Top Chef (or not)

So despite what I said last week, I watched the finale. And you know what? I was kind of relieved to see Ilan win. Here's why:

1. I hate, hate, hate when competitive reality show contestants say that they "didn't come here to make friends." Marcel didn't have the full support of his sous chefs, and it was kind of his own fault. It was obvious at Judge's Table that while Betty and Elia were firmly behind Ilan, Sam and Michael were somewhat less than 100%. No, he didn't deserve all the treatment he got, but when you come into something thinking, oh, I'm not here to make friends, that comes back to bite you in the ass. This is EXACTLY what happened to Tiffani last year. She may have been more creative and risk-taking but she didn't have the respect and support that Harold got.

2. I really understood Tom's comment that Marcel needed "more time in the bottle." This isn't to say that his food isn't as good as Ilan's. Whereas Ilan just wants to be a good chef and put out good food, I feel like Marcel's ambitions are considerably more lofty. Marcel has that whole mad-scientist-molecular-gastronomy thing going that requires additional experience and training and skill. He's not there yet.

3. Marcel had a few snafus in the kitchen, whereas Ilan executed everything he set out to do. Even though Marcel's heart of palm dish ended up being excellent, he probably shouldn't have mentioned that it was supposed to have fish. And while I disagree that Sam made up that dish on his own, it was definitely his levelheadness that salvaged the situation. Plus traditionally, I think it's uncommon to have two vegetarian dishes in a row on a 5-course tasting menu. And Marcel's salad, even if he had done that weird vinagrette ball thing, was still just a salad.

So in the end, I'm not necessarily saying that Ilan deserved to win, but I can see where Marcel lost points. This is definitely not how I wanted everything to end up. I thought it was going to be Marcel and Sam in the final, with Sam winning it all, so basically I'm less than excited about it all. I'll probably watch next season, but really only because I really do still love the concept of the show and I hope that Bravo learns some lessons from this horrible season.

Also of interest: it seems that Food & Wine really did spoil the finale. A few days ago, someone found an article on their website's server declaring Ilan as the winner. The magazine then tried to cover it up, quickly removing the article and then posting it again, along with another article declaring Marcel as the winner, claiming they prepared both in advance of knowing who the winner was. But word travels fast on the Internet. Since Ilan really did win, well, never underestimate the digging powers of Web surfers.