TV cooking contest shows

[katyseagull]

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She seems very wed to doing things her way, which is not really simple at all. She has great difficulty with and even resentment toward the task of doing what the show wants or what people want rather than what SHE wants. Her essential concept is to broaden people's food horizons in the directions SHE is most interested in. As far as eating, not preparing. Few people are

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Very nice post, Blarg. Thanks for your thoughts. I only watched a couple episodes of this show so I definitely did not pick up on a lot of this stuff you touched on. It is rather curious why America picked her if she was so resistant to doing the tasks that were asked of her. I like what little I saw of her but I did notice how on Rachel Ray she began using some odd expressions and when you combine that with the fact that she was rushing and getting slightly overwhelmed and sloshing things onto the side of a bowl, well, it became somewhat amusing.

Can they break of her habits? How much time did she spend in France I wonder.

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Citizen Amy was returned from Re-Education Camp where she had been undergoing treatment for Anti-Party Utterances like "cocotte" and for suspicion of Foreign Influences.

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[ElSapo]

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It is rather curious why America picked her if she was so resistant to doing the tasks that were asked of her.

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I think because what the Food Network viewers want, and what the network executives think they want, are not necessarily the same thing.

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Can they break of her habits?

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I really hope not. I'd like to see another smart show that didn't pander to the lowest in the home kitchen brigade.

[Blarg]

The one habit I would like them to cure her of is doing tasks she doesn't care for with a bad attitude and the throwing in of an insult here and there. It just makes her seem petulant and block-headed.

[Blarg]

Hell's Kitchen was really good today, and both the cooks and Chef Ramsey surprised me today. SPOILERS BELOW!!!

SPOILERS:

First, because Ramsey kicked a guy out and off the show entirely, no need for an end-of-show build-up, toward the beginning of the meal. The white dude got kicked, leaving Rock with 3 females, Bonnie(cute white chick), Jen(less cute white chick), and Julia(black short-order cook chick).

Bonnie did the best during the service, so she had to pick two to go(leaving Ramsey to choose between those two, kicking only one). Guess one guy getting dismissed by Ramsey earlier that same service didn't cancel that out. She chose Rock, as he was yelling at everyone, and Julia, as she is the least experienced of the bunch. I thought these choices were fair. She only had one other choice, Jen, who seems like she was pushing Rock a bit, but still seemed more together than he did during the service, and at least didn't look like she was gonna throw punches at anyone.

Ramsey picked Julia to go, and then really surprised me. He said he was going to send Julia to cooking school himself, and then he wanted to see her come back to the competition a second time and win the whole thing. That was a huge statement of faith, and putting his money where his mouth is too. Wow! Serious business. All told, I can't think of a nicer way to get booted. After telling her that, Ramsey complimented her again, told her she had talent, seemed sincerely sorry to see her go, and gave her a hug. I was moved!

Seems like the bastid has quite a heart in there after all. I'm definitely watching next week, and am really glad I caught this episode.

[Ron Burgundy]

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Seems like the bastid has quite a heart in there after all.

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It just shows that the bastid 'tude is somewhat contrived.

I agree this was a great ep. Best one yet IMO. The chefs actually got to use some of their skills individually in the first challenge. Unfortunately, it was tainted by the most cliched TV cooking show gimmick of having kids be the judges. Does Ramsay expect most of his customers to be HS kids for this new restaurant? I don't think so. Julia did what she does best and smoked 'em. But then she got eliminated because she's clearly the 4th best chef for the kind of restaurant this challenge is for.

Why do these cooking shows continue to create challenges that obviously don't decide who the best chef is? It's not cute, it's not shocking, it's not funny. It's just old and stupid. ENOUGH WITH THE KIDS!!!

I'm glad Josh went out in a blaze of shame. I can't remember him cooking anything correctly ever. Pretty lame that he lasted longer than Brad. And he's such an annoying turdbag too. He never admitted to doing a poor job and just kept trying to fake it.

[katyseagull]

I managed to miss the beginning part because I was watching Age of Love (horrible piece of reality crap). So I would like to know what Julia made that was so tasty and won her the challenge.

I don't know if I agree with you guys on this Josh character getting booted. I hated the way Ramsay did it. That was the worst display of temper in the workplace I've ever seen. I don't care how bad a cook he was or how many excuses he made, you gotta stay professional. And then to turn around and get all mushy and huggy with Julia afterwards, well I just didn't like it is all I have to say. I don't go for people who are mean as [censored] to one person and then turn around and act incredibly reasonable and sweet with another person. I have no affection for someone like that. I feel this show has no credibility any more. And yeah, I agree it's weird that Brad went before Josh. Josh should have been eliminated last week.

As for Rock, what the hell? This guy needs to be taught some manners by his mom or grandma. I can't stand men who act like him. Talk about whiny. I hate that stupid look on his face when he's pissed. I'm sure he's a fine cook and he will very likely win but personally I could never work with someone who was that big of an [censored]. You can tell a lot about a person by how he behaves under stress. Rock just gave away his true self in that episode.

[Blarg]

Remember that bit Bourdain wrote about chefs positively getting wood about kicking the crap out of someone who really seems to be pushing it in terms of doing crap work or having attitude? You saw that here, I guess.

Admittedly, it's somewhat contrived in Ramsey's case. But if it were a real restaurant (it is not), it was even bothering to attempt good quality, and your name was on it, you'd probably be pretty freaked if you were about to serve people crappy food. Ramsey went overboard here, of course. But if it were real life, I don't think a chef who was messing up the food consistently would get off too easy or really deserve to.

[Ron Burgundy]

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So I would like to know what Julia made that was so tasty and won her the challenge.

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I'm not sure exactly, but it was like grilled cheese w/ chicken and onion rings.

[Blarg]

That's pretty much it. Chicken sandwich and onion rings. Why it was so tasty, I'm not sure.

I kind of got thrown by Bonnie's goat cheese with greens salad. I haven't heard of kids being big fans of either salad or goat cheese before.

[katyseagull]

Blarg,

Is Top Chef on tonight? Did I miss it?