Veiwers who are currently watching Top Chef Las Vegas on Arena TV will know who the hot Voltaggio brothers are. There is not need to be down when the show finishes in a few weeks, as they will be seen on an internet show in 2010.

Speaking of chefs and reality TV, Curtis Stone is currently filming Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump. Other contestants on the show include Sharon Osbourne and Cyndi Lauper. The prize is not a job with the Donald, but money towards their favourite charities. (Source: Herald Sun)

Reality TV star Tila Tequila’s  fiancee heiress Casey Johnson has died of an overdose. However Tila is still tweeting. (Source Daily Telegraph)

Season One Australian Idol runner up Shannon Noll has parted ways with Sony music, no news on who he will be signing with. (Source: Daily Telegraph)

Simon Cowell has apparently slept with between 70 and 100 women according to the Daily Mail in an article about Warren Beatty’s sexual dalliances.

News from other American Idol alumni, ABC News has an indepth interview with judge Kara DioGuardi, which talks about how she got into song writing. Also new judge Ellen De Generes talks about her role as a judge here.

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Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi normally doesn’t put a foot wrong in the fashion stakes, but maybe she is still finding her feet when it comes to maternity clothes.

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With all the hype of Chelsea Handler from E channel coming to Australia and doing her show from here, I thought I would check her out. I found this old interview she did with Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi and I found her self-depreciating sense of humour quite funny. Padma talks about her weight, that scar, and her cook book.

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Well my hand has to say well and truly down, as at the moment every second post on this blog seems to have some MasterChef Australia hook in it.

But it would also appear the other commercial stations want to jump on the MasterChef Australia bandwagon with Channel Seven appearing to be commissioning a cooking show.

The article on http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,25851637-10229,00.html says:

A Seven executive is quoted as telling B&T Today that the network intends to have its own cooking program by the end of the year in direct competition with the show that was a ratings juggernaut for Ten.

“The Seven executive confirmed it will launch something competitive in the market that will present a challenge to Ten’s series one success,” the magazine reported online.

Also Channel Nine are also working on a cooking show called The Great Aussie Cook-Off.

Thankfully Arena TV will start screening Top Chef Master’s  next Thursday 6 August at 7.30pm. Top Chef: Masters is an American reality competition show. In it, culinary professionals compete against each other in weekly challenges – a contrast from Top Chef, which features chefs that have been called relative “culinary amateurs”. MasterChef Australia took some aspects from this show for their challenges eg the wedding challenge.

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Stefan Practising Posing For His Underwear Range

Stefan Richter who was runner up in Top Chef New York to Hosea has been a busy boy since the cameras stopped rolling. He has  released a cook book/memoirs called Dirty Deeds which he calls a Kitchen Confidential except dirtier. Source: LA Times Blog.

He also has an underwear line which looks particulary tacky check some of it out here. Also I had trouble getting into the official site so maybe it has gone bust.

Also now he has opened a restaurant in LA and it appears to be reasonably priced. Full story in LA Eater.

For readers who are still getting over Stefan’s loss here is a blog by Tom Colluchio where he defends Hosea’s win. On the other hand Toby Young who was also at the judges table was pushing for Stefan – read about his thoughts on the final here.

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Now Top Chef has always had some dubious sponsorship deals with some pre-packaged food companies. But food bloggers are aghast that he is now spruiking diet coke. If you don’t believe me here is the ad.

Last night’s episode of Top Chef New York was as ususal very entertaining. The chefs had to cook for Food & Wine Editor and judge Gail Simmons bridal shower. They were in teams cooking under the themes old, new, borrowed, and blue.

Stefan’s arrogance knows no bounds.  He has a crush on Jamie who said “Doesn’t the word lesbian mean anything to him?”. Well Jamie I doubt it, he probably thinks he can turn you.

The elimination challenge was fun to watch. Carla and Danny teams did some sort of DIY deconstructed sushi, which they forgot to tell the guests how to eat. It was a huge mess and you knew someone from that team was going home.  Danny was the one who had to pack his knives and go.

Exit interview with Danny here..

Ariane won much to Jamie’s disgruntlement for her lamb.

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Padma With New Boyfriend

Padma on Monday night’s episode of Top Chef spat out Ariane cherry martini dessert in disgust. Apparently she has only spat out once before. This would be something of a relief for Ted Forstmann the CEO of IMG who Padma is apparently seeing. Yes there does appear to be an age difference, but she was married previously to Salman Rushdie. Anyway Dlisted gives a much more articulate account on why beautiful models go for older rich guys than I ever could.

Anyway back to the show, Ariane who serves that dessert in her restaurant still couldn’t get it right, but even though this was her second week in a row in the bottom three it was Jill who was booted due to the misuse of a ostrich egg.

As any avid reality TV viewer will tell you that after watching an Amazing Race challenge where the contestants had to eat an ostrich egg, they are not at all tasty. Why would you serve up an ingredient you had never tasted before? For that stupidity she deserved to be eliminated. Here is her exit interview here.

The elimination was to serve New American food to the chef’s who had applied and had not got on the program in Tom’s New York flagship restaurant Craft.

The extremely charming Fabio won (is charm in Italians genes?) with beef carpaccio which looked delicious, but is it new american food?

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Today is the first day of a new America. I hope we get to see great things from President Obama.

