Top Chef - S5E14 Postmortem

Huh.

Frustrating, really.

Frustrating to see Carla abdicate.

Frustrating to see Stefan sunk by a couple of poor decisions.

Frustrating that we had to wait until the final episode to see this kind of food from Hosea.

(And from the look on Tom's face, I'm not the only one frustrated.)

I don't question that Hosea made the best meal of the evening, and that's how it goes. If you can't bring it in the finale, you don't deserve the title. But still, it's like he just hung around and hung around and hung around and then got his best shot in at just the right time. It doesn't make him unworthy, but it makes for a less than satisfying finish.

Gotta digest this one for a while. Wrap-up next week.

UPDATE : A quick update because I can already see where this is going. Yeah, it sucks, but how does it make sense to blame Hosea or Casey or the show? Blame Carla for not taking control of her own menu. Blame Stefan for freezing his fish and making a cliche for dessert. We can argue until we're blue in the face about whether not considering previous performance is a good or a bad thing (and I'm sure we will, especially now :-), but nobody robbed Stefan or Carla. They robbed themselves, plain and simple.

UPDATE II : God help me, I'm already starting to feel sorry for Hosea. The guy outcooked the favorites in the final episode and I'm as frustrated as everybody, but you'd think the twist was that he poisoned Julia Child. You guys are out for blood :-)

UPDATE III : I'll be curious to see how everybody feels about this season once we've had a chance to step back for a week. Up until Restaurant Wars, it was the WORST SEASON EVER. Then it got really good in a hurry and I saw a lot of people last week declaring it the BEST SEASON EVER. Now, it seems it's back to being the WORST SEASON EVER again for many. But as much as I prefer not to get caught up in the opinion rollercoaster, I am kind of amused by the poetry of it. After all, if the chefs are only as good as their last dish, it's somehow fitting that Top Chef is only as good as its last episode, eh? :-)

UPDATE IV : Incidentally, can we finally put to bed all of the conspiracy theories regarding the producers manipulating the judging process? I mean, really, what producer in his/her right mind would have orchestrated THIS outcome???

UPDATE V : Wow. Apparently things have taken a turn for the kooky. If it's a genuine quote, and if it's anywhere near the target (Blais' facebook status appears to suggest that something, indeed, was afoot in saying that Casey got a bad edit), it's another good reminder of how little we see. Which also raises a point that seems appropriate right now. I love speculating about what's going on as much as the next guy (okay... a little more), but even I'm a little taken aback by the strength of the opinions being formed about people based on -- quite literally -- 10-12 seconds of footage culled from five hours of prep. I'd say the editors might come out of this mess with a little bit of a credibility problem, but anybody who watches the show regularly knows that ship sailed a long time ago. It'll be interesting to see where all of this goes, and folks are free to blame and make personal judgments about those involved, but I'M not about to plant my flag on ground this shaky.

UPDATE VI : I'm going to quote a portion of Jake's comment at the top here, both because it's dead on and because, frankly, I should've had the stones to say it myself yesterday:

"Look, Stefan's been my favorite for most of the season, and I've grown to really like Carla too. But can we all please take a page from both Stefan and Carla and be reasonable about this? Both have acknowledged that Hosea deserved to win, and both have acted with class and humility. On top of that, both will be fine. By all means -- cheer for your favorite, applaud when they succeed, and lament when they fail. But chill with the blame, the conspiracy theories, and the conjecture (you don't know who would have won if the sous were different, or the surprise ingredients, or whatever). It's starting to sound like the drunk football fan who is yelling at everyone around him about how the refs cost his team the game, when the refs didn't make any controversial calls. Don't take away from Hosea's accomplishment, and don't diminish what Stefan and Carla accomplished either."

What he said. We (by which I mean both myself and the folks who have seen fit to participate here) have tried to foster an atmosphere here that respects the chefs involved in the show -- understanding that they're real people -- and keep the discussion as free from the kind of nasty, strident tone that all too frequently dominates the 'net. We all get a little carried away from time to time (and I'm by no means blameless in that regard), but I think most folks here have a sincere interest in staying above speculative mudslinging, and I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping each other honest in that regard. In short, take a deep breath everybody... speak your mind, please, but let's keep this from devolving into the kind of ranting that typifies far too much of the internet.

UPDATE VII : FYI, I've confirmed that Blais' comment below is, indeed, from him. Which is not to cast aspersions on the comments left by anybody else related to the show -- he's just the only one from whom I've managed to wrangle up a confirmation so far. So if you're the skeptical type, you can erase any doubt about the authenticy of that particular comment (that is, unless you don't trust me either :-).

UPDATE VIII : Ditto Carla's husband, Matthew. That's him (not that I think anybody doubted him).

Comments

[KinderJ]

To use the language Toby Young should have employed- Bollocks.

Seriously, that's rubbish.

Just frustrating really. Still, a measure of redemption for Richard Blais.

Really not taking the edge off the pain, though.

[Brent]

Very disappointed for Carla. But you know who I feel sorry for? Not Carla. Casey. She was just throwing out ideas; Carla didn't have to accept them, obviously, and having accepted them, it was Carla's responsibility to make them work. But Casey will no longer remembered as the spunky almost-Top Chef; now she'll be remembered as the chef who killed Hootie.

[KimberH]

I....HATED...

how this stupid finale came down.

[Jdiddy]

I gotta admit, I'm pretty disappointed. This was the last thing I expected, and the whole thing feels pretty anticlimactic now. I am saddened.

[Bart]

That sucked.

Carla should have stuck to her guns, for one.

And I don't agree with the decision, at all.

That really, really sucked. It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

[KimberH]

Hosea? REALLY? F.....ing Hosea?

Ok, you know what, I am going to bed.

[Darcy]

ARGH!

[KimberH]

Wow.

Like anyone will watch next year

[KimberH]

Wow. Top Chef lost any credence they have with me

[Samwise]

This was a victory for Richard Blais, pure and simple. Talk about your Ghost Top Chef.

[karenology]

Brent: I remember Casey as the one who took like two hours to chop a few onions.

[Naomi]

Oh man! Frustrating. Anti-climactic. Disappointing :-(

Stefan made a great point at the end. If he'd made a better dessert, he would have won. And why DIDN'T he make a better dessert? His dessert helped an undeserving restaurant win restaurant wars. And tonight, his dessert lost him the title.

And I can't even talk about Carla right now. I'm too sad.

I hate that I went into this episode pretty much feeling I'd be satisfied with anyone but Hosea. Such a bummer.

And I can't put my finger on why the episode just wasn't as interesting to me as it should have been.

Disappointed all around :-(

[Shelly]

This really is the appropriate ending to a season that rewarded mediocrity. It was painful to watch.

I wish Carla had trusted herself more (did anyone else get the feeling Tom wanted her to win?). When I heard Casey's ideas and her acceptance I cringed.

Still, Carla really was the light of this season. I hope she did take the understanding away with her that she showed everyone how to compete with joy and love. What a lady.

[Maxx]

My god, I am so pissed about this result. Stefan shot himself in the foot with his stupid dessert dish! It looked like one of those dessert trays you'd see in a kid's party at the mall or something, in my opinion. If he had stuck to his guns and done something as strong as his second dish, he could have won! But once again, he got overconfident and thought he was gonna win just because of all of his past victories. And, once again, it resulting in him being shot in the foot.

As for Carla, she could have won if she hadn't listened to Casey as much. More than half the people that were watching (65%) thought that she deserved to win as well, and she just apparently didn't have enough confidence to stick with her own dish ideas. I personally feel some blame rests with Casey, but that's just me.

Dear god, I can't believe this. I was rooting for Stefan, but I was honestly scared stiff every time he presented one of his dishes because I thought he would make a stupid mistake and thing the dish was still really good. I remember sighing with relief when the judges liked his alligator soup, which I thought was the best appetizer just because of the ingredient he had NEVER used. But like the past two episodes, he got a full head since he thought he was a shoe in to win due to all of his past successes. I feel like kicking him repeatedly until he gets it through his head that he needs to actually TRY during the final challenges, since they were the most important.

Sorry for the rant about it, I just thought this was an appropriate place for it, since it's full of Top Chef people like me.

[Jon Olsen]

Oh you know that's not going to happen. You'll be back. We'll all be back. We lived thru Hosleah, we lived thru Top Cook, we lived thru Lisa, we lived thru the vending machine quickfire. We survived Katie Lee Joel. KATIE. LEE. JOEL.

See you next season, junkies.

[DDBen]

Wow I don't really know what to say about a finale like that.

Its pretty clear Toby thinks Stefan should have won.

Hosea just came off as slimy for the entire episode it seemed like Season 2 all over again with the favorites abdicating and then Ilan winning for essentially taking the safe way out and overusing saffron in his case.

I'm certainly not satisfied with how this season ended at all. I find the deciding factor being Stefan did a desert while Hosea didn't being absurd. Carla went down almost exactly like Casey did in her finale its kind of silly they got her instead of Dale who was the actual runner up while she placed a very distant 3rd. I have absolutely no love for how this turned out though I'll be honest that is how I usually feel about the finale Hung/Harold aside.

[KinderJ]

I really wanted Stefan to win this, but let's get this out now- the judges said that this came down to Stefan and Hosea, but ruled for Hosea. Even Fabio, who also was rooting for Stefan, favored Hosea. Taste wise, I have to accept their ruling. What's frustrating for me was that Stefan just could not pull off the win. If it was me, I would have been planning that final menu for weeks, because lets face it, you have to believe that you are going to be cooking that 'best meal of your life.' It just kills me that he did not use that final bit of meticulousness to plan the menu in advance. He cooks the best dish of the evening, but... arg. Just arg.

You know who else looked like he was feeling the arg? Chef Tom. He looked so dispirited at judges table. I think he was as upset as the viewers. I think he liked some of those dishes, but overall he felt that the chefs just did not live up to their potential. Arg. Arg. Arg.

[Anne]

Aw, piss pot.

Carla failed earlier in the season for not trusting herself, and did the same thing in the finale. She lost her Hootieness.

For the guy who skates in on pure mediocrity all season to win? Piss pot. Well, he got the egg. Stefan and Carla will be the stars of the season, and they get the chickens.

Grump.

[babyarm]

All season I've been telling people to not sleep on hosea. He had cooking competition experience which can mean a lot.

Carla for what she was was never a threat. She excelled on single dishes, not multi-courses. Nothing she showed all season would represent that she could have beaten hosea's 4 courses tonight. Her lack of focus just compounded the issue.

You know who killed stefan. Radika. Go back to RW and he wins that challenge because Rhadika's team was such a failure on his desserts and he starts making them more often and then you get the 1980s steakhouse thing he put out there.

Clearly he should have seen Hosea going savory and attacked that with one of his tried and true recipes. It was a strategic loss. Hosea cooked safe all season and Stefan steps out with the LN2 halibut and loses on that alone. I doubt any dessert could have made up the gap.

[Josh]

As someone who's lived in Colorado for the past decade and been able to eat at Jax, I was really surprised to see Hosea fly under the radar for most of the season. The quality of the dishes there is amazing, especially considering that it's a seafood joint in a landlocked state.

I'm sorry to see that everyone's so bummed about Hosea winning but he cooked his food and he cooked the best. I don't think it's like last season where we saw Lisa skate through by the skin of her teeth every episode and fell backwards into the finale.

So, yeah, I'm rooting for the home team but I think based on his performance Hosea deserved to take the win.

[Anne]

And, agreed, Dom. They robbed themselves. And if people had doubts about whether the judges really judged on one night's performance alone, they should be quashed.

I agree that Tom looked bummed. I respect the judges for awarding the best meal, even if it was the most dispiriting possible conclusion. Hosea did deserve the win--he cooked the best meal of the night. It's just a bummer.

[canasian]

Wow... Anyone else think Casey shot Carls in the foot on purpose? Then again, Hung did sous-vide and soufle, so maybe she was trying to give her what has already won once, so why wouldn't it again?

Funny how Casey and Carla's runs were almost identical. Not so great in the beginning, wake up after Restaurant Wars, get paired with a female chef in the finale and totally bomb when it counts.

Frustrated is the perfect word to describe me right now. This may be my favorite group of people ever on Top Chef (for people, not necessarily food, even though we also had some good food), but the only one I really disliked won. I even disliked him more than Leah, who I found at worst immature and lazy. I can't count how many times I've typed the word tool when referring to Hosea on various forums.

I need to hear from Stefan. I have a feeling some more creative plating and technique on that dessert would have won it.

[mar]

Stefan thought he should have won because he won the most challenges through the season. And that he was judged more harshly because they expected more of him. Really? Sorry. I didn't love Hosea throughout the season but I really began to dislike Stefan's attitude at the end. (I was rooting for Carla for sure!) So am I unhappy that Hosea won? Not really. He cooked a really good meal apparently, and was solid enough throughout to have been at the finals. So there it is.

Poor Carla. She should have stuck to what she knows. And poor Casey too. Now she'll be known for three things: 1) Not being able to chop onions. 2) Blowing a great run in the finals during her season. And 3) Screwing over Carla. (Though I agree with PP that it was Carla's choice to take her suggestions, why oh why did she veer from what she knows best?!)

[KarenB]

"This was a victory for Richard Blais, pure and simple. Talk about your Ghost Top Chef." absolutely- and that is the only comfort I get from this really frustrating season. arrrggghhhhh

[Sebastian]

Two things stand out to me about this finale compared to previous ones:

Sous-chefs. I distinctly remember them interviewing the sous-chefs in past finales. Why didn't they do that this time? Because they would tear into Casey for trying to live vicariously through Carla?

Overall Performance. They've also said things in past finales that indicate they take the season-long performance of chefs into account for the finale. Why didn't they do that this time? So that it would at least be a choice?

I really hope that the official blogs will clear things up for me, because I cannot understand how Hosea can win if they take overall performance into account.

Also, did Hosea's "apology" about Leah on the TC blogs come out before or after the finale was filmed and he was named Top Chef?

[KimberH]

It comes down to the prior "top chef" and how far is this?

Blais won, no Hosea!

[Krazikarl]

Man, it was just Hosea's night.

He got lucky and pulled the right knife to get his pick of sous chefs. That meant that he got probably the most respected non winning chef in Top Chef history. No offense to Marcel or Casey, but 9 out of 10 chefs take Blais over them if they got their pick.

He was lucky when he got the baby. Even though his attempt to derail Stephan didnt work, it still meant that he got to pick the ingredient right up his alley (fish, even though he apparently hadnt used that particular fish much).

And he was lucky to top it all off with both of his competitors shot themselves in the foot with a botched desert and a poorly conceived desert.

Sometimes the stars just align in competitions, and on they sure aligned for Hosea. Bummer, but it doesnt sound like the judges could have ruled it any differently.

[Bart]

Dom - reading your edit - yes, the other cheftestants shot themselves in the foot. I certainly don't blame Hosea for winning.

I just find it frustrating that it was so obvious that Stefan, who was clearly the best chef all season and - if we were to go by consistency - should have been Top Chef.

Watching Hosea win because he cooked a fabulous dish is sort of like plopping Ariane in the finals watching her win when she cooks her skate wing. Hosea's victory came because he hit the bulls-eye at the right moment, but the aggregate of what he's accomplished all season doesn't measure up to what Stefan accomplished. Or what Carla accomplished, for that matter.

God, Carla, why couldn't you have just been comfortable doing your own thing?

Ugh. I'm very disappointed.

[KimberH]

"fair"

[Bryan]

Does anyone else think it is ironic that Casey recommended cooking sous vide to Carla when she used to rag on Hung for using the technique too much?

[KimberH]

Why do you make former wanna be chefs come back?

Look at this! Hosea Top Chef? Are you kidding me? Take those bad teeth and kiss Leah.

Wow.

I stayed up for nothing.

Thanks Top Chef.

[redpoint]

Rats.

Carla lost because she was too agreeable. That's how they taught us girls to be (I'm 44 too). That was our lesson. Be good, be nice, listen to others. See where it's gotten us! Third place. Not bad, but third place. Integrity intact. Everybody still likes us. Third place.

[Anne]

I really hate to see people blaming Casey. All we got was what the editors showed us--we have no idea how many suggestions Blais and Marcel gave. It was Carla's job to say no, not suddenly get all "nice."

What really surprised me about Stefan was his comment about the openendedness of the challenge. He didn't even think about it?

[potty mouth princess]

Is Hosea the only TC winner who never won an individual Elimination Challenge?

Mediocre Chef, indeed.

[T]

Was anyone else touched by Stefan's comforting of Carla? It seemed very sincere and -- dare I say -- caring. This whole season, I haven't bought the "evil Stefan" plot. As Dom has pointed out, Stefan appears to have helped his fellow chefs more than possibly any other contestant we've seen. Stefan, you certainly deserved to win.

Other than that, this was a victory for Richard Blais. I'd venture to say that had any of the other two finalists picked Richard as their sous-chef, they would have won.

What a disappointing finale...

[KRK]

Oh, Carla. Why let Casey's suggestions divert you from your plan? Believe in your cooking! I had a bad feeling as soon as Carla and Casey were paired. I'm sure Casey's a lovely person and a great chef, but she just feels like Top Chef Final kryptonite.

Hosea bugged me all season, but he deserved the win tonight.

Stefan will probably always believe that he was held to a higher standard, as mar mentioned above, but that's not what we saw.

[babyarm]

For all those that are up in arms about this. What pastry could stefan have made that would have made up for the second course gap? There's not one.

The real shame is that people will start treating this season like Survivor and just go with the "survive and advance" strategy. There were a lot of chefs this season that had set out to do just that and it made the mid-season boring as hell. If that creeps into 12+ shows then this dies like Queer Eye.

All hail Blais.

[Jon Olsen]

Dude, KimberH. All I'm saying is one of us might need a little NAP.

