Top Chef Finale

I started this blog, not that I've blogged much, to talk about things medieval. But I'm a fan of Top Chef, and the finale last week of season II needs a bit of comment. Reading the judge's blog for the final episode was fine, but I have to say that there is a disconnect between the judges and the fans. A large number of fans write comments to each judge, and so many of them are negative, threatening to stop watching because of the decision and so on. I too in Season I was guilty of such negativity, and threatened to stop watching (and obviously continued to watch making it an empty threat). Now I can't even remember exactly what made me so upset, or how I got so involved in a reality tv show. More importantly though, I think that part of the problem is the lack of transparency in the process.

Last season's finale between Harold and Tiffani in part seemed to be decided on the fact that Harold could lead a team in the kitchen, part of being a top chef. This season that didn't seem to matter any. That's just one example. What I suggest to the producers and judges is simply the following: a standardized, publicized rating system. What specifically are the contestants judged on---that can even change from round to round as long as that is explicitly known and publicized. Kind of like Iron Chef...so many points total, spread across four categories. The one with th emost points wins. That, btw, would also prob cut down a great deal on 4 and 5 AM judging table extravaganzas! Four voting judges, how do they score each contestant or each team. My .02 which of course means nothing at all since the producers will never see this. Other than the official site of the show, I don't think I've ever seen a Top Chef blog.