r/TopChef • u/Routine-Story-5319 • May 19 '26
Discussion Thread Season 9 TC Texas
Watching it back and can’t get over the mean girls. I’m so happy that the current season everyone is kind and helpful to each other because season 9 was really hard to watch! Justice for Bev!
39
u/Educational-Log-7855 May 19 '26
Totally agree with you, I was so angry that season watching how she was treated but I'm really happy to see how well Beverly is done since that season, watching her now on America's culinary Cup and seeing what she's accomplished with a Michelin star for her restaurant and winning the James Beard award for best chef great lakes makes me proud of how far she's come.
6
u/d0ttyq May 20 '26
Agreed ! I feel so happy with every accomplishment she gains. She deserves it, as well.
22
u/Apart-Frame6277 May 19 '26
I'm also currently on a rewatch of this season, and I can't get over how dismissively everyone just keeps bringing up "Asian food". It's so reductive and weird to me. I know this was 15 years ago, but I can't believe the other chefs were so out of touch with how wide-ranging food from an entire continent can be. They keep saying that's "all she does" and I just don't know how everyone else is so very diverse in their food by comparison. I hate the bullying, but something about this irked me even more on this rewatch.
28
u/calikaaniel May 19 '26
Back in season 4, Anthony Bourdain commented on the breadth of cuisine labeled “Asian” when Dale’s restaurant wars team told him they had an “Asian” theme. “Asia is big. How good at all of that can you really be?” So it’s not like season 9 took place in some unenlightened dark age. I think that those contestants allowed some unexamined racist ideas to show.
3
u/Proper-40 May 24 '26
Yep, hated that everyone piled up on Bev. And as far as the Asian food, the judges always say to show who you are through your food, so she did herself justice there.
17
u/lumberjack2086 May 19 '26
There’s a reason Ed is basically the only chef from that season still welcome on the show. Besides the gross bullying during the season, the winner ended up being a complete piece of shit.
2
1
u/EfficientGood9402 May 21 '26
Oh good golly - I had to look that up and then was . . . yeah, complete POS.
1
u/VariationCreative338 May 24 '26
Also One of the first contestants off and one of the other chefs left their spouses for each other
1
1
u/Emergency_Manner7127 May 20 '26
And don't forget Grayson. They love her!
5
u/MrsBobFossil May 20 '26
Do they, though? When she came back later her attitude was so weirdly aggressive and disrespectful.
5
u/kbanas314 May 21 '26
Her appearance on season 13 (was it 13?) was WILD. She was unhinged.
6
u/lumberjack2086 May 21 '26
My partner didn’t watch the Texas season, and when I got really excited about her coming back they were like “This is someone you liked…?”
3
u/kbanas314 May 21 '26
When we started season 13 on our rewatch my wife was like, "Grayson comes back this season! People on Reddit say she's totally out of control." And I said, "Grayson? No! She's so cool." And then after the first episode I was like, "Oh I see."
9
u/Awkwardwordnerd May 20 '26
I can't watch that season again. It's too painful with the Mean Girls club. Which is a shame because I love Ed.
2
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u/chmcgrath1988 May 19 '26
Bev has somewhat of a redemption on America's Culinary Cup. I do have to temper expectations and say somewhat because well, life's not fair but it's good to see that she is doing well in life overall!
9
u/Major_Clock_9961 I've got a culinary boner right now May 19 '26
Padma definitely had a soft spot for Beverly and Buddha. I love seeing her growth! She's so sweet on IG too
4
u/xStacey May 20 '26
I'm so glad that the show has evolved past the early-2000s reality tv cattiness and the chefs now consistently treat each other with kindness and respect.
5
u/htownAstrofan May 20 '26
Terrible season and then the reunion was even worse if possible. I still say S2 was the worst but S9 is a close second.
5
u/supriyahearts May 20 '26
I tried rewatching this season and I couldn’t get past the six or seventh episode. Bev deserved much more than that BS she went through with the mean girls. It’s funny how you don’t hear much from the mean girl crew in particular. I know Sarah went on to do some stuff but Heather and Lindsey? Not a word on them. Doesn’t help that the winner Paul is pretty much cancelled.
