The Butcher was a reality Game Show that aired on The History Channel between May 22 and June 26, 2019. It consisted of three eliminatory rounds where four skilled butchers competed in a contest overseen by three prestigious judges for a cash prize of $10,000 as well as the title of The Butcher Champion. If the format sounds familiar, you may have watched another of History's long-running shows before.
Effectively Forged in Fire but with butchery, while the format may have been similar, there were some key differences enforced by the art that's the focus of the show: while forging blades required two rounds, and the contestants were then sent home for the third, in this competition, all three rounds took place in The Shop, and were unrelated between each other. The first round had the contestants separating a whole beast into primals, and then produce as many retail cuts as possible, with the judges deciding how many cuts, and which ones, make it. The three butchers with the highest amount of approved cuts went into round 2, where, under the surveillance of one of the judges, the contestants tried to serve cuts as precise as requested, in the requested amount. The first two butchers who managed to serve all entries went into round three, where they were faced with a big game beast, or another unconventional animal, from which they should extract as many valuable cuts as possible; the cuts were prize tagged, so the butcher who managed to extract the most value out of their beast was declared the Butcher Champion and earned a check for $10,000.
The personnel behind the show were as follows:
- Colby Donaldson: Formerly a popular runner-up on Survivor: The Australian Outback, he's the host of the show.
- Michael "Sully" Sullivan: A master butcher from Tennessee with over 30 years of experience. He also teaches butchery. Known as the "Reverend of Fat". In the show, he's the judge that evaluates the weight and height of the cuts in Round 2.
- Roxanne Spruance: An avid huntress outdoorswoman as well as a professional and highly decorated chef with a Bachelor of Science in environmental biology/zoology and another in fisheries and wildlife. Known for cooking whole animals. She takes specific cuts in Round 3 and cooks them in order to evaluate their taste and texture, among other things.
- Dave "The Butcher" Budworth: A 30-year veteran and fourth-generation butcher who worked at various chef and butcher positions for many years before starting his own company producing meat products in San Francisco.
Much like its sister series, one of The Butcher's hooks was the camaraderie between the contestants as well as the personnel. Removed from the usual drama found in other reality game shows, at the end of each round, while the judges judge the cuts, the competitors were sent to a chamber where they discussed how well they did in the round, as well as trade tips and comments. The judges gave constructive criticism as well as sincere feedback towards the competitors, adding to the positive athmosphere.
The show lasted 6 episodes before its cancellation, however, all of the episodes can be seen in The History Channel's own site
as well as The History Channel's page on YouTube.
Alright butchers, here we go... 3... 2... 1... TROPE!
- Bait-and-Switch: How the butchers are introduced to their Round 1 challenge in "The Invader": they're told about the power tools in the shop, and then they're told that they must cut the meat without using said tools.
- Blaming the Tools: Sometimes the contestants are given a specific tool in order to perform a specific task. While most of them do well with them, some cases are known for struggling with said tools:
- In "Meat the Monster", the contestants were required to use a hog-splitternote to split a pig in two in order to harvest its primals. Brianna, the eventual runner-up, had a lot of trouble with the tool, wasting a lot of valuable meat due to not being to handle it well.
- In "Raising The Steaks", the contestants were required to use a flint knifenote to split a deer carcass into its primals. One of the contestants had trouble with the tool and complained about it on the interview room.
- Down to the Last Play:
- In Round 2 of "A Poultry Sum", butchers were required to craft 6 sausages of 6 exact inches. This led to a fierce competition where the two last butchers disputing the last place in Round 3 were a sausage away from snatching that place.
- Round 2 of "Opah" had the butchers produce three orders of hamburgers with different weights. Once again, a fierce competition took place, and the last butcher to make the cut to round 2 and the eliminated butcher were separated by a single burger.
- Graceful Loser: All of the contestants hold next to no grudges towards the judges when eliminated.
- Meaningful Name: Episode 2 is called "The Invader", and features in Round 3 three invasive species (a Python, an Iguana and a Nutria), from which the two finalists, Matt and Tyler, had to extract as much valuable cuts as possible.
- Oh, Crap!: In Round 1 of "Opah", the round challenge for the butchers was to extract the Foie Gras from their ducks, which is basically their liver, and granted one of 7 possible points for Round 2. But the thing is so fragile and brittle, the wrong move can easily tear apart the whole thing. One of the butchers messed up their Foie Gras and broke it. Only when he saw the Foie Gras in his master's table realized how much he messed up.
- Punny Name: Two of the show's episode titles are puns: "Meat the Monster" (Meet the Monster) and "Raising the Steaks" (Raising the Stakes).
- Red Baron:
- Michael Sullivan is "The Reverend of Fat".
- Dave Budworth is simply "The Butcher".
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Round 2 has the contestants delivering portions of an exact height and weight to one of the judges. The catch is that they cannot use scales nor any other measuring tool, only their own instincts and skills as butchers. If they weigh over the requested weight, they're allowed to correct their cut, but if said cut weighs under, the cut is rejected, and a new cut must be produced. The first two butchers who deliver the required amount of approved cuts advance to the third and final round.
