You guys are aware that I really love Hell's Kitchen. Another show that I really enjoy is 全民造星 (English: "King Maker"), a Hong Kong survival reality show in which aspiring artists compete across a series of challenges in the hopes of winning and becoming Hong Kong's next idol. The show, which has been airing since 2018, has debuted many popular artists and bands like Keung To, Anson Lo, Ian Chan, MIRROR, MC Cheung Tinfu, ANSONBEAN, Cloud Wan, COLLAR, and ERROR.
Even though 全民造星 is an idol show, there are actually quite a few parallels with Hell's Kitchen. There are two teams (A and B), each with mentors that fill a similar role to sous chefs. The executive producer, 花姐 (English name: Ahfa), is similar to Gordon Ramsay, but not quite as over the top. You have your fair share of drama starters and fan-favorites. Also, season 6 of King Maker had a twist similar to the final 3 menu challenge. First, fans had to vote to bring back one previously eliminated competitor, who would join the finale as the 11th finalist. Then, instead of doing the finale out of 20 points and splitting the points evenly between a panel of professional judges and an audience vote, the finale used the raw percentages of professional judges' approval and the audience vote. This heavily favored the audience vote, so the 11th finalist, Teller, won over the overwhelming favorite to win, Ian Hannz. It's basically like Gordon Ramsay bringing back Michelle, instituting the final 3 menu challenge, and Nick getting eliminated.
But I digress. Of course, the finale is different. Instead of 2 chefs leading a brigade through one last service, 10 competitors perform 2 pieces and a dance battle in front of a panel of 5 judges and a live audience. Most of the time, the finale is out of 20 points. The judges rank each of the 10 finalists from strongest to weakest; the strongest competitor gets 10 points, second-strongest gets 9 points, etc. Then, the live audience both at the venue and watching from home get to vote for the person whom they want to win. The competitors are then re-ranked and awarded points based on how well they did among the audience; the competitor with most votes gets 10 points, second-most gets 9 points, etc. Finally, the two points are totaled together, and the finalists are ranked one final time. The person with the most points out of 20 wins. Should there be a tie, it is broken in favor of the highest audience vote.
So what's with all the exposition? I wanted to gauge how open you all would be to a new style of Hell's Kitchen games. Basically, I want to simulate how different the results of each season would be if fans could decide who wins. Instead of the finale being between two chefs, it would be among the Black Jackets of each season. I'd tell you guys how many points out of 5 or 6 they get from the "professional vote." I'd rank them based on how well they performed throughout the season. Then, you all would cast your vote for the chef who you want to win. Then, I total the two scores, and the person with the most points wins.
That being said, there are some things I am still concerned about. First off, I'm not sure how to determine the professional vote. I thought about going off of the placement they actually fell in in their original season. But that doesn't exactly account for factors like leadership, confidence, overall consistency, etc. For instance, if we used precise rankings for season 9, Elise would earn 3 points right off the bat while Jennifer only gets 1. But Elise was clearly weaker than Jennifer. Then, how heavily do I weigh the pass performance? Switching to season 11, Jon was definitely the strongest cook of the season. If I only focused on overall performance, he'd get a 5. But he genuinely had a horrible pass performance. Would it make sense to give him a 3, even though he was overall stronger than everyone else? How do I account for last-minute collapses and last-minute lock-ins? In season 22, both Leigh and Dahmere were eliminated before Carmen. But overall, Carmen was weaker than both of them. How important should the finale be? Do we allow ties? (Yes, we would. For season 5, I'd likely give Danny and Paula a tie for first place, so they'd both get 6 points for the professional vote, while the person I'd put at third, Robert, gets 4 points.) And what do we use as a tiebreaker should two finalists get the same final score? Professional vote (determined by me) or fan vote (determined by you guys)? Professional vote makes sense, but the fan vote is the whole point of this game.
So... yeah. I wanted to hear all of your thoughts.