Yi Ting

the production value of this show was great, moving through all the different countries made me realise what a diverse array of food there is in the world out there. to see the journeys of all these chefs, definitely lets me appreciate how much sacrifice and dedication and passion and drive it takes to make it as a chef. but at times it's bit show-y with lots of dramatic moments in terms of suspense or just the lights/sounds that sometimes felt a bit over-the-top (but is typical of american reality shows) and i have to agree with some of the other comments here which lament the lack of diversity in terms of judges and contestants (gender, race) left me hoping that there were just more diversity to begin with even at the start of the competition. and the finale choice of winner left me quite conflicted, because they were judged based on taste and flavour which obviously if you'd made that dish many times and got the time to refine it to even put in your restaurant menu, VS mark who took what he'd learnt from being in the competition itself and amalgamating all that together, or darren who served a fusion of both his canadian roots and japanese passion, or shane who created a cold dish with a lace tuile that he hasn't done in years with flavours that are unique; i wasn't there to try but i feel the other 3 did push their boundaries and risked something, while timothy did something definitely tried and tested to win it home. but the judging criteria wasn't clearly laid out - if they would be rewarded for taste, or rewarded for risk + taste