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Top Chef in the Media


Bella
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2 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Wow, they are sure trying to justify the winner and laying blame on editing (with which I agree), but, as executive producers, one would think that they would actually have some say or influence over the 'product' they are, you know, producing.

Don't blame the audience for disagreeing with the outcome when all we can base our opinions on is the show that we are watching. 

Exactly, I've been thinking the same thing. The producers are responsible for how it looks and someone should have had the presence of mind to notice that the editing made Dan look like the winner before it was too late to change it. It's one thing to try not to make it obvious who the the winner is (that would be fine) but to make the winner look specifically like someone else is another thing altogether.

No one takes personal responsibility for anything anymore and it pisses the viewers off when you blame them. If most of us think this way they need to look in the mirror.

1 minute ago, caitmcg said:

I don't think they're that involved in the hands-on production (or post-production editing) side of things. Executive producer credit on TV shows is usually more about money than the actual production, as in, with that credit they're getting more of the profit. I'm sure they sit with the production team to discuss the direction of the season overall, etc., but I doubt they're consulted regarding the edits and what makes to air for each episode.

Whoever it is, the buck stops with someone on the team to notice how the show is being edited. Someone has to be responsible to make sure it's OK to release before it goes on the air and that's who should have noticed this and changed it before it was too late.  No excuses for them.

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13 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Whoever it is, the buck stops with someone on the team to notice how the show is being edited. Someone has to be responsible to make sure it's OK to release before it goes on the air and that's who should have noticed this and changed it before it was too late.  No excuses for them.

Right. I just don't think it can be laid at Tom and/or Gail's feet. One hopes the Elves will look at the reactions to the finale edit and use that as a guide going forward.

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3 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

If he's innocent, why the need to seek treatment and make amends? Sounds like he was, at minimum, drunk. 

Normally that would be my first question too.  With all the medical issues he has had since his accident   I wonder if what he went through has caused other issues.  I’m thinking pain meds.  Regardless I wonder if the accusations will destroy his career.  
 

I came back to say that there are many factors in this and I usually avoid this subject as we don’t know him/her or the facts and I doubt we will get them. 

Edited by Ellee
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On 7/3/2024 at 7:03 AM, NowVoyager said:

They seemed happy a few months ago:

This must have been before she fell out of a window on vacation and ended up in the hospital which looks a little more suspicious now.

I had liked Justin a lot but stumbled on a local Minneapolis Reddit thread from people claiming to have worked with him, and they didn't have nice things to say. 

I'm not sure how his local reputation or national reputation can recover.  In the reports I've read, the police had showed up once already at the location that same day.  Then there were more phone calls for the second incident, including by someone who seemingly observed this from afar.  At the very least, it seems like he pointed a gun at her. 

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Newest "Top Chef" winner Danny Garcia talks seafood, top ingredients and how he'll honor his mentor
By MICHAEL LA CORTE   JULY 1, 2024
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/01/newest-top-chef-winner-danny-garcia-talks-seafood-top-ingredients-and-how-hell-honor-his-mentor/

"Top Chef" finalist Savannah Miller talks eggs, North Carolina and why taking risks is "addictive"
By MICHAEL LA CORTE   JULY 3, 2024
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/03/top-chef-finalist-savannah-miller-talks-eggs-north-carolina-and-why-taking-risks-is-addictive/

Laura Ozyilmaz on food waste, how "Top Chef" was affirming and her culinary-focused honeymoon
By MICHAEL LA CORTE   JULY 6, 2024
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/06/ozyilmaz-on-waste-how-top-chef-was-affirming-and-her-culinary-focused-honeymoon/ 

‘Top Chef’ Finalist Dan Jacobs Says These Are His Go-To Adaptive Cooking Tools for Working in the Kitchen with Kennedy’s Disease
By An Uong   July 7, 2024
https://www.foodandwine.com/top-chef-dan-jacobs-adaptive-cooking-tools-8673662

Edited by tv echo
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(edited)
3 hours ago, dleighg said:

not a chef, but I believe a judge? or perhaps on Masters?

According to IMDb, she competed on Masters, and appeared as a guest judge on this show four times (including, of course, the Portland season, when she was a guest judge twice, one of those times being the finale).

Edited by Bastet
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One of my former student workers is now a chef in the PNW and wrote warmly of being welcomed into Naomi's kitchen for a special event. So sad.

