I see what you're saying, certainly in comparison to Masterchef America, though I don't see why the American MC contestants couldn't in theory be as talented as the Australian ones, except for the possibility that Fox wants less talented people than the Australian network is. Still, on Top Chef all of the chefs themselves are trained professionals (with often, unfortunately, plenty of unpleasant drama as you indicated, even more than we see on Masterchef America). It's amazing to me that the established chefs of TC are less creative and worse at plating compared to however well trained the amateur cooks of MC Australia are. That's what I was mainly impressed with. (I see now looking back at my original post that I didn't specify I was specifically referring to the quality of the food vs. American MC/TC, sorry about that.)