Masterchef (US) - General Discussion

[Madding crowd]

I’m not sure why home cooks are supposed to be able to cook a Michelin quality dish. If that’s the case I won’t bother wasting $100.00 on a Michelin starred restaurant and just go with a home cook. I’m joking but I just think the hyperbole is a bit much. I liked the show better when they cooked for firemen or soldiers; they needed to make a good dish but nothing was said about being as good as a famous chef. 
 

I think Joseph was a victim of having no choice but to follow what Anne wanted . The dishes needed to be identical, she would not listen to him and he had no choice . I do realize COVID made the show change how it does things. 

[Leeds]

 

On 8/26/2021 at 8:28 AM, AZChristian said:

Gotta be honest . . . I wouldn't know the difference between a parsnip and a turnip either.  But I sure wouldn't go on a cooking show and humiliate myself by having that pointed out in front of millions of people.  

At least you'd know it's pronounced turnip not turnup!

Autumn:  "I go to Japan a lot so I'm going to make a yakitori meatball."  Sorry Autumn, there's no such thing as a yakitori meatball.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Leeds
"not" not "no"

[mlp]

I was glad to see the last of Anne.  She was bossy, loud, much too impressed with herself and too familiar with the judges.  I can't imagine how anyone who professes to be a master chef-level cook could mistake parsnips for turnips.  Parsnips look like waxy white carrots and turnips......don't.  

I like Abe but I'm a little sick of his frequent references to his travel.  However, he's very young so that's probably his talking point as he doesn't have a career or kids to mention constantly.  It would bother me more if he were older.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I don't recall Joseph "whining" or acting like a whiny toddler.  I think he was pretty quiet.  

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Question. How much offscreen coaching do the contestants get? I was very surprised at how knowledgeable they all seemed about Japanese cuisine, when only Autumn and Suu said they had any experience with it. (And then there's Abe with his "international" background, though Romania is a long way from Japan).

Some googling suggests that there had been off-screen cooking lessons for contestants.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2560250/Gordon-Ramsays-US-MasterChef-coaching-cheat-storm-ex-contestant-reveals-blog-hopefuls-given-secret-cooking-classes.html

https://www.mediaite.com/food/masterchef-finalists-interview/

But then googling also led me to learn that Michael bills himself as a professional "sexpert."

https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/2021/06/30/masterchef-legends-contestant-michael-newman-asbury-park-vegan-pride/7783463002/

If that image has to be in my head, along with Paula Dean drooling over him, then the least I can do is share.

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I don't recall Joseph "whining" or acting like a whiny toddler.  I think he was pretty quiet.  

During the actual cooking, Joseph was quiet. During his TH, he seemed a little whiny to me.

[seacliffsal]

Finally got caught up on the last few episodes.

First of all, how could they annoint Lexi as one of the top three for elevated food truck food when half of her dish (Chicago Philly CHEESEsteak) was horrible?  It really doesn't matter how good the cheese crisps were when the part of the dish in the NAME of the dish was identified as bad by every single judge.  It's not like one of the side vegetables was overcooked.  One of the judges even said it was too much to have sweet cornbread and sweet sweet potatoes as the side.  This bothered me so much-and even more when she was eliminated in the next episode as that reinforced that she really hasn't been that good throughout the episodes.

I enjoyed the duplicate dish challenge, but found it interesting that both Joseph and Abe were critiqued for decisions their partners made.  Joseph wanted to strain the miso to which Anne said no (and I loved Joseph's comment that Anne probably never had real Japanese food) while Abe wanted to put the salad on the side and Kelsey said no put it on top of the salmon (I have watched so many cooking shows where one never puts a salad or something wet on top of crispy skin).  

I'm starting to see that Suu totally plays up to the guest judges.  Due to watching these back-to-back I saw that she totally fell over herself for both women judges telling them each that she was inspired by them, overawed by them. Others have noted that Kelsey does this, but I have just realized that Suu does the same thing.

