Top Chef in Middle America
This season’s Top Chef features two unusual contestants — a lesbian couple, both of whom are great chefs in their own right. My first sort of knee-jerk reaction is that Bravo has purposefully chosen these two to add drama and in-fighting to the show. After all, what’s a reality show without drama? But as the show progressed, I honestly forgot about the two being a couple, and viewed them as separate contestants. It seemed clear that they were trying hard to not be too chummy during competition, and the judges seemed indifferent to them. This was only the first episode, so who knows what the other contestants will think of them as time goes on. Maybe I’m putting too much trust in television, but I believe both these women qualified to be on the show regardless of their sexual orientation or relationship status. I might be proven wrong though.
What amused me, however, are some of the comments on Tom Colicchio’s blog on BravoTV.com. Some of them seemed to really feel offended by the lesbian couple being on the show. These were also the same people who seemed to have been insulted by censored F-bombs dropped by the streetwise New York contestant. The comments seemed to be like “I loved ALL the other seasons! But this ONE episode with a guy cussing and a lesbian couple just CROSSED THE LINE!” All I can say is: Get off yer high horse. It’s a TV show on Bravo. Have you seen Project Runway and Real Housewives of Orange County? This isn’t exactly high-brow entertainment here. If a little cussing and a gay couple is all it takes to stop you from watching TV, I would suggest unsubscribing from cable altogether.
But let’s play Devil’s advocate here for a second. Maybe they only objected to the cussing guy and the lesbian relationship because they want the show to be “family-friendly.” Maybe they objected to these things because they thought it was Bravo’s way of pushing up ratings, and shifting focus away from the cooking/food. Okay, fine. Let’s tackle those two arguments.
1) The cussing is bleeped. It’s bleeped enough that adults would know what the words are, but kids might not necessarily know, unless they ALREADY know what the words are. And in that case, that’s not the show’s fault. Also, surprise! Kids know cuss words! They’re not dumb! I knew the F-word when I was 10 years old, and I seemed to have turned out okay. 2) Here’s a newsflash: Two people of any gender loving each other is totally family-friendly! Okay, so this is a bit of a shaky situation thing depending on your beliefs and your preconceived notions of gay people. But seriously, how harmful is it to your child’s psyche that two women can be in a committed relationship with each other? The Spitzer story on primetime news isn’t exactly painting heterosexual relationships in a positive light either, ya know.
As for the second argument, well, I’ll admit to having those thoughts too. But I’m willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt and watch it a few more episodes before I call Reality-TV Foul. Have you watched Season 2 of Top Chef? I mean THAT was a hellhole of a drama situation. And I don’t think it detracted from the food and cooking at all.
That said, however, I think the REAL “controversy” from Top Chef might lie in Atlanta’s Richard Blaise being a contestant. Richard Blaise isn’t an ordinary sous chef; he is a total professional. He was an Iron Chef contestant fer chrissakes. He’s actually had experience running restaurants! Now THAT is worthy of a reality TV showdown.
And like the sucker I am, I’ll be there to watch it all go down.
I find it very hard to watch this show. Mostly because it bores me.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. We have a huge puritanical streak in this country that is just shocking.
But we must be mindful that the majority of this country is decidedly NOT like the Bay Area, or a nice progressive Midwestern town like I live in (Ann Arbor, MI). All I have to do is drive an hour from here and I can put my finger on the pulse of “America.” Sometimes what I see actually frightens me.
I forwarded on the site “what white people like” to a friend from undergrad who would have appreciated it 15 years ago, but when he reviewed the list it was as if I was speaking Greek. He now lives in rural Indiana as a doc and honestly asks me why I would not want to join him. Ummm… hello, you drink Folgers!
Nice site.