The “Top Chef” Quickfire Challenge was about to start filming and Padma Lakshmi – presenter, judge and executive producer on the longtime Bravo program – was being agitated by people wearing masks and face shields.
“It’s a lot of copying to pass,” said Lakshmi, who would soon have to describe a complicated “Black Box” challenge – one imported from “Top Chef: France” – to the five remaining contestants on the program this Sunday afternoon in mid-October. At Quickfire, cheftestants (to use the artistic term of “Top Chef” fans) would enter a box without light, one at a time, for five minutes, to try to replicate a dish in front of them in the darkness. With a night vision camera, viewers will see chefs tasting, smelling and feeling the food to discover its ingredients and how it was prepared. The dish was created by a local star from the Portland, Oregon food scene – chef and restaurant owner Gabriel Rucker.
“I fought for you to have more time,” Lakshmi told the frightened-looking chefs with his patented half smile. “I have limited power.”
Welcome to the first season of “Top Chef” to be filmed during the COVID-19 era. Produce a show with so many complex elements – a huge team, fast-paced action and, above all, food – seemed impossible last March, when the coronavirus stopped the production of TV and films. But after careful planning, the 18th season was filmed in September and October in Portland, and opens on Thursday, April 1, Bravo announced on Monday.
Courtesy of David Moir / Bravo
The brains behind the Emmy-winning franchise – network executives, program producers and their producer, Magical Elves – have wanted to define the show in Portland for years. After all, it makes sense: “It was a city we always wanted to go to because the food scene was so vibrant here,” said Lakshmi in an interview on Zoom. (The videoconferencing application also enabled viewing the challenge’s filming hours.)
According to Matt Reichman, Bravo executive, who oversees the show, choosing host cities for “Top Chef” is an “endless cycle” of preparation that begins years in advance. In 2012, “Top Chef” established its 10º season in Seattle, but as “a world-class culinary destination”, Portland was a natural choice for the show, Reichman said.
And they persisted – even after the Trump administration sent federal troops to the city over the summer, to crush the protests that swept the country, triggered by the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
“Once we were committed, we all felt strongly that Portland was a perfect setting,” said Reichman. “We want to reframe the conversation about Portland and bring it back to the incredible and special place that it is, while honoring what’s going on there.
The Top Chef’s trusted brain knew about civil unrest in Portland – the fatal fires in Oregon in September, however, were a surprise.
But first of all, they had to figure out the logistics of filming this particular show during a pandemic.
“Like everyone, we were all looking forward to getting back to work,” said Lakshmi. “But we wanted to make sure that we can do the show, yes, by keeping everyone safe – but also not by reducing the quality of the show that our audience is used to.”
As the big industry was working to develop COVID protocols – for PPE, for testing and how the sets are organized – Bravo was doing the same thing and adapting security rules for its specific shows. For “Top Chef”, who has an especially large team for an improvised program (around 150 people), the broadcaster and the program’s producers had to divide the departments into separate zones that operate at different times. “I am very close to my culinary producer, Sandee Birdsong,” said Lakshmi of the “Top Chef: Miami” contestant who has since become a producer on the show. “I am not allowed to go out with her! I talk to her on the phone and wave to her from across the studio. “
In the past, judges – Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons – shared the dishes that competitors cooked: “We don’t share dishes in all this season, ”said Lakshmi. And because the set has to be socially distant, “Unfortunately for me, during Quickfires, I’m not going around the room for their seasons anymore,” she said. (The judges’ table is now U-shaped to keep them two meters away.)
Health protocols have also had to change. Cleanliness has been a problem at “Top Chef” since his debut episode in 2006, when the first competitor to be eliminated from the program was expelled for tasting a plate with his finger instead of a spoon. But now standards have reached a whole new level: tasting spoons must be discarded after each tasting, for example, and competitors have their own containers of individual spices, instead of sharing them. “They are definitely working cleaner and washing their hands a lot more,” says showrunner Doneen Arquines, “We just have to make time to do these things.”
Simmons, Colicchio and Lakshmi flew to Portland together in private and lived on Airbnbs. The COVID test was performed on alternate days, Lakshmi said: “And I don’t mean every working day or alternate day that I’m filming. I mean, if I’m not on set, the nurse comes to my house, wakes me up and gets me out of bed. ”(Her 10-year-old daughter and nanny were also tested at the same rate.)
Courtesy of David Moir / Bravo
As for the contestants and the crew, they lived in a bubble at a Portland hotel that had no other guests. A Top Chef’s delight has always been to see some of the best chefs in the world appear on the show as guest judges – so how would they do it this season without bursting this security bubble? The answer turned out to be what Arquines called an “all-star panel of judges” of “Top Chef” alumni joining the bubble – chefs who since the show have become famous for their own rights. (Richard Blais, Tiffany Derry, Kwame Onwuachi and Brooke Williamson will be among them.)
