Behind the Screen: Top Chef: Season 5

For over two decades, MTV's The Challenge has been the proving ground where reality TV's fiercest competitors come to cement their legacies. What started as a Real World/Road Rules spinoff has evolved into one of the most physically and mentally demanding competition series on television.

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There better be posts when I come back ****it. People better be watching this...

— Bacchus

Bacchus;38548 wrote:There better be posts when I come back ****it. People better be watching this...

— V1man

Thread Summary

Discussion thread about Top Chef: Season 5 with 30 replies from the Vevmo community.

Top Chef: Season 5

Bacchus ·
I'll be watching Bravo and a new season of one of the best reality shows on television. Out with the kids and in with the cooks (i.e. bye, bye Island, Hello Top Chef!) Alex Eusebio, 33 — Hometown: New York, NY; resides in Los Angeles, California Ariane Duarte, 41 — Hometown/resides in Verona, NJ Carla, 44 — Hometown: Nashville, TN; resides in Washington, D.C. Danny Gagnon, 26 — Hometown/resides in: New Hyde Park, NY Fabio Viviani, 30 — Hometown: Florence, Italy; resides in Moorpark, CA Eugene "Gene" Villiatora, 33 — Hometown: Whitmore Village, HI; resides in Las Vegas, NV Hosea Rosenberg, 34 — Hometown: Taos, NM; resides in Boulder, CO Jamie Lauren,30 — Hometown: New York, NY; resides in San Francisco, CA Jeff McInnis, 30 — Hometown: Niceville, FL; resides in Miami, FL Jill Snyder, 28 — Hometown: Latrobe, PA; resides in Baltimore, MD Lauren, 24 — Hometown: Cincinnati, OH; resides in Savannah, GA Leah Cohen, 27 — Hometown: Scarsdale, NY; resides in New York, NY Melissa Harrison, 28 — Hometown: Baltimore, MD; resides in Boulder, CO Patrick Dunlea, 21 — Hometown: Quincy, MA; resides in Hyde Park, NY Radhika Desai, 28 — Hometown/resides in: Chicago, IL Richard Sweeney, 27 — Hometown: Sayville, NY; resides in San Diego, CA Stefan Richter, 35 — Hometown: Tampere, Finland; resides in Santa Monica, CA Last season it was slim picking around here in finding fellow foodies, so I am hoping the response is a little better this time around.
30 Comments
Bacchus#2
There better be posts when I come back ****it! People better be watching this! ;)
V1man#3
Bacchus;38548 wrote:
There better be posts when I come back ****it! People better be watching this! ;)
Tivo -- I'm three days behind with 8 shows ahead of drooling over Padma.
Bacchus#4
V1man;38552 wrote:
Tivo -- I'm three days behind with 8 shows ahead of drooling over Padma.
Padma looked great. The premiere was a hit (ratings wise) and with me. I really liked the way they brought on an extra chef and went right to an elimination skills challenge out of the gate. Overall there looks to be a good, diverse cast of skilled chefs (with a couple not so skilled.) I actually found myself pulling for the European villains out of the gate. I'll have to watch for another week before I choose a favorite. P.s. Umm, why did she marry him anyways? Had to be money... Good to see she is back on the market.
V1man#5
Bacchus;39005 wrote:
Padma looked great. The premiere was a hit (ratings wise) and with me. I really liked the way they brought on an extra chef and went right to an elimination skills challenge out of the gate. Overall there looks to be a good, diverse cast of skilled chefs (with a couple not so skilled.) I actually found myself pulling for the European villains out of the gate. I'll have to watch for another week before I choose a favorite. Good to see she is back on the market.
Bad karma -- I was pulling for the woman who's husband is a lieutenant deployed in Iraq. She was the first eliminated. I'll wait for next season. You can have the insulting Europeans all to your self. Good luck with them.
Bacchus#6
V1man;39007 wrote:
Bad karma -- I was pulling for the woman who's husband is a lieutenant deployed in Iraq. She was the first eliminated. I'll wait for next season. You can have the insulting Europeans all to your self. Good luck with them.
Although I felt for her, I was not sad to see her go and the CIA student was obviously in over his head. I feel there is a good cast. Not saying I'll ultimately pull the Europeans, but I think they bring skill and attitude to the kitchen, which is going to make for some great drama.
V1man#7
Bacchus;39008 wrote:
Although I felt for her, I was not sad to see her go and the CIA student was obviously in over his head. I feel there is a good cast. Not saying I'll ultimately pull the Europeans, but I think they bring skill and attitude to the kitchen, which is going to make for some great drama.
The fact that I'm no longer interested in the impending drama tells me that I'm probably over the formulaic reality offerings from Bravo.
Bacchus#8
V1man;39009 wrote:
The fact that I'm no longer interested in the impending drama tells me that I'm probably over the formulaic reality offerings from Bravo.
I would put it just below Amazing Race on the reality quality scale. Maybe it is because I am a foodie and enjoy cooking programs. I personally think Bravo does it right and why I see myself moving away from reality shows on network and other cable outlets toward their reality offerings. When I hear "formulaic" I think VH1 and their trash TV franchise or MTV and their faux reality franchise...
