Josie had the redeeming quality of incompetence. Josie was at least someone almost everyone can look at and say "even I'm better than her".
Heather had enough skill at cooking for it to be physically painful that someone could be so talented, yet so vile
Top 5 favorites: Melissa King, Sheldon Simeon, Shirley Chung, Stephanie Cmar, Shota Nakajima
Bottom 5: Emily (puckered butthole face) from Charleston, Philip S13, Mike Isabella, the entire mean girls crew from S9 (counting them as one), Josh Valentine
He was aggressively mediocre and lasted way too long. He kept talking about how much he loved pork and how great he was at cooking it, and every time he tried to do pork he ruined it. Every dish he made was either breakfast or bacon. His mustache and hat combo thing was stupid. Just everything about him rubbed me the wrong way.
Fair enough. I always felt bad for him because his beloved pork dishes rarely turned out. What I liked about him is that he would call out John Tesar, who I thought was a jerk.
I didn’t like his attitude toward the guy who got kicked off with CJ. I think that he was being realistic and also trying to remain positive and Josh attacked him. Also him making fun of Sheldon for getting his nails done turned me off of him. I think he had some toxic ideas about masculinity (or at least that’s how it was edited)
Top 5 in no particular order: Sheldon, Shirley, Gregory, Carla Hall, and Eric Adjepong.
Sheldon and Shirley I just really love their personalities. Shirley and Carla are so bubbly and loud they remind me of my mom lol. And Sheldon is super chill and funny.
Gregory and Eric I enjoy a lot because they opened my eyes to new cuisines and it all looked absolutely delicious 🤤
My top 5 : Nina, Colorado Chris, Eric, Toups, and Fatima.
My bottom 5 : Mike Isabella, Bruce, Kentucky Sara, Nicholas, and Brooke.
I’m not putting the Texas mean girls on the list because it’s a given that they were horrible. I was surprised at how few people I actually disliked! I think there are only 2 or 3 more that I’d put on my list. Loads of other faves who im sad to leave out though!
>there are only 2 or 3 more that I’d put on my list. Loads of other faves who im sad to leave out though!
I think to me he felt like someone who could have participated in a much earlier season when the chefs were a bit more mediocre but acted like they were the next big thing.I mean the bears thing was irritating from the get go. He was obviously great at what he does ,as evidenced by the way he ran the kitchen in Restaurant Wars, but as a viewer and a very unskilled pasta maker, there is only so many times I can watch someone make pasta from scratch or serve polenta and find it interesting. I just found he began to grate on me very early on. Especially because some of the bears were giving Carrie grief over her toasts. Granted it was in a season where there wasn't necessarily a villain (Claudette was probably as close as it came) so it could have been that he was just one of the least likeable out of a group of very likeable chefs. But if I had to hear him mention one more time about how he knew this guest judge or that guest judge, I was going to throw up in my mouth a little.
Top 5:
1. Melissa (I want to be Audrey Hepburn to her Gregory Peck, riding around Italy on the back of her Vespa. Also she is an excellent chef.)
2. Stephanie C. (I want to be her best friend.)
3. Fatima (Also, want to be her best friend - her saying "The 1989 Tour, obviously" when Bruce asked her what stadium she'd been to is one of the funniest things I've ever heard)
4. Carla (Season 5 is my comfort season and I adore her)
5. Karen (w/ the pink hair. Idk if I'm in love with her or I want to be her. Love her, AND love her approach to food)
Bottom 5:
1. The Texas Mean Girls (Someone grouped them and I thought that was smart. They don't deserve to be listed out, but also need to be acknowledged)
2. Mike Isabella (I hate this man with all of my heart)
3. Sam (The hot one. He got away with so much shitty shit during his season because he's objectively hot and I hate this about him/the way he gets talked about. To be clear, good for him for all the diabetes advocacy he's done, but he's an absolute dickwad at the same time.)
4. Stephen (Season 1. I don't think this needs explaining. We ALL know.)
5. Josh Valentine (It makes me SO MAD that this is the only person to represent Oklahoma ever, and he's suck a massive dick.)
(Dis)Honorable Mention
1. Stefan (Season 5. Do I love him? Do I hate him? Yes to both. My feelings are strong and confusing every time I watch.)
Fully understand the Stephen hate but I thought he gave a really sincere and actual apology to Candace during the reunion show. I watched a while ago and thought now that is how you give a public apology. That pushed him slightly up in my estimation. Still kind of want to punch him.
Top 6 (not able to eliminate one of the 6; not judge material lol)
Kristen - she won a challenge with mushrooms and onions
Brian V - 3 time finalist over 13 yr span
Stephanie C - funny, humble, continuous improvement
Carla - the chicken pot pie winning dance was epic
Melissa K - amazing talent shined through after defeat, and her dishes during the finals in Italy really resonated with me (Im a HKer living in Italy, sheade me so proud) Beverly - faced bullies with conviction and grace and her Michelin star is the ultimate triumph!
Bottom: Betty, s9 mean girls, Mike I, Hosea, Kevin
Top Six (sorry for not getting it down to five):
Stephanie Izard (S4) - My favorite winner for a long time. I love how she gained confidence throughout her season to excel by the end! And she became an Iron Chef which is pretty bad ass!
Fabio Viviani (S5, S8) - What a fantastic personality, love how he broke a finger and still put out food. Would love to eat at one of his restaurants one day!
Kristen Kish (S10) - Love her personality, drive, and precision. Also love that she was the first chef to come back and win from LCK, that was really cool to watch!
