Top Chef Tom Admits

Posted by Deanna Couras Goodson Jan 27, 2007

After the chefs engaged in some serious misbehavior and attempted to shave Marcel’s head last week, Chef Tom Colicchio admits that he was very angry at the lot of them. What’s worse, he got the call to handle a ‘crisis’ on the morning of his birthday when his wife had just flown in to be with him!

Tom watched the tape, and according to his blog at Bravo TV, said that it “stunned” him. He says it best here:

After impressing us with their skills and professionalism earlier in the evening, it seemed the chefs had swung the pendulum as far as they possibly could in the opposite direction, undermining their efforts to date with a ridiculous -- even cruel -- act of juvenile intimidation.

Tom thought the other chefs who took part in the incident – Sam, Ilan and Elia – were just as guilty as Cliff. He wondered, like many of us, why no one ever said, “Cut it out!” to Cliff. He likened the event to hazing or a frat boy-style prank, an assessment which I think is dead-on. Tom also told the producers that he felt the rest of the chefs should go home and Marcel should’ve won the competition by default.

I’m of two minds on this. I don’t think Cliff was the only guilty party, but I’m not sure if Marcel is the most deserving to win this competition either.

Tom ends his post on a strong note by saying:

I lost a lot of respect for Cliff, Ilan, Sam and Elia after what they did (or didn't do.) Not as cooks, necessarily, but as people -- and thereby as chefs. Chef means "chief" in French, and “chief” implies someone who leads -- not by bullying or even popularity, but by example.

Here, here!