Foodie culture got a pretty big boon when Bravo first introduced its long-lived culinary
competition series Top Chef in 2006.
Over the course of its many seasons and spin-offs, producers have tinkered with the recipe here
and there, but the key ingredients on the show's plate have always been the same: a
lineup of high-class cooks roll up their sleeves, sharpen their knives, and go to work impressing
the panel of regular judges and special guest diners.
And while many components of this television dish are authentic, there are several reasons
to believe the show might be somewhat staged.
Here's why Top Chef won't be certified organic any time soon.
Working relationships
Top Chef wouldn't be what it is if not for the respectful on-screen dynamics of Padma
Lakshmi and chef Tom Colicchio.
But rumor has it, the two don't quite get along once the cameras stop rolling.
The hostess, who became the frontwoman in the show's second season, is known to have
exhibited more than her fair share of diva behavior on the sets.
Consider when she reportedly showed open disfavor to Season 6 contestant Ash Fulk or when diner
extras at a Top Chef Texas competition in San Antonio were explicitly instructed not
to talk to or even look at her.
An anonymous chef who competed on the show also revealed in a Reddit Q&A that when the
cameras stopped rolling, it became "pretty clear" she and Colicchio aren't pals.
Colicchio himself all but confirmed the perception of friction between them when he told Time
magazine he had "no comment on" the question of whether his long-time co-star acts differently
off the air than what viewers see of her.
Yikes.
Double dishes
Chef Roy Yamaguchi, who competed on Top Chef Masters' first season, told ABC News that
not only is the food prepared by the chefs really prepped in the limited window of time
allotted during the competition rounds, but it's also usually pretty good.
And the judges do have to eat it — yes, even the chocolate chicken liver disaster
Season 2 winner Ilan Hall made that the judges loathed so well.
"It's hard to not taste the liver in it."
But there is a key difference between the plates audiences are shown and what the judges
eat while the cameras roll.
The chefs have to prepare two plates of whatever they make: one so the judges can eat before
the dishes get cold, and one so the crew can have as much time as they need to film.
That's not to say they aren't very similar, of course — they're still the same courses
— but photographers admittedly work to make sure the plates we see at home are, quote,
"as sexy as possible."
Meanwhile, the judges are just there to eat, even though plate presentation does matter
to the scoring process.
Producer push
On the show, the panel judges are the ultimate deciders as to who stays and who's given Padma's
signature send-off.
"Please pack your knives and go."
Colicchio has long maintained that food alone is the defining factor that drives their choices,
as they're kept quarantined from all the chef contestants' post-kitchen drama.
But according to Entertainment Weekly, a cameraman named "T-Bone," who snaps glamour shots of
the food while tasting is happening, is often turned to for a backup opinion on which plate
was the winner of the day when the judges are stumped and production is pushing into
the night.
Moreover, one anonymous former contestant revealed:
"There was a particular interest in [competitors] who were hot headed and who were driving the
overall storyline.
[...] They have a bias to keeping more women on the show than need be."
Those are some big allegations, of course, but this is a television series where the
entertainment factor matters a lot.
Speaking of which ...
Not unscripted
According to local press that got a behind-the-scenes look at Season 11's New Orleans run, some
of the close-ups of the judges' remarks, which are presented as spontaneous on screen, aren't
always fresh, reporting:
"Close-ups of judges speaking to the contestants are frequently retakes, captured after the
contestants have been dismissed from the scene."
More importantly, in the interest of the show's frequent sponsorship and product placement
efforts, Lakshmi is said to have worn an earpiece during challenge description takes to make
sure she was delivering legally approved lines — which might explain her often "robotic"
delivery of those instructions.
Contestants have also reported being instructed to stay out of the way of key product placement
shots during their challenges, with one revealing on Reddit:
"Even though a piece of equipment wasn't up to snuff we were fully aware that our personal
airtime depended on not just our ability [and] personality but also our willingness to play
up the greatness of the product.
I felt dirty, man."
Calendar issues
In the other Top Chef spin-off series Life After Top Chef, Episode 2 contained a funny
bit of time-travel noticed by the keen eyes watching the show.
In the episode, chef Jen Carroll revealed that she and her fellow contestants were in
Aspen, Colorado, for its famed Food & Wine Festival and that they'd be heading down to
Charleston, South Carolina, next for its similar event.
The problem was, the Southern event took place months before the Centennial State hosted
its grand affair, so once viewers put those two confusing pieces of the show puzzle together,
they realized the line was a phony farce that was meant to go right over everyone's heads
but was way too off to miss.
Whoops.
Too good
Colicchio himself has revealed that at least one Top Chef contestant was so ahead of the
game from the outset that the show had to cut a lot of his film to make the season work.
He told the Huffington Post that Season 9 winner Paul Qui was so good that producers
had to dial down on the show's coverage of his eight elimination challenge wins to make
it a watchable contest.
"We had to dumb down how good he was, because it would've been pretty obvious that he was
running away with everything.
[…] If you can figure out who's going to win 30 minutes into it, you turn off the TV.
And so you have to keep the suspense going until the very very end."
So, basically, if you ever decide to binge watch that season again, you might notice
a slight glaze of non-legitimacy orchestrated to hide the fact that Qui totally coasted
to his inevitable victory.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Mashed icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!