Top Chef: Masters

[GwennP]

Was is me or was this week's episode a total snooze fest?

Edited July 24, 2009 by GwennP (log)

[Reignking]

Was is me or was this week's episode a total snooze fest?

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I found myself completely disinterested.

[TAPrice]

Was is me or was this week's episode a total snooze fest?

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I found myself completely disinterested.

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I read somewhere that this was actually the first episode shot. Guess they wanted to bury it in the middle.

[TimmDavis]

Was is me or was this week's episode a total snooze fest?

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I found myself completely disinterested.

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Me too. Not to mention it seemed pretty obvious (to me anyways) who was going to come out with the win in this one.

Of the final six I'm torn between Bayless and Chiarello.

[tmriga]

Comparing the elimination rounds between the regular Top Chef program, and the Masters program, which format do you prefer so far?

I'm more inclined to go with the regular Top Chef format. For me, this one has too much talking and not much of getting to watch the chefs during the elimination rounds. Although I admit, I do not miss the arguements that occurred between the contenders in Top Chef.

Theresa

[Claudia Greco]

Well, yeah, the regular TC has a story arc of 15 individuals seriously competing - so there is drama, tension, trash-talking, etc., and time for most of the personalities to emerge. TCM is more like a handful of topflight jazz musicians just jammin' or riffin' - they are competing, sure, but not for the chance to own their own restaurant, their careers or their reputations. So they are more relaxed, more experienced and confident, probably all know each other, and are just going in for their play-off round - one-shot deals. The critics aren't going to be as harsh, nor the challenges quite as brutal. I don't think they'll make these guys do a block party challenge from food they gather from people's pantries, for instance (!)

The final should be a blast, though - they'll be going fort the 100K, full court press (!)

[tan319]

Could the show be taking a dive?

50%-50% celeb/TV chefs vs. "Chefs".

[Tri2Cook]

Of the final six I'm torn between Bayless and Chiarello.

←

Assuming they survive the next three elimations.

Right now, my final round pick would be Chef Keller but he has to get there first so we'll see.

[GwennP]

Was is me or was this week's episode a total snooze fest?

←

I found myself completely disinterested.

←

Me too. Not to mention it seemed pretty obvious (to me anyways) who was going to come out with the win in this one.

Of the final six I'm torn between Bayless and Chiarello.

←

I am between Chiarello and Keller. And I prefer the regular Top Chef, warts and all!!

Edited July 24, 2009 by GwennP (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Was is me or was this week's episode a total snooze fest?

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I found myself completely disinterested.

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I lost this round as well, my pick came in third. But I guess I'm going to have to be the odd man out because I enjoyed this episode. Good food, no egos, no attempts to sabotage each other when creating the mystery boxes. They went into the elimination with a "we're all good chefs so let's give each other the very best ingredients, do what we do and may the best chef win" attitude. These were right up among the highest scores given by the judges from all 6 rounds which has to say something about the food. There wasn't a lot of new-school or techno stuff involved (which I am a fan of as well) but that's not what these guys do. Going off their game during a competition would be insane.

[KristiB50]

I enjoyed the show too and was touched when Art cried at the end.

[BuzzDraft]

OK, I'm an engineer so I'm really good with numbers. This Bulletin Board code isn't able to display in tables, so please forgive the Code box.

Here are the final standings for all 24 master chefs using the elimination round rules.

