Ugh, she is the WORST ever!
I hate Padma. She is the worst reality TV show host I have ever had to watch. I can’t believe Gail Simmons has never leapt over the judges table to strangle her. I mean seriously, Gail has more foodie credibility in her little pinky than Padma has in her entire toothpick of a body. This has never been more obvious and infuriating to me as it was this week.
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about- Top Chef. It’s a reality TV show for food and drama lovers everywhere. Each week contestants battle in what always seem like mind-bogglingly difficult challenges to prove they are the best chef. The chef who fails to keep up, goes home. As you can imagine, there is also plenty of drama. As the saying goes, “Too many cooks in the kitchen. . .”
So, my boyfriend and I are in Seoul, South Korea. We watch the shows a couple days behind because, sadly, there is no Bravo TV in Seoul. Alas, I was quite excited to see Kristen kill the other team in the infamous Restaurant Wars challenge. This cook is flawless. The show is only in week 11, and she has already won something like $60,000 in prizes. Not to mention, the other team lost a player to elimination the week before and looked like a pretty hopeless bunch that would let their arguing get in the way of their cooking.
Even before the judges entered the restaurant, there was trouble brewing in Kristen’s kitchen. She has this utterly horrid cook/player, Josie on her team. Time and time again, Josie’s weakness has always proven to be her lack of time management and yet she has not been eliminated for it. This challenge would be no exception. She failed to manage her time well, causing her executive chef, that’s Kristen, to lose faith in her and make an on-the-fly decision to change a dish. What seemed like a small decision turned into a chaotic series of events that led me to fall ill to a horrible condition I have when I watch Top Chef that I call WIHP (Why I Hate Padma).
From the time of Season 2 when Padma took the stage as the host, my WIHP began. I didn’t particularly care for the first season’s host either, Katie Lee; but I could already tell Padma was going to crush my soul. (Side story: My boyfriend always told me this legend of a girl who was a cocktail waitress at his University of Miami- Oxford that married Billy Joel. As I referenced Wikipedia for the name of the Season 1 host, turns out it was that same girl.) I could see that Padma was merely a pretty face with a theater major, whose only contribution to the restaurant industry was a cookbook entitled Easy Exotic: A Model’s Low Fat Recipes From Around the World. The book is much like Padma herself. The outside cover looks promising (I mean who doesn’t want low-fat Indian food recipes?), but the content constantly fails to prove that she knows a thing about food. Here’s a review from Amazon that pretty succinctly describes what I mean:
This isn’t a bad cookbook but it isn’t the greatest one either, if you don’t buy it you’re not missing out on anything except the pictures of Padma. The recipes aren’t that difficult and the Indian ones which are her specialty are the best in the book. For people who aren’t the best cooks but want to make some decent Indian dishes, Padma’s book is pretty good for that. If I had a dollar for every time she mentions Daniel and her mom, I would be a millionaire…and I could have done without the narratives that are so shallow that you know that they came from the mind of a model. For example, “there I was in a beautiful Chanel gown eating a tuna fish sandwich.” Someone please tell Padma her village called, apparently their model is missing. One more thing, all her recipes are available on the food network website FOR FREE.
Woefully, I have put up with her for the past 8 seasons. Tom Colicchio and the previously mentioned Gail Simmons save the show for me. The WIHP subsides when they remind me of how delightful it is to hear real food critics talk about serious food. I came close to calling it quits with the show last season when they voted off Beverly Kim (coincidentally another Korean chef, like Kristen), but I just had to see if Beverly would come back (which she did but was again ousted a week later). Padma even won some credibility with me when she defended Beverly saying that she deserved to stay.
But not this time.
At the judges table, Padma attacked Kristen like the NRA attacking the president. I couldn’t help but notice Padma’s attitude was that of a 5-year brat whose kid sister wanted to come along and play. As another blogger put it:
Also, why was Padma the one gunning so hard against Kristen? She couldn’t handle another model in the kitchen?
