'Top Chef': Kelly Clarkson appears as guest judge and upset fans think show should 'stick to real chefs'
Bravo's 'Top Chef' returned with an interesting twist tonight. Not only did they send their chefs off to the farmer's market to buy any produce of their choice but also invited Kelly Clarkson over as a celebrity guest judge who would be sampling the dishes the cheftestants would create for the quickfire challenge. Also, it had to be colorful and vegetarian.
Of the lot, Brian Malarkey had the most interesting dish — curry ice cream. He had a lot of berries, pineapple, and pumpkin on hand and that pushed him to give ice cream a fresh spin. Fellow chef Eric Adjepong too tried his hands at nitrogen-infused berries that were blitzed and added to his rainbow salad. Nini Nguyen wasn't too far behind with her purple potato gnocchi. She was unsure of it but also knew that it was the only way forward.
Even though Clarkson loved all of the dishes and seemed to have a great time on the show, fans are irked. They have demanded real chefs as judges next time. "Bad enough we have Valerie Bertanille as a 'great chef', now we have Kelly Clarkson. Please, stick to real chefs," a viewer expressed.
"Why do people keep trying to make Kelly C relevant? D list best," a user expressed, while another pointed out: "Kelly is gonna eat Padma with a side of cool beans!"
Meanwhile, some have even speculated that the vibes host-judge Padma Lakshmi shared with Kelly on the show were off by miles. It seemed as though Padma wasn't very keen on sharing the frame with the singer.
"Not a fan of Kelly’s and it doesn’t look like Padma is either. She not even smiling for the photo," a fan commented on the photo Top Chef posted on Facebook, while another wrote: "Ugh... never have been a Kelly fan. Don’t see what all the hoopla is about her."
The episode concluded with Melissa King winning the elimination challenge with her corn soup that was colorful and representative of the challenge thrown at them. Unfortunately, Lisa Fernandes had to pack her knives following her unimpressive shot at creating something colorful for Padma, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons.
Catch all the new episodes of 'Top Chef' on Bravo every Thursday.