I Hate Jill Zarin Top Chef Reunion/Top Chef Just Desserts Sept 25, 2010
Overall I enjoyed the reunion, I don’t think we needed those ridiculous morphing baby photos, it was actually a little uncomfortable to watch, even the chef’s seemed to be nervous laughing and not really thinking it was all that funny…but that’s Bravo for you, they seem to think we’re all Jr. High School age and enjoy stupidity like that.
Head Judge Tom Colicchio, continues to have that “I don’t give a damn” attitude. He seems to be completely over this show and was even called out during the reunion for being crabby this season. He has “checked out” to the point where I truly believed that he would not appear on next seasons All Star version of Top Chef. Right before the episode aired, Chef Tom tweeted this:
@Tom_Colicchio: Find out what went down with the pea puree, the fan favorite and what is in Padma's future. Tune in to tonight's reunion.
He makes it sound as though “Padma’s future” is the All Star upcoming season and he’s not a part of it, certainly no other project for Padma was announced on the reunion. Just yesterday Bravo put out a short synopsis of the show and Tom’s name is included but rumors were flying that Anthony Bourdain would replace Tom in the upcoming season 8 of Top Chef.
The other thing that Chef Tom lets fly is the fact that “Fan Favorite” was supposed to be announced on the reunion show but Andy Cohen’s ego ensured that it was announced on his Watch What Happens Live. This was really unfair to viewers and contestants. Wouldn’t it have been nice for the rest of the chef’s, judges and hosts to be there for the announcement and be allowed to congratulate Tiffany?
I’m sure it was a nice concession for Tiffany to get a big ole congrats from Andy’s folks! (Sarcasm) I get the impression that Chef Tom isn’t nearly as impressed with Andy Cohen as Cohen is with himself and announcing the fan favorite is just one example of that. Obviously if Tom thought the announcement was to be made on the reunion show, which is what was expected and Andy taking that away from the cast of the show was very selfish! He did the same thing last season and worse, the winner wasn’t even in the studio, he was on a horribly inadequate web cam via Skype.
This season’s winner, Kevin, was asked if he felt he had an advantage and won because he had Top Chef Winner of season 6, Michael Voltaggio as his suet chef. I think that very same thought was going through many people’s minds. I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to say that Michael is a cut above the rest of the chef’s who’ve appeared on Top Chef. I only wish Kevin’s response had shown more confidence in himself. Rather than saying he could have won with either Michael or Hung, he should have said, I was the winner regardless of who helped me prepare that final meal.
I still think Ed is a bit of a sissy and while he didn’t outright blame Ilan, his suet chef, he certainly didn’t give the man any credit. I was happy to see Padma give Ilan a bit of a boost, he always seems to get those little digs insinuating that he’s not as good as the other Top Chef winners but Padma reminded us that he did, after all, beat the bunch and win the title, he must be a pretty darn good chef!
The reunion brought us a lot of montage’s including one entitled Kenny vs. Angelo. We watched a distinct change in Angelo through the season as his confidence seemed to be slowly taken away from him. Bravo’s editing surely could have had a hand in the change as they may have wanted Angelo to be more likable once they decided to bring him back on to the All Stars show. I would have really liked for Kenny to have been included in All Stars because I don’t think we’ve seen all of his talents. Clearly Bravo has chosen personalities over talent for its All Star cast! More about the All Stars in a minute.
The pea puree mystery was still not solved, while Angela insists she watched Alex prepare the peas, Kelly added that she saw Alex buy the peas at the store. Tiffany just doesn’t believe it and Ed didn’t seem to think that Angela was a credible witness. Chef Tom insists that there is no footage of Alex preparing a puree, Ed leaving his prepared puree behind or anyone taking the puree out of the cooler, Andy adds that if any of that footage existed, it would surely have been aired. Of course Alex continues to declare his innocence stating he’d never steal but Tiffany insisted Alex appeared nervous and guilty.
Yes, Tiffany announced just one day later on Watch What Happens Live that Alex was innocent but I think that was what she was told to do, I really do. It seemed scripted and obviously her opinion didn’t change overnight.
Kenny didn’t seem all that pleased as he was presented with a t-shirt that read “Beast In The Kitchen” but he did treat viewers to the same words tattooed onto his chest, I could have lived without that display.
I thought the montage of Stephen’s criticisms was hysterical. Clearly this guy’s cooking was abysmal and it makes you wonder how he even got on the show to begin with. There has to be chef’s out there that auditioned for the show that could have performed better, it makes you wonder about the people who chose the cast. The wide array of adjectives used to describe how bad his food was kept me laughing, but I wonder if he found it funny?
