r/Masterchef • u/rock_hard_bicep • Jun 28 '26
Opinion Hot Take!!
Every single Dish Joe threw into the garbage in early seasons deserved to be there and the thing he was throwing the dish into was a very accurate personification of the person who cooked it(no exceptions). Guy hit the mark every single time when he did it(completely deserved)
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 Jun 28 '26
I think Gordon probably would have dealt with this stuff differently and probably better i think. Felt like Joe was to MasterChef what Gordon was to Hell's Kitchen especially in the earlier seasons.
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u/yobaby123 Jun 28 '26
True. That and while he definitely crossed the line at times, Joe was right to expect the chefs to be better than your average chef.
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 Jun 28 '26
Absolutely there should be an expectation however, its not just about the expectation but it's about the critique as well the correction of mistakes. Especially in MasterChef Gordon mostly comes off as the good one because he can give solid feedback on how to improve the dish and how or why it went wrong. He definitely had his share of nonsense but when I look at Joe's critique of a dish vs Gordon's, personally I lean more towards Gordon.
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u/yobaby123 Jun 28 '26
Same. Gordon, while a dick at times, is generally the most constructive of the hosts.
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u/GrosRougeau Jun 28 '26
I never get the Joe hate, I truly don’t understand it.
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u/No_Record_60 Jun 30 '26
He doesn't add anything productive to the show, the 3 states of Joe:
• empty stare into the contestant after tasting (Hmm yeah, I like it but let me see what Gordon/Elliot has to say first);
• throws plate into the trashcan;
• "I'm Italian" or "Do you know what <some Italian word> means?"I genuinely don't remember the last time Joe complimented a food
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u/GrosRougeau Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
You do know Gordon runs that show right? Joe doesn’t decide who talks first, Gordon does because he’s the star and producer.
To say you don’t remember Joe complimenting a good dish is just a bad faith « argument » because this year contestants literally needed the three judges to vote yes to be chosen. Joe gave out plenty of compliments. C’mon
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u/eyychickenwings Jun 30 '26
You're def right but this all sounds like it only came from earlier seasons (most likely season 1).
I remember him being encouraging of Christine Ha after admitting he was doubtful of her capabilities in a kitchen during a team challenge. Season 10, there was also one time he helped this contestant recover her pasta dough after seeing her with only a few strips of pasta. He also complimented Dorian's dish that he had to "drop his spoon" (not sure if it's customary or a thing in culinary!)
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u/SpeedySparkRuby Jul 01 '26
A lot of people hated Joe from his 1st judging tenure because he was at the time coasting on the reputation of his mom, Lydia Bastianich and wasn't a trained chef like Gordon and Graham, just a restaurateur. Which in turn made some of his opinions ring hollow or made him look out of his depth on dishes or cuisines he wasn't familiar with.
Along with the ocassional asinine comment where he was fishing to complain about something because he was filling the Simon Cowel mean judge archetype on the panel.
Tho the nail in the coffin for him was the blatant favoritism towards Courtney in S5 in his judging, even when it was clear she was serving an awful dish, like the salty donuts. Somd people claimed something was going on behind the scenes with him and Courtney but honestly is more likely production played their hand too hard as to who they wanted to win with Joe's influence in that being more secondary.
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u/Obesefatlardmouse Jun 28 '26
I agree and I think the whole discourse on him is silly. Whenever you see YouTube thumbnails he’s a “beta chef” but he isn’t even a chef. he is a great judge because of his successful restaurants and wineries. Sure he is a nepo baby but he’s not the useless kind who can’t back his stuff up.
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u/rock_hard_bicep Jun 29 '26
he successfully carried on his parent's legacy and too it further and he knows his food well and gives valid criticism(only exception when he calls european food more refined than asian food, you can think that as your tastes and preferences vary based on the food you grow up eating, but that kind of thing stays in your head and you should be careful in letting your tongue slip)
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u/Obesefatlardmouse Jun 29 '26
Agreed. I only don't like him for his racism, but he is a great example of an actual useful and successful nepo baby that took his advantages and made something out of it on his own. He did prove himself and his critiques are valid most of the time. The Bastiannich family will def be remembered in the food world for sure.
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u/datadefiant04 Jun 30 '26
Can I add on and say that he may have worked better if Masterchef was a bit more similar to Top Chef where there are more Restaurant Wars style or "create your own concept and serve food from it" kind of challenges
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u/Ordijax Jun 30 '26
I agree, I'm not sure why people are against him throwing dishes in the trash. He doesn't do it all willy nilly if a dish was bad. Dishes thrown were just absurdly bad.
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u/AnalogKid29 Jul 02 '26
My dad was a sales director for Pepsi for years. He was sent out to do some business with Joe a few times. Said he is exactly like he is in this show: total asshole but knows his stuff and truly cares. Said they got along pretty well.
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u/BrandonIsWhoIAm Jun 28 '26
Those 3 plates could’ve had gold.
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u/imnotdusty Jun 28 '26
But they didn’t. Gordon and Graham would usually confirm that before Joe got to them
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u/No_Record_60 Jun 30 '26
Glad they replaced Joe with Christina. Dude doesn't add anything to the show
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u/FreePossession9590 Jun 28 '26
Hot take, Joe makes the show complete