Your hot girl summer crush is the deadbeat chef

Who needs Love Island hunks when you have unstable, greasy line chefs who probably need therapy?

Although FX’s Hulu streaming new series, The Bear, was only released earlier this month it has garnered viral attention online. Is it because of the scarily accurate, depressing depiction of life in the kitchen? Not really. Instead, everyone’s struggling to keep their eyes off the unconventionally attractive, yet completely irresistible line chef who definitely has some underlying anger issues. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

The Bear follows a young chef, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), from the fine dining world whose life is swiftly flipped on its head after his brother commits suicide. The death then forces Carmy to return home and run his brother’s failing Chicago sandwich restaurant. A far cry from his Michelin restaurant lifestyle, Carmy is tasked with transforming The Original Beef of Chicagoland into a well-respected establishment. However, this doesn’t sit well with the restaurant’s current employees who naturally resent him for disrupting the system they’ve all known for years.

So, the premise doesn’t exactly scream sex appeal and Carmy isn’t your typical macho heartthrob protagonist, so why is everyone so obsessed? Well, plenty of users online have pointed out how the hothead chef is “so unattractively attractive,” which probably raises more questions than answers. Perhaps it’s the intensity of all those close-up shots of sizzling meat, vegetables being aggressively sliced and diced and Carmy’s barely visible biceps flexing that’s got everyone so hot and bothered. The chef clearly has a lot of demons, but who can resist a dash of chaos?

Dubbed as “the working man’s Timothée Chalamet” online, it seems Carmy’s complete lack of self-care, tattoo-covered arms and nicotine addiction all convelese into the chef becoming completely irresistible. With the lack of sex, it’s all left to the imagination of the audience, and it’s running wild. Sarah York of Bon Appétit hits the nail on the head, describing Carmy as a “sexually competent dirtbag line chef,” adding “If you’ve ever waited in vain for a text back from a man with no bed frame in his apartment, you’re already pretty familiar with this type.”

Carmy, in theory, is probably someone you should steer well clear of but it seems like nobody can resist: “I’m actively in therapy to help me stop falling in love with men who look like this but The Bear on Hulu is worth the mental setback,” says one Twitter user.

White discussed the sexualisation of the show with Vanity Fair “There isn’t a moment of any character being attracted to a person or a thing. I mean, Lionel and the doughnuts is truly the most sexually charged [part of the show].”

Co-star Ayo Edebiri has a similar outlook ​“Food is sexy, you know,” she tells THE FACE. ​“These people are very driven by their work, and I think there’s a tension there. It’s been very funny to see the response.”

 The lack of sex only emphasises the hustle and bustle of working at a high-stakes restaurant, Carmy barely has time to think rationally in the kitchen let alone even think of sex. The harsh reality is he doesn’t have a normal life, he and the staff are completely consumed by their work and romance is simply not on the menu.

With the popularity of shows like Euphoria and Normal People putting sex at the forefront, it’s refreshing to see a show completely throw that premise out the window and still achieve the same level of sexual intrigue. The Bear has been renewed for a second season and fans will no doubt be hoping for some release of more sexual tension, but it may be even more beneficial to keep us painstakingly waiting for something that will never come.

See the internet’s hilarious reactions to The Bear below.

Writer
Chris Saunders
Banner Image Credit
FX / The Bear