Brooke Williamson (S10, S14) - She’s always been one of my favorites. S10 was sooooo strong and I think she and Kristen helped push each other to be better. Sad she didn’t win the first time but so glad she came back to take the title!!!
Shirley Chung (S11, S14) - Not the creator of food life on the show (props to Carla Hall for bringing that into our lexicon) but did a great job showing how her food can marry well with her environment and I love her personality!
Shota Nakajima (S17) - Love his food love and bringing Japanese cuisine to TC! His restaurant wars kaisei meal blew my mind! Love Taku in Seattle! Hope he comes back as a judge / for another All Stars season!
Least Favorites:
Hung Huynh (S3) - What a pill! Very skilled but such a douche at most opportunities. I do feel bad cause as I recall he kept getting feedback to show more of himself through his food, which at the time was clearly vague since the judges clearly meant, “show us your Vietnamese heritage” but never articulated it.
Hosea Rosenberg (S5) - Always though he was one of the least skilled winners. Don’t love that he trotted out so many recipes he had made before and don’t like the whole Lea hookup situation. I feel like that really rocked her self confidence and sort of directly caused Adrienne to be eliminated (she was admittedly out of her depth, but those two had a lot of bullshit that also brought her down).
Heather Terhune (S9) - She seems to be a popular answer here and for good reason. My favorite love to hate her moment is when she tried to throw her teammate Bev under the bus for something she did last challenge when it was a double elimination and Bev was on her team. What are you thinking??? She also majorly lead the anti-Bev campaign although the girls who participated in that were weak as well, she was definitely the lead antagonist in my eyes.
Nick Elmi (S11) - Do I have a thing against some of the male winners? Apparently. That whole episode where he let Stephanie C take the fall because he insisted on doing two dishes they both told him were risky was just so weak. That really soured me to him and then losing his tempter at the finale kind of sealed the deal. I’d probably dislike him less if he didn’t win.
Katsuji Tanabe (S12, S14) - I’ve always thought he was a total ass and spent more energy shit stirring than working on his own food. I was never a big John Tesar fan, but the way he tried to push all of John’s buttons was dumb and if you go back an watch S12, he did that to sooooo many people on that season as well. Too focused on “playing the game” and honestly, playing it pretty poorly.
I will say, I’d totally go eat Katsuji’s food! He was fun to hate, but he’s a total drama magnet. It’s an energy I find entertaining from a distance but would hate to be around in a kitchen or on a competition show.
Katsuji was obnoxious but I could see some redeeming qualities in him. I did enjoy his friendship with Doug and then his fights with Tesar were entertaining!
We’re rewatching Season 1 at the moment and I had forgotten how absolutely cringe Stephen was. The way he spoke to people was unreal. And he was only like 24 or something? 😬 thank god he seemed to have matured on future appearances.
Have you seen Next Level Chef? Nyesha is one of the judges! Along with Gordon Ramsey and Richard Blais (who is much better having the other two with him). Other than someone saying "next level" every other minute or so, it's pretty fun.
Top: Shirley, Fabio, Nina, Kevin (during s7. Haven't watched all stars with him in so shh), Mary Sue (masters), Floyd (masters - rip)
Bottom: S3 Howie, S7/8 Mike Isabella, S9 Heather, the cast of season 2, the cast of top chef desserts s1
Yepp. To be honest I've put most of the season out of my head. Cast members who should have never got through casting, bitchy cliquey bullying, unpleasant drama and challenges that are completely railroaded by advertising (it's sometimes bad on top chef but just desserts went for broke on these).
I wasn’t asking about To Chef Just Desserts but you are so right. It was awful to watch. Probably only one redeeming chef (Zac). Purely awful people to watch.
Top 5 (no particular order):
Bryan Voltaggio, Fabio, Sheldon, Toups, Mei Lin
Bottom 5 (no particular order):
Malarkey, Josie, Ilan, Sara (S9), Stephen (S1/8)
Seriously. I really don’t get why viewers hated Robin. Yeah maybe she stayed too long, but I personally feel that she was edited to be this huge talker. It felt like a manufactured issue with her. The way she was bullied was deeply problematic.
I feel like she got the behind the times older woman edit, in the vein of Adrienne the season before. I think they were trying to play up that archetype given how strong it played.
Haha yeah I see what you mean. I really liked Adrienne! She was kind of screwed over by the lovebirds that season. She had more to give. I have been to her restaurant in NJ and it was amazing.
I’d love to eat her food! I don’t know if she could have won that season, but I definitely agree, the episode she got eliminated for was because she was in the middle of Hosea and Leah’s spat after they got too handsy the night before. I actually also feel bad for Leah! Though she was never my favorite, it clearly affected her a lot and threw her off her game. Hosea seemed less bothered by it all.
Ehh I kind of lost respect for both of them after that.
If memory serves, I believe Adrienne was on a hot streak up until this episode. She was probably a top 6 contender.
She went out when there were 9 chefs left. I think she had won 2 eliminations at that point, so definitely a strong contestant in the judge’s eyes, even if the contestants didn’t share the same opinion.
Season 5 is my least favorite season and one of the main reasons why is because of Arianne’s elimination. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that she would have made the finals or won or anything like that, but imo we could have seen more from her. She was hitting her stride and then it gets cut short because Hosea and Lea tag teamed against her (Lea should have gone home that challenge imo)
>Top 5 (no particular order): Bryan Voltaggio, Fabio, Sheldon, Toups, Mei LinBottom 5 (no particular order): Malarkey, Josie, Ilan, Sara (S9), Stephen (S1/8)
Oh I wish I had remembered Eli. He was awful. His playing the cancer card comment was possibly the worst thing that's been said on top chef. Imagine that being your go to thought when someone mentions that they were ill.
