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Ted Allen Continues to Bore TV Viewers

Ted Allen: chairman of the bored.
Ted Allen: chairman of the bored. Photo: Getty Images

Ted Allen may not be the most boring figure in the food media. But he’s close. The Top Chef judge, whose new show, Food Detectives, debuted last week, continues to be a ubiquitous presence on the airwaves. Food Detectives answers such questions as “Does celery have negative calories?” and “Will baking soda make your refrigerator smell better?” As a review in today’s Times points out, Allen is never a show’s main attraction. “Mr. Allen was the button-down one on ‘Queer Eye,’ and he’s an oddly peripheral presence on Top Chef, his opinion not seeming to merit the same attention accorded those of the other judges,” reviewer Mike Hale notes of the “owlish” Allen, but it’s not hard to understand why. The guy is boring! His expression never changes, he never says anything insightful about food, and he’s about as funny as a CAT scan. But considering the tedium of Food Detectives, he may be the perfect host.

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Ted Allen Continues to Bore TV Viewers