You know, it's funny. You're acting as if he were blogging about events that hppened last week.in real time. He's taking time out of running his empire to wirte about events that happened half a year ago instead of last week (sometimes we forget that). It's as he says, he does Top Chef for about 3 weeks a year and the other 48 months, he's in a kitchen cooking or running his restaurants (and maybe he does an occasional personal appearance for Bravo).

Is it any wonder that he might accidentally substitute the name of a similar contestant (two skinny scruffy somewhat crazy white dudes) or misremember the way a rather convoluted challenge went down after probably just scanning a broadcast of events that happened 6 months ago? Maybe he's doing it on an airplane flying to Vegas to meet with some of his investors. Maybe he was actually in the kitchen the night before helping runn service for 300 people. Maybe he's just like the rest of us and gets a bad cold around Thursday but feels he has to blog anyway. Or even more likely, could it be that the editing fairies created something that's so far away from the actual reality of what went down that even he gets a little confused?

You'll probably just pooh pooh this and say I'm reaching, but I think you're expecting too much for someone to remember all of the exact motivations and discussions and nuances of the judges discussions from events that happened half a year ago (or even not be prone to slip up and substitute Andrew's name for Spike). I'll bet that when he walks away from the set the last time, in a couple of weeks it's all ancient history as he plows back into to running his restaurants. And when the televised show comes around, he probably has to carve time out just to force himself to sit through the show so that he can fulfill some contractural obligation to Bravo to blog about the show. These chefs and judging events are almost ancient history to him at this point, plus, he might even be as baffled at some of the editing as we are. Even if he were able to see the final product before it airs, it's still months after the event. And if this is the case, I doubt that he sits down with bated breath every Wed. to watch with the rest of us. Maybe he watches it again, maybe he doesn't (many actors claim not to watch their own movies and TV shows). So he might even blog weeks after seeing a finished copy that's airmailed to him. Who knows?

Finally, let's not forget that he's actually in the presence of these chefs for a grand total of about half an hour per episode. He only has about 30 seconds one on one with them when he does his walkthrough, and that's the only one on one contact he has with them (unless he's telling one of them that they have to leave because they assaulted someone). These guys and gals as individuals are barely blips on his radar at this point.

Hung is the master---beautiful knife skills!!

I love this challenge and I'm hoping, now that they are down to 8, we actually get to see what they can do.

Rady, on the preview it looks like we may get to see what they can't do.

I know it's edited for maximum drama and suspense and misdirection, but it does look like most of our heroes are pretty unhappy at Judges Table. Dale saying something to the judges like, "Well you ought to have liked it, it took him 3 hours to make it..." No smiles anywhere, on any of them, but I don't recall them showing Stephie? Omen? Probably not.

Thinking I won't enjoy this challenge, catering a wedding reception just sounds like an invitation to hell.

You know what else is funny? He's getting paid to do this, it's his job to post a blog and, for better or worse, what he writes in these blogs impacts the shows credibility. Don't try and make it sound like he's doing us a favor being on the show or is some food missionary sacrificing his time to convert the culinary heathens.

And you know what? He probably gets paid more in the 3 weeks it takes to filem Top Chef than most people here make in a year so forgive me if I expect a little more from him.

Is it any wonder that he can't remember who wins what on the show he hosts? Uh yeah it is. Take some notes. Have a production assistant take some notes. Be a Professional. Tom isn't stupid and didn't get to be as successful he is today by being sloppy and this is sloppy & lazy.
He didn't get to where he is today by mailing it in. So if he's doing it on a plane or after a ngith of service or after a triathalon, it has no bearing on his responcibility to get it right. If its such a burden for him to write a accurate blog each week then don't do the show.

And he didn't just swap a name.
"Spike served a colorful and nutritious carrot soup that all the kids loved, and his pasta delighted everyone, including the adults."
Which then became:
"Andrew served a Chicken Paillard that delighted everyone, including the adults."
Sorry but that's plain lazy and deleting the blog and everyones comments is the result.

And lets not forget that he is in the presence of the Chefs for a reason. He's respected in the industry. All the chefs on the show seem to look up to him. How do you think Andew feels that Tom doesn't care enough to give him the credit he earned? I'm sure he feels like less than a blip on a radar now.

Bear I'll even go so far as saying that it was my least favorite challenge ever on the show. Awful premise for the quickfire, completely unrealistic time frame and just all around cruel to the couple who were most likely hoodwinked into going along with the idea. There was not one chance that these chefs were going to do well let alone excell.

