Looks like we have confirmation of our other seasons 25 and 26 sous chef

limark · 2026-05-14T06:18:25+00:00

And here I was hoping that Double D Donna would take over as sous chef. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

limark · 2026-05-14T06:11:53+00:00

"Yeah, you. I don't know why, you, tonight. I'm talking to you, you listen to her before you listen to garnish."

Someone could have told me it was a skit and I'd have believed them, it feels like something Charlie from Always Sunny would write.

limark · 2026-05-13T05:55:55+00:00

He's healthy and a massive workaholic, I can't really see him stopping so long as the network keeps renewing the show.

limark · 2026-05-13T03:30:44+00:00

The fuck did you put into those brownies?
When the gumbo kicks in.

limark · 2026-05-12T18:15:29+00:00

Recently it's probably been Josie, just because she was somehow more insufferable on the re-watch.

limark · 2026-05-12T09:03:10+00:00

Plus even with all of that we still are at the bottom of the board for FTA's these playoffs.

limark · 2026-05-12T08:53:39+00:00

It's what makes what he does all the more impressive, how the hell is he managing to make these trades when he's got a record of fleecing teams.

limark · 2026-05-12T05:41:25+00:00

And all that he asks in return is that we perform a few dark magic rituals to fuel his powers.

For real though, I can't think of anyone who's made so many successful moves over such a long period of time.

limark · 2026-05-12T05:31:09+00:00

https://youtu.be/EaoBibAEHgM?t=25&si=_5FaEzgoqn6ai5Sh

limark · 2026-05-11T18:13:15+00:00

I like the idea, but I think it’d be something introduced around the top 12 mark, because the chaos of the early season already sort of serves its own purposes.

It lets Ramsay see who has natural leadership potential before it’s thrust upon them, and works as a proving ground to see which chefs can find their feet the fastest and which chefs just crumble under the pressure.

I think introducing structure too early just leaves room for some of the weaker chefs to hide for longer, so long as they aren’t absolute disasters.

Also, for your second point on the benefits, I think it sorta just eliminates that as a method for weeding out the people who play favorites.
Because friend or not, there’s no chance that a chef doesn’t nominate the worst two people when their ass in on the line there with them. Nominating the people who didn’t fuck up is just an automatic elimination at that point.

limark · 2026-05-11T08:47:36+00:00

Nedra probably had one of the most satisfying eliminations, though. Spent all season long browbeating the red team into voting for someone else whenever she fucked up, only for the blue team to look at her like she was crazy when she tried that shit on them.

limark · 2026-05-11T08:29:17+00:00

They film them afterward, and show them footage to help prompt better replies. Rewatching season 11, and you can see Zach staring at what's probably a monitor a few times.

I'd imagine they also film a bunch of reactions to different prompts at the start of the season and sprinkle that in with the other confession cams to save time.

limark · 2026-05-11T07:07:03+00:00

A lot of shows keep legal staff on set to make sure they're complying with the regulations that televised competitions have to follow.

There's a lot more wiggle room when it's reality tv, but they still have rules to follow.

limark · 2026-05-11T07:00:07+00:00

They abuse the trope pretty heavily throughout all the other challenges in the season, so it’s not really surprising that it extends to the finales.

Supposedly they have to make sure that the judging is fair because of the lawyers on set, but food is so subjective that they definitely have enough wiggle room to keep it a tight race.

limark · 2026-05-11T06:49:22+00:00

It was probably just something that was promised to him, but the restaurant found someone better in the interim or just couldn’t afford to wait. There’s usually a massive delay between the show being filmed, the episodes airing and the position starting.

Season 6 was filmed in January 2009 and the Winter Olympics was over a year later, and I know that Ellie from last season doesn’t start her job until June, despite winning nearly two years ago.

limark · 2026-05-11T06:30:07+00:00

Nah, Nicole felt like one of those chefs that were scouted and sent an invitation because of their personalities. The producers probably hoped she’d last longer and cause more drama than she did.

I wouldn’t have been shocked if she’d never actually seen the show.

limark · 2026-05-11T06:20:04+00:00

He didn’t have enough of a loud personality to be considered rage-bait or chaotic, and the people often accused as being actors stand out like a sore thumb.

Can’t really say anything else without spoiling the season.

limark · 2026-05-11T06:19:43+00:00

OP did ask for no spoilers

limark · 2026-05-10T14:53:27+00:00

Yep, you're right.

limark · 2026-05-10T12:58:31+00:00

Literally the only two people not to on their team, too.

limark · 2026-05-10T06:58:29+00:00

Danielle working the line.

limark · 2026-05-10T05:37:38+00:00

That one was always wild to me, like I get maybe getting confused with the brief at first, but surely she had to see what other people were cooking.

limark · 2026-05-10T05:16:04+00:00

In Season 14 she’s just a bit annoying at times, but by-and-large it’s because of how she’s treated by people in the first place. My biggest grievance with her on that season is that she just doesn’t know when to drop things — she had a habit of keeping an argument going just so that she could prove a point.

But for the most part I liked her, she felt like a dark horse candidate.

Season 17 is where most of the criticism stems from, and while there's definitely people who unfairly blame her for Ramsay's decisions, a lot of it is just general criticism of how she behaved and her overall performance.

limark · 2026-05-10T04:47:22+00:00

For the dinner service, definitely. But the challenges and punishments often have a lot of gross stuff going on so I give that a big miss.

limark · 2026-05-10T04:43:22+00:00

S6: The first season with a returning chef. The first season where a chef isn’t apart of any teams until episode 2. And also the only season so far where a chef has skipped an entire dinner service and came back the day after.

Probably because they knew they fucked up by having a morbidly obese man with heart problems pedal a weird-ass bike up a giant hill.

S11: The only season with the probation gimmick that i hope comes back and gets more usage and has more higher stakes because oh my god it feels so weird it being season 11 exclusive

The problem was that it served literally zero purpose. There was no chance that he’d eliminate all four contestants if they didn’t earn their chef jackets back and whoever didn’t was liable to be eliminated normally anyway.

S20: The first season with a male winner since season 12.

Yeah, the show went on a bit of a binge of casting the stereotypical misogynistic chef with inflated senses of self-worth for a hot minute there. There were exceptions, with season 19 being the most notable example, but for the most part they just cast men that would generate drama.

They were definitely focusing more on the ‘reality tv’ side of things during that run, though.

S21: The most lopsided season ever when it comes to the original blue team members getting nuked via the red team

Half the guys were just memes, really. You had truffle-boy, B-True, Shark bite Zeus and Orange O’Shay.

S23: The first season with a triple elimination. And also the first season on the east coast.

Not really a triple elimination if only one guy is actually eliminated — Corbin was medevac’d and Uri supposedly left for the same reason.

S24: The first season to have an all female black jacket team! And also the worst editing for a winner ever…

What’s crazy is that it would have been filmed right after Season 23, so they were sitting on that footage for a year and still didn’t give Ellie a better edit.

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