I recall that early on Colecchio stated clearly that he was a judge, and only a judge, and not anybody’s mentor. In fact, in one show, he brought up at the judges’ table something one of the chefs told him in the kitchen.
Colicchio is not supposed to be a mentor on TC. He’s just a judge. He’s even made a point to tell them that he’s not there to advise them or help them, he’s only there to judge them.
Personally, I prefer it that way. I watch reality shows to see narcississtic people crash and burn and be humiliated. I don’t want anybody helping them avoid that.
But what we saw was that people had just left the freezer open–nobody else was around using it. I’d be pissed too if I needed something kept cold and people would leave it open after getting what they needed.
Ilan was being the selfish one there. Marcel has his course coming up next and Ilan’s using all 10 burners? That’s bullshit and way more selfish than Ilan’s petty little egg & frying pan snipe from last week.
I don’t see him being any more selfish or focused than any of the others–he just doesn’t mince words and his candor (or lack of a common sense verbal filter) gets him into trouble. I don’t even blame him for not helping Sam–Sam asked specifically “Are you going to have time to help me?” Marcel gave him an honest answer, No. Would it have been nice? Sure, but Marcel took the question (perhaps too) literally.
That Sam, who was done with his dish and just hanging out in the kitchen, would consider not helping Marcel out of payback says more about him than the incident says about Marcel.
I do agree with you 100% about Cliff, though. Dude has been showing his bully tendencies in spades the last few episodes, so I’m glad he didn’t get a wristslap on the assault. Ilan’s still a tool (he was the one holding the camera, I suspect, getting off on the assault) though his dish looked like the best of the bunch. Really hope he crashes and burns in HI.
But Ilan’s course was before Marcel’s. Marcel needed to wait until Ilan finished. The reason he couldn’t is that he hadn’t planned on anyone else needing the burners. He makes his plans independent of the others. (Hence, beets right after beets.) Also, he didn’t plan to help anyone else, because as far as he’s concerned, no one else is there. All the chefs have helped each other serve in every competition of this type. He knew, or should have known, that the same would apply last night. The slightest bit of thoughtfulness would have saved him the position of being too busy to help (if indeed he was.) I’m not saying he’s selfish. I’m saying he’s massively delusional.
Marcel might be a dick in some ways, but he’s far outdone in dickiness by those other guys. I was amazed that Cliff actually assaulted (and yes, when it’s done by adults, that’s what it is) Marcel like that while two other grown men stood or sit around laughing about it. Creepy in a big way.
These weren’t 12-year-old boys roughhousing in the yard. These are grown men who went in and pounced on another much smaller grown man with the intention of shaving his head against his will. It didn’t go that far, but it still went way too far. It’s not like Marcel was in on the joking and goofing around and then it got out of hand. He was asleep in another room. Once Cliff jumped on Marcel and Marcel made it clear he wasn’t playing along, the other three guys were way over the line. They should have ended it immediately instead of holding him down and calling for the shears.
And it’s wrong to let Sam and Ilan off the hook here. They were watching and laughing, not saying a thing to discourage it, much less physically intervening. I’d be disappointed to see my 12-year-old son laughing while a smaller kid was assaulted by a big, brawny one. When it’s grown men, that’s even more sickening.
As Marcel was struggling to pull away from Cliff, I was hoping he would throw vicious elbow back into Cliff’s face. By then, that would have been justified as self defense.
I agree with you about Sam, but I think Ilan gets dumped on too much. Still, Marcel even at his most dickish in no way deserved what he got last night. It was an ethical abomination.
Nope, it isn’t. The Marcel Hair Incident was just downright unpleasant to watch. I feel sorry for Marcel. In fact, I think I might actually like him and might be rooting for him to win the whole thing. He may be an insufferable self-centered little twit, but at least he reflects a little professionalism-he was the only one who wasn’t running around drinking/shaving heads/acting like morons. And he also shows a genuine love for food and cooking. I don’t find him totally unlikable like Tiffany and he’s a even little less grating than Stephen from last season.
You nailed it. He’s got his faults but so far he’s the most professional of the bunch. Even Elia screams “I quit!” when something goes wrong. Sam and Ilan can be petty – “If you won’t help me, I won’t help you! So there!” when they need to be professional.
Oh, yeah, damn. I meant to mention the Elia thing. “You don’t like my dish? I’m quitting!”
Ah yes, the evil Tiffani. She may have made it to the runner up slot, but was made out to be a bitch on wheels. Doesn’t seem like she has made an appearance even on the website this season (as others from last year are).
Would be an interesting feature follow-up for them to show what the past contestants have done (or not) with their careers.