And aside from going to Whole foods with only 10 bucks (completely unrealistic, not the $10 part but the Whole Foods part) I thought the last challenge was one of the best ever on the show.

I think this will be a complete cluster bleep and the sad part is that its exactly what the producers want.

Let's not forget that he's a professional - a professional food person, not a professional media or internet person. I'm sure that he's getting a serious education in it after four seasons, but I'm pretty sure that this doesn't come all that naturally to him.

Deleting the comments when updating a blog sounds like a syndrome of the same thing that gets us a board for every other episode - sounds like a possible IT issue. The laziness and sloppiness might very well be in that department. Of course, it could be censorship <shrug>

I'm glad that you hold Tom up to such standards, since you seem to think that he's a liar and a fraud some of the time. I think it's just brain farts and understandable when you're blogging about long past events. Since this show is done on a relative shoestring (it appears) and with a very tight production schedule, I'd be surprised if they have production assistant time to provide Tom with "blogging notes".

As to the normal person's yearly salary thing, yeah, that's about a half a week's sales in one of his restaurants. I'm sure he's well-paid for his 3 weeks (and ancillary stuff that he's required to do). He probably gets far more boost in his income and business success from the publicity than he does from actually getting a paycheck.

He's not doing me or you a favor by doing the show. But don't try to make it sound like his little tiny blog should be perfect or all-emcompassing either. It's probably almost as much of an afterthought as it is a little tiny portion of the contract. But you should be thankful that he seems to consider it a bit of an afterthought. Otherwise, you would have very little ammo to support your theories.

He's NOT in the presence of the chefs for the most part. Do I care about whether Andrew might be upset that he's not Tom's drinking buddy like Sam is? Not in the least. Am I glad that the blog was corrected to give him the credit he deserved? Sure.

I'd certainly give Tom and Bravo a suggestion. He (and all of the bloggers) should submit his/their blog/s to a continuity person before it/they gets posted. that way they could correct errors without having some intern do it after the fact. Of course, that's assuming that they have the script supervisor available on the clock to do it. Of course, you'd probably consider that person "spin doctor" so it's probably a no-win.

Fun!
Putting on my n00b hat: What is/was/could possibly be "Hung's Monkey"?

Rady, on the preview it looks like we may get to see what they can't do.

I know it's edited for maximum drama and suspense and misdirection, but it does look like most of our heroes are pretty unhappy at Judges Table. Dale saying something to the judges like, "Well you ought to have liked it, it took him 3 hours to make it..." No smiles anywhere, on any of them, but I don't recall them showing Stephie? Omen? Probably not.

Thinking I won't enjoy this challenge, catering a wedding reception just sounds like an invitation to hell.

Hung---winner last season---made a couple of comments about things being so easy even his monkey could do them! Guess you had to be there.

Hung---winner last season---made a couple of comments about things being so easy even his monkey could do them! Guess you had to be there.

Yes I'm sure blogging is not his main professional arena. It's part of the job he took however and like it or not it absolutely impacts his credibility.

Deleting the blog and the comments to edit one sentence is absolutely censorship. If a e-impared clown like me can figure out a way to salvage old posts on a deleted thread then I'd like to think the guys they pay to run this site can figure out a way to edit one sentence on a blog without [expletive deleted] canning the whole thing. If not I'll be sending the BBB my resume tomorrow.

I do hold Tom up to high standards. He's obviously a very successful and respected business person and aside from thinking he holds grudges I can't say a bad thing about him. Do I think Tom is a liar and a fraud? No. Unfortunately being invovled in a reality show does not lend itself to maintaining high moral standards. And aside from one show I have seen, It comes with the territory. However he's not exactly complaining about it either. Again it's just a reality show. And trust me if Tom and the other Judges blogging wanted notes taken there are hundreds of kids out of school that would jump at the poverty level salary and experience that being a production intern would provide.

I have said before that the PR form this show has been invalubile for Tom. He's gone from being well known to mainly foodies to being well known. That's huge.

And I'm not saying that the blog should be all encompassing, but damn at least get the names of the people who won right. If he can't rememeber that how the hell do we expect him to remember why they eliminated someone. And believe it or not I'd enjoy the show much more if there wasn't anything to have to gather ammo about or any theories to back up.

Did I say anything about Andrew wanting to be Tom's drinking buddy? Wanting to be TC's friend and expecting to get credit when you earn it are two very different things. These people take a big risk putting their reputations on the line in a less than ideal cooking environment. Yes only one person gets to take home a prize but when you excell in a challenge you should at least get a public pat on teh back from the respected host.