It was interesting to see the differences in all of the contestants due to the gap in the filming.  Kelsey is visibly pregnant (hence Gordon's acknowledgement of it), Autumn's broken foot, Abe and Michael had shorter hair, etc.  I wonder what would have happened if any of them had not been able to return to filming.  

I like the focus on cooking and seeing more of their preparations/thought processes/cooking.

[theatremouse]

On 8/26/2021 at 8:28 AM, AZChristian said:

Gotta be honest . . . I wouldn't know the difference between a parsnip and a turnip either.  But I sure wouldn't go on a cooking show and humiliate myself by having that pointed out in front of millions of people.  

A parsnip looks like a white carrot. A turnip looks kinda like a white beet.

[Leeds]

5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

But then googling also led me to learn that Michael bills himself as a professional "sexpert."

https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/2021/06/30/masterchef-legends-contestant-michael-newman-asbury-park-vegan-pride/7783463002/

If that image has to be in my head, along with Paula Dean drooling over him, then the least I can do is share.

 

Thank you for your generosity.  ;-)

(I suppose the "sexpert" thing explains the god-awful sleeveless shirts.)

Edited August 28, 2021 by Leeds

[Grrarrggh]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:05 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I don't recall Joseph "whining" or acting like a whiny toddler.  I think he was pretty quiet.  

He whined in the interviews that he had to do what Anne told him, and he acted like a toddler by deciding he was just going to stomp his foot and give the silent treatment while not bothering to really try, all because he was angry he couldn't be in charge 100%. I guess between him and Joe I just got sick of the "poor me I'm a man stuck with this harpy" party they had going on. 

[preeya]

On 8/27/2021 at 5:20 PM, theatremouse said:

A parsnip looks like a white carrot. A turnip looks kinda like a white beet.

Exactly like this:

[Chicago Redshirt]

10 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

He whined in the interviews that he had to do what Anne told him, and he acted like a toddler by deciding he was just going to stomp his foot and give the silent treatment while not bothering to really try, all because he was angry he couldn't be in charge 100%. I guess between him and Joe I just got sick of the "poor me I'm a man stuck with this harpy" party they had going on. 

The undercurrent/overcurrent of sexism on that front was a little hard to take. The show deliberately paired teams as M/F, it seemed, to try and elicit the sort of "Is he just going to let himself be bossed by someone with ovaries?" commentary from Joe. (Which is even less of a good look, given his restaurant having been in that sexual harassment situation).

It would have been interesting if, say, Anne had been paired up with Kelsey or someone who she couldn't just steamroll.

I have to also say that I'm not looking forward to next episode's "boys vs. girls." That is played out on Hell's Kitchen, and I'm sure it will be played out here too. 

But at the same time, it seems like the show has portrayed the three remaining women as far better than the three remaining men.

Kelsey seems like the Chosen One. She has had multiple wins and I don't think has been at the bottom at all. 

Suu has similarly been the recipient of praise and little criticism. Lexy suggested that she is going to be the winner, so that might be right.

Autumn has also done pretty well.

Abe has had some highs, but also some lows. They've been hitting the "too young" button pretty hard. My prediction is that he's probably getting booted either next week or the week after that. 

Michael seems like he's been middle of the pack all season. The only reason I think he might not be the next boot is because he is a little more of a character than Abe. 

And Alejandro at least has had some highs to go with some lows. I am cynical enough to think that his "I'm from Cuba" storyline might get him into the finals, but I just don't see him winning.

[Yeah No]

On 8/27/2021 at 11:47 AM, bluepiano said:

What is it with Autumn's "many" visits to Japan? On a bartender's salary? I was expecting them to explain that but they never did. She is probably one of the best cooks, but all her tattoos kind of put me off. It was fitting that she and Michael were paired together last week. The tatted couple. (And I've always thought Aaron's tats are stupid. A rich kid trying to look "street.")

