66 replies to this topic

[Holliday]

From Eater.com:

A new series on the Food Network takes pretty much every absurd challenge in an entire season of Top Chef and condenses them into a single episode. Extreme Chef, which premieres June 30, forces three competing chefs to swim lakes, milk cows, use cuticle scissors in place of actual cutlery, and complete any number of other seemingly insurmountable challenges to prepare a meal. The show is hosted by British "adventure seeker" Marsh Mokhtari, and judges will include writer Josh Ozersky, Next Iron Chef judge Simon Majumdar, Next Iron Chef finalist Marco Canora and "stiletto chef" Candice Kumai.

I'm tuning in for sure and hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

[Grimes]

When the male chef said here comes the guns, I don't think he was talking about her arms.

[Holliday]

Okay, this was supposed to premiere on June 30 with a sneak peek tonight; however, if I'm not mistaken, I just watched an entire episode.

I really want to like this because I love cooking shows but I thought it was awful. The challenges were extremely lame but the judges and contestants were worse. I'm a little tired and cranky after a long week so I'll probably give it another chance but I don't have high hopes.

[kiki1234]

I really want to like this because I love cooking shows but I thought it was awful

I thought it was awful too. I even stopped watching halfway through and I rarely do that. It was mostly due to not wanting to listen to the chefs whine anymore. What the hell did they think they would be doing on a show called Extreme Chef? Going shopping for food at Wal Mart instead of Whole Foods?

[Skipper783]

Wow. I watched the whole show, and what a chaotic mashup of other shows it was. It was sorta Chopped/Cupcake Wars/Survivorman, which is a really odd combination. The smarmy, annoying host is the douche from Cupcake Wars with an overdone accent. The judges were less in-touch-with-their-feminine-side versions of Florian from Cupcake Wars, with a little of the Chopped judges' collective arrogance tossed in. The odd food pairings were pirated directly from Chopped, as was the four competitors eliminated one by one with $10000 at stake. To be fair, Cupcake Wars stole that format from Chopped first, heh heh. The cooking with substandard implements in harsh natural conditions was stolen from Survivorman, but sorry, Les Stroud does it much betta. I mean, Les made a candle from a corn chip and boiled water in a leaf, fer chrissake.

What is it with the FN cameramen? Do none of them get laid at home? I saw more shots of Obligatory Female Contestant's cleavage then I saw of food getting prepared. Also, Obligatory Female Contestant? Girl, if you're gonna wear a thong, don't wear low-waisted pants with it, and especially don't wear a cropped top with it, because the sight of your hot pink thong sticking out the back of your pants while you were crouched down grilling your chicken made me throw up a little in my mouth.

The challenges were lame to say the least. Plating in handcuffs? Hauling a 50 pound block of ice with ice tongs? Making ice cream with savory ingredients? That ain't nothing. How quickly FN forgot the infamous trout ice cream from Iron Chef America.

I can safely say I'm done with this show. And the fact that they followed this show with Triple D (which to me stands for "Douchebags, Dillweeds, and Dicks") was enough to make me write down a note to myself:

Dear Me, Don't forget to turn on FN after NFNS goes off! Love, Me (and the remnants of my sanity)

Edited by Skipper783, Jun 27, 2011 @ 12:49 AM.

[Northwester]

Seems to be the kind of show you'd have on in the background while doing other things. I can't imagine someone sitting in front of the TV absorbed by this nonsense for 60 minutes.

In addition to the mystery basket, the round-by-round elimination, and the $10,000 prize, the other thing they borrowed from "Chopped" is the arrogant contestant who says he's going to kick everyone's butt and almost always loses.

Although this show did manage to give us more cleavage in one episode than Chopped has in all its seasons combined. Maybe Giada deLaurentis should be a judge.

Speaking of judges, I never much liked Marc Canora when he was on Next Iron Chef. I always wonder by what criteria FN decides certain chefs/former show contestants are worth being recycled.

Edited by Northwester, Jun 27, 2011 @ 3:02 AM.

[spankydoll]

I am hooked. I don't care how mashed up and lowbrow the format is. Ms. personal chef to the famous getting dinged for making pedestrian offerings like scrambled eggs and chili ripping her jacket off and showing off her guns. Survival man boasting about cleaning up the competition and getting sent packing before the final cook off. Already set up in my DVR.

