Thursday, April 7, 2011

Reactions to Top Chef All-Stars Reunion

Last night we had a double whammy of Top Chef - first the Season 8 reunion, then the premiere of Top Chef Masters 3. Let's start with the reunion, shall we?

One one side of the room, we have Andy Cohen, Padma, Tom, and Gail. And waaaaay on the other side of the room, we have the recheftestants. Why do they sit so far apart? How can they hear each other without shouting? I never could understand why they make the chefs stand so far away. Do they stink?

First we start with a montage of the winner, Richard Blais, who is still a bit stunned. He says that his wife is the only thing he's won up until that point. Awwww!  But then he tells us that the thing he remembers most from that evening is being in Padma's arms. Hmmm....

Andy calls him on his promise to give Mike some money, and Richard said that investing in Graffiato was a possibility. Mike says that it doesn't matter because they're friends forever now. Gag!

I'm not going to get into everything here, just some highlights:

A fan question to Gail as to whom she would date out of Fabio, Angelo, and Spike gets the answer Spike, because they have a "Canadian connection." Padma decides to go all lesbian and chooses Casey or Elia, or to "motorboat" Antonia.

Speaking of Antonia, we are treated to a montage of her exploits as the Black Hammer, getting cooking partners eliminated from both of her seasons, including Tiffany, Tiffani, Jamie, and Jen.

There's a montage of sour Jamie, who claims that she didn't watch the season because it was "too painful." ::::cue tiny violins:::: and one of "smoove talker" Fabio (who does have a girlfriend, in addition to a turtle, ladies!).

Another montage features Marcel going on a rant, but done up as a crappy Housewives-style auto-tuned "rap" song. Then there's a segment on the hot-n-heavy bromances between Blais and Fabio, and Mike and Angelo. Lots of kissing and nipple pinching going on there.

Finally, we have Elia ranting about how Tom Colicchio shouldn't be hawking Diet Coke or selling corn-fed beef in his Vegas steakhouse. I think she shot herself in the foot with her whining and probably lost a lot of respect, particularly from Tom.

So...in a nutshell (walnuts!) there it is. What did you think?



Posted on AllTopChef.com

8 comments:

Marsha said...

The reunion shows are always fun! I was kind of surprised there wasn't more drama. And Gail's comments about motorboating and dating the girls...um, were just weird.

lindalou said...

I still don't fully understand Elia's ranting. I believe she was trying to fight for the support your local framers movement, but really disgressed into Diet Coke. What restaurant..anywher doesn't sell Coke or Pepsi products?

And Padma's girl thingy was very odd.

Glad Carla won fan fav.

Anonymous said...

I think Elia's comments to Tom concerning the products he uses in his restaurants and his Coke Commercials were flamed by Andy to stir controversy. It was Andy who inserted the word 'sell-out', not Elia. Unfortunately for Elia, she got manipulated and dug a deeper hole for herself. That's what happens when you diss the powers-that-be, unless you're even savvier than they are, and can use the media to your advantage - look what Marcel has done with his 'bad boy' image - he's been rewarded with his own TV show! But then again, he didn't step on Tom's toes. I think Chicago Dale is still smarting over the continual story that Richard was robbed of the win in his season. He has defended Stephanie, who certainly has more than come into her own. But when he was trying to interpret what Elia was saying, it came off as slightly sour grapes and patronizing. Tricky business this reality TV.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Elia about the Diet Coke--Colicchio probably does do it for the money without concern about promoting an unhealthy product.
I was embarassed for Angelo for all the unflattering footage they showed of him and how they made fun of his appearance. I thought he took it gracefully.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a really boring reunion show - there was nothing new here. Elia dug herself in deeper, in spite of Dale's attempt to help her out. She should take a note from Jen and Tiffani, who continued to rise from past falls. Padma's comments about the girls and motorboating were just raunchy and tasteless, completely uncalled for; I was really surprised at her.

The one thing that piqued my interest was Fabio saying he has a girlfriend - in his original season, he had a wife. I'm not sure what happened there, if he got tangled up in words or what.

theminx said...

Sloopie - Fabio is divorced from the woman to whom he was married during season 5.

CGambee said...

Aww so sad the season is over, but it was a treat to relive the chef bromance.

MoHub said...

From her first post-PYKAG interview, Elia has failed to distinguish between Coca Cola and Diet Coke. She's accused Tom of shilling regular Coke and based her complaints on the contents of that product rather than those of the diet formula.

I didn't much like Elia in season 2, liked her even less in her sole episode of All Stars, and felt confirmed in my dislike when I first read her interview.

And remember, Elia was the only one with an ego big enough to believe the dish that originally got her eliminated was flawless, so she didn't even attempt to fix it. Even Tiffani—who really didn't lose season 1 because she put out bad food—still tried to tweak her dish. And Tiffany in season 7 was eliminated on a split-hair decision.

Only Elia refused to believe she was capable of doing anything wrong.