According to her Instagram page, she is super, super into gaming and Pokemon.  From her photos and the bartending thing I'd say she's a "party girl" type and seeks those kinds of entertaining experiences.  Not loving her posts of her with absolutely zero left to the imagination except a thin piece of fabric over her nipples and posing in provocative positions wearing a certain kind of revealing clothing that is very popular over there in porno.  I'm not the only one (I saw comments on Reddit) to suspect her "modeling" equals porno stuff in Japan there is a market for well endowed "blonde" Caucasians.  All purely speculation of course, but I wasn't born yesterday.  I think her lifestyle is ultimately made possible by being financed by either family or other discreet sources of income, not all of which I'd approve of, but that's just me.  It didn't help that someone on Reddit swore they saw her post on Instagram asking someone how to get a fake vaccination card, and how it changed how they felt about her.....sigh.....😞  I really hate reading this stuff because I was trying to like her!!!

[Yeah No]

17 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

He whined in the interviews that he had to do what Anne told him, and he acted like a toddler by deciding he was just going to stomp his foot and give the silent treatment while not bothering to really try, all because he was angry he couldn't be in charge 100%. I guess between him and Joe I just got sick of the "poor me I'm a man stuck with this harpy" party they had going on. 

I think they put Joseph together with Anne to bring one of them down, probably him first.  I didn't really care for either of them.  She was all they said she was and he was as bad in his own way.  He he seems like someone that can't work with difficult people and maybe most non-difficult people too.  I'd probably have been telling Anne to take it down a few notches while she was yelling constantly at me over the wall and might have clashed with her.  He just internalized all of that and it caused him to fail.  I also don't doubt that the more he didn't respond the more she amped it up.  They were a bad match and I'm sure that was intentional.

Plus, I'm surprised no one mentioned this but I don't doubt she was sent home in part because the judges don't appreciate it when they know someone is lying to them.  Ramsay knew she mistook the parsnip for a turnip and was trying to get her to admit it, but she just dug her heels in and acted like she intended it to be a parsnip.  I don't think Ramsay much likes it when someone bold-faced lies to him when it should be obvious to them that he knows better.  I think he would take that as a sign of disrespect.  Even I could tell she was lying!  So she got what she deserved in the end, IMHO.

[jcbrown]

10 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The undercurrent/overcurrent of sexism on that front was a little hard to take. The show deliberately paired teams as M/F, it seemed, to try and elicit the sort of "Is he just going to let himself be bossed by someone with ovaries?" commentary from Joe. (Which is even less of a good look, given his restaurant having been in that sexual harassment situation).

Could not agree more with all of this.

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, Yeah No said:

According to her Instagram page, she is super, super into gaming and Pokemon.  From her photos and the bartending thing I'd say she's a "party girl" type and seeks those kinds of entertaining experiences.  Not loving her posts of her with absolutely zero left to the imagination except a thin piece of fabric over her nipples and posing in provocative positions wearing a certain kind of revealing clothing that is very popular over there in porno.  I'm not the only one (I saw comments on Reddit) to suspect her "modeling" equals porno stuff in Japan there is a market for well endowed "blonde" Caucasians.  All purely speculation of course, but I wasn't born yesterday.  I think her lifestyle is ultimately made possible by being financed by either family or other discreet sources of income, not all of which I'd approve of, but that's just me.  It didn't help that someone on Reddit swore they saw her post on Instagram asking someone how to get a fake vaccination card, and how it changed how they felt about her.....sigh.....😞  I really hate reading this stuff because I was trying to like her!!!

Insert shocked pikachu meme here, although not ironically.

I don't think I would have guessed from what was presented on Masterchef that she was  a gamer. I don't think I am surprised that she might try to play on her looks for trips, sponsoring, though from what little I saw of her IG (I don't belong or use it so I don't know  how deep one can go without some sort of signup), she just was doing some light cosplay as opposed to more porn-adjacent stuff. (Not that IMO there's anything wrong with that.) I did get a kick out of one of the photos being captioned "Meat is marinating" when I went looking with my mind in the gutter though. :)

[GaT]

3 hours ago, Yeah No said:

