Why is season 13 (California) so bad and why do all the dudes have identical beards? I’m nearly half way through and still don’t know who is who. Can’t keep the beards straight. They are all one person to me.
Also, is it me or does no one have a personality in this season? Except for that hipster guy who made LA his entire persona.
I just caught up on Top Chef and 24 in 24 (I know, a different network) - but this last week, I’ve seen two chefs taste something and put the spoon/utensil right back in the food/pot.
If it’s happening on camera in a competition show, how often must this be happening in real life?
Have you ever noticed this - does it happen way more often than I think?
Carla Hall has a solo show premiering next month at a theater in Maryland. She also recently opened a chicken restaurant in DC.
Watching it back and can’t get over the mean girls. I’m so happy that the current season everyone is kind and helpful to each other because season 9 was really hard to watch! Justice for Bev!
I've always wondered this. Is it just the chef who looks up and panicks who warns everyone else? Is someone designated as time-watcher?
Mine:
Carla Hall
Fabio Viviani
Grayson Schmitz
Sheldon Simeon
Stephanie Izard
Bryan Voltaggio
Brooke Williamson
Tiffany Derry
Beverly Kim
Kevin Gillespie
Shota Nakajima
The episodes come out Monday nights right? I feel like I'm losing my mind lol.
I figured it out- my DVR didn't record because it was screwed up in the listing. It was listed as playing a new episode on Thursday. I will have to watch it with commercials on peacock I guess.
The chefs gather at Greenville's Unity Park where they're welcomed by Kristen and special guest judges Keith Habersberger and Rachel Cole of the "Try Guys". For the Quickfire Challenge, the chefs must create a dish with elements voted on by "Top Chef" superfans. Joined by chefs Niki Nakayama and Adam Cooke and retired Olympic cyclist Brent Bookwalter, the judges task the chefs with creating elevated fine dining dishes featuring rabbit in this week's Elimination Challenge.
Been trying to get through the first season but it is rough lol what did everyone else think about this spinoff show??
I am rewatching Kentucky, one of my favorites, and so many of the contestants have had some crazy post-show experiences
- Kelsey recently got charged with a DUI after crashing her car with her kids inside
- Justin had that horrific crash in 2022 on that boat (presumably intoxicated? From what I've read) THEN he plead guilty in 2024 to threatening his girlfriend with a gun
- Caitlin (first eliminated) and Brian apparently both cheated on their spouses with each other at the time of filming, and are now married?!
More cheftestants should do this.
I’ve been building a fan site that tracks where Top Chef contestants appear outside the show using IMDb data and a custom database.
Current contestant coverage includes:
You can:
Still very much a beta / work in progress:
Would especially love feedback on:
Every week Michael Voltaggio would say “hi chefs, today I have invented a new kind of salad”. “I made beef but it looks like chicken”. “You told me to use mussels so I made a mussel fluid gel with agar agar”. The judges said it was all delicious, but it was also inventive and captivating.
I get that that trend was possibly overdone and died in favor of “simple cooking”, “big flavors”, “ugly delicious”, etc but it is SO MUCH MORE BORING to watch everyone just execute dishes we’ve heard of every week.
Hell, bring back Buddha. At least I learned new stuff from watching him.
I keep feeling like there is/was a rift in the Top Chef galaxy at some point.
Perhaps a Padma-era vs Kish-era thing, or a Bobby/ Guy/ Gordon vs Father Tom thing? Or just simply contractual obligations and non compete clauses.
This season they have mostly only brought out former Top Chefs from the Kish-era. Tristen, Shuai, Savannah, Michelle. Exceptions are Mei (close friend of Kristen) and Jamie (perhaps because he’s a local). Additionally I haven’t seen Brooke or Blais on an episode in years since they’ve both linked up with other shows.