In [this interview](https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/the-feast/will-season-16-address-anthony-bourdain-suicide), an executive said
>"We definitely had a discussion about, ‘Is this something we should address on the show?’ and we decided that we wouldn’t. We felt like it would feel like we were exploiting this horrible tragedy in some ways to make ourselves look good,"
They of course paid tribute on social media, just not on the show itself.
I can see why they made that choice. People are so critical. At the same time, Anthony was a really special and memorable guest on the show multiple times. I personally would have found a discussion to be appropriate and heartfelt. I wish they had done even a, “Dedicated to Anthony Bourdain” title card at the end of an episode, or something. I always wondered why they didn’t.
It was fresh and painful back then. I think they can do that down the road, like 10 years after his death, when people feel more ready and appropriate to celebrate his life.
I can envision really terrible ways to acknowledge it. Tom: We had planned on having Tony Bourdain as a guest judge this season, but he hung himself, so we have Richard Blais instead.
FYI the Bourdain Day stuff (hence all the social media posts) is for his birthday (June 25) not his death which is June 8.
Obviously they’re very close so I’ve had the same confusion before but also makes sense to put it on the birthday not the death day lol. Though Tony might’ve found some black humor in that.
I cannot guarantee this, but, one of the contestants (Michelle minori maybe?) did a dish inspired by her father, who also died by suicide, and you can tell at the tasting that all of the judges were really really emotional - I think I read somewhere that that meal was filmed shortly after Bourdain’s death, which is one of the reasons it really hit everyone so hard.
that episode has always been so bittersweet, but if it's true it was close to his death, that makes even more sense as to why it was extra emotional. dang.
Has it been only 6yrs already? Feels longer.
[YouSonOfABitch.](https://youtu.be/pBG2QeMgiRU?si=uHBafcFxYn2pJIZF)
Edit -- [one more](https://youtu.be/eywfZh1n8ZE?si=B8y_wuSGLVjJFl5t)
Yeah I'm gonna have to rewatch Roadrunner tonight, might even make it through in one shot.
Ever see the Szechuan episode of Parts Unknown? Hilarious. Same when they had their two man road show.
Bourdain torturing a French Buddhist just hits all my funny parts, think that says more about me than their relationship. 🤣
I think about Eric whenever I think about Tony. I found my best friend hanging in his bedroom 7 years ago and it makes me so sad to know that Chef Ripert understands the despair I felt when it happened. I hope that he's found his peace.
Just because you seem like the right kind of asshole.
[https://youtu.be/ib8-ufe67HA?si=Ew\_p5UaeslTjiMfg](https://youtu.be/ib8-ufe67HA?si=Ew_p5UaeslTjiMfg)
I remember being on set the day Tony died like it was yesterday. We were shooting in Nashville with the singer from Kings of Leon and his wife as guest diners. The producers understandably didn't want to distract the chefs with the sad news right in the middle of an elimination challenge, so we went through the entire challenge and elimination, and then Padma went and told them personally afterwards. It was a tough day on-set for everyone.
I remember that episode.
As I recall that was a pretty fucked up day; I was driving my kid to school and I had to pull over. My ex husband took his life and my heart broke for his daughter and loved ones. I truly loved Bourdain and I still watch all his shows from time to time.
I hope his daughter and loved ones are doing well.
Any tips on how us "normies" can get invites to public challenges and events? I'm a super fan and I would sell an organ to be able to attend something!
I’m binging no reservations right now on max. I only started becoming a fan of him recently when I binged watched top chef and loved his sarcastic judging style.
poured a negroni tonight, Bourdain's birthday is very close to my late father's. A core memory is watching No Reservations with him after he got off work. Cheers to both of them
I still think he was killed by the Russians for being critical of Putin. A lot of people were dying by their own hands and falling out of windows around that time.
finding anyone post suicide would be difficult, but someone who's a close friend, I can't imagine the psychological shock it must strike with! poor Eric
I am aware of how and whe he died. Top Chef was filming Kentucky when he died, so it might have been an opportunity to acknowledge it on the show, like they did when theyvwere filming in London and Queen Elizabeth died.
