<p>GMT, Was that with Michael Symon?</p>
<p>They rerun the Japanese Iron Chef on their Cooking channel, which is now in HD. The voiceover remains hilarious. </p>
<p>I don’t watch Iron Chef - the current show - but I understand why it’s a big deal: mega money for the chefs who become “iron chefs”.</p>
<p>I used to love watching Iron Chef America with my kids. Now they’re grown up and gone, and there are too many other good programs on at the time slotted (Downton, Dexter, Good Wife, Girls, Enlightened, True Blood, etc). The Food Network hasn’t made this show available on demand. Their loss, at least of this viewer. I’m also not a fan of many of their celebrity chefs, so except for Chopped, I don’t watch Food Network at all. Top Chef seems to be drifting away from its focus on excellent cooking and more into the drama of Bravo’s Housewife series. Blah.</p>
<p>I was excited when the American version of Iron Chef came out initially, because I was such a huge fan of the Japanese version. Then I watched it, and was disappointed. I felt like the ingredients were just so much less… impressive. In Japan, it was about featuring challenging to work with or extremely rare and prized foods (though not always). I watched one episode of the US version where the secret ingredient was cheese. Any kind of cheese. </p>
<p>But the US version did yield this amusing moment:</p>
<p><a href=“Much peaness - YouTube”>Much peaness - YouTube;
<p>@psychmom, </p>
<p>The “Octopus Battle” I am referring to is the epic episode from the original Japanese series. There was a tank w live octopusses (octopods?), and the chefs had to thrust their hands in there and wrestle one out. Only episode I can remember where the main ingredient was fighting back.</p>
<p>Yay! This threads alive!</p>
<p>Another classic was the yogurt battle with the Chinese chef having to work with dairy.</p>
<p>It’s a Top Chef night!</p>
<p>What a great ad for Celebrity’s Alaska cruise - the scenery looked beautiful, as did the ship. No wonder they needed an extra 15 minutes. Does anyone know on which specific cruise that was filmed? I’d love to go over to CruiseCritic and see if anyone wrote about TC in their cruise review.</p>
<p>But I think my favorite part of the show was near the end when they showed how the fan favorite vote was running on Save-a-Chef: CJ 94%, Joise 6%. I’m surprised Josie got that many votes!</p>
<p>Shhhh! Just started here! </p>
<p>Okay, I’ll stay of until its done.</p>
<p>I just watched it, but the LCK isn’t on yet, so I do not know if Kristen still the champ. She is so adorable.</p>
<p>I missed TC last night…feel free to post spoilers!</p>
<p>Spoilers…</p>
<p>(I did find out the show was filmed on the Celebrity Millenium out of Vancouver on July 29.)</p>
<p>Stefan got kicked off and lost to Kristen in LCK. (Brooke won the Elimination challenge; Sheldon was in the bottom two.) From the previews, next week it looks like they’re cooking at a fish boil with fresh salmon in Alaska.</p>
<p>thanks, Marilyn</p>
<p>I really thought it would come down to brooke and kristen, but kristen has a harder path.</p>
<p>I think that if Sheldon can redeem himself next week, the final will come down to Brooke and Sheldon…but perhaps Kristen and Brooke…</p>
<p>Does anyone know when they let the LCK champ back in? Or when the fan favorite gets back in?</p>
<p>I believe that last year the LCK finalist re-entered the competition when there were three chefs left. I hope Kristin and Brooke make it in to the finals.</p>
<p>The ship is the Celebrity Infinity out of Seattle to Alaska. I was just on it on June 1st so was excited when it popped up on Top Chef Seattle. Did kitchen/galley tour when I was on it. Great ship and great itinerary.</p>
<p>They filmed on both the Infinity and the Millennium.</p>
<p>From what I understand, the winner of Save-a-Chef goes into the last round of Last Chance Kitchen against the cooking winner. So, for example, say Josh gets kicked off next week and goes up against Kristin in LCK and loses. And say CJ is still winning Save-a-Chef. Then (and this is the part that isn’t clear) I guess there’s a voting contest between CJ and Josh. Assume CJ wins - he then has to cook against Kristin. Assume Kristin wins - she goes back into the finals with Brooke, Lizzie, and Sheldon. Could it get any more complicated?!</p>
<p>That’s my interpretation of the various indications I’ve seen - so only a guess! I do think (along with others on TWOP) that Tom feels terrible about kicking Kristen off without knowing the details so is going to make sure she makes the finals.</p>
<p>No one knows how the fan voting will work. It might even be a spot in the next year. We’ll find out. </p>
<p>I feel better about LCK this year. It was unfair when they sprung it on the group last time. Poor Edward Lee getting into the final and then being kicked out of the final. </p>
<p>It may simply be they have an elimination with more than one contestant leaving. </p>
<p>I’ve been somewhat disappointed in this season. I’ve been trying to understand why and I think it’s because there really wasn’t a sense of journey. Bringing in the old contestants seems to have minimized the personal journeys that draw me as a viewer in. I’ve been impressed by some cooking moments but I haven’t felt much of a sense of growth, just a sense that some people have survived. Maybe that disappointment also comes from the fact that so many challenges have had too many failures. I can’t otherwise explain how Josie lasted so long. It seemed she was on the bottom nearly every show but each time someone screwed up worse. I would rather watch people succeed than fail.</p>