It’s Wednesday Night, which means it’s the night for Bravo to air one of their flagship reality shows. Right now, we’re in the middle of Top Chef: Chicago, which the commercials promise is “the number one food show on cable.”

I personally can’t cook, but I love this show. Some of the stuff in it goes over my head, but for the most part it’s a rather accesible show even if you don’t enjoy cooking.

But I have to say that this current crop of chefs is not really inspiring. While I have a few chefs that I enjoy watching (Stephanie in particular, I enjoy Dale’s cooking but not always his attitude, and for some reason Nikki) for the most part, I’m annoyed.

About ten minutes into the first episode we’re treated with a “only in reality” type “twist:” chef’s Jennifer and Zoi are a couple. I’m not sure what casting director thought this would be a great idea, but a lot of nothing was made of it as the season carried on. It also didn’t help that Zoi came off as a very sour grapes chef, she never accepted criticism well, and consistently was on the chopping block. It was no surprise when she got eliminated, at least not to anyone watching the show. The fact that Jennifer followed her two episodes later was not much of a surprise either.

But the reason for that is that the chefs this season don’t really seem as capable or interesting as seasons past. Has anybody else noticed how often they cling to the same tricks over and over again? Faux caviar, battery powered smokers, on and on with the same list of things. Somehow Richard has even managed to make mixing innovative and different flavors something boring and tired.

And I probably shouldn’t get started on Spike and Andrew, whose attitudes have been ridiculous and make me wonder if they have actual disorders or if they’re playing to the cameras. Andrews speech about having to be dragged out would have made me want to eliminate him on the spot (and it seemed like Colicchio had the same idea).

I can’t be the only person who is watching, who are you rooting for? I’m hoping that a female chef takes it this time, but Stephanie seems to be the only real contender on that front. I’m still disappointed that last season it was Casey’s game to lose, and she didn’t manage to hold up in the last round.