For several years now, Top Chef has been one of the most popular shows on television. Apart from mouthwatering dishes, it has brought forth intense challenges and career-changing opportunities for the participating chefs. But not every sequence of the show has been appreciated by the viewers.
Top Chef has always been one to experiment with tasks and locations. But while this has surely been a key entertainment factor, in Season 14 of the show the makers made the decision to film an episode in a former slave plantation.
This was definitely one of the most contentious episodes in the Top Chef universe, so much so that it would be difficult to forget, even for Padma Lakshmi.
Top Chef went too far with its most controversial episode
For almost two decades, Top Chef has been celebrated for its high-stakes challenges and presenting some of the most beautiful cooking backdrops out there. But in this regard, not every choice of location has aged well.
One such continuous decision happened in Season 14, Episode 1, of Top Chef when the show chose Boone Hall Plantation (a former slave plantation in Charleston, South Carolina) as the setting for a sudden death elimination challenge.
While the choice of location was already questionable, what also left the viewers uncomfortable was how the challenge unfolded. In the elimination round, Chef Gerald Sombright was forced to compete for his spot again against John Tesar.
The scene of a people of colour contestant having to fight for survival on a plantation with a painful history made the moment deeply unsettling, and it didn’t take long for criticisms to pour in. Recently, a user posted on Reddit about the town-deaf moments that happened on Top Chef.
How many tone deaf moments can you identify with Top Chef?
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Immediately, the comments section started flooding in with their answers. In the context of Season 14, Episode 1, two users commented:
Comment
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While the show has presented its fair share of controversial elements, this particular episode would definitely stand out in that regard. The criticism at that moment was so high that even judge Tom Colicchio had to come out and speak on the matter.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, he made several tweets all directed towards the fact that the show wanted to acknowledge Charleston’s full history rather than ignore it. He also noted that while the plantations have a painful history behind them, they still remain a significant part of the region and cultural landscape.
However, all of his explanations failed to quell the outrage, with many fans maintaining that a show about food should have been more mindful about the implications of using such a location. Despite this backlash, the show has continued to be one of the most respected on television and is currently airing its Season 22 in Canada.
Not just Top Chef, but even Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively were bashed for their wedding location choice
The culinary show isn’t the first to face criticism for filming at a plantation. Long before the show aired its Season 14, Hollywood couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively had already learned a tough lesson. Interestingly, in 2012, the duo got married at the same Boone Hall, and it seemed like a perfect spot for a private and romantic wedding. (via E! News)
What the actors didn’t think about at the time was the history of the place. Boone Hall was once a plantation where enslaved people were forced to work. While at that time the couple wasn’t immediately called out on social media. With time, as more awareness about racial injustice grew, people began criticizing their choice of wedding location.
Platforms like Pinterest and The Knot removed plantations from their listings. Criticism of their choices resurfaced in 2018 when Reynolds praised Black Panther, and the fans were quick to remind him of where he got married. The actor admitted in an interview via Fast Company that “It’s something we’ll always be deeply sorry for.”
The couple didn’t just apologize; they quietly remarried at a different location and even donated $1 million to organizations fighting for racial justice.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
