CORRECT
My life was hard growing up too, but so what? That's not an excuse to be a self righteous sanctimonious fiberhole.   See 11 other replies

O Va...
Ben mentions 'once' and 'softly' about Christian. And have you heard Ben say 'anything' negative about 'anyone'? Then, take just 'how many' people on that show mention how hard it is to work with Christian, how arrogant, conceited, self absorbed etc etc. he is.
Add to that, 2 of the 'Judges' make remarks 'more than once' about his bad attitude, his arrogance etc.
Then add what you see yourself each episode, 'and' what the consensus is here from so many people.
Uhhh... I'd say that's a pretty strong case in calling it as you see it. So what if he had a hard upbringing. Does that give an excuse to be that way? Many have known many that have had rough lives and are 'not' like that, even the opposite. Some of the greatest are the most humble. Good dad? How do you know?
Jennifer pampered? How do you know?You seem to make judgements from far less than what I'm seeing others make on far more.   See 11 other replies

well i've been following ben starr's blog, and according to him, christian is NOT the guy he appears to be on reality television. he has jerk-ish moments, 99% of which appear on tv, but still....he's a "jerk" for a reason. "he's been fighting his whole life".
i don't know why people find it so easy to hate suzy. christian, jennifer, and even max. i think suzy is a typical, smart indian with conservative parents and a penchant for hard work. i think christian is a great guy, father, and cook who has, justifiably, become arrogant in his struggle to literally survive. jennifer is a pampered, slightly-above average IQ beauty queen with an effervescent personality......not someone i would enjoy in real life, but i can imagine a lot of people would like her.
anyways...to the people that hate reality show contestants so much: think of your best friend. find one thing you find particularly annoying about them, that you probably tolerate because he/she is your best friend. now imagine if he/she was a complete stranger and you're watching him/her on Masterchef. if he's not ben starr, chances are you'll be atleast slightly annoyed by them at one point. right?   See 11 other replies

Thank you, for both your compliment and for this wonderfully well written reply. If anyone can argue with this, they're just insane! :)   See 23 other replies

hey heimerschmidt! I'm very impressed with your insight on this topic. i agree Joe is brutally honest, just as Ramsey though it's not just that he's Italian. i feel the level of expertise is from the experience and food knowledge he gained while growing up. he was blessed to be able to share cooking, eating and learning about the reality of life with his amazing Italian family; look at who his mother is! this show is about "home-cooks" right? well, his mama and he are the epitome of "home-cooks"! his mama learned from her mama, aunt's and grandma as well as he. to be a world famous wine expert and critic means something tremendous! how could some people on this site say Joe isn't qualified to judge? did he not taste all different styles of Mediterranean foods and graduate to many (not all) different cuisines around the world in order to know what wines go with what foods? this show proves that anyone could hope to achieve the level of excellence that Joe has; without being classically trained! he may seem arrogant and cold as others have stated here but that's just the persona he's presenting on this show. he certainly is quite gentle and humble when I've seen him on shows with his mom. so those who criticize him should try to realize that Master Chef is about regular people like us seriously having the opportunity to become a SOMEBODY LIKE HIM! THX   See 23 other replies