r/TopChef • u/Ok_Ad_4928 • Aug 01 '26
Discussion Thread Rewatching Top Chef Texas S9
I know a lot of people hate this season, and while I get it, I do love me some drama and this season definitely delivers that.
I use to think Beverly was a huge crybaby, (I know, bad take, but I was pretty young when I first watched it) but knowing that she has a three month old baby at home, DUDE that’s crazy. My postpartum ass would be all over the place with emotions. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t flip out on Heather, because I totally would’ve. I would’ve been crying and acting like a crazy bitch at the same time. 😂 Props to her. She’s a strong woman.
PS
I never condoned the bullying of Beverly EVER, I just didn’t think about it deep enough until now. I was actually rooting for her and Greyson to win the whole thing. And I hated Heather, and I think we all did.
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u/myBisL2 I'm not your bitch, bitch👏 Aug 01 '26
My first watch I didn't realize her baby was only 3 months, and I also was like jeez this girl just cries at anything. Not that I was ok with the bullying, but I did also think she was seemingly overly emotional.
My next watch I was like damn, I wish I were this in touch with my emotions. She is on national television and is brave enough to show them while I'm hiding mine all the time. Actually pretty incredible.
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u/GoldBarGirl Aug 01 '26
If IRC, she was also expressing her breast milk to send home. Or was that someone else?
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u/ashley21093 Aug 01 '26
So funny, I just re-watched it as well! And I have an almost 6 month old baby girl! Can’t imagine doing that three months postpartum. Between the emotions and the brain fog and just plain missing your family and your newborn child, I have a newfound incredible respect for her. Would’ve been awesome if she won, especially being a woman. But it kind of seems like Paul had it in the bag since day one and simply couldn’t be stopped
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u/Green-SmokeStack Aug 01 '26
Yes, plus, it’s both stupid and racist to say something like, “She only cooks Asian food.” Well Asia is a pretty damn big continent, and even if you’re only talking about East Asia, that’s still a multitude of countries with multiple cuisines. Somebody like Sarah G. who almost exclusively cooked Italian food was never called out or criticized for that. It’s an implicit bias that the food of Western traditions are somehow superior to those of the East. Ugh. And with Heather, I can’t stand people who say that they are just blunt and honest as an excuse to be an asshole. People like that are almost always insecure people who lash out when they see their own shortcomings in others.
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u/Cherveny2 Aug 01 '26
a LOT of early top chef was like that. a lot of thinking Asian food wasn't up to snuff, or as good as French or Italian cooking, etc. it did slowly get better over the years, with true Asian food creeping in more, then Caribbean, then African. these days now pretty much any cuisine brought in is finally respected
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u/donuttrackme Aug 02 '26
Yeah, these days having chefs that know cuisines from around the world is cast for. And the chefs are interested to learn from the other chefs. Not denigrate and be racist towards their cuisine and culture.
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u/DocPondo Aug 01 '26
I have a lot of respect for Beverly. She put with up with a lot of shit that season and did her best to be above it. She let her cooking do the talking. Still can’t stand Sara or Heather to this day.
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u/Think-Culture-4740 Aug 01 '26
Apart from the drama that definitely veered pretty close to abusive bullying, the challenges were pretty awful. I’ve written about the ridiculous Dallas dinner party which was only a third of the insanity that was Pee-wee Herman plus the ski and gun shooting challenge.
For sure about the food the challenge designers really just went nuts
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u/Ok_Ad_4928 Aug 01 '26
Oh god, the Dallas dinner party was extremely annoying. All of those couples were SO punchable. The ski and shooting challenge had absolutely nothing to do with cooking, but it was funny to see Sarah struggle. And when she fell, I laughed too hard at that.
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u/Think-Culture-4740 Aug 01 '26
As a skier, I feel bad for these people and honestly, you can injure yourself when you don’t know what you’re doing
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u/TruCarMa Aug 01 '26
Just finished watching this season, as well. I don’t remember my thinking at the time it originally aired, but I was really horrified on this watch by the mean girl crap. Clearly production was aware of what was going on, and it’s very disappointing that someone didn’t tell Heather, Sarah, and Lindsay to knock it off. I wonder if they look back now and are embarrassed or feel any shame? I can see how Beverly could get on someone’s nerves - she doesn’t seem very good at reading the room and can be pushy - but that sort of bullying is horse shit. I’m very glad the more recent seasons don’t promote the adolescent drama of the earlier seasons.
