Giving Top Chef Masters a Try

Here at The Foodventure we’re big fans of Top Chef. I think it is a great mix of food and personalities, and it is almost always an enthralling hour of television. This summer, Bravo is trying out a new concept: Top Chef Masters.

Top Chef Masters (TCM) features 24 chefs, many of whom are recognizable to TV foodies. For six weeks, four of the chefs will compete against each other in the usual Top Chef Quickfire/Elimination Challenge format, with the winner of the group moving on to the second round with the other five winners. I watched on Wednesday to see if it measured up to the original, and I thought I’d offer a few thoughts for our readers.

TCM carries over a lot of material from the original, including over the top product placement and reality TV essential confessional interviews. Part of why Top Chef works is because there’s always a contestant or two with a bitter, completely unlikeable personality who viewers rally around rooting against, and the confessional serves as a way to draw that personality out. On TCM, the chefs are consumate professionals who, instead of competing for significant cash and recognition, are playing for the charity of their choice. This eliminates a lot of the drama that defines the original Top Chef.

The fact that these guys (and gals) are pros really changes the dynamic. Top Chef relies on overeager competitors making mistakes, but these guys handle the curves like they’re nothing. In week one, Texas-based chef Tim Love inadvertently puts all of his groceries in the freezer overnight, a mistake that would have killed many lesser cooks. He obviously would not have done this on purpose, but it did not entirely throw him off, and he still competed admirably.

Top Chef fans should enjoy Top Chef Masters. It lacks some of the drama of the original, but the collection of chefs is impressive, and if week one is any indication, the chefs really enjoy the challenge and will rise to the occasion. Summer time TV is notoriously unsatisfying, but Top Chef Masters can be the Wednesday night fix that gets people through the week.