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@pbj88 I sort of figured that she's not vapid in real life. Also, after I wrote that I read a blog entry of hers on the Bravo website and she reads more intelligently. This isn't the first time that I've read the writings of a female TV host and noticed the disconnect between how they're portrayed on TV (often vapid, ditzy etc.) vs. how they appear in writing (often intelligent, witty, with personality). I remember reading Teresa Strasser's website years ago and being both shocked and impressed with her intelligence and writing experience. She seemed like such an airhead on TLC's While You Were out.

I guess the challenge then, is to convey a host's personality on TV and not make them into airheads (there might be a thesis in gender studies in there some where).

I revise my above statement from "Kelly Choi makes me wonder if there's a guideline or standard in TV broadcasting that states that female reality TV hosts must be vapid." to "Kelly Choi makes me wonder if there's a guideline or standard in TV broadcasting that states that female reality TV hosts must be portrayed as vapid."

and I agree - I love TCM way more than TCO (my vote) because of the element of fun rivalry! These chefs come across as so much fun and nice. Leaves a much better taste in my mouth...

I watched this episode on a weekend when I was catching up on various TV shows and had watched the Lost episode of Ace of Cakes earlier in the day. It was accidentally a Lost-filled foodie TV day!
(I didn't know that TCM would be Lost-themed.)

I preferred episode 2 of TCM over episode 1 but I think that's because I just didn't understand the concept the first time and was expecting it to be more like TC.

I enjoyed this episode a lot. The challenges were fun. The chefs are hilarious. The dynamic all of the chefs (and of course Dufresne and Bowles) was fantastic. I liked Elizabeth's cookie baking initiative. She's adorable with charisma and an awesome smile. I think she'd be really cool to hang out with over drinks.

Overall, I'm enjoying the concept more than I thought I would. It's cool to see former guest judges in the hot seat. Dufresne was under the fire this week! Hubert Keller last week mentioned his new found understanding for past competitors that he's judged. I think it was him who said that every judge should be on the other side (or something to that effect).

In the end, they're all winners because of the experience and the donations to their charities.

Kelly Choi makes me wonder if there's a guideline or standard in TV broadcasting that states that female reality TV hosts must be vapid. That said, it's Choi's first time hosting this show so I can cut her some slack.

I'm not a fan of Padma either but her personality has somewhat emerged as TC has progressed. She seems more comfortable with her role now than she did in her first season. It's possible that Choi isn't vapid in real life and I apologize for referring to her as such, but that's how she seems.

Although, I did like the cookie thing....

I'm really liking TCM. TCTOS just makes me angry with all the drama. I find it hard to watch. But this episode and the last were fun. It's nice seeing people being competitive without being jerks about it.

I can't say that I don't like the host since she leaves absolutely no impression on me. She's got to bring out some personality.

The cookie moment at the end was really sweet.

This makes for two well-run contests in a row. I very much look forward to seeing Chef Tracht compete again in the future.

I am American of Asian descent, and people thought I was dangerously skinny, too! I ate all the time, and I still couldn't gain weight. Once I hit my mid-20s, my metabolism slowed and now I can't even lose 5 lbs. even when I have the stomach flu. Therefore, I don't find Kelly Choi skinny at all or unqualified to be a host. If anything, I agree with the other commenters about wishing she'd state her opinion more. Perhaps she has stuff to say, but was edited out in favor of what the masters and the judges have to say. I'd love to see the very knowledgeable Alton Brown as a host, but he's on a competing network.

OK. You had me worried for a minute there, artychoke, that I had put a spoiler in. We try to be very careful not to do that. And we put the big, all-caps, bold warning before the "jump" on the site itself. In RSS, I try to make sure the spoiler info is far enough down from that warning that you can stop reading before you scroll to it.

The hot rumor is that Susan Boyle is going to host the next series so people will stop complaining about good looking, physically fit, women hosting the show.

I'm really enjoying TCMasters, seeing them perform under the weight of their reputations. It must be such a ego thump not to perform well. But I find Kelly Choi really distracting. She wears a ridiculous amount of make up and she is thin to the point of looking unhealthy. I feel sorry for any woman in the entertainment industry because we are such critics of their physiques ("She's too...fat, thin, tall, short, large breasted, fat ankled, etc, etc.), but I find her skinnyness when hosting a cooking show to be almost insulting. They couldn't find someone who looks like she actually eats food?

@pksmash: Good point. You're absolutely right, and I noticed that while watching but then failed to note it in the recap above. Surprised, too, that the judges didn't mention it. Maybe they liked the value. ;)

@DanielJ: Yeah. I did like what I saw. Started watching a few eps in to Season 1. What frustrated me was the 1 step forward 2 steps back nature of the show, which I suppose is what many people love. It got frustrating having to wait till the next week. Maybe now that I can watch them ALL AT ONCE on DVD I'd like it more. But at this point, I'm afraid that would be a HUGE time suck.

Anybody else notice that all of the chefs last night prepared amuses that were not amuses. Every single judge in the amuse competitions in TC would have called out a chef for the dishes being too large, i.e. not amuses. Funny how the judging seemed to skip over this...