According to her Instagram page, she is super, super into gaming and Pokemon.  From her photos and the bartending thing I'd say she's a "party girl" type and seeks those kinds of entertaining experiences.  Not loving her posts of her with absolutely zero left to the imagination except a thin piece of fabric over her nipples and posing in provocative positions wearing a certain kind of revealing clothing that is very popular over there in porno.  I'm not the only one (I saw comments on Reddit) to suspect her "modeling" equals porno stuff in Japan there is a market for well endowed "blonde" Caucasians.  All purely speculation of course, but I wasn't born yesterday.  I think her lifestyle is ultimately made possible by being financed by either family or other discreet sources of income, not all of which I'd approve of, but that's just me.  It didn't help that someone on Reddit swore they saw her post on Instagram asking someone how to get a fake vaccination card, and how it changed how they felt about her.....sigh.....😞  I really hate reading this stuff because I was trying to like her!!!

Your comment made me curious, so I tracked down her full name & Googled her, and.....I was not expecting that. She looks very different in her photos than the promo photo for Masterchef, she doesn't smile, & she looks a lot thinner (photoshop?), but you can still see it's her. I bet she has an OnlyFans, & makes most (if not all) of her money from that.

[Colorado David]

she so toned down her instagram image for Masterchef. it makes me wonder if the show isn't to build fame rather than a genuine wish to be a Masterchef.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, Colorado David said:

she so toned down her instagram image for Masterchef. it makes me wonder if the show isn't to build fame rather than a genuine wish to be a Masterchef.

ALL reality shows are to build fame rather than a genuine wish to win. 

[Colorado David]

On 8/30/2021 at 8:15 PM, GaT said:

ALL reality shows are to build fame rather than a genuine wish to win. 

you think so? I kinda think the amazing race contestants aren't in it for fame but for the $$$$.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, Colorado David said:

you think so? I kinda think the amazing race contestants aren't in it for fame but for the $$$$.

But also the fame.

[Colorado David]

i can't name any of the winners and i'm a pretty big fan of the show.

[tinkerbell]

At one point tonight, Ramsey yells at the blue team to stop and listen to him. Then he talks about how important this meal is, and yells at them to GET COOKING. 

UM, Gordon? That's what they were doing until you stopped them.

[mertensia]

Not sad to see Abe or Michael go. Michael was just floundering.

Kelsey's face was stone with her bad dish. Totally stone. I don't know if that was covering her collapsing into crying or going on an enraged stabbing spree.

Why do they puree everything? What's wrong with serving the peas whole? Or the cauliflower maybe riced?

[Chicago Redshirt]

Random observations on the latest double episode:

It seems like Gordon is getting harsher and Joe is getting kinder. Or is that just me? Also, Aaron is trying to borrow Gordon's "young man" and "young lady." When Gordon told the contestants they had an "amazing 75 minutes," that should have told him that he's on adjective overload. Also, I don't know why they tried to call the first episode a "restaurant take-over." Because that is a specific thing where the chefs go to an existing restaurant, learn to do some of that restaurant's signature dishes and then serve a limited dining room. It makes sense that against the backdrop of COVID they probably couldn't/shouldn't have tried to pull that off, but the first episode had nothing to do with taking over a restaurant.

The boys vs. girls thing, thankfully, was not as blatantly sexist as it could have been.

It's no surprise that they booted Abe and Michael, but I guess I am mildly surprised that they did them in that order. It was almost like they went out of their way to kick Abe off during the team challenge because as an individual cook he's pretty decent. He went a whole episode without talking about his world travels so good for him.

The show continues to jock Kelsey hard. What was even the purpose of having her in the bottom two when Michael, perpetual bottom-dweller, also served raw chicken? I am not above admitting I felt a little schadenfreude at her being there in the bottom and such (although not at her cutting her thumb -- I'm not quite a monster). But it's now going to be fodder for a "As God is my witness, I will never be in the bottom again!" arc. 

The only one of the masters who I liked was the only one I'd heard of before this season, Chef Ludo. He was pretty funny. 

It wasn't clear to me if hypothetically each chef had made awesome dishes if more than one could have been safe, or if each chef made mediocre dishes if all would have had to do a second dish. 

