Judging


 

Dustin Dorsey

TVWBB Hall of Fame
Hi guys!

It was great to see you guys on chopped one of my favorite shows. I really enjoyed seeing Harry use the WSM to put some smoke on the Lobster. It seems like the judges held you guys to higher standards than they did the last time season when they did Chopped Grill-Masters. Alex Guarnaschelli is one of my favorite judges on the show. She really seemed to feed off Tim Love this time though. Did either one of you get one of those Alex Guarnaschelli death glares? Was Tim as big of jerk as he seemed to be on the show? The criticisms seemed brutal, even in the last two episodes. How was Ted Allen? He seems like an awesome guy.
 
Hi guys!

It was great to see you guys on chopped one of my favorite shows. I really enjoyed seeing Harry use the WSM to put some smoke on the Lobster. It seems like the judges held you guys to higher standards than they did the last time season when they did Chopped Grill-Masters. Alex Guarnaschelli is one of my favorite judges on the show. She really seemed to feed off Tim Love this time though. Did either one of you get one of those Alex Guarnaschelli death glares? Was Tim as big of jerk as he seemed to be on the show? The criticisms seemed brutal, even in the last two episodes. How was Ted Allen? He seems like an awesome guy.

Hi Dustin,
Actually, Alex was really sweet and kinda motherly. There was a point where my stomach started sinking in and she smiled and winked at me. I felt better. She gave me one of the few complements I got. So I liked, and have always liked, Alex. Tim, well, Tim is pretty stoic. He's not glowing with love or emotion, that's clear. So it was hard to feel one way or the other about him.
And Ted Allen was seriously cuter in real life and also very, very nice. I'm glad you enjoyed the show. After watching it now, I feel that the editors and producers really helped me along. I'm not all that eloquent and the production assistants feed me lines and waited for me again and again to say it right for the camera. It isn't easy. Also, in real life they spend alot of time critiquing your dish and on tv, they only say a few lines. In the first round, they loved Harry's dish. They just gushed. And Scott Conant really hated my sauce, which got cold. But the butter based sauce I used wasn't all that different in concept than Tom's. But you never get that on the taped show.
Donna
 
For me, I think Alex tried to offer a balanced viewpoint of my dishes. I didn't think Scott and Tim liked my dishes very much. For example, my Bearnaise sauce with flambe Cognac for my lobster did not fare well even though I tried to demonstrate creativity and technique. I guess in the end, the judges preferred their seafood simply grilled with salt and pepper. I was thinking every dish should be a Michelin star-worthy going into the $50,000 round so I did my dishes the way I would like to eat if I were judging a $50,000 entry.
 

 

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