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'Top Chef All-Stars': Key learnings from the reunion special
Product placement aside (Andy Cohen, how dumb do you think we are?), it's probably safe to call this the greatest reunion in the history of the "Top Chef" franchise.
And not just because it was our beloved "All-Stars." There were revelations, fights, auto tune, unlikely bromances and lots of cursing.
But looking at the reunion in the context of the entire season, a few things really stuck out for us. And in no particular order, here they are:
1. Chef law remains unviolated
The whole matter of the stolen "chicken oyster served in an oyster oyster shell" was dropped immediately after Paula Deen's cameo, despite the fact that the riled testimony from Carla, Antonia and Richard had us thinking it would cast a pall over the rest of Mike's season. But the scandal left with our silver-haired southerner. Why? Turns out nobody actually cared that much. Chef laws were merely bent, not broken. Antonia was the only one sort of holding a grudge, and as soon as she found out she and Mike were cousins, it was all water under the bridge. (Their mothers email now, by the way.)
2. The 'Top Chef' editors are anti-bromance
For a network as man-love-friendly as Bravo, we're surprised that none of the Richard/Fabio and Mike/Angelo antics got any play. The respective duos apparently spent the entire season expressing their culinary admiration for one another with stubbly kisses and ass-slaps. Cute!
3. Antonia is the black widow of group challenges
During the Chicago season, Antonia developed a reputation for always being partnered with chefs just before their elimination. During the All-Stars season, she more than lived up to that reputation. A hilarious montage revealed all of the cheftestants who paid the price for teaming up with Antonia, including our personal favorite...
4. Elia hates Diet Coke, Tom Colicchio and America
We agree that Tom can be kind of a pill on "Top Chef," but at the end of the day, he's a good guy and an even better asset to the food world. Andy brought up an interview Elia did after her swift elimination -- in which she slammed the judge for his Diet Coke commercials and corn-fed beef serving -- and it was not pretty. She stuck to her guns, but Tom totally pwn'd her by saying that he endorses Diet Coke because he drinks it and serves it. Almost all of the other chefs raised their hands when he asked if they served it in their own restaurants. At the end of the day, Elia turned her frustrations into a personal attack -- and that's just not how we roll on "Top Chef."
5. We love Carla Hall more than anyone else ever
If there is a more exuberant, endearing human being on this earth? We dare you to find one. And if you do, can you please put them on reality TV?
And not just because it was our beloved "All-Stars." There were revelations, fights, auto tune, unlikely bromances and lots of cursing.
But looking at the reunion in the context of the entire season, a few things really stuck out for us. And in no particular order, here they are:
1. Chef law remains unviolated
The whole matter of the stolen "chicken oyster served in an oyster oyster shell" was dropped immediately after Paula Deen's cameo, despite the fact that the riled testimony from Carla, Antonia and Richard had us thinking it would cast a pall over the rest of Mike's season. But the scandal left with our silver-haired southerner. Why? Turns out nobody actually cared that much. Chef laws were merely bent, not broken. Antonia was the only one sort of holding a grudge, and as soon as she found out she and Mike were cousins, it was all water under the bridge. (Their mothers email now, by the way.)
2. The 'Top Chef' editors are anti-bromance
For a network as man-love-friendly as Bravo, we're surprised that none of the Richard/Fabio and Mike/Angelo antics got any play. The respective duos apparently spent the entire season expressing their culinary admiration for one another with stubbly kisses and ass-slaps. Cute!
3. Antonia is the black widow of group challenges
During the Chicago season, Antonia developed a reputation for always being partnered with chefs just before their elimination. During the All-Stars season, she more than lived up to that reputation. A hilarious montage revealed all of the cheftestants who paid the price for teaming up with Antonia, including our personal favorite...
4. Elia hates Diet Coke, Tom Colicchio and AmericaWe agree that Tom can be kind of a pill on "Top Chef," but at the end of the day, he's a good guy and an even better asset to the food world. Andy brought up an interview Elia did after her swift elimination -- in which she slammed the judge for his Diet Coke commercials and corn-fed beef serving -- and it was not pretty. She stuck to her guns, but Tom totally pwn'd her by saying that he endorses Diet Coke because he drinks it and serves it. Almost all of the other chefs raised their hands when he asked if they served it in their own restaurants. At the end of the day, Elia turned her frustrations into a personal attack -- and that's just not how we roll on "Top Chef."
5. We love Carla Hall more than anyone else ever
If there is a more exuberant, endearing human being on this earth? We dare you to find one. And if you do, can you please put them on reality TV?
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Photo/Video credit: Bravo
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Maybe you didn't watch the whole season, but the Richard/Fabio and Mike/Angelo duos had received previous airtime.
I'd watch Carla on her own show
"Andy brought up an interview Elia did after her swift elimination -- in which she slammed the judge for his Diet Coke commercials and corn-fed beef serving -- and it was not pretty. She stuck to her guns, but Tom totally pwn'd her by saying that he endorses Diet Coke because he drinks it and serves it."
And by that logic, heroine commercials would be permissible because heroine addicts endorse it by using and selling it? I think Tom chickened out of the argument because he couldn't really defend his choice when pressed.
" At the end of the day, Elia turned her frustrations into a personal attack -- and that's just not how we roll on "Top Chef."
Ha, yeah because Top Chef judges have never made personal attacks on contestants' character. Whether motivated by anger or not, it does not diminish the accuracy of Elia's criticism, which we shouldn't just sweep under the rug. Tom's response to Elia's questioning of his integrity is that it's easier and more profitable to abandon one's ideals, and only stupid people would insist on 100% commitment to a cause such as this. He may buy more food from small farmers than she ever will, but he is also buying a whole lot more factory-farmed, corn-fed, antibiotic-laced beef than most people also, if he really has to rely on it to the extent that he claims. He is saying by example that it is okay, when he knows and believes that it really isn't.
And since when does wanting people to have fresh healthy naturally grown and procured food, in which no animals or land are abused, and demanding that the leading figures in the field with the power to effect the change they claim to want should live up to their word, make someone a hater of America?
Carla is a gem...warm, capable, kind, smart and funny...although probably not cut throat enough for this type of competition. I can't believe that Food Network or Bravo hasn't given her a show...she is my all time favorite.