And the winner is!Bravo's Top Chef 4 Star All Stars Smack Down.
Watch the entire episode here if you've missed it.
My score card for week one is:
Bravo's All Stars Smack Down (Prelude to Top Chef 3): A
Fox's Hell's Kitchen: B
Food Network's Next Food Network Star: C
So why is Bravo the winner? While Hell's Kitchen offers the best prize for the winning chef (as head of their own restaurant, no waiting as Harold Dieterle has had to do), there was very little emphasis placed on the food that was being cooked. The viewer spent the majority of time watching the chefs quake under Gordon Ramsey's verbal abuse.
As for the Next Food Network Star, it was clear that the judges were looking for on-air personalities, not necessarily the best chefs. In fact, some of these chefs are barely qualified to work in my home kitchen!
Bravo, on the other hand, places the emphasis where it belongs: on the heat of the competition and the personalities of the chefs. The Smack Down was sheer fun, even though 90% of us had already guessed the ending. Plus Bravo knows how to support its fans, placing meaty material on their website almost as soon as the show has aired.
