Actually, on the Japanese show, they DO NOT know the secret ingredient. This is form the official Iron Chef Japanese giude. Each chef is given a list of 5-6 item of what MAY be the ingredient, and then they cook! What isn't shown is they have about 15-20 minutes to pow-wow with their assistants before racing up to the stage.
Ahhh, the editing in TV
None of the arguments stating that the outcome is NOT predetermined hold much water, so I have to conclude that the probability IS that the results are 'fixed'. But neither this conclusion, nor my comparison to professional wresting is intended as disparagement, but is simply a way of describing the theatrical nature of the programme as entertainment.
...the competing chefs know that the secret ingredient will be chosen from a list of three they have been given beforehand so that they can, yes, rehearse it doesn't take anything away from how insanely difficult it is to produce five dishes in an hour in that kind of pressured environment[emphasis mine]...
Well, of course it does. One of three is much easier than one of tens of thousands.
...it is as legitimate a competition reality show as any other out there.
Talk about damned with faint praise.
Here in Japan I eat lunch at a restaurant whose owner's son in law appeared as a challenger on the original Japanese Iron Chef. He told me that the participants were given a list of potential ingredients (either 3 or 5, can't remember now). So they did have the opportunity to do a bit of preparation, even though they couldn't be sure what the show's them would be.
He also said that the staff would give the challenger chefs advice if they were running short of time, such as letting them know they could skip the platting and serve the food to plates at the judging table.
It's not like professional wrestling. In professional wrestling the outcome is pre-determined. On Iron Chef the outcome is definitely not pre-determined.
The IC's do have an advantage as they have cooked in the kitchen many times before, and probably know the palates of the judges.
Seyo said, "Thats not true. Every time I watch the show I see the same dishes being plated in multiple servings."
I watched again last night and this is just not true. There are some circumstances where multiple servings are prepared (a whole roast carved table side, communal shabu shabu, etc), but 90% of the time they prepare exactly five plates.
If I remember correctly from FN own special, all the food needs to be cooked within the hour. So the food the judges eat are affected by the pressure of the time limit.
After the hour, then each contestant gets 45 minutes to plate and reheat dishes for judging. The original single dishes they plated during the hour are used for taking all those close-up shots shown before they present each dish to the judges. The plating needs to be the same. I imagine that this period is done such that there isn't an order bias where the person that goes first will have their food still hot while the person that goes later has to have their food just sit there.
This is why the filming takes several hours. Clearly it would be very boring to watch the entire process and make it "real". That's why introductions, cooking, plating, judging, etc. are all smooshed into less than an hour (to account for commercial breaks). Which is Ed's point. It's reality TV. I doubt Survivor would have worked if they showed every contestant 24/7. Or if we actually saw every single audition every season on American Idol. No one would watch these things then.
Final note, since the ICs have many competitions a year, they really can't prep and practice for the potential secret ingredients like the challengers. Which actually seems "rigged" in favor of the challengers.
@dmorriso.......there's no way to prove or disprove. If there was proof, I'd have plenty to say.
This is sort of interesting - it was one of the videos related to the Gawker "pea-nis" video:
"First clue, only one plate is prepared during filming"
Thats not true. Every time I watch the show I see the same dishes being plated in multiple servings.
You win, Ed, it's your blog.
All I'd ask that you provide the same factional expertise to the Irvine stories as you did to rebutting Sietsema's account.
Most people don't manufacture things out of whole cloth on their resume. What Irvine did is the definition of crossing the line when it comes to resume-stuffing. He fabricated significant chunks of his resume. I don't think we have aided and abetted a smear campaign at all. We merely reported on a developing story.
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