MovieChat Forums > The Next Iron Chef (2007) Discussion > Conflict of Interest? (Spoilers Herein)

Conflict of Interest? (Spoilers Herein)

posted 11 years ago by VIPrawn
16 replies | jump to latest

"In September Simon [Majumdar] will be joining forces with Alex Guarnaschelli and another of my virtual friends Troy Johnson of the under-appreciated series Crave for the new show Undercover Critics. In UC the three noted critics, employing hidden cameras, survey restaurants. They then share their thoughts with the owners so they may fix the problems before being formally reviewed."

~ http://wannabetvchef.com/?p=10077

The thing about Alex winning is that you can see here--and have seen the entire season--the desperation and insistence that Simon has had pushing Alex through. In further back episodes, we would see long segments of footage featuring negative critiques of Alex's food. However, she was often not even asked to be put into the cook-off. It's because of this absurd girl crush that people like Simon and, I feel, the producers--because for anyone who wasn't aware, yes, the small print of all competition-based reality television programs basically admits that the producers have a say in the results--have for this woman. Because how else are we supposed to believe that she, having won only one challenge, beat out Freitag, who won four of the previous challenges (out of eight, mind you)?

So, I'm calling obvious favoritism on this one. At least I'm comforted by the fact that I'm 99% sure that the only real Iron Chef, Morimoto, voted for Freitag. You could tell he was impressed by her more.

Anyone else find the results a little suspect?

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

not really. the judges consistently prefer banal dishes & hide behind the concept of execution as if that means something. alex has been around the longest & gets that is what they want & value. if she wanted or anyone could serve up hot boiled water with a dash of french sea salt & i'm sure they would praise its bold simplicity and confident execution---as if it's hard to boil water.

Season's Greetings

[–] gunkulator 11 years ago

I think it's no accident that the two chefs who have had the longest association with The Food Network ended up in the finale. The network has a lot invested in each of them as experts. At the very least, there was no way either one was going home early.

[–] lwarner2005 11 years ago

Yes, I do find the results suspect, and I think that it was rigged for Alex to win the whole time. I wouldn't have had so much of a problem with seeing her as an Iron Chef if it weren't for the fact that during the course of two Next Iron Chef competitions I've seen her weaknesses. IMO, she has no business being Iron Chef out of all of the chefs who were sent home. If she had just been appointed as an Iron Chef without any competition, much the way that many of the veteran Iron Chefs had been (Morimoto, Flay, Cora, etc.), I wouldn't have thought anything of it. IMO, this whole competition brings any sense of credibility of this title down. There should at least be some attempt at a facade that the Iron Chefs are the best of the best, whether that's completely true or not. From my perspective she was pretty much pushed through this competition despite, imo, her clearly not being the best chef which destroys that illusion altogether.

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

i think she cooks what they really want as opposed to what they say they want. 'originality' always is punished in iron chef showdowns too.

Season's Greetings

[–] lwarner2005 11 years ago

I agree that they tend to want more middle of the road type of food, but to me she was so clearly outgunned throughout most of this competition, as well as the last one, that choosing her made no sense other than the fact that they had already chosen her. At the very least, they should have chosen someone who is less discernible by lay people as being below perceived Iron Chef caliber. If they wanted her as an Iron Chef, they should have just appointed her as one instead of putting all of her weaknesses on display in this competition format. IMO, the audience needs to be able to believe that she is even close to being worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with someone like Morimoto. Oh my good googly moogly! She is not even close to being at or even near that level.

[–] rs_cyr 11 years ago

Very interesting news. I agree it is a conflict of interest. I noticed the favoritism from Zackarian and Simon too. Amanda should have won and she was robbed.

[–] RabidAnchovy345 11 years ago

Yep, after watching the finale, I, too, can't help but think the fix was in from the very beginning. If they wanted to make Alex an Iron Chef so bad, why didn't they just do it the way they did Cat Cora instead of doing this little ruse?

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] prbronx5 11 years ago

As much as I like Alex and Amanda, I don't see either of them as Iron Chefs. Alex has a short fuse. Amanda is why too shy & timid. Elizabeth Faulkner should've just been given a spot if they wanted a female jugde so bad.

Also since they've won, how many times have Garces and spiked mohawk dude, actually competed? Garces especially, NEVER gets chosen. Everyone always wanted to battle Flay, Morimoto, Symon & Cora.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] RabidAnchovy345 11 years ago

Again, I'm assuming you haven't actually seen Amanda in action in her 2 Kitchen Stadium appearances (the first as a challenger to Bobby Flay, the second as sous chef to Chopped grand champion Madison Cowan vs. Jose Garces). She was very perky and fun to watch in both of those appearances. I'm not sure why she was so reserved on this season of NIC. I can only imagine it was because she had her eye on the prize much more intently this time around.

[–] VIPrawn 11 years ago

Well I can tell you why they didn't just make her an Iron Chef: because of the all the money they stood to make from advertisers by holding a "competition."

On another note, did anyone else see her first challenge as an Iron Chef? Obviously, she was going to win. But more importantly, after she won, insert clip here of her challenger saying, "She deserves to be an Iron Chef." Looks like Food Network is already on the defensive about her; I wonder how much criticism they caught for her win.

[–] lwarner2005 11 years ago

On another note, did anyone else see her first challenge as an Iron Chef?

No, I didn't see her first challenge. I've pretty much stopped watching now. This last competition has pretty much killed the illusion of Iron Chef for me. I'm not surprised that they would have started ramping up the PR machine to defend their, imo, very poor choice for an Iron Chef. I too wonder how much flack they caught for her win and from whom. I doubt that we'll ever know.

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

battle mortadella! didn't see who won.

Season's Greetings

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Two-Spacer 11 years ago

Your question assumes something that I don't think is true -- i.e., that this is a real "contest" to begin with.

Let us all beware of resting satisfied with head-knowledge. - CofE Bishop J.C. Ryle