It looks like they have two more weeks of two episodes back to back. This seems like things are stretched out quite a bit. 

[Colorado David]

Great observations, Chicago Redshirt.  Poor Abe, he kept asking if there was anything he could help on, but it's almost like they boxed him out. Good luck in school.  Michael eh got what he deserved, at this point if you can't even cook chicken you just need to step out. 

Wow Autumn and the cut finger. Overreact much??? I get it, I am squeamish about seeing my OWN blood and others, but I can suck it up and at least keep functioning. She was almost having a meltdown.  Heaven help her if she ever has to deal with butchering anything.

Kelsey...I like you, what the heck went on with that fish, it seemed so easy???

[Madding crowd]

Once again I chuckled that the actual chefs/cooks on Hell’s Kitchen are never required to make Michelin level dishes but the home cooks on Masterchef have done this two weeks in a row. I was confused at the first round because they never said only one person would be sent to the balcony, and they loved Kelsey’s dish. It seemed obvious that these chefs didn’t have enough knowledge or time on this challenge.

[Chicago Redshirt]

29 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

Once again I chuckled that the actual chefs/cooks on Hell’s Kitchen are never required to make Michelin level dishes but the home cooks on Masterchef have done this two weeks in a row. 

I think we are supposed to believe that the day-to-day dishes they make on HK are Michelin-level dishes., or at least fine dining restaurant worthy, if there is much daylight between those concepts. It's been an inherent part of the concept of MC that it is supposed to elevate the nation's best home cooks and transform them into stunning, amazing extraordinary chefs capable of putting out Michelin-star level dishes. Obviously, the actual contestants often fall short, but the judges routinely claim that the best each week live up to that standard. Whether that's true or not, we at home can't really say because we're not tasting it. 

It would be nice if there were a show that was just like, "Give us good food. We don't give a crap about plating, frou frou stuff, etc. Just give us stuff that we want to eat."

[Mrs. Hanson]

5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I am not above admitting I felt a little schadenfreude at her being there in the bottom

All I could think was:  Why did you not cook the chicken through, Jersey?  Had he cooked it through, Kelsey could have been gone!  Then her apology on the way up?  "I am so sorry chefs!"  Save your ass kissing.

 

39 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It would be nice if there were a show that was just like, "Give us good food. We don't give a crap about plating, frou frou stuff, etc. Just give us stuff that we want to eat."

That is a show I could win, lol!!

[fishcakes]

2 hours ago, Colorado David said:

Poor Abe, he kept asking if there was anything he could help on, but it's almost like they boxed him out.

Yeah, I hated that. It was the same with Kelsey and Autumn toward Suu too. Suu would try to offer an idea and they'd immediately dismiss it and start talking to each other. All made worse by the judges saying that Abe and Suu were taking a backseat, when they were both trying to be part of their teams.

I guess tuile are fashionable in fine dining right now, given how much they've shown up this season. At least it's not that horrible foam trend that was happening a few years back.

Joe: "It's a rare thing that we get a perfect dish, but this one was perfect, except for the sauce." Or in other words, not perfect. Thanks Joe. That was helpful.

[Madding crowd]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I think we are supposed to believe that the day-to-day dishes they make on HK are Michelin-level dishes., or at least fine dining restaurant worthy, if there is much daylight between those concepts. It's been an inherent part of the concept of MC that it is supposed to elevate the nation's best home cooks and transform them into stunning, amazing extraordinary chefs capable of putting out Michelin-star level dishes. Obviously, the actual contestants often fall short, but the judges routinely claim that the best each week live up to that standard. Whether that's true or not, we at home can't really say because we're not tasting it. 

It would be nice if there were a show that was just like, "Give us good food. We don't give a crap about plating, frou frou stuff, etc. Just give us stuff that we want to eat."

This is the first time they talked about Michelin level dishes and it ties in with the guest judges. In previous seasons they cooked for groups like military or first responders alternating with mystery box stuff.

