What do you think? Did Marcel cheat, as Elia accused him of doing? Did the consistently reliable Sam deserve to leave? Should creative but backstabbing Elia have packed up her knives and go? Did Ilan take the most risks and cook well enough to stay?
And what did you think about the judging, gentle reader? I loved how this episode concentrated on their discussion, and showed how and why they came up with their decisions. Finally they showed an episode that was all about cooking, and that downplayed the hissy fits and behind the scenes manipulations.
Graphics from The Honolulu Advertiser
Wanna know what I really think about the final two cheftestants? Stay tuned, chiclets. You're probably dishing with Andy on his live show right now. More later this week when you've digested the shock of seeing the final two.
14 comments:
well...ms.place, i'm completely excited. frankly, i thought sam was going to win the title of "top chef" which didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. so, thank god he was eliminated in the first part of the finale. i could really care less about elia. happy that she got the boot. now, just one more to go. hopefully, ilan will be eliminated. leaving marcel as the winner.
As the judges said, "there are no losers here tonight"... except, I would argue, the viewers. Although I did not agree with the choice to send Sam home, it's a competition and he could have tried harder to score points with the judges. Regardless, we will not have a Top Chef this season. We will have a "Top Student Chef," because the best of what's left are barely fledgling professionals. The award for the competition should be an All-Clad pacifier. Shame on Ilan for sending a reluctant Elia to fight his battle, and shame on us for tuning in to watch that ridiculous Marcel week after week.
i'm not ashamed. marcel is the only reason why i tune in to top chef.
HA! Elia admits in her CHOW interview that they shaved their heads AFTER the attack on Marcel:
http://www.chow.com/stories/10424
(click on second interview)
Elia confirms that the editing was backwards:
"Marcel went away really upset and i'm like 'we have this machine [clipper] and I wanted to shave my head my whole life'..."
She talks about that night and shaving her head:
"I have to say we had a lot of fun that night"
Interviewer: Do you feel bad about what happend to Marcel?...It looked a little sad
Elia: No I don't feel bad because that's not the way it happened..
I didn't help to do it...this was a joke they where playing on him...
Marcel has insulted people and it hasn't been shown...his verbal way of talking to people I think is worse than tryng to shave his head...it was a guys joke, it was in between them"
-She doesn't think it was right that Cliff got kicked off
There's lot's more, including how she thinks Marcel hired a hacker to push up his numbers in tv.com polls.
After listening to her, I'm ecstatic this delusional twit was sent home.
Oh, and it confirms that Sam has been lying. Glad he's gone too.
Elia also said in her CHOW interview thzt Marcel cheated several times. She mentions using aggar to fix a sauce and him using recipes from Robuchon.
Elia claims that it was the cheating that made everybody hate Marcel.
At the end, I was shocked to see how Elia went from Marcel's biggest defender, to someone that understood why the others disliked him, to full-fledged dislike of him.
It was also very typical of Sam and Ilan to rile Elia up enough that she ended up having a foot-in-mouth moment at the judge's table. Notice how much they were backing her. (snicker)
At the end of the day though, Marcel and Ilan will go on to compete, and basically at this point it is anybody's game. Both chefs have proven that they can produce inspired food.
I'm glad that Ilan is in the last two. I'm surprised, but not sad to see that Sam didn't make it. Sam was this season's Lee Ann Wong I think.
Such astute observations. Do you think perhaps, anonymous, that Elis began to turn on Marcel earlier, but that this gradual change wasn't edited in until much later? And I agree with Jinxy, Sam is this season's Lee Ann.
The shock on his face was priceless. I believe he thought he would make it too.
With all of the cheating allegations during Judge's Table this season (just as common as Marcel's foams and Ilan's saffron), plus all of the times the other contestants tried to undermine Marcel, I have a *really* hard time thinking that Marcel actually cheated. You and me and my dead dog all know that they would have cried foul as soon as they suspected something, not wait until 3 months later.
Sour grapes much, Elia?
my sam, my sam, my sam! oh honey, i was so, so sad :(
i think it was a mistake. boooo. all of it. booooo.
and padma needs to get the hell away from my man in the photo.
Marcel DID cheat. Listen to Sam's CHOW interview. Sam explained that the cheftestants were NOT ALLOWED to bring any cook books, utensils, notes, etc. This was stated in their contracts.
Sam and Elia claim that Marcel brought in agars and xanthum gums. This is against the rules.
Sam said that the producers were forced to approach Marcel in the middle of the competition and ask him to surrender these illegal items.
It's similar to what happened with Keith Michael and his contraband pattern books on Project Runway.
Anon 3:37am,
I know that Sam said in his interview that Marcel had brought xanthan gum and agar with him (and I know at least agar is available for sale at Wild Oats so he could have purchased that at a challenge), but Sam also upheld the Bravo-episode timeline for the head shaving gang bang, and we know that's not true. So, I take what Sam says with a grain of salt.
if marcel had cheated they would have definitely aired it. in addition, why would you trust elia and sam. i would much rather based my opinion on what actually aired.
Dahling, I deleted you. Why would you want to spoil the fun?
Let's all just sit back and relax and wait this out. I am pleased enough to be making fun of Ilan and Marcel in the two days we have left.
Post a Comment