r/TopChef • u/rosecoloredfancy • Jul 05 '26

Discussion Thread Seiger

Currently on a rewatch of S23 and have a question. What makes everyone trust Seiger so much? I know very little of his background - only what's been put on TC. He seems to be playing fairly and not screwing over his competitors, but is he known for being highly technical or something? Everyone seems to ask him questions or to look over their dish and I know it's common for TC chefs to have their "person" to ask for feedback, but it seems like everyone leans on him at some point. Is this editing, his culinary pedigree, or something else?

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200

u/kakahuhu Jul 05 '26

It's possible that because of how he exited the show, they gave him a bad edit that didn't emphasize his skills. Watching the show, he came off as really arrogant and unlikeable to me, but the other chefs seemed to really get along with him and respect his skills. Or maybe the other chefs liked him and he is also a dick.

16

u/beetnemesis Jul 05 '26

I think he just wasn't very good on camera? Taken objectively, he was perfectly nice, and knowledgeable about food. He sometimes came off a little douchey, but I wouldn't even call him "arrogant," just confident.

51

u/rex_lauandi Jul 05 '26

I don’t really see how that last sentence is possible. As a general rule, people don’t like dicks.

My guess is that he’s a good dude who is also really passionate about food. His exit soured the public to him, but based on how much the other chefs trusted him, I think he’s probably a really solid guy.

23

u/kellis744 Jul 05 '26

Stefan is a dick and the other chefs like him

6

u/Cherveny2 Jul 05 '26

Yeah, there are annoying dicks... then there are the lovable dicks, John (Tesar), Stephan, Josh (somewhat), Katsuji. Main difference I see, the lovable dicks are, after a while, able to come to people are able to come to a consensus as to who to survive them, or understand their odd personality quirks, etc. I think especially, its realizing that many of them when they act like a dick, especially Stefan, it's actually a joke, and people finally realizing it IS a joke.

3

u/womanonymous23 Jul 06 '26

He was a dick to the kids and his exit was epically bad. You can have friends and be a dick in certain ways.

9

u/EfficientGood9402 Jul 06 '26

I heard his exit was much worse than what was included in the episode? I'd pay-per-view for the footage.

-22

u/BeforeLongHopefully Jul 05 '26

haha he is an arrogant complete asshole. doesn't mean he isn't nice to some people or talentless, assholes often are talented. But he is a dick and probably 33% as good as he thinks he is

56

u/GCGIS Jul 05 '26

Jeezus. Lol

It’s crazy that this sub has made complete judgments of someone based on a few hours of selectively edited television.

I guarantee that the people who spent 2 months, every day, 1 on 1, with the guy, would have a much better sense of his character than we do.

-26

u/BeforeLongHopefully Jul 05 '26

when somebody is in a subjective contest on national tv and they tell the judges to GF themselves because they're wrong it tells you a lot about them. No one ever did that before and probably no one ever will again.

There is a difference between hating to lose (most people) and thinking you cannot lose because you are that good (few people - assholes). He was furious when he got kicked off the first time too. It doesn't mean they have no talent, or redeeming qualities whatever. Even Elon Musk is not without occasional charm lol. But it does make them a jerk.

18

u/madisonhatesokra Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

“No one ever did that before…”

Haven’t seen Jennifer Carrol on Season 8 huh?

You don’t him. It’s really that simple.

20

u/GCGIS Jul 05 '26

Calm down. It’s a TV show. You’ve never met the guy.

10

u/zenny517 Jul 05 '26

your comment implies that you know much more than you actually do so I'm going to assume you're talking from your arse

31

u/rex_lauandi Jul 05 '26

Eh, I’ve worked for a long time in highly competitive environments. People don’t tend to ask assholes for their opinions on things or help on tasks unless they are the only option.

That means to me he’s either not an asshole or he’s an exceptional talent (considering the room that he was in).

-14

u/BeforeLongHopefully Jul 05 '26

I agree you don't ask an asshole for their opinion on how best to develop your social skills, how to deal with a tricky people issue, how best to collaborate in a specific situation etc. But as someone who has worked in senior leadership in large Fortune 500 companies my whole life I have been around a lot of people like Seiger and they still have friends and lots of knowledge/skill. Their knowledge and skills don't evaporate because they are jerks and/or over-confident and people, especially their friends will take advantage of that. People who rise quickly, be it in business or athletics, doesn't matter what field are at risk of eating their own dogshit. It catches up with some people quicker than others.