Rank  Ep Chef              Stars
1T  * 2  Suzanne Tracht     22.5
1T  * 3  Rick Bayless       22.5
1T  * 4  Anita Lo           22.5
4   * 6  Art Smith          22.0
5T  * 1  Hubert Keller      20.5
5T    2  Graham Elliot Bowl 20.5
7T    2  Wylie Dufresne     20.0
7T    6  Jonathan Waxman    20.0
9     3  Wilo Benet         19.5
10    1  Christopher Lee    19.0
11T   4  Mark Peel          18.5
11T * 5  Michael Chiarello  18.5
13    6  Michael Cimarusti  17.5
14T   5  Rick Moonen        17.0
14T   5  Nils Noren         17.0
16T   2  Elizabeth Falkner  16.5
16T   3  Ludo Lefebvre      16.5
18T   5  Lachlan Patterson  15.5
18T   3  Cindy Pawlcyn      15.5
20    6  Roy Yamaguchi      15.0
21    1  Tim Love           14.5
22    1  Michael Schlow     13.5
23    4  Douglas Rodriguez  13.0
24    4  John Besh          12.0

	* = episode winner

Also, for comparison, here are the rankings of episode by average stars awarded overall. These can be used to normalize the chef scores by the "difficulty" of each episode if you're interested.

Episode  Avg Stars
2        19.9
6        18.6
3        18.5
5        17.0
1        16.9
4        16.5

The biggest surprise here is who finished last.

Discuss!

Edited July 29, 2009 by BuzzDraft (log)

[Reignking]

I want a pie chart.

With a side of standard deviation.

[BuzzDraft]

I want a pie chart.

With a side of standard deviation.

←

Don't tempt me.

[BuzzDraft]

SORRY!

Of course, after all that, I found a keying error. Chiarello had 19.5 stars, not 18.5.

So, here's my equivalent of a pie-chart reward... a ridiculous breakdown of the elimination round results. I added the individual judges' scoring also, so you can see who the strict and soft judges are. I was very surprised that James gave out the fewest stars and Gael Greene gave out the most. Gail Simmons sat in for Jay Rayner for two of the episodes, 4 and 6.

Rank Ep Chef              Stars    Quick   Diners   James   Gael    Jay    Gail
1t  *2  Suzanne Tracht     22.5     5.0     4.5       4     4.5     4.5
1t  *   Rick Bayless       22.5     4.0       4       5       5     4.5
1t  *4  Anita Lo           22.5     5.0     4.5       4     4.5             4.5
4   *6  Art Smith          22.0     4.5       5       3       5             4.5
5t  *1  Hubert Keller      20.5     5.0       4       4       4     3.5
5t   2  Graham Elliot Bowl 20.5     4.5     4.5       4       4     3.5
7t   2  Wylie Dufresne     20.0     3.0     3.5       5       4     4.5
7t   6  Jonathan Waxman    20.0     3.5     4.5       4       4               4
9t   3  Wilo Benet         19.5     4.5       4       3       4       4
9t  *5  Michael Chiarello  19.5     4.5     3.5     3.5       4       4
11   1  Christopher Lee    19.0     3.5       4     3.5       4       4
12   4  Mark Peel          18.5     2.5       4     3.5     4.5               4
13   6  Michael Cimarusti  17.5     5.0     3.5     2.5       3             3.5
14t  5  Rick Moonen        17.0     0.0       4       4     4.5     4.5
14t  5  Nils Noren         17.0     3.0     3.5       4     3.5       3
16t  2  Elizabeth Falkner  16.5     3.5     3.5       3     3.5       3
16t  3  Ludo Lefebvre      16.5     3.0     3.5       3       3       4
18t  3  Cindy Pawlcyn      15.5     3.5       3     2.5     3.5       3
18t  5  Lachlan Patterson  15.5     3.0     3.5     2.5     3.5       3
20   6  Roy Yamaguchi      15.0     4.0       3     2.5     2.5               3
21   1  Tim Love           14.5     3.5       3     2.5     2.5       3
22   1  Michael Schlow     13.5     2.5     3.5     2.5     2.5     2.5
23   4  Douglas Rodriguez  13.0     3.0       3       2     2.5             2.5
24   4  John Besh          12.0     0.5     2.5       3       3               3
* = episode winner
        Averages           17.94    3.50    3.73    3.35    3.71    3.66    3.63

And the corrected average stars awarded per episode.

