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Top Chef Season 17 Spoilers and Speculation

biakbiak

By biakbiak
in Top Chef

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BlackberryJam
BlackberryJam

If the purpose of a "winner's edit" is to craft a narrative that leads to a satisfying and pleasing finale for the audience, this Kevin's "winner's edit" is a big fat fail. He's gone from likable guy

Babalu
Babalu

I’m hoping that the way Padma said, “You ARE Top Chef!” means that Bryan won because he was in second place twice and now he’s finally #1. I do adore Melissa and Gregory, too, so would be happy with a

PamelaMaeSnap
PamelaMaeSnap

While I suspect the speculation that Padma is crying when she announces the winner to be Kevin because of his battle with cancer etc. may be right, I am going to hold out hope that she's actually cryi

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Jextella

Jextella

Is anyone counting quickfire and elimination round stats?  I'm not but it feels as if Kevin and Gregory have the strongest records of success thus far.  If that's the case, I'd be fine with either of them as the winner.

Although, if it's really true that the chefs are only as good as their last meals, I guess past performance doesn't matter.

carrps

carrps

On 5/9/2020 at 1:54 PM, dmeets said:

I suspected since Episode 1 that Kevin’s winning, and the preview showing Padma in tears announcing the winner sealed it for me. I can’t see anyone else eliciting that emotional a response from Padma but the guy who survived cancer, at a time when Fatima was likely on the forefront of her mind.

Oh, that makes me unhappy. I hate Chopped-style "emotional" wins. Blech.

 

BlackberryJam

BlackberryJam

If the purpose of a "winner's edit" is to craft a narrative that leads to a satisfying and pleasing finale for the audience, this Kevin's "winner's edit" is a big fat fail. He's gone from likable guy to insufferable scrote in about 3 episodes. He's not the villain, but if he wins, it won't be emotionally satisfying or pleasing for the audience. 

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Mellowyellow

Mellowyellow

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

If the purpose of a "winner's edit" is to craft a narrative that leads to a satisfying and pleasing finale for the audience, this Kevin's "winner's edit" is a big fat fail. He's gone from likable guy to insufferable scrote in about 3 episodes. He's not the villain, but if he wins, it won't be emotionally satisfying or pleasing for the audience. 

I want to believe he's getting a non winner's edit but there have been quite a few shite winners in the past *cough Nicholas cough*

So maybe they don't have anything to work with because he's not pleasant!!!!!

I was actually fine with Kevin initially until he went nuts at Malarkey (who I know is hard to take but in that instance I didn't think Malarkey did anything wrong. He wasn't even being loud!)

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BlackberryJam

BlackberryJam

I like Kevin well enough, but was never a big fan, even during his season. I mean, I'd totally eat his food, but I don't want to have dinner with him. I've seen well-crafted reality show narratives and winner's edits, but for me, Kevin is getting neither a winner nor a villain edit, but rather a "totally respectable showing" edit. 

I think Gregory is getting a winner's edit. His talking head moments are sweet. He has a running theme of trying to open his own Haitian place. His food relates to his story well. It could just be the nice guy edit, but I think in the next two episodes Gregory is going to take a ride on the struggle bus only to come through and win.

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seltzer3

seltzer3

Looks like Gregory and Malarkey in the bottom next challenge?

I think Stephanie may make it to Italy?   In the previews to come (after restaurant wars), she was making this yellow (looked liked lentils) soup.  But in the preview, that dish doesn't seem to be anywhere for next week.

Also, it looks like Bryan's dish (the one with the scallops) was in positive reviews.  So he seems safe.

 

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PhoneCop

PhoneCop

On 2/14/2020 at 8:42 PM, CheetaraThunder said:

Here is a shot of the final five: https://m.imgur.com/a/fIomfCJ

Reddit figured it out to be Kevin, Gregory, Bryan, Karen/Nini, A and Brian.

Revisiting this three months later. Is it possible Melissa is the one mistaken for Karen/Nini, or is there some kind of additional buyback that would revive Karen again? But then there are hints it's Stephanie making F5, not Melissa. (I'd rather toss Malarkey at this point than either of the women, but it's 2020 and I'm having to settle for a lot of things.)