“I must say it has been a lot of fun and a godsend to have these alumni with us,” said Lakshmi. “Otherwise, it’s the same three people.”
“It’s good for the show,” she continued. “It is good for chefs to receive this feedback.”
The decimation of the restaurant world during the pandemic took into account who, among the “Top Chef” alumni, was available – as well as the cheftestants who signed up this year, Reichman thinks. The caliber of talent in “Top Chef” has always been at the highest level, he said: “But I think there were probably a handful of chefs who always wanted to do this, but didn’t make it – and now they are at home. Their restaurants are closing – perhaps they saw it as an opportunity. “
“Now they have the opportunity to do that and try to reverse this terrible situation for them,” said Reichman. “Get your name out there and build your credibility. And once – fingers crossed – everything turns in the world and they can get back to work, they will prosper. “
Arquines added: “The most important thing is that you are seeing all these chefs who have their own restaurants competing, and you will hear how they are having to deal with life through COVID.”
“You will hear from Tom Colicchio too – our chief judge is handling this!” Reichman said.
Yes, as happened with the Bravo docusoaps that filmed during the pandemic – like several installments of the franchise “Real Housewives”, “Southern Charm” and “Summer House” – what is happening in the world will be very reflected in the show: even in the very challenges. There will be a drive-in movie challenge, Reichman said: “So, everyone was a long way away, but we’re still feeding hundreds of people”; there will be a challenge in which competitors feed frontline workers with, he said, “delivery to multiple hospitals in the Portland metropolitan area”.
And the fan favorite elimination challenge “Restaurant Wars” – which means the midpoint of each season – has also been adjusted. Typically, two teams have to create a pop-up restaurant from scratch, for which they are responsible for the decoration and service, as well as the food, while serving dozens of customers.
Clearly, it is a challenge that would not occur in the COVID era. The solution, Arquines said, was something that Reichman wanted to experience before the pandemic: a war at the chef’s table, in which the two teams serve jurors a tasting menu in the kitchen. “They are watching the whole service, a seven-course meal – very sophisticated,” said Arquines.
“It’s the season’s perennial favorite for viewers, for competing chefs, for judges,” said Reichman. They wanted to “pay homage” to what restaurants are doing now, he said: “Will there be takeout food wars? Will it be pickup wars on the sidewalk? “
“And what we really liked was that idea,” continued Reichman. “He looked like a chef, he seemed to be at stake. We were really inspired by some of the best restaurants around the world that are doing this. “
The showrunner of “Top Chef”, Doneen Arquines.
Courtesy of David Moir / Bravo
Part of Portland’s appeal was its natural beauty – and the production tried to orient themselves to shooting as much outdoors as possible. “Oregon is all about nature,” said Arquines. But while the show was able to stave off protests in the city, which were taking place mainly in downtown Portland, the forest fires that started filming in early September were “a huge production curve,” said Reichman.
There were several fires across the state that month, which killed 11 people and gave Portland the worst air quality in the world in weeks. “This is a house of cards,” said Reichman of the show’s intricate schedule. “And then, when the fire came, completely eliminating our ability to shoot outdoors, and even inside home in some cases where we were unable to avoid the smoke – it changed our entire season for the role. “
They had to change the schedule around, changing locations and days off for it to work. But in the 18th season of the show, with a veteran team (Arquines started as a production assistant in his first season), they made it work. “The testament goes to producers who were able to tiptoe, and they are simply a fantastic and experienced group,” said Reichman. “They were so excited to record ‘Top Chef’ again, and they just worked on it.”
Back at the Quickfire challenge, guest judge Gabriel Rucker addressed the cheftestants after he and Lakshmi evaluated their creations. “I was extremely impressed with what you guys did,” he said. After rewarding the winning team, Lakshmi talked to the contestants, asking what was the most difficult thing about being there – so she gave them a night off.
The 18th season of “Top Chef” will debut with almost 13 months of pandemic, and this particular episode will not air until June. It’s starting to look like we still won’t be able to see the other side – especially for small businesses like restaurants. Whatever the world we live in, the “Top Chef” has always been a comfortable sight, in addition to being an effective vehicle to launch the career of new chefs. The question, of course, is: throw them at what?
“I think a lot of what we’re trying to do this season is to follow the line of what seems appropriate and timely,” said Reichman. “We are always trying to capture this snapshot of time and place and count it through the culinary lens.”
“As part of the hospitality industry – cooking and food – we take this very seriously,” he continued. “Not in a precious way, but in a way that we consider important and powerful. And we are all crossing our fingers so that this industry – and all industries – can turn and overcome it. These are scary times, and we hope that whatever we are doing now will be worthwhile and will help propel these people when it airs. “