Episode  Avg Stars
2        19.9
6        18.6
3        18.5
5        17.3
1        16.9
4        16.5

I apologize for the confusion... I wasn't able to edit the original post.

There's enough data here to:

a) bore the hell out of everyone

b) perform all sorts of geeky foodie analyses about judge trends

So there it is.

Discuss.

[jayrayner]

I am very scared of you.

[Reignking]

Great episode last night. I had always liked that Quickfire, but I loved the main challenge.

I'm stunned Art survived.

What was so special about Chiarello's chickpeas? That wasn't very well-explained.

Edited July 30, 2009 by Reignking (log)

[JohnRov]

I really have been enjoying the series, I just think it's going to make watching the regular Top Chef a letdown.

[plattetude]

And adding a little more analysis, which goes somewhat counter to the spirit of the point system, but is enlightening in its own right. By taking out the stars from the Quickfire challenge, we get another view of performance, strictly based on the Elimination. (Of course, it's all apples and oranges anyway, since there's not much common baseline to compare performance across episodes.) Also, to be totally geeky about it, note that the precision in the avgs is skewed, since during the episodes, the star totals were all rounded to the nearest .5

                                                                                          Elim Avg
Rank Ep Chef              Stars    Quick   Diners   James   Gael    Jay    Gail   Overall/Rank  Judges/Rank
1t  *2  Suzanne Tracht     22.5     5.0     4.5       4     4.5     4.5              4.37/4t      4.33/5t
1t  *   Rick Bayless       22.5     4.0       4       5       5     4.5              4.63/1       4.83/1 
1t  *4  Anita Lo           22.5     5.0     4.5       4     4.5             4.5      4.37/4t      4.33/5t  
4   *6  Art Smith          22.0     4.5       5       3       5             4.5      4.37/4t      4.17/6 
5t  *1  Hubert Keller      20.5     5.0       4       4       4     3.5              3.87/11t     3.83/12t
5t   2  Graham Elliot Bowl 20.5     4.5     4.5       4       4     3.5              4.00/8t      3.83/12t
7t   2  Wylie Dufresne     20.0     3.0     3.5       5       4     4.5              4.25/6t      4.50/2
7t   6  Jonathan Waxman    20.0     3.5     4.5       4       4               4      4.13/9       4.00/8t
9t   3  Wilo Benet         19.5     4.5       4       3       4       4              3.75/13t     3.67/13
9t  *5  Michael Chiarello  19.5     4.5     3.5     3.5       4       4              3.75/13t     3.83/12t
11   1  Christopher Lee    19.0     3.5       4     3.5       4       4              3.87/11t     3.83/12t
12   4  Mark Peel          18.5     2.5       4     3.5     4.5               4      4.00/8t      4.00/8t
13   6  Michael Cimarusti  17.5     5.0     3.5     2.5       3             3.5      3.13/18t     3.00/20t
14t  5  Rick Moonen        17.0     0.0       4       4     4.5     4.5              4.25/6t      4.33/5t
14t  5  Nils Noren         17.0     3.0     3.5       4     3.5       3              3.50/14      3.50/14
16t  2  Elizabeth Falkner  16.5     3.5     3.5       3     3.5       3              3.25/16      3.17/16
16t  3  Ludo Lefebvre      16.5     3.0     3.5       3       3       4              3.37/15      3.33/15
18t  3  Cindy Pawlcyn      15.5     3.5       3     2.5     3.5       3              3.00/19      3.00/20t
18t  5  Lachlan Patterson  15.5     3.0     3.5     2.5     3.5       3              3.13/18t     3.00/20t
20   6  Roy Yamaguchi      15.0     4.0       3     2.5     2.5               3      2.75/23t     2.67/22t
21   1  Tim Love           14.5     3.5       3     2.5     2.5       3              2.75/23t     2.67/22t
22   1  Michael Schlow     13.5     2.5     3.5     2.5     2.5     2.5              2.75/23t     2.50/23
23   4  Douglas Rodriguez  13.0     3.0       3       2     2.5             2.5      2.50/24      2.33/24
24   4  John Besh          12.0     0.5     2.5       3       3               3      2.87/20      3.00/20t
* = episode winner
        Averages           17.94    3.50    3.73    3.35    3.71    3.66    3.63

Christopher

[oakapple]

Gail Simmons sat in for Jay Rayner for two of the episodes, 4 and 6.

