Former Bistro SMAP Staff Reveal the Truth Behind the “Real Cooking Is for Professionals” Controversy

Post about “Bistro SMAP” that caused a firestorm

“I was shocked when I heard from an acquaintance at a TV station: ‘Actually, the dishes on Bistro SMAP were made by chefs behind the scenes.’ Apparently, the SMAP members only cooked for the camera, and the real food was prepared by professionals. Now that you mention it… it would indeed be difficult for such busy stars to suddenly create top-class dishes with whatever ingredients they were given.” (Original text as is, same below)

On September 12, this post on X by Hitomi Tada (45), who ran as an official candidate of the Democratic Party for the People in the Hyogo constituency in this summer’s House of Councillors election and lost, became controversial.

The post was flooded with criticism. Tada deleted it and explained, 〈My intention with the Bistro post was to raise a question about the production aspect that made it appear as though all the SMAP members were cooking everything themselves.〉 She added, 〈As a long-time SMAP fan myself, I was very surprised. I should have researched more carefully instead of blindly trusting media information.〉

“Around the summer House of Councillors election in the Hyogo constituency (three seats up for election), Tada ran along with 12 others, including former Akashi City Mayor Fumio Izumi (62) and Takashi Tachibana (58), the head of the NHK Party. Izumi won by a landslide with 822,000 votes. The threshold for winning a seat was 285,000 votes. Besides Izumi, the winning candidates were from the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. Tada received 225,000 votes but finished sixth, failing to win a seat,” said a political reporter from a national newspaper.

Tada has since left the Democratic Party for the People and reportedly plans to continue her activities as an independent. However, a male staff member who had supported Bistro SMAP for many years behind the scenes expressed anger: “I don’t want someone who says such careless things to become a politician. I feel bad for the SMAP members.”

The “Bistro SMAP” segment that Tada targeted this time was a popular corner of SMAP’s flagship variety show SMAP×SMAP (Fuji TV), which aired from April 1996 to December 2016.

Former members Masahiro Nakai (53), Takuya Kimura (52), Goro Inagaki (51), Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (51), and Shingo Katori (48) played the roles of the owner and chefs of a fictional restaurant, “Bistro SMAP.” They served dishes based on orders from celebrity guests, and the guest would choose the winner who made their favorite dish. It became one of the most popular segments, to the point that sometimes the entire program consisted solely of this corner.

“The four of us took it very seriously.”

“At first, the segment began as a cooking showdown between former member Katsuyuki Mori (51), who was known among the members for being good at cooking, and the then up-and-coming Takuya Kimura. However, right after the show started, Mori left the group to become a motorcycle racer. Because of that, Masahiro Nakai, who had declared, ‘I will never cook!’ took on the role of the owner, and the remaining four members were split into two teams to compete in cooking battles,” said the former staff member (same below).

At the time, both as a group and as individuals, the members were extremely busy, and the segment’s filming schedule was said to be intense—routinely recording two to three episodes in a single day.

“We staff members only helped with prep work and other support tasks, but at first, the members were completely overwhelmed by the cooking itself. Still, since the guests’ orders were known in advance, we would discuss the menu and seasonings with them. As they gradually became more capable in the kitchen, the members started putting in effort to express their own style. Kimura and Kusanagi often made proactive suggestions like, ‘I want to do it this way,’ or ‘How about this arrangement?’

Even though they weren’t taught the basics of cooking by professional chefs, they kept improving and ended up making almost everything themselves. Their serious attitude toward cooking probably influenced their acting careers as well. Nakai, for his part, skillfully fulfilled his role, reading the room and managing the flow. It’s no surprise he later became a top-tier MC.”

The segment became hugely popular, and between 1996 and 2011, eight cookbooks were published, becoming bestsellers. The former staff member suggested that Tada’s misunderstanding of the facts may have stemmed from these cookbooks.

We asked Ms. Tada about the true intention behind her post

“Since the program had a fixed runtime, getting the dish finished was the top priority. For that reason, the size of the ingredients and the amount of seasoning were all estimated by eye. Even so, since each team only had to prepare a single serving for the guest to eat, we managed to make it work each time.

However, in the cookbooks, the size of the ingredients and the quantities of seasonings are listed in precise detail—because otherwise, they wouldn’t function as proper recipe books. After seeing those cookbooks, people started saying, ‘Those dishes must have been made by professionals,’ and perhaps someone passed that rumor along to Ms. Tada.”

As mentioned earlier, although Ms. Tada issued an explanatory comment, she also uploaded a diagram showing what appeared to be a division of labor between professionals and the SMAP members, saying she had asked Kansai TV about it again. This caused the controversy to intensify even further.

When asked what she thought about the former staff member’s comments and the circumstances behind her original post, Ms. Tada responded to the inquiry via email as follows:

“My post was based on information I had heard from certain sources, and I shared my personal thoughts and questions regarding the nature of TV production and media reporting.

I acknowledge that I did not sufficiently verify the information I received, and as a result, I caused concern and trouble to those involved and to the fans. I deeply apologize.

From now on, I will refrain from sharing unverified information and will speak more carefully. If corrections or clarifications are necessary, I will address them promptly.”

Posting or spreading stories that one has merely heard can sometimes come with significant consequences. Because something casually shared can reach so many people, handling social media requires great care.

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