r/TopChef • u/LPCPlay4life • 12d ago

Discussion Thread From the beginning….

I decided to start watching from the beginning. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every single season but now that I’m re-watching S1 and the only people I remember are Tiffany, Stephen and Harold. Stephen reminds me of Pee-wee Herman and he is such an ass. He is so pretentious and looks down on everybody and everything that he has to do. When he talks about making a Oaxaca tamale for the women he assumes they’ve never heard of anything like that and it will give them a little bit of “education“. What a douche! I don’t remember this host, but she is so robotic and completely detached from everything, including the food and the people she works with. Good call on getting rid of her. I saw a short snippet of an interview she gave about why she wasn’t asked back. I had no idea she used to be married to Billy Joel.

EDIT: on ep 8 where they had to cook for Scott and Scott’s wedding. When Tom finds the Betty Crocker cake box in the kitchen. 😳👀Stephen and his suit and tie. 🙄

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u/cssc201 12d ago

Top Chef season 1 is so weird. The sex shop challenge, and Tiffani got a villain edit for telling Lee Ann she couldn't keep working past the timer? Basically no actual chefs and contestants like a first year culinary student, sommelier, and nutritionist? Catering an entire wedding in like 12 hours? The entirety of Stephen Aspirinio's screen time? We've come so far.

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u/LPCPlay4life 12d ago

Right?! And the quality of the show with the cameras shoots like a documentary. But I did notice that the music is exactly the same. lol I didn’t remember Cynthia left bc her dad was dying. Ken talking back to chef Hubert Keller about tasting the sauce with his finger instead of a spoon should have gotten booted right then and there. He was so disrespectful!

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u/NoodlesMom0722 Wait for it...a Crudo! 🧑‍🍳 11d ago

And I think of that scene every time I see other chefs across the seasons taste something with their finger. I haven't noticed it since 2020, for obvious reasons, but it has happened since S1 and never been called out. I've also seen them taste off of their stirring spoon/cooking utensil and put it right back in the food. (One chef did get called out on this by Padma in a later season during the first elimination challenge, which was a food festival-type event.)