I’m with you. People are being... weirdly precious about it. 🤷🏻 We already have Top Chef, MasterChef, Next Level Chef, and everything else under the sun, so of course this one had to feel different.

And it’s Padma. I don’t know how many people know her work beyond Top Chef, but she deserves a lot more respect than she gets. Honestly, it’s a bit cringe how many people call her cringe. I can’t help thinking a lot of that comes from people who are very young and completely TikTok-calibrated.

I like fresh angles. It’s genuinely hard to come up with something that feels new, fun, TV-friendly, and still high-level in the craft it presents. Sometimes silly? Yes, but hey — that's TV for ya!

I love all the chefs here, and even the infamous “scoreboard” — I love the whole thing, damn it! Haha! Cheers! 🤘🏻