My boyfriend calmly stroked my hair and assured me that there’s no way Josie would stay. That Padma’s advice is always secondary to the real judges at the table. Just carry on and keep eating the delicious apple pancakes I made. So, I did. Then, I almost choked on my delicious apple cakes when the strongest feeling of WIHP ever experienced occurred. Not only did she use a teaser saying “Josie. . . you are safe.” But she said it with such a large sense of accomplishment that I swore at the TV until my throat bled. And then, I wrote this post.
Biggest LOL ever! You are hilarious when you’re mad, Jess, I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true! I have never watched a reality TV show in my life, but now I may want to watch an episode of this show, so I know exactly what you’re talking about!
Hah! Thanks Christine. You really should check it out. I love it, even when I hate it. ^_^
One, I love that you like to eat while you watch (we do too- at 10PM, not such a healthy idea, ha!) Two- although Padma doesn’t bother me nearly as much, I find her silly to watch in an eye rolling type way. Or instance, we like to laugh at her in each season’s little Top Chef promos where she catches fish in Seattle or pops a champagne cork in Vegas (and tries to look sexy.) I know deep down my husband doesn’t mind her either so I allow her simpleness to grace our TV screen.
Who doesn’t eat while watching this show?! How could you go that long looking at all that delicious food and not want to nosh??
One reason I love my BF is he can stand her better than me but he still doesn’t find her that attractive. Yeah, I found one of the rare males in the species that don’t care for model bodies. HAHA
Hate’s a strong word and maybe I should have chosen something less harsh; but man I was PISSED!
For me Kristen’s kiss of death came when Gail asked her if she was falling on her sword. For me, Padma’s opinions matter not at all, and I’ve always suspected Tom and Gail pretty much ignore her. I honestly believe they don’t have a choice when the chef chooses to take all the responsibility; their record proves that they always eliminate the responsible chef.
That said, you know I totally agree that Josie is the worst and needs to go yesterday. And Padma did seem rather smug, now that you mention it. FWIW, I honestly believe Beverly (thank you for reminding me what her name was) was brought back for drama last season, and that they were grooming CJ the same way this. But now that Kristen’s out, I think, hope, and pray she’s the one they’ll be bringing back.
I couldn’t agree more how much Kristen committed reality suicide on this episode. At the same time, as she said, she can leave with her head held high and Josie looks like a no-talent hack who only gets ahead by throwing others under the bus.
The thing that got me so upset was Gail was very eloquent and spot-on with what she said while Padma just sounded like a whiny b*tch and the way she prevailed was a bummer. No one watching the show was expecting that (which I guess is what Bravo wants- the show was getting a little ore predictable as of late).
*crossing my fingers for a LCK battle between Kristen and Josie!*
Oh you sweetheart. Padma seems to ONLY be on the show because she looks soooo pretty and for no other reason. The network is making a great deal of money from her being there however, or she would not still be the host. Most foodies know she is not credible. I hardly watch anymore because they kick off the wonderful chefs and because I cannot stand Padma. I guess if I lived where you do, I would want to watch as many programs from the States that I liked as I could, not sure what else you can see there. But fortunately you DO have a choice right? You can click her off! She really drives me crazy. And I used to love that show. I never liked either of the hosts (Billy Joel’s ex was far worse..what is WRONG with Bravo….)
I know I could turn it off, but then what would I have to be needlessly angry at? And/or blog about??!?
Glad to know I’m not alone. . .
I have posted anti-Padma comments on judge’s blog entries on the BravoTV site, but they’ve been deleted. Padma must be blackmailing someone to stay on TC as a judge. I laughed when I saw her on 30 Rock where she guest-starred as a celebrity who wanted to market a monogrammed ziplock bag.
Yeah, she definitely knows someone or impressed the socks off someone. Although I’m sure she is great for ratings. UGH
The first season will always be the best!! ” I’M NOT YOUR BITCH, BITCH!”
Haha! So true!!!