Bravo & Top Chef Masters Needs to Learn a Lot of Viewers Don't Like James Oseland Judging

I must have recorded and watched Bravo's Top Chef Masters Season 3 because when Season 4 started up, last Wednesday, my DVR recorded it.

Curtis Stone being the new host seemed sort of familiar. I did not remember that Top Chef Masters had gotten rid of the original tournament method of finding the Top Chef Master, replacing the original method with the Top Chef method of all chefs competing in a Quickfire Challenge, followed by an elimination challenge.

I think I like Curtis Stone being the host better than the mousy woman who preceded him.

I liked having that old lady who spent a wild night with Elvis, Gail Greene, as a Judge. The Elvis girlfriend is gone. Replaced by another mousy lady I've not heard of before and a food magazine editor I've not heard of before, or seen before, named Ruth Reichi.

Ruth Reichi does not have that Gail Greene Elvis girl friend type likability.

And then there is the other Judge. James Oseland. Why does Bravo not get the memo that a lot of their viewers are put off, badly by James Oseland?

It took two seconds to find 3 good anti-James Oseland quotes on the Interwebs...

"Oh no. Last year's format means I am most likely out out out. Oseland back pretty much deals the deal."

"Oseland is an insufferable, toady twat."

"Oseland is sooo creepy, and it seems like he pushes the other judges to vote his way."

The above 3 quotes about sum up my James Oseland sentiments.

Only a couple of the celebrity chefs were known to me, one being Art Smith, who has previously been on Top Chef Masters, and who has shrunk to about half his previous size.

I also sort of remember Takashi Yagihashi and Thierry Rautureau.

Chef Lorena Garcia's claim to fame, for me, is that she is known for helping fix Taco Bell's menu with new items like the Taco Bell Cantina Bowl.


I don't know if I'll keep watching. The first episode of Season 4 was sort of annoying. The challenge of splitting in to two teams, to make the best Vegas buffet ever, and then, once the chefs bought what they needed to cook, throwing the curve that one one buffet had to be Mexican, the other Indian.

I'd rather just get to watch really good chefs cook really good food than watch really good chefs deal with really annoying twists.

Top Chef Masters with Unknown (to me) Master Chefs, a New Host in Curtis Stone with Annoying Judges like James Oseland

I liked the first 2 seasons of Top Chef Masters. On the first 2 seasons I knew a lot of the Master Chefs, had either seen them on Top Chef, or knew of them by other means.

On the first 2 seasons of Top Chef Masters I knew of many of the chefs, but had never heard of the host before. I can't remember her name now. But she was not a good host.

With the 3rd season of Top Chef Masters I have met the host before. I'd watched Take Home Chef with Curtis Stone, on TLC, many times.

I like Curtis Stone. He seems to be a very nice Aussie import. But, he seems a bit awkward, at times, being a show host.

I don't remember who the judges were on the previous 2 iterations of Top Chef Masters. I'd likely not heard of them before. I have seen one of the judges on the current Top Chef Masters. That being James Oseland.

James Oseland's weaselly mannerisms get on my nerves. The last couple weeks one of the judges has been a young protege of Oseland's who also gets on my nerves. I can't remember his name. He's the editor of an online magazine about food.

The format for Top Chef Masters has been changed from the tournament format of the previous iterations, to a format that more matches Top Chef.

The Quickfire Challenges have seemed more difficult than most Top Chef Quickfires. Last week it was make a dish with a bug in a couple minutes. This week it was you have 12 minutes to make a dish using cheese.

Even though I'd not heard of any of these Top Chef Masters before, they seem obviously to be very good chefs.

I particularly find amusing the Canadian uni-brow chef, Hugh Acheson. This week he got all bent out of shape because the chef who ended up getting the boot, Suvir Saran, gave the diners and judges a lecture about the evils of red meat, while Hugh was standing there ready to serve them something he'd cooked that included a chunk of steak.

One of the chefs reminds me, lookswise, of Jillian Harris from The Bachelorette. Her name is Naomi Pomeroy. She seems quite competent and very bossy.

Another one I like is Mary Sue Milliken. She keeps landing in the bottom, while clearly being quite competent. The strained cooking environment would wreak havoc with anyone, competent or not.

If Bravo continues to insist on putting Top Chef Masters on the screen for our viewing pleasure, please find new Judges. Or as Top Chef Masters seem to often call them, Critics.

Find new critics. But, keep Curtis Stone. I'm sure he'll grow better at the hosting job.