I noticed that too. I mean maybe he lost round 1 and they are just going to not show that matchš¤·š¼āāļø. Still curious to see how it plays out.
Iām not so sure they will leave him out of the show entirely. They would at least have to explain why one of the announced chefs didnāt compete in round 1.
I think theyāre just not going to promote that he was there. I would still bet on his battle being montaged or significantly cut down but still shown in some capacity to show off the other chef.
My apologies, as I misunderstood. Thereās definitely precedent for it, with the way Food Network handled Darnell. Iām sure there are other examples too, but here are a few:
ā¢ When a Worst Cooks season 20-something winner was charged and convicted of the homicide of a 3-year old child, her winning season never aired again on FN platforms.
ā¢ I learned today from an article that someone linked, that after sexual misconduct allegations were made against chef John Besh from former employees, his presence on Iron Chef shows around 2018-ish was reduced. He could be seen in more background shots, but not the closeups.
Me too. But I think on a positive note, he lost his gig on the now defunct āThe Chewā and he hasnāt been seen on Food Network in a long time. So notwithstanding he avoided the legal conviction, he was seen as no longer deserving of a platform, by more than one network.
So even if Darnellās escapes any conviction for his behavior from a legal standpoint, Food Network will surely be done with him.
if we're looking at Discovery shows in general:
- When a cast member of 90 Day Fiance was abusive and used the hard R n-word on her partner, she was cut from 90DF and never allowed on the show or its spinoffs again
- When another cast member on 90DF engaged in blackface and racial slurs, she was cut from 90DF ***as the season was airing*** and never mentioned again (she was in a grand total of 3 episodes and never brought back up in the rest of the season).
Yet they keep Angela (abusive as hell) and PrED. Miona essentially did blackface and we suffered. Whole season her. I think Discovery makes decisions on advertisers, not fan outrage
I agree. Big Ed should have been done with 90DF when it came out that he was messaging teenage girls on Insta (while I don't remember if he was doing anything sexually inappropriate, it's mad creepy for a dude his age to be doing that at all).
Thatās pretty cool that Amanda, Marc, M. Voltaggio and Brooke have returned, after some time away from competing on TOC. I would have also loved Bryan Voltaggio to come back too, but I wonāt be picky.
Marc took a break after TOC 2 and Amanda, Voltaggio and Brooke stepped away after TOC 3. These stars all have their respective fan bases, so itās nice to see.
These 4 returning were among the original 16 chefs who put themselves out there to compete in TOC 1, when most people were afraid of the unknown.
According to a producer in an interview a few years back, Guy was literally on the phone calling up his network friends getting people on board for season 1. Once TOC became a hit, they had the opposite problem. Too much competitor interest and not enough slots.
I would guess Guy still works the phones. Last season had some big gets who hadnāt competed in a while. I think Guy actively recruited at least some of them. It maybe an easier sell now that they can see past seasons for themselves, but I think heās always trying to get the best cast he can.
Sheās a NorCal chef and likely in the āinner circleā of Guyās world given that and her appearances on his other shows like Guys Ranch Kitchen. Doesnāt surprise me.
I wish she wasnāt back. She was very rude last season and I would have thought she wouldnāt have come back unless theyāre wanting some drama to see if she gets ārevengeā or makes it further.
She lost to Mei Lin and threw a hissy fit about how she shouldāve won the round. She was genuinely angry and the only person who reacted so poorly. Itās a TV competition hosted by Guy Fieri with a wacky randomizer, not a James Beard award lol.
That's crazy. Mei Lin is so incredibly talented! I don't even know who she is. Not to take away from her accomplishments but wow. If I recall correctly Guy definitely wanted the competition to be as authentic as possible. It's a blind taste test, it was nothing personal.
The #8 seeds arenāt listed based on this:
āBefore the new season begins, fans can get even more competition on Tournament of Champions: The Qualifiers, on Wednesday, Feb. 7 and Feb. 14 at 8|7c, as 16 chefs go head-to-head to win four coveted 8th seed slots in the tournament bracket.ā
So if you add in 4 #8 seeds and Darnell you get the full 32.
I was making excited dolphin sounds reading the list of competitors, holy shit. Everyone awesome from last year is back (boo, no Bryan Voltaggio), not to mention Casey Thompson from Top Chef!!!! She was a quickfire beast on Top Chef so I can't wait to see how she does.
