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Cutthroat Kitchen is so damn entertaining

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M

Miker

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The missus and I have been watching lots and lots of Cutthroat Kitchen on Netflix (US) and it is entertaining as hell. The auctions really jumped up in "lol what" factor from season 1 to season 2 to the point where I feel like it's becoming a parody of itself, in the best way possible.

It's so fun to watch not just because of the sabotages, but because of the way people work around them. As obnoxious as all the contestants are (so deliciously obnoxious), almost all of them are very quick to think on their feet and change their cooking to suit the situation. Every episode is unpredictable because a contestant can turn a sabotage to their advantage, and contestants with no sabotages oftentimes screw up something really basic.

Random other thoughts on the show:
- Alton is an asshole, and I wish I had his job
- The recurring theme of a "deconstructed" version of a simple meal never ceases to be hilarious
- The judges value different things in their meals. Chef Tila seems to accept anything remotely resembling the designated dish so long as the flavors are good, while Chef Simon puts emphasis on a more standard/literal interpretation of the dish
- I don't know how much to attribute to the magic of editing, but I'm legit surprised there aren't more contestants getting burned/cut/injured somehow with some of the more esoteric sabotages

Anybody else watch it?
 
It has gotten so much better, the first couple of seasons the challenges were more annoying than anything. But now they are straight fuckery.
 
I watch it from time to time and it's definitely more entertaining than the typical competition cooking shows. I really like how the money they spend on the sabotages is taken from their prize money; it's pretty funny to see the people who don't care about anything but winning and leave with like $200.
 
Slayven said:
It has gotten so much better, the first couple of seasons the challenges were more annoying than anything. But now they are straight fuckery.
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I'm only halfway through S2, but this is Good News.

jmood88 said:
I watch it from time to time and it's definitely more entertaining than the typical competition cooking shows. I really like how the money they spend on the sabotages is taken from their prize money; it's pretty funny to see the people who don't care about anything but winning and leave with like $200.
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Lowest I've seen is $1400 so far, which I thought was really low already.

SourShoes said:
I've seen every episode of every season. By far, my favorite show in TV.
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How did you watch the remaining seasons?
 
The best is when the cooks fuck themselves over without any sabotages.

They either over think it or screw up and not grab something.

And when they do that, I'm sitting there thinking they should probably hope one of those food replacement sabotages comes up so they can sabotage themselves.
 
It's a great show, the mechanic plays great with the contestants as they try (often unsuccessfully) to screw each other over.

Some of the others are a bit of a miss. Chopped is still good, although it's kind of vanilla in comparison. Chopped Canada is only worth watching for the ruthless, joyless judges, as the actual chefs generally suck.

I caught a new one the other day - Cooks vs Cons - and it was one of the most wretched pieces of television I've had the misfortune of sitting through in years, this side of Supergirl.
 
I remember seeing an episode where there was one dude who barely spent any money during the first two rounds, made his way to the final round, and outbid his opponent on every sabotage. That was fucking glorious.
 
My only qualm with this show is with the way contestants play sometimes. Since the goal for each round is to simply not lose, they should be piling all the sabotages onto one person. But they never do that.

I especially like the Superstar Sabotage ones. I was really hoping Richard Blaise would win the second one.
 
DJ_Lae said:
It's a great show, the mechanic plays great with the contestants as they try (often unsuccessfully) to screw each other over.

Some of the others are a bit of a miss. Chopped is still good, although it's kind of vanilla in comparison. Chopped Canada is only worth watching for the ruthless, joyless judges, as the actual chefs generally suck.

I caught a new one the other day - Cooks vs Cons - and it was one of the most wretched pieces of television I've had the misfortune of sitting through in years, this side of Supergirl.
Click to expand...

Chopped is best when they've got a Champions tournament or some theme like Viewers Choice where they're trying to be brutal.
 
Did ya'll see that episode where that caterer made that "Blueberry Muffin" and it was just, like, raw eggs, flour, and blueberries packed into a cake pan or something? I don't remember him having any sabotages or anything, he just fucked it all up.
 
DJ_Lae said:
It's a great show, the mechanic plays great with the contestants as they try (often unsuccessfully) to screw each other over.

Some of the others are a bit of a miss. Chopped is still good, although it's kind of vanilla in comparison. Chopped Canada is only worth watching for the ruthless, joyless judges, as the actual chefs generally suck.

I caught a new one the other day - Cooks vs Cons - and it was one of the most wretched pieces of television I've had the misfortune of sitting through in years, this side of Supergirl.
Click to expand...

I find I can always enjoy Chopped. It's relatively underedited and doesn't go to hard for sympathy.
 
Kaladin said:
Chopped is best when they've got a Champions tournament or some theme like Viewers Choice where they're trying to be brutal.
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Yeah, some of the weirder ingredients are always amusing to see the chefs fumble with them. A rerun the other week had pork anus, which is a spectacular ingredient.

Sou Da said:
I find I can always enjoy Chopped. It's relatively underedited and doesn't go to hard for sympathy.
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That's true, they don't drag out anything or play up the announcements Master Chef style (other than cutting to commercial, but I'm okay with that).
 