[mar]

Toby Young has a spirited defense of Stefan on the TC blogs and a discussion of using past performance during judging this round. Sounds like it was so close between Stefan and Hosea but the other judges felt that Hosea's 3rd course outpaced Stefan's dessert by enough to make Hosea the winner (and thus not need to consider past performance so much). I'm looking forward to reading Tom's blog...

[Eli]

Casey has now lost Top Chef twice!
What was she thinking second guessing Carla's menu and basically making her cook her food. sous vide? Whatever. It never works, yet Casey and company persist in trying to convince us that that is cooking. Carla cooked. And if Casey had even watched one episode of Season 5, she would have realized how preposterous her suggestions were.
Casey:
Not satisfied losing once? Had to bring Carla down? You did yourself in; you've done Carla in. Is this a gender thing? One wonders.

[scott]

it really makes me sad to see casey bring down another menu. i see she's still influenced by Hung, the great Sous Vide master, but come on carla. the moment i saw casey take over carla's menu i knew it was over. you can't just start cooking something you never cooked before in the finale. come on hootie!

[KTB]

All this boring talk about who won, who should have won, who should have listened to whom . . .

I'll be having dreams about Gail all night tonight, pregnant or not.

[Lon]

I now understand Gail's comment on her interview about the finale. It's like she knew it would not be popular.

I would not want to be the favored chef going into the finale. Hung is about the only one who was doing well who carried that over into the final.

Personally, I was rooting for Carla because of her personality and because of her late surge. But this isn't the first time a chef has lost because they listened to their sous chef.

I will grant Hosea his due. He obviously did some studying and prep for the finals and upped his game at the right time.

[hootiefan]

So sad for both Carla and Stefan not living up to their potential. But I must note that Stefan showed real class in the finale when he TWICE comforted Carla while she cried. Meanwhile, Cheater Hosea just sat their like a schlump. And Carla did show a better way to compete - with love and class. I don't begrudge Hosea his win, but Carla and Stefan are certainly classier people, in my opinion. Cheers.

[Adam]

First - this isn't Lisa from last year. Hosea was never the dominant chef, but he didn't skate by, either. He was solid. The only chefs who won more challenges were the other two finalists.

I think Blais probably had a strong impact on those dishes. Foie gras foam? Clearly Blais influence.

I cringed when Carla agreed to sous vide the sirloin, but I actually think Casey was right about the souffle. But for a brain fart on the oven temp, it may have been a triumph.

I think we had a bit of a Goldilocks story here with the sous chefs. Marcel kept his mouth shut when he maybe should have pushed Stefan away from frozen fish. Casey made at least one suggestion that got in the way of Carla's cooking style. Blais provided just the right touches on a meal that was still identifiably Hosea's.

[west coast fan]

hi guys just checking in while waitng for the finale, guess what YOU JUST SPOILED IT, thnks west coast fan 8:59 PST

[Skillet Doux]

"hi guys just checking in while waitng for the finale, guess what YOU JUST SPOILED IT, thnks west coast fan 8:59 PST"

Y'know, the Bravo site posts right away too... why should it be any different here?

(Not to mention which, most of the West Coast providers don't even delay.)

[Chris W]

I would think someone living on the west coast would have learned by now that shows tend to air earlier in the other time zones....

[Darcy]

Darn, KTB beat me to the punch: Gail's cleavage was the most memorable thing about tonight's episode.

Why oh why did carla listen to casey. I also feel bad for Casey.

Hosea came off as a bit of a prick in this episode. I really would like to know how much of Blais was in that meal.

Stefan seemed to catch shrugitis.

Alright,..i'm at peace. Thanks for those updates Dom.

I hope next season rocks.

[Steve]

Carla listened to Casey. Stefan made a poor decision and then didn't "bring it" for dessert. Gawd this is frustrating.

[Eli]

Stefan reaching out to Carla, broke my heart. I was moved. That is the one scene I will remember from this disastrous night. The episode was boring and odd--it just didn't match the season. It was awful.
Someone mentioned that Richard Blas won Top Chef tonight. Entirely correct. The producers should really change the set up, in past seasons we've gotten complete dishes created and executed by the sous chef. Then the chef takes credit. The set-up is not working.

[KinderJ]

Couple more quick notes- Dom is correct. The loosing chefs self destructed. They collapsed for very different reasons, but this challenge was theirs to loose and loose they did. We can blame all sorts of factors, Toby Young explicitly and in detail blames Casey for Carla's collapse, but the buck stops with the chef. The blogs over at bravo are really worth a look, as they explain a good bit.

Next- was anyone else impressed by how classy and friendly Stefan was this episode?

Finally, and I know I mentioned this above, but how freaking disappointed did Chef Tom look at judges table? Not even angry, just tired and saddened.

[Shelly]

Hosea definitely cooked the best meal. Stefan and Carla shot themselves in the foot (feet?).

Stefan looked incredibly dispirited to me. I felt like it just wasn't going to be a good night for him, that he was tired of the whole thing. I think a lot of his comments at the end were bravado. I too was touched by his caring toward Carla. It was really sweet.

Carla lost this on her own, because she listened to Casey's crap suggestions. She didn't have to. She should have cooked from *her* heart, not Casey's.

It's funny but going into the show I thought, "Whoever gets Richard is going to win." Darned if that wasn't the case. But I have to wonder what Richard and Marcel contributed since we didn't see much interaction. Richard mentions a sous-chef judges table. I'd love to hear what was said.

[David Churchill]

I agree Carla lost because she was trying to make nice with Casey. I hate the fact that Stephan lost because his desert looked dated. ggggrrrrr please...Did it taste good? Food fashion, styles of presentation, these things are meaningless if the food tastes good, And there is no doubt that good chocolate ice cream never goes out of style.

Hosea only seems to have one because he did not have a self inflicted injury. Can't help but think Richard was a great help to him in the end. I don't think he was the Top Chef -- in fact I think Jamie, Jeff, Carla, Fabio and Stephan all showed greater talent and took more risks through out the show.

[Skillet Doux]

"First - this isn't Lisa from last year. Hosea was never the dominant chef, but he didn't skate by, either. He was solid. The only chefs who won more challenges were the other two finalists."

I agree that Hosea is no Lisa, but I have to fact-check you here:

Eliminations:
Stefan - 4
Carla - 3
Ariane - 3 (one unofficially)
Fabio - 2
Jamie - 2
Hosea - 1

Quickfires:
Stefan - 4
Leah - 3
Radhika - 3
Carla - 1
Ariane - 1
Hosea - 1

Overall:
Stefan - 8
Carla - 4
Ariane - 4
Leah - 3
Radhika - 3
Fabio - 2
Jamie - 2
Hosea - 2

[KRK]

This is really getting into minutia, but I gotta disagree with hootiefan over whether Stefan or Hosea had the better reaction to Carla's tears. If it were me, I would have been really annoyed by Stefan being all over me and rubbing my tears off my face. Back off, dude. Maybe Hosea was just a "schlump" or maybe he was giving Carla space. It didn't seem that Carla really embraced Stefan's comforting behavior. But we'll never know. I just don't think it's a definitive sign of "class" either way.

I wish they would have shown the sous-chef judges' table that Blais mentions on his blog. Or even just more of the cooking. Why not make the finale a 90-minute episode?

Oh, and I live on the west coast and I saw the show two hours ago.

[Solange]

Wow....

Lumpy mid-packer with a record of sloppy plating and confused concoctions goes into the finals, lands one of America's most exciting up and coming chefs as his sous chef and wins all the marbles showing technique, style and sophistication virtually absent in the 14 weeks we've been watching his work.

Stefan, I think Hubert Keller would have given it to you, and you already know what Eric Ripert thinks of your abilities.

Carla, I think Gail Simmons would have given it to you, your brown-nosing almost paid off....

[jkelley]

I'm not so thrilled with Hosea as Top Chef either; wish the other two had kept stayed more focused!
BUT, maybe the most poignant and memorable moment of the entire seaon for me was Stefan comforting Carla @ JT.
JK

[KRK]

I can't believe how much I feel like defending a guy I didn't even like as a contestant, but I really think it's a stretch to imply (as people seem to be doing) that those were Blais's dishes that Hosea won with. Yes, Blais probably was the winning factor as sous chefs went, but I don't think we saw anything on the show or in the blogs that suggests Blais dominated those dishes. Gail didn't even like the Blais touch on the venison.

Dom, I don't suppose you'd like to tally up how many times the final three appeared in the top or bottom groups over the course of the season?

[Adam]

I just read Richards blog on Bravo, and he made the same Goldilocks metaphor that I did, only he made it much more elegantly than I did. Damn you, Richard Blais!

[mark]

This season was boring.

While I didn't watch every new episode every week, because it didn't hold my attention, I did watch most of it.

Being completely unbiased here, I simply did not care who won this, I have to say this is the best finale all together since the first season. Hear me out first...

There were no super curve balls thrown at the chefs for no apparent reason, just straight forward cooking. And though there were some dishes that were not preferred as much as others, no one really screwed up royally. All three appetizers were a hit, Tom didn't like Stefan's first course, but some of the others did, the judges thought Carla's second course was just mediocre and not bad, and everyone every year messes up a desert. They said specifically that they did not have to make one, the two that did FAILED!

Hosea made the best meal... by far, the end. He mildly miscalculated one course and killed the other 3, no one said a thing negative about them. He wins and he deserved it.

One last note, while Carla did significantly better the last few challenges, it's worth noting Hosea did better then Stefan on the last few challenges and better then Carla before she hit her last run of form.

It's not sad or frustrating in the least, the person who deserved to win the finale won the finale. Both you and I will watch the next season and the one after that, don't kid yourself.

-me

[Skillet Doux]

"Dom, I don't suppose you'd like to tally up how many times the final three appeared in the top or bottom groups over the course of the season?"

Are you kidding? It's already in my spreadsheet :-)

(This is my personal count, which involves a few judgment calls, and doesn't include either episode of the finals.)

Stefan
Top - 13
Bottom - 3

Carla
Top - 9
Bottom - 5

Hosea
Top - 9
Bottom - 5

[MiniMonkey]

This is the first season of Top Chef I've followed and I don't read any additional materials (outside of this blog), so I'm completely out of the loop when it comes to whether or not past performance is supposed to be considered when making a judging decision. But here are my thoughts on the matter:

I can certainly see the argument for NOT taking past performance into account for the challenges throughout the season. You advance by being at the top of your game the whole way through.

However, I cannot understand the thought behind ignoring past performance when deciding who to name the Top Chef. We looking for the TOP CHEF, not the top meal of one particular night. To me, the title has no meaning if it's only awarded based on one meal. Sure, you had to do well to get the opportunity to even cook that meal, but that hardly seems to me to make it OK. You may as well have just had one episode where all the contestants from the season each cook a 3-course meal and Top Chef is decided, right then and there. Does that make sense? It doesn't to me.

[KRK]

So if we add last week, that brings it to

Stefan
Top - 13
Bottom - 4

Carla
Top - 10
Bottom - 5

Hosea
Top - 10
Bottom - 5

I don't see how people can believe that Hosea (however annoying) failed to perform all season and owes everything in the final to Blais (however great).

[Skillet Doux]

"However, I cannot understand the thought behind ignoring past performance when deciding who to name the Top Chef. We looking for the TOP CHEF, not the top meal of one particular night. To me, the title has no meaning if it's only awarded based on one meal. Sure, you had to do well to get the opportunity to even cook that meal, but that hardly seems to me to make it OK. You may as well have just had one episode where all the contestants from the season each cook a 3-course meal and Top Chef is decided, right then and there. Does that make sense? It doesn't to me."

It's an old argument, and a good one, but the problem is that -- especially with a season like this one -- the alternative is a completely meaningless final because one of the contestants has so completely dominated the rest of the season.

As much as I hate to resort to sports analogies, they're apt. Doesn't matter if you went undefeated through the entire regular season and the playoffs. You still have to win the Super Bowl.

[Anne]

I think the blame for this season lies in casting. LeeAnn said something early on about not being thrilled with it. There just weren't enough good, exciting chefs. In the beginning few took risks and those that did weren't up to it and so Ariane-cooking got rewarded. A major contender took a dive and there weren't enough good people left to sustain it.

[Skillet Doux]

"I don't see how people can believe that Hosea (however annoying) failed to perform all season and owes everything in the final to Blais (however great)."

In case it isn't clear, I completely agree, KRK. Generally speaking, he was a consistenly good performer with a couple of bright spots. Still makes it hard to get excited about him when pitted against the most dominant performer through the entire season, and the one who started off slowly but got incredibly hot in the last 4-5 weeks. Like I said at the top, I think he did exactly what he was supposed to do by uncorking his best shot at just the right time... and he was the only one of the three who did.

[KinderJ]

Would I have loved to see Richard and Stefan paired off? You bet. But the 'Buck stops with...' thing cuts two ways. Everyone had an equal chance of drawing the sous chef of their choice, and Hosea won. All the sous seemed highly motivated (always hard to tell with Marcel, who I suspect would look bored and condescending at his own execution) and it was up to the Chefs to make the most of them. Hosea clearly did. The foam was one thing, but I want to know, rightgodsdamnnow, how you carbonate a blackberry. Ok, Gail did not like it. Super, wonderful, mazel tov. HOW! How do you do this?

Compare that Stefan, who seems to just have told Marcel what he wanted and how he wanted it, without additional input, and Carla, who was tragically led astray by Casey.

Neither Stefan or Carla seemed to live up to their own expectations. Might I suggest a modification for next year? Take a page from Hell's Kitchen, and give the chefs all the rope they want. Maybe not the whole build your own restaurant thing, but a minor variation on restaurant wars. Tell them they have three days to prep, they will be in Location X, they have budget Y, and at 10 PM on Wednesday they have to knock out Z courses. Here are your sous and you know damn well there will be a twist. Go nuts! Buy plates, use whatever protean you like, use a manatee as a centerpiece, whatever it takes! I think that would be a much truer version of 'cook the best meal of your life.'

Leaving that aside, I also have a lot more respect, and loathing, simultaneously, for Toby Young. Respect, because he thought Stefan should have won and fought his corner hard. Loathing, because what he said to Carla, while true, was unnecessarily vicious and cruel. He should be ashamed. As someone who has defended him, I am ashamed on his behalf. Really unacceptable.

[Skillet Doux]

"The foam was one thing, but I want to know, rightgodsdamnnow, how you carbonate a blackberry."

Stick 'em in a seltzer bottle, pressurize it and put it in the fridge overnight.

Easy :-)

(Exact same principle as with carbonated liquid, there just happens to be a little berry membrane surrounding the liquid, is all.)

[KinderJ]

Oh, and Dom, your football metaphor? As a Pats fan, I kind of hate you. Because your right. You can be impressive as all hell, but you have to deliver on the night or it's meaningless. Harsh, but true.

[Skillet Doux]

"Oh, and Dom, your football metaphor? As a Pats fan, I kind of hate you. Because your right. You can be impressive as all hell, but you have to deliver on the night or it's meaningless. Harsh, but true."

I didn't know! I swear! :-)

[KinderJ]

Seriously? That works? Man, I have one of those 'Carbonate your own water' machines. No blackberries though. How do you keep the pressure in there when you remove the bottle from the machine? Or do you shove the whole thing in the fridge? Man, there are some creative expletive chefs out there. I may need to go shopping tomorrow. Good lord!

[KRK]

Dom, I wasn't aiming at you. :) And I agree that it's hard to get excited about Hosea. I guess I just gave up on my favorite, Carla, very early in the episode and so had more time to focus on the others without really being invested in which one won. And it seemed to me that the episode was really authentic reality TV. People get breaks, make mistakes, overcome obstacles (or not), and the outcome is what it is.

[Eli]

Re Gail: Agreed.
What was going on with her breasts? Damn girl. You look good.

[Davey]

No issues with Hosea winning. I can't say I found his menu terribly interesting, but it was warmly received and he won completely in the rules and spirit of the competition. Suggesting that it is Richard's win, when the edit showed no such thing, is pretty demeaning.

Here's the two things that I want to rant about from the episode:

1 - The producers seem to struggle with some elemental concepts of sport and competition when they make the rules. It should have been intuitively obvious to not have two totally random advantages awarded. It's not clear how much actual benefit Hosea got from his luck, but it would have been much more reasonable to have the winner of the first draw not be able to win the second draw. Hosea did nothing to earn his advantages - why possibly skew the final with so much chance?

2 - Watched in total bafflement at the complete lack of understanding of simple probability. Carla, for winning last week you get to pick first from a TOTALLY RANDOM set of knives. Wow, what an advantage. I would have let it go, except in Stefan's interview they asked him if he made a mistake letting Hosea go ahead of him and pull the second knife. Just painful. Yeah, I am constantly baffled by Deal or No Deal as well.

[Jason]

quick aside...Toby was much less annoying tonight. Not sure if that's a reflection of him or the editing. But maybe he saw himself on an ep. or two before the finale and realized the snark was unnecessary. If so, he may be bearable next year.

[Yes]

Davey, I totally agree. Pretending Carla had some advantage? Weird and ridiculous. I mean, it's not a huge deal, it just bugged me. Why? Who the hell cares?

[Myriam]

"Very disappointed for Carla. But you know who I feel sorry for? Not Carla. Casey. She was just throwing out ideas; Carla didn't have to accept them, obviously, and having accepted them, it was Carla's responsibility to make them work. But Casey will no longer remembered as the spunky almost-Top Chef; now she'll be remembered as the chef who killed Hootie."

I was seriously laughing so hard at this comment I hurt myself. I was so sad about Carla, but it is so true. Poor Casey. I'll bet she'll feel horrible after she watches this episode.
Did anyone else see Leah kissing Hosea during the credits? Ugh.
Also, Stefan's new video on Bravo was such a classy exit. He had nothing but nice things to say about Hosea (and they weren't sarcastic!).