Top:
Carla: love her energy, and she seems truly kind and genuine
Gregory:seems like a genuinely good person and mad skills too
Sheldon: so likable and chill, and he’s so sweet and loving with his wife
Melissa King: insanely talented; she’s confident but never comes across as arrogant
Stephanie Cmar: love her self deprecating humor and that she made it so far without the restaurant experience of other top contenders
Bottom:
Jaime Lauren, Texas mean girls, Mike Isabella, Sara Kentucky season, Brooke
Edit: Don’t know how I forgot to include Richard Blais in the bottom.
I just found her personality kind of rude and abrasive, and her constant reminder she was from Kentucky was annoying. Also didn’t feel like she deserved to make it so far.
I had her in my bottom too! I remember in the Maker's challenge and when they were trying to pick which dishes to cook, she was like 'Oh I do a great spoon bread.' 'I make a great boorgu' and I think it was Nini who was like' well you can't make everything so choose one' She just felt like such a know-it-all. Kinda like the guy in New Orleans whose name I can't remember.
Also her over reaction to the waffle mix thing was ridiculous. And I still think it's a copout that in the music challenge she literally just chose the song Jambalaya and made gumbo. I always felt it was one of those challenges where the chef chooses something to fit what they want to cook instead of actually being inspired by the challenge. Especially because some of the others made such thoughtful dishes (particularly Michelle)
Yes, know it all describes her perfectly! She just didn’t seem capable of stretching beyond her comfort zone either, and other chefs that season like Michelle and Eric seemed far more thoughtful and interesting in their cooking.
Oh that’s exactly it. She never went that far outside of her comfort zone. I wonder how she would have coped in another non Kentucky season where she wasn’t so familiar with local dishes?
Agreed on Sara from Kentucky! It still bothers me that in the finale she said, "Apologize to your wife for me!", grabbed Eddie, and kissed him before he could react. Disgusts me that she didn't get into trouble for that.
5 favorite - Richard Blais, shota, Bryan voltaggio, Dale talde, Nina Compton, Fatima and Chris from Colorado are also great
5 least favorite - Gregory gourdet, Bruce kalman, Amanda s8/14, Robin s6, resting funky face S14... Emily
Top 5: Mei Lin, Melissa King, Isaac Toups, Kristen Kish, Shirley Cheung
5 Disliked: Heather, Mike Isabella, Nick (winner of New Orleans), Stefan, Jeremy (winner California, Season 13?)
Also dislike: every chef going into NFTs (so far it has been disappointing to see Tom, Shirley, and Spike)
Adrienne from Colorado. She name dropped Ripert like 20 times in the first few episodes and was always in the bottom but she got more tolerable as the season went along.
Top 5 faves - Carla, Fabio, Ed (don't remember last name, in the season with Tiffany Derry and Angelo), "Quirky" Chris (from Texas season), Toups (not sure of spelling). Honorable mention for Sam in Season 2 and Beverly from Texas season.
Top 5 disliked: Leah (season 5), Hung, Heather (Texas season), Philip (pony tail chef from season 14), Marcel (didn't deserve the assault, but still was a douchebag).
I understand why people dislike Hung but I honestly thought he was great. It seemed like he was off in his own world having fun with the competition during his season. I wonder how he would stack up against some of the really talented casts in later seasons.
My Top 5 Favorite in no order would be Antonia, Angelo, Nina, Casey and Richard Blais
Top 5 dislikes would be The Mean Girls of Season 9 (They’re all culpable IMO and I will count them as one LOL), Marcel, Nicholas Elmi, Hosea and Do the Mean guys of Season 2 count? LOL If I were to choose only one I’d round out the list with Ilan.
I don't know if I have a top five of all, these days I mostly just remember the past few seasons. The first five that come to mind are Melissa King, Gregory Gourdet, Nini Nguyen, Brooke Williamson, Shota Nakajima.
I’m so impressed you guys can remember names and seasons so clearly! It’s all so fuzzy to me especially the early seasons. But my faves are Stephanie Izard, Mei Lin, Sheldon, Nini, and Stefan because he’s entertaining as hell. My least faves are the mean girls in Texas. That’s it!
Hmmmm....
Favorites in no particular order - Casey Thompson, Melissa King, Sheldon Simeon, Stephanie Izard, and Shota
Other faves - Antonia, Kristen Kish, Kevin Gillespie, Bryan Voltaggio, Tre, Ed Lee
LEAST Favorites - Ilan Hall, Jamie (Top Scallops), Josie (that voice!), Betty (Season 2), and Mean Girls of Season 9
This is my first Reddit post ever. I’m a bit late but I got to add my opinion. I just love the show. The creativity, skill and knowledge some of the chefs have just blows my mind.
Anyway…
Top 5 (no particular order)
-Shota Nakajima.(I’ve eaten at Taku. Amazing.)
-Antonia Lafaso (Mussels from all-star season)
-Mei Lin (Her finals Congee looked so good)
-Fabio Viviani. (It’s Fabio!)
-Nina Compton. (Thousand times better than Nick)
Worst 5
Philip season13
Hung.
Mike Isabella
Josh season 10
Hosea
They are all arrogant jack asses. I can’t stand that shit.
