Unfortunately, the former appears to be lacking in this season, which feels more like Hell's Kitchen. HELL'S KITCHEN fills its ranks with cocky cooks who Gordon can tear to bits when they inevitably fail to cook his risotto. Things aren't quite that bad, but the talent level does appear much weaker this season than in the past. Additionally, the personalities are lacking. After one episode there was no one i could root for emotionally, only some obvious favorites in the talent department.
The one substantive change is the inclusion of French Eric as a permanent judge. He offers biting criticism that may not have the creativity of the British bald guy (i'm thinking Toby?), but he is poignant and pulls no punches. His best attribute is the way he stares at contestants like they're talking gibberish and he hates them.
I would break the show down further, but with a million contestants it is tough to make sense of it all. So here are some of my discombobulated thoughts.
-Stephen Hopcraft (40) originally bothered me with his "leaving my family behind" drama. C'mon buddy, you're happy to be out of the house. The only positive sign was how excited he got about everything, including box dice he made.
-Tracey Bloom (34) is the first HELL'S KITCHEN type candidate. She's obese, which Gordon loves to pick on, and she's overly confident, which Gordon loves to destroy. She's extremely annoying and has no redeeming qualities. This may be one of the situations where her head should be slammed in a GE MONOGRAM oven.
-Kenny Gilbert (36) is one of the two favorites. He is also one of the many black people that makes up this diverse crowd for TOP CHEF and the BRAVO network in general. Someone made note of the fact that no black person has won, and i think Kenny could be that guy. He's a good chef with his eyes on the prize, as evidenced by his well reasoned plans for victory, but he's not charismatic or appealing in anyway. Hopefully he'll grow on me, though, because he's my candidate in my TOP CHEF pool. At the very least he could be a good villain in the vein of Michael V from last season.
-Alex Reznik (33) is someone i really want to like, as he's exotic looking and semi-foreignerish. The problem is he doesn'thave an accent, which is lame, but he is redeemed by an erratic personality.
-Kelly Liken (33) is the Amy Ryan lookalike on the show. Honestly, the comparison is uncanny. She's supposed to provide some of the sex appeal for the show. Currently i'm not feeling her, but as the season goes along i'll start to talk myself into her on the basis that she looks good by comparison.
-Speaking of people I need to talk myself into, I'm a little worried about the new voluptuous Padma. She obviously hasn't lost any of the weight from her kid, and as a result i've been rationalizing my attraction to her on the basis that she's just curvy.
-Speaking of heavy judges, Gail Collins better be pregnant or else she better go the gym and stop eating. My friend Bill doesn't completely agree with this assessment, as he feels her boobs have been downsized since last season. I can't comment, since i've been mostly focused on her stomach that's trying to escape her dress. But she was described as “luscious” on the show, and I can’t decide if it was meant to be ironic or a slap in the face.
-Rooftops don't work for Tom because the sun glares off his dome. He should live below the surface of the earth with the mole people.
-One lady who isn’t getting it done is Lynne Gigliotti (51), this year’s Robin if she can last as long. Robin was the old crazy lady, and Lynne is the boring crazy lady. She’s already said she’s not “flashy,” which is code for not talented or creative. Plus, she’s an instructor, which suggests any talent she had has been drained from her and she’s resigned to teaching people even worse than her. She’s another perfect candidate for HELL’S KITCHEN, to the point where I remember an instructor just like her.
-Glad to see Team Rainbow lives on with Arnold Myint (33), whether he knows it or not. From the first time he promoted his scarf to his referencing of his motivational staff dance I realized that he’s just on the show to be a character. THIS IS A DEVELOPMENT I HATE!!!
-Speaking of things I hate, Michael I from last season. That cocky bastard was so annoying, and he’s back in a fatter package in the form of Kevin Sbraga (31). They both share a strong Jersey vibe and some Italian heritage.
-Love Ed Cotton’s (32) inferiority complex. What’s even better is that he dated this year’s hottie…
-…Angelo Sosa (35). This guy is a babe in the vein of Fabio crossed with Michael V. His use of hair gel is definitely a good sign, and the fact he won the first quickfire and elimination challenge. Was a little bummed out that he’s not a foreigner, but I was happy that he looks exactly like Assemblyman Molinaro. He went down a few pegs in my book with his “heh heh heh, I win,” comment. And even though I like his baseball roots, I find it impossible to root for this title contender.
-Unfortunately my distant relative, Jaqueline Lombard (33. This number keeps popping up) doesn’t seem to strong. She is “self-taught” and relies on recipes for things she has made hundreds of times. This is pathetic and doesn’t bode well for her future.
-On the fence about Timothy Dean (40), who has the strong sausage root from his illegitimate grandfather Jimmy, but he seems superduper over confident.
-John Somerville (42) not only looked like the organic vegan guy, he probably smelled like him too. He ended up being a little more grounded in reality than I originally anticipated, but it made sense that he was leaving. He was more of a HELL’S KITCHEN kind of guy with his fringe personality and gimmick flavors.
-The real strength lies in Amanda Baumgarten (27), who is the sneaky hot competitor, also known as this season’s Leah!
Not sure who will give in to her feminine wilds, but she is smoking hot and has some personality too. Hopefully she’ll get to flaunt both of these in her brief time on the show.
Finally, I’m glad the quickfire wasn’t elimination. It always felt too arbitrary and even though I didn’t really learn anything from it, I feel like it demonstrated how weak this group might be. The problem is that it’s impossible to break the group down this early, as people can skate by early on. My overally impression was that Kenny, Alex, Angelo and Kevin were the strongest chefs, but I could be forgetting one of the women.
What did you think????? Love the new setting? How do you like this cast? What are you hoping for???
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