We did not appear in Top Chef Seattle

My Aussie husband and I like to watch food competition shows.  Mostly we sit back, critique the dishes and think we could have done better.   

Except when it comes to Top Chef.  We are constantly amazed with what the “cheftestants” can come up with in their allotted time, and are jealous of their presentations.  So you can understand our excitement when we found out they were filming the 10^th season of the show in our hometown of Seattle last summer.  We had some connections in the local foodie scene, and thought we might be able to get into some of the tastings done while filming, or at least hear some good behind-the-scenes stories from friends who seem to always be involved in anything interesting going on in town.    

The answers to those hopes were “no”, and “no”.  We were very disappointed when all we could find out about was sightings around town, from various blogs and Facebook posts.   We felt left out, out of the loop, off the grid.  We almost lost our appetite for food competitions…    however, being addicted to the show,  we did still look forward to watching when it went to air.  We wanted to see if we could a) spot anyone we knew in the crowd scenes, b) see if we could figure out where the different scenes were filmed and c) spot the location discrepancies in editing.  (like in Sleepless in Seattle, where they got into a little skiff at their houseboat on Lake Union, and got out on the beach at Alki Point, miles away – through the locks – and in the saltwater Puget Sound)   

So far, we have not seen anyone we know personally, and we have not spotted any glaring discrepancies.  We do however wonder how much time the chefs spent driving all over town to do their shopping as they seem to be driving across Lake Washington repeatedly.  If you live in Seattle, you will know that traffic across the floating bridges on the lake is usually bad, giving you lots of time to enjoy the views of the boats on the lake and the mountains in the distance.  Maybe the producers want the chefs to truly appreciate the beauty of the region?  As the next episode takes the action away from Seattle we will have to give up our obsession with spotting someone we know, and can maybe just watch the show like normal people.  And start plotting to go to all the restaurants featured in Top Chef Seattle.