Top Chef is a popular reality TV show but it has seen a lot of major changes since it started nearly 20 years ago(currently in season 16). If you watch the show, there is no doubt that you’ve noticed these changes yourself. If you aren’t so familiar with it, read on to see what the five biggest changes have been.
1. It used to be an actual competition
How has Top Chef changed since its first season? If you follow the show, then you probably already know that it has been on for about 12 years now. For anyone that’s counting, that’s 16 seasons because every once in awhile, they’ll do two seasons in one calendar year. This is a show that’s like so many other reality television shows. It started out as a true competition, pitting different people against each other in the kitchen. It would start out with a lot of contestants and progressively eliminate one contestant after each episode until they got down to the final two, who would then face off to see who would ultimately be crowned the winner. This is a format that is frequently used in all types of game shows, competitions and these days, reality TV.
2. Now it’s all about the drama
With all that being said, the show has definitely changed a lot over the years. This is a time when people can’t seem to get enough of the drama that goes on with reality TV and unfortunately, it’s something that everyone seems to be cashing in on because it sells. This show doesn’t feel like it’s really all that much of a competition anymore. Instead, it feels a lot more like all of the other reality TV that’s out there, such as Survivor, The Bachelor, so on and so forth. As such, the show has really started to focus a lot more on the drama that goes on during this competition than anything else. When it first started it was about people cooking different things and trying to outdo one another. There was some type of quality about it that almost made it feel innocent, like a good-natured contest where everybody was out to do their best but was still happy for whoever won.
3. You know more about the contestants than you ever wanted to know
These days, there’s a lot more time spent on learning the backstory of each contestant and for the most part, it deals with all of their drama and strife in other areas of their life. There’s plenty of drama on the set, too. Much of the time that the cameras are rolling, it’s as much about people fighting with each other as it is about cooking. You have contestants that are trying to stab each other in the back, sabotage each other’s recipes, and do all sorts of things they shouldn’t be doing in order to win this competition and all the while, you have contestants that are getting upset and crying over things the judges say. It seems like the show focuses more on that aspect of things than it does anything else and to be honest, it’s a little off-putting.
4. People have accused it of being scripted
This didn’t happen all at once. As a matter of fact, it took some time. It’s sort of the same type of trajectory that another popular reality competition show, Dancing with the Stars, has experienced. It started out with what seemed like an innocent enough format but over the years, each little bit of controversy saw the ratings get better and better so the next thing you knew, there was more controversy. With each one of these types of shows, it’s gotten to the point that people have to be asking themselves how much of it is really something that they’re watching unfold in reality and how much of it is scripted. There can’t possibly be that much drama going on with every single person that shows up on one of these television shows.
5. There have been all kinds of celebrity specials and spin-offs
The funny thing is, the ratings on this show have done nothing but increase. As previously mentioned, this seems to be what sells these days and the more times that you see somebody behaving in this manner the more popular the show becomes. For some who watched it strictly for the competition, there’s no doubt that they’ve decided to tune into something else but for others, they can’t seem to get enough of this type of infighting that goes on week after week. As a matter of fact, the show is become so popular that not only are there a number of specials with celebrities, but the show has seen several spin-offs of its own, one of them including kids that are on there trying to compete as chefs. If you’re into this sort of thing, you might want to tune in to Bravo and watch it but if you have enough drama going on in your own life, you might decide to stick with something else.
Follow Us