[Dave_P]

One quick thought before bed. Not that I was happy with the results, but really, I'm not going to go off on the show, the chefs, the sous, the judging, whatever, because at the end of the day, it was fair. The only thing that really pissed me off about the show ended up not mattering much, but it was a horrible gimmick--the curveball, giving a single, lucky chef a potentially huge advantage in letting him(her) decide who gets to cook w/the freakin' alligator. Are you kidding me? For the finals?

Again, it seemed to end up not mattering, because Stefan stepped up to the challenge, but that could've been a horrible decision. What if Stefan had no idea how to work w/the exotic meat? Seriously, how easy would it be to f*** up a protein you've never handled before? Now given the same results, how much more up in arms would the fanbase be if it even seemed remotely possible that the surprise appetizer was the deciding factor?

Anyway, this turned out to be a surprisingly good season, esp going into the final third of the season or so. The final result was disappointing, but nothing horrid like Ilan, or even having a Lisa being part of the final 3.

--
Dave

[Vega]

I don't want to watch this anymore.

YOU KILLED MY HOOTIE

[SteveFromNJ]

In Season 3, Dale Levitski didn't win an elimination challenge until part 1 of the finale, but nobody seemed to have a problem with him being there.
I am not a fan of Hosea, but he clearly cooked the best meal tonight and deserved to win.

[caulder]

"However, I cannot understand the thought behind ignoring past performance when deciding who to name the Top Chef. We looking for the TOP CHEF, not the top meal of one particular night. To me, the title has no meaning if it's only awarded based on one meal. "

Does the title have any meaning anyway? I don't think of Tom, Padma, Gail and a TBD judge as an officially sanctioned governing body. This is a tv show, and one that is cast with an eye towards factors outside of cooking. At least in football when someone wins the superbowl you can be pretty sure that at that particular moment on that particular night there's not a single team anywhere on earth that could have beaten them.

My point is that part of what I love about TC is that sometimes the chef I'm rooting for isn't going to win. Hell, sometimes the chef I'm rooting for and the chef I think is going to win but whom I'm not rooting for aren't going to win. Maybe it's because my kid has deprived me of too much sleep this week, tonight included, but someday I'll be able to tell him, Tao-like, Son, sometimes Hosea's going to win, and that's okay.

[Omelet]

So much has already been said. Here a sort of food-related thought. If people didn't use the phrase "sous vide" and just said I'm going to cook your food in a plastic bag, wouldn't that be looked down upon? I can't imagine going to a fine dining establishment and knowingly ordering meat or fish that had been cooked in a plastic bag (but perhaps if I had, my opinion would differ).

Mostly, I just want to thank Dom and the posters to this classy blog. I came for the Top Chef (thanks Ted for cluing us in), stayed for the commentary throughout the year, and look forward to more.

[JW]

Arrrgggghhhhh.....

Not much else to add to what's already been posted. I feel sad for Hootie and Stefan, but I agree with those who say it was their own decision making that was the problem.

I'm in the camp with those who were impressed with how kind Stefan was to Carla. And, I take the point that maybe Hosea was just trying to let her be, but then why did he have to make the point that HE cooked food that was true to his style...sigh, yeah, I think he's a tool.

But, much as it pains me to say it, he is a tool that did his homework and cooked a better meal that night. Even Fabio agreed.

[Read]

Top Chef has to judge on the meal of the night. THe alternative would be to award points that accumulate throughout the season. Such a process would definitiely produce the best and most consistent chef, but it would make for poor television.

The process rewards luck and Hosea is one lucky chef. Carla made us a believer and I would have loved to see a two-horse race between her and Stefan. The danger was that the finale would look like a coronation.

Anyway, those are the breaks. You don't have to like it, but it is what it is.

Looking forward to season 6

[DN Palacios]

I am so bummed about Carla losing her way at the very worst time. A real disappointment that she lost.

Congrats to Hosea. He outlasted everyone, and pulled off the finest meal when it counted most.

By the end of this season, I had become so turned off by Stefan's aggressively arrogant personality, I must admit, I am fine that he lost. He may have had some of the best skills, but I am not sure I wouldn't have wanted to eat his food in case a chef's energy does indeed seep into the food they prepare. If Carla's food is full of love, Stefan's food must be full of smug.

[Jon Olsen]

Makes Hosea's 18-1 shirt pretty prophetic doesn't it?

[Dave]

Hosea skates by without great distinction all season, then pulls his best effort out of a hat at the end (thanks, Blais!). This is the "Top Chef"? Mikey's strategy is vindicated, dude!

Conspiracy theory: "you don't have to make a dessert." Hmmm .. who does that favor: the two classically trained chefs who know how a meal should end, or the guy who says on camera he can't make one?
Next time I'm fine dining, I'll be sure to order venison for dessert.

I wonder why they had Kelleher and other highly qualified guests at the table if their opinions meant nothing. Tom seemed dead set on keeping Stefan, the true Top Chef throughout this season, from winning. The look on Tom's face, when both Kelleher and Toby described the proper "arc" of a meal, said it all. Tom's "disappointment" was over Carla's flame out, not anything Stefan did. He appeared almost gleeful when anyone seconded his negative comments about Stefan's dishes.

Hosea is without doubt the worst selection yet, in a mediocre season. I'm disgusted.

[Shelly]

I know Richard didn't win for Hosea, but is there anyone here who seriously doubts that the quality of Hosea's offerings weren't improved by having Richard at his side? Richard showed time and again during his run on TC that having him on the team lifted it to another level. Yes, he had a couple of failures. But on the whole, and especially in comparison with the other two sous chefs, he makes a positive difference when he's there.

To me it's interesting that Hosea's single EC win during the season was when all the other chefs pitched in to help him make his Christmas dish. He had the benefit of great helpers then, as he had the benefit of one on the finale.

Yes, he made the best meal. But you can't convince me that Richard had nothing to do with it.

[paula]

Someone posted last week something about how the sous-chef pairings could actually net Hosea a win...who was that? Well played, sir/madam!

And about Carla/Casey: Yes, Carla has to shoulder the blame entirely for choosing to take Casey's advice. And yes, I'm sure Casey feels awful now for steering her down the wrong path. But I'm STILL really pissed at Casey for not knowing better. As soon as Carla said she'd never done a sous-vide before, Casey should have backed the hell off. THis was Carla's finale, not Casey's chance to redeem herself. Make suggestions, OK, when they're asked for. But advising Carla to replan her menu and cook her protein differently? In a way she's never attempted? And then telling her to do a souffle instead of the tart--Carla The Tart Crust Queen? Casey completely threw Carla off her game, and it pisses me off. Carla's Achilles' heel is her desire to please others and compromise, and Casey aimed straight for it. Even though it was obviously inadvertent, it was still just stupid and selfish of Casey to take that role.

[DaveP]

Inspired by omelet's post, my thoughts on "sous vide" cooking...

I've tried (after watching Hung do it) the technique on fish and chicken (no duck yet!) and it can really make the food tender and flavorful, though I can see how some ppl (Tom, I'm looking at you) would have a problem with the texture. And like Hung, I didn't have an immersion blender to play with, so I had to wing it, which means it prolly didn't come out as well as it should've (cuz, you know, I don't exactly have Hung's cooking skills either).

Having said that, I would never consider trying it with beef, or really any red meat, I don't think. Then again, I would never poach red meat either (as opposed to poaching fish or fowl), but there are those who do, and do it well. Obviously, if Casey thinks it can be done w/beef successfully, it probably can, but that leads to the true problem with last night's attempt: Carla never tried it herself.

Anyway, that decision was wrong on so many levels that Carla was pretty much doomed as soon as she started that path. It's almost like going back a few episodes to when Carla didn't quite have the confidence to show her food, and her food only (feeling obligated to add a protein in what should've been a vegetarian dish). Really too bad, because if she'd just taken command and trusted her instincts again, which worked so well for her in the past two weeks, she might've won the whole thing.

--
Dave

[Kathy]

"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the cause of all our adversities." -- Sophocles

Watching Carla losing faith in herself and relinquishing her own plan to that of her sous chef made me think of that quote. Poor Casey did what any good chef would do -- throw out ideas and suggestions. And for that she will forever be blamed for Carla's loss.

Beneath the "cocky" vaneer, I believe Stefan is a great lover of women in the purest and wholesome meaning of the word. His obvious concern for Carla's pain only reinforced that belief. But it occurred to me as well, that his downward spiral started after Jamie was eliminated. Perhaps, he felt his only real competition was gone when she left? Perhaps, he didn't feel the need to show off his abilities once Jamie was no longer around to see it? As he stated on Bravo's blog, he was bored with Top Chef by the finale. Just a thought.

As for Hosea, yes he won last night and congrats on the win. But I still can't get excited about his win. If his best had beaten Carla's and Stefan's best, then I would be. But we didn't see Carla's or Stefan's best. I know that really doesn't matter in the whole football analogy of life, but it doesn't make me any less dissapointed.

[Elise]

Hmmm... whoever first said, "It's Top Chef, not Top Caterer." really nailed it for tonight.

So, I get why both Casey and Blais were pushing Sous Vide. In a meal where being even a few degrees off can kill you having a cooking method where the temperature will be perfect sounds like a good plan. From a tactical standpoint I get it. However, it doesn't seem like sous vide wins. The judges always seem to say something like the texture/taste isn't quite right. Maybe that's a side effect of vacuum sealing the protein in plastic. I've got one of those vacuum sealers and it always seems to suck the juice out of whatever I'm sealing in it.

Also, after watching this episode I really, really wanted to smack the editors. What did Blais contribute? How about Marcel? (Did he only say anything about freezing the fish after the fact, or did he mention it to Stefan? Did he offer to slice the fish without freezing it?) Did Casey just mention 'Hey this could be a good idea..." or was she pushy about it. Was the dessert bad, or just boring? (Who remembers the discussion of Dale's savory V. Hung's sweet? Hung won with boring but perfectly tasty.)

And, since it came up, if the dessert seemed right out of the 80's what's the difference between outdated, retro, and classic? How come that wasn't a retro-dessert or a classic dessert? Stefan's squab was safely classic. Is it just a matter of time? If the desserts were right out of the 1880's would that have made them classic? (Side note, I was twelve when the 80's ended so it's not like I was really into the high end food scene, but the only thing on his plate I ever remember seeing or hearing about that decade was the chocolate mousse.)

As much as I love Blais, fizzy raspberries? In a dessert or drink, sure, I get it. On top of Stefan's chocolate mousse: Yum! It just seems like a very odd textural component to add to a venison dish. Venison just doesn't scream, "I need some fizz!" to me.

[case]

I blinked and this episode was over. I couldnt believe how many commercials there were in a non super sized episode.

It really does seem like they judge by just this challenge and that bothers me. As the overall winner of Top Chef it really should be judged on a whole season. A persons cooking, their attitude towards others, ability to lead. I cant see Hosea inspiring anybody.

[Bill]

Disappointing that the final was settled by a knife pull.

[Anne]

I think Kathy's right--the episode would have felt far more satisfying if Hosea had beat Stefan and Carla at their best. Now it feels like he just survived to the end, and that feels like a bummer.

Also, I really doubt Tom was rooting for Stefan to lose. Tom seems to take great pride in the show and the last thing he wants is for mediocrity to shine.

[MikeyV]

Did anyone else notice Casey's eyes during her brief interview clip. They looked puffy to me, as though she had been crying. I would imagine she either got skewered at the sous JT, or just felt horrible about sinking Carla.

[Rahul]

I'm not sure how I feel about the finale. Somewhere deep down, I agree with the judges' choice, in that it was more or less congruous with how they've been judging dishes all season (and really, their attachment to consistency was established from the first season when they ultimately picked Harold over Tiffani). However, I do feel they should have placed more weight on the surprise mini-challenge (if they're going to use reality show tactics, at least lend them credence). Stefan managed to pull out a great dish using a protein he had never used before. That, coupled with the squab (voted the best dish of the night by more than one judge) and the dessert should have been enough to put him over the top. But Hosea's victory doesn't surprise me all that much. And in keeping with the spirit of the show (and the tendencies of the judges), it was a deserved one. Just a little deflating...

Has any TC winner ever gone on to "great" things?

[Magi]

I don't post often, but I've been an avid reader of this blog since Ted Allen mentioned it on his blog.

I was/am a diehard Hootie fan, but I knew it was over when she began to doubt herself and listened to Casey's advice. I agree with the others who feel sorry for Casey. She's going to have a hard time living this one down, and it wasn't her fault. IIRC, there was a clip of Carla saying that her biggest weakness was doubting herself. At the time, she said that she wasn't going to do that anymore and that she was going to cook her food, her way. I so wish she had done that. She's still Top Chef in my book. I love how she handled herself.

I'm not a Stefan hater. He was definitely given the obnoxious edit, but if you watched him in the background, watched the videos posted on Bravo, and read the Bravo blogs, Q&A, etc... You could see that he really was a team player. I took a lot of what he said as boys-will-be-boys bating. Since I'm a high school teacher, I'm used to seeing that.

And speaking of boys-will-be-boys bating, I think that's the edit Hosea got. He wasn't my favorite, but I don't hate him like so many do. He and Leah were wrong, but so what. I spent 20 years in the hotel/restaurant business and saw much worse. People tossed in stressful, non-stop, isolated situations do stupid things, especially if they're young. They got caught, and they have to deal with it. It's no reflection on their ability as a chef. Would I want to hang out with them and be their friend? No. Would I eat their food? Yes. Would I seek them out? No. But I would seek out Carla because she showed she could cook and that she has integrity, too.

Hosea actually impressed me last week when it was obvious that he'd spent his time away from TC researching New Orleans and becoming familiar with the ingredients and methods. This showed me he was hungry for the win.

The season had its ups and downs, but I love it. I'll miss it when it's gone and look forward to the next season.

[Bill]

Hate is kind of strong word to use for how one feels about a Top Chef contestant. I doubt there are too many people who hate Hosea. The issue is whether he deserved to win or not and because he is most remembered for canned crab, cheating on his girlfriend, extreme jealousy towards another contestant and being handed two gifts in the finale there seems to be be an overwhelming consensus that he was undeserving.
Even the replies to Gale's blog, which are usually of the "you looked so pretty" type commentary, are extremely critical.
The croc soup should have had a bigger impact and the dessert less of an impact. Not only did Stefan have to cook with an odd ingredient he'd never used, he had to butcher it.
Bizarre that Toby seemed to be the voice of reason at judges table.

[Bart]

All in all, I really enjoyed the season. I know quite a few people will disagree with me here, but I think Season 5 was the best season I've watched (finale excepted, of course).

The contestants had a lot to do with it. We've gone back and forth over their cooking the mediocre food, but I didn't really buy into that. What I liked about this season was that it was particularly really entertaining. The personalities of the chefs were really great and a lot of fun to watch - particularly Carla and Fabio's.

What made it even better was their culinary skills backed up their personalities. They were the real deals. Except for Leah - who had neither a personality nor culinary skills.

While I'm disappointed with the outcome of the finale, I'm not disappointed with the season. The thing that'll bother me the most is that, from now on, we'll get to see Hosea's Far Side-ish, buck-toothed, idiotic grin in the opening credits in every season of Top Chef from now on. But otherwise, I enjoyed Season 5 very much.

[Darrell]

Har Tif Dav Iln Mcl Sam Hng Dal Csy Stf Rcd Lis
Top 4 3 3 1 3 4 5 4 2 6 3 1
Bot 3 4 4 2 2 3 3 4 4 3 1 6
Win 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 4 4 1

Here is a tallying of elimination challenge numbers only from the top 3 contestants of the first four seasons. These numbers were taken from entries from wikipedia. Aside from season 4, there is only a marginally, even negligable difference between stats of the winners.

[Darrell]

darn it, it took out all my spacing. sorry.

[Courtenay]

I think it's telling that the headline on the Top Chef web site is "Hosea IS Top Chef." It's as if they intend the capitalized "IS" as a reply to the question: "HOSEA is Top Chef???"

[Brent]

Carla today on Casey: "... I would love to give her a call to see how she’s taking all of this. I hate for her to get the brunt of it. If I could get on a loudspeaker and tell the whole world and everyone who watches the show, I would tell them, ‘Don’t blame Casey.’ I take full responsibility."

[Jon Olsen]

Thanks Darrell, even without the proper spacing that's helpful (I figured it out for home use, that's what copy and paste, find and replace are for!), though I'd like to factor in quickfires too.

We need some kind of sabremetrics performed on those top/bottom/wins figures. I'd like to know if there's a somewhat predictive formula that could be built (i realize the dataset may be too small right now) and/or if a Silver-like 10000 simulations run could be done on it.

The questions for me are: is a difference between number of bottom appearances and top appearances predictive of anything? are any challenges repeated with enough regularity to suggest predictability? (RW is, the palate challenge might grow to be, the skills challenges are getting to be). At first I thought whoever posted the correlation between the palate challenge and the finals has a good eye, although Andrea won that in season one and Stephanie lost in S4.

Unfortunately the answer is probably no, since the data universe is too small and the other factors too subjective.

I think maybe I can accept one thing: that some numbers thru the season ARE predictive of appearance in the finals. But because the finals are more like the super bowl than the world series, they don't tell us anything else. What I like to think of as the "18-1 factor" comes into play so heavily in the final that the final challenge is really an event horizon. We have a good shot (particularly if TC continues far enough to establish a good statistical base) at predicting some things up until the final, but then the models break down (quantum cheffery!).

[KRK]

Carla presented two great dishes, a clunker, and a no-show.

Stefan presented two great dishes (including the best of the night) and two dishes with issues.

Hosea presented three great dishes and one dish with issues. And the judges specifically said that Hosea's problematic first course was better than Stefan's problematic first course.