V1man#9
Bacchus;39011 wrote:
I would put it just below Amazing Race on the reality quality scale. Maybe it is because I am a foodie and enjoy cooking programs. I personally think Bravo does it right and why I see myself moving away from reality shows on network and other cable outlets toward their reality offerings. When I hear "formulaic" I think VH1 and their trash TV franchise or MTV and their faux reality franchise...
If it were not for that fact the I have friends and financial interests with VH1 programming, I would not be watching VH1 either.
brannon#10
Ooh, I love Top Chef! I was amused that their first challenge was all about apples, being as they're in NYC and all. I loved the theme of the challenge, go out to the various neighborhoods in NYC and explore, drawing inspiration from the locations. I was sad to see Patrick go, although it was the right decision. Oh, and the Army Wife (Lauren?) going after the quickfire, I figured though, since we got so much backstory so fast. I'm still learning names, so I don't have any strong likes/dislikes among the cast yet, although I did like Patrick, Ariane, Jamie, and Carla (even though she can be a bit... quirky). So happy Top Chef is back! :)
Bacchus#11
I am just going to reiterate that this show absolutely rocks and y'all are missing out on some great reality! ;)
Bacchus#12
How is Ariane winning everything? Seriously. Her food is over simplistic and lacks innovation. It is "grandma comfort food" (which can be great, but not what I expect out of Top Chef.) I get the distinct feeling this crop of chefs is a few steps down talent wise from what we had in season 4...
V1man#13
Bacchus;41975 wrote:
How is Ariane winning everything? Seriously. Her food is over simplistic and lacks innovation. It is "grandma comfort food" (which can be great, but not what I expect out of Top Chef.) I get the distinct feeling this crop of chefs is a few steps down talent wise from what we had in season 4...
Yes, I'm watching too. It conflicts with Estate of Panic on Sci-fi which means I get to watch TC on Tivo without all the commercials -- great for watching a 1:15 show. Be careful what you say about Jersey people. Lots of them have friends with broken noses and bruised knuckles. ;) and a penchant for redressing grievances. When Ariane has won, it has been the outside judges who appeared to have separately found her creations more appealing than other chef's efforts. If a clearly more innovative, creative and perhaps talented chef fails, must we denigrate Ariane? I think veteran TC viewers recognize that she is unlikely to make it to the end, but at least for now she appears to be impressing the toughest critics, and none are less vocal or opinionated than Rocco DiSpirito and Martha Stewart who both favored Ariane. I'm inclined to go with those experts at this point (as much a I personally dislike Martha and Rocco, and NBC favorite). No doubt Gail, Tom and heart-throb Padma will find us a worthy non-Adrian winner at the end.
roomie#14
Top Chef is back this week! It feels like it's been far too long! I really liked the setup of the holiday episode, even though the "No one's going home this week" was a little more bitter than sweet... can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out! Any word on Top Chef 6, yet?
V1man#15
roomie;43196 wrote:
Top Chef is back this week! It feels like it's been far too long! I really liked the setup of the holiday episode, even though the "No one's going home this week" was a little more bitter than sweet... can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out! Any word on Top Chef 6, yet?
This season is finally growing on me, but honestly no has yet emerged with sufficient skill to entice me to visit any restaurant the cast own/work at. I read speculation in a industry publication that Top Chef may fall victim to the same contrafct issues as Project Runway with a possible "highest bidder" taking the show elsewhere for season 6.
roomie#16
Oooh, do you think Bravo would let Top Chef slip through their fingers though? With the on-going Project Runway circus, I kind of figured that they had tightened their grip on the shows they still had (i.e. Top Chef, Top Design, Shear Genius, Real Housewives, Tabatha, etc). I don't know how I feel about that, as Top Chef is one of my favorite shows on TV right now. And I agree about this season's cheftestants- the only one that has emerged from the rest as a front-runner for me would be Hosea... I feel like Arianne is going to be around for awhile, but eventually her nerves will get the best of her.
Bacchus#17
roomie;43243 wrote:
And I agree about this season's cheftestants- the only one that has emerged from the rest as a front-runner for me would be Hosea... I feel like Arianne is going to be around for awhile, but eventually her nerves will get the best of her.
I have no favorites at this point but enjoy the show none the less. I am looking forward to the new judge tonight. ;)
roomie#18
Bacchus;43281 wrote:
I am looking forward to the new judge tonight. ;)
