Top Chef has kicked off Season 21 with a new city, a new host in Kristen Kish and seemingly a tweak to Last Chance Kitchen. However, a lot about the making of the longtime reality series has not changed, and longtime judge Tom Colicchio is here to explain how the reality competition works.
The best piece of advice I ever got about working on the Internet was to stay out of the comments section, but that’s not Tom Colicchio’s style. He’ll comment on everything from Top Chef to politics, and it was the former that got him talking just a few days ago ago after a recent episode hit the 2024 TV schedule. After contestants were challenged on a recent episode with creating some hot outdoor dishes that needed to come together without a hitch in the summer heat, a fan asked why they wouldn’t have some “hot, outdoor catering dishes ready to go.” That’s not really how it works, according to Tom.
The contestants are not allowed to bring pre written recipes. https://t.co/ZOCXyiSSbdApril 8, 2024
Listen, cheftestants are allowed to bring some stuff with them onto set, including spices and even equipment, but recipes are not allowed at all. That’s what actually makes dessert so difficult on the series. If you make a cake, you have to know the exact ration of flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda and more. It’s why when Kaleena tried to make a mushroom and goat cheese cheesecake during the most recent episode, her crust turned out hard as a rock. She didn’t have the ratio right, and there was no way for her to fact check to correct her mistake.
Many a dessert recipe has sent a Top Chef contestant home early or made lists of worst Top Chef dishes of all time. This is why a lot of of the competitors shy away from dessert. It’s also why some of them try to memorize a few dessert recipes before they leave home. You can't confiscate something if it's in your brain.
In fact the show is super strict about what is allowed on and around set and what is not. Cell phones and access to the Internet is cut out during the tenure of the competition, with Brooke Wiliamson telling Delish in 2017 that even her “Apple watch” was confiscated when she got to the show. And producers look out for other items that might give a contestant an edge – including cookbooks, which are also taken away.
Two-time winner Buddha Lo notably brought some molds when he competed, and he later clarified to Vanity Fair exactly what Top Chef contestants are allowed to bring. Apparently, there’s a small box everyone is given they can add helpful stuff to, but there are rules about what can go in it. Items have to fit in the box. They can only be valued up to $1,000 dollars. There is an additional ingredient component. Again, no recipes. Per Lo:
So this rule's been happening for quite some time. [They give you] a small box, probably two tissue boxes put together. And that if you could fit it inside there, then you can bring it. You're also allowed five different ingredients to be put in your bin. So if you look at Victoire [Gouloubi], maybe she bought some things that were specifically from Congo that she wouldn't find anywhere else inside London. From Season 19, Luke Kolpin probably put seaweed in every single dish that he did. But that's because he brought a whole bin filled with seaweed.
The trick there is knowing the right moment to pull the stuff from your box. Go too early and you are out of tricks. Go too late and you might be sent home before you can do something cool. It’s all a game and how you play it helps to define how long you are in the Top Chef Kitchen before Kristen (or Padma Lakshmi before her exit) tells you to pack your knives and go home.
Or, I guess in Buddha's case, announces him a winner, twice.
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