With 3 lesbian contestants, (from left,) Lisa Fernandes, Zoi Antonitsas and Jen Biesty, this season of Bravo's ‘Top Chef’ is officially one fifth gay. (Photos courtesy of Bravo)
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AMY CAVANAUGH
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bravo seems to have missed the “one gay person per reality show” rule. “Project Runway” usually has a few gay men on each season, and “Top Chef” has included bisexual women or lesbians on each season. But season four of “Top Chef” features three lesbians, making up one fifth of the cast, something that thrills the ladies in question — Jen Biesty, Lisa Fernandes and Zoi Antonitsas.
All three watched the show in the past (Fernandes had a friend on season three), and they were encouraged by friends to try out. Biesty describes the curtain call as “more like an interview,” with a series of questions about personality and experience, but, surprisingly, no segment to test skill, creativity or cooking under pressure.
And there’s definitely a lot of pressure on the show, which began airing the current season on March 12.
“It’s much more difficult than you think it would be,” Fernandes explains. “When I would watch it, I was thinking ‘Why is that person doing that? It sounds horrible!’ But when you’re actually on it, as Gail [Simmons, of Food and Wine magazine, and a judge] said, ’When you’re on the couch it looks easy, but when it’s you up there, it’s definitely not easy,’ and she’s right.”
However, given the ladies’ career and resumes, they seem up to the challenge.
Originally from Toronto and now living in Queens, the 27-year-old Fernandes describes her cooking as Asian-influenced with a little bit of Latin. She’s been a chef for 12 years.
Biesty, 35, hails from Brooklyn and now lives in San Francisco, as does Antonitsas, 30, who is originally from Seattle. Biesty, a cook for 15 years, calls her cuisine “California Mediterranean,” citing influences from travels to Italy and Spain. She lived in Paris and worked with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in London — “before he was famous,” she adds. Biesty is also the executive chef of COCO500 Restaurant in San Francisco.
Antonitsas, a chef for 10 years and a consultant with different restaurants in the Bay Area, describes her cooking style as “classic rustic southern European,” with Italian, Greek, French and Spanish influences.
IN MANY WAYS, it’s encouraging to see successful female chefs with such diverse and strong backgrounds, mostly because the field has traditionally been so male-dominated, requiring extra hard work for women to succeed. However, the “Top Chef” lesbian trio believes that things are changing for the better.
“When I worked in Manhattan I knew I had to prove myself, and be better than everyone else, so I strived for that,” Biesty says. “The kitchens are probably different in San Francisco, although I don’t have any females who work for me. I don’t have many women apply, even though women own the restaurant, and I’m the head chef … but times have changed. When I went to culinary school there were just two females, but I just taught a cooking class the other day with one male in it.”
Fernandes hopes that being on “Top Chef” will draw attention to the fact that lesbians face an extra hurdle.
“Being a woman in a kitchen is already difficult enough, since you have to work significantly harder to get established,” she says, “Add on being gay, and you leave yourself open to people making comments, saying things, like ‘You’re a chick but you’re basically a dude because you’re gay.’ I’m hoping with this many lesbians on the show that people will see that it doesn’t matter who you choose to sleep with — you’re always going to be a good chef if you’re a good chef.”
This season of “Top Chef” has an extra element that sets it apart from other reality shows — the first gay couple on a reality TV show competing against each other. Biesty and Antonitsas, who have been dating for four years, announced almost immediately on the first episode that they were in a relationship, a revelation that surprised some of their fellow contestants, but so far hasn’t caused any drama on the show.
“I feel it wasn’t a major issue, but there’s a lot of things we don’t know, like what people said behind closed doors,” Antonitsas says. “In this day and age, the fact that we’re gay was pretty much a non-issue, but it was surprising to people. We, for the most part, really felt like we put out there right away that we’re a couple, but that we’re both here to win and compete against each other. We couldn’t really help each other, unless we were on a team together [in a challenge]… and I think people realized this.”
Competing on the show is stressful enough, and having to count a partner among the competition was not easy for either Biesty or Antonitsas.
Lisa Fernandes (left) reports that competing on ‘Top Chef’ is much harder than it appears from the viewer's living room. (Photo courtesy of Bravo) |
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“It was difficult since we kind of compete on some level all the time since we’re both in the business and very competitive in spirit,” Antonitsas says, “I think a lot of people would think we would have an advantage being girlfriends, but it was very distracting.
When I would go into a challenge, it wasn’t just me and 15 people; it was me, my girlfriend and 14 people. We weren’t really there to be in a relationship, we were there to compete, and the relationship got put on hold, so that was a challenge. At the same time it was amazing and great having someone there you knew who loved and supported you, even if they wanted to beat you.”
Biesty adds that personal cooking flair was on her mind when it came to her girlfriend.
“Our styles are kind of similar, so if a certain challenge was a protein, I would hope that we didn’t end up making something similar,” she says.
Despite the stresses and the dramas, all three chefs agree that being on the show was a good experience on a variety of fronts.
“It’s a concentrated dose of reality, so to speak,” Antonitsas says, “When you work in kitchens, you’re not there by yourself, you’re with a team. But [on the show] it’s just you, by yourself, with your point of view, and so you really look at yourself. I’ve taken away a clearer understanding of who I am and what I want.”
For Biesty, interacting with other well-trained and risk-taking cooks gave was a highlight of the show.
“Having that kind of life-changing experience is just huge,” Biesty says. “I find myself thinking about different types of cuisine, and I want to experiment more with different things. It’s been inspiring as a chef.”
And, of course, learning how to handle crazy situations is part-and-parcel of the reality show business.
“I definitely took away an ability to work in stressful situations and to be more patient,” Fernandes says, “It already changed my life, and starting Wednesday [with the first show] it’s going to even more.”
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