Top Chef Double Disappointments
Top Chef Double Disappointments by Roxanne McDonald
 |
What is it with the finalists who are so tacky that they turn on fellow competitors at the eleventh hour? |
We remember Laura, on Bravo’s “Project Runway”—how she accused Jeffrey Sebelia of cheating when he produced more and better than she for the final runway show (and when she wasn’t even the astute one: it was her mother who was visiting Jeffrey’s mother and came to Laura with the suggestion to accuse him of cheating).
And of course we recall—as it happened just a couple of weeks ago—how Cliff pulled the bullying act on Marcel, pinning him down in attempts to team shave his head (though the others refused).
Now we have the one who was too snooty for my tastes to begin with, Elia, standing at the close of the penultimate episode in front of the judges and muttering how Marcel cheated all the way through the competition.
Okay…what? First, while Marcel was equally dislikeable in most episodes, he was to my knowledge never accused of, seen, or involved with cheating. Wasn’t that the long dead in the kitchen water professor or someone—who got the free case of lychees by stashing them under the shopping cart where the checker failed to notice?
Next, wasn’t Elia the only one who was kind to Marcel? Okay, she concedes to this in interview, but when did she witness him cheating? Oh, wait, she explains that because she was using (or more likely, about to use, thinking of using) a particular burner [since there always seemed to be a shortage of stovetop units] and because Marcel noted that the pan was not doing anything but sitting there and he announced he was moving her cheese or whatever…that, to Elia, equals cheating.
Hmmm. Maligning, maybe, but maligning is what she does at the last minute.
And poor Marcel, we think for a minute, as we know he is least popular and know he has even been physically assaulted since the show aired (see Reality TV World report at SirLinksAlot) by a hateful bar-hopper…. Again, though, and as Chef Colicchio reminds, Top Chef judges are not there to evaluate the way they behave in the
kitchen (luckily for them) but the way they cook.
Still, the other finalist should not have been Ilan. It should have been Sam.
I may just be so disillusioned—finally—or so disappointed, that I may have to do the visual boycott of the Top Chef finale. Oh, God, who am I kidding? I am as intrigued as the next Top Chef fan about the outcome. May the best actual cook, and not best snob, not best whiner, be the winner.
1 Comment »
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
The winner of Top Chef will be appearing on iVillage Live on Thursday, February 1.
The show airs online at www.ivillagelive.com and on TV stations across the country. Click the link for more info on where and when to watch!
Comment by iVillageDeanne — January 30, 2007 @ 11:10 am