Oh I'm sure the Pravda Wing of Top Chef is already in the works.

<shrug>

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

JUMPIN IN A TAD PG

I USE MY MICRO FOR MAKIN RICE

NOT THE TYPE THEY USED ON THE EPISODE

KINDA WONDERED ABOUT IT..........

WAS IT PRE SEASONED???

CAN'T IMAGINE EATING THAT STUFF

I CAN MAKE IT FRESH WITH MY MICRO COOKER IN LESS THAN 10

PERFECT EVERY TIME

AND WAY FASTER THAN CONVENTIONAL METHODS

TAKE CARE OVER THERE

ALOHA

HAVE FUN

Parts, I don't often purchase any prepared foods. I'm not ideological about it, I just don't care for them or don't know what to do with them. Which is a pity, cause it's the prepared foods that are 90% of the supermarket weekly specials!

But you might try that Whole Grains blend, it's proven popular with everyone I've served it too. And serving a pile of whole grains isn't often very popular, LOL. But it's never about the quantity of carbs, it's always been about the quality of the carbs.

It can be reproduced at home, but then the task has to broken into so many steps and stages, ehhhhhhh.

Ever try a barley risotto? It's different and can be quite good. Stick some peas in it.

Hung is the master---beautiful knife skills!!

I love this challenge and I'm hoping, now that they are down to 8, we actually get to see what they can do.

Harold made something with Salmon because he was bummed about the grocer they went to only having frozen. I think Stephen made some type of Ravioli and I want to say someone made a bird's nest type dish.

Aside from that I have no clue and even those could be wrong.

Personally I think cooking is a great way to build a child's overall confidence while giving them important life skills.

Hung is the master---beautiful knife skills!!

I love this challenge and I'm hoping, now that they are down to 8, we actually get to see what they can do.

Somewhere recently I saw a reference to Hung as The Secretariat of Top Chefs. Certainly he is in a class ahead of Ilan.

Outside of Quickfires, and his Fruit Loopy Happy Time Wonderland breakfast, Hung really stumbled badly only twice. His canape, and his Latin Lunch. And I still think it's possible he doesn't know Latin and simply knew to look on the back of Goya Sazon seasoning packs to find a recipe for Arroz con Pollo.

But I don't think this season's final and winner will unseat Hung...

I would hope TC would never take a "cook," and only ever take people with professional experience as chefs. (And never again a first-year culinary institute student!)

Me, I'd want nothing to do with any of that, ever....

And DOES SHE EVER WASH HER HAIR????? OMG, if I walked into a restaurant and saw her cooking.... I'd walk out as fast as I could! What a greasy, dirty looking person!

WAJ,

Harold's salmon was probably the worse dish of what was served to the wedding guests. If it weren't for Stephen's repeat performance of bad FOH, Harold might have been on the chopping block. As for the eggshells that Bear asked about, both you and I and anyone else who viewed that episode knows that the likely eggshell culprit was Tiffani - one camera shot showed her breaking eggs over the cake mix.

As for who cooked what other than Harold, like you I can't remember.

A lot of things said by Tom and Gail I found to be questionable.

I thought of a rather wicked set-up for an Elimination Challenge. It's based on my preference that a chef really know and be able to work in at least one cuisine other than the one she/he grew up with.

I think this could work when there are about 5-6 chefs or teams.

Let chefs/teams draw knives, and on the knives appear the words:
French
Italian
Middle Eastern (or Levantine)
Caribbean
Latin
Asian (or even SE Asian)
Scandinavian
Iberian

The actual words (cuisines) could be drawn from a list of what the chefs claim to know, on their applications.

Pause briefly to allow the chefs to try to trade away a cuisine they do not know for one they do know. Bit of drama, as Dale knows French perfectly well but has no intention of surrendering Asian to Lisa...

Once that settles down, announce that they're serving dishes rooted in those cuisines to 10 diners, and now it's time to draw knives to determine the order of their dishes. First course through to last course.

Pause briefly to allow the chefs to try to trade away that first course Scandinavian dish, cause they got nothin', for a fifth course they might succeed with. Bit of drama, as Richard knows what do in any situation, except a final course.

In any case, a chance to see what the chefs really know a lot about cuisines other than their own.