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“If a dish has a story, it has a soul” – Kwame Onwuachi on Tatiana, judging Top Chef and Cosmic Brownie nostalgia
Rachael Hogg - 24/07/2024
https://www.theworlds50best.com/stories/News/interview-chef-kwame-onwuachi-on-tatiana-top-chef-cosmic-brownies.html 

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How were both your experiences on Top Chef – as a contestant and judge – and which did you enjoy more?
Definitely being the judge as I didn't have to run around and make a taco in five minutes or something. But both were great experiences. To be honest, I never even watched the show. I was just working in kitchens. So when I got on, I was just excited to be there. But being a judge was cool, because I would judge from a place of empathy as I had been in their shoes not so long ago. I learned a lot [as a contestant] because I was a sponge and I was so young. Plus, I was cooking for people I looked up to my entire life and I got honest feedback, which you don't really get elsewhere.


Disgraced Top Chef Winner Gabe Erales’ Restaurant Bacalar Closes
BY KIMBERLEY JONES   JUL. 23, 2024
https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/food/2024-07-23/disgraced-top-chef-winner-gabe-erales-restaurant-bacalar-closes/ 

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Less than a year since opening its doors, Bacalar has now closed and will rebrand, without Erales’ involvement, confirmed a representative from Urbanspace Hospitality, with walk-up taco window Tomalo expanding to fill the space:

Edited by tv echo
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He also is never mentioned on TC, he was cancelled from going to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival, and will never be on TC again, or any of the other shows that have celebrity judges or contestants, and will get no publicity or payments from any of that.   I wonder if he still received the prize money?   

Edited by CrazyInAlabama
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51 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

He also is never mentioned on TC, he was cancelled from going to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival, and will never be on TC again, or any of the other shows that have celebrity judges or contestants, and will get no publicity or payments from any of that.   I wonder if he still received the prize money?   

I didn't realize that, thank you. At least TC did their best to cut him off.

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3 hours ago, ML89 said:

It is odd to me that I don't remember this guy winning at all,

Poor guy; there's apparently something forgettable about him -- when Fast Foodies, with Kristen Kish, Justin Sutherland, and Jeremy Ford, premiered, several of us posting in that show's forum noted we could not for the life of us remember Jeremy.

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7 hours ago, Bastet said:

Poor guy; there's apparently something forgettable about him -- when Fast Foodies, with Kristen Kish, Justin Sutherland, and Jeremy Ford, premiered, several of us posting in that show's forum noted we could not for the life of us remember Jeremy.

Wow, I'll say he's forgettable! I didn't remember him either. Not the name or the face and I've watched every season of TC. I would probably remember every other winner, though!

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I do remember Jeremy but there were others on his season (Kwame Onwuachi, Karen Akunowicz, Isaac Toups, Marjorie Meek-Bradley of bread-making fame) who were more striking and memorable as chefs and as personalities.  Philip Frankland Lee, too, though not particularly in a good way (🙃).

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8 hours ago, marybennet said:

I do remember Jeremy but there were others on his season (Kwame Onwuachi, Karen Akunowicz, Isaac Toups, Marjorie Meek-Bradley of bread-making fame) who were more striking and memorable as chefs and as personalities.  Philip Frankland Lee, too, though not particularly in a good way (🙃).

Ah yes, Philip Frankland Lee, affectionately (or maybe not so affectionately) referred to around here as "man bun", LOL. 😉

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Kristen Kish, Host of Top Chef, Cook Book Author, and Restaurateur
Up Close and Personal
by Arthur Wooten   Sep 13, 2024
https://passportmagazine.com/kristen-kish-host-of-top-chef-cook-book-author-and-restaurateur/

Quote

You’ve obviously taken over the reins of hosting Top Chef from Padma. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill…not sure she would like that analogy…she’s a big personality to live up to, how did you feel when you got the news? Were you the obvious choice or was there some sort of auditioning process?
No auditioning process. I have since learned that apparently, I was the only choice.

Edited by tv echo
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'Top Chef' began in San Francisco. Eighteen years later, it faces an identity crisis.
By Vince Mancini    Sep 19, 2024
https://www.sfgate.com/streaming/article/top-chef-faces-identity-crisis-19763161.php 

