I thought the surprise element in Throwdown was part of the shtick. By contrast, on Iron Chef the audience is led to believe that the contestants don't know what the secret ingredient will be (though it doesn't take long to figure out they must have had some inkling).

elakin wrote:but the throwdown folks always know what they're going to cook. and it's something they've been cooking forever and gotten famous for. how much preparation can they need?

Walking into what one presumes is a demonstration at a culinary school to find you are in a competition for broadcast television is very different. I might make a plain-Jane turkey for demonstration purposes. I would certainly amp up the menu if I am serving it for guests or a broadcast. Bobby had plenty of advance notice, which the contestant did not. I don't consider that an even playing field.

Regards,

Darren72 wrote:I thought the surprise element in Throwdown was part of the shtick. By contrast, on Iron Chef the audience is led to believe that the contestants don't know what the secret ingredient will be (though it doesn't take long to figure out they must have had some inkling).

On Iron Chef the contestants know it will be one of several "secret" ingredients. Thus they prepare menus for each possibility which they submit to the producers. When the secret ingredient is revealed to be baby Panda Bear paw, they will have available their essential ingredient of smoked hummingbird tongue.

George R wrote:On Iron Chef the contestants know it will be one of several "secret" ingredients. Thus they prepare menus for each possibility which they submit to the producers. When the secret ingredient is revealed to be baby Panda Bear paw, they will have available their essential ingredient of smoked hummingbird tongue.

Right - this is what Cathy2 just said.

Walking into what one presumes is a demonstration at a culinary school to find you are in a competition for broadcast television is very different. I might make a plain-Jane turkey for demonstration purposes. I would certainly amp up the menu if I am serving it for guests or a broadcast

very good point. you're right, there's a big difference.

but, do you think the contestants on throwdown are *really* in the dark? some of them don't seem all that surprised.

Sorry, I just looked at the last page of the thread and didn't see Cathy's earlier post..

elakin wrote:

Walking into what one presumes is a demonstration at a culinary school to find you are in a competition for broadcast television is very different. I might make a plain-Jane turkey for demonstration purposes. I would certainly amp up the menu if I am serving it for guests or a broadcast

very good point. you're right, there's a big difference.

but, do you think the contestants on throwdown are *really* in the dark? some of them don't seem all that surprised.

I only know the turkey lady casually, though she seemed truthful. She had no clue she was walking into a competition with Bobby Flay. She arrived to do a turkey roasting demo for culinary students.

It may be she was surprised and others somehow received a clue in advance. I only know this one person who was exposed to the throw down situation.

Regards,

Walking into what one presumes is a demonstration at a culinary school to find you are in a competition for broadcast television is very different. I might make a plain-Jane turkey for demonstration purposes. I would certainly amp up the menu if I am serving it for guests or a broadcast. Bobby had plenty of advance notice, which the contestant did not. I don't consider that an even playing field.

I can't comment on any specific episode, but generally the set up is that the contestants think they are being filmed for a Food Network show that highlights their signature recipe, which is what they're supposed to be cooking. Of course a participant might take this less seriously than if they knew they were in a competition.

but, do you think the contestants on throwdown are *really* in the dark? some of them don't seem all that surprised.

I agree they don't seem surprised. I don't know if this is a function of editing/reshooting Booby's approach to the contestants, or if by now, people are wary of being set up.

gleam wrote:
I think he's a jackass, but I think he genuinely feels a little bad when he wins.

You know there's a whole list of things I don't like about Flay or "Throwdown" and I'm sure there's quite a line ahead of me as well, but I do agree with this sentiment.

I recently watched the falafel episode. Everyone, and I mean everyone - Flay and all his staff included - felt that the "challenger's" falafel was better than Flay's. For some bizarre reason, though, they had selected 3 basketball players as judges. I'm still at a loss for any kind of way to make the relationship between basketball and falafel. So the judges were the only people that like Flay's version better and he won. At the end of the episode Flay spoke directly to the camera outside the falafel shop and said he thought the judges got it wrong and he knew his wasn't really the best. Now, granted, the challenger in question was a former employee so perhaps there's more going on there but, in general, I do think he views what he's doing as a way to grant more exposure to these folks. I don't see what it would hurt, though, to be a bit more upfront about it.

but, do you think the contestants on throwdown are *really* in the dark? some of them don't seem all that surprised.

Just saw a 2009 version which was Chocolate Bread Pudding Throwdown.

They've tossed the surprise gimic almost entirely.

Bobby now "walks up" to the challenged, but these people are already sitting there on camera (in this case, on a park bench) when Bobby walked up with a news article about the pastry truck owners sitting there, then challenged them to a throwdown.

The guys accepted, and then acknowledge its not a "surprise challenge" for "Road Tasted" or whatever the old "fake" Food TV show was supposed to be taping for.

Found this a bit more enjoyable than trying to catch the challenged possibly off their "A" game.

I got the impression that they got on the internet and challenged Flay openly. When Flay met them in the park he was carrying a copy of their on line post.

LikestoEatout wrote:I got the impression that they got on the internet and challenged Flay openly. When Flay met them in the park he was carrying a copy of their on line post.

Now that, makes more sense. I thought I caught the beginning, but I think I missed about 2 minutes or so.

Had just walked in from that Union Station fiasco getting home and missed the very beginning

Since this is the first time I got a chance to go to Lou Malnati's. It was a Friday in lent so options were not as plentiful as other days of the week. I had the "Lou" with extra cheese. Can you say WOW!!. The butter crust and all the ingredients were outstanding. We were staying in Geneva and drove over to Naperville for the full restaurant experience. So without Bobby Flay I would have never had an opportunity to sample this fine pizza.