The Top Chef: Seattle season finale was really good last night. Kristen and Brooke competed for the Top Chef title in front of a live audience and had to serve up dishes for the whole audience of 160 people, plus past winners of Top Chef, plus the judges. They were told to plan for five courses, but the first competitor to win three rounds would immediately be named Top Chef. It was intense. It was totally Iron Chef-y.
They let the chicks pick their sous chefs, and Kristen chose The Ginger 'Stache. She claimed that she picked her team based on the fact that they were all "Just good people-- no egos." Uh... did you watch the same season we just watched? "Good people," fine. But "no egos?" Gonna have to call bullshit on that one.
Valentine's mustache has more ego than half the contestants. If you challenged Valentine's mustache to a pork belly smoke-off right this second, Valentine's mustache (without a moment's hesitation) would say, "It's on." And then it would follow up with some awesome dis about your mom. We like Valentine's ego. Let's not pretend it doesn't exist.
Speaking of awesome, how come nobody chose Tesar or McPherson as their sous chefs? Missed opportunity, finale folks.
After four rounds of cheffery, the judges named Kristen this season's Top Chef winner. She's really lucky they invented that whole Last Chance Kitchen thing. If she hadn't had the chance to get back onto the show after having been eliminated, she would be remembered as The Chef Who Lost To Josie.
While I agree that she seemed deserving of the title, I do hope that they kill the Last Chance Kitchen next season. There are already plenty of built-in options for saving your ass in this competition. They already give immunity to contestants who win the QuickFires. When you get to the judges' table for elimination and Padmaboobz tells you to "Pack your knives and go," you should pack it up and go home. The end.
Since they've started Last Chance Kitchen, the seasons have been "Pack your knives and go -- wait, never mind you can stay -- OK, please come back." It takes away the sting of elimination. The show has suffered for it. And then, this season when they had the viewers vote someone back onto Last Chance Kitchen for a last, last chance? No, please.
When Top Chef 11 happens, I move that we skip the Last Chance Kitchen. And add a rap battle.