Casey Thompson is America’s Sweetheart — And $10,000 Richer For It

Casey Thompson, bottom right, wasn’t Top Chef, but that doesn’t mean she can’t make some dough.

Yeah, sorry ’bout this. We also thought we were done with Top Chef, but last night we caught the third-season reunion episode — where, turned out, Shinsei’s Casey Thompson was awarded the show’s “fan favorite” award. Which means, more or less, she came in second: For being America’s culinary sweetheart, Thompson — deemed “the Black Widow” for her befriending three fellow cheftestants right before they were kicked out of the kitchen — was awarded a $10,000 check. That’s $90,000 less than Hung’s payday last week. And she got a full set of Calphalon cookware, which runs about, oh, $500, give or take. –Robert Wilonsky