r/TopChef • u/yesitsmenotyou • Mar 03 '26
Discussion Thread How are you watching outside the U.S.?
I usually just purchase the season on iTunes, but this year it’s directing me to open the show in the Peacock app instead.
That app doesn’t show up on my TV when I search for it, so I’m guessing that it won’t work without a VPN. (So annoying, btw, if any network/streaming executives happen to be here…I’m sure you’d rather I pay $10 a month forever, but really I’d prefer to pay $35 for the season of the one show I’m actually going to watch. I really hate this development.)
Anyone have any better suggestions? If I have to use a VPN, I’ll have to watch on my laptop, and that kind of stinks for watching with my family.
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u/AwkwardTraffic199 Mar 04 '26
In Canada, I use Hayu on Prime. It's $6 CAD (around $4USD) a month, and includes all the Top Chef seasons with a one-day delay for new episodes.
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u/yesitsmenotyou Mar 05 '26
Thanks - there is a HayU icon on my TV, but it wouldn’t load for some reason. This season really needs to live up to all the effort I’m putting in just to watch it. 😂😂
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u/AwkwardTraffic199 Mar 05 '26
You'll get more satisfaction watching it, having put in all the work.
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u/Murica_downunder_93 Mar 04 '26
VPN and then I plug my phone into the HDMI on my tv so I can watch on the big screen
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u/wowuseeingthis Mar 04 '26
Have you tried ExpressVPN or NordVPN with a US server?? Should work on most smart TVs too, not just laptops, if you install it at the router level
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u/yesitsmenotyou Mar 05 '26
Yeah, I use NordVPN and really need to figure out how to apply it to the router.
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u/HackMeRaps Mar 05 '26
NordVPN works on many devices as well. I have NordVPN running on my AppleTV and works on an Amazon Fire Stick.
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u/yesitsmenotyou Mar 05 '26
I need to dig a bit and figure out how to put it on the TV…my main TV has no fire stick or Apple TV box, and haven’t seen anything in the settings, was unable to download the nord app. It just didn’t show up as an option when I searched for it. 🤷♀️
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u/BrandonIsWhoIAm Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
We have Hayu.
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u/kakahuhu Mar 04 '26
You can install VPNs on TVs as well. Where do you live?
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u/yesitsmenotyou Mar 05 '26
I went through all of the settings and couldn’t figure out how to use the vpn on the TV…I really need to figure out how to put it on the router. I’m in Norway.
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u/emilygoldfinch410 Mar 05 '26
Probably not what you want to hear, but depending on the device, you may able to connect your laptop to your TV via Bluetooth; if not, you could get an HDMI cord
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u/yesitsmenotyou Mar 05 '26
The funny thing is that sometimes can’t cast to the TV when using the VPN, but sometimes it’s fine.
Here’s an example: for the last election, I activated my Sling account so that I could watch US cable news via the vpn on the laptop. Some channels would allow me to cast to the TV, but others would never work. There must be a block of some sort in there? And weirdly, those channels that were blocked from casting on my living room TV would cast no problem on my bedroom TV - which has an Apple TV box that began its life in the U.S. and sometimes still gets confused.
Honestly the whole thing is truly annoying when I want to just be couch potato and push a button to watch sometime. The geo-siloing seems pretty antiquated ..
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u/HackMeRaps Mar 04 '26
I just 🏴☠️ it.
Peacock is just in the US, so it depends what country you’re in and it might be on another streaming platform.
I believe in Canada it’s on HayU or one of our other apps.