I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean you'd rather see the everyman/everywoman in tv cooking competition shows?



That's really my only complaint with the show. I'd much rather hear criticisms from chef to chef, filmmaker to filmmaker, etc. However, such people aren't as skilled at communication as professional writers. Sometimes outsider opinion is valuable.



Is this specifically about the show? If so, honestly, there hasn't been any backstage drama at all. Not like the shouting matches and personal grudges found on Top Chef.

As far as cooking/creativity, these top-rate chefs kick Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen chefs up and down the block.



It's highly possible that Next Iron Chef taped that long ago without knowledge that Top Chef did the same thing. However, one of the judges did mention that both shows capitalized on a practical issue - cutting down on travel costs. (I have no idea how that saves the show money, but that's what he said. Hahaha.)

If not, I like that a show is directly competing with a show by doing the same exact thing to prove or hint that they're better because I like unabashed and shameless competition. I thought this one was better than Top Chef's.

As for cloning, Top Chef is real basic in its format. Honestly, how does one make a tv cooking competition show not based on that basic format in one way or another to varying degrees? It's like a genre that has its conventions and norms. Now, if Top Chef was truly original with a format that is just utterly unique that no one probably wouldn't have thought about it, then I think the idea of cloning/copying holds more weight.



The only one doing the annoying, to me, is the dark-brown haired guy, Knowlton. Other than that the judges on this show provide the same type of commentary found on Top Chef.

It seems like I'm just hating on Top Chef. I love both these shows equally because they're better at different things that the other lacks.