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Any Top Chef Fans Around?

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Clarissa

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Do you agree that Kristen was kicked off the show on purpose because she is very obviously the best chef by far and the judges just can’t deal with the idea of a woman (especially a beautiful and young one) winning?

I’m torn between my love of watching exquisite recipes being made and hating the disgusting sexism of the show.

I think the pork-fryer from Oklahoma or wherever will win. Or maybe the Filipino guy with his ugly-looking food and boring grandfather.

Maybe I should just stop watching the stupid show because it ends up aggravating me by the season’s finale.

Are there any shows that repulse you and attract you at the same time?

19 responses to “Any Top Chef Fans Around?”

  1. kelly Avatar
    kelly

    Maybe the pork-fryer from Oklahoma wins.

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  2. kelly Avatar
    kelly

    Moi, to honor my origins today I am cooking “rabo de toro”, which is oxtail. I am the best.

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  3. Ol. Avatar
    Ol.

    OK… I am sharing a guilty pleasure with you. A show that attracts and repulses me at the same time? What not to Wear.
    The show is a fiction, obviously, but the variation on Cinderella is interesting. At the same time, it annoys me that women lost their personnality with the makeover process, and all of them end up looking more of less the same.

    I do not know a lot about the food channel, but my impression is that haute-cuisine is still a world dominated by men: men are chefs and women are cooks (Rachael Ray, for instance).

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I LOVE What Not to Wear even though they try to Barbify every woman whom comes to the show. 🙂 But I love the nasty comments.

      ” that women lost their personnality with the makeover process, and all of them end up looking more of less the same.”

      – Yes! They try to make them all look exactly the same!

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    2. anon Avatar
      anon

      They don’t always make the women look the same (though they largely do). I was watching an episode the other day with this skinny asian girl who was in her twenties and pretty edgy and artsy. By the end, she had neon pink hair and was dressed in these super modern structured clothes – it was pretty awesome, and totally not what they recommend to others.

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  4. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I haven’t been able to stomache any reality/contest shows for long time. The closest is maybe Come Dine with Me, which I’ve seen half a dozen different languages. The French version was maybe my favorite but the Brit original is still almost always interesting (but it doesn’t repell me beyond the icky recipes that Brits are fond of and their irritating habit of calling all desserts ‘pudding’).

    The closest for me in the it’s-awful-what-happens-next might be American Horror Story. The first season was a massively entertaining combination of narrative failure, earnest overacting and audacious nerve.

    The second season is even better, a bucket full of batshit craziness including fallen nuns, demon possession, a fugitive nazi criminal (with a deformed(?) weiner), ghosts, alien abduction, a pinhead, serial killer with mommy issues, lesbian reparative therapy, the angel of death and more. I’ve long given up trying to make any sense of the plot and just watch to see what new madness they can cram into 45 minutes.

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  5. Leah Jane Avatar
    Leah Jane

    I miss The Food Network. Anything with Nigella Lawson (I have a huge crush on her, and I love her delish foods) is amazing. I also love Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. Guy Fieri is obnoxious as can be, but he has my dream career! He drives around the continent sampling all of the best restaurant food. What a dream!
    As for guilty pleasure TV- I don’t own a TV anymore, but when I did, I was a big sucker for Say Yes To The Dress!

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I love Nigella Lawson, too. 🙂 But I couldn’t stomach 🙂 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives the only time I tried watching it because they kept showing fried onions and I can’t see them without becoming nauseous.

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      1. Leah Jane Avatar
        Leah Jane

        I have to close my eyes whenever someone cooks fish on TV, so I know how you feel. Blech! 🙂

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  6. valter07 Avatar
    valter07

    What if she has been fired because she is a clear winner, period? And any clear winner would be fired for the same reason, even a 50 year old male martian. 🙂 . Because having a clear winner is bad for show ratings. The intrigue has to remain till the very end…

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      There was a season like that with a male chef who creamed everybody every single time. And he happily won the show. So I don;t think this is the reason. Especially if we take into account the horribly sexist comments of the judges and the contestants.

      This seems like a very sexist profession. Probably because people don;t get any education to go into it.

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  7. hkatz Avatar
    hkatz

    She won Last Chance Kitchen last night, so she’s still got a shot at winning the show… I’m hoping.

    I do hate the unnecessary drama in these shows. My favorite contestants in the past – including Stephanie Izard, who won one of the earlier seasons – have all been focused and down-to-earth people who are respected and don’t stab others in the back (in addition to being excellent, creative chefs). I respect Kristen for the same reason. There are still some good folks left, but I’m tired of the ones who snipe and make arrogant comments and undercut other people’s work or strive to be “the villain.” The show should really just be about the food.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      ” The show should really just be about the food.”

      – But then nobody would watch. Except you and me, that is. 🙂 🙂

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  8. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    Yes, hockey

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Hee hee hee. I know the feeling.

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  9. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    I like the show because I love cooking, and yes, I agree with you somewhat. I think they probably thought she was making the show boring by consistently winning everything and it just seemed so obvious she would win, so any excuse to eliminate her was sufficient. I don’t know if I think it’s because she’s young, female, and beautiful though. There was one female winner before.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Finally, a fan of the show! 🙂

      “I think they probably thought she was making the show boring by consistently winning everything and it just seemed so obvious she would win, so any excuse to eliminate her was sufficient.”

      – Remember the Voltaggios? Those guys were really making the show boring by creaming everybody. Yet nobody had a problem with that.

      “I don’t know if I think it’s because she’s young, female, and beautiful though. There was one female winner before.”

      – Who was not a former model, let’s put it that way. And one winner? Just one? In 9 seasons?

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  10. Bullshit and Blasphemy Avatar
    Bullshit and Blasphemy

    I guess you’re right, I forgot about the Voltaggios. I thought Stephanie was cute, but yes, not a model haha.
    I was surprised Padma was campaigning so hard to eliminate Kristen over Josie during the elimination round, it made me think she was jealous of Kristen stealing the spotlight 🙂

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I think so, too. The worst thing about this show is her ultra-annoying voice. What a pretentious, useless creature!

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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