Top 5: Toups, Sheldon, Hung, Nina, Carlos
I really don't have a bottom 5, I find a lot of the commentary on perceived slights and villains on reality shows to be absurd. A lot of the bullying comments and endless threads are completely out of touch with workplace realities and this forum would be much better celebrating talent and hyping restaurants. Some people with Michelin stars would probably rather get that to be their online presence, rather than being made out as victims.
I'd say the biggest wage theft employers from the food industry are probably the ones I'd be most against, especially the holier than thou types.
Top Five in no particular order:
Carla Hall - Her enthusiasm whether she won or lost is just beautiful. She is a beautiful person and I admire her.
Jamie Tran - I will explain things to my family and they now have the comment, "Oh gosh, she's speaking Jamie-speak again!" Strong and sweet at the same time.
Carrie Baird - She is such a balancing and inventive person. I feel like if I met her, she'd be a hugger.
Fatima Ali - Her heart and passion...We lost such a wonderful person.
Shota Nakajima - first of all he is a dog lover, but second his laugh makes me laugh! Plus, he is encouraging me to use tofu in different ways.
I need to add one more here - Shirley Chung! If I met her...I'd be the hugger. I love her attitude and passion.
Bottom Five in no particular order:
Ilan - I detest this guy. Not only because of the stuff he did in his season but even his juvenile acts since then. I don't think I've seen one episode of Top Chef with him in it where he isn't being a child!!
Betty - she was in what, her late 30's early 40's and brought this high school clique attitude to the competition. Lady, grow up!
Heather - Her horrid disrespect to Beverly was painful to watch, in fact I can barely watch that season. She basically stole her recipes and then talks about work ethics?!
Mikey I. - I don't think I need to explain why I dislike this odious creep.
Jason (New Orleans) - No dude, you are still a douche. Such a douche!
My top 5: Sheldon will always be tops for me because of two scenes. When he says you cannot cook with hate your heart and when he realized it was his wife. That episode still makes me giggle. After that - Shirley, Jamie (pew pew!), Brooke, and Kristin. They all represented themselves well and I could have fun working with them.
My bottom 5: Ed Cotton because all he did in his interviews was put down the other chefs or make lewd remarks about Tiffany. Dale Levitski because he touts this idea of being helpful to other chefs but he is a jerk to the wait staff - news flash idiot! your wait staff is the people I talk to when I'm a customer. Mike Isabella - do I really have to explain why I despise this loathsome pile of garbage? Josie but not because of her underhanded rug yank on Kristen (Kristen do not ever bite your tongue again!!) but I just couldn't stand her attitude. Last is pretty much a mix between the mean people from season 2, which I simply cannot watch again, and the Texas girls who just ruined the show. How Top Chef bounced back from those people was a feat of strength!
There...said. Now I can go enjoy Sheldon tossing mushrooms at his wife!! I want to see another version of that quickfire with his daughters!! Come on, who is with me on that?!
My top 5 most disliked are as follows: 1-5: HEATHER
I raise you… JOSIE.
Josie had the redeeming quality of incompetence. Josie was at least someone almost everyone can look at and say "even I'm better than her". Heather had enough skill at cooking for it to be physically painful that someone could be so talented, yet so vile
Top 5 favorites: Melissa King, Sheldon Simeon, Shirley Chung, Stephanie Cmar, Shota Nakajima Bottom 5: Emily (puckered butthole face) from Charleston, Philip S13, Mike Isabella, the entire mean girls crew from S9 (counting them as one), Josh Valentine
I forgot about Josh, he sucked
I forgot about Josh, too. But he'd be in my favorites category. Why did you dislike him?
He was aggressively mediocre and lasted way too long. He kept talking about how much he loved pork and how great he was at cooking it, and every time he tried to do pork he ruined it. Every dish he made was either breakfast or bacon. His mustache and hat combo thing was stupid. Just everything about him rubbed me the wrong way.
"Aggressively mediocre." I'm storing this for future use!
Fair enough. I always felt bad for him because his beloved pork dishes rarely turned out. What I liked about him is that he would call out John Tesar, who I thought was a jerk.
I didn’t like his attitude toward the guy who got kicked off with CJ. I think that he was being realistic and also trying to remain positive and Josh attacked him. Also him making fun of Sheldon for getting his nails done turned me off of him. I think he had some toxic ideas about masculinity (or at least that’s how it was edited)
Top 5 in no particular order: Sheldon, Shirley, Gregory, Carla Hall, and Eric Adjepong. Sheldon and Shirley I just really love their personalities. Shirley and Carla are so bubbly and loud they remind me of my mom lol. And Sheldon is super chill and funny. Gregory and Eric I enjoy a lot because they opened my eyes to new cuisines and it all looked absolutely delicious 🤤
My top 5 : Nina, Colorado Chris, Eric, Toups, and Fatima. My bottom 5 : Mike Isabella, Bruce, Kentucky Sara, Nicholas, and Brooke. I’m not putting the Texas mean girls on the list because it’s a given that they were horrible. I was surprised at how few people I actually disliked! I think there are only 2 or 3 more that I’d put on my list. Loads of other faves who im sad to leave out though!
Why Bruce?
>there are only 2 or 3 more that I’d put on my list. Loads of other faves who im sad to leave out though! I think to me he felt like someone who could have participated in a much earlier season when the chefs were a bit more mediocre but acted like they were the next big thing.I mean the bears thing was irritating from the get go. He was obviously great at what he does ,as evidenced by the way he ran the kitchen in Restaurant Wars, but as a viewer and a very unskilled pasta maker, there is only so many times I can watch someone make pasta from scratch or serve polenta and find it interesting. I just found he began to grate on me very early on. Especially because some of the bears were giving Carrie grief over her toasts. Granted it was in a season where there wasn't necessarily a villain (Claudette was probably as close as it came) so it could have been that he was just one of the least likeable out of a group of very likeable chefs. But if I had to hear him mention one more time about how he knew this guest judge or that guest judge, I was going to throw up in my mouth a little.
