Top Chef: the competition heats up on satellite TV
The Bravo network is quite infamous for its series of top-notch reality TV shows that cater to a certain refined and educated segment of the population. Among them is Top Chef, a reality show in high definition, which goes behind the scenes of the hard life of a chef, a top chef to be more exact. The show stars a series of contestants, all aspiring to be top chefs, with varying levels of experience and knowledge in the food business. They are vying for a treasure trove of ultra-modern, expensive, high-quality cookware, as well as some start-up capital to launch their own high-class restaurants.
The show is in the format of a series of suspenseful competitions. The Quick Fire Challenge pits contestants against each other in a cooking contest. Each chef is asked to cook a dish with a certain rubric of requirements, for example they may be limited to certain ingredients or they may have to evoke a certain flavor. Chefs are usually only given an hour to do this; an invited judge decides the winner. During this round of rapid fire, we get to see in delicious HD detail how the contestants go about their business.
In the Elimination Challenge, the contestants again must prepare a dish, which must meet the demands of the challenge. Sometimes chefs must work in teams to prepare multiple dishes. Generally, the teams are chosen randomly by the drawing of knives. In this round, one individual is named the winner and one chef must leave the show.
Of course, to spice up the challenges, the producers set up conflicts, banking on personality clashes and general badass between the contestants. They get into some pretty nasty fights, which the audience loves. Sometimes Judge Tom Colicchio has to step in and humble the most arrogant bosses. The contestants are quite colorful, almost as colorful as their prepared dishes in HD. Some are known for their egotistical rantings, while others are just prissy and insufferable.
The current host of the show is Padma Lakshmi, a model, actress, and cookbook author. She joins head judge Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, who writes for Food and Wine magazine, and Toby Young, a newcomer to the group known for his best-selling book How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Each show typically features a guest judge, ranging from the energetic Anthony Bourdain to home guru Martha Stewart. Other guest judges have included Rocco DiSpirito, Hubert Keller, Eric Ripert, Ming Tsai, Mike Yakura, and Ted Allen, all of whom are renowned chefs in their own right.
Top Chef just finished its fifth season and will debut its sixth season soon. As usual, he can look forward to grueling competitions, exotic and inventive ingredients, demanding customers, plenty of slaps and bitch fights, and loads of delicious-looking HD-enhanced dishes that will make him drool. Scan your local satellite TV guide to find out when you can expect to see the next season of this brilliant reality show.