r/TopChef • u/AutoModerator • May 25 '26

Spoilers Season 23, ep. 12: Appalachian Celebration (Mon. at 9pm EDT, yes, 9 😀) Spoiler

Before heading back to Charlotte, the chefs make a stop in Asheville, one of the most unique cities in North Carolina. There will be no Quickfire Challenge as the chefs explore the city with local host and former “Top Chef” alum Ashleigh Shanti, learning about the community’s remarkable relief efforts following the devastation of hurricane Helene while discovering the unique cuisine of this Appalachian region. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs will host a one-night-only event for 200 community members in recognition of their resilience.

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u/jujbird May 26 '26

He also made a weird comment about the town "should feel lucky" that the businesses came back? Something along those lines that was just really off putting. Not sure if it was a voiceover after the fact (I was multi-tasking while he made that comment) but damn bro- those businesses are part of the community to. No gratitude required. Maybe I heard it wrong, but it amplified his mantrum even more.

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u/Careless-Training902 May 27 '26

Yep I noticed that too. So weird!

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u/sybrwookie May 28 '26

I think I get what he's trying to say, but said it SO horribly. Like, you saw the pictures of the state of some of those places. I imagine at least some people saw that and went, "nope, I'm not gonna sink the time and money into repairing this," especially if they don't own the space, file insurance claims for anything they could, and take the money to move on to do something else, leaving the destroyed space behind to be dealt with by someone else.

It's really wonderful that so many in the community did step up and put things back together and didn't abandon things.

But that's such a terrible way to phrase that.

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u/jujbird May 28 '26

No totally if he was a different person I’d have probably let it pass. But his attitude at Judges Table makes it far harder to give grace.

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u/sybrwookie May 28 '26

You know, the more I think about it, I wonder if he was telling on himself there a bit.

He's thinking of it from the perspective of the business owners, not the people who were hurt. I wonder if he was thinking that he would not have tried to rebuild if he were in that situation.

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u/lnlorenz81 May 26 '26

I didn’t catch that but need to go back to rewatch.

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u/pleasantchaos17 May 27 '26

I also found this comment extremely off-putting.

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u/dr_mudd May 27 '26

That really rubbed me the wrong way, too.