If Stefan's dessert had tasted amazing, we wouldn't have heard/seen so much about its appearance. He seemed to head into Jeff territory with that dish, thinking that making it complicated would elevate it. The judges didn't respond to it that way, so I gotta think that the taste was fine but nothing special. And Toby seemed to be arguing for rewarding dessert for dessert's sake, rather than arguing for the merits of the dessert that Stefan put out. (Though I haven't read Toby's blog post on this.) As for the alligator, Stefan did an impressive job with an unfamiliar protein in his appetizer, and the judges thought it was great, but they also thought that Carla's and Hosea's appetizers were great. So he doesn't get any extra points for that.

What Hosea became "known" for on the show was a matter of editing and producers' choices. It's more than fair to be annoyed with producers for the build up over the season, but I don't see how that reflects on Hosea's abilities. The canned crab was an idiot move, but wasn't that like the 2nd challenge?

[Brent]

And Hosea today on Richard's impact: "It was my meal, but it was his sensibility. What I asked him for was input. Nonstop. I said, “Don’t filter anything. Give me all your input. I’ll choose whether or not I want to take it.” He had a couple really cool ideas. One of the good ideas he had was plating the fish course on the walk-in, so everything stayed really cold until we brought it out to the judges. Little things like that. We didn’t change my dishes, but he helped me make sure everything was going out as good as it could go."

[paula]

Hmm. Blais's Facebook status today says "Casey got a bad edit." So maybe she wasn't as pushy with her ideas as she seemed to be on the show...maybe after she went on and on about how sous-vide was easy and definitely the way to go, she actually told Carla, "But do NOT do it unless you feel comfortable with it. This is your finale, not mine." I'm going to hope that's the case. I always liked Casey, and it really bugged me that she seemed to be so boneheadedly "helpful" in changing Carla's menu last night.

[Darrell]

Interesting comment on the Super Bowl vs World Series. I was thinking something very similar. This season would have benefited from a 6 course progression between two chefs like season two. in that, I think Stefan would have won. Also, i was concerned when they went back to using previous contestants as sous chefs. The benefit of the sous chefs used in seasons 3 and 4, aside from their skill, is that they didn't interfere with the outcome. Using them, Carla would have won. So you see, its really the challenge that was the issue. the "twist", which everyone knew was coming, was meaningless. it should have been an extra course, which would have forced hosea to do a dessert, and given the advantage back to stefan.
ok, i'm dizzy now.

[sleepyirv]

According to Toby's blog (and Gail's), Hosea and Stefan tied on the appetizer. I'm wondering if this was before or after taking the difference in difficulty into account. If they didn't, Stefan got hosed because it would be two wins vs. two wins with tiebreaker going to Stefan.

[DDBen]

I certainly think Stefan got hosed and do agree with him about how the judges seemed to be being much harder on him.

Look at last episode where his Rue(sp?) was criticized purely for not being dark enough. Yet Emerald the guest judge and the person who I'd assume has the most knowledge about the cuisine said "The color might be off but the taste is there". A lot of the things Stefan got knocked for in the later half went along those lines making fairly petty arguments despite the taste of the dish never really being in question. Its very clear Stefan was confused by that aspect constantly brushing off the complaints at the judges table and asking instead "but, how was the taste?".

Also this is a fact as stated by multiple judge blogs.

They tied on the appetizers and first course. Stefan won the second course with the best dish of the night for basically everyone. What it came down to was the final course where the only reason Hosea won was because they felt the margin of victory was higher for Hosea in the final course then it was for Stefan in the second course.

Toby clearly disagreed and felt it was close enough past performance should be considered. Tom pushed that it wasn't that close so Hosea should win and they need to ignore the past performance. Tom eventually won over the ladies and as such we have top chef Hosea based on a very marginal difference in last nights dishes.

Decide how you feel based on that not imagining based on the edit who liked what better.

[EdT.]

FYI folks - I just read a comment from Richard Blais, in which he says that no, Casey didn't 'sabotage' Carla. Any indication that only Casey/Carla were having that type of conversation is a misunderstanding/"bad edit" of what actually happened.

BTW, my thoughts on the finale are already up: http://blog.etee2k.net/index.php/etee/2009/02/top-chef-5-finale

~EdT.

[DPP]

Saying that Hosea "skated by" ala Mikey isn't fair. Anyone who watches the show has to admit without bias that Hosea is a good chef and Mikey was mediocre at best. He was consistently strong throughout. Stefan won a lot more challenges and was the clear favorite coming in. But that's what we have a finale for. Why have the finale if you're going to reward the best performer coming in already? Why have the Super Bowl when the Pats are 18-0? Hosea won fair and square, worked hard and deserved it. Get over it. Also comparing him to slimeballls like Ilan and Lisa is way over the top. Hosea clearly got along with everybody. "leah-gate" was a big mistake, sure, and he got a bad edit with all the Stefan comments. Both will tell you now that was mostly playful and they got along well 90% of the time.

[Di]

Casey pushed Carla into a corner. Carla stayed there so it's her fault, but she never should have been pushed in the first place. Those pushy male sous chefs did not push the contestants. They just followed their lead. Why couldn't Casey do that? Why did she try to take over? If Carla had won, Casey would have tries to take credit for it! Maybe that was the agenda.

The men were dismissive of Carla all season in a manner I thought was very sexist. Even when she won multiple challenges, the men on the show were constantly dismissing her. She kept beating them, drove away with a new car, and they still kept writing her off.

Carla has to accept responsibility for submitting to Casey's will. (Think about the funky racial politics of Carla letting Casey tell her what to do!)

However, Casey was completely out of line. Did you hear how disrespectful she was when she spoke to Carla? She was politely bullying her into doing what she wanted. She knew Carla had a plan, and she kept pressuring her to change it. She knew Carla had never cooked sous-vide, and she pushed her to do it, and it was done wrong. They didn't show the whole thing, but I think Casey controlled that dish and it bombed. Did you notice that they loved the sauce (Carla), but hated the beef (Casey)

The other sous chefs did not pressure the main chefs from doing what they wanted to do even if they disagreed. That was the right choice. The sous chef doesn't dictate to the executive chef! Ever. Those boys never had to say no to their sous chefs, because the sous chefs didn't pressure them.Casey clearly saw this as another opportunity to shine. She wanted to look like a star. She did not seem to care about Carla at all.

The reason I blame Casey is that she put Carla into such a difficult position. Carla would have had to confront and challenge Casey in order to manage the situation while also continuing to get Casey to cook for her. It was a horrible situation that Casey put Carla in.

Carla kept the peace but lost the competition. Wrong choice. She has to live with it, but its heart breaking.

[jse91]

Well, I always thought Casey was pretty classy until now. It doesn't seem that she feels bad about Carla's loss - instead she rips her up pretty good in this interview:

Carla was not prepared and in over her head. The show did not talk about how the first course (crab) took her half of the friggin’ cooking time that day, I was left to work the rest of HER dishes.

She also did not have a plan. The ONLY thing she had in mind was a cheese course! I would NEVER do a cheese course. And where in the hell did french come from!? She is not even classically trained! It (the show) didn’t talk about how I worked on a sauce for 2 days and Carla forgot to put it on the plate… It didn’t show how the 2nd course (fish) was MINE. It didn’t show how she took the sous vide idea and decided to GRILL it last minute causing it to be tough… And it didn’t show how she WANTED to do the souffles which she does not even know how to make! That was HER food, because it certainly was me asking her how she wanted to do this and that while she was busy picking crab the entire time and making a souffle that didn’t rise!

I am done with TC. I did not influence her. She has NO ideas of her own, oh, except a cheese course.

[Unhappy Gilmore]

Whatever.

Past season's sous chefs were chosen by knife draw, weren't they? Did the overall leader in number of wins get to pull first?

Wish Stafan or Carla won. They didn't. We'll still see a lot of them.

Whatever.

[McFinn]

"Congrats to Hosea. He outlasted everyone, and pulled off the finest meal when it counted most."

He outlasted, outwitted, and outplayed every... wait, wrong show. Kind of "meh" ending to a season I seemed to like more than most. I don't mind the outcome so much as the episode just lacked any kind of excitement or punch. Compared to last year, even the setting seemed rather drab. Sad to see Carla go down. After saying she had never used that technique but sure, why not, I could only think, "Oh no, there she goes." Although I guess Stefan successfully used an ingredient he had never used, so...

It was good to see Casey and Blais again. I was expecting a jumbo episode, but given its lack of energy, perhaps that was a good decision.

[Kathy]

jse91: Where did you read this interview? Can you provide a link?

[jse91]

Sorry, should have done that.

Dlisted.

http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/26/casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-top-chef/

[EdT.]

BTW, I also noticed Stefan comforting Carla at JT and in the Stew Room afterwards. Yes, I did think it was a totally different side of him than the editors had shown us all season. Cest la vie.

Di - please remember, what you see on TV is what the editors/producers *want* you to see.

jse91 - can you post a URL to that interview with Casey? I have a suspicion that, when she saw how that she was made to look in this episode, she started having visions of a career in crash-and-burn mode, and may have been doing some damage-control. Notice that Carla seems to be echoing some of the same sentiments though - that it was *her* responsibility, not Casey's.

~EdT.

~EdT.

[KRK]

Wow. Well, me-ow, Casey!

Among other issues, how could she have spent two days working on an un-used (and apparently unmissed) sauce if she was so busy creating all three of Carla's courses?
Where did the French come from, indeed. Tell it to Jacques Pepin, sister.

[EdT.]

BTW, the status update on Richard Blais' Facebook page where he mentions the issue with Casey is getting as many comments as this posting is. And, apparently, a number in the chef community are weighing in.

~EdT.

[annie]

Someone made a comment earlier stating that they felt Tom was really rooting for Carla...I TOTALLY agree, I mean you could tell for the past couple weeks, he was surprised by her performance, but thrilled. And Tom looked completely fed up with Stefan and his cocky attitude, and I thought tom never really thought Hosea was all that great and always ready to send him home, so he did SEEM like he was rooting for her. But once she dropped the ball...she dropped the ball, nothing more Tom could do or say...

Now as for Carla, as one of her biggest fans all season, I was upset, it really was heartbreaking to watch her lose. But as everyone or mostly everyone on here as said it was her fault and her fault alone. I think on Blais's blog he says something when him and Hosea were debating something but realized hosea not comfortable with it so they decided to scratch that....Carla-Casey could have done that too...At this point I really thought Carla was comfortable with herself and her choices, but as i was watching it and when Hosea made that comment about Carla-Casey and how he never saw Carla Sou Vide before, I thought to myself if this Dish works, Hosea will prob throw her under the bus (a la Arianne)...

[jse91]

I think Carla's loss is hers alone. And I credit her for taking the blame along with the high road. Wouldn't have expected anything less from her. But she did let Casey push her around. She should have pushed back. That isn't a bad edit, just Casey didn't really get the sous part of her gig. If you think about the way Casey talked about the beef and the souffle - she was a bit aggressive. But it remained Carla responsibility to stick to her guns.

The way I heard those conversations, Carla did have a plan and Casey felt she had a better one. I would not blame Casey or tear her apart for that.

It does seem like she ought to remember how she fared when she was in the finals.

I am just disappointed in her behavior today.

[Dom's cousin]

Re: Casey's interview: wow...just, wow. Agree that Carla should have been able to quiet Casey the Creative Monkey, but that is just harsh. I hope (and imagine) that Carla will be much less bitter about her loss than Casey appears to be. I was willing to give Casey the benefit of the doubt about whether or not she was trying to redeem herself, but after all her me me me talk...ugh. 'Me-ow' is right.

It's such a pity, because when Carla was left to her own devices she really did great things.

Not much to say about the rest that hasn't already been said. Maybe they need to come up with some kind of points system so that it doesn't seem so all or nothing from challenge to challenge. And that way, Hosea would have had to work that much harder to overtake Stefan. That boy got very, very lucky.

Crap.

PS: Also agree that it was very touching how Stefan tried to comfort Carla when she started to cry. They may have given him the villain edit, but we still got a couple of glimpses into the better side of his character. :)

[case]

ha

Casey speaks! And she doesn’t sound happy, folks. I asked her to comment on last night’s episode, and here’s what she had to say:

"Carla was not prepared and in over her head. The show did not talk about how the first course (crab) took her half of the friggin’ cooking time that day, I was left to work the rest of HER dishes.

She also did not have a plan. The ONLY thing she had in mind was a cheese course! I would NEVER do a cheese course. And where in the hell did french come from!? She is not even classically trained! It (the show) didn’t talk about how I worked on a sauce for 2 days and Carla forgot to put it on the plate… It didn’t show how the 2nd course (fish) was MINE. It didn’t show how she took the sous vide idea and decided to GRILL it last minute causing it to be tough… And it didn’t show how she WANTED to do the souffles which she does not even know how to make! That was HER food, because it certainly was me asking her how she wanted to do this and that while she was busy picking crab the entire time and making a souffle that didn’t rise!

I am done with TC. I did not influence her. She has NO ideas of her own, oh, except a cheese course."

http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/26/casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-top-chef/ [sidedish.dmagazine.com] »

[Bill]

They should have at least had a quickfire to see who got Blais because let's face it, whoever ended up with him would have won.
Whatever the minor preferences they had for Hosea over Stefan in the final challenge I think the judges should have given some weight to the fact that Stefan rose to the gator challenge and knocked it out of the park while Hosea (yet again) took the easy path.
I guess the judges were more impressed by glasses turned upside down used as serving trays.
Everyone is saying that Stefan would have given Hosea the gator if he had won the second random draw but it wouldn't have surprised me if he had said, "you know what, I'm taking the gator to show them what I can do, Hosea can have his pick of the easy stuff."

[paula]

Someone's going to have to prove that Casey really wrote that. I find that so over-the-top unbelievable.

[MikeyV]

Why do you suppose Tom hasn't posted his blog yet on the Bravo site?

[KRK]

"it wouldn't have surprised me if he had said, 'you know what, I'm taking the gator to show them what I can do, Hosea can have his pick of the easy stuff.'"

I'm sorry, but you're describing some kind of fantasy Stefan. No way the chef who, when presented with a choice in earlier challenges, opted for the simpler tasks, e.g., the lobster for Ripert. Stefan was totally right to make those choices then and he would have been just as rational if given the choice of protein for the appetizer. Jeff is the one who would have gone for the more difficult protein just because it was difficult. That's just not Stefan's style as a competitor and he doesn't need to apologize for that.

As for Casey, sheesh. If she would have just SHUT UP for a few days, a fuller story would have come out through Blais and Carla, et al., which would have made it clear that the responsibility was all on Carla and that Casey was a helpful sous chef, blah, blah, blah. But, instead of doing "damage control" for her reputation she comes out in full-on attack against one of the most popular TC contestants EVER at a time when fans are really sympathetic to their could-have-been favorite and suggests that Carla simply doesn't know how to cook. Well, we know better than that; we've seen Carla wow chef judges with a lot more credibility and taste than Casey "pork belly" Thompson.

[Meorav]

Hosea won fair and square according to the rules of the competition - which only serves to highlight how grossly inadequate the rules are for generating a meaningful outcome.

What would make the outcome meaninful? A reasonable approximation of the truth - some measure of the relative "Chef-ness" of the contestants. What is missing is the element of consistent performance.

Without this, we have a disconnect - while Hosea is this season's "Top Top Chef Contestant" or "Top Finale Performer", Stefan's season long performance shows clearly that he is the Top "Chef" (and no it's not even close).

As long as sports analogies are being tossed around, let me suggest March Madness. Any given team can win on any given day, which adds a tremendous amount of drama. But you only qualify for the tournament by virtue of season-long performance.

Stephanie's upset of Blais was OK because she had earned her place in the finale and outperformed him on that one day, but if Lisa had won it would have been a disgrace because she had not earned the opportunity to even compete.

This season only Stefan truly earned the chance to be in the finale with consistent superior performance far beyond the other competitors. Hosea was consistently middling and Carla was way, way out of her league. (Kudos to Casey for daring to speak truth to fan favorite power!)

[David]

@ Meorav. I don't feel like I can trust Casey's account here, so I am not willing to give kudos to her for putting that turd in the pool. Carla was FAR from being out of her league. I've seen that statement here and there, and it's laughable, if not plainly befuddling. I see it less as going up against a fan favorite as it clearly reads as a reactionary, insecure rant by Casey against Carla who's bent over backwards in articles today to say DON'T BLAME CASEY.

I went to Richard Blais' Facebook page, and there's definitely considerable discussion about his statement. Blais, himself, seems to be on the fence abot who did what, and is not tap dancing so as not to slam either Casely or Carla.

I don't have an issue with Hosea.

[Darin]

Did anyone else notice the look that Casey gives Carla when the souffle doesn't rise? I believe she had lazers coming out of her eyes and smoke coming out of her ears. This would have been after crab-gate, fish-stealing-gate, and grill-gate. Add to that the souffle not rising! Oh man, if looks could kill. I am starting to feel quite bad for Casey. It sounds as if Carla completely melted down and the edit that Bravo gave her was not helping. This was not career suicide, this was anger for Bravo (unintentionally I am sure) killing her career for her. I wanted Hootie to win as much as anybody but in no way shape or form is it fair that Casey ends up the loser.

[babyarm]

What if they gave a second prize to most EC challenges won? Would that change anything? I mean at this rate you still had.

Stefan - Kitchen set + week with Ripert
Carla - Car + trip to super bowl
Hosea - 100k

And that 100k is almost certainly one of those annuities where the post tax take home is to the tune of 35-45k.

This isn't a totally ridiculous distribution of prizes based on performance in my mind.

[David]

I missed the gaze of Casey, but I'm at a bit of a loss why Casey would be annoyed or angry with Carla. Casey was the sous chef, and was there to help Carla. Her comment about being left to work on HER (Carla's) dishes is telling. It's as if Casey forgot who was the lead and who was the assistant. Carla may very well have had a meltdown, but we don't know if the meltdown is because of Casey.

