Juicy behind-the-scenes gossip from TC:5!

Padma is apparently exactly the diva she appears to be, and the icy looks between her an Tom are not editing magic.

I used to think Steingarten was refreshingly honest, but the more I see of him the more I think he's just an asshole.

And I hate the way he talks to women especially.

This too.

I started out thinking ooh Steingarten will have interesting things to say and it quickly went to for the love of god man shut up.

I missed Appleman's attitude because I fast forward through a lot of the prep because... some of the ingredients were just trying to look at for me.

I loved Amanda Frietag when she was on Iron Chef so I'm cheering for her. And I really hope the ingredients they use aren't so challenging because I really couldn't even look at the eggs.

Although I wasn't sure what they excepted the guy to do with the grasshoppers. The only thing I could think of was maybe candying them somehow, like grasshopper brittle.

There is a god, or an otherwise benevolent power running the universe. Tom DeLay is quitting DWTS.

[link]

Jessica,

can you sum up the behind the scenes stuff, looks like posts have been deleted.

Aw, that's a shame. Guess the poster got cold feet (or a stern note from Magical Elves).

Padma is a diva and nobody likes her. She's nitpicky about weird things and doesn't get along with Tom.

The chefs do ZERO cleanup - it's all the crew. As the chefs realize this, they get more and more sloppy throughout the season.

Stefan was popular with everyone on set and they were all surprised that he was the "villain" of the season in the final edit.

ALL the interviews are done after the elimination, so the continuity people on set have to make sure the chefs change back into whatever they were wearing during the segment they're being asked about. The eliminated chef gets two interviews - one right after so they can be mad, and one after they've cooled off to insert into the running play by play for the ep.

The producers are consulted on eliminations, but generally agree with the judges. (They were pretty wishy-washy about this, which makes me wonder which eliminations were contested!)

Toby Young was only a douchebag on camera.

Nobody but the judges gets to eat any of the food, and most of it is thrown away. Tasting is much faster than it appears on camera so that the food served last doesn't get cold. All the timed challenges are really to time. The big red clock in the kitchen is real.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head. It wasn't anything terribly shocking, just fun insider stuff to read.

I was surprised that Mary and Mia were so freaked out by the girl losing her toenail. Doesn't that happen to dancers all of the time?

OK, is it just me or is Yvetta the Lithuanian ballroom dancer really creepy looking, in a "I've had too much plastic surgery" way?? I really really hope she doesn't make it on the show. Gahhhhh. (I also didn't think she was nearly as magically special as the judges did, though I thought she was good)

Not just you, meara.

meara, 100% agreement. I think Mary had seen such shitty ballroom dancers that day that she was just blown away.

OK, so I loooved Ivetta. She's like a character straight out of Strictly Ballroom. She's so Russian, and so Latin Ballroom, and so over the top. I will kill to hear her refer to Nigel and Mary as "Moose and Squirrel". That said, I don't think she'll make the show. First of all, she's 29 and looks every inch of it. Second of all, the costume was like 99% of why she came off so well, otherwise the technique was fine and she has pretty lines, but she wasn't "magical".

I am in love with Ryan of Ashley and Ryan. He is magnificent. She didn't pop for me at all, but for his sake, I'm glad she made Vegas because otherwise that could've been an awkward ride home.

Toenail girl shouldn't have made it through to Vegas. She and her partner were both very, very good amateur dancers. They would get killed in a professional open competition. And yes, dancers lose toenails a lot. I've lost my entire right big toenail twice and half of my left one once. The second time I lost my right one, it didn't even hurt that much.

I'm sad to see Caitlin's sister, Megan, back. I didn't care for her last year and I see that she is still a hair flinging nightmare. She and Haley of the huge rack can form a hair flinging nightmare club. Ugh, Haley. She's cute as a button (And did you see the huge rack? Cause, dude. Seriously. For a dancer. Huge) but she basically did a floor routine.

Thoughts on Salt Lake. This blog is a harsh mistress and I don't even worry about skipping from time to time. To bed for me.