Please Pack YOUR Knives, Ilan.
Man, if Cliff would be in that picture above, it would be all of my least favorite contestants of the show. (Note: I liked Elia until she went all psycho at the end!)
Did Ilan cook the best on tonights show? I think that’s certainly a matter of opinion, but I didn’t taste the food.
Did he deserve to win? Absolutely not.
There were a number of chefs on this show that were much more talents and much more respectful than Ilan. Now, I tended to favor Marcel tonight (as did you, dear readers–my poll showed that about 2/3 of you guys liked the kid!), but I’m not saying he should have one. I’m saying what about Sam? And Mia? And Josie? I think those three players were much more “top chef” material.
So yes, I am sad that Ilan won. I think he’s an ass and I think his cooking is predictable and uninspired. Then, if you watched Top Design afterwards, during one of the commercial breaks, he bashed last season’s winner, Harold. Come on. You, sir, need to pack your knives and go.
Speaking of watching Top Design, I’ll have a full report on that later, but it is very clear to me that Bravo did not think this one through. I was torn between watching the live stream about Top Chef on the Internet and watching the first episode of Top Design. Why did they do both at once? Plus, that was a horrible time for a show’s premeire. Way too late–some people have to work in the morning, and a 10-11 timeslot is already pushing it!
Bravo will play them both again, but I opted to watch Top Design, since I know I’ll be able to start/stop the Top Chef online thing whenever I want, but I don’t know what time slots Top Design will be taking.
In any case, here is how I sum up tonight: Ilan is in no way a top chef, even if he was given the title. Marcel has talent, and in a few years I think he’ll hone his skill to the point where he will far surpass Ilan and most of the other contestants. I admire Sam for being the bigger man throughout the competition. I still don’t like Elia (and I think Tom doesn’t either). Top Design review coming soon.
Goodnight
February 1st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
[...] Marcel, the runner-up in last night’s Top Chef finale was in the audience. Rosie had expressed her admiration of him yesterday and predicted his victory. She was very unhappy that he didn’t win and thought he may have been sabotaged by his teammates. Marcel said that any of the blame for the forgotten food and the other problems should fall on him as the head chef, and no one else. Rosie told him that if she opened a restaurant, she would have him be the chef, because she admires the artistic way he approaches food. Marcel said that the Top Chef experience was “bizarre” and “a little bit interesting,” but overall a wonderful opportunity. Rosie presented Marcel with a set of fancy knives from J.A. Henckels. For more on the Top Chef finale, check out Reality on Bravo. [...]