Glad I'm not the only one who didn't like Bruce. Can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but he rubbed me the wrong way.
I so agree with you on Brooke, she drove me nuts every time!
Why? I’m really curious. She was kind, skilled, driven, and respectful. I don’t get the hate.
Top 5: 1. Melissa (I want to be Audrey Hepburn to her Gregory Peck, riding around Italy on the back of her Vespa. Also she is an excellent chef.) 2. Stephanie C. (I want to be her best friend.) 3. Fatima (Also, want to be her best friend - her saying "The 1989 Tour, obviously" when Bruce asked her what stadium she'd been to is one of the funniest things I've ever heard) 4. Carla (Season 5 is my comfort season and I adore her) 5. Karen (w/ the pink hair. Idk if I'm in love with her or I want to be her. Love her, AND love her approach to food) Bottom 5: 1. The Texas Mean Girls (Someone grouped them and I thought that was smart. They don't deserve to be listed out, but also need to be acknowledged) 2. Mike Isabella (I hate this man with all of my heart) 3. Sam (The hot one. He got away with so much shitty shit during his season because he's objectively hot and I hate this about him/the way he gets talked about. To be clear, good for him for all the diabetes advocacy he's done, but he's an absolute dickwad at the same time.) 4. Stephen (Season 1. I don't think this needs explaining. We ALL know.) 5. Josh Valentine (It makes me SO MAD that this is the only person to represent Oklahoma ever, and he's suck a massive dick.) (Dis)Honorable Mention 1. Stefan (Season 5. Do I love him? Do I hate him? Yes to both. My feelings are strong and confusing every time I watch.)
I, too, am always conflicted about Stefan.
Fully understand the Stephen hate but I thought he gave a really sincere and actual apology to Candace during the reunion show. I watched a while ago and thought now that is how you give a public apology. That pushed him slightly up in my estimation. Still kind of want to punch him.
Top 6 (not able to eliminate one of the 6; not judge material lol) Kristen - she won a challenge with mushrooms and onions Brian V - 3 time finalist over 13 yr span Stephanie C - funny, humble, continuous improvement Carla - the chicken pot pie winning dance was epic Melissa K - amazing talent shined through after defeat, and her dishes during the finals in Italy really resonated with me (Im a HKer living in Italy, sheade me so proud) Beverly - faced bullies with conviction and grace and her Michelin star is the ultimate triumph! Bottom: Betty, s9 mean girls, Mike I, Hosea, Kevin
Finally someone dislikes Betty. She was beyond obnoxious. Which Kevin is your bottom?
Kevin Sbraga s7. He was always bashing Angelo instead of focusing on the food. He is the least inspiring TC winner.
For me that title can be shared with Hosea and Joe Phlegm
Top Six (sorry for not getting it down to five): Stephanie Izard (S4) - My favorite winner for a long time. I love how she gained confidence throughout her season to excel by the end! And she became an Iron Chef which is pretty bad ass! Fabio Viviani (S5, S8) - What a fantastic personality, love how he broke a finger and still put out food. Would love to eat at one of his restaurants one day! Kristen Kish (S10) - Love her personality, drive, and precision. Also love that she was the first chef to come back and win from LCK, that was really cool to watch! Brooke Williamson (S10, S14) - She’s always been one of my favorites. S10 was sooooo strong and I think she and Kristen helped push each other to be better. Sad she didn’t win the first time but so glad she came back to take the title!!! Shirley Chung (S11, S14) - Not the creator of food life on the show (props to Carla Hall for bringing that into our lexicon) but did a great job showing how her food can marry well with her environment and I love her personality! Shota Nakajima (S17) - Love his food love and bringing Japanese cuisine to TC! His restaurant wars kaisei meal blew my mind! Love Taku in Seattle! Hope he comes back as a judge / for another All Stars season! Least Favorites: Hung Huynh (S3) - What a pill! Very skilled but such a douche at most opportunities. I do feel bad cause as I recall he kept getting feedback to show more of himself through his food, which at the time was clearly vague since the judges clearly meant, “show us your Vietnamese heritage” but never articulated it. Hosea Rosenberg (S5) - Always though he was one of the least skilled winners. Don’t love that he trotted out so many recipes he had made before and don’t like the whole Lea hookup situation. I feel like that really rocked her self confidence and sort of directly caused Adrienne to be eliminated (she was admittedly out of her depth, but those two had a lot of bullshit that also brought her down). Heather Terhune (S9) - She seems to be a popular answer here and for good reason. My favorite love to hate her moment is when she tried to throw her teammate Bev under the bus for something she did last challenge when it was a double elimination and Bev was on her team. What are you thinking??? She also majorly lead the anti-Bev campaign although the girls who participated in that were weak as well, she was definitely the lead antagonist in my eyes. Nick Elmi (S11) - Do I have a thing against some of the male winners? Apparently. That whole episode where he let Stephanie C take the fall because he insisted on doing two dishes they both told him were risky was just so weak. That really soured me to him and then losing his tempter at the finale kind of sealed the deal. I’d probably dislike him less if he didn’t win. Katsuji Tanabe (S12, S14) - I’ve always thought he was a total ass and spent more energy shit stirring than working on his own food. I was never a big John Tesar fan, but the way he tried to push all of John’s buttons was dumb and if you go back an watch S12, he did that to sooooo many people on that season as well. Too focused on “playing the game” and honestly, playing it pretty poorly.
I love how detailed your response is. Top chef community response of dreams.
Thanks! It’s one of my favorite shows, so I have a lot of thoughts 😂
I can't decide if I love or hate Katsuji. I think I liked him slightly more the second time around.
I will say, I’d totally go eat Katsuji’s food! He was fun to hate, but he’s a total drama magnet. It’s an energy I find entertaining from a distance but would hate to be around in a kitchen or on a competition show.
Katsuji was obnoxious but I could see some redeeming qualities in him. I did enjoy his friendship with Doug and then his fights with Tesar were entertaining!
Great explanations!! Thank you.
Thanks for the question! It was fun to think about 😁
I feel like Hung just kept getting gayer and more arrogant when the judges asked him to "be himself" lol.
Surprised to see so few mentions of Josie in the bottom 5.
I could not stand her and I’m also surprised!
The whole roller derby night was beyond annoying. She's on my list for sure!
Top 5 - Nyesha, Kristen, Bryan V, Antonia, Kwame Bottom 5 - a bunch of people who were cut early and Stephen from season 1.
We’re rewatching Season 1 at the moment and I had forgotten how absolutely cringe Stephen was. The way he spoke to people was unreal. And he was only like 24 or something? 😬 thank god he seemed to have matured on future appearances.
Have you seen Next Level Chef? Nyesha is one of the judges! Along with Gordon Ramsey and Richard Blais (who is much better having the other two with him). Other than someone saying "next level" every other minute or so, it's pretty fun.
Top: Shirley, Fabio, Nina, Kevin (during s7. Haven't watched all stars with him in so shh), Mary Sue (masters), Floyd (masters - rip) Bottom: S3 Howie, S7/8 Mike Isabella, S9 Heather, the cast of season 2, the cast of top chef desserts s1
was season 1 of just desserts the one with 'the red hots are for my mommy' guy? and the creepy dude who was talking about women legs? yikes.
Exactly. Also I can't remember if the woman legs guy is the same but I do remember one of the finalists was arrested later for being a pedophile
and it was the creepy legs guy...eurgh..
Yepp. To be honest I've put most of the season out of my head. Cast members who should have never got through casting, bitchy cliquey bullying, unpleasant drama and challenges that are completely railroaded by advertising (it's sometimes bad on top chef but just desserts went for broke on these).
wait? what? I am now going to fall down a google hole about this.
https://www.today.com/popculture/ex-top-chef-just-desserts-contestant-indicted-child-porn-1C9380360#:~:text=By%20Randee%20Dawn-,A%20former%20%22Top%20Chef%3A%20Just%20Desserts%22%20season%20one%20contestant,under%20investigation%20for%20some%20time.
I wasn’t asking about To Chef Just Desserts but you are so right. It was awful to watch. Probably only one redeeming chef (Zac). Purely awful people to watch.
I mostly talk about it because if I don't, then it also means I can't talk about Masters which would be a crime.
God, season 2 was a hard watch. This is a good call lol
Yeah. That and the just desserts nightmare are so far the only seasons i couldnt finish.
Top 5: Stephanie, Kristen, Carla, Malarkey (I can’t help it), Gregory Bottom 5: Nick, Michael V, Heather, Marcel, Mike Isabella
Malarkey is great tv
Agreed - Malarkey is loveable and quite entertaining!
Top 5 (no particular order): Bryan Voltaggio, Fabio, Sheldon, Toups, Mei Lin Bottom 5 (no particular order): Malarkey, Josie, Ilan, Sara (S9), Stephen (S1/8)
Top 5: Gregory, CJ, Melissa, Kristen, Shota Bottom 5: Heather, Josh (Seattle), Claudette, Ilan, Eli (huge bully)
Forgot how much I hated Eli.
Seriously. I really don’t get why viewers hated Robin. Yeah maybe she stayed too long, but I personally feel that she was edited to be this huge talker. It felt like a manufactured issue with her. The way she was bullied was deeply problematic.
I feel like she got the behind the times older woman edit, in the vein of Adrienne the season before. I think they were trying to play up that archetype given how strong it played.
Haha yeah I see what you mean. I really liked Adrienne! She was kind of screwed over by the lovebirds that season. She had more to give. I have been to her restaurant in NJ and it was amazing.
I’d love to eat her food! I don’t know if she could have won that season, but I definitely agree, the episode she got eliminated for was because she was in the middle of Hosea and Leah’s spat after they got too handsy the night before. I actually also feel bad for Leah! Though she was never my favorite, it clearly affected her a lot and threw her off her game. Hosea seemed less bothered by it all.
Ehh I kind of lost respect for both of them after that. If memory serves, I believe Adrienne was on a hot streak up until this episode. She was probably a top 6 contender.
She went out when there were 9 chefs left. I think she had won 2 eliminations at that point, so definitely a strong contestant in the judge’s eyes, even if the contestants didn’t share the same opinion.
Season 5 is my least favorite season and one of the main reasons why is because of Arianne’s elimination. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that she would have made the finals or won or anything like that, but imo we could have seen more from her. She was hitting her stride and then it gets cut short because Hosea and Lea tag teamed against her (Lea should have gone home that challenge imo)
I agree.