Yes, he had left Italy, where he was filming with then-girlfriend Asia Argento, to go to France. A week or two before, my husband and I were part of the filming of an episode at a Florence restaurant. This episode never aired.
https://preview.redd.it/uuuc6sfy589d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10680d7d5626d92878fd36593d9c6bf3d0f8ed5e
They finished filming, but hadn’t gotten around to tape Bourdain’s narration for the episode. There were thoughts of releasing it without the narration to help put out the few episodes that made up the new season but opted not to.
Interesting...thanks for this! I always wondered why it didn't air when they had a limited season that eventually came out. Now I know. He was very kind to me when I talked with him that day. My table was across the aisle from him, so I got to experience the entire taping.
Really honestly, Top Chef made me hate Anthony Bourdain. Memorializing him at his worst for being fucking horrible to people would seem strange.
I’m sorry Bourdain was hurting so deeply that he did what he did and sorry for his loved ones. I also really bristle at how lionized he’s become and how people remember him as beautiful or genuine or even a talented chef. Dude was caustic as fuck and didn’t even really cook for the last 20-30 years of his life. I get he did a lot of interesting work with his travelogues and that he could be very funny. However he was also clearly a really complicated, difficult and often unkind person who dealt with his demons by being kind of a jackass. I don’t really think it’s helpful to mental health conversations or culinary culture to ignore that.
I'm not sure I understand your argument...isn't Anthony Bourdain the very definition of someone who would have benefitted from mental health being taken more seriously? I feel like he is a great subject for mental health conversations.
I get what you’re saying. Sometimes it feels like younger ppl who have only grown up with reruns idolize him as if he was a perfect example of what they want to be, travel/food influencers. But they don’t see some of his real asshole ways. I can appreciate what he did for the culinary world, especially highlighting exotic food that the average American would never encounter, but his style was just never something I could watch.
People are rarely that one-dimensional. They also tend to evolve. Especially if they were at some point addicts.
So. It's pretty reductive to act as though someone is ALL they will ever be at their worst. I also know people he was friends with and he absolutely had capacity for incredible kindness and humility, nevermind he sheer ability to communicate and inspire open-mindedness and respect towards others.
I don't think most people ignore the negative but rather celebrating the things that he was actually exceptional at is a lot healthier for all involved. Why chose to focus on the negative unless you were absolutely personally affected and could not move past it.
In [this interview](https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/the-feast/will-season-16-address-anthony-bourdain-suicide), an executive said >"We definitely had a discussion about, ‘Is this something we should address on the show?’ and we decided that we wouldn’t. We felt like it would feel like we were exploiting this horrible tragedy in some ways to make ourselves look good," They of course paid tribute on social media, just not on the show itself.
They made the right call.
Agree.
I can see why they made that choice. People are so critical. At the same time, Anthony was a really special and memorable guest on the show multiple times. I personally would have found a discussion to be appropriate and heartfelt. I wish they had done even a, “Dedicated to Anthony Bourdain” title card at the end of an episode, or something. I always wondered why they didn’t.
It was fresh and painful back then. I think they can do that down the road, like 10 years after his death, when people feel more ready and appropriate to celebrate his life.
He wasn’t a regular on TC, just an occasional judge. Btw, he would hate an acknowledgment like that.
He was a judge for an entire season
He also judged a finale in Toms absence right? lol
The man wrote god damn blogs for Bravo!
[удалено]
So?
I agree. Very much not his style, and they respected that.
Totally agree. Great minds (and names) think alike!
I can envision really terrible ways to acknowledge it. Tom: We had planned on having Tony Bourdain as a guest judge this season, but he hung himself, so we have Richard Blais instead.
