Talk:Throwdown! with Bobby Flay

Show criticism

At least something negative should be said about the show. Anthony Bourdain, for one, finds it hard to believe that Bobby Flay can routinely be bested by amateur chefs. He speculates that the show is designed to be "a cruel exercise in humiliation. A variation on 'Dunk Bozo' or 'Shoot The Geek,' at the carnival."ruhlman.comAgnamus (talk) 06:38, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

You are allowed to create a section for criticism as long as you can cite what you put into it. Acidskater (talk) 09:06, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't feel comfortable contributing on that level yet.Agnamus (talk) 05:59, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

I can help you if you want, but don't hold back from editing any page on wikipedia. You should try to be bold when you edit. Acidskater (talk) 15:48, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Agnamus has an interesting point. The judges are (almost?) always locals who seem familiar with the food and the chef. It would stand to reason that they have a preconceived notion of what the given food should taste like. Thus, it is hard for Bobby Flay to conform to their expectations, no matter how innovative he is. In fact, his culinary innovation works against him. I thought that the puffy taco episode was a perfect example of this phenomenon. Many of Diana Barrios-Trevino's customers actually seemed to prefer the taste of Flay's version, and his version was certainly more sophisticated. But the judges, including the food critic for the San Antonio Express-News, expected a puffy taco to taste exactly like Barrios-Trevino's. So, more often than not, the deck is stacked against Flay from the start. This may answer Anthony Bourdain's question. Of course, it is just a theory and cannot be proved. Hence, I don't include it in the article; but I do not that the judges are locals. In fact, it may be even be worth noting their (often) previous familiarity with the chef and her/her version of the food. Poldy Bloom (talk) 04:01, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

From my casual observations are thus, unfortunately I wasn't able to find anyone worthy of citing on either of these two issues. 1) since foodnetwork rarely has profile or spotlight segments in their programming, the challenged cook probably is already aware that a throwdown is soon pending, and thus it's a staged "surprise" challenge.

2) Flay's cooking style almost always seems to be to add roasted chile peppers to the dish. Rather formulaic and not particularly innovate. --71.116.80.225 (talk) 01:46, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Why don't you watch the show and get back to us with the number of challenges he won by taking a non chile-based dish and adding roasted chile peppers to the recipe? DFS (talk) 07:17, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

The show is more and more contrived with each season... how can these cooks still believe they've been selected out of oblivion to have their own show? I'm sure there's been more than one episode where the amateur subject knew they were going to be on Throwdown, but that was edited out. As well, Flay seems to WANT to lose (and seems embarrassed when he wins), and this is evidenced by how the judging categories are chosen to favor the amateur (i.e. "authenticity") and the judges are locals who certainly know the restaurants being featured.98.224.76.31 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 05:11, 15 July 2010 (UTC).

Here's a valid criticism of the shows format given by one of the throwdown 'victims': http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/24/chowder-wars/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.124.111.202 (talk) 13:12, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

Bobby Flay

By the outcomes, it seems as though more often than not Bobby Flay comes out on the losing end of things. Just an observation. Mr. C.C. 17:19, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

yes he does lose most of the times. he also seems more modest about it.--B0bby flay 18:55, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Origin of title

I notice we have no article on the term Throwdown so I assume it is an informal term that derives from the way a challenge (often to a duel) used to be issued: by throwing down one's gauntlet). If this is the case, it should be noted, or at least a link to a Wiktionary entry for the term throwdown. Badagnani 08:48, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Restaurant Locations

I was thinking we should add locations of where the throw downs take place. Similar to the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives page. Just an idea. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.189.203.27 (talk) 15:18, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Co-hosts

Shouldn't there be a mention of Bobby's co-hosts? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.184.158.65 (talk) 02:24, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Dates

Need year the show premiered and the years of each season. Badagnani (talk) 21:15, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Was the show killed and brought back?

I don't remember what episode it was, but recently saw a re-run where Flay announced at the end something to the effect of "This is the last Throwdown ever, so all you cooks out there can breathe easy!". It was an old episode, and new shows have clearly come out since... does anyone know what happened behind the scenes? 67.181.198.229 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:52, 21 March 2009 (UTC).

Flay Losing More often than not

Was just thinking about this and thought I would add my own 2 cents. Yes, it seems odd that Flay would get beaten by amateurs a lot. However, think of the opposite. Imagine if every week Bobby Flay shows up and wins. It would be an insulting - they would have to rename the show, "Watch Bobby Flay kick an amateurs ass every week". The point is, when he loses he still wins - he's the big celebrity chef owner of various restaurants with god knows how many FoodNetwork shows and married to what's her name from Law and Order. So no one needs to worry about Bobby Flay losing. In fact, it probably just drums up business for the local person featured... A win-win for all. He'd just look like a jerk if he won all the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.241.18.60 (talk) 03:15, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Consider this: Bobby Flay's mostly known for his grilling skills and use of chilis. Most of the dishes he's called on to prepare for this show have neither, unless he gets non-standard (as he often does) and finds a way to put them in. This means that most of the time he's cooking well outside of his comfort zone. When you take into account the fact that he's going up against his challenger's strongest dish, it's almost amazing that he wins as often as he does. And, really, most of his opponents aren't exactly amateurs; most of them own resturaunts, or have won cooking competitions, if not both.JDZeff (talk) 02:37, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Duplicate show listed in table

Season 6, Episode 10 is the same challenge as Season 7, Episode 4. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CosmicTDI (talk • contribs) 02:40, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

I researched this and discovered that the episode listing for Season 7 is incorrect. I don't know how to edit the tables, but it should be as follows:

1-3 are correctly listed;

4. BT0704H is "Feast of the Seven Fishes";

5. is correct;

6. BT0706H should be "Manhattan Fish Chowder";

7. BT0707H should be "Liege Belgian Waffles";