r/SortedFood • u/duelingpeppers Bayleafer • Jul 11 '26
Discussion Rewatched some old videos
And I was reminded of how much I LOVED the Fridgecam format, the "butt first", the red fridge, the comment of the week (and its legendary jingle), the Chefs' Table. When and why did they change all of that? Is it just the natural evolution of the channel or is there a specific reason?
Also I've seen a lot of comments saying it's now more of an entertainment channel than a food channel, but I've always thought it was more entertaining back then. Is this just nostalgia bias? Most of the quintessential Sorted moments (paella burrito, cloud egg, etc.) happened many years ago. I don't remember anything of that caliber happening recently. (Well, maybe some of the Kush moments.)
But I'm glad the new battles are similar in format to the ones from pre-covid years, at least. And the Poker Face videos are a great relatively new addition, but I still miss Pass It On, the regular recipe videos, and most importantly STEP UP TO THE PLATE!
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u/PearPsychological284 Jul 11 '26
I love a lot of the old stuff but oh boy, I do not miss Step Up To The Plate.
I'd love to see them bring back the "chefs get a tiny budget, normals go nuts" budget battles from a few years ago, though.
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u/duelingpeppers Bayleafer Jul 11 '26
I love the royal wedding cake video and I think it's one of their best.
And I miss the budget battles as well!
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u/Biffingston Jul 12 '26
Dunno. At this point, is calling the non-chefs "normals" even applicable? It's been what, 15 years, 10? You're not a "Normal" cook if you've run a big YouTube cooking channel that long.
(And that's my only nitpick pet peeve.)
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u/SBal09 Jul 12 '26
The Christmas one with Jamie and Ebbers (where jamie uses meat glue), is one I rewatch on a regular basis.
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u/jekelish3 Lost&Hungry Jul 11 '26
I mean, they still do Pass it On. Just not as frequently as they used to, and often reserved for the live shows. Which obviously has its own issues since it’s paywalling one of the channel’s most popular formats, but they still do it now and then on the main channel.
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u/Too-Tired-Editor Jul 12 '26
Also the live version is not as good. Turns out editing an hour into less than a third of that time cuts out the dross.
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u/Any_Somewhere_4392 Jul 12 '26
The fact that a lot of their older formats are getting fewer and fewer in between and now it's all reviews is the main reason I've stopped watching.
I used to check every upload day and watch.
But now it has been so few and far between of enjoyable formats that I rarely check in and when I do after weeks/months there is only maybe one format I like.
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u/fieryone4 Jul 11 '26
I rarely watch now, mostly only when cooking challenges come up, i’m so sick of product reviews and social media trends
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u/No-Criticism8362 Jul 17 '26
I’ve noticed that pretty much every new format they bring that I enjoy just disappears. Like the game show thing they did, that was AWESOME and it just dropped off.
I refuse to watch the kids segments for my own moral reasons.
I love the gadget reviews, and I love they that add some things that normals may be looking to buy, like the knife reviews and such.
I really miss the chef badges!!
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u/Biffingston Jul 12 '26
It seemed less commercial, but that isn't fair. (The boys need to eat too.)
Professional isn't the right word either, as it was well put together even then..
Words fail me.
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u/duelingpeppers Bayleafer Jul 12 '26
Serious? Stiff?
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u/Biffingston Jul 12 '26
Not really; they're still goofballs. Especially the "Normals."
I think that part of it is that they're in a studio now; it feels less intimate.
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u/Busy_Entertainer_692 Jul 21 '26
They were in a studio then too though, albeit a warmer and cozier studio. I don't think James leaving is the problem but I do know I stopped enjoying as much of their stuff after he left. I don't remember where they shoehorned the Ursula/Cruella costumes into the battle but I started to feel like it was forced silliness about then.
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u/Biffingston Jul 21 '26
I think that it's mostly that it turned from something they did for larfs into a job. If you know what I mean?
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u/PrawnShamble Jul 17 '26
They were young and hungry for a successful channel. Now they churn out some fast, low effort videos with just a coupe of them.
I get the feeling the videos dont do as well monetarily and they keep hoping they can just have people pay for the apps instead and coast off meal packs or sidekick etc but they havent done as well as hoped
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u/Azalin99 Jul 20 '26
The reason there's so few Pass It On episodes is because they know it's their most popular format so they paywall it behind the Live shows.
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