Or, have those knives include the names of some specific American cuisines, as some chefs are as unlikely to know those as to know Iberian.
New England
Southern
Tex-Mex
Southwest
California
Native American
Cajun
Creole
Etc

You know if you are cooking for yourself and you want to use the same spoon that is one thing, but for other people THAT IS GROSS.

You see other chef's taste their food, and they use a small spoon alot of times to taste it.

I guess to each their own, but after watching how he cooks- how many of us would want to eat at a resteraunt he is at?

You know if you are cooking for yourself and you want to use the same spoon that is one thing, but for other people THAT IS GROSS.

You see other chef's taste their food, and they use a small spoon alot of times to taste it.

I guess to each their own, but after watching how he cooks- how many of us would want to eat at a resteraunt he is at?

And DOES SHE EVER WASH HER HAIR????? OMG, if I walked into a restaurant and saw her cooking.... I'd walk out as fast as I could! What a greasy, dirty looking person!

So, I'll just take all this as an entertaining Wednesday evening, what with magical elves doing the business they're paid to do.

Notwithstanding the editing that occurs elsewhere in TVland with the reality shows. This is the only one I watch.

But methinks all is done for maximum drama and controversy and conversation . . . that bit of "chatter" all shows want so they can be even bigger than their 60 minutes on any particular evening.

Nonetheless, the Antonia/Lisa polish sausage item reeks in my craw when Ted says they did use it.

They didn't.

Make it work!!!

Hey, KS...good to see you back on the boards. How was the vacation?

I have to say I agree with you. This week the weaker dish didn't go home. Lisa is good TV...Stephanie had an off week...poor Mark didn't have enough protien.

Great to see you here...How are things, my friend?

From one KS to the other, I'm doing great. As I noted elsewhere on these boards, I got overwhelmed at work after vacation, and stayed away from these boards until I could get my head above water. Now, I'm enjoying the show, even if I'm increasingly scratching my head in bewilderment at some of the judges' decisions.

We've got a houseful of my inlaws staying with us right now for a family reunion, so I'm taking a quick personal breather long enough to get on line for a while.

Bear I'll even go so far as saying that it was my least favorite challenge ever on the show. Awful premise for the quickfire, completely unrealistic time frame and just all around cruel to the couple who were most likely hoodwinked into going along with the idea. There was not one chance that these chefs were going to do well let alone excell.

And aside from going to Whole foods with only 10 bucks (completely unrealistic, not the $10 part but the Whole Foods part) I thought the last challenge was one of the best ever on the show.

I think this will be a complete cluster bleep and the sad part is that its exactly what the producers want.

I just read through Kecklers recap of the episode and the guests called Harold's Salmon "bad convention food." So his was obviously the worst food hands down. However Stephen's abandonment of the kitchen was the worse crime.
As for the Eggshells, yeah Shrek has to end up getting blamed for that and it always seemed pretty sabatour-like to me.

I think Lisa is a "biatch". She reminds me of Tiffany in season 1 - without the cooking chops.

She was "too good" to make Polish sausage -- which was her primary ingredient. Altough I like Antonia - this is the second time she didn't use the correct ingredients (Remember the gorilla food -- LAMB)

I think Dale has a right to go off on her. First she didn't want to collaborate on the Fire element (she shot everything down) and then she ends up winning for making "bacon". I think we should just call this the bacon contest -- if you use it you'll win.

I hate the fact they are doing wedding wars. These people get no sleep, no budget -- and this is a big day for the people getting married.

I'd much prefer the restaurant wars (without the redux - poor Tre) because they don't effect people's lives.

My award for best line from episode #8 goes to Andrew: "I've got a culinary boner."

I have not re-watched that episode but as I remember it besides the eggshells the judges were not happy with the fact that they used a cake mix for the cake.

[/b]Was your name taken in vein??
(I know you are tounge and cheeky here..no fights )

I didn't see that as I might have stopped reading
WAJ 'cept for the highlights of conspiracy

See..we agree of course...But now I'm even thinking beyond that...We see that they didn't like the mole....But we see so little... So many other things could have been said.
They only show us the bad to throw us off or good.

I mean Padma could have said

It tasted terrible like cough syrup...but Gail could have said No way I loved it and Tom too. They may not have shown us peeps who liked Hung's rice on purpose....SEE???
Just an example...Even what you say is based on the little we hear...We have to throw all that out the window from now.
It is NOT reflective of what is really happening.

BTW ....Glad to see you back.....You were missed.

The only way I would take your name in
vein is............oh never mind.