There were some really great Montage’s of the chef’s in the “Stew Room”, Angelo is a Russian spy and the Judges Blooper reel but the best had to be the practical jokes that the chef’s played on each other. I think the budget for plastic wrap had to be astronomical! Bravo did a nice job overall with the reunion, overlooking the idiotic “if they had a baby together” nonsense, the show was really great.
Even in the judges blooper’s Chef Tom didn’t seem as though he was enjoying his gig anymore. I really think he’s done, he may still be under contract but I believe that his days on this show are numbered.
Kevin correctly named all six previous Top Chefs in order, winning all of the contestants a slew of wine from the Quick Fire line. Kevin certainly is joining a talented group including, Harold from Season one, Ilan from Season two, Hung from Season three, Stephanie from Season four, Hosia from Season five and Michael from Season six. These seven chefs are certainly a talented group.
The All Star cast was announced on the reunion show, and they are:
Elia Aboumrad; Season 2
Stephen Asprinio; Season 1
Richard Blais; Season 4
Jennifer Carroll; Season 6
Tiffany Derry; Season 7
Tiffani Faison; Season 1
Carla Hall; Season 5
Mike Isabella; Season 6
Jamie Lauren; Season 5
Dale Levitski; Season 3
Antonia Lofaso; Season 4
Spike Mendelsohn; Season 4
Angelo Sosa; Season 7
Dale Talde; Season 4
Casey Thompson; Season 3
Marcel Vigneron; Season 2
Fabio Viviani; Season 5
Tre Wilcox; Season 3
Some of these chefs were in 7th or 8th position during their time on Top Chef, leading me to believe that the real heavy hitters who didn’t actually win like Bryan Voltaggio or Kevin Gillespie either refused the invitation or producers felt that they would dominate the rest of the contestants. Possibly it was only personalities that mattered. Jamie Lauren for example, she was eliminated in 7th position during season 5 but was a guest blogger during a few seasons and seemed to have some fans perhaps that is the reason for her inclusion.
Personally, I’m sick to death of Marcel, his face seems to appear in one way or another every year, I just don’t find him very interesting. His attitude is ridiculous and he’s obnoxious.
I would have liked to see Cliff return, Cliff was disqualified for his stunt of trying to shave Marcel’s head. Yes, it was wrong, he admitted he was wrong and sincerely apologized to all of his cast mates. He was a strong chef and made a mistake, he deserves another chance.
I like many of the choices, Casey from Season 3 and Fabio from Season 5 definitely deserve another shot at the crown.
Some of the judges picked their favorites, Gail pointed to Tre and Tom mentioned Tiffany from Season One reminding viewers just how close she was to beating Harold. Eric noted that he’d be rooting for Jennifer as she’s now working for him but also didn’t discount Marcel.
This season is scheduled to begin airing in December and I’m looking forward to it.
Top Chef Just Desserts
Gail Simmons is doing a great job of impersonating Padma, in fact, she’s better at it than Padma. I think Gail has picked up all of the good characteristics of Padma and left the bad all while displaying many good traits of her own. She looks amazing and has just the right amount of compassion without showing favorites. It must be difficult, she knows that she is going to be compared to Padma and I think she’s performing admirably.
The chef’s Quick Fire challenge is to create a dessert using penny candy, they were all pretty creative with the exception being Seth who absolutely loses his mind and cries because he didn’t quite finish his dish. Falling into the arms of the judge and crying, “the Red Hots are for my mommy”. Really Seth? I’m speechless, and I’m never speechless.
The bottom three in the challenge include Seth along with Eric and Heather C. The good news follows and Heather H, Zack and winner Danielle are called out as the top three. Zach very classy tells the others to “Suck it bitches!” And so Danielle has immunity for the elimination challenge.
The chefs are given ten minutes to shop behind a well- stocked bar loaded with liquor and fruit and are told to prepare a dessert based on their favorite cocktail. Cry baby, Seth pulls the short straw and is the last one to shop leaving little ingredients and naturally what Seth has in mind is already been picked over forcing him to make another choice, more crying, screaming and swearing ensues as the other contestants try to cheer him on but Seth sees it as harassment and has another melt down in front of the judges.
Eric, who is not a trained pastry chef but works in a bakery seems to think, like all of the others, that his days are numbered due to his lack of knowledge in advanced techniques. Ensuring that no other contestant include pineapple in their dessert, Eric who happened to pull number one took all of the pineapple and prepared a pineapple upside down cake. This was good enough to land him in the top three regardless of its simplicity.