...and I'm looking forward to Carla's desperate plea for Gail to return! haha :)
Bacchus#19
I loved the new judge. He is a real ****ole, lol. "I found the weapons of mass destruction." "It tasted like cat food." You could tell that Tom was not overly impressed. I don't think he likes being upstaged. As for the eliminations last night, I thought the right chefs went home. We are getting to a point in the season where we need to cut the fat and those two have been consistent under performers.
V1man#20
Bacchus;43487 wrote:
I loved the new judge. He is a real ****ole, lol. "I found the weapons of mass destruction." "It tasted like cat food." You could tell that Tom was not overly impressed. I don't think he likes being upstaged. As for the eliminations last night, I thought the right chefs went home. We are getting to a point in the season where we need to cut the fat and those two have been consistent under performers.
Could not Carla have departed as well? Clearly she was equally bad, yet politically correct to keep around. Maybe she is there for her quirky entertainment value. She has yet to cook anything I'd want to eat.
Bacchus#21
V1man;43591 wrote:
Could not Carla have departed as well? Clearly she was equally bad, yet politically correct to keep around. Maybe she is there for her quirky entertainment value. She has yet to cook anything I'd want to eat.
Oh, I agree - all three should have been booted. That is what made the episode good in my book with the least deserved "chefs" were on the chopping block. She is not long for this show...
roomie#22
Bacchus;43596 wrote:
She is not long for this show...
I agree, I don't think Carla will be there for much longer - we're at the point in the season when serious contenders emerge and the chefs who seem to just skate by start to get cut, i.e. Melissa - how many times were we going to hear about how much she's learned and how she was going to start making changes? She was starting to remind me of Nikki from last season, who landed in the bottom week after week, but somehow kept making it through. And as fun as Toby Young is, I still miss Gail... maybe she'll be back for the finale? :)
Bacchus#23
roomie;43626 wrote:
And as fun as Toby Young is, I still miss Gail... maybe she'll be back for the finale? :)
I think the answer is yes. Tom did say, "Gail will not be with us for the rest of our time in New York" - which makes me think she will be their for the finale, where ever that may be (but probably not New York.)
roomie#24
Bacchus;43630 wrote:
I think the answer is yes. Tom did say, "Gail will not be with us for the rest of our time in New York" - which makes me think she will be their for the finale, where ever that may be (but probably not New York.)
Yeah, they usually travel elsewhere (like Aspen and Puerto Rico)... Have they said where it's gonna be yet? What is it, like, mid-way through the season when they start mentioning it on the show?
Bacchus#25
roomie;43632 wrote:
Yeah, they usually travel elsewhere (like Aspen and Puerto Rico)... Have they said where it's gonna be yet? What is it, like, mid-way through the season when they start mentioning it on the show?
They usually do talk about it before hand, but I am still in the dark (and usually pay attention) so I don't think it has been discussed.
Bacchus#26
V1man;41976 wrote:
No doubt Gail, Tom and heart-throb Padma will find us a worthy non-Ariane winner at the end.
Ariane can't tie lamb. Obviously a fatal flaw, lol. You knew they would get her for something eventually...
V1man#27
Bacchus;44554 wrote:
Ariane can't tie lamb. Obviously a fatal flaw, lol. You knew they would get her for something eventually...
Ha, my comment was the best I could do at the time, knowing your dislike of spoilers. :)
Zereaux#28
Ugh, now I remember why I don't like the judges very much! Either Leah or Hosea should have gone home -- they left poor Ariane with the most work to do and set her up for failure.
V1man#29
Zereaux;44629 wrote:
Ugh, now I remember why I don't like the judges very much! Either Leah or Hosea should have gone home -- they left poor Ariane with the most work to do and set her up for failure.
And you could tell that both Leah and Hosea felt guilty, or the editors made it look like they should be feeling guilty. As Ariane said, "...Karma..."
Zereaux#30
God, I can only hope one or both of them is asked to pack their knives soon -- I am not a fan of their little 'romance' or whatever it is. I'm not sure whether they sabotaged Ariane or not (Leah did help tie the lamb), or if their relationship storyline had any influence on who went home, but I think they should feel guilty. Two people screwing up potatoes seems like a bigger mistake than one person botching lamb.
Bacchus#31
Fabio should have been sent packing last night. He seems like a fun guy, but his food has been suffering for weeks and overcooking the veal was much worse than being "uninspired" - which was the reason given to send Jeff home. I think they finale will be Stefan, Jaime, Hosea. Does anyone else think Padma should get into the referee business full time? Yowza! :D

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