Again, Carla has repeatedly taken the blame for her fall. End of story for me. Casey is just injecting herself into a non-issue. Her reputation would be safe if she would have just let Carla keep absorbing the loss and urging people not to assign any of it to Casey.

[Bill]

Carla may have been frazzled by the competition and had a meltdown just before the finish line but I don't think she was in over her head.
The last 4 or 5 weeks of the competition she had as good a run as anyone has had in TC history.
Of the chefs this season, which ones would you be likely to give your business to, be it catering or a restaurant, if it was convenient?
For me the answer is: Radhika, Jamie, Jeff, Carla and maybe Stefan. I admire Stefan's skills but I don't know that my palate is suited to his style. Maybe Melissa if I was in the mood for fish tacos (which I often am).

[redpoint]

Blais cooked the venison that turned the tide for Hosea. Casey suggested the sous vide that turned it against Carla. Marcel didn't speak up about the frozen shrimp, etc..

Please--what is the point of having this sous chef that has such a great input into the final dish. They should have twice the time, and prepare it all themselves, with some plating help. That would be a real contest. As it is, this finale meant nothing. OK, they've done something like this in the past, maybe they should change it? I remember last year in the finale the expert help was only allowed to help cook, not give input. That's how it should be.

[annie]

I hope lee anne returns to blog about the finale. maybe it'll bring some closure to some of the topics being debated here

[Malik]

I'll admit up front that I've rooted for Hosea from day 1. I liked his nerdy energy and we share a similar foodie background.

This all reminds me of what Tom has said repeatedly. If your customers have had reservations for 5 weeks and your food is sub-par they're not going back. As a chef, you can't tell that customer, "Come back, that last 10 meals I made were great!"

Likewise, Stefan has awesome technical skills and Carla's had some tremendous highs. But Hosea has been solid throughout and nailed it when it mattered most.

[Dom's cousin]

Hosea can keep his Blais-berries. I don't care how good his venison was, it still seems like it was not so much that he won but that Carla and Stefan lost and he was the last man standing.

[jse91]

The producers blog on bravo is pretty interesting. She has a definite perspective on the way the sous chefs acted.

[Brent]

Tom speaks:
http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/02/26/tom-colicchio-i-would-pick-hosea-as-the-top-chef-again/

“If I had to do it all over again, reading what I’m reading, I’d still say Hosea wins. He made a better meal,” he told PEOPLE exclusively, calling from New York on Wednesday afternoon. ...

“It’s fortunate for Hosea that he put together a better meal than Stefan,” Colicchio says. “Simple as that. We don’t care about personalities. We don’t care about who was making out. We simply care about who put together a better meal from start to finish.”

...

Speaking about the judging process, Colicchio says that he and his fellow panelists – Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons and Toby Young – spend about two hours discussing the pros and cons of each dish before reaching a conclusion.

Addressing fan discussion about producers swaying the outcome, he emphasizes the results are authentic: They are determined solely by the judges.

“The producers don’t have any say over who stays or who goes,” he says. “I know there’s a little disclaimer up there that says that they do, but it’s done for legal reasons. They don’t influence it at all. There are times they’ll say ‘Are you sure?’ and we’re sure that person has to go. I don’t take it lightly. We sit there for two hours.”

...

When it came down to what was presented at the finale, Colicchio feels that Richter’s carpaccio dish was “not very good at all,” and calls Hall’s meat course “so-so.”

“Casey didn’t ruin it for her,” he says, addressing fan criticism that Hall was foiled by her given sous chef, former competitor Casey Thompson. “Everyone one of those sous chefs made decisions, and you either took their advice or you didn’t take their advice.”

[Jake]

I have been very impressed with the level of discourse in the comments on this blog all season, and I have to say I'm getting madder reading the comments than I was when I watched the show. How did we go from intelligent, thoughtful critiques to ill-informed rants just because a chef we like (whether it was Carla or Stefan) lost? There's some serious revisionist history and sour grapes personality bashing going on here.

First, let's be real about Hosea's performances all season. He was a contender from the beginning. He never hit the heights of a few other contestants, but he was always near the top. Always. Go back and read the comments on him all season. Carla came on strong, but she didn't do much for the first half of the season.

Second, let's chill out about Casey, OK? We saw all of 10 seconds of suggestions. Every sous chef gave suggestions. Every chef decided what to do about them. You don't know that she railroaded Carla, and especially to talk about the racial or gendered overtones of someone bossing her around ... you're assuming she let herself be bossed. I doubt that's what happened, but I don't know, and neither do you.

I'm kind of stunned anyone really bought the villain edit for Stefan -- they've showed enough moments where he helps others, and it's clear that most of them genuinely like him. He's a little brash, but I guess this is how editors get away with things.

Also ironic that people blast Casey for having too much influence over Carla (which may not be true) and discredit Hosea because of Blais' contributions (which we also really know little about).

Look, Stefan's been my favorite for most of the season, and I've grown to really like Carla too. But can we all please take a page from both Stefan and Carla and be reasonable about this? Both have acknowledged that Hosea deserved to win, and both have acted with class and humility. On top of that, both will be fine.

By all means -- cheer for your favorite, applaud when they succeed, and lament when they fail. But chill with the blame, the conspiracy theories, and the conjecture (you don't know who would have won if the sous were different, or the surprise ingredients, or whatever). It's starting to sound like the drunk football fan who is yelling at everyone around him about how the refs cost his team the game, when the refs didn't make any controversial calls.

Don't take away from Hosea's accomplishment, and don't diminish what Stefan and Carla accomplished either.

[dJay]

That episode freaked me out. I was freaking out, my friends were freaking out, and even Fabio was freaking out. The thing is, I suppose whenever the next season it comes back it will be as out of control as ever, so it would probably be addicting, despite what we already know: the fact that you can't taste the food right then and there. So you'll never know in a way. Those who obsess about television blame the editors. It's OK, I just don't really do that. Because it's on TV, so much for emphasizing Stefan's plating, though Gail made a funny comparison to some lost year!

People who were caricatures of themselves in the episode: Hosea, in a way; Stefan; Toby.

You see, Toby fetishized Carla too much, even though she was mostly (and I hope still is) great, though it was pretty unanimous that she messed up the meat and weirdly let Casey talk her into it. In the end, Toby talked too much. Made the more sour picks of the season, and had a more burning desire to speak than expand his horizons. Hey Tom, I hope you agree, that you need to attempt to get this guy sacked! Just gets to be a douche on TV for who knows how much? Tom at least has some qualifications and humility. I thought Toby was written off with the first half of New Orleans.

They left Jeff and Jamie hanging there. Kinda sad when you see them advertising the reunion like I had any lingering worry over Leah and Hosea. I don't care. But I'll see it anyway because I'm a sucker like you. But that guy is like the weirdest host . . . ... like what the hell is with this middle-of-the-roader?

Dominic, thanks for the memories. Get well soon, and don't let it bring you down. It's only Hosea winning.

[brooksiefan]

We didn't taste the food, so how do we know who should have won?

[Darin]

Bravo (no pun intended) Jake. Bravo. One of the most articulate posts this season.

[Meorav]

@Jake - You say "First, let's be real about Hosea's performances all season. He was a contender from the beginning. He never hit the heights of a few other contestants, but he was always near the top. Always."

- Um, no. Sorry, but I don't agree. What measure are you using to justify this claim?

Since this is Dom's site, one measure we could try is his rankings (another would be his top/bottom data plotted over time, so you see how Hosea and Carla begin to move up by default very late in the season). After week 1, Hosea wasn't even in the top half!! of the rankings until he ekes out 3rd place out of 6 contestants in episode 10. That sure doesn't sound like "always near the top" to me.

And except for her miraculous jump to 9th place in episode 2, Carla was in the bottom 3 for the entire season.

[Anne]

Can we see Blais' Facebook page without being friends with him?

[Jason]

Agreed that this was a lame season. I'm biased because I'm from Chicago, but that was the best season, followed by the one in L.A.

I don't think they orchestrated this outcome, but I do think they told Tom C. to be more of a dick. Liked it better when he was more of a mentor.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

[Skillet Doux]

"Since this is Dom's site, one measure we could try is his rankings (another would be his top/bottom data plotted over time, so you see how Hosea and Carla begin to move up by default very late in the season). After week 1, Hosea wasn't even in the top half!! of the rankings until he ekes out 3rd place out of 6 contestants in episode 10. That sure doesn't sound like "always near the top" to me."

Actually, by my count, out of the 14 episode season, Hosea made a top appearance in all but four of them. I believe I said a few weeks ago that he was one of the most consistently solid performers (or something along those lines). You're right that my rankings had him lower, but as is always the case with my rankings, that was because I don't strictly go by the numbers. For the most part he was putting out good food, but I just couldn't get excited about his peaks.

Everything else Jake said is exactly what I'd say if I wasn't concerned about being so damn diplomatic all the time :-)

[Dom's cousin]

"For the most part he was putting out good food, but I just couldn't get excited about his peaks."

Well isn't that kind of the point? How many people did get excited by his peaks? Not many, it sounds like. I wasn't. Solid doesn't exactly equal exciting, and isn't exciting what we were craving? Stefan nailing challenge after challenge (albeit missing a few along the way) was pretty exciting. Watching him strip that eel, hack the tail off an alligator and making fantastic soup, MacGuyer-ing his frozen dessert in RW - those things were way cool. Carla's turnaround was also way cool. I can't think of anything Hosea did that really stood out. If he had, he would have caught more people's attention. Instead all we remember is his tonsil-hockey with Leah and Stefan-envy (giving him the benefit of the doubt that the editors kinda shoved those down our throats, but still).

I'm perfectly willing to give Casey the benefit of the doubt that she got a bad edit. It doesn't sound to me like anyone is disputing that it was Carla's mistake for not going with her own instincts. But if that article really was Casey's quote, and I don't see why it wouldn't be, that sounds like some pretty sour grapes to me.

And come on...Blais-berries! That was a good one. Anyone? Buehler? Wow...tough crowd. :)

[Weirdsmobile]

Love it or hate it, every season of Top Chef is its own peculiar beast, and this was no exception. I was not impressed with the chefs themselves this season, but I thought the challenges were well done, so it made for an entertaining competition. I do wonder how much of the "meh" attitude towards these guys is fueled by the fact that this has to have been the most congenial, least dramatic Top Chef competition ever. I think it's oddly representative of the season that the biggest drama was two cheftestants making out. So I guess it's kind of fitting that Hosea won, since he was probably the most blandly amiable of the bunch.

I'm at peace with the outcome, because as has been amply pointed out, Stefan and Carla defeated themselves, with poor choices and (perhaps) failures of will.

My one big complaint, and I am pretty sure this is something Top Chef will never change, is that, if you're going to have this finale where you let the chefs loose to show us what they can do, JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE AND LET THEM COOK! I hate the fact that they mess with the chefs by giving them goofy advantages/handicaps at the last minute, with the sous chefs and the surprise ingredients. Look at the result: instead of a finale that matched the skills of these three chefs, and produced a clear winner, we have a ridiculous mess where one chef is said to have lost because of her sous chef, and another to have won because of his. Can anyone say that Hosea's win isn't at least slightly tainted because of the question of how much Richard Blais helped him out? We don't know what would have happened if Hosea, Stefan, and Carla had just been left alone to create their dishes on completely even ground...but I would much rather have watched that finale than the one we got.

I really wish next season that they wouldn't goof around with giving any chef an advantage over another one. If they want to bring back past cheftestants as sous chefs, let them request one in advance, and that would at least be interesting in that it would reflect the finalist's judgment and sensibilities, and would be part of the competition instead of a wrench thrown in the works for a bit of cheap suspense. I also liked what another commenter said about making the finale more like a World Series than a Superbowl. (That would have addressed the concern about taking past performance into account, since it would benefit the most consistently excellent chefs, while still making a surprise upset possible.)

Anyway...all in all, I ended up enjoying this season a lot more than I thought I would, although it's still probably my least favorite of the five. And Dom, thank you for giving so much to this blog and to your readers. You deserve all the excitement and attention your entries generate. This is pretty much the only TC-related blog I even read anymore!

[Bryan]

One comment about the whole judging on past performance vs. "you're only as good as your last meal" argument. I know for certain that for the New York Times restaurant review, the food critic (currently Frank Bruni for the Times) has to visit the restaurant at least three times. This system guarantees that the reviewer gets the full scope of the restaurant's food, service, and ambiance. Also, if there are any problems with the meal, the chef has a chance to right his/her wrongs.

It's interesting to think about how things have changed for the finale since season one. Two chefs cooking then three chefs, 5+ courses then 3 or 4. Celebrity sous chefs, past contestants etc... In the end I think the outcome really determines our response.

[FABIO VIVIANI]

I WAS THERE.

Stefan is the strongest competitor.
If was a decision based on the overall Season Stefan would've won.
It is not.
Now there is a boy, Hosea, that is dreaming about a great accomplishment.
I was there, from home you cant really judge.
Hosea is a very talented Chef.
Please bloggers dont spoil his dream.
Congratulation Hosea.
For as much i hated to say, i was rooting for Stefan and you won.
Congratulation again.
Sincerely, Fabio

[Ed T.]

One last thought on Casey's "interview": it is quite possible that she was caught unprepared by the interviewer, and that her remarks may have been taken out of context (after all, this wasn't a transcript that was posted.)

As an unwitting participant in such an interview (when they read it back to me, I updated my resume IMMEDIATELY - and there were meetings at the Sr mgt level as to whether I should stay or go when it was published, or so I heard), I am ALL TOO WELL AWARE of how words can be twisted to have a meaning other than that the speaker intended.

BTW - Congrats to ALL the finalists - may your chickens end up supplying you with LOTS of eggs!

~EdT.

[babyarm]

It's possible that casey got a bad edit because she told sidedish and other places that she was going to NOLA and was going to be a part of the finale. Nobody else spilled that detail. Was a little payback for spoiling the surprise perhaps.

[Solange]

With all due respect to you Fabio, and Hosea, I'm not sure what anyone posting to this board can do to "spoil his dream". He won Top Chef, and all that entails. That's a fact, and everyone here knows it.

Now, while there are posters here, myself included, that may have agreed with Toby Young concerning Stefan, and of course the many fans of Carla that have posted, it should also be duly noted that Hosea has had a considerable amount of support as well.

I think it's wonderful that you decided to post here Fabio. There is no doubt that the impressions of a cheftestant who was on the scene are a real treat to read.

Any chance we might have the winner dropping by?

[Jon Olsen]

Oh gawd do we have to do this again? Here at SkilletDoux, we KNOW we weren't there and we KNOW we didn't taste the food.

We UNDERSTAND it's a television show and we get that everyone, from Tom to Stefan, Carla to Casey, from Padma to the earliest contestant eliminated (Lauren was it?) we know ALL of these people are getting the continuous benefit/harm of editorial interference—whether it's cooking, complaining to the press, or rolling their eyes at JT.

Editing is *in play* at every level. Fine.

We still watch! We're still tuning in—an action which makes the people participating in the TC universe into stars. And we will continue to make judgment calls based on what we see. We will not apologize for this because we do all of it under the overall caveat: we know there's a high degree of fakery going on.

We also don't REALLY give a shit if Hosea wins or Stefan or Carla.

We know: it's just a tv show.

[Matthew]

Carla's husband here. I've been following this blog very closely all season. I consider Skillet Doux a must read each week. I love the rankings, postmortem and the discussion. I've stayed away from providing comments for two reasons 1) Carla didn't tell me a damn thing (Argh!); and 2) I didn't want to interfere, in any way, with her appearance on the show. I will tell you that I often shared the rankings and comments with Carla, and she TOO loves this blog. Probably not a surprise, after seeing her willingness to self-assess, but very seldom did Carla disagree with how she was ranked - at least based on what you saw.

Now that it's over, I feel okay coming out of lurker mode and putting my name of the scroll.

I think Jake's post speaks volumes, and I almost feel there's very little to add. I'll see if I can get Carla to come on this weekend and add a post. I will tell you that she is genuinely happy for Hosea.

Thanks to Dom (sorry to hear about the hand), and all of you, for engaging in a thoughtful, spirited, and respectful discussion going all season.

Cheers!

[Dom's cousin]

Solange: " With all due respect to you Fabio, and Hosea, I'm not sure what anyone posting to this board can do to "spoil his dream". He won Top Chef, and all that entails. That's a fact, and everyone here knows it."

Jon Olsen: "We still watch! We're still tuning in—an action which makes the people participating in the TC universe into stars. And we will continue to make judgment calls based on what we see. We will not apologize for this because we do all of it under the overall caveat: we know there's a high degree of fakery going on."

Yeah!...what they said. :P

And for my own two cents I'll just all that if the folks over at TC (who put this all together weeks to months ago, it's not like it all happened live) didn't want all us blogger-commenters to spoil Hosea's dream, maybe they should have given him a better edit.

We can only make judgments based on what we're shown and told through the blogs and interviews that pop up afterward. So by all means, Fabio, tell us what really went on and what got taken out of context. Tell the others to come on by too. Inquiring minds want to know.

[Naomi]

Very nice to meet you, Matthew! Thanks for posting :-)

[Dom's cousin]

Welcome, Matthew! Thanks for giving us your perspective.

I don't doubt for a minute that Carla (especially, given how gracious she is), Fabio, or any of the other contestants are genuinely happy for Hosea. They had the opportunity to get to know each other professionally and personally, and as was often noted here this was one of the most friendly-depicted seasons that we've seen.

