# Top Chef - 1/10 (Spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568 "2007-01-11T16:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/21 "2007-01-11T22:19:44Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] I don’t agree. 1) It wasn’t a team challenge; 2) Marcel did calmly mention that taking a discount was aginst the rules; and 3) These are adults and shouldn’t need Marcel to tell them not to break the rules. BTW, Marcel was the one who offered to help Cliff in the color challenge [/QUOTE] OK, so 1) my “jeopardizing the team” didn’t apply. It’s been a few weeks. But I still think my idea of 2) “calmly mentioning that taking a discount is against the rules” doesn’t consist of standing at the cash register and repeating it over and over sing-song (unless we just flat get different versions and you didn’t see this part). And 3) I agree. Marcel could have just kept quiet and let the others get busted. I wouldn’t find that nearly as annoying as his little repetitious “I’m not taking the disss-cooount, neener neener neeeeener” at the register. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/22 "2007-01-11T23:23:26Z")
Another vote for not understanding the Marcel hate. Yeah, he’s a punk but now it just seems over the top. I agree that Ilan is really turning into an asshole. Sam should have picked Cliff for his team because there was no way Marcel would have picked Ilan (I don’t think). Sam, Cliff, and Ilan would have been a tough team assuming Cliff would have let the watermelon/gorgonzola nightmare happen. I’m pulling for Elia now–she’s the only likeable one left. If it’s true that they shaved Marcel’s head, then I hope whoever was involved gets booted. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/23 "2007-01-12T00:05:40Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] By the way, I thought the reason for firing Mike was kind of lame. Not that he was necessarily the wrong choice, but firing him for not going off his shopping list and getting olive pit receptacles seemed kind of _ad hoc_ to me. Sam was really the biggest fuck-up this week. [/QUOTE] I don’t think that was the only reason they fired him. I think it was also that, in this task, he didn’t really do much. When they were doing the cooking prep before the event, he was the one out front with the restaurant designer, and spent like half an hour putting together a table, if you remember. That was when Colicchio showed up, pointed to Michael, and asked the designer, “What’s he been doing?”, and she said “not much”. When he was cooking, he spent a lot of time clearing stuff with Sam instead of just cooking. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/24 "2007-01-12T03:39:55Z")
I agree with an earlier mention that Sam should have gotten the boot. How many mistakes does he get to make in a single show? Poor concept No wine bad pasta dish and the melon/cheese flambe has to rank up there with the worst dish ever prepared in almost 2 complete seasons of this show. This season the show has become too much about the chef interaction and too little about the cookin’. Of the chefs left, Elia is the one that pisses me off the least but I can’t think of a dish any of them have prepared in recent weeks that I would get excited about. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/25 "2007-01-13T17:54:30Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I don’t get obnoxiousness from Marcel at all, or even arrogance. He’s just a geek. So he didn’t want the judges to think that he considered Sam to be his leader. So what? That’s not a tenth as obnoxious as all the crap that’s been heaped on him. [/QUOTE] Marcel certainly doesn’t deserve the pure, unadulterated hatred being thrown his way, but don’t forget some of the crap he’s pulled. I remember one challenge (at the firehouse, perhaps?) where he and Betty were feuding. As she was racing the clock to plate and serve her food, he stood in the middle of the room mocking her and trying to distract her. It was completely unprofessional and uncalled-for. I don’t blame the others for despising him. I do blame them for ganging up on him. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/26 "2007-01-14T15:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=Clark K] I remember one challenge (at the firehouse, perhaps?) where he and Betty were feuding. As she was racing the clock to plate and serve her food, he stood in the middle of the room mocking her and trying to distract her. It was completely unprofessional and uncalled-for. [/QUOTE] True, although, in his defense, she had done something similar to him just before in that same challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/27 "2007-01-14T16:46:48Z")
[QUOTE=Clark K] Marcel certainly doesn’t deserve the pure, unadulterated hatred being thrown his way, but don’t forget some of the crap he’s pulled. [/QUOTE] And don’t forget that he’s used the word “soigne” to described his food. Twice. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568/28 "2007-01-14T19:49:24Z")
What was frustrating about Michael leaving is that he had extra money because Sam and Ilan screwed up by not getting wine. He didn’t make that decision. So then he’s supposed to spontaneously be able to fill in that extra money with something like “a place to put olive pits”? I would never have thought of that, and I’m the sort of person who does think of things like that. Marcel is incredibly annoying. The only person I like at all is Elia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-10-spoilers/387568.md?page=1)