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AriAu

AriAu

(edited)
Quote

 

On Reddit, there’s a poster with an interesting theory. Hopefully I can keep it all straight because it’s a doozy. 

1. Kevin returns from LCK. Duh. 

2. Melissa is eliminated. 

3. Malarkey quits after the fact because he has a restaurant empire to run and can’t attend the finale. 

4. Karen returns. 

 

On page one of this thread there was a picture of the Final 5 and while I have looked at it several times, I could never really tell....but they insisted Malarkey was there, as was Karen, but Stephanie was not. While that picture was fuzzy, it would be kinda hard to confuse Malarkey and Stephanie. Plus, Malarkey was there for the publicity and face time, so I just cant see him quitting. But then again, how do they get Karen back???

Edited by AriAu
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wlk68

wlk68

(edited)
4 hours ago, Ellee said:

Just watched the previews ... who was Padma saying if you had done something simpler to?  
 

I know it is always misleading but it seemed to be Bryan. 

It definitely looked that way to me as well but they can be very deceptive with the editing. I hope it wasn't him.  

ETA: I just watched the teasers about the upcoming episode on Bravo.com. Padma's comment about doing something simpler does NOT match up with what Bryan is making for the EC. It does, however, match up with the giant laundry list of things that Kevin appears to be putting into his dish.  

That being said, my comment above about deceptive editing still applies. 

Edited by wlk68
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CheetaraThunder

CheetaraThunder

On 5/29/2020 at 8:30 PM, seltzer3 said:

There was a preview clip (in the things to come) of Stephanie saying I haven't been this confident in a long time.  It didn't play in this preview.  I'm wondering if she may actually make it to the final 4.

Also, that F5 table was completely wrong.  So seems like we have no idea what's going to happen.

Either Stephanie is confident or it’s a red herring and she gets eliminated.

wlk68

wlk68

11 hours ago, seltzer3 said:

Yeah Stephanie still hasn't said the "I haven't been confident in a long time" yet.  And it wasn't played at all in the preview.  Maybe it gets played next week, and she gets eliminated. Or its during the finals.  Or Bravo does weird editing, and never show that.

That's entirely possible. There was a clip in the teaser of Padma (in her fabulous furry pink coat) saying something at Judges Table that we never actually saw in the episode itself.

Evil Editing Monkeys.

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ProudMary

ProudMary

Just as info, there will be three chefs in the grand finale this season. (Scroll down to the bottom.)

https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/overview.html?programSeriesId=SH00812758&tmsId=EP008127580294&aid=gapzap

"Finito!

SEASON 17 , EPISODE 14 AIRING JUN 18, 2020 TV-PG FINALE CC

The final three all stars face off in an epic Italian showdown to cook the meal of their lives in an effort to take home the ultimate title and prize."

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Mellowyellow

Mellowyellow

(edited)

I don't think Malarkey is necessarily bad (are they implying he's bad in the previews?).

He was a very good team player in Restaurant Wars and besides being very loud I don't think he's malicious or bitter so no red flags really.

Stephanie just needs to stick to her vision and reign him in which she showed that she can with Leanne in Restaurant Wars. She was calmly a total badass when she took over the tickets.

Of course Gregory and Stephanie would have been a brilliant team (I loved their couch chat a few weeks back) but I'm hoping he was resting that poor back of his!

 

Edited by Mellowyellow
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Irlandesa

Irlandesa

The last three eliminations were Kevin, Gregory and Malarkey.  I suspect the final sous chefs were always supposed to be Runner up 1 (Kevin), Runner Up 2 (Gregory) and Runner up 3 (Malarkey).

They probably scheduled Malarkey for the final when they booted him and the other two were already going to be there as part of the Top 5.

But when Gregory had his back issues, they likely had to scramble and get whoever could get over to Italy on a short notice.  Hence Leanne over Karen.

1 hour ago, Mellowyellow said:

I don't think Malarkey is necessarily bad (are they implying he's bad in the previews?).

