Observations

I was very excited to see that VK is a judge on here because I am a big fan of his! 😳 I remember how Gordon Ramsey (whom I'm a huge fan of as well) had invited him on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, and that's how I got to know about VK. I think the episode itself was very old, but I was watching it a few years later. Anyways, I was happy to see an Indian chef with such international recognition, and I was really impressed when I found out that his restaurant in New York, Junoon is a Michelin Star restaurant. Then, I saw him on MC India a couple of weeks ago, and I got excited again! 😃 Not only is he an excellent chef, but his personality is also very likable as well. I have observed that he is very respectful to the contestants. Some of these ladies really flirt with him a lot (like the first girl we saw in episode 1), and he'll jokingly flirt back, but it's not out of line. Some of the flirting was a little OTT by him (like the Chandini comment), but sometimes channel people also put pressures on judges to do certain things for TRPs. Plus, editing can make anyone look like anything. Overall though, he's very encouraging to people. What he said to that person who said, "liyak" (sorry for misspelling) really resonated with because we as human beings often do put ourselves down by saying things like "We're not worthy of this...". We should not talk like that about ourselves. It's good he encourages positivity. Also, when Meenu ji cut her finger and got discouraged, he encouraged her so nicely. She felt so good and got selected for the Top 12 in the first cut. I'm sorry for writing so lengthy about him, but I'm really impressed with him not only as a chef, but as a person too. 😳

I am not appreciating SK attitude so much right now. He does have knowledge about food and technique, and I credit a lot of my interest in Indian cooking to him because of his show Khanna Khazana. To my knowledge, he was the first chef to come on Indian T.V. and explain to Indian audiences how to cook. Also, his channel Food Food is the Food Network of India---a channel strictly devoted to cooking, which opens up opportunities for so many other chefs. However, he at times is very rude and goes out of his way to make rude comments to the contestants. In MC in the U.S.A sometimes comments are said to scare contestants, but it's usually not out of line. Also, encouragement is given to those contestants who really need it, and of course, the intimidating comments are given to those contestants at times when they show high egos. SK on MC India really goes out of his way to mess with the contestants' minds by putting unnecessary pressure on them. I also notice that RB (who at first was not very talkative) is starting to make SK-like comments to the contestants too, but he is also really encouraging too, like he gave the little Sardar boy (sorry don't remember his name) a very good compliment about his dish even though the presentation was not that good. Hopefully, there will be more encouragement and less discouragement.

Also, I really did like seeing some techniques yesterday (like how to make the radish ribbon), and I would like to see more of that. I also want to see more about what the contestants are making and the techniques each person is using. I want get to know more about different flavors and flavor combinations. It's nice to know what flavors go well with each other. I want to see less drama and more FOOD! 😃 These kinds of shows are inspiring to watch and spread the joy of cooking. Let's keep that spirit flowing!

The editing overall is fine, but the ending is very abrupt. It's hard for me to realize when the show is over, and the 30 minute showing is too fast. I would rather see the show for one hour on the weekends rather than 30 minutes Monday-Friday.

I apologize for the novel of a post I wrote. I just wanted to state what I observed, and I also wanted to hear what everyone else's observations are. Please feel free to write your own posts, but please do not bash any of the judges, contestants, or people in general! 😳