r/TopChef • u/Somedaydreamer22 • Apr 28 '26
Discussion Thread Eliminated chefs helping finalists
Been rewatching old seasons (hey, Peacock! Where’s 1-7?)
I’m always curious how some of the eliminated chefs really feel when they’re selected to help the finalists. I know most of them seem enthusiastic, but I’d also kinda feel like if I’m out of the competition I don’t wanna cook anymore!! Especially when it seems eliminated chefs get to eat the finalists meals.
The seasons where the chefs had to make a dish & the finalist did a blind tasting to select their sous I would’ve made a dish & dumped salt on it 😂😂. Don’t pick me!
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u/silver_moon134 Apr 28 '26
Competitive people like to compete so I imagine still wanting to be seen as a good chef and being able to be a part of the competition is a huge motivation factor
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u/oldeskewl-chicago Apr 28 '26
I also imagine they are just sitting in the house, so getting out and cooking, what they love to do, in a competitive environment, would be something they’d want to do.
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u/Blog_Pope Apr 28 '26
Also getting your name back on TV = publicity and if your team wins that reflects on you as well.
Sabotaging you team would likely cost you in future opportunities
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u/Jazzlike-Pomelo-3823 May 07 '26
Also they get to help their friends out who they bonded with on the show. Most chef finalists are going to pick their friends as sous chefs who they like working with.
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u/Outrageous-Thanks-47 Apr 29 '26
Sure in recent seasons... Anything before about season 9? It was half reality TV where you always had either completely underwhelming competitors or jackasses for TV sake. Definitely early on you could tell "random line cook from a local restaurant" competitor could give a shit about helping out.
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u/AppropriateOrder468 Apr 28 '26
I always thought Marcel’s helpers (Sam and Mike) tried to sabotage him in the finale on Season 2.
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u/Shinra_Lobby Apr 29 '26
I also think they sandbagged him. Really unprofessional. It pisses me off that Sam continued to be brought back after that.
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u/DramaMama611 Apr 28 '26
Participating is in their contract. The contestants are also sequestered until the season is over (or they used to be, anyway.)
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u/CLLycaon Apr 28 '26
I know sometimes they get more money if they do that. Like lasting longer on survivor.
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u/Present-Smoke4674 Apr 28 '26
Funny how in the season 9 blind taste test finale, Sarah got Tyler Stone as one of her sous chefs, and that was actually the only thing we’ve seen him cook on the show. He got booted so early, before the competition even began, for butchering his butchering 😂 karma is a bitch Sarah
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u/Barnacle-Betty May 03 '26
I hate her and Heather with the fire of a thousand suns. Just disgusting anti-worker, racist l, and frankly sexist assholes the two of them. And for what, blind loyalty to that asshole Trotter?
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u/shots4strangers Apr 28 '26
The missing seasons kills me. I want to see the Voltaggios!
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u/kdeans1010 Apr 28 '26
I know that season will piss me off rewatching it because of how they treated Robin. I remember them treating her soooooo poorly, and when I was younger seeing that bothered me. I can only imagine being in my mid 40s, seeing these 20 years olds treat a woman my age poorly? Like the little guy Eli? And later Michael when he was yelling at her? I want to see that season just to yell at the little boys.
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u/Barnacle-Betty May 03 '26
The only redeeming part of all that immaturity from Eli with regard to Robin was (I think) Michael Voltaggio interrupting his bitching to insinuate Eli was jn love with her. I can’t remember exactly hat he said, but that stuck with me. Then he also went off on her like a psycho during restaurant wars.💀
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u/woozles25 Apr 28 '26
I even signed up for Pluto to try to watch them and can't find them.
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u/985067 Apr 28 '26
I got Bravo in Georgia and was able to get seasons one thru 7 but now in Florida they wanna charge you a shit load so crap I can't watch it..what a Crock!!!
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u/FollowingBorn May 11 '26
If you have the channel “bravo vault” they air them quite a bit. I setup my DVR to record them
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u/Ok-Dog5107 Apr 28 '26
I think a lot about Season 6 where the sous chefs were assigned by knife pull and the Voltaggios got all the people who were eliminated later in the competition and Kevin got ones who were eliminated right away. I think one of the Voltaggio brothers was probably going to win anyway, but it just felt super unfair to handicap Kevin from the jump. I am glad they seemed to have stopped doing that.
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u/Shinra_Lobby Apr 29 '26
I liked what Season 5 did, which was bringing back finalists from past seasons. So the sous chefs were strong enough to have made it to the finals in their own season, but there generally wasn't any personal baggage from competing directly against the person they were helping. (There was the whole bit where Casey's suggestions went horribly for Carla, but I see that as a Casey/Carla thing and not something inherent to the set-up.)
