Michael came off as arrogant at times, but I don’t think he was as bad as some people said. And you definitely saw some humility from him in the “two” parts of the finale, which makes me feel better about it. He was my third choice out of the final grouping but he was talented and creative for sure. On the other hand I knew he was going to lose the first course as soon as he said “spot prawns.”
Kevin had inferior partners for sure - although he said Ash did great - but it doesn’t look like that’s what did him in. (I see the Genie agrees.) He didn’t have his best night, which is a shame. Again, I’m not pleased with the editing, but it’s not as bad as last week I guess. I’m disappointed for Kevin but I hope I can try his food sometime.
Michael talked about his kids fairly early in the season, and his kids are older than his older brother’s kid.
One thing I only noticed this episode was the tattoo work on Bryan’s arm. I could have sworn he was the only one on this show without massive tattooage. Is there a law now you have to go tattoo crazy to be a hot chef?
I must have missed it . . . Like TruCelt I was surprised to read in the interview that he has kids, whereas I remember Bryan mentioning his kid on the show more than once.
I thought I read somewhere that it was the result of a bet with his brother, but now I can’t remember where I read that . . . .
Oh. I thought there was something specific about SPOT prawns as opposed to regular old amateur prawns.
Thinking back more on the show now, I laugh when I remember the mushroom puree molded into mushrooms and the judges’ reaction. It’s like, “last season some dude pureed olives and formed them into olive shapes so I’ll wow them with mushrooms!” and the judges were all, “oh, no you don’t! That was only cute last season. Now it’s about as clever as marzipan.”
Well, crap. I just wasted 15 minutes trying to find a picture of that tattoo - I never noticed it on the show. (I was too busy trying to remember who Jesse was - boy, she changed her look!) Anybody have a screencap or a picture? When did you see it on the show - hell, I’ll re-record the finale just to see it! I’m really curious about it now!
Speaking of Jesse, I was kind of disappointed in the producers for their pointless “twist” trickery in the finale, and I think it had a lot to do with Kevin losing. [ul]Twist 1: the Mystery Box, complete with crappy and disparate ingredients. The mushroom is what killed Kevin. Whatever happened to cook your best meal with your best ingredients? What is this, “Chopped?”
[/ul]
[ul]
[li]Twist 2: Draw knives to pick sous chef. Preeti? Jesse? C’mon! Let them pick from the recently PYKAG’d, not random forgotten chefs. (Although it’s not as stupid as picking sous chefs from another season, which led to the PYKAGing of our beloved Carla last season)[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Twist 3: There has to be a dessert. I guess this is in response to the fear so many chefs have of desserts - yeah, not really a big twist, but still, another in what I felt was an excessive number of twists.[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Twist 4: Add another course, first course, that represents blah-de-blah-de-blah your mother. And you’re serving it to your mother, too. No pressure there.[/li][/ul]
I just think this was too gimmicky. If there had only been a couple twists, and the chefs were allowed to simply cook the best meal they could with quality ingredients they’d chosen from the final menu they’d obsessed over and finessed to perfection, I think the outcome would’ve been a lot more to most people’s liking - especially Kevin. The final lineup of winners was exactly inverse to what should’ve happened, based on what we’d seen all season. Then again, disappointing winners is pretty much what I’ve come to expect on Top Chef. Ilan? Hosea?? :dubious::mad:
I noticed the new tattoo during the breakfast planning meeting they had with coffee. Bryan was standing, leaning over the table and the camera zoomed in on his arm, kinda like they wanted us to notice. I think I have the show saved, so if no one finds a screen grab, I’ll try to make one.
I agree. I hated the twists. I thought they were absolutely unnecessary and uninteresting. I don’t know how much it affected the end–I mean, Kevin still chose to cook that pork belly, and he still didn’t cook another protein with it. Would that have changed if he hadn’t had to make the mystery box? I don’t think so, and that’s where Kevin lost the competition. Going into the 3rd course, Kevin had a win, and Michael had a win. At that point, Kevin could have easily walked away with the thing, but he didn’t wow the judges. And that was nobody’s fault but his own. We couldn’t even blame the sous-chefs. Kevin was bitching about Preeti to blow off steam–both he and Tom said on the blog that Preeti hadn’t actually done anything wrong, and Ash is actually a pretty excellent sous chef.
So while I agree that the twists were dumb, I disagree that they led to Kevin’s defeat. Kevin led Kevin to his defeat.
[li]Twist 2: Draw knives to pick sous chef. Preeti? Jesse? C’mon! Let them pick from the recently PYKAG’d, not random forgotten chefs. (Although it’s not as stupid as picking sous chefs from another season, which led to the PYKAGing of our beloved Carla last season)[/li][/QUOTE]
I thought about that, but then I realized that Robyn was in the top 6, so she would be someone’s sous chef. They should’ve done a schoolyard pick and drew knives to determine the order.
I just saw a news article that said Kevin and his wife are divorcing and it was happening around the time of the finale and he admits he was a little out of it at the time.
Did anyone see them announce fan favorite tonight? I figure it must be Kevin but would like confirmation. I was rather annoyed that they couldn’t announce it on the reunion show, forcing people to watch some other show to find out is a sucky move.
:mad: