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Tournament of Champions thread


closetohumping

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They each have their crew. Bobby alienated a lot of FN folks with his banging Giada a few years back; Alton Brown basically ended all interactive FN stuff with others.

Guy has his irritating points (quit correcting folks on how the pronounce jalapeño) but no celebrity chef has done more for independent restauranteurs than he has with his charity and with DDD. And with ToC he has found the best competition format that is attractive to the best chefs. He could have 128 chefs easy in this thing.

Evidently Top Chef had issues securing their best winners to go to London. Kirsten Kish and others said no. Too much time, too grueling, too much shit other than real cooking. Guy isn’t going to have his folks on ToC cooking shit out of a vending machine or for a school of 3rd graders or getting sent home cos Padma is jealous. And he got rid of Giada who judges food without tasting it.

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6 hours ago, Js1 said:

I've always kind of wondered this, but I really just think it's East Coast Bobby and West Coast Guy.

Just not a lot of overlap. 

I'd imagine Bobby thinking "I'm a much better cook and better looking than this fat amateur.  Why is he blowing up?"

 

Bobby strikes me as pretty arrogant. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

They each have their crew. Bobby alienated a lot of FN folks with his banging Giada a few years back; Alton Brown basically ended all interactive FN stuff with others.

Guy has his irritating points (quit correcting folks on how the pronounce jalapeño) but no celebrity chef has done more for independent restauranteurs than he has with his charity and with DDD. And with ToC he has found the best competition format that is attractive to the best chefs. He could have 128 chefs easy in this thing.

Evidently Top Chef had issues securing their best winners to go to London. Kirsten Kish and others said no. Too much time, too grueling, too much shit other than real cooking. Guy isn’t going to have his folks on ToC cooking shit out of a vending machine or for a school of 3rd graders or getting sent home cos Padma is jealous. And he got rid of Giada who judges food without tasting it.

Guy comes off as a genuine good guy.  I think he adopted his nephew after his sister died and changed his last name to honor her?  

 

TOC is great, I sometimes feel the quality is slightly better on TC because they actually have time to cook. 

 

Not sure why banging Giada is bad in any way?  

 

Not a fan of Alton but can you elaborate?

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1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

Guy comes off as a genuine good guy.  I think he adopted his nephew after his sister died and changed his last name to honor her?  

He did. He’s had Jules on GGG and treats him just like he does Hunter and Ryder.

Guy is an over the top, goofy fuck, but he does good things for the community and local chefs. It’s more about featuring them than it is about promoting him. Even TOC, he’s introduced a lot of new faces to FN that wouldn’t have been on it otherwise. 

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Why didn't someone create a new thread for TOC 4?  Can we change the thread title?

Chefs last episode were multitasking like crazy.  Working 8 things at once (or so it seemed).  The judges were really critical.  While I can respect bringing in accomplished chefs to judge, if they have never tried their hand at competition cooking, I don't think they really have the proper perspective/framework to appreciate how much the clock limits chefs from concept to execution to plating. 

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  • closetohumping changed the title to Tournament of Champions 3 + 4
Why didn't someone create a new thread for TOC 4?  Can we change the thread title?
Chefs last episode were multitasking like crazy.  Working 8 things at once (or so it seemed).  The judges were really critical.  While I can respect bringing in accomplished chefs to judge, if they have never tried their hand at competition cooking, I don't think they really have the proper perspective/framework to appreciate how much the clock limits chefs from concept to execution to plating. 

That’s a great point but most of the judges on ToC have done some forms of competition cooking. Nancy Silverton and Daniela Soto-Innes I don’t think have at least that I have seen. It really shows, to your point.
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Guy comes off as a genuine good guy.  I think he adopted his nephew after his sister died and changed his last name to honor her?  
 
TOC is great, I sometimes feel the quality is slightly better on TC because they actually have time to cook. 
 
Not sure why banging Giada is bad in any way?  
 
Not a fan of Alton but can you elaborate?

My issue with TC is the obvious biases of Tom and Padma in judging and protecting those chefs they like over those they do not. And the serious cooking challenges are interspersed with goofy challenges and unfair placements like front of house on restaurant wars, huge banquet cooks, or having to make dishes with a product from a sponsor like Mountain Dew.

The cooking on this season of ToC is at an extraordinary level. Surf and turf in 35 minutes had some great dishes. I like removing the variable clock from the randomizer and putting each round on a standard clock.

Giada is a class a cunt. Not a chef and should never have been judging chefs. Doesn’t eat her food or anyone else’s. She is well know for her spit bucket on set that all bites go into.

A few years back on Next Iron FN Star Bobby and Giada were banging while I believe both were married. Alton had an issue already with her ridiculous judging and pushing any woman off the show that had any looks. She is gone for good so good.

Alton Brown had his own little universe as well until he left. He was great when he started and just turned into a curmudgeon.
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1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said:


My issue with TC is the obvious biases of Tom and Padma in judging and protecting those chefs they like over those they do not. And the serious cooking challenges are interspersed with goofy challenges and unfair placements like front of house on restaurant wars, huge banquet cooks, or having to make dishes with a product from a sponsor like Mountain Dew.

The cooking on this season of ToC is at an extraordinary level. Surf and turf in 35 minutes had some great dishes. I like removing the variable clock from the randomizer and putting each round on a standard clock.

Giada is a class a cunt. Not a chef and should never have been judging chefs. Doesn’t eat her food or anyone else’s. She is well know for her spit bucket on set that all bites go into.

A few years back on Next Iron FN Star Bobby and Giada were banging while I believe both were married. Alton had an issue already with her ridiculous judging and pushing any woman off the show that had any looks. She is gone for good so good.

Alton Brown had his own little universe as well until he left. He was great when he started and just turned into a curmudgeon.

Spot on.

 

I'll work bottom to top:

 

Alton - used to be cooky, fun, pleasant.  I kinda thought he was gay (nttiawwt).  Now he's mean and hostile almost.

Giada -mixed emotions about Giada.  Absurdly hot.  Seems like she knows her looks are what got her there and now that she's old, she's trying to stay relevant.

TC - I think they even had a disclaimer that the judges pick whoever they want, deal with it lol.  IDK if you remember season 1?  That fat guy Mike, good guy, but he won one challenge.  What did he do to win it?  Bought a rotisserie chicken, grilled it, put it on some store bought tortillas.  Farce.

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If you saw Alton during his season of Worst Cooks, he was downright nasty and rude.  He was just a fucking jerk off to everyone. 

Alton Brown on Tour was an abysmal waste of time. It was the first show we went to post pandemic as I said let’s go to a show this week and he was the best of the lot. His previous tour had good reviews. He was an absolute asshole to the audience and seemed totally disinterested, to the point we nearly left because of his rudeness.

I was a big fan of Good Eats as he put together an informative yet very funny show. When his ex wife kicked him to the curb is when he went full bore asshole.
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4 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

Killer round. I was surprised by the Izard-Chauwan bout; really thought Stephanie nailed it better.

Thought Stephanie won too.  Shota is going to make the finals, I can feel it. Sorry Jet.

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So how does the scoring really work. Each of the judges scores on a 100 point scale. That tells me there are 300 points available. Yet the scores generally range 80-90. Are the three scores for each category averaged?

Sorry but Mahneet’s win seems like Guy had a finger on the scale. But it could come down to the descriptions of the “reporters”. I think they are the weakness of the show for various reasons, especially Simon. His descriptions are often disinterested, too concise, and often skip or undersell important factors. He is the only one on the show who is not a chef, but a critic. And does he bring history with him as many of the judges have been judged by him on shows like Iron Chef or Next Iron Chef. If he cost me Iron Chef well fuck you Simon.

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I wish they showed us the judges scorecards for every battle.  Sometimes the average scores don't really match up with the judges comments and it's a bit baffling as to how they are scoring things.

Agreed. The “use of the randomizer” is the most segment that is most nebulous and seems to be where matches are won or lost. It is often hidden if the tool is strange and is highly dependent on the description by the reporters. Justin stresses it, Simon just mentions it. I want to see all the scores to see how the East German judge voted.
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I was basing mine on a fair playing field. Guy has all his favorite stories here…Mahneet and Jet are close friends who appear on his Ranch show all the time. Mahneet would be a two time winner. Jet could get over the jump. Britt is a great story and comes in as a cook in winner from GGG, so he’s got strong interest in her winning. And Mei Lin brings that Top Chef pedigree and brings a ton of cred.

I think if there’s a place they can manipulate things it’s the randomizer. I just think maybe those wheels are able to be braked on command.

For judges id like Eric Ripert, Waxman, and Michele Bernstein.

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It vexes me greatly to see chefs making a fucking tartar in a cooking competition.  Not just TOC, but any cooking competition.  That's not cooking.  These shows never ask chefs to make a salad dish.  A tartar is a cop out.  It should be an instant disqualifier.  $.02

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3 hours ago, bernorange said:

It vexes me greatly to see chefs making a fucking tartar in a cooking competition.  Not just TOC, but any cooking competition.  That's not cooking.  These shows never ask chefs to make a salad dish.  A tartar is a cop out.  It should be an instant disqualifier.  $.02

I always think this when a chef makes a salad on Chopped 

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If there is a single change I want Simon mujabur gone. What a wheezing lazy fucktard. His descriptions barely mentioned what was going on. I think for one he just said “lamb on a plate”.

Would like the field expanded to 64, start up seeding only for the top 8, and some alterations to the randomizer.

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I agree that Simon is a weakness, though I wonder how much editing is going on during his descriptions.  Someone needs to describe the dishes, and it obviously can't be the chefs.  I think Justin does a decent job, though he leaves out key details at times as well, which again could be down to editing.  I don't know what the solution is here.  This may the best they can do while keeping their influence minimal.   

I don't mind the seeding.  It seems fairly random, which is how it probably should be.  Hindsight is always going to indicate that some match ups occurred too soon.  The luck of the randomizer plays a part in the closeness of some battles as well.  

I'm still not a Guy fan, but have been able to enjoy the show in spite of him.   

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Having 5 judges for the final round was a good idea.  Tougher on the chefs to make 6 identical plates, but 5 votes reduces outlier opinions skewing the averages.

Also, I don't think that Simon's/Justin's comments are that critical.  The judges so far are pretty much able to discern what they are seeing and tasting and how the food was prepared.  They could probably just do away with Simon/Justin and it wouldn't affect the judges scoring IMO.

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  • closetohumping changed the title to Tournament of Champions thread

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