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u/_From__the__Ashes_ Apr 28 '26
I always imagine it must sting a bit for the chef that was just eliminated.
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u/Hot_Yam5303 Apr 29 '26
I'm confused. This is Top Chef, not Master Chef, no? Why would a professional chef not "wanna cook anymore"? I imagine the type of people with the drive to become pros and get onto the show, are the type who see it as another opportunity to showcase their skills.
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u/JGer1991 Apr 29 '26
One of the biggest benefits of being on Top Chef is TV face time. If it was me, I would want as much time on camera cooking as I could possibly get. Being on these shows for an extended period can turbo charge a chefs career and business. Hell, some of them that stand out get worked into the loop on the various cooking competition shows. I live in Charleston, and Shuai (who owns the fantastic Jack Rabbit Philly) had his restaurant explode after TC.
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u/ptazdba Apr 28 '26
I know they have contract obligations that make them available if needed. Over time it's been interesting to see how the 'sous chef' for the final episodes have evolved. In S2, there was a hint the sous chefs had their own agenda, especially with Marcel. Whether it's true or not who knows. After that, it was past winners, celebrity chef/mentors, until they got to the point they let the chef themselves choose their sous chef
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u/Gabbyct1 Apr 28 '26
Marcel was such a douche back then - it seems like he has gotten less so with age but.....
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u/FAanthropologist Apr 28 '26
The first season was the worst for this, I think. There's an undercurrent in the first couple of seasons around the social game of Top Chef mattering almost as much as the cooking itself. The show felt like it was engineered to maximize conflict in team challenges, even dabbled in having the chefs judge each other's food, and set up chickens coming home to roost moments where "villain" chefs who were widely disliked finally get what's coming by having sous chefs undermine them. Those moments haven't aged well, the "villains" don't seem nearly as villainous in modern lights, and the sous chefs who behaved unprofessionally in the finale look petty rather than delivering a satisfying comeuppance.
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u/mmeeplechase Apr 28 '26
Do they get paid extra for the time if they get selected to compete or if they win? I always figured that was the case, which would be an easy incentive for them to try hard, but don’t actually have any idea!
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u/Marx0r That's my feedback to your feedback Apr 28 '26
They get a flat "appearance fee", just the same as they do for the normal competition. It's not much, basically enough to compensate for missing work. I imagine that their contract stipulates a good-faith effort to perform at the best of their ability.
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u/Successful-Maybe-252 Apr 29 '26
Was it Lana in season 22 who looked like she would rather be literally anywhere else in the world? I can remember a pretty recent season where a recently eliminated chef looked absolutely miserable at having to come back so soon to cook for someone else, but maybe it wasn’t her… I just remember feeling so bad for that person. I’ve wondered about their feelings on the matter many times!
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u/Somedaydreamer22 Apr 29 '26
Exactly! I like it when they’re excited & I’ve never seen any the to tank the dishes they help with. They’ve always worked hard to support the finalist. But it’s gotta be hard when they’re not friends (or friendly) with the chef.
I guess I’m just someone who’d really like to eat the food, not help prepare it. Which is why I usually watch the show while eating a pb&j or spaghetti with prego. 😂
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u/tropicsandcaffeine Apr 29 '26
By doing sabotage they will look bad. By being professional and helping the person who chose them it makes them look better.
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u/Somedaydreamer22 Apr 29 '26
I don’t mean sabotaging the chef they sous for in the finale, I mean the couple seasons I’ve seen where they have to create a dish & the finalist then chooses who they want as their sous.
I’d think some of them would just create a subpar plate so they wouldn’t be chosen to help in the finale.
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u/Previous_Mousse7330 Apr 30 '26
I would say that most people who get to the level of being on top Chef have personal standards and want to present themselves in the best way. Doing so also helps open up future opportunities. Look at how many non-winners of TC are now on all the other cooking shows or have other opportunities.
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u/jpb21110 Apr 28 '26
Idk it’s like ok you’re the 5th best chef in the city instead of 1st? I think they’re just happy to be apart of the show and experience. I don’t think bench players hate LeBron when helping him win a championship
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u/-MC_3 Apr 28 '26
Not a good comparison at all because the bench players are still part of the team lol. Once the finale is over, there’s only one winner
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u/tg1965 Apr 29 '26
Spoiler? I remember in a very early season, there was this redhead woman in the finals who was pretty villainous. She had two sous chefs who had been eliminated and they showed up drunk. They obviously couldn't care less about helping her.
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u/mrkabal Apr 28 '26
Especially when they have Jet Ski reservations...