Of course when it comes to product placement, there’s the classic M&Ms blunder that led to Reese’s Pieces getting a huge bump thanks to “ET.”
And the food program on the History Channel here in the US explained how James Bond came to drink vodka martinis (made with Smirnoff).
OK, that’s my drift for now. I still haven’t caught the last two episodes of TC yet.
Yup, there’s a reason that anyone recognizably using an iPhone in a fictionalized American television show or film has the default Apple ringtone, and that reason is product placement.
It’s much more blatant on a show like TC, but as silly and tenuous as the tie-in between Fast and Furious and the mise en place race, it’s less objectionable than when they try y try to create a food challenge artificially tied to a movie (i.e Jurassic Park).
Product placement is more complicated than a company “paying” people to use products. It can be allowing the product, mounting a tie-in, or any number of arrangements than nonetheless capitalise on the synergy of two brands, the occasion for enhanced brand association, and greater visibility.
I really need to stop but as you’ll see from the other examples, it’s a feature of commercial programming and film than manifests in many ways.
As for Fast and the Furious— Top Chef in all of its US seasons has definitely made the clumsiest spectacles of their sponsors and tie-ins.
FF has less food rationale but its global locations and its global appeal means it was actually a reasonable choice done for very little outlay. And I can say that while I have yet to watch one, many of my friends and colleagues are fans— the viewers cross many demographics which adds to the appeal of using it.
Me too! I know head or executive chefs don’t do mise en place work on most days, but no one is born a great chef. I love seeing them get back to their roots and showcasing those skills. Always fun too when they work with ingredients they don’t know. But as a top chef and not knowing how to French a lamb rack surprised me. Unless you’re one of those who work in small, specialty restaurants your entire career, it seems like working with lamb is standard (at least in the US show).
And also yes, that fast and furious tire in was big cringe. Felt worse than the Jurrasic World tie in from last season.
I guess the head chefs still knowing how to chop and debone is similar to Project Runway where they have to be great designers and know how to sew. I used to feel bad for a designer with lots of design talent but not some much on technical skills. I think I still prefer the mise en place challenge to be the first challenge and something bigger and more creative for main challenge.
I read Padma’s memoir last year and I keep thinking about how she said she got so incredibly full (to the point of sickness) on judging days. So much food in so little time 
The EC in TC9 where they had to cook food “Fit for An Evil Queen” with Charlize Theron from the movie “Snow White & The Huntsman” was probably the best version of this tie-in theme.
I finally watched the latest episode; on my cell phone! @Annegrace 's recap link helped me make sense of it This is the Uproxx reviewer! I should have known that.
I still love a mis en place race
I was also thinking of that one, and I agree. Some of those dishes were really inventive.
That reviewer is so funny and on point. He said that would be his last Uproxx review 2 weeks ago, so I started following him on Twitter and found the review he wrote for this week.
Thanks! I kept seeing the countdown, but wasn’t planning to try Twitter.
I did not care for this version of restaurant wars. I like to see the planning and the ideas from all the chefs. I hope they go back to the old format. Restaurants wars is my favorite episode and this didn’t do it for me.
I agree. It was so meh!
Another great recap. This guy is the best. Pretty good episode. I actually liked that one of the chefs didn’t have to also be the host/hostess.
Thanks, and same. Paying attention to food and not have a person booted because they were a bad host was a nice change. (And it was clear that informing staff of the theme and intentions was an important part regardless.)
Can someone explain the timing of when each team was presenting their food?
I was a bit confused. It looked like they both were in the same space so could not be working at the same time which is what usually happens in RW. Root was shown first. Did United Kitchen have time before they were up - maybe not cooking but hanging out waiting? I was trying to figure out when Sara had time to write that booklet which certainly helped her team.
Or am I missing something altogether?
This is from a recap-
“They’ll have a five-hour cook that day and will have one hour and 45 minutes the next day at Core to finalize plates and prep for service.”
So I think the day before they prepped for 5 hours and then each got 1 hour and 45 minutes to prep on the day of service. I think the judges ate one meal and then had almost 2 hours off and came back for second meal. Makes my stomach hurt thinking of all that eating…!
Yeah, I do miss the planning and all that fun bit of putting a restaurant concept together. I actually loved that the chef’s table got to see the prep (btw, the restaurant space and the kitchen design - loved that). They mentioned that the emphasis would be on the food, but I can’t say that I was particularly blown away by the food either. Nothing outright terrible, but it seemed to be the same caliber of food you get with every RW episode.
With some international chefs who never had the RW experience, I’m surprised that the losing team went with the “oh, global cuisine concept!”…again. How many times has that been tried in the US RW episodes? Seems like it’s one team every season or at least every other season, and it rarely wins.
Review I read pointed out that Victoire picked Tom first and neither of their Top chef shows (Italy and Germany, I think) had included Restaurant Wars so maybe not a good first pick. Yeah none of the dishes looked that appetizing. Sara’s fish dish with the weird name got raves though and I thought she was going to win. Looks like Buddha is coasting to the finals.
Thank you for the summary. I do still wonder what United Kitchen was doing while the judges rested and digested after visiting Root. If they were allowed to be together it seems to me they had an unfair advantage. But maybe I’m still missing something. I’m going to have to search out some more recaps.