I think for those of us (or me, anyway, I'll just speak for myself) who were really rooting for Carla and Stefan, watching them fall behind in the finale and Hosea overtaking them was hard to watch. So we're a little emotional right now. I'm sure we'll get over it someday...maybe by next season...or maybe in 10 years like when Jeff gets over losing the Superbowl challenge. :)

(Yes, I'm, still pandering for a laugh. Seriously, we need to lighten this up a bit. Somebody tell a joke already!)

[Suzanne]

Seriously - Richard Blais put together that food for Hosea. What a JOKE! We all know that Blais rocks his food and when during the entire season did Hosea put food together like that? What a way to lower the bar for Top Chef. Next season better make up for this.

[Jake]

"@Jake - You say "First, let's be real about Hosea's performances all season. He was a contender from the beginning. He never hit the heights of a few other contestants, but he was always near the top. Always."

- Um, no. Sorry, but I don't agree. What measure are you using to justify this claim? " (Meorav)

Well, using Dom's rankings, going backwards, Hosea was ranked 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 7th, 7th, and 4th. (Note: in the weeks where Dom didn't award an official #1, I pretended that he did and moved everyone up a notch, since we're comparing to other contestants here). He was above Carla for nearly all of those weeks. There's a slightly-below-average patch in there, but he was never that near the actual bottom. I personally had him a bit higher in that middle patch (as my comments on those episodes will attest), but not a ton higher. At any rate he was in Dom's top 4 for nearly half the season, and not far below otherwise. I'd call that a respectable showing.

If you want something more objective, his challenge win/loss record, quoted elsewhere, while worse than Stefan's, is in line with Carla's and many others'.

He was never the #1 contender, but it sure seems like he was in the mix a lot of the time. Plus, he pulled off the final challenge -- that demonstrates something, doesn't it?

"My one big complaint, and I am pretty sure this is something Top Chef will never change, is that, if you're going to have this finale where you let the chefs loose to show us what they can do, JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE AND LET THEM COOK!" (Weirdsmobile)

I agree with this 100%.

"Congratulation Hosea.
For as much i hated to say, i was rooting for Stefan and you won." (Fabio)

I have nothing to add to this, but I could hear this in Fabio's voice in my head, which made me chuckle a bit. I think it sums up how a lot of us feel (whether rooting for Stefan or Carla).

"1) Carla didn't tell me a damn thing (Argh!)" (Matthew)

OK, now that is funny. I can't imagine how you sat through the entire season without knowing what was going to happen, but it must have been very cool to watch your wife make that run to the finals. Plus, it sure seems like she's a lock for that fan favorite award Bravo likes to give out.

Solange: " With all due respect to you Fabio, and Hosea, I'm not sure what anyone posting to this board can do to "spoil his dream". He won Top Chef, and all that entails. That's a fact, and everyone here knows it."

Jon Olsen: "We still watch! We're still tuning in—an action which makes the people participating in the TC universe into stars. And we will continue to make judgment calls based on what we see. We will not apologize for this because we do all of it under the overall caveat: we know there's a high degree of fakery going on."

(both astutely quoted by Dom's cousin)

I agree with these sentiments even if it seemed like I don't. I think most of us realize that when we make judgments about food or personalities it's based on incomplete information. If we didn't all come on here and share impressions, this season wouldn't have been nearly as fun to watch. It just seemed to me like we were getting a little out of hand on this thread, getting into character assassination, dubious claims of rigged-ness, and general trashing of contestants and others. By all means, let's dissect, analyze, and discuss.

[Jake]

"(Yes, I'm, still pandering for a laugh. Seriously, we need to lighten this up a bit. Somebody tell a joke already!)" (Dom's cousin)

I've been working on something about carbonated Blais-berries, but everything I've come up with is either a) not fit to post on a family site like this, and/or b) not that funny. Usually both.

[Jon Olsen]

Oh Dom's cousin, you had me at blaisberries, you know you did. Would that not be the Best. Cap'n Crunch. Flavor. EVAR?! They'd be blue, but they'd turn your milk red. And fizz. Somehow.

Oh! and! Contestants' families reading the blog For the absolute WIN!

[Jon Olsen]

Oh also?
"Next season better make up for this"

That sentence is the PERFECT encapsulation of the contours of our addiction. It's like

"I'm SO MAD I'm going to hold my breath until they do the next show!"

[Matthew]

Oh, it was hard for me to watch Carla fall behind, too. Each week was tough for me because I was on the edge of my seat, not knowing what was going to happen. I've got one more week to see if she won fan favorite. If American Idol voting has taught me anything, the apparent favorite is never a sure thing. Win or lose, Carla is, and has been, my favorite.

Carla is resigned that she should have stayed with her plan, but doesn't begrudge Casey for the choices made. Carla takes responsibility for traveling a different path then the one she intended. It was her call. She's more disappointed with herself (not sticking with her original plan) than she is with not winning. She's okay.

We were in New York last week, and I had an opportunity to meet all the chefs (sans Jeff and Danny), as well as all the judges, Andy Cohen, and some production people. I have to say that Stefan may play the game when competing, but I found him to be really cool and funny as hell. He's truly a good guy.

[karenology]

Thank you Dom for covering this season so thoroughly...my favorite part of Wednesdays these past few weeks has been looking at your power rankings! (okay, that is a little sad, but still) And also thank you for providing rational discussion about the show; reading through I feel bad for my intial knee jerk reaction to blame Casey for Carla's poor finish, and agree that she got a bum rap from the editors. Though I will still primarily remember her for the onions fiasco.

[Kathy]

"(Yes, I'm, still pandering for a laugh. Seriously, we need to lighten this up a bit. Somebody tell a joke already!)" (Dom's cousin)

hmmm, nothing pithy coming to mind
.... ok, Why is 6 afraid of 7? Cuz 7 8 9.

Yeah yeah yeah, I know, that joke is as lame and old as all get out -- but it still gets a chuckle from my 4 year old nephew.

[Jon Olsen]

That joke was dated in presentation! It reminds me of something I heard in the early eighties! Who helped write that joke? Shouldn't they be getting the credit for its awfulness or awesomeness?

How do we know your nephew wasn't laughing at something else entirely?

Quit hiding the true face of your four year old nephew behind your editing tricks, Kathy!

The People demand it!

[Jake]

Matthew, I'm curious what you thought about the way Carla was presented to the audience? It seemed to me like we were shown a kind of wacky out-there personality early on, and then about halfway through she got serious. To me it was like, whoah, where did that come from? I'm sure people here would love to hear about your and Carla's impressions of the other contestants and judges, too. Or even just about what it's like to be on a show like this. It must have been a crazy experience.

I think we're all curious about her prior career as a model, too. :)

[Kathy]

Jon: You caught me -- I AM the 4 year old boy. When I typed that joke, I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the stacks of cook books I'm perched upon.

heh

[Charles]

AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE!!!....Hosea ate one of Stefan's lollipops.

I'm just goofing around. I read the blogs, the comments before watching the episode, so I knew how ticked everyone was with Hosea, so it really cracked me up when they showed him eating the lollipop.

Here's one for you guys:
If they did a true Top Chef All-Star season with the three best contestants from each season is there any doubt Richard Blais would destroy them?

With the experience of having gone through it once...I just don't see anyone hanging with him.

[Richard Blais]

Re. Caseys interview: I find it hard to imagine, that in all her rage, she
Could say those things as they were written.

They didn't perform well as a team on that day. Case-y closed.

Individually 2 very similar, talented, soulful chefs.

rB

[Charles]

@Jon: That was pretty frickin' funny. Of course, you got the funny edit, so I can only assume you are actually funny.

[EdT.]

A Top Chef All-Star season? Don't know if I could handle it, but my fave heads-up match would be Richard Blais vs. Hung. With Dufresne and Ripert as their respective sous chefs. And Tony Bourdain/Dom as the guest judges. (well, maybe myself, also. :)

Personally, I still would have liked to see Carla draw Richard Blais as her sous chef. The combination of simple, homey comfort food and out-of-the-box thinking, mixed together in just the right portions, would be totally AWESOME.

BTW, Dom, given the number of chefts that are commenting here, maybe Bravo could simply hold the "reunion show" as an online chat on this site?

~EdT.

[Sam, Dom's cousin]

"Oh Dom's cousin, you had me at blaisberries, you know you did. Would that not be the Best. Cap'n Crunch. Flavor. EVAR?! They'd be blue, but they'd turn your milk red. And fizz. Somehow."

Alright! That's more like it! Thanks, Jon. You know, in my head Blais-berries seemed like comedy gold, but then again I amuse myself pretty easily. :)

And an honorable mention to Kathy for putting something...anything...out there.

See, Dom & Jake, we're behaving, or trying to :)

[Saxdrop]

apparently Casey was not as hard on Carla as that quote you linked to indicates:

[Link unrelated to Top Chef redacted -- Saxdrop is a regular commenter, so I suspect it was simply a cut and paste error, not anything nefarious]

[Jake]

"apparently Casey was not as hard on Carla as that quote you linked to indicates:

[Link redacted - See Above]" (Saxdrop)

Er, that's a story on bank nationalization.

Thanks to rB for his thoughts, too.

[Solange]

Count me in for watching an All-Star season, but I can't see it happening under the rules as constructed today for Top Chef.

Why would an All-Star want to return for a chance at getting canned in Week 2?

Now, maybe run a season, with points awarded and maybe no eliminations until Week 10, or 11, and things might be more attractive.

This way all our faves/bette noirs all get lots of face time and then at set weeks well into the battle the bottom three leave setting up a cream of the crop battle royale.

The no elimination/points format would also stop say a Spike from just doing enough to hang around and plot for the finals. You would have to bring your A game to each challenge because at some point the bottom three with the lowest numbers are going to start going home.

[Brent]

Hey Mr. Carla,

I have a great idea for your wonderful wife. She can charge big bucks for the experience -- she should cook dinners comprised of dangerous foods.

She can call it, "Hootie and the Blowfish."

You're welcome.
bk

[paula]

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock, knock,
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad that Stefan, Fabio, Mr. Hootie, and Blais all lurk on this site and secretly laugh at what completely obsessed nerds we all are?

[Brent]

Or Carla and Stefan could tour together as "Hootie and the Blowhard."

D'oh! C'mon Stefan, you know you love it!

[Steve]

I fully agree with Dom and Jake.

I avoid most of the discussions on the Internet because it is full of dissing, baseless charges, unvalidated conspriracy theories and inane chat. This blog begun that slide two or three episodes ago.

Nevertheless, Dom's blog has usually been a welcome addition to intelligent discussion about Top Chef and about good food.

I won't say Hosea deserves to win. But I will say that as much as I was rooting for Stefan, I perceived that Stefan seemed to be running on catering autopilot at times during the last of the regular rounds. He seemed to be doing the same when he made dessert, without even realizing it. It was like he was thinking "hmmm...this is nice, this'll make them happy...I'll just give them banana lollipops." Whereas the judges wanted to be "wowed." The dessert was fine...but all the judges agreed it could be more. The panna cotta from restaurant wars probably would have won it for him...but not ice cream and frozen banana.

As for poor, dear Carla...we cannot know what specifically happened. At least until we hear from Casey. But even then, we know what happened. Carla's insecurity got the best of her again and she second guessed herself with the sirloin and forgot about the cooking temperature for the custard.

The season did not end as most of us wanted, but it is clear that Hosea won the evening. Whether that means he deserves to be Top Chef is up for debate.

"UPDATE VI : I'm going to quote a portion of Jake's comment at the top here, both because it's dead on and because, frankly, I should've had the stones to say it myself yesterday:

"Look, Stefan's been my favorite for most of the season, and I've grown to really like Carla too. But can we all please take a page from both Stefan and Carla and be reasonable about this? Both have acknowledged that Hosea deserved to win, and both have acted with class and humility. On top of that, both will be fine. By all means -- cheer for your favorite, applaud when they succeed, and lament when they fail. But chill with the blame, the conspiracy theories, and the conjecture (you don't know who would have won if the sous were different, or the surprise ingredients, or whatever). It's starting to sound like the drunk football fan who is yelling at everyone around him about how the refs cost his team the game, when the refs didn't make any controversial calls. Don't take away from Hosea's accomplishment, and don't diminish what Stefan and Carla accomplished either."

What he said. We (by which I mean both myself and the folks who have seen fit to participate here) have tried to foster an atmosphere here that respects the chefs involved in the show -- understanding that they're real people -- and keep the discussion as free from the kind of nasty, strident tone that all too frequently dominates the 'net. We all get a little carried away from time to time (and I'm by no means blameless in that regard), but I think most folks here have a sincere interest in staying above speculative mudslinging, and I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping each other honest in that regard. In short, take a deep breath everybody... speak your mind, please, but let's keep this from devolving into the kind of ranting that typifies far too much of the internet."

[Skillet Doux]

Wow! I take my kid to the park and to lunch and Blais and Mr. Carla show up... thanks for stopping by, guys :-)

Richard, I don't know Casey and I was still more than a little surprised by those quotes. Certainly enough to make we wonder both about their accuracy and their context. Here's hoping there's more we're not aware of. I'd also hope that those who are jumping all over that quote aren't the same ones who -- if it IS accurate -- precipitated it by calling for her head with such vitriol on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Matthew, thank you for your perspective and kind words. I'm amazed that Carla managed to keep the result a secret from you, and in awe of the suspense you must've endured. It's neat to get the perspective of a contestant's spouse, and I hope you don't hesitate to drop by anytime you feel like chatting.

[Malik]

Re-watching the TC marathon today and some observations:

I'm enjoying the Super Bowl show much more than the first time.

Why? Because it cured the 'play it safe' blues that plagued the mid-seaon. Set up as head to head challenges, the chefs have to cook to win.

Hosea's fried salmon roll was a perfect example. After weeks of letting the 'deconstructed sushi rolls' and 'pile of mushrooms at the bottom of the salad' implode around him, Hosea produced a nifty bit of technical cooking when forced to try clear a higher hurdle.

[Adam]

"I agree that Hosea is no Lisa, but I have to fact-check you here"

Dom,

1) According to the text blast, Hosea (and Radhika) picked up a win in the Foo Fighters challenge.

2) I'm pretty sure you missed a recent Hosea win. Hint: he's Top Chef.

Make of those what you will, but I was counting them.

[Omelet]

No matter who gets Fan Favorite, Fabio and Carla are both winners. I hope Blais' wonderful analogy about the chicken and egg proves true for them both. It turned out to be a great season. I second (third? fourth?) the wish that TC6 has a finale with no surprises (actually, at this point, no surprises would be a surprise!).

BTW, there were over 6000 people ahead of me in the TC Fantasy Game. Sigh.

[Bryan]

1. Richard
2. Harold
3. Tiffani
4. Hung
5. Stephanie
7. Lee Anne
6. Dale T.
8. Stefan
9. Tre
10. Sam

[Rachael]

People complained about the quality of this season but I really did enjoy watching it unfold. I was rooting for Carla early on because I found her zany personality to be refreshing, then realized that whoa- woman can COOK. She can! I liked Stefan's chops but also figured out early on that he was getting the bad guy edit in a season where a bad guy was a little harder to paint (Lisa was kind of handed to us on a platter last season). For all the whining and the playing up of the Hosea/Stefan grudge match, I got a sense that towards the end he had forged some real friendships with people and he probably has no beef with Hosea or vice versa.

It was tough to watch Carla and Stefan choke. REALLY hard to watch Carla choke: I would have loved to see her win. But the good news is that all three chefs really deserved to be there and cooked pretty well. I wasn't a Hosea fan but the guy IS talented, smart, and fairly fun (he got a crap edit too, I think- they made him seem obsessive and I'm sure he's not). We already know that Fabio has things up his sleeve. I am sure that, given Carla's bubbly personality and smarts, she will find herself presented with a world of opportunities. Stefan will have no difficulty carving out opportunities for himself, either. So to me, there really was no loser.

Tough edit for Casey, though. I had suspected that Carla was going downhill the second I heard sous-vide, and I thought it was a huge mistake. But even if the edit was "accurate" (we know it wasn't), Carla HERSELF would admit that she was the one who made a mistake by not listening to herself. Not once in the competition did I see Carla pinning the blame on someone for no reason. One of the reasons I like and respect her so much is that she's introspective about her work and takes responsibility for everything she puts out on the plate. What an inspiration!

[Polybus]

Much as I love the boards, I just read Dom's comments at the top and decided to skip reading the opinions this time.

How I rate the seasons:

Season 1
Season 4
Season 5
Season 2
Season 3

Argue.

[Jake]

"Much as I love the boards, I just read Dom's comments at the top and decided to skip reading the opinions this time." (Polybus)

There is a lot of good stuff in there, but there's some heated comments too. It's a testament to some of the compelling competitors and the overall quality of the show, really, that we're so invested in the outcome.

I can't argue with your top 3 -- not positive on the order, but I liked them all for different reasons.

[canasian]

Sorry I haven't been around for a couple days. I'd like to apologize for my rather spur-of-the-moment and heated comment critcizing Casey. I'll admit that I was crying along with Carla at the end and what I said in various places reflects my disappointment. I don't blame Casey for Carla's loss. I do blame her, however, for the harmful things she said about Casey in the link Dom's update includes. I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, but in her blog, Casey says that the interviewer contacted her through facebook and didn't state that she was a reporter, just a friend looking to let her vent. A friend who just happens to write for an online food magazine and has the means to present whatever embarassing and offensive commentary to everyone who watches Top Chef. In exact juxtaposition, the boss of Casey's "casual acquaintance" says that it was an e-mail exchange that she personally screened in which the interviewer followed standard procedure and decorum. The reporter clearly stated that they were looking for commentary for an article. I wish I could believe Casey, but considering what what she said and how conveniently it would work out for Casey for the entire thing to be an accident, I'm inclined to believe the mag representative. I felt really bad for all the negativity that was directed towards Casey about her work with Carla, but I feel no sympathy if this entire fiasco post-show bites her in the ass.

