Why "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" is so good...

I greatly enjoy the Food Network. Ace of Cakes, Paula Deen, especially Alton Brown, and, yes, even Rachael Ray (God help me but that woman is spunky). One thing I cannot stand about the Food Network is that some of their personalities are overbearing. There are very few people on TV or in real life that I would like to cold-cock as a matter of principle, and the Food Network has one of them.

He's arrogant. He's abrasive. He has an annoying voice. He is so smug that he likely sniffs his own farts. No, it is not Anthony Bourdain. I love that man. For him these annoying qualities just work in a television context. And when you just start to get uncomfortable about how much of an ass he is, the producers of No Reservations make him crawl through bat guano. Excellent television.

No, the man that I despise also makes me hate Iron Chef. His smugness offended the Japanese in the original version of the show. The sheer arrogance of the man made me embarrassed to be an American (and I really don't feel that way often). Now that he's the star of the American version... let's just say I avoid the show like the plague.

Yep, I hate Bobby Flay.

If that man ever stepped foot into my kitchen I would probably throw him out on his ear. He can stay the hell away from my BBQ grill too. And I don't even have one.

The reason that I like Throwdown so much is also the reason my dad DVRed the episode of Iron Chef where he loses and watched the last 10 minutes repeatedly: it is so much fun to watch Bobby Flay lose. I'm pretty sure this is why Throwdown is a show in the first place.

Basically the premise of the show is for Flay to travel all over the US challenging various cooks to a "Throwdown" where he takes the basic premise of their dish or recipe and "shakes things up, Bobby Flay style" meaning he adds expensive-ass ingredients to a dish and makes it way too f-ing complicated. He challenged Paula Deen of all people to a chicken fried steak and biscuits and gravy. Of course he lost. Of course it was satisfying. Of course it was AWESOME.

If you enjoy watching an asshole get his nose rubbed in his own shit, then you'll enjoy "Throwdown with Bobby Flay."

(Cue Reading Rainbow book report finale "Du dum DUM!)