Curtis Broke My Heart…

February 11, 2008 /

Ted and I have watched a couple of episodes of the new season of Take Home Chef, and I’m kinda falling out of love. Sigh. Curtis Stone, the chef, used to surprise people in the grocery store, then go home with them and cook a meal to surprise their family/friend/whatever. I really enjoyed the show, and part of it was the challenge of them looking around in the store and putting together a meal…part of it was seeing the people’s houses, as some were pretty rich and fancy, and some were kind of poor and dumpy…and part was watching the flirty interaction between Curtis and the women he picked up at the store. (I did see an episode or two when he picked up a man, and one or two where the women were over 40, but mainly, young pretty women.)

Well, from what I’ve seen of the new season thus far, it’s changed. Now people write in, or send videos, and ask him to come to their house and cook. Is this more fair, perhaps, than limiting the participants to the type of folks who are to be found shopping in the middle of the morning? Or is it less fair, because it’s limiting the show to the type of folks who know how to apply? I don’t know. I did a quick Google search on ‘season 2 take home chef’, and I came across this nasty tidbit.

June 11th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Here is something interesting- Craigslist.org just posted an “open casting call” for Take Home Chef, asking for men and women between 18-35 to apply to have a dinner cooked for them. So, It sounds like Season 2 is actually a set-up. Rather than actually following the concept of finding someone in the grocery store, it sounds like they will be planted in there, in nice clothes, and instructed to look surprised. Hmmm…

So I guess they’re not planted in the store, it’s a bit more honest than that…he tells us that these people wrote in and why, that kind of thing. But the vibe of the show is different. So far, not loving it. Sigh. Oh, and whereas he used to pay for the groceries with a big wad o’ cash, he now pays with a prominently displayed credit card, ala’ Clinton and Stacy and their “Bank of America Visa Card”.

Sigh. I fear the magic is gone.

10 Comments

  • ML

    February 11, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Bla! Why ruin a good thing? I liked the “find the person at the grocery store” format. Maybe the viewers won’t like this and they’ll go back to the way things were.

  • Py Korry

    February 11, 2008 at 9:16 am

    I not loving the new show, either. Maybe the producers were trying to mix it up a bit so the show wouldn’t get bogged down, but part of the fun was him surprising women in the grocery store.

  • J

    February 11, 2008 at 9:27 am

    AM, there’s a new show coming on TLC now called “Take Home Handyman”, with a very cute carpenter who used to be on “While You Were Out”, Andrew Dan Jumbo. I might have to check that out. 😉 Hey, I have a few construction projects I’d like to get done around here!

  • J

    February 11, 2008 at 10:47 am

    Starshine, sadly, it looks like Andrew does the same thing. Views videos, etc., and picks from them. I guess I’ll just give up on the ‘boyfriends’. Good thing I have Ted!

  • Joan

    February 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    I like the show but felt it was a little staged. I guess because I’ve seen all these “reality” shows evolved into something scripted with drama thrown in. It thought it was funny how the girl would go change into something more sexy while he waited. hmmm. He’s always welcome in my kitchen.