Season 1, filmed in San Francisco and hosted by Katie Lee Joel, with permanent judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, brought us memorable cheftestants like Lee Ann Wong, Tiffani Faison, Dave "I'm not your bitch, bitch" Martin, PITA sommelier Stephen Asprinio, and winner Harold Dieterle.
Season 2, filmed in Los Angeles, brought in a new hostess with Padma Lakshmi. We also met a cast of characters which included the hunky Sam Talbot, Spanish-all-the-time and eventual winner, Ilan Hall, the argumentative Betty Fraser and Marcel Vigneron, and slacker Michael Midgley.
Season 3, filmed in Miami, had Ted Allen subbing for judge Gail Simmons in some episodes, and introduced us to chefs who sweat in their food (Howie Kleinberg), chefs missing a testicle (C.J. Jacobsen), fan favorite Casey Thompson, and winner Hung Huynh. It was the first season in which the winner of the first Elimination Challenge didn't go on to win the whole thing (Tre).
Season 4, filmed in Chicago, featured bromances (Spike Mendelsohn and Andrew D'Ambrosi, Spike and Mark Simmons), a lesbian couple (Zoi Antonitsas and Jennifer Biesty), molecular gastronomist Richard Blais, and winner Stephanie Izard.
Season 5, filmed in New York, brought in Toby Young as Gail Simmons sub, and gave us a memorable liaison (winner Hosea Rosenberg and Leah Cohen), a chef who cooked by spirit guide (Carla Hall), and two Europeans, one charming (Fabio Viviani) and one clearly superior (Stefan Richter). Again, the winner of the first Elimination Challenge (Stefan) did not go on to be the grand prize winner.So far, Season 6, filmed in Las Vegas, has aired six episodes but as of this date, there have been only three different Elimination Challenge winners: Bryan Voltaggio, brother Michael Voltaggio, and Kevin Gillespie. Kevin won the first E.C. - will he prove to be the ultimate winner? And everyone's favorite judge, Toby Young, is back for a second season.
Tell us - which season was the best?
3 comments:
Just watched season one again. There was a pretty big discrepancy b/w the top contenders and everyone else, some of whom would never make it onto the show now. (No offense, but how could someone who was in the middle of attending culinary school compete for Top Chef?!) There were a lot of lame challenges challenges too. Glad though that, at the end of it all, the right two chefs made the finale, and the right chef won.
I think this is going to prove to be the best season - just wait til the final 5, 4, 3... It's going to be exciting - the quality of the remaining chefs, their maturity, skill and talent will make this one to remember!
Watching Season 2 was an exhausting chore, and I'm shocked it got as many votes as it did. That wasn't a cooking competition; it was an exercise in who could be the biggest douche.
Post a Comment