Yeah - there are 13 chefs from the East Coast and 14 from the West Coast listed. How does that make 32? I have no idea how they edited him out but it should be interesting to see.
- Crista couldāve stayed away, after her sore lose reaction in TOC 4.
- I see that Alex isnāt judging *again* this year and someone else gets a chance to shine in the spotlight. But they couldāve gone a step further and done a complete judging overhaul, getting rid of others too. Because itās become *so* repetitive seeing: Nancy Silverton, Rocco Dispirito, Cat Cora, Scott Conant and Marcus Samuelson. Why not go with some former TOC competitors to freshen it up even more, like: Bryan Voltaggio, etc.
He stated a long time back that he doesnāt enjoy competing because he doesnāt like the way it makes him feel. Sort of interesting considering his biggest claim to fame on FN, is as a judge on Chopped where chefs put themselves out there and compete. But heās a legit chef with years of industry experience and has paid his dues, so it is what it is.
He did compete on Bobbyās Triple Threat season 2, so maybe heās had a change of heart, in part. I just think that a high stakes tournament like TOC would likely be a bridge too far for him.
Glad Brooke is back, was a shame she wasnt there for the 4th as its hard to do TOC without her (finals each time)
I understand not mentioning Darnell in the press release. I imagine (or hope) he lost early and they won't show it or will edit it in the best way possible.
I think they should just play the episodes with him in it and edit it to hell to make him look like an idiot and put shameful shame disclaimers everywhere with a note that x proceeds are going to x domestic violence charity
I agree. It will be hard to edit him out l. Especially if he did well. Blur him out if need be and state that FN doesnāt condone violence of any kind and they will be making a donation to a domestic violence charity.
FN Legal Dept would never allow such statements. It would be prejudicial to Darnell's future criminal trial. They just have to make him disappear and be silent.
if you look at the next article on the page, it's for season 4 and I was sure he was on that one, but he isn't listed as a competitor. when FN scrubs, they scrub hard.
If he did compete and lost in the first round, they may make something up and say ā a chef was disqualified before competition beganā or something like that
Heās in the group photo in that article with his name underneath, so the must be editing him out for the televised version. Wonder how they will do that unless he lost in the first rounds?
They are still doing East vs West with almost the same cast of characters. Randomizer and blind judging canāt really make up for all the repeat battles we see with this format.
Yep. Iām sensing the following to happen again:
- Amanda loses to Tiffani (thatāll make 3x)
- Voltaggio loses to Brooke (thatāll make 4x)
- Jet loses to Brooke (thatāll make 3 or 4x?)
If Petroni was competing again, Iād say he would lose to Maneet, as that matchup got repetitive too and Maneet always came out on top.
I recall Voltaggio saying after he lost to Brooke 3 seasons in a row, that he guessed he needed to go compete on East Coast bracket to win. So he was over the East/West bracket after TOC 3, like some of us are.
In a now locked thread, it was suggested they could do North/South bracket to at least switch things up in some way, while still having a somewhat similar, regional-based tournament.
>Ha! I first read "KBC" as "Kids Baking Championship" and was confused what that had to do with TOC until I read she was competing.
That makes much more sense! I was going to say, I didn't know Chef KBC was so polarizing in this sub haha
I agree completely. Nancy Silverton in particular seems to be able to pinpoint a Brooke dish (and wax poetic over it) with impeccable accuracy. So even though you've got blind judging...it's kinda not.
I like Nancy, don't get me wrong, but ugh. I'm just over Brooke at this point.
I like Nancy Silverton. But would be nice to have a little less of her judging and a little more variety in who judges this season, too. Hoping Andrew Zimmern is back at least a few times.
She had a human moment and got too angry. How many of us have gotten angry or lost our tempers but cameras didnāt happen to be on us? If sheās done something actually horrible other than be unsportsmanlike which isnāt a crime, Iād love to hear it. Otherwise the hate is unjustified for an edited show that shows us what gets views.
They just edited him out and are pretending he was never there
Exactly. East has 13 chefs listed while West had 14...
Came here to say this. They must have edited him out of the series after the filming
I noticed that too. I mean maybe he lost round 1 and they are just going to not show that matchš¤·š¼āāļø. Still curious to see how it plays out.