[AZChristian]

The choice between eliminating Michael and Kelsey couldn't have been that hard.  Inadequate seasoning doesn't kill people.  Raw chicken does.

[iwantcookies]

9 hours ago, mertensia said:

 

Why do they puree everything? What's wrong with serving the peas whole? Or the cauliflower maybe riced?

I agree. I don’t want baby food, I want food I can chew!

[Chicago Redshirt]

29 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

This is the first time they talked about Michelin level dishes and it ties in with the guest judges. In previous seasons they cooked for groups like military or first responders alternating with mystery box stuff.

They may not have specifically used the term "Michelin" in previous seasons, but the idea was always that they were supposed to present fine dining quality dishes for any individual challenge. For the team challenges where they were supposed to make like 50-100 of something, admittedly things were not really expected to be at Michelin star tier, but it was always supposed to be "elevated."

I have to say I prefer the old formula where there were two cooks each episode to this season.

46 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

Joe: "It's a rare thing that we get a perfect dish, but this one was perfect, except for the sauce." Or in other words, not perfect. Thanks Joe. That was helpful.

I know Joe is often annoying, but I would have loved him a little bit if he had said intentionally, "It's a rare thing that we get a perfect dish...and this was no exception."

[preeya]

Just watched the first part: Cooking for the legends.  Total chaos. I hated this episode.

Edited September 2, 2021 by preeya

[bluepiano]

5 hours ago, Colorado David said:

Poor Abe, he kept asking if there was anything he could help on, but it's almost like they boxed him out. Good luck in school.  Michael eh got what he deserved, at this point if you can't even cook chicken you just need to step out. 

I felt bad that Abe got eliminated on a team challenge rather than something he cooked. The truth is that the producers decided for whatever reason they didn't want him in the finals and were looking for a reason to eliminate him. I think he was one of the best cooks, if not the best cook, on the show. Very impressive at his age.

Chicken trips up more people on cooking contest shows than anything else. It can be tricky  to judge temperature. I've cooked chicken in multiple different ways for decades, and I still sometimes have to put it back in the oven or pan after I thought it was done.

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The only one of the masters who I liked was the only one I'd heard of before this season, Chef Ludo. He was pretty funny. 

Some of the other "masters," like Jonathan Waxman, are on the Food Network pretty regularly. But I agree about Ludo, I've always liked him. He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously. He had a short-lived reality show with his American wife that was pretty entertaining. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

12 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

I felt bad that Abe got eliminated on a team challenge rather than something he cooked. The truth is that the producers decided for whatever reason they didn't want him in the finals and were looking for a reason to eliminate him. I think he was one of the best cooks, if not the best cook, on the show. Very impressive at his age.

Chicken trips up more people on cooking contest shows than anything else. It can be tricky  to judge temperature. I've cooked chicken in multiple different ways for decades, and I still sometimes have to put it back in the oven or pan after I thought it was done.

Some of the other "masters," like Jonathan Waxman, are on the Food Network pretty regularly. But I agree about Ludo, I've always liked him. He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously. He had a short-lived reality show with his American wife that was pretty entertaining. 

Oh, I meant just from this double episode. Of the ones put forth this season, I'd at least heard of Paula Dean, Emeril, Curtis Stone, Roy Choi, Morimoto, Nancy Silverton, and Jonathan Waxman.

I would not be surprised if I had heard of or even seen others on Top Chef or elsewhere.  But the ones in last night's episode, no clue who any of them were except Sherry Yard, who I only now know because of her previous episode this season.

[preeya]

The dreaded under-cooked chicken will always do you in. Kelsey should be so thanking that piece of chicken because it saved her life. 

[bluepiano]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Oh, I meant just from this double episode. Of the ones put forth this season, I'd at least heard of Paula Dean, Emeril, Curtis Stone, Roy Choi, Morimoto, Nancy Silverton, and Jonathan Waxman.

Ah, got it. Of the guest judges at the "Michelin table" I didn't know any of them. One of the women judges was credited with some other kind of Michelin award that I take is a step down from a star. 

