Seems like the Iron Chef America judges don’t care for Michael Smith’s signature potato anchors. On Sunday’s televised battle, the Chef Abroad star did not “open a big ol’ can of maple-flavoured whoop-ass and pour it all over Bobby Flay’s head,” as he claims in this video. In fact, he lost by a staggering 14 points, spurring bloggers to cry foul about the decision. Over at Slashfood, theories include Flay having an avocado advantage—the green fruit, which made an appearance as the secret ingredient, is more familiar to Flay since he’s a southwestern chef—and the show having a flawed judging panel that included Antonio Sabato Jr., a man who admits to a dislike of avocados and is incapable of making a grilled cheese sandwich. Commenters also accuse the judges of favouring the home team and note that Smith’s Chef at Home dishes aren’t suited to the competition’s celebration of haute cuisine (among his five creations were guacamole three ways and a soft-shell crab club sandwich).
Despite the loss, Smith feels that he came out on top. He tells the Star that he is currently in Vancouver with his Iron Chef sous-chefs working on the “12,000-meal-a-day feeding operation” better known as the Olympics.
Back to you, Fukui-San.
• ‘Iron Chef America’—Flay not Flummoxed by Canadian Irony [Slashfood]
• TV loss a lark for Canadians [Toronto Star]
• Michael Smith defeated on ‘Iron Chef America’ [TV Guide Canada]
This match was seriously an epic fail on the judge’s part. You don’t like avocado and can’t cook, but you can judge a dis prepared around these limitations. I was surprised at the dramatic difference in points between both dishes. Smith definitely should have taken home the win. Just because a dish isn’t a tiny cylindrical salad on a giant plate with sauce drizzled around it does not mean that it wouldn’t pass.
February 3, 2010 at 10:02 pm | by Patrick WalkerI agree that it was fixed that the “secret” ingredient was avocado. Please!
February 9, 2010 at 9:44 am | by KimEverytime I catch the show the “iron” chefs have an unfair advantage. That’s why I don’t watch as much as I use to. Michael Stadtlander would kick butt and be very entertaining! I don’t think Bobby Flay could handle doing the olympic venue!
We love cooking shows and this was a mess. The Jaime Oliver episode was better but still biased. Michael Smith is a good chef, creative with “on the spot” cooking but even with what I think was a fixed result, he is not suited for this type of contest.
February 9, 2010 at 10:13 am | by AlexI would like to see Mark McEwan do this, he seems like he would handle the pressure better.
Iron Chef America contestants are given plenty of notice from show producers about what the potential secret ingredients are (i.e. told it will be one of 3 potential ingredients). This gives them plenty of time to develop their menus and practice. They even put shopping lists together for each of the potential ingredients and submit them to the producers who go out and buy the ingredients for the actual chosen secret ingredient. Given this advance timing, there is no real advantage for Flay in terms of his familiarity with Avocado. Even if Smith had never used it, he would have had several weeks prior to the taping where he could research and develop his dishes.
February 10, 2010 at 10:19 am | by Zach SwanConspiracy? No. Michael Smith lost because his food sucked. Canned tuna? Three different guacomoles? Give me a break.
February 16, 2010 at 11:49 am | by Bill Crunch