No one wants to weigh on Top Chef? Spoiler

I think in a Marcel v. Ilan contest, Marcel has the edge...wouldn't have been so in a Sam v. Marcel...

That said, Tom C's criticism of Sam not COOKING anything wasn't valid. It's not a cooking competition, it's a CHEF competition....

I also thought it shabby and classless for Ilan and Elia (well Ilan just encouraged her) to bring up cheating at this point. Marcel isn't nice. We get that...don't demean yourself with that crap in front of the judges...

b

I think Marcel has been the Dark Horse of the entire show. And, consquently, given the short end of the stick. Some of the more insecure and childish contestants found out there was someone they could start picking on...and it built from there. ( Actually, I think Ilan started the whole thing.)

I don't find Marcel all that irritating. But I'm not having to live with him either.

I do think Sam got screwed. He has been at the top all along. It should have been Sam & Marcel.

Marcel, by himself, is more than a match for Ilan. But the previous shows have had each chef choosing a team from ousted competitors. Going to be pretty hard for Marcel to find a team...unless he can choose from some of the early ones.

Ought to be an interesting finale.

Richard

Good point about the teams, Richard...anyone Ilan picks is really going to pull for him and try to knock it out of the ball park for him...

Marcel was a bit one note with all those foams...for me he's a bit too precious. And I'm not sure I'm on board with his additives...xanthan gum and all that...I think it changes the approach to food and it's not an approach I can really appreciate.

[Jenise]

SAM GOT THE BOOT?

I haven't seen the episode yet but oh no. I figured he was a shoe-in to ultimately win it, that forget what went on within an individual challenge at this point that unless Sam threw it away by personally assaulting someone a la Cliff that Tom C and gang would pull him through.

Agree with Richard somewhat on Marcel's persecution. I've actually watched the episodes and tried to separate what Marcel really does vs. what they're choosing to show me. Contentiousness creates drama, so the cameras play that up. So I find myself wondering if I were there, would I think Marcel was really that big a prick. I can tell you I wouldn't be looking like the most mature person in the world if I'd been picked on from Day One the way he has. Yet just when I decide that he deserves some sympathy, he actually says on camera that's so egregiously self-serving that I change my mind.

First, thanks for not yelling at me for not warning of the spoiler...I am usually better...so I DID just goback and add it...

Anyway, I'm with you-- I try. And I would probably be like Elia, giving him the ben. of the doubt...but she brought up him moving a pot she needed for the final four dinner...that's not acceptable.

I wouldn't have been so mean as some. But I would have had a hard time biting my tongue.

b

[Jenise]

As mean as...Betty, maybe? I liked Betty, could imagine she and I getting along and having a great time in the kitchen. But she wasn't exactly the classiest woman I've ever met, and she never looked more shrewish than when she complained about Marcel--no one's complaints more than hers made me wonder if Marcel wasn't being unfairly victimized.

No problem on the spoiler. I forgot to tape it so its lost to me forever. I'd rather know this way. Won't have that problem again, we returned the DVR recorder and ordered an integrated DVR/receiver through Comcast, which was installed just yesterday. First thing I did was set it to auto-record the rest of the series.

Hey, check out Anthony Bourdain's take on the contestants via Michael Ruhlman's blog

http://blog.ruhlman.com/2007/01/guest_blogging_.html

Fucktard? Gotta love it!

[Jenise]

Oh that's RICH. Kim, thanks. Loved fucktard, and I hadn't really recovered from that when I read "Wolverine do". I need an oxygen break....

Oh that's RICH. Kim, thanks. Loved fucktard, and I hadn't really recovered from that when I read "Wolverine do". I need an oxygen break....

Fun eh?. LOL! While his "do" is right out of Wolverine, I described him early on as a grown up Eddy Munster. I'll stick by that description.

[Jenise]

Eddy Munster! Oh, that's great! I hadn't yet figured out how to sum up his look except to wonder if this wasn't the world's weirdest combover shielding a dead-center bald spot.

Anyway, I love all Bourdain's comments. He has the essential take on each of them though he seems to like Ilan less than most of the posters here. He made me sadder than I already was about Sam's departure--it's like the most deserving guy is already gone.

I think Tony nailed all of the contestants. Spot on. I agree with everything he said...especially the part about Ilan. Ilan has been the back stabber and behind-the-scenes troublemaker from day one.

Marcel has some growing up to do. No doubt about that. If he can get over himself and concentrate on taste... as well as presentation? He might make a decent chef. He seems to get along with his friends and the people he works with in his personal life. The Top Chef competition seems to bring out the worst in everyone ...except those who know who they are and where they stand in the world.

I liked Mikey too...but he was never Top Chef material.

Richard