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Have you ever watched a reality competition where there is one winner but no losers? In other words, no one is eliminated. Sounds a little… boring, doesn’t it? Well, what if that competition was about making edible sculptures out of chocolate? Does that make it more interesting? Netflix is going to find out with School Of Chocolate.
SCHOOL OF CHOCOLATE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We see a man making a rose out of red-dyed chocolate, then contestants explain how working with chocolate is so special.
The Gist: In School Of Chocolate, host Amaury Guichon, a master chocolatier, imparts his knowledge of working with chocolate to make edible works of art to eight pastry chefs and chocolate experts.
During the eight-episode season, the group of students are given short pastry challenge where each student has four and a half hours to produce something on their own. The winners of that challenge pick teams for the 14-hour challenge the next day, which consists of a major chocolate-only project. The bottom two chefs from the pastry round do not participate in the team challenge, but get individual remedial lessons from Guichon.
In the first episode, Guichon challenges the contestants to make a chocolate-based pastry that’s an illusion. His example is a giant pencil that actually writes on paper. In the team challenge, Guichon shows the contestants how to make a strong cylinder by bending a sheet of chocolate at the precise right time; he wants them to create an architectural project that incorporates that cylinder method.
After eight challenges, Guichon will pick a “Best In Class,” which he tells the chefs is an overall judgement. The winner gets to teach a class at Guichon’s Pastry Academy in Las Vegas, and $50,000 to start or enhance their own businesses.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The format of School Of Chocolate is similar to that of Top Chef or The Great British Baking Show, but with a twist that’s problematic, which we’ll get into below.
Our Take: The format of School Of Chocolate is mostly the tried-and-true cooking competition format we’ve seen for years (a format co-opted by artisan series like Blown Away and Making It). But there’s one wrinkle here: No one gets eliminated. Guichon is truly conducting a master class in sculpting chocolate, and it seems that his goal is for all eight of the chefs to come away with knowledge and skills that they can use to enhance their careers.
But the fact that no one gets eliminated blunts some of the competitive aspects of a show like this. Yes, there’s a great prize available to the “Best In Class,” so there’s some competitive aspect to the show. But they all come away from the experience with something invaluable: An education in making chocolate masterpieces from someone who is a genius at his craft.
The two people who were at the bottom of the pastry challenge in the first episode, Amanda and Tyricia, were of course devastated that they wouldn’t get to participate in the team challenge, but by the next day at least Tyricia was looking at the bright side of things: She gets a private lesson from a master. Amanda doesn’t quite see it that way, but still, at least they’re still there. Working without fear of being eliminated seems to take all of the air out of the show, making it that much less interesting to watch.
There are some personality quirks on display, like Daniel telling everybody how young he is, and then managing his team poorly. But the show is mostly about sculpting chocolate, which it turns out isn’t particularly interesting to watch in action.
Parting Shot: Despite his team losing the first round, Guichon cites Juan as the challenge’s standout due to his leadership skills. Juan now thinks there’s a target on his back.
Sleeper Star: There looks like a bit of a rivalry brewing between Melissa and Stephanie, but that could all be in the editing.
Most Pilot-y Line: We’re not sure what the function of Guichon’s assistants, Carolyn and Devin, is besides telling everyone how much time is left.
Our Call: SKIP IT. While some of the chocolate art made by Guichon and the contestants in School Of Chocolate is remarkable, the show itself is poorly structured and not designed to sustain a building sense of competition as the season goes along.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
