Dinner: Impostor
Monday, April 21st, 2008Last week I wrote that one of the reasons we like watching Dancing with the Stars is because it is authentic. Of course the same could be said about a lot of other reality TV shows. For instance COPS, one of TV’s first reality shows, has logged more than 700 episodes of authentic drunks acting genuinely stupid.
So the appeal of DWTS isn’t just because it is real, it is also about seeing a better side of human nature as opposed to the countless “how low can you go” type of reality shows ““ think Rock of Love, Bad Girls Club, Flavor of Love, and on and on. Watching DWTS is uplifting. We get glimpses of the stars as they struggle to master a new dance in just a few days and when they pull off a great performance, it makes us feel good too.
So a few months ago, when our family happened upon a reality show on the Food Network, Dinner: Impossible, which has a similar structure as DWTS, i.e. overcoming a challenge and ultimately succeeding ““ it became a show that we looked forward to watching. The problem is that not long ago it was revealed that its star chef, Robert Irvine, is anything but authentic; he admitted cooking up a fake resume. The Food Network has since said that it would not be renewing his contract.
I think that embellishing his resume wouldn’t have sunk his soufflé so fast if Dinner: Impossible wasn’t built around establishing his credentials as a chef with exceptional experience. If you’re not familiar with the show, it begins with a take-off of Mission Impossible. There is quick cutting between photos of the White House and Buckingham Palace and Chef Irvine looking like a super agent in his black BMW. A voice-over tells us that he has cooked for four presidents and the Royal Family. He turns on the car radio and we hear “that his assignment, should he choose to accept it, is…” He always has just a few hours to prepare the menu and cook a meal, for hundreds or even thousands of guests using inadequate equipment, limited help, and often in difficult locations such as an ice hotel or cattle drive.
Then for the next half hour, we watch as he works against the clock in a somewhat chaotic environment to get the food cooked and served. There’s a lot of Chef Irvine saying into the camera “we’re running behind schedule”¦I don’t know how we’ll ever get all this done on time.” But of course he does, and we enjoy his victory.
After watching a few episodes of the show, we started to appreciate his no-nonsense manner and found that in spite of his gruff, drill sergeant exterior, he was respectful of the cooks who were assisting him. Our 11-year-old daughter, Jennifer, particularly liked his ability to problem solve while working under pressure. Probably in part because of his crew cut, buff physique, and larger than life presence on screen, he became a bit of a hero to her.
We hadn’t watched Dinner: Impossible for several weeks because of bedtimes, schedules, and etc. but when we sat down to watch it last Wednesday Jennifer immediately noticed that they had changed the opening to take out any references to Irvine being a chef to presidents or the queen. That’s when we told her that we had seen a newspaper story saying that he had lied about his experience.
I had put off telling her the truth about him because I didn’t want to disillusion my daughter that someone she looked up to wasn’t who they said they were. I was disappointed when I read Irvine’s admission that he had misled people and misstated the facts and I knew she would be too. It’s one thing when Jamie Lynn Spears is exposed, it’s something else when someone we thought had integrity crashes.
We watched the show that night but it just didn’t have the same impact. In fact, we turned it off feeling very let down.
I guess it could be argued that if he is able to leap tall banquet tables in a single bound when the cameras are rolling and assuming he’s not using a stunt-double, then it doesn’t really matter what he puts on his resume.
But I don’t think the truth about someone is just what they do when they know they are being seen. I think the reality of a person is how they live their life when no one is looking. And in Chef Irvine’s case, when no one was looking he took the opportunity get creative with his work history. How sad, that someone we once believed to be authentic joins the list of other discredited celebrities, politicians, and athletes.
And what do I tell Jennifer? “I’m sorry to say it, dear, but you’ll get used to it.”