Pick of the Week: A Five-Star Competition

I know you guys are starting to think I’m on the Bravo payroll.

But the purpose of this post each week is to recommend what I think is the best thing TV has to offer for the week. And I would be doing you all a major disservice if I picked anything other than what I did—even if it is my second Bravo pick in a row…

My Pick of the Week is the season premiere of “Top Chef Masters.”

When I first heard about this show, I was a little concerned that this would be a lame copycat that would dilute the original “Top Chef” brand. I couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact, there’s a chance that “Masters” could be even better than the original…

“Masters” takes 24 well-known professional chefs—many of whom have been judges on “Top Chef”—and puts them through the same kind of challenges the cheftestants have been through for the past five years. In the first six episodes, a group of four chefs compete. They go through a quickfire challenge, as well as an elimination challenge, to earn stars from diners and a group of food critics. The chef with the most stars moves on to the next round. The chefs are competing for their favorite charities.

If you think that these professionals won’t have any problems with the challenges, think again. The first quickfire makes the chefs do dessert and these professionals have many of the same problems with it as the cheftestants do. Then, the elimination challenge is probably the best I have ever seen on the show as the chefs must cook a three-course meal with only a microwave, a hot plate and a toaster oven. There’s a GREAT twist thrown in to make the challenge even more difficult that I won’t spoil for you here. Let’s just say that one of the chefs ends up using a shower in his meal preparation…

And one of the chefs must completely scramble as he makes a mistake I actually had to rewind to see again because I was in such disbelief…

The previews show us that the competition gets a little more intense as the season goes on, but in the premiere, there are no problems whatsoever between the chefs. In fact, they’re a lot of fun to watch as they laugh at each other’s mistakes and commiserate over the challenges.

Kelly Choi is the host and she does an outstanding job. She’s joined by a group of critics who, in the premiere at least, are extremely tough. As the season progresses, Gail Simmons will jump into the mix (Thankfully, there’s no sign of Toby Young.), and Neil Patrick Harris will even take part in a future episode.

Since this show is all about gaining stars, I’ll use that same ratings system for my review and give “Top Chef Masters” five stars.

Those Magical Elves have done it again…

“Top Chef Masters” premieres Wednesday, June 10th at 10 p.m. on Bravo…

Photo Credits: Jaimie Trueblood/Bravo & Kelsey McNeal/Bravo