Quote

“Top Chef” hopefuls now arrive with bags full of James Beard awards — many already restaurant owners, most veterans of some of the world’s top restaurants (Noma, Le Bernardin, the French Laundry). Back in 2006, however, the “Top Chef” cast resembled a season of “The Real World,” albeit with a tenuous connection to food as a prerequisite. 
*  *  *
“I think in the first season, we were much more focused on personality, first and foremost, and cooking second,” Kriley said. Over the years, the “Top Chef”’ producers have learned that viewers don’t require chefs to be as messy as “Vanderpump Rules” cast members. And yet there are times, like Season 21 — won in a dominant but anticlimactic run by French Laundry vet Danny Garcia — when all that polish and poise doesn’t translate to better TV. And compared with a decade ago, it may not translate to as much of a resume boost.
*  *  *
Season 1, by contrast, had a culinary student-slash-model, a health coach and a sommelier, among other contestants with a diversity of experience that you’d never see on the show now. That meant a lower caliber of food, but the open casting calls made for interesting contrasts. Sometimes, it felt cruel watching health coach Andrea Beaman pit her nearly raw kale against the poached Thai snapper of classically trained chef Harold Dieterle, but other times, we’d get to see a promising chef blossom over the course of the season. 
*  *  *
“When that Irish guy [Lee] got eliminated, I don’t think that was because he made the worst dish,” says Season 13 runner-up Amar Santana. “I think they wanted to get rid of the drama right away and start making a statement: This is what this show is going to be.”
*  *  *
Earning the title of “Top Chef” turned out to be such a huge deal for a chef’s restaurant’s profits that in many ways, it forced the show to become more legit, whether it wanted to be or not.
*  *  *
“‘Top Chef’ started becoming serious I think when the [Voltaggio] brothers competed against each other,” Santana says.
*  *  *
“In the beginning, it was a reality show. It was like ‘Flavor of Love.’ They want drama and cooking, together,” Santana says. “… After that season, [‘Top Chef’] couldn’t go back anymore. They couldn’t bring those nonprofessional cooks or someone who is 60 years old.”
*  *  *
The show’s producers said they made the vetting process stricter in the wake of the Erales scandal, but even in the first episode, how chefs would come to represent the show seemed like something that had been on their minds all along.

 

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Not sure if anyone brought this up already during his season, but I saw an episode of Chopped on an airplane ride and Soo Ahn was one of the contestants. The episode was a noodle themed episode, and Soo brought up his golf career as you might expect.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/chopped/episodes/noodle-palooza

Spoiler

Soo Ahn was chopped in the second round. But it was a good showing with a particularly good set of contestants. I'd love to see both finalists on Top Chef, particularly the Asian lady chef who was very creative through all three rounds.

 

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Kristen Kish and Gail Simmons from "Top Chef" spotted at Calgary's Inglewood Drive-in
Charlie Hart    Sep 26 2024
https://dailyhive.com/calgary/top-chef-kristen-kish-gail-simmons-inglewood-drive-in-calgary 

Quote

Kish, who recently took over from long-time Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, shared a photo with Simmons outside the iconic Inglewood Drive-In in YYC, where the pair enjoyed the spot’s famous soft serve.
*  *  *
“Dairy Queen’s…of Canada,” she captioned the post.
*  *  *
In addition to hitting up Inglewood Drive-In, the pair rewarded the Top Chef crew with perhaps the most Canadian snack of all.

Simmons shared a snap with Kish in front of a Beavertails truck, which serves up the iconic pastry, with a sign sweetly thanking the crew.

Edited by tv echo
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On 9/10/2024 at 8:21 AM, Yeah No said:

Ah yes, Philip Frankland Lee, affectionately (or maybe not so affectionately) referred to around here as "man bun", LOL. 😉

Also inspiring Padma saying his dish looked like snot on a rock.

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Top Chef was nominated for an Artios Award in the Reality Series: Competition category...

Casting Society Reveals Artios Awards Nominations for TV, Theater, Commercials
BY HILARY LEWIS   NOVEMBER 1, 2024
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/casting-society-artios-awards-2025-nominations-tv-theater-1236051594/ 

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The Casting Society (CSA) has revealed its Artios Awards nominations for TV, theater, commercials, short films and short form series.
*  *  *
Film nominations will be revealed in January with submissions for feature films opening on Nov. 13. The awards in all categories will be presented at galas in New York, Los Angeles and London on Feb. 12.

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Report by a food, travel & entertainment journalist who was invited to be a guest on Top Chef: Wisconsin earlier this year (he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement when he arrived) - very interesting (too long to quote the details)...

I was a guest on 'Top Chef.' These 5 things surprised me about what actually happens on the show.
David Morris   Dec 14, 2024
https://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-things-top-chef-from-guest-on-show-2024-12 

Subheadings:

  • With vague descriptions and NDAs, a lot of effort was made to prevent spoilers
  • Once I was on set, though, filming felt somewhat laid-back
  • Contestants staggered the start times of their cooks so food was served hot
  • Not all diners got to try food from each chef
  • I agreed with the judges' decisions, which seemed very fair
Edited by tv echo
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11 hours ago, dleighg said:

Unfortunately that article is behind a paywall

It opened right up for me and I have no subscription or other connection to Business Insider.

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8 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Turn off your ad blocker. That seems to make a difference. I can read it on my tablet with no ad blocker but not on my phone which has one. 

Thanks!

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