Cockiness 2

The latest episode of Top Chef had the perfect example of what I was talking about in Cockiness. One of the Chef's, Jenn, had the worst dish according to the judges.

Right from the get go she was cocky and defensive. When one of the judges talked about how her team should have plated things individually she actually attacked the judges for not speaking up and asking for that while being served. Her steak and egg dish was the worst according to the judges. As one judge said

"Listening to Jenn describe her dish and the exact way it was supposed to be and as sure of herself as she was I kept thinking in my head that is not the dish I ate."

It is one thing to say you thought it worked. It is another to defend the indefensible and do it in such an arrogant and rude way. When four people who are judging you all agree that your dish wasn't good and for the same reasons you need to listen. Bland and bad texture.

Jenn's reaction was to attack even before they got to her dish. Once they critiqued her dish she just berated them for their opinion. She wasn't willing to believe she did anything wrong.

She just couldn't accept that they didn't like her dish or that she was picked as the one to be eliminated.

As she left she was cursing about the decision being bullshit and how she wasn't even close to having the worst dish. She considers herself a great chef and a great person.

In the after elimination interview she went on about how shocked she was and how great her dish was. She tried to attribute her elimination to being to vocal. Then she went on about being robbed of her chance and it not being right. Definitely not the most gracious loser ever. Maybe one of the worst.

Her cockiness and bravado was more like hubris and whining. I often wondered about the people on reality shows who act like this. Do they have problems getting work in the real world? Who would want to hire someone who acts like they do.

I think one of the best examples was Joseph in Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen. The guy oozed attitude and when asked a simple question "Who do you nominate and why" gave Ramsay a lot of shit. He ended up getting in Ransay's face, challenging him to a fight, and getting tossed out of the show. As he stormed out Joseph was ranting on about how any kitchen would be proud to have him. Really? Proud to have someone who would physically threaten the head chef and act like a moron? Unless this was staged for ratings Joseph is on some wicked drugs.