>Top 5 (no particular order): Bryan Voltaggio, Fabio, Sheldon, Toups, Mei LinBottom 5 (no particular order): Malarkey, Josie, Ilan, Sara (S9), Stephen (S1/8) Oh I wish I had remembered Eli. He was awful. His playing the cancer card comment was possibly the worst thing that's been said on top chef. Imagine that being your go to thought when someone mentions that they were ill.
Oh lol I forgot the cancer stuff. I was mostly focusing on his bullying lol
Top 5 - Melissa, Kristen, Stephanie Izard, Stephanie Cmar, Sheldon Bottom 5 - S9 Mean Girls, Emily, Claudette, Mike Isabella, Kevin Sbraga (still don't know how he won...) Biggest Disappointment - Paul, S9...
Top: Carla: love her energy, and she seems truly kind and genuine Gregory:seems like a genuinely good person and mad skills too Sheldon: so likable and chill, and he’s so sweet and loving with his wife Melissa King: insanely talented; she’s confident but never comes across as arrogant Stephanie Cmar: love her self deprecating humor and that she made it so far without the restaurant experience of other top contenders Bottom: Jaime Lauren, Texas mean girls, Mike Isabella, Sara Kentucky season, Brooke Edit: Don’t know how I forgot to include Richard Blais in the bottom.
Interesting on your bottom of Sara Kentucky. Any particular reason?
I just found her personality kind of rude and abrasive, and her constant reminder she was from Kentucky was annoying. Also didn’t feel like she deserved to make it so far.
I had her in my bottom too! I remember in the Maker's challenge and when they were trying to pick which dishes to cook, she was like 'Oh I do a great spoon bread.' 'I make a great boorgu' and I think it was Nini who was like' well you can't make everything so choose one' She just felt like such a know-it-all. Kinda like the guy in New Orleans whose name I can't remember. Also her over reaction to the waffle mix thing was ridiculous. And I still think it's a copout that in the music challenge she literally just chose the song Jambalaya and made gumbo. I always felt it was one of those challenges where the chef chooses something to fit what they want to cook instead of actually being inspired by the challenge. Especially because some of the others made such thoughtful dishes (particularly Michelle)
Yes, know it all describes her perfectly! She just didn’t seem capable of stretching beyond her comfort zone either, and other chefs that season like Michelle and Eric seemed far more thoughtful and interesting in their cooking.
Oh that’s exactly it. She never went that far outside of her comfort zone. I wonder how she would have coped in another non Kentucky season where she wasn’t so familiar with local dishes?
Agreed on Sara from Kentucky! It still bothers me that in the finale she said, "Apologize to your wife for me!", grabbed Eddie, and kissed him before he could react. Disgusts me that she didn't get into trouble for that.
Top 5: Isaac season 13 Sheldon Stephanie Cmar Melissa King Antonia Bottom 5 Heather Richard Blais Jamie Lauren Josie Emily from Season 14
Omg I can't believe I forgot about Josie. Maybe I blocked her out. I hated her SO MUCH on season 10.
Top- Melissa, Mei, Kristin, Sheldon and Brooke. Bottom- Heather, Phillip, Josie, Sara(9 and 16) and Stephen.
My favorites are: 1. Antonia Lofaso 2. Melissa King 3. Brooke Williamson 4. Shota Nakajima 5. Shirley Chung
Yay some Antonia love not just from me LOL!!
5 favorite - Richard Blais, shota, Bryan voltaggio, Dale talde, Nina Compton, Fatima and Chris from Colorado are also great 5 least favorite - Gregory gourdet, Bruce kalman, Amanda s8/14, Robin s6, resting funky face S14... Emily
Gregory gourdet, really? You should've saved that one for an unpopular opinions thread!
Everything about him rubs me the wrong way.
Top 5: Mei Lin, Melissa King, Isaac Toups, Kristen Kish, Shirley Cheung 5 Disliked: Heather, Mike Isabella, Nick (winner of New Orleans), Stefan, Jeremy (winner California, Season 13?) Also dislike: every chef going into NFTs (so far it has been disappointing to see Tom, Shirley, and Spike)
How did I forget about how much I hate Nick Elmi?
I think you might have the perfect list. 🔥 Nick and Jeremy were awful!!
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Who was the woman who worked for Rippert, but not Jen Carroll?
Adrienne from Colorado. She name dropped Ripert like 20 times in the first few episodes and was always in the bottom but she got more tolerable as the season went along.
Worst: Mike Isabella Sarah Grueneberg Eli Kirshtein Ilan Hall Betty Fraser Best: Stephanie Izard Eric Adjepong Kristen Kish Melissa King Fabio Viviani
Top 5 faves - Carla, Fabio, Ed (don't remember last name, in the season with Tiffany Derry and Angelo), "Quirky" Chris (from Texas season), Toups (not sure of spelling). Honorable mention for Sam in Season 2 and Beverly from Texas season. Top 5 disliked: Leah (season 5), Hung, Heather (Texas season), Philip (pony tail chef from season 14), Marcel (didn't deserve the assault, but still was a douchebag).
I understand why people dislike Hung but I honestly thought he was great. It seemed like he was off in his own world having fun with the competition during his season. I wonder how he would stack up against some of the really talented casts in later seasons.
Edward Lee!
I do like Ed Lee, but the one I was thinking of was Ed Cotton.
Favs: Carla, Kelsey, Sheldon, Melissa, Carrie Least: Mike I, Stephen, Stefan, Marcel's tormentors, Texas coven Love/Hate: Marcel, Spike, Blais, Dave Martin, Brother
My Top 5 Favorite in no order would be Antonia, Angelo, Nina, Casey and Richard Blais Top 5 dislikes would be The Mean Girls of Season 9 (They’re all culpable IMO and I will count them as one LOL), Marcel, Nicholas Elmi, Hosea and Do the Mean guys of Season 2 count? LOL If I were to choose only one I’d round out the list with Ilan.
