I’m really happy with this final four. I won’t be disappointed if any of these four win. I really don’t understand the Hosea hate.
I also thought Fabio was very funny last night: “Go to the hospital?? I would chop my finger off and sear it on the flaptop.” “This is Top Chef, not Top Pussy!”
Carla is my favorite. Fabio is just hot. He’s not anywhere near my type, but he is just HOT.
I don’t understand the Hosea hate either. I disliked the whole Hosea and Leah drama a lot, but he seems a good chef and not as annoying as people seem to think. I think the whole Euro sniping is largely from his rivalry with Stefan. I’ll be happy with any of the remaining four winning, though I’d prefer Carla or Fabio. Stefan winning would be predictable and a little boring since he’s been the strongest chef throughout the season.
Did anyone catch what was Carla’s advantage from winning the Quickfire? If they mentioned it at some point I completely missed it.
Carla’s advantage was that she had the option of switching dishes with anyone she wanted. She chose to stick with the one she got because she liked Pepin and she liked that it had peas in it.
The producers don’t know who is going to be “well liked” by viewers because the entire series, except for the final round, is filmed months in advance. The episode we just saw was probably recorded in September.
Agreed. But he is my type :D.
sohvan - She got the choice after they picked knives and heard the dished they’d have to prepare, to choose one of the other chefs to cook for. She didn’t switch, because she was so thrilled to cook for Jacques Pepin.
StG
If you read the blogs, Tom Coliccio has repeatedly denied that it works like this. He’s said they hardly know anything about what’s going on when the judges aren’t around, so even if they wanted to keep people around for dramatic purposes they wouldn’t know who to keep. E.g., they didn’t know about the Hosea-Leah relationship until they saw it on T.V. with the rest of us. (Technically, I think the judges watch the episodes a week early or so so they have time to do their blogs, but the point is it’s months after the episode was filmed.)
According to Tom, the only time the producers have ever overruled a judging decision was when he wanted to kick off everyone after the Marcel head-shaving incident and just declare Marcel the winner by default.
As for the superbowl competition, if I remember right the judges were split 2-2 on Fabio and Stefan – they were only put on the chopping block because the audience broke the tie against them. But Jeff lost the judge’s vote 3-1, only getting Padma’s vote. It’s no big surprise that they voted him off.
Anyone else catch the Leah display of cleavage whilst making the bed? Thank God for Tivo. Also, does Toby have any creds at all? Nothing he says seems to have any depth and he seems at odd with the rest of the judges.
raising hand I did, I did 
Toby is a complete mistake. This season can’t be over soon enough in order to send him packing.
I like her, she has grown on me, but I still have a hard time listening to her overly dramatic speaking style with her eyes bulging out. I wonder what kind of model she used to be? A model for a clothing line intended for insane giant birds?
I was wondering how can you make peas SO special so that they are the best part of several top chef competive presentations?
As far as the chef’s choices for last meals, I remember Tom mentioning one season how much chefs enjoy simple comfort food during their personal time because they eat or deal with so much rich stuff at work (it was when that “I am not your bitch, bitch” guy made mac and cheese and a table full of chefs loved it.)
I always thought that with long reality series the producers and editors decided, or at least influenced who we liked. They had a lot of footage to look through and they could easily make anyone a hero or a bad guy or anything inbetween by picking and choosing what to show. Maybe they only showed Fabio’s flirtatuous playful and cute side (making him very likeable to the viewers which is good since he is a finalist) without showing all the times he was douche-bag. Maybe the guys who were made out to be annoying douche-bags really weren’t all that bad.
Oh, the producers absolutely edit with drama in mind, and drama requires villains and people you can cheer for and trick photography and careful splices. But I’m saying the producers don’t say “Oh, the fans LOVE Fabio, so we’ll make sure he’s not sent home!” It’s more like “Oh, Fabio made it to the final round, so we better make sure the fans find him charming!”
it seems like every week, somebody mentions the possibilities that the producers influenced the results as a response to what fans want, which is just not happening–for the obvious reason I pointed out.
I caught it. The episode also had Prominant nippleage from Padma in that last dress. 
Hooray! Leah’s gone! My problem with Hosea is that he’s all talk and seems to constantly complain. And that was a nice little edit when Leah was leaving and Hosea voices-over, “Now I have someone to win this for.” What about your girlfriend?
Anyway, I was in a far better mood this week so I’m setting aside my dislike for Hosea and focusing on how much I’m enjoying seeing Carla cook, and cook well. Sure, she’s weird and has the crazee eyes, but there’s something so lovely about how psyched she was to cook for Jacques Pepin and how she firmly made her decisions in the Quickfire and the EC. She knows her boundaries but works within them to showcase her talent. Granted, this seems to have come about pretty recently, but I think it’s neat to see.
One of the great parts of the episode for me was Fabio asking, “What did Lidia say?” at Judges Table. I also maybe got a little something in both my eyes when he was talking about his grandma …
between that and Leaha’s shot…
It’s not Top Chef, or Top Scallop, or Top Pussy…
Its Top Titty!
Hosea said, “Now I have someone else to win this for.”
In short order he’s gone from “nice & talented” to “slightly talented douche.” Stefan is completely into Hosea’s head, and it’s not pretty.
Heh. Thanks for the clarification!