FoodMayhem

Last season we waited until Episode 7 of Top Chef before we made any commentary. However, we enjoy the show, despite it’s numerous flaws. Several of the chefs have gone on to interesting careers including Hung and Harold. This year, Kasi recommended us posting some predictions and early thoughts.

After only the first episode, there are certainly some forerunners in the Top Chef race and some obvious losers showing up. Check out lots of clips on Hulu.

• Alex – Even though he starts this (alphabetically sorted) list, I can’t remember much about him from the episode. I’m going to throw him in the middle, so he’ll leave on episode 5.
• Ariane – She doesn’t have the ego to be a top chef and her cooking skill and inventiveness seems pretty mediocre. I think we’ll be seeing her go around episode 4.
• Carla – Hello trian wreck. I can’t make heads or tails of what our lanky friend is doing on the show. I think we’ll be seeing her leave next episode, 2.
• Danny – His argument with Stefan over vinaigrette… he’s in trouble. But since he looks like a trouble maker they’ll probably keep him around a while, bye bye in episode 9.
• Fabio – A chef from Florence — the best culinary destination on Earth!? But he didn’t win his showdown with Jeff, he’s in trouble. We’ll say Ciao Fabio in Episode 8.
• Gene – Way to go Tzatziki-come-Raita Gene! He’s spunky and seems to have a natural direction, but he’s raw. He won’t win but he’ll be around a while. He’ll head back to Hawaii, but only after being the surprise contestant in the final three.
• Hosea – He didn’t make much of an impression in the first episode, but my gut says he is going to be an underdog for a few episodes and then start shining. I think his light will go out around episode 12.
• Jamie – The gay trio troupe leader. I’m not sure why someone’s sexuality would have a place in the kitchen, I guess it makes for good TV. Well, it was hard to get a sense of her actual cooking skill, I’m going take a guess and say she’ll ride the rainbow back home on episode 13.
• Jeff – The nice hair guy from Niceville, FL (seriously) seems to be more worried about his style than his food. He’ll get to fix his hair back at home when he gets kicked off episode 10.
• Jill – Jill is another one that just hasn’t made an impression yet. I’ll guess she departs on episode 7.
• Lauren – Well, she’s already gone. We didn’t get to learn much about her, except that she can’t peel apples, she can’t brunois them, and apparently can’t cook them either. Episode 1: gone.
• Leah – Her comfort zone is squarely in the Italian category; we haven’t seen yet whether she has skills in other areas. I’m going to guess the answer is they’re lacking. However, she is trained and practiced, and I think that will carry her until the final three.
• Melissa – She struck me as a country bumpkin with minimal exposure to world cuisine. I think country & city will not mix and will dissolve around episode 6.
• Patrick – He was just a tad too junior to be on the show, but he had a cheery personality so he got in. But not much to say other than he’s already gone in episode 1.
• Radhika – We have to disclaim that Radhika is a friend of a friend, so we were hoping she would rock the show. But frankly, we’re pretty unimpressed, so she’ll be leaving pretty soon, let’s say episode 3.
• Richard – He was able to assemble a decent salad, but it was clearly not Chinese food. He’ll hang out a while, but is not going to win. He’ll lose in episode 11.
• Stefan – He is into detail, he knows how to work a knife, he makes phenomeal looking food. He’ll not only make it to the finale, I’m calling Stefan as the winner.

Obviously, I have no way to know what will happen, but it’s fun to guess. Astute fans will notice that I enumerated 14 episodes, but it’s likely the season will only be 12 or 13 episodes long. That indicates that we will probably see two people go on a single episode in the future.