[Marlena]

Marc Canora is a douche and his sidekick? The American version of Toby Young from TC? Gack. I watched this with my son after we watched NFNS because we thought it was a 30 minute show and then ended up watching the rest of it. We both agreed that by the time they got to hauling the 50 pound blocks of ice (no way was Malibu Barbie's piece of ice 50 pounds. It was smaller than the guys) we would have tossed down the tongs and announced that we were out of there.

Speaking of the ice cream challenge, I was expecting them to have to hand-crank the churns. I guess cowboys had electric ice cream makers back in the day.

Where was this shot? The town looked suspiciously like Oatman, AZ.

[GoMocs]

Maybe the Food Network with all their cooking competition shows have jumped the shark or not in the past. That debate is NOW OVER. THE SHARK HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY JUMPED. Watched a bit of this. A cooking show for those who are maturation challenged? I apologize to those who like it, but seriously look at this show. Rolling your cooking pots in a barrel? Oh, yeah, that tells us who is a good chef.

Edited by GoMocs, Jun 27, 2011 @ 2:29 PM.

[lillybee]

I watched this late last night and all I could think is: worse cooking show ever.

[mathetria]

Man I hated this show so much. I didn't realize it was a show until it came on after FNS, and I don't see it lasting. So stupid.

Maybe because I am a not-very-strong female who loves to cook, but I hated the barrel rolling part and the ice carrying part for the simple reason that strength should have nothing to do with a cooking challenge. But that's what the ridiculous premise of the show is - chefs being pushed to their mental and physical limits. The woman didn't seem bothered by it...so maybe I shouldn't be either, but I thought it was beyond ridiculous.

[GoMocs]

I wish just once when given a stupid task, like running what they said was a half mile and loading up pots and pans in a barrel and rolling it back, the contestants would just look at one another and proclaim "nope, we aren't going to do it". I guess they are contractually bound not to do something like that and they would just edit it out anyway.

[walnutqueen]

If they were going to make a hybrid cooking challenge show, I'd rather watch Top Chef v Top Shot - bonus point for winging the most whingeing chef.

[orchidgal]

I watched this show just so I could make an informed decision on whether it was something worth watching, although I had a strong suspicion I already knew the answer. And after watching, I learned I was right. I think I will have to take a pass, FN. Honestly, I was ready to turn the TV off after the first half hour, but the train-wreck quality was the only thing that kept me watching.

[Marlena]

If they were going to make a hybrid cooking challenge show, I'd rather watch Top Chef v Top Shot - bonus point for winging the most whingeing chef.

That's too funny. We were speculating about the gallows they kept showing and whether they were going to hang the losing chefs and leave them swinging for the duration of the contest.

[backformore]

Okay, this was supposed to premiere on June 30 with a sneak peek tonight; however, if I'm not mistaken, I just watched an entire episode.

Yeah, it was on the TV schedule as a 30 minute show, and my DVR recorded it that way, but I guess it was actually 60 minutes. So I got half the show, and I don't care who won. Dumb show.

[xaxat]

I caught this last night and thought it was really bad. I probably should have turned to another channel when I saw a teaser that featured bloody fingers and chefs sweating in their food. The chefs may be very accomplished, but the whole premise of the show makes their food pretty unappetizing.

I agree that a Top Shot crossover would make it much more interesting.

[Artistictype]

Hooooeeee! Was that ever a train wreck! As you've all said, Chopped, Survivor, Top Chef and who knows what else, stuffed into a blender and pureed. And what they poured out did not look pretty.
Have no idea of their names, but laughed at the floppy haired guy's constant complaining like, " I'm a chef, why am I cooking with labeless cans??" Uh, honey, unless somebody shanghaied you off the street, I believe you signed on to be on a reality show that usually has bizarre contests. So cut out the outrage.

[backformore]

I didn't care for the slam on "the suburbs" - You know, where we don't know how to cook and use all kinds of canned veggies and other crap. Just the way the label-less can were introduced, as the kind of food that is typically used in suburbia, was kind of insulting. Was the intention to offend and demean the audience? Because, we're so unsophisticated and common, that it went right over our heads.

What a stupid show.

[kiki1234]

I'm glad I decided to give this show another chance. My all time favorite Chopped chef, Madison, was one of the judges. He is such a cool guy and made the show bearable.

Why are all the chefs on this show such assholes? Granted I've only watched 1 1/2 episodes but still. I did crack up when the chef with the accent called the female chef little princess. I think he was just mad that she got the fish first but it was still funny.

They need to stop plastering graphics all over the screen. It's distracting and unnecessary.

I couldn't watch the first episode all the way through but this one wasn't too bad. I do think they need a new host. This one doesn't have much pizazz.

[LeonineII]

Sounds like someone thought Chefs vs City just needed an extra twist? It sounds like they actually occassionally cook on this one though?

[Holliday]

Yes, I watched again. What can I say? I'm weak for Chef Madison.

Chef Christine - she's a chef at the Passages Retreat in Malibu? Retreat? Isn't it a rehab? I know the place is supposed to be a rehab for the stars but do drug addicts really care about what they eat?

I love Chef Madison. He's too good for this show.

[slowpoked]

I watched for the first time last night and can't believe that the prize is only $10k! Seriously, for that prize money, if I were a chef, I would just go on Chopped and try to win the same thing, while keeping my dignity intact.

Edited by slowpoked, Jul 8, 2011 @ 10:56 AM.

[taalsi]

I too was pleasantly surprised to see Madison on it. He made it more bearable but I'm still not really feeling it.

Also, I may be hearing things but didn't the host say that they had to carry all of their items on or in their backpack? The female was carrying her meat and that one guy was carrying his pan. That's cheating if you ask me.

[orchidgal]

Figures after suffering through two episodes of this turkey of a show, and missing the third ep, they'd have one of my favorite chefs on as a judge. Chef Madison is too good for this show, though.

[Lambsendbeds]

This show would be a total train wreck except you feel compelled to watch a train wreck. This is just unpleasant and uncomfortable with the contestants beating their chests and hooting like mountain gorillas - I hate those types on any competitive show. I would have changed the channel - until angels sang and Chef Madison appeared to judge! The antithesis of all these boobs - the classiest contestant I've ever seen on any show. I had to finish watching just because of his presence. I wasn't disappointed - by him. He was just as smart and classy as a judge as he was as a contestant. I wanted to have him fumigated after being in contact with those creeps. IMO no one deserved to win. Unless Chef Madison is a permanent judge I won't be tuning in again.

[xingcat]

Do the producers tell the contestants to act like total jackbaskets? Honestly, I could probably take everything else about this silly, silly show (I have "Cupcake Wars" on my DVR, for god's sake!) if every single contestant didn't act like someone you'd cross the street to avoid.

The latest one was particularly offensive. I understand being confident, even cocky, but if the winner is going to be telegraphed because he's the biggest dipshit of the three, I just don't want to watch anymore.

[Major Misfit]

So I read over on the Chopped forum that Chef Madison was a judge on this show. Apparently, the judges come and go because when I tuned in last night I was "treated" to not only the worst hour of television that's been on television, but two judges who were boring buffoons. Oh, and a winner by the name of Chef "Leather."

I did get a laugh out of the crying Formerly Fat contestant lady. She said, "I didn't come here to lose" after a particularly terrible round of cartoon cooking. To which I replied, "EVERYONE is a loser on this show. Don't single yourself out like that."

Terrible, awful, horrible show. I won't even bother to look for the repeat of Chef Madison's episode.

[xingcat]

Another episode, another chance to meet an unmitigated jackass of a chef. At least the worst of the worst didn't win this time around. Still, there's just no redeeming quality to this show to keep me watching it, other than the fact that nothing else is on TV at the time this is on.

I do wish that, when these shows introduce rules, they actually follow them. "You must include coconut meat and water in this dish...unless you choose not to, which is fine, too."

[Quorwyf]

Apparently, the judges come and go because when I tuned in last night I was "treated" to not only the worst hour of television that's been on television, but two judges who were boring buffoons. Oh, and a winner by the name of Chef "Leather."

You caught a repeat of the 2nd ep which was the least interesting so far. Not that any ep has been truly great. Madison was on the ep that aired last week. And yes the judges rotate. Last night's ep was judged by Simon Majumdar and Eric Greenspan.

All in all it was an okay one but tbh I spent most of the ep trying to figure out if the female chef really chose to wear a skirt, then wondering if they warn the chefs about when they'll need to swim or w/e before they get to the location.