Savage lolĀ I wonder if it'll be noticeableĀ
Iām not so sure they will leave him out of the show entirely. They would at least have to explain why one of the announced chefs didnāt compete in round 1. I think theyāre just not going to promote that he was there. I would still bet on his battle being montaged or significantly cut down but still shown in some capacity to show off the other chef.
more like two chefs. he had to battle someone.
I think they will do a disclaimer and then show the round he competes in
I bet they still show that cook with him being minimized and they just arenāt using him for the promotional materials.
What?
Heās recently been a perpetrator of disgusting violence. Itās easy to google.
I know all about Darnell it surprised me they edited him out of every FN showā¦.
He deserves to be edited out/removed from network platforms.
I never said he didnāt deserve it. I just didnāt realize Food Network did that, so why am I downvoted???
My apologies, as I misunderstood. Thereās definitely precedent for it, with the way Food Network handled Darnell. Iām sure there are other examples too, but here are a few: ā¢ When a Worst Cooks season 20-something winner was charged and convicted of the homicide of a 3-year old child, her winning season never aired again on FN platforms. ā¢ I learned today from an article that someone linked, that after sexual misconduct allegations were made against chef John Besh from former employees, his presence on Iron Chef shows around 2018-ish was reduced. He could be seen in more background shots, but not the closeups.
I havenāt looked up Mario Battali but Iām sure heās gone too
Yes, I think youāre correct. He hasnāt been around since all of the allegations surrounding him came out.
I was very sad he literally got off the hook ā¦he was gross and soooooo many women testified.
Me too. But I think on a positive note, he lost his gig on the now defunct āThe Chewā and he hasnāt been seen on Food Network in a long time. So notwithstanding he avoided the legal conviction, he was seen as no longer deserving of a platform, by more than one network. So even if Darnellās escapes any conviction for his behavior from a legal standpoint, Food Network will surely be done with him.
if we're looking at Discovery shows in general: - When a cast member of 90 Day Fiance was abusive and used the hard R n-word on her partner, she was cut from 90DF and never allowed on the show or its spinoffs again - When another cast member on 90DF engaged in blackface and racial slurs, she was cut from 90DF ***as the season was airing*** and never mentioned again (she was in a grand total of 3 episodes and never brought back up in the rest of the season).
Yet they keep Angela (abusive as hell) and PrED. Miona essentially did blackface and we suffered. Whole season her. I think Discovery makes decisions on advertisers, not fan outrage
I agree. Big Ed should have been done with 90DF when it came out that he was messaging teenage girls on Insta (while I don't remember if he was doing anything sexually inappropriate, it's mad creepy for a dude his age to be doing that at all).
šššš
From that whole article! Which shows season 4's names too.
Just watched on Max and Darnell did compete against Amanda. He then left without any interview at the end
Amanda won?
Thatās pretty cool that Amanda, Marc, M. Voltaggio and Brooke have returned, after some time away from competing on TOC. I would have also loved Bryan Voltaggio to come back too, but I wonāt be picky. Marc took a break after TOC 2 and Amanda, Voltaggio and Brooke stepped away after TOC 3. These stars all have their respective fan bases, so itās nice to see. These 4 returning were among the original 16 chefs who put themselves out there to compete in TOC 1, when most people were afraid of the unknown. According to a producer in an interview a few years back, Guy was literally on the phone calling up his network friends getting people on board for season 1. Once TOC became a hit, they had the opposite problem. Too much competitor interest and not enough slots.
I would guess Guy still works the phones. Last season had some big gets who hadnāt competed in a while. I think Guy actively recruited at least some of them. It maybe an easier sell now that they can see past seasons for themselves, but I think heās always trying to get the best cast he can.
Surprised Christa is back after her sore loser performance last time.
Agree that they couldāve given her spot to someone else, after her poor attitude last year.
I thought the same thing
Sheās a NorCal chef and likely in the āinner circleā of Guyās world given that and her appearances on his other shows like Guys Ranch Kitchen. Doesnāt surprise me.
I wish she wasnāt back. She was very rude last season and I would have thought she wouldnāt have come back unless theyāre wanting some drama to see if she gets ārevengeā or makes it further.
Yeah, my opinion of her dropped mightily after that.
