Watching Chef Michael Smith watch Chef Michael Smith

This place is just something else! I arrived home from Vancouver on Sunday night to hear about an opportunity to watch Chef Michael Smith watch Michael Smith on Iron Chef America! There was a little party organized in the athletes village dvd lounge where he was going to be there and whoever could go and watch (while eating pizza and treats and having drinks…for free!)! Obviously, I was going to attend!

My new roommate and I headed to the village for the party (early enough to watch the end of the Grammy’s where Celine was performing!! HELLO!!)…and it was SO fun! Chef Michael Smith was chillin’ on the beanbag and giving us all the little behind the scenes info about the show and all the drama! He’s a really normal guy and all the chefs he has with him here were also on the show with him! I was able to ask him some questions during the show and met him for real at the end! It was so cool!

Apparently, they are given a short list of 3 items that would be the surprise food so they could have some preparation but otherwise it’s a full hour of cooking! I asked if they have access to anything food-wise that they want and they do! For instance, there was one dish that he said had hundreds of dollars worth of meat…intense! He was very happy with how they performed (I asked him and he said they ‘nailed it’!)…he also gave us the inside scoop that apparently Bobby Flay had lost twice that week already and threatened that he’d leave the show if he lost again! Basically, Michael should’ve won…everyone thought so, but Bobby won. Also, there’s no talk whatsoever about a point system anyway so that part is just for the show. All in all, it was a saweet experience! Especially taking home some left-over pizza…mmmmm!