Calling all Top Chef super fans, we’ve developed the best scoring system for your Top Chef fantasy league

Of all the ridiculous things I’ve written about on here, this seemingly might be the most absurd. It all started with a simple thought: How can I get even more invested in Season 16 of Top Chef.

As a longtime fan, I love almost everything related to the show. The plot lines, the characters, and of course the dishes. However, it was not un

til I was introduced to the Pack Your Knives podcast, that I discovered fantasy Top Chef.

It is exactly what it sounds like (and way more entertaining than it’s distant cousin, fantasy football).

Similar to other fantasy spots, fantasy Top Chef allows viewers to take ownership of the on-screen action. It’s a great way to turn an already unhealthy obsession into an even more time consuming one.

The one problem with the fantasy Top Chef? The scoring.

As a (relatively) new concept, it is still being refined. From the other blogs that have shared their own scoring formats, there are three issues:

Weighting of Point Totals:

Developing a scoring system for Top Chef comes down to a answering couple basic questions about how to evaluate the show. Should a Quickfire win be worth the same amount of points as an Elimination win? How should you evaluate a Last Chance Kitchen win?

Essentially we need to answer the question “are all wins equal?”

For the sport to be reflective of the contest, the scoring must be consistent with the show’s key themes.

Exclusion of Point Categories:

This is where it is about to get a little nerdy. Although it is easy to reward points for successes (challenge wins), quantifying the gray area between the top three and bottom three is more complicated. It ultimately comes down to this question, Should contestants be rewarded for advancing to the next episode?

This is debatable depending on how your perceive the overall goal of the competition. However, I think contestants should be rewarded for avoiding the bottom, and progressing in the competition.

From a data analysis perspective, assigning the same score to all chefs outside the top three assumes that their performances are equal. Viewers of the show are able to pick up on the nuances between the top three, the bottom three, and everyone else. Shouldn’t the scoring system be able to do the same?

Besides, fantasy sports are more fun when there is more scoring

Week-Over-Week Scoring

Now from a fantasy sports perspective, this is where things get tricky. Top Chef is simultaneously a week-to-week contest, and a season-long one. Ultimately each episode operates in a vacuum in that prior performance does not influence future outcomes.

However, our perception of each contestant, and the narratives used in the production of the show, is influenced by their previous performance. When looking back at prior seasons, it is easy to think about how certain contestants performed based on their record.

For example, many will remember Carrie from Season 15 had the most Elimination Challenge wins, although she was not the winner. Her accomplishments helped define the season, so shouldn’t the scoring system reflect repeated success?

The Scoring System

With these three issues in mind, I developed my own scoring system. While it is not perfect, the goal is to reflect the importance of each task within the show, and quantify the impact of each chef in relation to the final outcome. It is divided into five categories: Quickfire, Elimination, Team Challenges, Last Chance Kitchen, and Week-Over-Week Scoring.

Without further ado, here is the full scoring format:

Single Week Scoring Quickfire Quickfire Win 10 points Make Judges Table 7.5 points Middle of the Pack 1 point Bottom Three 0 points Elimination Challenge Elimination Win 20 points Make Judges Table 15 points Middle of the Pack 2 points Bottom Three 0 points Team Challenges Win 20 points (All members) Top Judges Table 15 points (All members) Middle Tier 2 points (All members) Bottom Three 0 points (All members) MVP of Winning Team 10 points (Only recipient) Last Chance Kitchen Tom’s Favorite Dish 1.5 points Advance to Next Episode 1 point Win LSC Comp. 10 points

Week-over-Week Scoring Add 1 point to each subsequent quickfire win (3rd win = 13 points) Add 2 points to each subsequent elimination win (3rd win = 26 points) Add 0.5 points for each LSC Tom’s Favorite Dish (3rd win = 3 points) Add 10 points to all contestants who make Final Four Add 20 points to all contestants who make Final Three Add 40 points to all contestants who make Final Two Add 100 points to contestant who wins Top Chef

Feel free to adopt, amend, and share our scoring systems! I am planning on playing in a 2-person league, but this scoring system should work well with 4 people. I’m not sure how it will scale up with more people, but let me know in case you try it out.

For anyone interested in using it, I will be updating the point totals weekly through over Instagram stories.

Follow @choisauceboss for more.