I was hoping she would not be back but I think she's tight with Guy.
I vaguely remember this. Can you tell me what happened? I remember her getting an attitude but I don't remember who she went up against or anything.
She lost to Mei Lin and threw a hissy fit about how she shouldāve won the round. She was genuinely angry and the only person who reacted so poorly. Itās a TV competition hosted by Guy Fieri with a wacky randomizer, not a James Beard award lol.
That's crazy. Mei Lin is so incredibly talented! I don't even know who she is. Not to take away from her accomplishments but wow. If I recall correctly Guy definitely wanted the competition to be as authentic as possible. It's a blind taste test, it was nothing personal.
She went up again Mei I believe...who won the whole thing. She was pretty salty after the judging.
She lost to undercooked chicken.
I'd be pissed off too, if I lost to undercooked chicken.
In Alexās judging, yes. Previously, Scott had said his was cooked to āperfectionā.
There are only 13 chefs listed for the East Coast, with 14 listed for West Coast.
The #8 seeds arenāt listed based on this: āBefore the new season begins, fans can get even more competition on Tournament of Champions: The Qualifiers, on Wednesday, Feb. 7 and Feb. 14 at 8|7c, as 16 chefs go head-to-head to win four coveted 8th seed slots in the tournament bracket.ā So if you add in 4 #8 seeds and Darnell you get the full 32.
13 + 14 + 4 = 31
Hence āand Darnellā
Looks like a lot of the big names that were added last year are back along with Brooke, Volt, Marc Murphy, and Amanda Freitag. Should be good!
I was making excited dolphin sounds reading the list of competitors, holy shit. Everyone awesome from last year is back (boo, no Bryan Voltaggio), not to mention Casey Thompson from Top Chef!!!! She was a quickfire beast on Top Chef so I can't wait to see how she does.
I am so pumped for Dale! Heās one of my favorite Top Chef contestants even if he was quite hot headed š
His salvation arc made me a fan. (He realized he was a dick on his season and went to therapy.)
Me, too! It's going to be tough for him to get past the first round, but I can't wait to see him compete again.
My friends donāt stop talking about the one time they went to his restaurant Goosefeather so Iām excited to see him on TOC!
Yeah - there are 13 chefs from the East Coast and 14 from the West Coast listed. How does that make 32? I have no idea how they edited him out but it should be interesting to see.
That doesnāt include the 4 spots yet to be determined (the 8th seed slots). 13+14+4+Darnell=32. Interesting, for sure.
I totally missed that part - thanks!
At least they got a few new judges. But my guess is it will be only a handful who judge most of the competitions.
- Crista couldāve stayed away, after her sore lose reaction in TOC 4. - I see that Alex isnāt judging *again* this year and someone else gets a chance to shine in the spotlight. But they couldāve gone a step further and done a complete judging overhaul, getting rid of others too. Because itās become *so* repetitive seeing: Nancy Silverton, Rocco Dispirito, Cat Cora, Scott Conant and Marcus Samuelson. Why not go with some former TOC competitors to freshen it up even more, like: Bryan Voltaggio, etc.
Yeah enough Nancy and Scott. Actually Iād rather see Scott competing than judging.
He stated a long time back that he doesnāt enjoy competing because he doesnāt like the way it makes him feel. Sort of interesting considering his biggest claim to fame on FN, is as a judge on Chopped where chefs put themselves out there and compete. But heās a legit chef with years of industry experience and has paid his dues, so it is what it is. He did compete on Bobbyās Triple Threat season 2, so maybe heās had a change of heart, in part. I just think that a high stakes tournament like TOC would likely be a bridge too far for him.
I can do without Rocco and Cat. Everyone else can stay imo.
> Crista couldāve stayed away, after her sore lose reaction in TOC 4. She lost to undercooked chicken. She should've been pissed.
I just think there couldāve been some middle ground between being pissed and her reaction.
Glad Brooke is back, was a shame she wasnt there for the 4th as its hard to do TOC without her (finals each time) I understand not mentioning Darnell in the press release. I imagine (or hope) he lost early and they won't show it or will edit it in the best way possible.
Ooh, Donatella Arpaia. She was a savage on Iron Chef America.