[canasian]

And sorry for the rant. The whole situation just gives me the jibblies, considering that I was a very big Casey fan during her season, but I lost a lot of resect for her after misrepresenting facts, needlessly mudslinging a beautiful person, and then trying to cover up for it with excuses that frankly don't make her look any better..

Hi to Blais and Mr. Hall, by the way. Always nice to know that you guys do care what the people have to say.

[Sam, Dom's cousin]

"Casey says that the interviewer contacted her through facebook and didn't state that she was a reporter, just a friend looking to let her vent."

Now that just doesn't make sense. Someone she actually knew that screwed her over, or a 'friend' on facebook who offered her an ear and she fell for it? Sounds like a pretty weak defense. Canasian, do you have links to this info?

[zsparks]

Douxers, I have beein resisting the urge to ask you this because I am just a lurker here, but even in this crazy moment, this is such an exceptional community, I have to ask:

If you have five minutes, would you be willing take my Online Community Traits Survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wjxhYreZY_2feD_2b4FGeVJ_2biQ_3d_3d?

Meanwhile, I am still in mourning for Hootie and didn't even realize it until my sister called to chew it over, and I had to say no. I also couldn't watch it again, which is never a problem for me. Dominic, yes - Hosea won, and it's his win, but they sure did make it ugly for us, didn't they?

[potty mouth princess]

West Coast poster here. I have to just quickly say that unless you have hi-def, you DO have to wait until 10pm west coast time to see the show.

Food Network also has an east coast feed on hi-def, but not all channels do. West coasters in the non-hi-def boat should know better than check out blogs or the Bravo site at 8pm our time if they don't want to be spoiled.

Or get hi-def and watch it at 7 like me! :-)

[justforthis]

Sam; Dom's cousin...see here
http://chefcaseythompson.com/wordpress/
and here
http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/27/casey-thompson-speaks-out-on-casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-itop-chefi/

[canasian]

Unfortunately Sam, I'm typing on my iPod (amazing what technology can do these days) and can't copy and paste links. In a few days when I have access to a real computer I'll dig up the links for you. Unless someone else gets to it first. Or you can go to televisionwithoitpity.com. Under forums, select "Top Chef." in the "Past Season-ings" subforum, you'll find a thread about Casey. I found the links in there, in one of the last couple pages of posts.

[canasian]

Aaaaaand justforthis beat me to the punch.

[Sam, Dom's cousin]

Thanks, guys. I don't know though...between the two it still seems like she said, she said. I think if Nancy Nichols over at sidedish really wanted some transparency on the issue she'd publish the facebook and/or email exchanges. Kinda reminds me of a similar dispute between Sarah Palin and the editor of the ADN not too long ago.

It does appear to affirm the question of whether or not the quote was hers, just not if it was taken out of context and/or not intended for public consumption.

[Unhappy Gilmore]

The producers are getting exactly what they want. The passion here is like rooting for your favorite football team, except the team changes each season.

Fans of the Giants hate the Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins. Ohio State hates Michigan. Auburn hates Alabama. Auburn fans may root for Notre Dame too. Everyone loves Mississippi State.

Fans of Carla (not hate) don't like Hosea. Fans of Stefan don't like Hosea. Fans of Hosea don't like Stefan. Fans of Carla also root for Stefan. Everyone loves Carla. Everyone hates Toby.

The only difference is that the Super Bowl is judged like gymnastics at the olympics - it is subjective and creates controversy.

We passionately root for our teams. We passionately root against the other teams.

Next season, we will pick other teams to passionately root for and against.

I can't wait.

[paula]

Now that we know Casey really did say all those disrespectful things about Carla--regardless of whether she knew it was going to be published--can we agree that the "bad edit" theory no longer holds water? Like Canasian, I don't blame Casey for Carla's loss. Carla lost this on her own by not having confidence in her own vision. My beef with Casey was that she saw her role as Carla's partner, that this was her finale as well as Carla's, when she should have taken more of a back seat and been less pushy with her suggestions (watch it again--she was). Her post-show "interview" proves that this was indeed her mindset. Also, I don't believe for a second that Carla "had no plan whatsoever," or whatever exactly Casey accused her of. Man, she's really shown her true colors.

[Helaine]

Thanks again to Dom for devoting so much effort to this blog. I appreciate your insights and perspective. Top Chef should thank you for enriching the viewing experience!

I know a lot of people have suggested different reasons why it is dangerous to judge individuals we see on Top Chef. These suggestions typically focus on things related to editing, etc. which i agree are huge influences on how an individual can seem.

I would like to propose another caution that comes from the field of social psychology. Countless studies have demonstrated that we humans are very vulnerable to what is called the Fundamental Attribution Error. We tend to evaluate our own behavior keeping the situation in mind ("I yelled at that stranger who cut me off because I've had a really horrible day") and evaluate others' behavior with an emphasis on personality traits ("That person yelled at the individual who cut them off because they are aggressive and irrational"). So, we tend to understand there are multiple factors influencing behavior in any given moment when it is about ourselves, but we are not nearly as generous when we are evaluating others' behavior.

Just wanted to throw that into the mix.

[Jon Olsen]

Polybus, talk about rose spectacles. Season One? !? Seriously? Katie Lee Joel? I'm not your bitch bitch? Lee Anne goes down before the finals? Top Sommelier opens restaurant wars by saying "Well Spain is really hot right now"? Ken? No winner in wedding war because they just disappointed the couple so much? Drunks on the line in the final? Katie? Lee? Joel?? Nuh. Uh.

Four - Five - Three - One - Two (I've finally seen more than one episode and ...blah)

Why does everyone love season one so much?? I feel like I'm taking CRAZY PILLS!

[Dave_P]

Are we doing seasons now?

3

4 (tie)
5 (tie)

1

2

I also don't know why ppl are so enamored w/S1. I suppose there's a lot of (deserved) love for Harold & LeeAnn, but for the rest of the cast... meh.

I had my problems at various points of S4 & 5, but overall, I enjoyed them quite a bit and it's hard to pick which one I liked better. S3 was by far and away the best for me.

--
Dave

[McFinn]

Man, there's a lot of venom out there, but I think there's a fundamental mistake that some fans are making. Despsite Colicchio also picking a sport's analogy, I'll use a reality TV one. A lot of fans treat TC as Survivor, where the final competitors are judged by past success and failure. Didn't play well or just coasted through? The jury will likely not reward you. But TC is the Amazing Race. No matter if you won all the previous segments of the race, if in the finale you are not the first person to reach the finish, you lose. Past success or failure does not matter beyond getting a competitor to the final challenge.

Also, I think some get hung up on the title of "Top Chef." Maybe if they changed the name to "Chef Who Won $100,000 on a Reality TV Show" it wouldn't matter so much, even if viewers still vicariously suffered the agony of defeat when their favorite didn't make it. Not quite as catchy a title though...

Finally, someone send out a rescue party for Leann.

[canasian]

I also don't find season 1 as enjoyable as the last three seasons, but I can absolutely understand the love people show for it. I wouldn't call it rose-colored glasses as much as nostalgia. The show wasn't big yet, so the chefs were all a little naive as to what they were getting into. There was way less pointless product placement because the show wasn't a big media outlet yet. And since it was an unknown at the times, the chefs just behaved like themselves, for better or for worse. Maybe the names weren't as big or important (both contestants and guest judges), but that season produced the only winner that used the title to go from practically noone to a successful NYC restauranteur. Season 1 was number four for me on the entertainment scale, but Harold is still my favorite winner (although Stephanie is very close).

[jkelley]

I'll admit there is a nostalgia component to my fondness for season 1. Here were people being judged on what they could create as opposed to how well they schemed which, other than Project Runway, was unique in TV land. But in addition to nostalgia, season 1 has the two chefs with the most ability, integrity and passion: Harold and Lee Anne across all the season. I respect Stephanie, Blais, Hung, Tre etc... but Harold and Lee Anne will always be the two I whose food I would want to eat on a regular basis.

When it comes to blogs, Skillet Doux will always be the one I want to read. The analysis and humor is far more satisfying than the snark and vitriol.
Thanks Dom!
jk

[TomClevo]

Check out Toby's live chat about the finale (thanks to Amuse Biatch): http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/02/top-chef-fina-2.html

I can't say that I hope they bring Toby back as a judge, but his blog and this chat have been good and revealing. Listen to this on the sous chefs:

Toby Young: One thing that got edited out was when the judges got to cross-examine the three sous chefs. Marcel was being very annoying and at one point I told him to "shut up" and he went completely nuts. It looked like he was going to hit me. I thought they'd leave that in, but it didn't make the cut.

I think if they had shown the sous chefs' appearance at judge's table it would have cleared up a lot of the present controversy.

This is solid gold:

Toby Young: I can give you some gossip. After the wrap party, Stefan and I went to Jamie's girlfriend's lesbian bar in the West Village and Stefan ended up sucking face with this cute lesbian working the bar. It was an astonishing performance -- almost as impressive as the way he skinned that eel. Afterwards he said, "There you go. She's back on our team now."

[canasian]

Wow. I can't decide if that makes me like Stefan more if it makes him seem more like a , well, he would say "douche," but I'm trying to think of a more PC way to say it, considering what we're talking about.

[Caulder]

Tom C's blog is finally up, in case anyone had given up on it.

[Bart]

Well, in retrospect, my comments were over the line. I was incredibly disappointed to see that the two chefs who deserved the win didn't get it. I'm not trying to knock Hosea here, but the simple fact is, he got lucky.

I don't like the Superbowl analogy. I prefer the World Series one - where if you lose the first game, you have time to regroup and win the next four. I feel like Top Chef should be more reflective of that. Getting lucky at just the right moment shouldn't be the sole guarantor of victory. And Hosea got lucky not just once but four times - getting Blais, getting the little boy from the cake, Carla stumbling and Stefan stumbling.

Hold the finale again and see who wins. It won't be Hosea.

Hosea showed flashes of truly good cooking, but they were just flashes when compared to Stefan's consistent brilliance and Carla's unbelievably strong performance during the second half. And Hosea's best dishes never seemed to reach the heights that Stefan's or Carla's dishes have. That's why this is so disappointing to me. I don't think the best chef won.

Hosea, if you're reading this, I'm sorry, but that's just how I feel based on what I've seen on the show. I'll gladly let you prove me wrong if I ever eat your restaurant.

[Steve]

Maybe the best way to frame this finale is:

Stefan was a bit overconfident, Carla was not confident enough, while Hosea had just the right amount of humility, and brought it. And that's why he won.

[Brent]

In Tom's Bravo blog, he says two of Stefan's four dishes were bad.

In his live chat, Toby says that Hosea made the best meal.

(Although that raises the question: If Toby acknowledges that the decision was based on that meal alone, rather than the whole season; and if he says Hosea's meal was better than Stefan's; then why was he fighting for Stefan, and still saying Stefan would have been his pick?)

[EdT.]

@paula = the "bad edit" that Casey got was from the editors of Top Chef. The "interview" as published in SideDish does in fact read more like a rant/vent than a proper interview. And, given that SideDish chose for whatever reason NOT to publish the "proof" that Casey wasn't set up... well, that says a lot to me. Even if they *did*, though, I am not so sure I would believe them - it is very easy to fake such "proof" in the online world.

Just one more reason, I guess, that folks (especially celebrity-type folks) should be cautious when they spout off.

Now, when Ariane win's "Fan Favorite", I am sure we will have a whole new controversy to get worked up over.

~EdT.

[Jon Olsen]

What was most exciting for me about Tom's blog was the second to last paragraph. First he says he'd like to return to a two-person model (I also support this) and then he says this:

"I would love to try to find a feasible way for us to challenge future finalists to create a five-course meal. I’d require that one be a dessert (I have always believed that one of them should be a dessert. These aren’t my rules; I just play by them!) And I’d permit them to plan and prepare two of the courses in advance. It would be great for viewers to see them in their home/restaurant environments developing those two courses. I think this would provide a great balance between the “classical” and “jazz” chefs among the finalists and would even the playing field."

This is fascinating. First, obviously Tom doesn't make the rules. I've always been aware of that. But my question to the producers would be: can he give some input? What about his arguments here? I think it's an excellent combination of "twist" balanced with demanding the chefs' best. It's a win/win for chefs and audience—plenty of time for menu preparation (Project Runway's finalist collections anyone?) followed by a demand to develop the rest of the courses on site. I think this would result in very very strong finales. I say here's hoping the Elves listen to him!

[Adam]

Stefan was clearly the dominant chef of the season.

But lets do a little breakdown of Hosea versus Carla, just for argument's sake. I think people's memories are a bit short in this regard.

---

EPISODES 1-9 (through Restaurant Wars)

Hosea: two individual elimination wins, or one individual and one collective team win, depending what source you believe on the Foo Fighters episode. Two trips to the bottom - in both cases he was pretty clearly safe. One quickfire win, and FIVE mentions on the top.

Carla: one collective team elimination win; two other high finishes. Three trips to the bottom, two of which seemed like possible eliminations.

At this point, Dom had Hosea at #4 behind Stefan, Jaime, and Jeff, and Carla dead last ("just isn't Top Chef finals material"). There wasn't too much disagreement in the comments section.

---

EPISODES 10-13 (from the episode after Restaurant Wars, through finals, part 1)

Hosea: Two top mentions in eliminations. Two bottoms, both where he seemed like the safest of the three, as others had screwed up much worse. One quickfire high, two quickfire lows.

Carla: Two elimination wins and two elimination highs. One quickfire win and three quickfire highs.

---

So, Carla was effin' incredible for four episodes. But compare the whole season, including the first nine and last episode, and who was stronger? I'd say Hosea.

[babyarm]

I think after sitting on this for a few days the easy way to "fix" the issues is to give

1. More time to prep and cook solo on the final day of prep a la S4. With no surprises about who will help, and when.

2. Any advantage given based on season performance, not random draw. The first pick of passed ap should have been stefan's easily.

3. CLEARLY state the winner is chosen by finale performance only. Past performance only reflected in slight homefield advantage by being able to pick best of 3 things at certain times.

[aaalex]

I think, ultimately, this may be my favourite season, though I also have real affection for Season One. The thing about Season One, though, is that "Top Chef" seemed to be about just that: determining who was the strongest chef in the group and Harold would have been most viewers' choice, as it was for the judges. By Season 5, after the Lisa debacle, we known this show is NOT about who is the strongest chef. This year, the strongest chef was clearly Stefan, as Fabio confirmed. Knowing that takes the edge off the disappointment I felt at Hosea's win. This show is about creative challenges, interesting personalities put in unnatural circumstances, compelling editing, creative cutting and humour. This year was the most amusing "Top Chef" by quite a margin and it was filled with such distinct and fascinating competitors. Everyone from Melissa (with her "stand up for what I cooked madness") to Fabio, Carla, Stefan and Jamie ... they were all unpredictable and very watchable. Hard to imagine this strong a group of personalities next year and I'll miss most of them. Even the Toby situation was good fodder for talk (what DOES make for a good judge?) and will make this year memorable. I remember liking Season 3 very much, but I just don't remember as many of its contestants with the same affection as I have for this year's group. So, despite my disappointment with the finals, I thought it was an entertaining 14 weeks.

I completely agree with the poster above who said that it was not right to have had gimmicks for the final show. Stefan should have been able to cook exactly what he wanted, without the pressure of having to butcher alligator. And the prospect of a 5 course finale (no holds barred) makes me look forward to coming years.

If anyone were asking me for my wish list for "Top Chef Season 6", I think it would go like this:

1. No gimmicks in the finale. Maybe more prep time, no sous chefs
2. More material from the Judges' Table. It would give the viewers (or at least this viewer) a better sense of the philosophy/attitude of each judge and also give us a more realistic sense of the problems with each chef's cooking. (Maybe there could be a video blog of the judges' sessions posted on Bravo)
3. A slightly LONGER show (hour and 15, maybe?) with more time devoted to each of the chef's actually cooking. Sometimes the snippets we see are too disjointed and cut up for me to get a real sense of what each judge is up to.
4. I don't have problems with the bad chef language. They're under pressure and most of it is bleeped out, but I actually found Hosea giving Stefan the finger really really low class. The point about Hosea's childishness had already been established. Did we really need that?
5. Finally: please, please invite me personally to taste the food at next year's finale. I'll happily travel anywhere in the US of A to taste the food. If you can't, in good conscience, invite me personally: how about a raffle/competition/mud wrestling match (or a combo of all three)to pick viewers to attend the final?

[Unhappy Gilmore]

If they ever release DVDs of the seasons, I would think there would be tons of footage of judges table, cooking and the stew room. Maybe more of the mysteries would be resolved.

[caulder]

Unhappy Gilmore~as long as we get to see Marcel going off on Toby I don't care what else would be on the DVDs. (For the record, neither Marcel nor Toby every bothered me except for Toby's dated attempts at comedy. I just want to see them going off.)

[Lon]

Did not read the column for a weekend and had to rush through the comments this morning.

Two things I picked up from Top Chef about Hosea that I haven't seen anyone else comment on.

1. Because of Hosea's comments about being from a small city (I knew he lived in Colorado.), I looked up his bio on Bravo. Boulder has more 90,000 residents. Since I grew up on towns of 500 or so, that's pretty big. But certainly not as big as New York City.

I discovered Hosea won the Flatiron Chef competition seven (7) times in a row. That is an annual competition between six chefs from Boulder and six from Denver. This tells me Hosea knows how to play the contest game and has some competitive "chops."

While never a "top performer" in the early shows, Hosea was always in the game. I considered him a dark horse from the beginning. Even basketball legend Michael Jordan didn't play 100 percent all out for every game all season. But in the final minutes of a game, and in the championships, no one was better at winning.