SourShoes said:
Jet is my fave judge. I like Antonia and Simon too though.
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Antonia looks eerily like an old girlfriend of mine, so it's a little weird when she judges. I like them all, though.

I need to set up a VPN to watch the after show outtakes on their website, where they get judge impressions after revealing the sabotages. Bastards lock it off the Canadian side.
 
Just started watching this. Alton Brown is the fucking man. Seeing people forget key ingredients is always hilarious. Self sabotage at its finest.
 
I can't believe they let them do some of the shit. Like I saw them make someone walk on weird box shoes, dude could have fallen over and dumped boiling water or oil on himself.
 
Kaladin said:
The absolute best is the few times I've seen Alton give the dish and one contestant will be like "WTF is that?"
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Oh man, oh man. One time the dishwas biscuits and gravy, and one of the chefs heard " brisket and gravy."

Chef was fucked proper right out the gate.
 
I always laugh at the tiny cookware and tiny kitchen sabotages. Those are the best :) I need to catch up on s2 of this show, so good.
 
It's an outstanding show, that I unfortunately burned out on after a few seasons. I love the structure & sabotages, but it gets formulaic fairly fast. Especially because so many of the chefs are more interested in mugging for the camera than cooking a dish.

I'll watch an episode from time to time, but only as background filler.

Chopped also deserves a shoutout as an entertaining cooking show that has probably gotten long in the tooth at this point.
 
Only cooking show that is entertaining. The sabotages have definitely improved but they have cut down on Alton explaining how he would be able to overcome the sabotage. I don't like that.
I also like that have cut down on the intros and commentary from the chefs.
Fun fact about Antonia Lofosa; she had a kid with Heavy D before he died.
 
I just wish more competitors employed the method of stealing all the ingredients for certain types of dishes. It seemed to only happen a few times and seems like an easy way to both pad your basket while screwing over everyone else.
 
XGRaViSmOrSX said:
I just wish more competitors employed the method of stealing all the ingredients for certain types of dishes. It seemed to only happen a few times and seems like an easy way to both pad your basket while screwing over everyone else.
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I'm guessing the producers put the kibosh on that because it isn't an auctioned sabotage.
 
Its one of my favorite shows. Alton kills it on the show.

Contestants are stupid on the show though. Too many focus on revenge when they could have been cutthroat and ganged up on someone who already had a sabotage.
 
Wonderful show, though I've not kept up recently. Nothing better than a chef getting fucked by every sabotage and still getting judged favorably compared to the competition. The looks of disbelief are priceless.
 
I love the after shows where Alton and the judge just fuck around with the sabotages.

But seriously, what happened to the superior Chopped after shows?

Were Alex and Ted getting too friendly?
 
SourShoes said:
Yeah, I think there were a few of those shows. Zakarian almost won I believe. The William Shatner episode was the worst.
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Aside from The Next Iron Chef, I don't think I've ever seen Zakarian win anything.

EDIT: I can't stand Chopped. It's just so boring. Even Beat Bobby Flay is better.
 
mackattk said:
Its one of my favorite shows. Alton kills it on the show.

Contestants are stupid on the show though. Too many focus on revenge when they could have been cutthroat and ganged up on someone who already had a sabotage.
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Seriously that would be the best tactic. You don't have to make a good dish, you just can't make the worst one.
 
ho my goddd finally a topic for cutthroat kitchen. i randomly started watching out of boredom about a month ago and i'm fucking addicted, and have gotten a handful of my other friends into it, lmao. it's amazing. i'm almost on to the third season!

one of my favorite moments was early on when contestants had to make some kind of BBQ dish, and one guy didn't even get his ribs to the plate, but his beans were so good that he made it to the next round. i was howling.
 
Septimus Prime said:
That show just feels too rigged.

Contestant: My signature dish is akjlfhkljwsnfmn!

...

Bobby: I don't know wtf I'm doing.

And the winner is...Bobby Flay!
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Naw, it's not like that at all.

It's more like.

My signature dish is this...but I usually cook it in my kitchen, or it takes two hours longer, or three days of prep.

BF: Well, I know how to make this, now just Southwest fusion it up a bit and...

The Winner is Bobby Flay! His real advantage is doing this "competitive cooking" thing for like 15 years now. There was a similar BF show where he'd go on the road to surprise challenge people and he lost far more often than he won.
 
also i wish more people would get trapped in the pantry room. seeing alton's disapproving look is just...life giving
 
Sou Da said:
I find I can always enjoy Chopped. It's relatively underedited and doesn't go to hard for sympathy.
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The one underrated evil thing chopped does is only having one ice cream maker (and to a lesser extent two deep fryers) when they know this shit is anti competitive and leads to trouble.
 
Septimus Prime said:
That show just feels too rigged.

Contestant: My signature dish is akjlfhkljwsnfmn!

...

Bobby: I don't know wtf I'm doing.

And the winner is...Bobby Flay!
Click to expand...
Well you know, he's probably the greatest chef of our time. Try the Mesa Grille in LV or NY. The one in LV was divine. The man knows how to build flavor.
 
Sai-kun said:
also i wish more people would get trapped in the pantry room. seeing alton's disapproving look is just...life giving
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This doesn't happen nearly often enough for my tastes. If I were Alton I'd slide the door shut a second ahead of time just for shits and giggles.
 
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