Anyway reality TV is all pervasive these day and I have managed to find some links to the inauguration.

Blogging Project Runway has an article about Season 5 Project Runway winner Leanne Marshall showing at the The Presidential Inaugural Luncheon and Fashion Show.

Tim Gunn talks Obama, the inauguration and Washington DC as it relates to fashion.

Also Spike from Top Chef will be getting the party started at his inauguration party at his Good Stuff Eatery. But here he gives some ideas for a menu for an at home inauguration parties.

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The Padma way of eating ribs

Stefan the chef from Finland laid down the gauntlet to the other contestants in the first episode of Top Chef New York by winning both the quick fire challenge and and the elimination challenge. In fact Padma came up with an interesting fact at the judges table where she said in the past four seasons bar one the Top Chef winners had been in the top three in the first episode. So on that equation Stefan, Leah or Gene will be the winner of this series.

But first up one of the 17 chefs was not even going to make it into the groovy Williamsburg apartment. The quickfire challenge was not only going to award immunity but also for the first time be an elimination challenge.

In homage to New York it was a three part apple challenge (get it Big Apple), involving peeling, brunoise the apples ( a posh way to say diced up), and cooking a dish with apple in it.

Stefan won the challenge, and Lauren and Patrick two friends were in the bottom.

Lauren one of the more inexperienced chefs at only 24 was eliminated. “I did not even get to see the kitchen,” she lamented.

The elimination challenge was to team up in pairs and sent to different parts of New York to get ingredients to cook a dish that was based on the ethnicity of that area.

You knew Patrick the culinary student, (I thought the show was Top Chef not Top Student) was out of his depth when he bought the black rice noodles to cook.

Stefan won with his middle eastern dish of a tabbouli salad with a lamb chop and a beef onion skewer. While his other team member Ariane a chef from New Jersey was in the bottom with an under cooked cous cous, a yogurt crusted rack of lamb, and a wheat risotto with dates and chickpeas.

However she survived for another week with Patrick eliminated for his chinese dish of salmon with bok choy and black rice noodles. As Tom Colluchio said “putting Bok Choy on a plate does not make it chinese.”

Elimination interviews with Lauren and Patrick are here.

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Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colluchio

Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colluchio are back for our viewing pleasure with the commencement of Top Chef New York tonight at 8.30pm on Arena TV.

There are some changes this series as Toby Young will be taking over the judging duties from Ted Allen who has jumped to another show on another network. Young is  a best-selling British author and food critic. Early reviews from the US where the show has started give him the thumbs up.

Seriouseats says Young does not hold back. They sayLondon food criticism and nastiness go hand in hand, and Young was nasty in the best of ways.

Could he be the new Simon Cowell?

In addition, Top Chef: New York will also feature guest appearances by several culinary and mainstream stars including Martha Stewart, The Foo Fighters, Jean-Georges, Eric Ripert, Rocco DiSpirito, Wylie Dufresne, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Natasha Richardson

However what you really want to know is who are the chef’testants.

Cast Of Top Chef New York

The 17 new Top Chef: New York contestants — whose ages range from 21 to 44 — are:
 
- Alex, a 33-year-old executive chef from New York, NY who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

- Ariane, a 41-year-old chef and restaurant owner from Verona, NJ.

- Carla, a 44-year-old chef and catering business owner from Nashville, TN who currently resides in Washington, D.C.

- Danny, a 26-year-old executive chef from New Hyde Park, NY.

- Fabio, a 30-year-old restaurant owner from Florence, Italy who currently resides in Moorpark, CA.

- Gene, a 33-year-old executive sushi chef and chef consultant from Whitmore Village, HI who currently resides in Las Vegas, NV.

- Hosea, a 26-year-old executive chef and restaurant owner from Taos, NM who currently resides in Boulder, CO.

- Jamie, a 30-year-old executive chef from New York, NY. who currently resides in San Francisco,
CA.

- Jeff, a 30-year-old chef du cuisine from Niceville, FL who currently resides in Miami, FL.

- Jill, a 28-year-old executive chef from Latrobe, PA who currently resides in Baltimore, MD.

- Lauren, a 24-year-old chef tournant from Cincinnati, OH who is currently stationed at Fort
Stewart in Georgia.

- Leah, a 27-year-old sous chef from Scarsdale, NY who currently resides in New York, NY.

- Melissa, a 28-year-old sous chef from Maryland who currently resides in Boulder, CO.

- Patrick, a 21-year-old culinary student from Quincy, MA who currently resides in Hyde Park, NY.

- Radhika, a 28-year-old executive chef from Chicago, IL.

- Richard, a 27-year-old executive sous chef from Long Island, NY who currently resides in San Diego, CA.

- Stefan, a 35-year-old chef from Tampere, Finland who currently resides in Santa Monica, CA. 
 

By the way Bravo TVare now selling I heart Padma t-shirts for $24.95.

Don’t worry hubbie I have got one ordered for you for Valentine’s Day.

Top Design 2 a fantastic reality TV show where interior designers  compete against each other also commences tonight at 9.30pm on Arena. As does the Australian made series The Phone which debuts on Fox 8 at 8.30pm. This show is like The Amazing Race where a person is given clues by phone that they have to follow to win the $25,000 prize money.

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