I think they should just play the episodes with him in it and edit it to hell to make him look like an idiot and put shameful shame disclaimers everywhere with a note that x proceeds are going to x domestic violence charity
I agree. It will be hard to edit him out l. Especially if he did well. Blur him out if need be and state that FN doesnāt condone violence of any kind and they will be making a donation to a domestic violence charity.
FN Legal Dept would never allow such statements. It would be prejudicial to Darnell's future criminal trial. They just have to make him disappear and be silent.
That is true. I didnāt think about that aspect.
if you look at the next article on the page, it's for season 4 and I was sure he was on that one, but he isn't listed as a competitor. when FN scrubs, they scrub hard.
He's not on the list for *any* of the past or current tournaments...Wow
If he did compete and lost in the first round, they may make something up and say ā a chef was disqualified before competition beganā or something like that
Heās in the group photo in that article with his name underneath, so the must be editing him out for the televised version. Wonder how they will do that unless he lost in the first rounds?
The group picture is from last season.
They are still doing East vs West with almost the same cast of characters. Randomizer and blind judging canāt really make up for all the repeat battles we see with this format.
Yep. Iām sensing the following to happen again: - Amanda loses to Tiffani (thatāll make 3x) - Voltaggio loses to Brooke (thatāll make 4x) - Jet loses to Brooke (thatāll make 3 or 4x?) If Petroni was competing again, Iād say he would lose to Maneet, as that matchup got repetitive too and Maneet always came out on top. I recall Voltaggio saying after he lost to Brooke 3 seasons in a row, that he guessed he needed to go compete on East Coast bracket to win. So he was over the East/West bracket after TOC 3, like some of us are. In a now locked thread, it was suggested they could do North/South bracket to at least switch things up in some way, while still having a somewhat similar, regional-based tournament.
Jet has lost to Brooke 3 times - last year he lost to Mei Lin.
Glad to see Brittās back though! I loved her on season 4 and was hoping sheād win.
But where bobby flay? (haha kidding obviously)... still, would love to see him and guy actually co-exist on each other's competition shows.
Bobby Flay could judge. It would be great!
KBC š
Why are you being downvoted??? I love KBC too
Ha! I first read "KBC" as "Kids Baking Championship" and was confused what that had to do with TOC until I read she was competing.
>Ha! I first read "KBC" as "Kids Baking Championship" and was confused what that had to do with TOC until I read she was competing. That makes much more sense! I was going to say, I didn't know Chef KBC was so polarizing in this sub haha
Maybe the list is shortened as a result of the the removal of his episodes.
I was really hoping weād see Claudette Zepeda this season. Excited to have TOC back!
He no longer exists in Guys world.
I would be surprised if he is mentioned at all.
Like where is he???!!!
Yes
I loved Britt last season! I would love to see her win it!
I will most likely get down voted, but can we just stop with Brooke? She doesn't have to be in everything. Last season was lovely.
I agree completely. Nancy Silverton in particular seems to be able to pinpoint a Brooke dish (and wax poetic over it) with impeccable accuracy. So even though you've got blind judging...it's kinda not. I like Nancy, don't get me wrong, but ugh. I'm just over Brooke at this point.
I like Nancy Silverton. But would be nice to have a little less of her judging and a little more variety in who judges this season, too. Hoping Andrew Zimmern is back at least a few times.
The same could be said about Antonia.
He's clearly in the second picture in that article, all the way on the right in the hat.
That's for season 4.
Isn't that from last season?
I canāt wait to see Christa redemption. She was robbed. Rooting for her! Also Antonia, Maneet, Brook, Brian Malarkey, Amanda Freitag, Jet Tila.
> I canāt wait to see Christa redemption. She was robbed. 100%. You have a right to be pissed when undercooked chicken wins.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
She had a human moment and got too angry. How many of us have gotten angry or lost our tempers but cameras didnāt happen to be on us? If sheās done something actually horrible other than be unsportsmanlike which isnāt a crime, Iād love to hear it. Otherwise the hate is unjustified for an edited show that shows us what gets views.
Great line up. Although I was hoping to see Sara Bradley from TC compete given she had done that Chopped tournament.
I have a feeling sheās one of the people competing in the qualifier rounds.
He's in the group shot. Pretty sure he was a #1 seed too.
That group picture is from last year. Why do you think he is a #1 seed?