I don't think so.  I also don't think he's bad.  Most of the criticism he has gotten over the season has been an inability to self-edit.  His cooking skills have been fine and while he might sometimes be a lot to deal with, I wouldn't necessarily dread him as a sous chef since Stephanie is setting the menu.

Leanne, though, has time management issues.  So it'll be interesting to see how she does as a sous chef.

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CrazyInAlabama

CrazyInAlabama

(edited)

I'm wondering Bryan V. is really shy, and loves being the star in the kitchen, but doesn't like being on the spotlight?     Kevin's remark about cooking soulfully after the remarks to Bryan were a low blow, and I'm glad he's gone.   

The biggest issue from the preview of next week is that Bryan will have to rely on Kevin, who tried his best to submarine him this week.  Kevin looked like he was totally convinced his nasty remark about Bryan's food would keep him on the show.   

Edited by CrazyInAlabama
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Mellowyellow

Mellowyellow

(edited)
18 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Leanne, though, has time management issues.  So it'll be interesting to see how she does as a sous chef.

Yes I was thinking I would rather Malarkey than Leanne. He's always been efficient and I thought that in Restaurant Wars he was actually more focused as that challenge was about Gregory's vision. He handled a stressed Gregory and the fish very nicely too. I can see him being quite decent if Stephanie needs support.

ETA: I prefer him for Stephanie over Kevin too. Kevin can cook but that dig at Bryan makes me doubt if his attitude would be all that great. I don't think he'd be awful but probably not sunshine either!

Edited by Mellowyellow
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wlk68

wlk68

(edited)

In one of the teasers at the Bravo website, you can clearly see the butcher block with three knives in it. I'm guessing whoever drew the knife with the 1 on it gets first pick, and so on, etc. 

Leanne has time management issues and Malarkey's brain is always going in 9 million different directions. Will he be able to focus on what Stephanie needs him to do or will he want to add his own flourishes?  

As for Kevin, I'm hoping he just puts his head down and gives Bryan the help and support he needs. I can't see any benefit for Kevin at this point to try and sabotage Bryan. We shall see.  

Edited by wlk68
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AriAu

AriAu

Wow, those guest judges were cutting and tough. It was like Tom could hardly get in a word to attack or support anyone.....they just let the judges go!

Surprising to  see Kevin go home on what is essentially a pork challenge and basically screw up the cooking of pork!

Quote

So Brian has Kevin, Stephanie has Malarkey (why?!), and Melissa has (Leanne).

Quote

The biggest issue from the preview of next week is that Bryan will have to rely on Kevin, who tried his best to submarine him this week.  Kevin looked like he was totally convinced his nasty remark about Bryan's food would keep him on the show. 

In general, the sous chefs should be there for cooking skills or to be a sounding board. When the sous goes beyond that, you end up with a Carla/Casey situation in which many people still haven't forgiven Casey! Therefore, I think the key is finding the best cook at this point. Malarkey said in an early episode that he doesn't spend that much time in the kitchen and Kevin has said he has " people for that shit", so Leanne could, in concept be the best person as a sous, especially since it'll be her job to just cook and not deal with time management....but she appeared from the promo to be getting too involved. Based n what we have seen this season, I still think Kevin can be the most helpful set of hands in the kitchen, but we will see. One thing to remember is that Bryan and Kevin are obviously close and supposedly agreed to help each other get to the finale, so I think Kevin will really help.

By the way, isnt it kinda famous Top Chef lore that the winner of the next to last challenge rarely wins the title? FYI-Bryan won penultimate in Vegas and then Michael won and if you look at Wikipedia it is rare that the the winner wins 2 in a row....other than Paul Qui since there was no stopping him!

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Bastet

Bastet

(edited)

I'll be thrilled with a Melissa or Stephanie win.  If Bryan wins, I won't be upset, but I will be disappointed.  All three make delicious food, but his almost never interests me the way theirs often does.  Especially Melissa's, who has been my pick from early on and remains so - her food is the most original.

Edited by Bastet
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