[Sca-cooks] Wow. Robert Irvine exposed

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Wed Feb 20 10:41:51 PST 2008


On Feb 20, 2008, at 12:47 PM, Michael Gunter wrote:

>
> http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/17/Southpinellas/TV_chef_spiced_up_his.shtml
>
> That sucks because I actually respected him as a chef
> and personality. I was impressed with his resume although
> I'd not heard of his claims of knighthood and the castle.
>
> Looks like the end of "Dinner: Impossible".
>
> And we can't get Bobby Flay to hook up to a lie detector...

I can't address the question of a quantified skill set for Flay, but  
I've seen him cook with my own eyes, so it appears he's at least  
capable of turning out a meal when required. I've never seen him work  
a line, though, for any period of time. What I remember about him most  
(from when he was much younger, and before FoodTV) was that his mantra  
was, "You know I really am a real, live chef, you know. Really. Not  
just some kid playing chef dress-up. Honest."

Of course, he got his first chef's job doing pretty much exactly that,  
but why he felt he had to make this point to someone even lower on the  
experience scale than him, if such a thing were possible, is beyond  
me. But he had a real chip on his shoulder about being thought a fraud  
of some kind. I don't know if this is still the case.

It's a real shame about Irvine. Even when you take away the knighthood  
(I'm almost expecting a discrimination lawsuit -- as in,  
discrimination against the mentally ill -- if he is fired) there are  
plenty of people being called "chefs" on FoodTV and in that whole  
peripheral world, with no more qualification or experience than him. I  
find it amazing that anybody would lie about some of these things that  
are so easily checkable; it seems to surpass mere dishonesty and  
extend into whole 'nother realm.

I think he could probably make a claim (and it wouldn't be much of a  
stretch at all) that on some level he believed it all himself, he was  
seeking counseling from a mental health professional, be working again  
in six months and back on top in a year or two. I won't address the  
moral rightness of such an outcome, but plenty of less deserving  
people <coughmarthastewartcough> have overcome similar reverses.

Adamantius



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