Top Chef Reunion 6/18 *spoilers*

[FriscoRays]

Originally Posted by FireWoman

i think i liked Tom's I'm gonna say, Lisa you didnt win fan fave lol

This was one of my favorite parts of the reunion show as well. It makes me wonder if fan favorites is rigged, how else could Tom possibly know that Lisa wouldn't be in the running (insert winking smiley face here).

[Google]

 

[texasgal26]

Originally Posted by ilovefootball25

Richard mentioned after one of the challenges that he wanted to go home and make a "little Blais". I guess he did it. Does anyone know if he has a son or a daughter? Richard is my choice for fan favorite.

He mentioned in the finale that he had a "baby on the way." Maybe he found out during the interim between show and finale?

I thought the reunion was cute. No major fights or drama, but I always enjoy the outtake montages. I thought the homoerotic behavior among the straight guys was funny (were there any actual gay men this year?), and I loved seeing them pass the time in the stew room. Antonia was really cute - I liked her little black hammer dance, and the fact that they wrote down the people who got eliminated after working with her.

I love Steph, but I was bummed she won fan favorite (as, I think, everyone else was). I don't mind her winning in the sense that I do think she was the most likeable, but given that she won TC, I wish someone else had. This is the problem with having the reunion after the finale. On PR4, I would have been upset seeing Christian win FF after he'd won PR, as well.

[PhoneGrrrl]

Originally Posted by dallas_viewer

It was also in poor taste to announce that the competition was Richard's to lose. Whether it was or not, it was wrong to say it in front of the other contestants.

That bugged me too. Tom's comment that it was only Richard's to lose came off to me as belittling Stephanie's win and implying that she won only because Richard screwed up. It seemed to me that Richard and Stephanie were evenly matched; they have different styles and approaches to cooking, but they both won four of the elimination challenges. Given that they together took 8 out of 13 challenges, the pair pretty much dominated the season (along with Dale, who won 3 and should have been in the finale in place of Lisa).

[straycat80]

I loved the reunion show. The outtakes were funny. I was glad that Steph won fan favorite. I was also glad they commented about Lisa's sour faced expressions. This was a good season of Top Chef, can't wait for the next one.

[FireWoman]

Ya know I dont have a problem wiht Tom's comment about Richard... early on he WAS the strongest player.. Steph (even tho I loved her) wansn't that strong.. she was often on the chopping block. Once she stepped it up and got focused, yes she was kicking some butt! So early on It was his to lose. and i think everyone, even Richard, knew that.

[niteowl64]

Originally Posted by FireWoman

Ya know I dont have a problem wiht Tom's comment about Richard... early on he WAS the strongest player.. Steph (even tho I loved her) wansn't that strong.. she was often on the chopping block. Once she stepped it up and got focused, yes she was kicking some butt! So early on It was his to lose. and i think everyone, even Richard, knew that.

I disagree with that. By the 8th episode he had the same amount of EC as her (2). He was in bottom 3 less (his once vs. her 3) but he also was in Top 3-without winning-less than her (his 1 vs her 3). He was also in the middle of the pack 4 times by that episode. She never once was in the middle of the pack for the entire season. Seeing it all on a chart at Wikipedia you can see how strong her record was throughout the season. His was not as strong.

Don't get me wrong, I think they were both great chef's but he didn't distinguish himself as the clear leader in EC. Even with her 3 bottom appearances she was in the top alot more than he was. He had alot of success in QF than her but not in EC

[AsIs]

Richards problem was he started out strong, but once he used up his bag of tricks he floundered a bit. Was he the front runner, first half of the season he was, but if you judge on the second half he wasn't. It's not like he was awesome all the way through. And he recycled the Banana scallops three times.

Stephanie floundered at first and grew as the show went on. Once she got control of her nerves and less second guessing herself she shined.

[Mikesgal]

I was disappointed that Stephanie won fan fav. Her pesonality is so blahhh to me that I don't understand how that happened. I liked watching Richard and Antonia more- they were more entertaining, and should have won.

[hutchlover]

While it would've been nice for someone else like Richard or Antonia or Andrew to win FF (Dale, Spike, Lisa had no chance, and the others weren't around as much), it's very difficult to determine since only the judges know who won TC (or PR for that matter) and only Bravo Execs know who won FF. I saw suggested somewhere that if this happens again (and now it's twice in the same year), then the runner up vote getter for FF should actually win. That the TC (or PR) winner should automatically be disqualified.

Oh, and I found Richard boring & a little pompous and Antonia slightly better. Andrew was far more entertaining, for me.

[roses4me]

I'm glad Stephanie won. It proves nice people can finish on top. It's a great lesson to teach. Richard and Antonia were deserving, but it is Fan Favorite, not the Execs' 2nd Choice Award, so Stephanie deserved to win it all. She had a great fan base in Chicago. The only change I would make is the "one person, one vote" rule, but I doubt that would have changed the final outcome.

Way to go Stephanie!