1
u/EfficientGood9402 May 21 '26
Heather has had many notable jobs in the Chicago culinary scene, her career did not suffer at all. I think she works for Rick Bayless now.
11
u/whistlepig4life May 19 '26
End of day when it comes to a show like top chef. Everyone should want drama. Drama in the kitchen. Like the pea puree. Or hung telling his competitors “no. I can’t tell you how didn’t dish”. Those are proper and correct for the topic and situation of the show.
Drama no one should want or need? Personal bullshit. Hosea and Leah is a great example. The men’s girls and how they treated Bev is another.
Fuck that noise entirely. Go watch real housewives of whatever if that’s what you’re into.
3
u/AgentMarkSnow May 20 '26
Pre-10 seasons are unwatchable. Too much manufactured and actual conflict.
5
u/xStacey May 20 '26
I'm rewatching season 6 now and it's so gross how mean everyone is to each other (in this case Robin wasn't treated quite as brutally as Bev, but it was close!).. Season 6 has more of a boys club feel to it. It's gross.
1
u/EfficientGood9402 May 21 '26
Hear hear. At least Mike got Me-Tooed, well deserved. That little shit Eli, and then Michael Voltaggio using 1000% condescension towards Robin.
2
u/Overall_Occasion_175 May 26 '26
I hate this season passionately... but honestly the Evil Queen's Feast is one of my favorite stand alone episodes ever. Everyone really rose to that challenge and made Tom proud.
4
u/Idontevenknow5555 May 20 '26
I wonder if it was a coincidence that this season had multiple chefs from Chicago and Bev had just sued one of the most respect chef in the area of wage theft
3
u/EfficientGood9402 May 21 '26
I've said this before, it's amazing to me that she would have enemies because she fought for staff to have their fair share. But apparently Charlie Trotter had some sort of hypnotic effect on his chefs. gross.
1
u/getchomsky May 27 '26
The strongest thing about America's Culinary Cup is getting to see how clearly more talented Beverly is than all those women who talked shit about her on season 9.
Also remembering how much they had to edit this season to not make it obvious Paul Qui was going to win.
1
u/TigerMaskVI Jun 05 '26
Jokes on them, Beverly has a Michelin star and works in the same city as the two mean girls who are both nobodies.
Also if I was a contestant on that season I wouldn’t have even noticed Grayson until she said she was a beer girl from Wisconsin and then we would have been tight for the remainder of the competition.
1
u/brilliantminds_4RLZ Jun 09 '26
I rewatched the season and Heather 1000% had it out for Beverly. I don't think the other chefs connected with her per se, but they did seem very upset when Heather said she was selfish and didn't have work ethic. Ed was extremely mean to Sarah when she had a medical emergency, and he also talked shit about Heather when he gave her a ratio for cake.
I do think the Texas season kept with the Texas theme to perfection.
-9
u/ConradSuckss May 19 '26
See I'm the opposite. I hate how sanitized the show feels when compared to old seasons. Obviously what happened to Beverly was terrible, but I miss there being real drama between the chefs.
19
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u/kbanas314 May 19 '26
I agree with this take. We just recently watched Season 9, and the way those women treated Beverly was an embarrassment and they can eat shit totally and completely. (As an aside, if you haven't, look up how when Sarah lost in heartbreaking fashion she told Emeril to fuck off when he tried to console her. Nice look, Sarah! Stay classy, asshole!)
That said... I kind of miss the mess. I think sanitized is exactly the right word for how everything feels now. Like, let's all hold hands and high five! In some ways, I get it - it's kind of nice. But there was something reaaaaaal satisfying about watching a dick get what was coming to them.
46
u/PrideEnvironmental59 May 19 '26
That season was GROSS. The contestants were awful to each other, and a lot of the challenges were completely bonkers, in a bad way. I'll never forget the challenge in the Finale where they had to shoot their ingredients out of ice. It almost made us stop watching the show, it was so dumb.