Oh...stop, I know it's called Just Desserts but you might as well call it Top Desserts. Producers of the massively popular Top Chef series add another knife to their block of shows. If you like Top Chef but think it needed more of a snarky gay vibe, Just Desserts is the show for you. Let's review how it differs from Top Chef.
Top Chef
- Hostess - Padma Lakshmi
- Number of Chefs - 17
- Head Judge - Tom Colicchio
- All chefs live together in the same house
- Two challenges per show, Quick Fire & Elimination
- Numerous Guest Judges
- Rotating Permanent Judge (Gail Simmons or Eric Ripert)
- Typically one chef eliminated per episode, on occasion, two
- Basic formula, Chefs at the living space waking up, missing the eliminated, trash talk, leaving in Pimp Mobile, Quickfire, eating of the Quickfire, judging of the Quickfire, explanation of the Elimination Challenge, shopping at Whole Foods, cooking the Elim, serving the Elim, judging the Elim, Stew Room, Removal of the Eliminated
- Extensive use of One on One interviews to extract as much snarky commentary as possible
- Head Judge walking through the cooking of the Elim Challenge food but not as a mentor or an adviser
- Use of both single contestant challenges and team challenges
- Quickfire win - immunity until later rounds
- Prizes - $125,000 (other seasons $100,000), feature in Food & Wine, a showcase at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, and Title of Top Chef
- High Stakes Challenge - cash prizes sometimes for Quickfires
- Show location - changes every season
- Shopping Location of Choice - Whole Foods
- Elimination Catch Phrase - Pack your knives and go (PYKAG)
- Rules - There are no rules
Just Desserts
- Hostess - Gail Simmons
- Number of chefs - 12
- Head Judge - Johnny Iuzzini
- All chefs live together in the same house
- Two challenges per show, Quick Fire & Elimination
- Numerous Guest Judges
- Rotating Permanent Judge (Hubert Keller or Dannielle Kyrillos)
- Typically one chef eliminated but with only 12 chefs, highly doubtful they'd auf two
- Basic formula, Chefs at the living space waking up, missing the eliminated, trash talk, leaving in Pimp Mobile, Quickfire, eating of the Quickfire, judging of the Quickfire, explanation of the Elimination Challenge, (possibly shopping at Whole Foods,) cooking the Elim, serving the Elim, judging the Elim, Stew Room, Removal of the Eliminated
- Extensive use of One on One interviews to extract as much snarky commentary as possible
- Head Judge walking through the cooking of the Elim Challenge food but not as a mentor or an adviser
- Use of both single contestant challenges and team challenges
- Quickfire win - Immunity (probably until later rounds)
- Prizes - $100,000, feature in Food & Wine, a showcase at the Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival, a German engineered, sport injected Buick (snort) and undetermined winner's title
- Undetermined if there are High Stake challenges with cash prizes
- Show location - this season, LA
- Shopping Location of Choice - ?
- Elimination Catch Phrase - Pack your pastry bag and go (PYPBAG)
- Rules - I'm guessing, just like Top Chef, there are no rules
Another reason for optimism? Call it the Project Runway Butterfly Effect. Gay men are quick witted, snarky and highly entertaining. Put them in a high pressure reality show competition and you've got TV gold and my little crack monkeys, Just Desserts is packed chock full of the gay chips.
Yes Zac is cuter than a bug's ear. Let's review - Pros of Just Desserts: Gail Simmons, my favorite judge looking yummier than ever, a whole show about desserts with enough food porn to make the network censors blush, Gay Drama, and the first season of any new Bravo show is always the best. Cons? Well it's a carbon copy of Top Chef and we all know how sick I am of that format, Johnny's sideburns, and the constant reminders that pastry chefs and regular chefs are different. Here's hoping that one of those three gets severely shaved as the season goes along. Let's hear what you thought of episode one and what sort of challenges you hope to see down the road.
