Reality competition shows. Gourmet cuisine. Fabulous gays. Indeed, these are but a few of our favorite things.
And on season four of Top Chef Masters, they’re all rolled into one delectable morsel of high-stress, huge-talent, exciting entertainment. Throw in the hottest chef ever, Curtis Stone, as host and this show can be labeled food porn on so many levels.
What’s most fun about this new round of competitive ingredient combining is the three gay contestants. Each is a successful chef with an award-winning restaurant, but each is also good for plenty of good-natured drama and laughs.
Start with Art Smith, the former day-to-day chef for Oprah. His Southern charm and wit is proof that he deserves another his own star vehicle on TV. We could listen to his quips all day. Well, at least in 30-minute chunks.
Then, in what we think is a Top Chef first, a gay male couple is competing – complete with cutesy rhyming first names. Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier co-own a restaurant and share a life together, but now they’re going head-to-head for chef supremacy.
On Masters, each chef competes for a designated charity, so the ultimate $100,000 grand prize means the stakes are really high. Plus, it’s nice to see people competing for the greater good, not just 15 minutes of fame.
Top Chef Masters
Premieres tonight, 10:00 p.m./9:00 p.m. Central
www.bravotv.com