Seth prepares some insanely complicated gin based dish including eleven different elements that results in an odd looking blue cake and landing him in the bottom three where he tells judges that he can’t promise not to break down and cry again in the future. Still not enough to send him home, Tim’s soupy custard was pronounced almost inedible and he was sent packing.
Yigit, Eric and Erika come out on top with Erika winning it all having prepared a dessert based on a Margarita, what’s not to love?
Still a bit early to try to predict the winner, there is no doubt that both Yigit and Erika are showing a lot of promise.
Housewives News
Dina Manzo had another Twitter war, this time in private as she sent Direct Messages to a Twitter friend, @AMerems and involving our very own @PutYourHairUp (Real City Housewife). Here’s what I know:
These two lovely ladies were discussing between themselves the wedding of Dina and Tommy Manzo and commenting on those insanely expensive 500 butterflies that Dina ordered to be placed in the centerpieces at her reception.
Apparently Our Real City Housewife has made an impact with her hysterically funny blogs and this concerned Dina. Dina sent a private message to @AMerems asking her to convince RCH not to write a blog about the cost of her wedding, here are Dina’s private Tweets:
@DinaManzo: tell putyourhairup it was a MILLION dollars Pay attention
@DinaManzo: PULEEEEEZE ; ) BTW It wasn't even close 2 that, pays w OWN the place & pull favors
@DinaManzo: My husband & I work very hard for what we have. We live very comfortably but we don't have BH money, watch & see...don't be mean
@DinaManzo: AND I wasn't putting them down, I said it should be interesting. God bless them for doing well. GOOD NIGHT!
@DinaManzo: I was telling YOU to be nice, but I see u are a tweethole like the rest of them. Sorry, time to block yo ass...xo : )
This is the explanation from @AMerems:
Hi, we were talking about her butterfly for $500 on Twitter, Putourhair up & I , she said she should had save $ from the wedding & fix her house & what a waste the butterfly’s were. Dina saw those tweets and sent me the msgs. Today, I was telling Twighlight about the DM's last night and they used her real twitter name when talking about it, (the wedding the butterfly etc.) Then Dina saw it & DM’d me again with that last tweet all I did was relate the message she had ask me to deliver & told the story tonight to the rest of the girls.
Dina has a horrible temper and while she tries to portray herself as “Zen” and a nice person, don’t be fooled for a minute. If you missed the Twitter war that I had with Dina a few weeks back, here is the link to that detailing the incident:
http://wp.me/pVOhN-59
In addition to Dina’s nasty tweets that she will either send in private DM’s or she’ll later delete so that they no longer appear in her timeline, she tweets under the name of her cat, Grandma Wrinkles with some of the foulest, nastiest, disgusting material I’ve ever seen! She deletes those too but I’ve documented those in past blogs as well.
This woman has some real anger issues and while it has been widely reported that her marriage is a sham, her husband cheats and she basically lives alone with her daughter, she has already put out there that over the top wedding. I don’t really understand why she’s concerned about a blogger reporting on it again it isn’t new information. I would even go as far as to say that Dina is just as unstable as Kelly Bensimon, she just hides it a little bit better.
Thank you to @AMerems for sharing that with me and allowing me to post. I would bet that RealCityHousewife aka @putyourhairup will provide a more detailed report in her blog. Thanks ladies! Make sure you follow them both on Twitter.
Teresa Giudice of the Real Housewives of New Jersey will be driving her husband to his AA meetings that will most likely be required before he can get his license back. He’s lost his license for two years! Thank you to New Jersey for getting this menace to society off the road. Let’s see how long it takes for them to catch him driving on a revoked license again.
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/09/exclusive-nj-housewife-husband-joe-giudices-license-revoked-two-years
Tamra Barney of the Real Housewives of Orange County filed charges against her soon-to-be ex-husband for domestic violence when he reportedly threw a dog’s leash at her, apparently there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue the case:
http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2010/09/24/o-c-district-attorney-declines-housewife-case/27584/
Thank you to Boston02127 and Icantstandthetoxicity for those links.
More links to enjoy, thank you as always to @SassNSauceBBC
SassNSauceBBC
Michaele Salahi Cohosts 'Today' with KLG and Hoda—to Our Horror | Fancast News http://bit.ly/cAk43O
'Real Housewives' casting shakeups: Can each series survive without its most controversial character? | EW.com http://bit.ly/b8PWut
http://www.realitytea.com/2010/09/24/atlanta-housewive-kim-zolciak-talks-new-boob-job-torn-nipple/
'It was Awkward and Horrible' on 'The Real Housewives of DC' http://bit.ly/9Zdtox
Bethenny Frankel does Closet Confessions video for Bluefly.com - PopWrap http://bit.ly/aPog5w
Until Next Time….
