the test by playing Family Food, a game of food trivia and culinary tasks. Unfortunately for the celebrities, it's the "freaky food" edition, so some of the rounds are not for the faint of heart! Afterwards, the recruits learn the art of beef butchering and the least successful recruits go head-to-head in a high "steaks" challenge.

[Bastet]

I know all of this is for entertainment, not education, but they pretend they're actually teaching these people how to go home and cook.  If that was true, teaching them how to break down a cow to get one steak would be a pretty stupid lesson.  Also, I hate boneless meat (other than filet mignon).  Not that my personal preference has any bearing, but boneless meat is a peeve and I thus must grumble every time I see it.

I find it difficult to believe neither Melissa nor Vivica (I think those were the two) knew what piece of meat - since pretty much all, if not all, the other options were innards - the beef tartare was made from.  Their guesses were so dumb - including Melissa guessing testicles, when she had demonstrated just a couple of rounds earlier that she can readily identify them by texture - that I found it entirely scripted. 

I don't think they should have peeled the kiwi for a challenge in which one is going by feel only.  They still could have gotten their testicles jokes with the fuzz on.

As I mentioned before, I don't think I've seen Vivica A. Fox in anything other than Independence Day, but she's entertaining the hell out of me in this.  And she's pretty much the only one.  I loved Melissa on Reba, and she made some very cheesy material work there, but not here; she's had a couple of funny moments, but they've been few and far between.

My mom called when the contestants were just starting to cook their steaks and we didn't hang up until a few minutes left to go, so I tuned back in with a big "Ack!" upon seeing Vivica in the running for elimination.  Bummer, and they could have at least tasted the food, but you can't serve grey steak and stay.

[meowmommy]

Why do they repeatedly pretend that Anne, who AFAIK is a lesbian, has got the hots for a man?  Then again, why do they always pretend that everyone on this show, allegedly about food, has the hots for somebody?

The cheesy visual and sound effects, and music are beyond cringe-worthy.  They might as well add a laugh track.

[Amarsir]

21 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Why do they repeatedly pretend that Anne, who AFAIK is a lesbian, has got the hots for a man?  Then again, why do they always pretend that everyone on this show, allegedly about food, has the hots for somebody?

If I recall she came out in 2012, and prior to that she never did the flirting thing. Afterwards it ramped way up when it made even less sense, like she was overcompensating or something. Certainly it's inauthentic. But she delivers in a very personable way that IMHO it feels like she's just having fun in the kitchen and I'm OK with that. So if there's some pressure for her to act that way, she's too much of a pro to show it.

Melissa was going where the joke is, because there's no joke too obvious or too beaten for this show to use.

On 9/20/2017 at 10:01 PM, Bastet said:

I know all of this is for entertainment, not education, but they pretend they're actually teaching these people how to go home and cook.  If that was true, teaching them how to break down a cow to get one steak would be a pretty stupid lesson. 

It accomplished one thing: No longer will I complain when they needlessly teach contestants to cut up a chicken.  It's unlikely they'll ever need to separate breasts and thighs from the bird. But they will never encounter a side of beef that needs to be custom-butchered.

[eurekagirl mOo]

So annes a Lesbian and they make jokes about her eyeing a man? Call the police! It's ENTERTAINMENT people! I love the sound effects and the contestants make me laugh. It's just a fun bit of 60 mins. of laughing and smiling for me!

[Jaded]

I didn't enjoy much about this episode and found myself FF'ing through a lot of it. I actually wish Melissa had been sent home instead. As each episode airs and her behavior gets more obnoxious my enjoyment level goes down. I like what she did with her character on Reba. She's just too over the top here. Seeing Vivica on all these reality shows makes me sad for her sometimes then I remember that her off screen diva behavior is probably a part of what led to her having to appear on them. 

[jcbrown]

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

I didn't enjoy much about this episode and found myself FF'ing through a lot of it. I actually wish Melissa had been sent home instead. As each episode airs and her behavior gets more obnoxious my enjoyment level goes down. I like what she did with her character on Reba. She's just too over the top here. Seeing Vivica on all these reality shows makes me sad for her sometimes then I remember that her off screen diva behavior is probably a part of what led to her having to appear on them. 

I never saw Reba but I agree with you. I enjoyed Vivica and dislike Melissa more every minute of every show. She is playing such an over-the-top camera whore and clueless bimbo and I do not find it enjoyable at all. So she'll probably win this thing.

[grisgris]

Vivica had to be sent home in order to pare down to an even number on each team and it's even cuter now because it's "boys vs. girls." Vivica is definitely a better cook than The Bachelor guy and I am putting money on Perez in the finale and I'll be rooting for him. I thought Anne was subtly telegraphing her winner today when she told Nora that she wasn't displaying much confidence. That's a huge no-no in Chef Anne's book. The more bravado and chutzpah (even to the point of obnoxiousness) the better.  That's Melissa in a nutshell.

I might have seen Vivica in a cable rerun of one of her movies. The last I saw of her was on "Celebrity Apprentice" and she and Kenya Moore and Brandi Glanville got into some diva fights that were comedy gold. She also had some program called "Vivica's Black Magic" on Lifetime last winter that was about male dancers and girls' night out.  I don't know how successful it was, etc.

[Simon47]

I'm okay with Vivica, it was just too much cursing.

Melissa the Butthead and Nostalgic Nora and Beautiful Bachelor and Perez in Paris... who will win this crapfest?

[Crucial]

Honestly if Perez wins I am done with this show.  I find him to be the most vile human being ever.  His posts/tweets/etc. all of it.  Sorry, not changing any mind on that.  Vivica should have stayed.  I'm betting it's Perez and the Melissa  in the finale.  I hope she wins.  Honestly, only one I did like was Vivica of the whole group.  I find this one so overbearing and the two standing Perez and Melissa are the worst.  How awful.  My opinion!