Top Chef - Finale - Ilan on Top

Posted by Cyndi Allison Feb 1, 2007

Top Chef is over for the 2006/2007 season, and I’m frankly unimpressed. I don’t have a real problem with the young chefs. In fact, I rather enjoyed watching them whip up culinary creations. It’s the producers and judges that have ruined a good idea.

If you missed the Top Chef finale, then Ilan won. He was up against Marcel who has been the jerk of the season. I don't think anyone liked the guy. He was quite obnoxious.

Leading up to the "chef off," Cliff (the only black contestant in the final group) was sent home. Cliff and Elia drank too much, decided to shave their own heads and then thought it would be funny to force (or to pretend to) Marcel to sport the same skinhead look. Some reports suggest that the editing was out of sequence and that Cliff and Elia actually shaved their heads after the big scene with Marcel.

Apparently the contract signed by the contestants included a clause prohibiting physical contact. That’s a good idea. Cliff did grab Marcel, hold him down and indicate that he was going to shave Marcel’s head. I’m not down with that. The joke wasn't funny.

My concern in watching Top Chef and seeing the hard line response to physical abuse is that it reinforces the old notion that abuse can only be measured on a physical scale. The whole Marcel scene reminds me of times when women talk of being abused. When asked, “Well, did he hit you?” and when the response is “no,” the advice is to “stick it out.” This is not good advice. Verbal and psychological abuse can be just as dehabilitating as physical abuse – and perhaps more so. Though I certainly don’t think Marcel deserved to be held down and threatened, I do think that he inflicted non-physical abuse on the other contestants and was allowed to “slide,” because he didn’t use his fists. He should have been eliminated early on. He wasn't, because he added "spice" to the show at the expense of the other contestants.

As you might gather, I am not a Marcel fan. He may or may not have been a whiz in the kitchen. I didn’t get to taste his creations. I did, on the other hand, see his interactions with other contestants, and I was not impressed. I was even less impressed with the reaction of those in charge of coordinating the show. Their mantra was, “It’s all about the food.” If so, then why did they take a stand when Marcel was physically violated? Clearly it wasn’t “just about the food.” Those coordinating the show simply decided what kind of abuse was acceptable and what kind of abuse was not acceptable. Shame on them.

I also take issue with the way the last episode was “spun.” Footage was edited to suggest that Marcel would be the winner. The message was quite clear. Ilan played it safe and made his standard Spanish-inspired dishes. I don’t see why this was hammered home and made to seem a bad thing. Marcel was pitched as being on the cutting edge and having fabulous food creations. Clearly, the editing was slanted to indicate a close contest, but the spin was overboard. By the time Ilan was named the winner, it appeared that he was a substandard chef, at best.

The show spin did sway the audience votes. Ilan came out ahead by viewer votes, but it was close. Little wonder. Anyone watching the last episode and wanting to be on the “winning team” would have been inclined to vote for Marcel. It was easy to overlook the fact that Marcel forgot his fish, let another chef mastermind a key dish, that his chemistry experiment failed and that his “helpers” again found him lacking in his people skills (skills that are essential to success in the food field).

Ilan may have won the Top Chef contest, but it was a hollow victory. His name will always be tainted by the way the show was edited. The producers might just as well as stamped his forehead with a red letter L for loser. That’s the way it came off. The Top Chef was uninspired and could only cook Spanish dishes. That doesn't sound like a winning resume. I frankly doubt that is reality, but reality can be created, and it was on Top Chef.

I feel sorry for every cast member of the Top Chef reality show. They were disrespected and abused. I don’t support such treatment of others, and I won’t be watching Top Chef again. I guess the producers were trying to make “good TV.” They didn’t. Those in charge at Top Chef can pack their knives and go home. It won’t be any great loss. The idea is a winner. The execution stinks.