Ilan gets dumped on because he’s a tool of the highest order. Who kept on making those juvenile references to Marcel’s virginity? Who slammed Marcel’s dish in front of an entire table of guests? Who crafted a dish specifically to mock Marcel (only to have his faux-foam fall flat)? Who was egging Cliff on, clearly excited about the prospect of doing real damage to Marcel’s dignity? And that doesn’t even cover all the petty whining he’s doing constantly. Unquestionably the most heinous of any TC contestant in the show’s history.
Interestingly, in his Bravo blog, Collicchio said that after the events, he wanted to kick all 4 off and give it to Marcel by default, but the Producers (with ratings, endorsements, and lots of other $$ at stake) refused.
I can see how you would interpret Ilan’s actions the way you do. But for me, not coming from a premise that he’s a bad guy, I see the same things in a different light. He takes shots at Marcel for the same reason a homeowner takes shots at a wild dog trying to drink from the koi pond. Marcel has constantly submarined, betrayed, and hoodooed the others with his passive-aggressive noncompliance, his lying to the judges about the contributions of his teammates, and his boundless capacity to elbow out every other living thing in his quest to complete a task. Marcel has to be put down because he is the kudzu of bad karma. Left alone, he’d use other people like props in a play.
I don’t come from the premise that Ilan’s a bad guy–I infer he’s a bad guy from his actions. Nothing Marcel had done has been as overtly offensive or intentionally mean-spirited as what Ilan did. Betty cheated on one challenge and blamed Marcel for her screw-up on another. Frank went apoplectic for the most minor of incidents. Sam picked a fight with him in public, instigated by the most trivial of annoyances. I can completely see Marcel getting under someone’s skin (including my own), but the level of hate directed his way by everyone is so wildly out-of-proportion to his actions as to make everyone else appear laughable.
You seem to be reading the most malignant of motives in all of Marcel’s actions, but I think there’s very little evidence that he overtly sabotages others or deliberately undermines anyone. He calls things like he sees them, and he may be oblivious (a far cry from “delusional”) and has a long way to go in his communication skills, but he has shown more maturity than anyone else remaining (or the last 2 or 3 cut as well). He may be brazen in his arrogance, but the others are just as full of themselves and dramatically more juvenile in the way they express it. He’s never threatened anyone, he’s never called anyone a name, he’s never falsely accused anyone of anything that I recall, but he’s had all those things directed at him.
That he would “use other people like props in a play” is a joke because there’s never been an indication that he’s a manipulator, a strategizer, or someone who plays both ends against the middle. More than anyone else, he’s there about the food, and he may be too focused or single-minded on his tasks (and I’m not going to argue that he can be rude or inconsiderate at times), but he hasn’t “betrayed” anyone, or thrown someone under the bus solely out of self-preservation, or targeted a person solely out of spite, or tried to bully or intimidate someone to get his way, or stepped back from participating his fair share in a team event.
The more they wring their hands and bitch & moan about him, the more the other contestants show their own pettiness and insecurities, and the better Marcel looks (by sheer comparison), and Ilan is the most rabid of the lot in that respect. In short, a total tool
Based on culinary talent, I think Marcel is the weakest of the remaining four. He may be good at foam and tempura vegetables but what else has he had a winner with of late? If they had cut down to the intended three, IMHO Marcel would have been holding the short straw and will have to step it up to advance any further.
I would like to see Elia there but I don’t think she has enough confidence in herself to advance.
Barring disaster, I think Sam & Ilan will be the two finalist.
I’m thinking that may have been less professionalism and more that no one else wanted him to party with them.
Oh, I agree with you. And that’s what I’ve said. It isn’t because he’s mean that he begins planning his own task without paying attention to the table talk; it’s because he’s clueless to the fact that anyone else matters. That’s why he produces the same item or ingredient immediately after someone else. That’s why he finds burners being used when he needs them. That’s why people bump into the pans that he leaves half-way over the edges of counter tops.
Except that my life experience with passive-aggressive people impresses me differently with respect to Marcel. And I may be the only one, but I doubt it. I’m afraid that I would react to Marcel much the same way Ilan and the others do, but hopefully with a bit more savvy earned from my many years of existence. The best way to treat people like him is the way a Borg drone would. Just step around him like any other obstacle unless he does something outrageous like belittle or minimize someone’s leadership before the judges. Then I would have to speak up.
Time and time again, Marcel has behaved like it’s the Marcel Show all about Marcel. He has refused to participate in collective planning. He has refused to help others serve. He has refused to acknowledge the contributions of others. He has left others hanging while he dawdles in his world. And he does these things not because he’s mean, but because he’s unwilling or incapable to network with other people.