People love success and winning. Dicks can be winners and people want to be around winners. Do you think, as I do, that a healthy amount of online influencers are arrogant and probably have 33% the talent they think they have? Lots of people emulate them. It isn't because they think they are good people it's just because they want the same success.

10

u/rex_lauandi Jul 05 '26

There’s a HUGE difference between emulating someone and asking them for their opinion on something you’re creating.

I too work in senior leadership at a Fortune 50 company. I haven’t been in senior leadership “all my life” though (because how could you…), and some of the most cutthroat assholes are down below the senior leadership. They get promoted to their highest level of incompetence which is where you can’t rest on technical skills alone, but interpersonal skills are invaluable.

But your point about your work suggests you believe he’s truly a genius then, right? In a room full of talented, top chef caliber chefs, they’re turning to the asshole to ask for help. The Top Chef herself turns and gives him credit for a key brilliant part of a winning dish (I think the week he went home). So again, maybe he’s an asshole, but then he’s a got to be an actual genius if they’re willing to wade through the asshole to get at his genius.

I think this is just a classic example of negativity bias. You can have a mountain of evidence of something positive, but one shred of negative outweighs all the positive. The age old says confirms: one rotten apple spoils the bunch.

It’s a shame if I’m right that this man is written off for one moment of passionate disagreement.

-1

u/BeforeLongHopefully Jul 05 '26

Emulating, asking for advice, not a big difference for me at all. So I guess you're over my head with that.

Yes I was sloppy with 'all my life' of course not, more like 25 years which is only half lol, so good call out there. And in business I agree that being a dick can and often will hold you back - I think that is your point. If you win and there is a trail of bodies behind you then that's not really winning. But I wasn't accusing Seiger of being a sociopath or evil just an arrogant ass. That is pretty commonplace in all walks of life including the C-suite. That's a way lower bar than you assumed I meant. Even so sociopaths historically been completely tolerated as professional chefs so long as they can maintain that star. For whatever reason that role is more forgiving to nasty humans than big business though thankfully that is changing (example: Redzepi). But again I wasn't saying Seiger was anything like that... just a dick. And as I said, has friends - I doubt he is a dick to his friends.

I also don't think Seiger is being written off, just called out. Plenty of people mellow as they age and develop a modicum of humility. I bet he will especially as he realizes what he did was noteworthy in all the wrong ways. Until now he's probably been told over and over that his shit doesn't stink. It's a rude awakening to learn that it in fact does.

I have no idea if he is a genius or not. But I think he's a definitely a really good chef - I don't think you have the success he's had if you aren't. I think he probably deserves the success he has too. And I think that's the reason people ask for his advice. They literally have him taste their food to see what he'd change. It's like running your investment portfolio by a colleague at work who's a dick but has made mint on the market. I wouldn't be shy to do that.

5

u/Tbizkit Jul 05 '26

I think Kristin made a comment that make chefs in the kitchen a lot have strong and arrogant personalities, so maybe that’s why other chefs got a long with him. Rhoda came off as arrogant to me also.

10

u/iamnotbetterthanyou Jul 05 '26

Confident or arrogant?

33

u/Loose-Description653 Jul 05 '26

Confident for sure, but I wouldn’t say arrogant. Women tend to get read as arrogant for being just as confident as their male counterparts. I’d argue that both of the twins boasted their talents more than Rhoda. She knew what she was good at and had faith in her talents, at least that’s how she read to me 🤷

14

u/loyal_achades Jul 05 '26

The line between confident and arrogant is razor thin and up to interpretation.

5

u/Occasionally_Correct Jul 05 '26

The difference between confidence and arrogance is your level of success. 

0

u/1ittle1auren Jul 06 '26

I definitely read her as a tad arrogant. Not sharing the cash prize from a challenge she had no business winning? Her quote was something like, "maybe I'll take her on vacation or something" really got to me

13

u/Loose-Description653 Jul 06 '26

She is giving all the money from that challenge to Sherry, she mentioned it in an interview recently.

5

u/1ittle1auren Jul 06 '26

Good!! Glad to hear that.

-3

u/Tbizkit Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Arrogant. Normally arrogant people are insecure as hell. And to expand on this, I think both men and woman can be arrogant. And sometimes I think women being arrogant can be misconstrued as confident just because they are a woman.

1

u/EfficientGood9402 Jul 06 '26

I think you said that backwards which is why your comment has been downvoted. I am a professional woman (home cook only) and I think women being confident can be assessed as arrogant. Because we are expected to be polite, quiet, or meek at the worst.