It's fun to observe how people work under extremely stressful conditions. Some of them really lose their cool and others think on their feet, making the most of the time on their hands. I'm saying this because I was watching the first episode of the second season of The Next Iron Chef the other day and I couldn't help but observe the different personas each chef brought to that extremely competitive environment.
I love reality shows. Bravo Network's Project Runway and TLC's While You Were Out are amongst my favorites. I'm beginning to like the Next Iron Chef too. I've only seen one show so far so I'm going to temper my enthusiasm and reserve my judgment for later.
Of all the contestants I won't be surprised if Appleman loses his cool at some point. This time he seemed to be venting his frustration on kitchen appliances, two of which broke. He seemed to be struggling with his preparation in the second round and almost gave up. He obviously did something right because the judges loved his egg pasta allowing him to win the round.
Brad Farmerie is such a cynic. A very hard to impress sort of guy. He didn't seem to have too many words of encouragement for his fellow chefs in the first round. Is it important to make friends amidst such intense competition? Is it even possible? Eric and Jehangir didn't seem to be having too many problems making friends. In the second test Jehangir even warned Crenn about her preparation getting over cooked and Eric tried to help Farmerie get his bottle of oil open... *Sigh! Don't you just hate it when the nice guys lose?
Jose Garcias gives the impression of being a very talented yet very modest person. Though his on screen personality is not as flamboyant as some of his competitors, he's obviously got some serious talent.
Of the women, Holly Smith seems to have the most balanced personality. Freitag tends to let her emotions show a bit too clearly.
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