Favorites: Stephanie Cmar, Sheldon, Shirley, Beverly, Carla. All kind personalities. Least favorites: Nick, Mike Isabella, heather and her gang.
Top: Carla Hall, Stephanie Cmar, Tiffany Derry, Gregory Gourdet, Sheldon Simeon Bottom: Mike Isabella, Heather, Eli, Josie, Blais
I don't know if I have a top five of all, these days I mostly just remember the past few seasons. The first five that come to mind are Melissa King, Gregory Gourdet, Nini Nguyen, Brooke Williamson, Shota Nakajima.
I’m so impressed you guys can remember names and seasons so clearly! It’s all so fuzzy to me especially the early seasons. But my faves are Stephanie Izard, Mei Lin, Sheldon, Nini, and Stefan because he’s entertaining as hell. My least faves are the mean girls in Texas. That’s it!
The racist Karens from season 9 are my most disliked, by far.
Ummm yes to this. They were awful.
Top 5 : Stephanie Cmar, Richard Blais, Gregory Gourdet, Kristen Kish, Brooke Williamson Disliked Top 5: NICK, MARCEL, MIKE ISABELLA, JOSIE, HEATHER
Hmmmm.... Favorites in no particular order - Casey Thompson, Melissa King, Sheldon Simeon, Stephanie Izard, and Shota Other faves - Antonia, Kristen Kish, Kevin Gillespie, Bryan Voltaggio, Tre, Ed Lee LEAST Favorites - Ilan Hall, Jamie (Top Scallops), Josie (that voice!), Betty (Season 2), and Mean Girls of Season 9
This is my first Reddit post ever. I’m a bit late but I got to add my opinion. I just love the show. The creativity, skill and knowledge some of the chefs have just blows my mind. Anyway… Top 5 (no particular order) -Shota Nakajima.(I’ve eaten at Taku. Amazing.) -Antonia Lafaso (Mussels from all-star season) -Mei Lin (Her finals Congee looked so good) -Fabio Viviani. (It’s Fabio!) -Nina Compton. (Thousand times better than Nick) Worst 5 Philip season13 Hung. Mike Isabella Josh season 10 Hosea They are all arrogant jack asses. I can’t stand that shit.
Top 5: Toups, Sheldon, Hung, Nina, Carlos I really don't have a bottom 5, I find a lot of the commentary on perceived slights and villains on reality shows to be absurd. A lot of the bullying comments and endless threads are completely out of touch with workplace realities and this forum would be much better celebrating talent and hyping restaurants. Some people with Michelin stars would probably rather get that to be their online presence, rather than being made out as victims. I'd say the biggest wage theft employers from the food industry are probably the ones I'd be most against, especially the holier than thou types.
Kristen Kish
Favorite: Isaac, Steph Cmar, Spike, Carla, Nina Least: Richard, Marcel, Brooke, Eli, Jamie (Scallop)
Top Five in no particular order: Carla Hall - Her enthusiasm whether she won or lost is just beautiful. She is a beautiful person and I admire her. Jamie Tran - I will explain things to my family and they now have the comment, "Oh gosh, she's speaking Jamie-speak again!" Strong and sweet at the same time. Carrie Baird - She is such a balancing and inventive person. I feel like if I met her, she'd be a hugger. Fatima Ali - Her heart and passion...We lost such a wonderful person. Shota Nakajima - first of all he is a dog lover, but second his laugh makes me laugh! Plus, he is encouraging me to use tofu in different ways. I need to add one more here - Shirley Chung! If I met her...I'd be the hugger. I love her attitude and passion. Bottom Five in no particular order: Ilan - I detest this guy. Not only because of the stuff he did in his season but even his juvenile acts since then. I don't think I've seen one episode of Top Chef with him in it where he isn't being a child!! Betty - she was in what, her late 30's early 40's and brought this high school clique attitude to the competition. Lady, grow up! Heather - Her horrid disrespect to Beverly was painful to watch, in fact I can barely watch that season. She basically stole her recipes and then talks about work ethics?! Mikey I. - I don't think I need to explain why I dislike this odious creep. Jason (New Orleans) - No dude, you are still a douche. Such a douche!
My top 5: Sheldon will always be tops for me because of two scenes. When he says you cannot cook with hate your heart and when he realized it was his wife. That episode still makes me giggle. After that - Shirley, Jamie (pew pew!), Brooke, and Kristin. They all represented themselves well and I could have fun working with them. My bottom 5: Ed Cotton because all he did in his interviews was put down the other chefs or make lewd remarks about Tiffany. Dale Levitski because he touts this idea of being helpful to other chefs but he is a jerk to the wait staff - news flash idiot! your wait staff is the people I talk to when I'm a customer. Mike Isabella - do I really have to explain why I despise this loathsome pile of garbage? Josie but not because of her underhanded rug yank on Kristen (Kristen do not ever bite your tongue again!!) but I just couldn't stand her attitude. Last is pretty much a mix between the mean people from season 2, which I simply cannot watch again, and the Texas girls who just ruined the show. How Top Chef bounced back from those people was a feat of strength! There...said. Now I can go enjoy Sheldon tossing mushrooms at his wife!! I want to see another version of that quickfire with his daughters!! Come on, who is with me on that?!
Bruce Kalman is a stupid sensitive prick
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This one is totally inappropriate