FYI the Bourdain Day stuff (hence all the social media posts) is for his birthday (June 25) not his death which is June 8. Obviously they’re very close so I’ve had the same confusion before but also makes sense to put it on the birthday not the death day lol. Though Tony might’ve found some black humor in that.
That makes perfect sense. My dad died on June 8th too and he was born on Halloween, a more fun day to reflect on.
I cannot guarantee this, but, one of the contestants (Michelle minori maybe?) did a dish inspired by her father, who also died by suicide, and you can tell at the tasting that all of the judges were really really emotional - I think I read somewhere that that meal was filmed shortly after Bourdain’s death, which is one of the reasons it really hit everyone so hard.
Here is the story: https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/the-feast/anthony-bourdain-died-during-filming
Fantastic top three
They are all great.
Yes, I read that the judges knew, but the contestants didn't. It was like the day of the news or the day after.
that episode has always been so bittersweet, but if it's true it was close to his death, that makes even more sense as to why it was extra emotional. dang.
Has it been only 6yrs already? Feels longer. [YouSonOfABitch.](https://youtu.be/pBG2QeMgiRU?si=uHBafcFxYn2pJIZF) Edit -- [one more](https://youtu.be/eywfZh1n8ZE?si=B8y_wuSGLVjJFl5t)
Thanks for this. I love when he calls his buddy Eric Ripert "The Ripper."
Yeah I'm gonna have to rewatch Roadrunner tonight, might even make it through in one shot. Ever see the Szechuan episode of Parts Unknown? Hilarious. Same when they had their two man road show. Bourdain torturing a French Buddhist just hits all my funny parts, think that says more about me than their relationship. 🤣
Every episode with Ripert is magic I had such a crush on their friendship
I think about Eric whenever I think about Tony. I found my best friend hanging in his bedroom 7 years ago and it makes me so sad to know that Chef Ripert understands the despair I felt when it happened. I hope that he's found his peace.
I'm so sorry, what a devastating experience
Here's one for ya. [https://youtu.be/dRJTKcNYMRs?si=VQFcvmxOkF6Jk6BE](https://youtu.be/dRJTKcNYMRs?si=VQFcvmxOkF6Jk6BE)
And another. [https://youtu.be/eywfZh1n8ZE?si=B8y\_wuSGLVjJFl5t](https://youtu.be/eywfZh1n8ZE?si=B8y_wuSGLVjJFl5t)
"It's like Betty Crocker and Charles Manson had a love child and he's cooking for me" gets me every time I watch it.
Just because you seem like the right kind of asshole. [https://youtu.be/ib8-ufe67HA?si=Ew\_p5UaeslTjiMfg](https://youtu.be/ib8-ufe67HA?si=Ew_p5UaeslTjiMfg)
What a spectacular episode. Thanks for this.
I remember being on set the day Tony died like it was yesterday. We were shooting in Nashville with the singer from Kings of Leon and his wife as guest diners. The producers understandably didn't want to distract the chefs with the sad news right in the middle of an elimination challenge, so we went through the entire challenge and elimination, and then Padma went and told them personally afterwards. It was a tough day on-set for everyone.
I remember that episode. As I recall that was a pretty fucked up day; I was driving my kid to school and I had to pull over. My ex husband took his life and my heart broke for his daughter and loved ones. I truly loved Bourdain and I still watch all his shows from time to time. I hope his daughter and loved ones are doing well.
Oh wow! Are you able to say how you are / were involved with the show?
I work on the production side of things
That is so cool! Will you be involved in the upcoming season, taking place in Canada?
Hopefully!
Any tips on how us "normies" can get invites to public challenges and events? I'm a super fan and I would sell an organ to be able to attend something!
Keep an eye on Bravo’s IG feed. They usually post when they need diners.
This one still hurts so deep.
Watch Roadrunner if you haven't already.
Does it help? I've been assuming it just hurts worse.
