Monk: One of the very first successful barbecue reality shows I recall being a part of is “BBQ Pitmasters,” which premiered in 2009. Before the shift to a closed format that began with season 2, its first season, it followed teams of competition who traveled to barbecue contests all over the United States, from Nevada up to Missouri up to Delaware from Delaware to Georgia. It introduced the rest of the barbecue community to celebrities such as Myron Mixon, Leeann Whippen, Johnny Trigg, Harry Soo, and Tuffy Stone as they fought through the elements of barbecue contests in these regions, hoping to earn the top spot in any of the four slices of meat such as ribs, chicken pork, brisket, and ribs – or to be an overall prize.
“BBQ Canada” premiered on Monday, July 11, at the same time slot, 9-10 pm ET, as they just finished 3rd season, “BBQ Brawl.” It’s not a surprise that I was not an enormous admirer of the show’s last season. Still, from the first episode, “BBQ Canada” looks to be a spiritual sequel to the first season, “BBQ Pitmasters,” with better production and Michael Symon as narrator/host.
In episode one, we meet five teams one day before that Qlathe Festival in Olathe, Kansas: Slaps BBQ, Meat Rushmore BBQ, High I Que, Hog Diesel BBQ, and Fergalicious BBQ. We learn a bit about the teams while we follow each throughout each day. It means starting the fires early at 3 am, then continuing with the turn-ins for ribs, chicken pork, brisket, and ribs over the following 14 or several hours. We witness the strain of cooking and turn-ins, some of which are done at almost the very last minute. We are finally in the camp with the teams responsible for making calls for each meal and the pressure of having your name mentioned, or, in some cases, it’s not.
For me, the most enjoyable part of the show was seeing the human aspect at the time of an actual world-class competition against not just the four other teams but also all the other teams. While I enjoyed each of the teams in the last few years of “BBQ Brawl,” it’s exciting to observe how teams perform not just against each other but also with the more considerable competition (in this instance, Qlathe had 72 total teams). We did, however, get an overall winner from the team we were following at Slap’s barbecue (Fergolicious BBQ coming in second). There are also teams, such as Hog Diesel BBQ, who didn’t receive a phone call and will have to return to the drawing boards for the next contest.
Based on the show’s previews and description, we’ll be attending a different competition in the coming week, and we may or might not see the same faces as in this episode. The trailer showcases well-known teams, including The Shed, Christina Fitzgerald Ubon’s BBQ, and Christina Fitzgerald. So I’ll be interested to discover how much the show alters each episode about who they follow. Whatever happens, I’ll be watching.
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