Mario Batali Left Iron Chef Due to ‘Skinny Little Actresses’

Chef Mario Batali is never one to hold his tongue. In a recent interview following his departure from popular television show Iron Chef, Batali revealed his true feelings regarding the show’s new direction over the past couple years.

His main qualms with Iron Chef arose from being judged by people he felt weren’t worthy of criticizing his food. Here’s a transcript of the video interview:

When they had judges like you [Corby Kummer] and Jeff Steingarten and Dana Cowin and Ed Levine, people whose opinion I felt merited the ability to criticize my food, that’s one thing. But when all of a sudden you get these skinny little actresses from a show called The OC and they’re saying they don’t like raw fish, I’m like, ‘F–k you, why are you talking about my food? Who let you in this room?’ ‘Oh, I really don’t like that.’ Well who the f–k are you? So that’s when I got out of it. All of a sudden, the judges weren’t in the food industry, they were entertainment people.

Eater blog elaborates, noting that the chef must be referring to an episode of the show where The OC actress Melinda Clarke was a judge.

It looks like Chef Mario Batali has a bit of a disposition against the prissy, princesses of the world. Just a few weeks back, the chef left a comment on Foodbeast writer Danielle Mooradian’s ‘snarky’ article on his latest initiative to eat on a budget. It’s okay, being a mindless Internet writer and being called a “snarky princess” by Mario Batali merits its own bit of laughter, much like his particularly poignant discourse:

What do you think about the new direction of Iron Chef? Do you think having to please judges that aren’t necessarily trained or respected within the food industry adds an interesting layer to the show?

Should chefs on the show be open to creating dishes that not only please the classically trained palate, but also groups of kitchen-inferior people that may include “skinny little actresses”?