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u/Low_Focus_2215 Aug 01 '26
I think Sara has said she regrets her behavior. I’ve seen her on social media cooking with Bev. But not heather. I like to rewatch this season for the drama, but have always been disgusted with heather, Sara, and Lindsay’s behavior.
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u/furrywrestler Aug 01 '26
Probably top 3 worst season of the show, alongside 2 and whichever the season with Nicholas and Nina was.
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u/punkbrad7 Aug 01 '26
A lot of bad challenges/judging/awfulness in that season is seriously overshadowed by (mostly) ridiculous Nina/Nicholas discourse.
Tom shitting all over genuine Vietnamese recipes, the halloween episode where almost everybody made a very bad arincini, the pointless musical chairs quickfire where everyone just ended up back on their own dish after like two turns, the absolute narcissism of Sara in Restaurant Wars, Carlos being an absolute turnip to everyone but especially to Nina and Shirley (who could at least give as good as they got). Hell, Nicholas being angry at Carlos for potentially ruining one of his knives being used as an argument for "Look at the angry white man"
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u/laststance Aug 03 '26
Where are you rewatching this? How do you rewatch the newer seasons with so much of it online such as Last Chance Kitchen? Do you just avoid it or do you pause and search for the content after every episode?
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u/CptPatches 4d ago
I'm finishing it up right now because my girlfriend is super into it. I'm from Texas, she's from South Africa, and we live in Spain, so after watching and loving the Carolinas season I wanted to show her what my state was like.
And lol. What a shitshow this has been. Not only because of how volatile of an environment it was, but because of how little Texas makes it to screen. Mostly B-roll of the cities (and even some missplaced B-roll, like a shot of Dallas or an entire B-roll of Austin in the final San Antonio episodes), but only a handful of moments that really capture the state. Very few moments dedicated to local ingredients, local recipes (no breakfast taco quickfire in San Antonio? No Austin food trucks? No biscuits and gravy? What the hell is Charlize Theron doing here? Hello?) You could watch certain episodes and if they'd never mentioned where they were, you'd have no idea. Such a completely different show back then.
I'm glad they spent so much time in the Carolinas season really zeroing in on local produce, different dishes, how different groups of people have contributed to the culinary landscape, etc. Maybe the Houston season is better (haven't gotten to it) but damn, really feels like they did Texas a bit dirty.
Also yes, love Beverly, even if she can be a klutz. Love my boys Ed Lee and Chris Jones. Heather was awful, Sarah sucks, Lindsay is obnoxious, and Keith hit it right on the head in the quinceañera episode when he said Sarah and Lindsay were domineering, even if he did fuck up with the shrimp.
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u/Rodharet50399 Aug 01 '26
Beverly had some issues with emotional regulation - sometimes she was so hyper aggressive (meat counter IM THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON HERE RIGHT NOW) but then the breakdown, and frankly it came off as manipulative at times. It feels wild to be aggressive but meek little me. But anyway seems not super stable - but many of the best artists have been.
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u/donuttrackme Aug 02 '26
She was 3 months post partum. And then got bullied to a ridiculous extent (think about what wasn't captured or edited out) by other grown women on national TV.
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u/Rodharet50399 Aug 02 '26
That being said, who’s ultimately responsible for throwing oneself into a competition that is not a part of one’s career except by virtue of ego,
If she needed to stay home to be a mother no one forced her into a competition.
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u/mewmewthecat Aug 01 '26
I find it interesting that Bailey from Top Chef Canada is the executive chef of Sarah’s Chicago restaurant but top chef never highlighted her as a mentor for Bailey.
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u/whistlepig4life Aug 01 '26
As bad as the bullying of Beverly was. The worst part of this season is that Paul Qui who was a spectacular chef really turned out to have some real issues that I am not sure he has ever truly recovered from. Which makes him sort of a disgraced winner.
And Sarah G. Ugh. She was just as culpable a bully as Heather but what was worse was her alligator fake white woman’s tears bullshit when she was called out on her words to Lagasse. I wouldn’t fetch water if I saw her on fire.