I caught this little blurb in a press release from Top Chef's corporate brain trust, announcing yet another addition to the Bravo reality series empire, Top Chef: Masters. This obvious attempt to slice into the Food Network's "Iron Chef America" foodie fanatic base might just work. Iron Chef America has been running on the Food Network since 2005, but it's basic format has remained much the same. The stable of Iron Chefs rarely change and most of the challengers are generally unknown to the viewing public. (Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Iron Chef America; I much prefer the kitschy glory and speed of the original Japanese Iron Chef.)Bravo touts its "Top Chef: Masters" as "featuring world-renowned chefs competing against each other in a series of weekly challenges." Who knows, maybe this is just the smackdown Iron Chef America needs to kick its stale, overly fog machined, superfluously knife blade noised, bloated silliness in the ass. Eric Ripert vs. Tony Bourdain? Hell yes - count me in. April Bloomfield vs. Michelle Bernstein? Bring it on. Team Challenges? I would be in heaven. But who gets to judge? Will Colicchio preside or compete? Will Bravo lure Steingarten and Ruhlman away from the I.C. judges table? The Magical Elves have been pretty successful in luring big name culinary luminaries to Top Chef. I can't wait to see who they catch in their nets. The question is, will they make them live together in some crappy loft with no air conditioning and sleep on Ikea bunk beds?
2 comments:
Snorted out tea after reading Ripert's caption! I'm assuming Bourdain competing against Ripert was meant to be funny as well.
Those two guys are good friends. I think a smackdown between the two would be amazing. I think Ripert would crush Tony but you never know until it happens.
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