Time to get a horse in this race.
Alright, enough with the dancing about. Let’s draw some lines in the sand. But before we do that an quick observation: Ryan is one cheesy mother-scratcher, and I’m thrilled (though shocked) that he got the boot this week (especially given the massive fumbles by both our Hobbit-looking Australian friend and Nikki. Luckily, none of those three are my dog, to borrow a phrase from the once rotund Randy Jackson.
The way I see it, the best chefs are Spike, Richard, Andrew, Stephanie and Dale, with Andrew being far and away the most fun to watch on screen because you always get the feeling he’s one forgotten Ritalin away from the nut house (or at the very least detention somewhere). My favorite Andrewism is when one of the judges criticizes his food and he immediately gets this look of complete puzzlement and then cocks his head slightly to the right while tapping his lips with his index finger as if to say, “Ah, what you are proposing I was not aware of, though I could see how something like that could certainly be the case.” I love it. That being said, Andrew is not getting the full-fledged MMF-endorsement. No, that distinction goes to another. Find out who after the break…
I gotta go with Stephanie! And here’s why: Stephanie only cooks, and if we’re to believe the judges, she cooks really well. And that’s it — that’s the list. She isn’t a molecular-gastronomist, she never uses phrases like “Asian-infusion,” she isn’t particularly interesting, or mean, or noteworthy, or inclined to scream at people. She just is. In a way Stephanie is the rare breed of reality-competition-contestant who is wholly capable of winning and yet completely void of constituents. So I’m claiming her. I’m claiming her because she essentially becomes whatever what wants her to become. It’s like Garfield-Minus-Garfield, the viewer projects what they want on the character.
Plus there is the fact that a woman has never won Top Chef and I am in favor of shattering the glass-sauté-station.
So, who you got?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Well, you’ve one-upped me again, MagneticMediaFed. I called Stephanie as well and though she showed a hint of the “I’m not here to f*** around, I’m here to cook” mentality, she’s just nice and seems like the front-runner (and reminds me of Casey from last season…though I only watched the later half of last season.)
That said, I’d like to see Mark win because he’s hilarious, and coupled with the fact that he’s from New Zealand, it leads me to believe that everyone from that country is hilarious (see Flight of the Conchords).
April 25th, 2008 at 1:54 am
[...] Last week I said that Stephanie was pick to win this season’s Top Chef, a decision that I’m OK with even though I now realize it should probably be Spike, and not because he seems to have the best assortment of hats. Plus, when you see your pick sitting there on the chopping block you can’t help but feel a little squeamish. [...]