Second, it was obvious to me that Hosea knew the finale would be in New Orleans and had studied up on Creole and Cajun food. His performance in the first part of the finale reflected that. He had prepared for the finale in comparision to Stefan who lost interest even before the regular season completed. Hosea pushed his game to the top level in the finale, Michael Jordan style.

I learned these things early on with Top Chef:
1. Never totally trust the edits. That is why the blogs are so important afterward. If you have not read Tom's blog yet, please do so. It always answers important questions to me. Even under the best circumstances, one can not condense accurately hours of performance into 10 or so minutes.
2. Never bet on the obvious favorite going into the finale. Only Hung stayed a favorte all the way through and won the title.
3. Never discount the role pressure plays in a performance. Some chefs get eliminated because they aren't as good as the others. Some chefs are good, but succumb to the pressure of the moment.
4. And finally, never try to determine a person's personality based on the edits. Top Chef is a game, a TV show. While some traits come through, it is not a complete picture. See #3 above.

[Matthew]

I find the the last few posts about Hosea interesting. I can't help but think that some of the 'defense' of Hosea has come about because of the overwhelming reaction to his victory. I tend to agree that Hosea was in contention throughout the season more often than he's probably given credit. I do think, however, that it's a little immaterial to try to rate who was strong for how long. Stefan had a streak. Carla had a streak, but Hosea was strong when it counted--the final challenge.

This discussion about Hosea does point to something that concerns me. I want him to do well and reap the rewards for winning the show. I think, unfortunately, he's stuck in a bit of a Catch 22 with fans of the show. If he distances himself from Leah, he's damned for prior actions. If he continues to see Leah (which appears to be the case) he's damned for keeping it going. From what I've seen across the blogs, there is a resounding "Meh" about Hosea, if not flat out contempt. Some point to his food, but most draw a bead on the situation with Leah. I couldn't care less about what happened, but it seems to be a princpal bone of contention with many viewers. I do wonder if this situation will impact Hosea's ability to gain wide-spread popularity as Top Chef.

The other issue is him beating a sympathetic favorite and a likeable bad boy. Even as Carla's husband (and of course I wanted her to win), I feel bad for Hosea having to justify, or seemingly apologize, for beating Carla (and Stefan). I was reading Hosea's winning Q&A on Bravo's site, and was struck by the large number of the comments about Carla or Stefan. I can only imagine how that must make Hosea feel. It must be like "Damn! Hello! I WON." Hopefully, he will not get tripped up by this and things will start to look up for Hosea once he hits the publicity trail. (Is there one? I've barely heard a peep about him in national media.) The worst thing would be for Hosea to become resentful of Bravo, Carla and Stefan. I know both have made considerable efforts to acknowledge Hosea in interviews.

I'll comment in a future post about my experiences with Carla being on the show, but I will just say that I've been amazed by the outpouring of support for Carla. It's rewarding, to me, for her to be stopped (constantly) and emailed by such a wide spectrum of people.

[Matthew]

Let me clarify immaterial. I think that's a bit strong. I should have said - under the current construct of the show. I know some people want past performance to come into play when judging the finale. At least consider Part 1 of the finale. I may be more inclined for the latter, but I think Carla made a good point when asked about this issue.

"Anyone who would have gotten it deserved it. We worked really hard. I think sometimes people don’t think about how hard it is. Stefan has done a beautiful job throughout the competition, and people have asked me whether it should have been cumulative. I’m going to say no to that. If it was cumulative, then Hosea wouldn’t have been there; he wouldn’t have gotten that shot. He ended up winning by cooking the best meal that night."

[Jake]

It's true that it's impossible for us to think back on how we felt about contestants earlier in the season without our knowledge of how things turned out shading what we think we thought back then. That's normal. If you ask people who they voted for as early as a few months after an election, you'll get a much larger proportion of people who say they voted for the winner than should be possible. These people believe they voted for the winner, too. (To whoever brought up social psychology -- I'm a cognitive psychologist myself, so I'm right there with you on this stuff.) It's based on whatever the consensus is, too, so if the consensus is that the winner is unworthy, then people will remember being against that winner the whole way.

It is also interesting to me in retrospect that the editing made such a huge deal out of the Hosea-Leah thing. At the time, so many comments were about how people couldn't care less about this stuff (which is where I still am) but it's clear from later comments that this did color people's perceptions of Hosea. Bravo could easily have left that stuff on the cutting room floor, or glossed over it, but they deliberately pushed a story line that made people dislike the eventual winner. Just some food for thought there. (Go ahead, lick your monitor.)

Of course they can't edit in what isn't there, but they can emphasize whatever they want to tell a number of different stories about a competitor. I have no doubt that if I were on a reality show I could be edited to look like a total asshat or the friendliest guy in the world, while in real life, only roughly one in three people actually think I'm an asshat.

On a totally different note, I finally got my "I Make Good Babies" t-shirt, and I must say, I think it improved my salmon-cooking skills for last night's dinner.

[Esther]

One very minor observation: the injection of randomness with choice of cheftestants AND food was a bit too much. In retrospect, while Hosea didn't necessarily win because he had first pick of sous-chef and protein, it certainly helped a lot. Stefan was probably the only one of the three who could've done something that good out of alligator, and Richard was clearly the best of the sous-chefs. This would have been incredibly easy to fix, too: for the food choice, let them select in the reverse order from the previous day.

(I wouldn't be opposed to basing it on a Quickfire or previous records, either, but if they must do it randomly, why not make the randomness a little more fair? I can't decide which outcome would be worse: the one that happened, giving victory to the least favorite chef, or one where Stefan got both advantages, making his victory seem even more inevitable.)

[Gilby]

Wow, Brian.

That's a funny list you wrote.

[rabrab]

I have no problem with the judges going back to previous performance in the finals, *if they need to as a tiebreaker.*
In season one they were apparently faced with two extraordinary meals and they went to "leadership" and "attitude" as the tiebreaker. And Tiffany lost because Harold ranked higher in both -- she said that she cooked *only* for herself, not for the people she was feeding, and she didn't inspire loyalty or respect from her sous chefs. Harold said he cooked for both himself and the people he was feeding, and his sous chefs praised him highly as a good leader and someone they respected.

This season, though, they didn't need a tiebreaker -- neither Stefan nor Carla nailed all three main dishes and only stumbled a tiny bit on the appetizer.

[Adam]

Matthew, I'm astounded by how well you can maintain a proper perspective about these issues despite being so close to one competitor. I wish we all had your even temper and sense of fairness.

[DPP]

I know this has been touched on before, but here's a quick rundown of the finalists' performances:
Quickfire: Stefan 4 wins, 7 top mentions, 1 bottom. Hosea 1 win, 6 top mentions, 1 bottom. Carla 1 win, 3 top mentions, 2 bottom.
EC:
Stefan 4 wins, 7 top mentions, 3 bottom. Hosea 2 wins, 6 top mentions, 4 bottom. Carla 3 wins, 7 top mentions, 3 bottom.
By the way, guess how many EC wins "runaway" winner Hung had? Two.

[Nikki D]

Are we gonna get power rankings for Fan Favorite?

Just wondering (and hoping)...

[wickedorchid]

Can we all agree that Casey is a world class jerk? I didn't believe in the "Black Widow" curse from last season - but she's been close to so many failures. Let's just say that I wouldn't partner with her in the Pillsbury Bake off.

[babyarm]

Had Fabio's chicken tonight, well my execution, his grandma's recipe.

Single best thing I've ever made off any of the seasons. Please drop what you are doing and make this.

Today

[canasian]

Have you tried Carla's squab recipe, babyarm? It's the type of thing you'll only make once in your life (ingredients cost a total over $40 for me and it's not exactly a low-maintenance recipe either), but it's amazing. Highly recommended.

Speaking of which, even though this season wasn't exactly the most inspiring foodwise, it gave me some great recipes.

[Jon Olsen]

Yeah, Fabio's chicken was ludicrously tender. When I watch LeeAnne cutting it on "Wong Way" I was like "well obviously her knife is way sharper than mine." But it was like... it was like chicken made out of butter. It was so tender and yielding, without feeling overcooked. I used a Halal chicken from Crescent foods—not a shill, but they sure raise a good chicken! The technique is so simple, and results are so good, I feel like it's almost a foolproof recipe.

I also made a version of Jamie's lamb shanks from restaurant wars over quinoa (instead of couscous) and with a side of my own creamy spinach. It was shamefully delicious. I don't have demi-glace around the house (that gal's not shy about the luxe ingredients!), so I skipped that and just built the sauce without it but with extra reduction of home made chicken stock. It was still outrageously layered and comforting. The lamb is just inspiring, especially when you set it overnight as she suggests (obviously she didn't rest it overnight for RW). Man, I highly recommend that. Even my six year old daughter enjoyed it—we told her the shank is like a lamb drumstick!

I think this is the first season I've taken pains to cook any contestants' food at home. I'm going to eventually do Carla's squab because my wife loves squab so much. But I think that has to be a testament to their quality. I really want to try that panna cotta of Stefan's, and maybe those pot pies.

I'll probably skip the alligator soup though.

[jkelley]

Jon, I hope your wife and daughter know how fortuante they are!

[Ally]

OK lets cut to the chase.

Who is the lamest Top Chef? Ilan or Hosea?

[aaalex]

Ally: for my money, the lamest "top chef" is Ilan. Easily. Not only was he nowhere near as creative as he thought, he was smugly arrogant, crudely sabotaged others while pretending to be a nice guy, insulted Harold, and duplicated a dish from the place he worked (in the finale). He was so bad his mom had to write an article defending him, an article that made you realize how despicable the guy is (or was, as presented on the show). I can't imagine eating anywhere he worked. Hosea? Meh. Obviously inferior to Stefan, childish and ignorant. I'm sorry he won, but nothing I've seen in five seasons has disgusted me as much as watching Ilan scream at Marcel or encourage Cliff to hold Marcel down and try to shave his head.

I don't know if he's the least likable contestant ever. Lisa Fernandes kind of makes my skin crawl, and Tiffani was pretty hard to take (remember her accusing Harold of knifing her in the back?). Whatever these people are like in real life, the editors at Top Chef sure know how to turn you against someone.

[Unhappy Gilmore]

Ilan, by a mile. He egged Cliff on but did not lift a finger to help cut Marcel's hair and watched silently as Cliff was expelled.

[babyarm]

Next up for me is the oyster stew. I've said this before, but howie's recs. from S3 are very good.

[Jake]

I agree that nothing on any season comes close to the nastiness that there was on season 2. That entire incident did not need any editing to push opinions on us, it was plain ugly on its own without embellishment. I would have liked to see Tom follow his instincts and kick out more of the competitors -- Cliff took the fall there, but seemed to me like the least malicious of the bunch. I realize not everyone liked Marcel (I did), but that was pretty sickening.

This season, while it had its moments, and last season, which had its moments too, came nowhere near that level. I'm pretty thankful for that.

I know people complain about the non-food-related stuff they show, but ultimately, it's a lot about their personalities, too, isn't it? I think that's part of what separates this show from Chopped, which I'm not enjoying as much -- I just can't get invested in the contestants (or the judges for that matter).

[anon man]

Wow, I go on vacation and all hell breaks loose. I finally watched the show in its entirety last night. I had caught a snippet of JT while flipping channels in Hawaii (Top Chef on at 5) and had an inkling that Hosea won plus I heard the "Carla's out" comment.

First, Hosea. I know he wasn't the wow chef that Stefan was, but he made several memorable dishes during the season. (For instance, I thought his super bowl munchie looked to be the most interesting, and the one I could see myself eating mindlessly while watching the game, even though it didn't win.) On the flip side, his implosion with the monkfish was pretty bad.

As for the finale generally, I thought it was weird that Tom said specifically that they didn't have to make a dessert. Stefan has a point that you shouldn't be afraid of dessert, but I think Howie from last season had a great point: there are pastry desserts (cakes, pies, etc.) and chef desserts (tarts, etc.) Remember the Season 2 finale? Ilan made like fruit balls and something else that Tom called "very smart". The instruction gave Hosea a free pass to skip dessert altogether, which while completely understandable given his comforts, was frankly, a bit of a cop-out. Not saying he doesn't deserve the win, but, but as several chefs have said in the past: Every chef knows one or two desserts. Certainly, Hosea had a cake memorized or something. But, given Carla's non-plate and Stefan's yawner, the lack of a dessert might not have been fatal this time. Stefan can defend that plate all he wants, but he's put out better desserts all season (the lemongrass panna cotta, the WD quickfire thingie, and a few others that I can't remember off hand). Stand by your dish, absolutely, but that wasn't anything to go nuts over.

As for Carla, two things struck me: 1) the Sous vide thing. Tom HATES sous vide meat most of the time. He's called it cold and "can't taste the chef's hand" and other comments. Plus, on several occasions, the meat turns out wrong. There has been slimey fish (Blais?) and tough meat (Carla). The only one I remember Tom liking was Hung's chicken in the FCI challenge, and even then he was only lukewarm on it. That Casey suggested the method and that Carla accepted it given Tom's stated biases was a jaw-dropping, yell "NO!!!!" at the TV moment; 2) I can see her wanting to get away from the tart because she's made hundreds of tarts for them, and while they love her tart shell, the desire to impress in the finale was something. That she made a technical mistake is unfortunate, but I'm not going to say Casey killed her by suggesting the souffle. It could have been great, but she made a mistake, by her own admission.

One last thing: can we get away from this "best season", "worst season" thing, please? Other than Season 2, which had many bad elements (Cliff's expulsion, the "Marcel cheated" nonsense from Elia, etc.), each season has its own highs and lows. Personally, I thought the Blais/Stephanie finale was awesome, as was the Hung/Dale/Casey one. But, in both seasons I remember challenges that were really bad. I wasn't as jazzed about the finale this time, but I thought this season had lots of great challenges and was generally good viewing. Was Hosea my favorite? No. But was he Ilan bad? Also no. Hosea's obviously talented and let's see what he does with his new found money and fame: will he be Harold (SRO restaurant in NYC) or Ilan (traveling burrito truck in LA), or somewhere in between?

Over and out.

[aaalex]

nothing personal, anon man, but it's actually amusing to compare the seasons, fun to remember the different chefs, and even more fun to compare greatest "villains". it's part of what liking the show is about. i can't think of a good reason to stop playing "best season" "worst season", unless you're bored. and then, of course, nobody twists your arm to contribute. besides, it passes the time until season 6 gets here.

[anon man]

@Aaalex,

Ok, true, it is just a game, but I think that the problem with it is the "best season/worst season" ends up being conflated into "best top chef/worst top chef". While Season 2 and Ilan each have their problems, and I think "best season" and "best chef" are probably different.

[Unhappy Gilmore]

It just so happens that the worst chef was in the worst season.

Hopefully, that will remain the same - Season 2. I don't wish either on seasons 6-xx.

[ally]

I agree with Ilan being lamest.

However, most classless act during an interview by one point five miles is Hosea giving Stefan the finger. Way to go Mr. Top Chef.

[Stacy]

This has been great reading, gang. But even though I'm primarily a lurker, I can never resist an opportunity to express my contempt for Ilan, and the rest of the cast of Lord of the Flies... er... I mean season two. Whether they could cook or not, what killed me about Ilan and a few others (even precious Betty and the hero Sam *gasp!*) is how they appeared to decide it was "cute" to be bloodthirsty... the nastier they got, the bigger the smirks immediately afterward. Stefan had more than his share of attitude and cockiness (and he paid for it). But NEVER did he reach the depths that a number of season two cast members sunk to. In fact I can't think of any of the other seasons' "villains" who did... not a one.

Dom, hope you're healing. See y'all after the reunion! :)

[Stacy]

Oh, and of course... Go Hootie!

*sending much good Fan Favorite juju*

[John Coctostan]

I viewed Hosea's finger as part of a playful/boastful celebration and wasn't bothered by it in the least. And I, for one, would certainly not put it on a level with acts of back-stabbing, physical assault, and mob cruelty, much less beyond them. We all have different perspectives, of course.

[anon man]

Now, I've had a chance to digest some of the ancillary issues and wanted my .02 on Casey. I don't doubt that she got a bad edit or that what she says about the way Carla cooked the food (seered the Sous Vide, or relied on Casey for the fish course) is incorrect. But I thought some of her comments were a tad over the top, like questioning Carla's training and saying she has no French training. I seem to remember that Casey claimed French training through her French grandmother, which is fine, but it shows that "French training" is whatever you say it is. Its not like Carla said she went to CIA and didn't or some other misrepresentation. Further, the comment "her only idea was a cheese course" was a tad over the line, IMHO. She's free to have her opinions and say that Carla got in over her head, but to say she had no ideas seemed overly vicious towards someone who choked and was pretty broken up over it at the time. Casey down a few notches as a person, in my book.

[KinderJ]

I have no idea if anyone will ever look at this thread again, but I would like to extend a special thanks to those former Top Chef contestant (and, yes, their husbands) who have posted here. While I have not been a consistent poster on this site, spending most of my time, I am ashamed to say, as a lurker, the level of civility and respect in the discussions has always struck me as remarkably high. The thing that really cemented me as a poster to this sight was an exchange I had with Aalex. Even though he was disagreeing with me on a number of points, his comments were always polite and well thought out. I found my self agreeing with a number of them, and those I disagreed with, well, I still found my self respecting the person who wrote them. That's a very rare thing. To have that quality of general commentary enriched with a dash of that old inside scoop, well...

TMZ for food? A man can dream...

[Berkeley Babe]

I think all of you are missing the point!!!

As an avid and some times disappointed watcher of most of Bravo's "Reality" shows, they seem "fixed", edited to show a certain side and geared to get top RATINGS!

If Stefan or Carla had "won" there would NOT be all these comments on tons of sites and blogs.

Think about it! Braveo gets all this FREE PR for weeks and weeks, and I am sure we will see all 3 chefs on future seasons making "guest shots" bringing more PR.