Just how common are Michelin stars? Everyone seems to have one.

Edited September 2, 2021 by bluepiano

[KeithJ]

7 hours ago, Colorado David said:

Great observations, Chicago Redshirt.  Poor Abe, he kept asking if there was anything he could help on, but it's almost like they boxed him out. Good luck in school. 

Not only that but then they show Alejandro working on the steaks and he said something like "Abe should be helping me with these".

 

[preeya]

There are four chefs remaining, yet the schedules show four more episodes. How can this be?

[Chicago Redshirt]

27 minutes ago, preeya said:

There are four chefs remaining, yet the schedules show four more episodes. How can this be?

They will s-t-r-e-t-c-h things out like their name was Plastic Man.

Two possibilities:

A. Two episodes next week whittling the four to three. Two episodes 9/15 whittling the three to two and then 1.

B. Two episodes next week, taking four to three and then three to two. A double length episode with the two finalists.

 

[Mrs. Hanson]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

There are four chefs remaining, yet the schedules show four more episodes. How can this be?

I don't have/can't get antenna service and Locast just shut down, so.......me no watch.  😒

[Colorado David]

9 hours ago, iwantcookies said:

I agree. I don’t want baby food, I want food I can chew!

I guess if you give baby food a french name, it becomes haute cuisine.

[Grrarrggh]

17 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It's no surprise that they booted Abe and Michael, but I guess I am mildly surprised that they did them in that order. It was almost like they went out of their way to kick Abe off during the team challenge because as an individual cook he's pretty decent. 

That was all on Abe though. He suggested the stupid tuile, then his other dish was pretty bad. 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Grrarrggh

[Chicago Redshirt]

15 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

That was all on Abe though. He suggested the stupid tuile, then his other dish was pretty bad. 

No doubt that booting any of the three was overall justified. But I'd argue that Alejandro as the leader of the failing team should have been first on the chopping block, followed by the vegan who whiffed on the vegetable component. The given reason that Abe was booted wasn't even that the tuile kinda sucked or what have you, but that he was too quiet. That seems bogus to me. 

[molotovcupcake]

On 9/2/2021 at 10:38 AM, fishcakes said:

Joe: "It's a rare thing that we get a perfect dish, but this one was perfect, except for the sauce." Or in other words, not perfect. Thanks Joe. That was helpful.

I snorted in my living room when he said that. He's such a tool.

[seacliffsal]

I think that Kelsey really expected to win the round with her French Onion Soup and looked mad when she did not win.  She seems to have a real sense of entitlement and has shown her true self when she didn't win the round and when her fish dish was in the bottom.  

I am glad that Michael went home as I never really cared for him and his attitude.

[Grrarrggh]

5 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

I think that Kelsey really expected to win the round with her French Onion Soup and looked mad when she did not win.  She seems to have a real sense of entitlement and has shown her true self when she didn't win the round and when her fish dish was in the bottom.  

I am glad that Michael went home as I never really cared for him and his attitude.

Seriously? Entitlement and an "attitude"? I was educated to and do judge people for a living and I'm not sure where you're getting this. Neither of them have said or done anything that seems remotely horrible IMO. Can you give me a few specific examples?

[mlp]

I didn't blame Kelsey a bit for being upset.  I do think she should have covered it up better.  The judges heaped praise on her onion soup.   I don't recall a single criticism.  I was as shocked as she was when they gave the win to a dish they admitted was flawed.  That made no sense.

[dovegrey]

My SO and I were both really confused when Kelsey wasn't safe after round one. I haven't gone back and rewatched the instructions for the challenge, but we both thought that ANYONE who cooked a "delicious" dish would be safe from round two... but then it was actually only one person/the winner would be safe. Or Kelsey's first dish (that Ludos wanted to put on his menu) wasn't good enough? I had the same reaction that she had.

I do kinda wonder if Ramsay/production didn't somehow flub and Kelsey was blindsided when she had to cook for round two. (I heard once that Top Chef pauses filming and has producers come in to explicitly explain challenge parameters. I don't know if MC does that?)