←

In an interview, Jay Rayner said that Gail sat in because he hadn't yet received his U.S. work papers. This implies that the two episodes Gail judged were shot first.

Anyone care to guess why they weren't aired in order?

[Reignking]

Gail Simmons sat in for Jay Rayner for two of the episodes, 4 and 6.

←

In an interview, Jay Rayner said that Gail sat in because he hadn't yet received his U.S. work papers. This implies that the two episodes Gail judged were shot first.

Anyone care to guess why they weren't aired in order?

←

Because #6 was boring?

[C_Ruark]

... By taking out the stars from the Quickfire challenge, we get another view of performance, strictly based on the Elimination... Also, to be totally geeky about it, note that the precision in the avgs is skewed, since during the episodes, the star totals were all rounded to the nearest .5

←

Ok... so doing the maths: You would need to show three sig' digits for precision when reporting computed 'Elimination' score else correct the rounding errors. All scores of N.37 were rounded the wrong way.

Edited July 30, 2009 by C_Ruark (log)

[plattetude]

... By taking out the stars from the Quickfire challenge, we get another view of performance, strictly based on the Elimination... Also, to be totally geeky about it, note that the precision in the avgs is skewed, since during the episodes, the star totals were all rounded to the nearest .5

←

Ok... so doing the maths: You would need to show three sig' digits for precision when reporting computed 'Elimination' score else correct the rounding errors. All scores of N.37 were rounded the wrong way.

←

My point was that the *original* scores were rounded to the nearest 0.5. So not even 1 decimal of precision (e.g. for Quickfires, they'd tally three scores and come up with, say, 3.5, which would mean either 3 1/3 or 3 2/3).

The rounding for N.37 is dependent on your particular choice of rounding methodology for rounding up/truncating for rounding values of 5. (In my case, I chose "odd-truncate, even-round up" as my rule; whether that's standard practice in statistical circles is beyond me.)

[BuzzDraft]

I am very scared of you.

←

Sorry Jay, it's what I know.

I earned my electrical engineering degree from prestigious Georgia Tech... what else other than data reduction could I add to this community of highly trained cooks and chefs and restaurateurs? Learning all I can from foodie sources has made me pretty good in a kitchen, but as a hobbyist. I'm much better at brewing great beers. I'd love to be a food writer when my engineering days are over.

Watch out, I may still add the standard deviation results...

Cheers!

[C_Ruark]

My point was that the *original* scores were rounded to the nearest 0.5.  So not even 1 decimal of precision (e.g. for Quickfires, they'd tally three scores and come up with, say, 3.5, which would mean either 3 1/3 or 3 2/3). 

The rounding for N.37 is dependent on your particular choice of rounding methodology for rounding up/truncating for rounding values of 5.  (In my case, I chose "odd-truncate, even-round up" as my rule; whether that's standard practice in statistical circles is beyond me.)

←

Well as long as you apply the floor / ceiling method as consistently as you can. (not that the original data was treated the same way... )

Migrating back to topic - summing up two episodes of viewing:

/Ep 6/ I would be interested in Johnathan W's plate the most. I like Art's sensibilities as far as offering the diner a "complete" plate (for lack of better def). No faulting the technique, there.

/Ep 7/ Wow did Anita put up a gorgeous plate. Not going to discuss the Scottish egg dish (nice idea though). Hubert played it a little too close to his roots when doing a rework of Anita's. I guess I was expecting a riff similar to J-GV's cooking.

Edited July 30, 2009 by C_Ruark (log)