Judging the Best of the Best

When James Oseland received an e-mail from TV producer Doneen Arquines asking him if he'd be interested in being a judge on a new reality series under development by her production company, Magical Elves, Oseland didn't hesitate a second. "I was a huge 'Top Chef' and Bravo fan, and I knew of the reputation of Magical Elves - they make terrific, smart TV and movies," he says.
 
A couple of weeks after answering the mail, Oseland, editor-in-chief at Saveur, found himself at NBC headquarters in New York City taping an interview for Top Chef Masters, which pits world-renowned chefs against each other in a range of challenges. "I was asked questions like what my favorite food was, how I became the editor of Saveur, and such," he says. "I tried to relax as much as possible and just plowed through. After I'd finished, I thought that there was no way in hell that I'd get the job, and I just sort of let go." But three weeks later Arquines called and asked if he could start in two weeks.
 
"I immediately called the Saveur staff into my office and said, 'Guys, this is a great opportunity for the magazine, but I'll need to be away from New York for a month. Can you handle it? It'll mean a million conference calls to keep things moving,'" Oseland says. The response was an emphatic "yes," from both Saveur staff and Terry Snow, CEO of Bonnier Corporation, of which Saveur is a part. Before he knew it, Oseland was on a plane to Los Angeles, "crazy nervous but also excited. And now here I am, three seasons later!"

At first, Oseland wondered what he had gotten himself into. "It was a seriously bizarre scene: There were at least eight cameras whirling around, photographing me while I ate; makeup ladies had plastered my face with at least an inch of makeup," he says. "I was ready to catch the next plane back to New York and return to my normal, quiet, focused life at Saveur. The next day, though, I talked to my partner, Daniel, on the phone, and he reminded me how lucky I was. He said, 'Jim, it's just a passing moment. Enjoy it.' And from that point on, I did."

For Oseland, the biggest challenge isn't the cameras or the inch of makeup, it's eliminating the chefs. "Sometimes it might seem like we judges derive some sort of weird pleasure from kicking contestants off, and I'm here to say, on the record, that we don't," he says. "It's total agony each and every time. On the last two seasons I actually got teary-eyed a couple of times letting go of people. It's a really crappy feeling."

What Oseland likes best about being a judge for Top Chef Masters isn't just eating great food - some of the most amazing food he's ever consumed, he says. "It's also been an incredible learning experience-each episode I've done (about 26 now) has taught me something I didn't know before about cooking or technique or the human character," he says. "That's a fantastic byproduct of working on the show, a real gift."  

The show has been a great success, with 1.5 million viewers in the U.S. and many more abroad. And for Saveur, the show has been a phenomenal opportunity to increase the visibility of the brand, Oseland says. "Since I've been on "Top Chef Masters," people on the street, or at airports, or wherever, yell out, at least five or six times a day, 'That's James Oseland-the editor of Saveur!'" he says. "That even happens when I'm traveling in India or Brazil! Bringing that kind of mass recognition to the magazine that I love so much makes me feel incredibly good inside."