When we watch Top Chef, part of the fun is in knowing that really, really talented chefs can find themselves kicked to the curb for the smallest of issues, making the competition so much more fierce than it gets on shows like The Voice and America’s Got Talent, where genuine contestant errors are far less common, and outside popularity helps just as much as skill.
But when even Top Chef can’t refrain from Tom-foolery that gives so many chefs another chance to reverse their eliminations, then where are we supposed to turn?
Obviously, I wouldn’t want any of that to actually happen, since Top Chef remains a cherished slice of unscripted TV that viewers can still learn things from on a weekly basis.
And it’s precisely that small screen pedigree that keeps fans optimistic about Top Chef forever retaining a food-first edge that doesn’t rely on schlocky patience-testing gimmicks that flood Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen and its ilk.