How Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio Feel About the TikTok Butter Board Trend

Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio are no fans of the butter board craze.

The Bravo’s Top Chef judges made this quite clear during the April 20 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, where they participated in a game called “Between You & Emoji.” The concept was pretty straightforward: Gail and Tom were presented with different scenarios and asked to hold up the emoji that best reflected their reactions.

Andy kicked off the segment — which was a nod to the emoji-inspired dish challenge on the April 20 episode of Top Chef: World All-Stars — by asking the judges how they would respond to being served a completely rare steak. Tom held up the clown emoji, while Gail selected the heart-eyes face, explaining that there is a difference between “raw” and “rare.” They then shared their reactions to restaurants that charge for bread, $7 lattes, and the once-mighty butter board trend — an online craze that was popularized on TikTok last year.

Gail held up the barf face emoji, and Tom chose the poop emoji without providing any more explanation.

The trend is a high-calorie take on the more traditional charcuterie boards. Rather than anchor the spread with a variety of meats and cheeses, these boards — as the name suggests — use butter as the main ingredient.

Gail and Tom’s reactions were quite similar to that of fellow Top Chef judge Padma Lakshmi, who was asked about the butter board trend in a recent interview with Allure magazine.

“Who the f--k wants to eat pure butter?” Padma asked. “Why do you want to drag a cracker through butter?… It’s meant for bread. That is a trend that I’m not sorry to see go.”

Elsewhere in the WWHL episode, Gail and Tom were asked how they would react to a Top Chef contestant who “clapped back” at the judges’ criticism. Gail responded with the clown emoji, and Tom held up the heart-eyes emoji, indicating that he appreciates a little bit of pushback.

“Oh, you love it?” Andy asked.

“Sure, why not?” Tom responded. “They don’t anymore, though. They really don’t. The early days they did, but now these chefs, they grew up watching the show. They walk in, they’re so intimidated. It’s crazy.”

Gail also shared her favorite “cheap eat” during a WWHL segment aptly titled “Dishing with Gail.”

“Soup dumplings,” she said to a somewhat skeptical Andy. “Do you not live in New York City? I need to take you to Joe’s Shanghai. Or also, literally get them at Trader Joe’s for, like, $3.99, and my daughter will eat five packs for dinner.”

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