After going to Morimoto a few weeks back, this reporter’s story of an Iron Chef America taping makes more sense. I haven’t actually watched an episode of Iron Chef in its entirety, but my faith in TV expects that this sort of thing happens in reality tv all the time.

Several things slowly dawned on us as we watched the taping. The participants went about their tasks methodically but unhurriedly, as if they had all the time in the world. There was none of the huddling and dialogue among team members that we expected, even though they had to develop a menu from scratch using an unknown ingredient. Like a lightbulb coming on over our heads, we realized that the chefs had known the identity of the main ingredient all along, just as they had known ahead of time which Iron Chef would be paired with the challenger. How else to explain the utter nonchalance displayed by the sous chefs, who fetched ingredients and blended them; toasted, fried, and roasted them; then plated them like they were enjoying a relaxing holiday in the country. The Food Network has admitted as much, saying in the past that the contestants are given a short list of possible secret ingredients ahead of time so the reveal isn’t a total surprise. But I wonder if that list is really longer than one or two items.

What’s the difference between watching reality TV and real fictional TV? At least you’re not being fooled that what you’re watching is Real Life™.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: food, scam, tv