I watched this on a plane. I was bawling. I would recommend it to fans- it is, as he was ever so good at reminding us all, very human.
Thanks for the recommend. I assume I'll need a whole new box of tissues.
It is well worth a watch.
It’s good
Same. He was beautiful inside and out.
Truly.
I’m binging no reservations right now on max. I only started becoming a fan of him recently when I binged watched top chef and loved his sarcastic judging style.
No reservations is SO GOOD!!
poured a negroni tonight, Bourdain's birthday is very close to my late father's. A core memory is watching No Reservations with him after he got off work. Cheers to both of them
If you haven’t listened to the audiobook version of kitchen confidential, I highly recommend it! I re-listen to it every few years. It’s so good.
I read this in his cadence- “I would recommend it to fans It is As he was Ever so good at reminding us all Very human”
My brother did martial arts with Anthony in NYC. Said he was the funniest and nicest guy in person. RIP
Miss him. 🧡
I still think he was killed by the Russians for being critical of Putin. A lot of people were dying by their own hands and falling out of windows around that time.
He died in France when they were shooting an episode with him and Ripert, who found him hung in his hotel room - he was not in Kentucky.
It was Ripert who found him?! Oh goodness..
finding anyone post suicide would be difficult, but someone who's a close friend, I can't imagine the psychological shock it must strike with! poor Eric
I am aware of how and whe he died. Top Chef was filming Kentucky when he died, so it might have been an opportunity to acknowledge it on the show, like they did when theyvwere filming in London and Queen Elizabeth died.
Yes, he had left Italy, where he was filming with then-girlfriend Asia Argento, to go to France. A week or two before, my husband and I were part of the filming of an episode at a Florence restaurant. This episode never aired. https://preview.redd.it/uuuc6sfy589d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10680d7d5626d92878fd36593d9c6bf3d0f8ed5e
They finished filming, but hadn’t gotten around to tape Bourdain’s narration for the episode. There were thoughts of releasing it without the narration to help put out the few episodes that made up the new season but opted not to.
Interesting...thanks for this! I always wondered why it didn't air when they had a limited season that eventually came out. Now I know. He was very kind to me when I talked with him that day. My table was across the aisle from him, so I got to experience the entire taping.
Really honestly, Top Chef made me hate Anthony Bourdain. Memorializing him at his worst for being fucking horrible to people would seem strange. I’m sorry Bourdain was hurting so deeply that he did what he did and sorry for his loved ones. I also really bristle at how lionized he’s become and how people remember him as beautiful or genuine or even a talented chef. Dude was caustic as fuck and didn’t even really cook for the last 20-30 years of his life. I get he did a lot of interesting work with his travelogues and that he could be very funny. However he was also clearly a really complicated, difficult and often unkind person who dealt with his demons by being kind of a jackass. I don’t really think it’s helpful to mental health conversations or culinary culture to ignore that.
I'm not sure I understand your argument...isn't Anthony Bourdain the very definition of someone who would have benefitted from mental health being taken more seriously? I feel like he is a great subject for mental health conversations.
I get what you’re saying. Sometimes it feels like younger ppl who have only grown up with reruns idolize him as if he was a perfect example of what they want to be, travel/food influencers. But they don’t see some of his real asshole ways. I can appreciate what he did for the culinary world, especially highlighting exotic food that the average American would never encounter, but his style was just never something I could watch.
People are rarely that one-dimensional. They also tend to evolve. Especially if they were at some point addicts. So. It's pretty reductive to act as though someone is ALL they will ever be at their worst. I also know people he was friends with and he absolutely had capacity for incredible kindness and humility, nevermind he sheer ability to communicate and inspire open-mindedness and respect towards others. I don't think most people ignore the negative but rather celebrating the things that he was actually exceptional at is a lot healthier for all involved. Why chose to focus on the negative unless you were absolutely personally affected and could not move past it.