Wednesday, November 12
Ted Allen Won't Return to Top Chef
... at least not this season!
Tom Colicchio, head judge of Bravo's Top Chef, recently let it slip that Ted Allen would not be returning to Top Chef this season since Ted's Food Network show Food Detectives was renewed.
"Okay, maybe he's busy shooting new episodes," I said outloud to myself, as I normally do when reading newspaper articles online.
But Tom doesn't say it's a scheduling conflict preventing Ted from returning.
Instead, he says: "They [the Food Network] have a policy that they can't do our show."
This would appear to contradict what Ted has said in previous interviews about his unique relationship working with both Food Network (on Iron Chef) and Bravo (with Top Chef). He had indicated that both networks were okay with the arrangement.
Perhaps FN was fine having him work for the competition while he was just judging Iron Chef... but apparently not any longer.
****
That's sad. I liked Ted on Top Chef. He's being replaced by Toby Young, a British food critic and author. [Delaware Online]
Tom Colicchio, head judge of Bravo's Top Chef, recently let it slip that Ted Allen would not be returning to Top Chef this season since Ted's Food Network show Food Detectives was renewed.
"Okay, maybe he's busy shooting new episodes," I said outloud to myself, as I normally do when reading newspaper articles online.
But Tom doesn't say it's a scheduling conflict preventing Ted from returning.
Instead, he says: "They [the Food Network] have a policy that they can't do our show."
This would appear to contradict what Ted has said in previous interviews about his unique relationship working with both Food Network (on Iron Chef) and Bravo (with Top Chef). He had indicated that both networks were okay with the arrangement.
Perhaps FN was fine having him work for the competition while he was just judging Iron Chef... but apparently not any longer.
****
That's sad. I liked Ted on Top Chef. He's being replaced by Toby Young, a British food critic and author. [Delaware Online]
Labels: food network, Ted Allen
posted by jacob @ 10:27 AM
18 Comments:
This blows. Bravo's loss is Food Network's . . .not even gain, really. Bravo's loss is Food Network's indifferent "meh."
Ted Allen, this years honorable nominee for Bourdain/Ruhlman's Golden Clog Award in the "Rocco" category.
You lie down with dogs, you wake up with Tuschman ticks Teddy Boy.
FN is jealous of Bravo's success with Top Chef. How do you think FN feels that the top-rated food show is on another network?
I lost respect for Ted Allen with his show aka the latest debacle for FN. Ted's looking out for number one, which is OK. He's not St. Foodie!
When his FN show ends he will probably be a guest judge on a future season. I've never seen a guest judge from FN before except for Anthony Bourdain but we know how he feels about FN.
Top Chef starts tonight. Woo Hoo
fine by me
ted and his pursey little lips annoy the hell outta me......
Ted is frequently a judge on Iron Chef. What about that gig?
My guess is there's a difference between APPEARING on a Food Network show (Iron Chef) and actually STARRING on a Food Network show (Food Detectives). Now that he's working for the network on a regular basis it seems reasonable that they wouldn't want him out there supporting the competition.
That said, I'm happy to see Ted lose out on some of his free meals. Aside from the Chairman (who gets to eat EVERY Iron Chef meal) Ted has got to be the best fed person on television. It's not right that someone gets paid to eat all that crazy-good (at least in the second half of the season) Top Chef food, too.
On a completely different subject - what in the world is Gail Simmons' affiliation with Food&Wine magazine? They always say, "Gail Simmons of Food&Wine," but I'm hard pressed to find any evidence of that in the magazine or on the web.
My jealousy of these good meals is starting to show. Sorry.
My guess is there's a difference between APPEARING on a Food Network show (Iron Chef) and actually STARRING on a Food Network show (Food Detectives). Now that he's working for the network on a regular basis it seems reasonable that they wouldn't want him out there supporting the competition.
That said, I'm happy to see Ted lose out on some of his free meals. Aside from the Chairman (who gets to eat EVERY Iron Chef meal) Ted has got to be the best fed person on television. It's not right that someone gets paid to eat all that crazy-good (at least in the second half of the season) Top Chef food, too.
On a completely different subject - what in the world is Gail Simmons' affiliation with Food&Wine magazine? They always say, "Gail Simmons of Food&Wine," but I'm hard pressed to find any evidence of that in the magazine or on the web.
My jealousy of these good meals is starting to show. Sorry.
Re Gail: this is a link to her section on the F&W website:
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/gail-simmons
FN seems to have a stick up it's ass a about Top Chef. Apparently they hate it when someone does something better than them.
Gail Simmons is the director of special events or something like that for Food and Wine, and she writes occassional articles. She has a lot to do with the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen as well as the annual parties for the "Top New Chefs" or whatever it's called.
Top Chef debuted last night and I doubt very much they are gonna miss Ted one bit.
Give me a Jean George Vongerichten anyday.
Maybe the producers of Top Chef gassed Ted not wanting to bring down their professional image after doing such an amateur show ?
Ted wrote on his blog over a month ago that wouldn't be a judge on Top Chef:
"Bravo has just announced the November launch of the fifth season of “Top Chef,” and, as you might have heard, I’ve said sayonara to Judges Table. Why, many bloggers and reporters wondered? Well, I’ve had enviable luck, in my opinion, at getting away with judging food on two competing networks over these past five seasons of “Top Chef” and “Iron Chef America.” But I knew all along that if I ever got a larger presence on some other show, I was going to have to commit to one network or another. Food Network, it is!... choosing to take the wheel of my own show over a fifth season as a judge on somebody else’s show was an easy call."
http://www.tedallen.net/Blog/Entries/2008/10/11_Food_Detectives_lands_second_season.html
first they took away our marriage rights, now they've taken away Ted. good god what's next.
It doesn't matter. I think one of things that hurt Top Chef last season was when Colicchio missed an episode and Bourdain stood in for him. The head judge needs to be there for the entire season so that he can see how the chefs are progressing. Tom was that guy last year up until he had to miss a week.
I agree anon 1:53 and I believe Tom agrees as well. In his blog he did not agree with the decision that week.
How can he not agree with the decision if he didn't taste the food?
I think Tom had to miss it because the launch of his LA restaurant was going very badly. I admire him for putting his real life chef duties above his TV chef judging duties.
And thanks to all for the gail info.
It's probably because Ted Allen is hosting a chef competition show on Food Network. Not the same drawn out process of Top Chef, but similar enough. The commercials for the show aired this weekend.
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