Season vs. Season

[Lillybee]

a picture of Kristin season 10 from her modeling days.

 

http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/1070908/tc101-model.0.png

[Lillybee]

Chris' hairdo kept me fascinated. Will it or won't it fall apart?

 

 

Chris's do was because he was growing his hair out for Locks of Love.

[snakenax]

The challenges were terrible including the chili and the bbq ones.

The chili and BBQ challenges really are part of a type of challenge the show just needs to drop: food items that in no way use any of the techniques or skills learned as a chef or at culinary school. Like with the fried chicken challenge(where they forgot to tell anyone what they wanted was Southern fried chicken).

[Lillybee]

I thought that Josie was self-medicating on Season 10 with something stronger than MJ.

[Asp Burger]

Not sure where else to put this (there's a forum for RFD, but it literally has two posts in it): Seeing S6's Bryan Voltaggio on Recipe for Deception reminded me that he was one of my favorite TC chefs ever to watch. So smart, so cool under pressure, and that great laugh! I loved that sexy dork. Still do, even with the current unflattering haircut.  

 

Of course he kicked ass in both rounds. Wasn't buying at all the "in the weeds" vibe they were giving him in the second one, when his competition seemed to have such an advantage. 

 

Please, Bravo. Swap him in for Blais as the past master who never goes away. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by Asp Burger

[Special K]

I was just hopping through this thread and it cracks me up that like 90% of the posts fall into one of the following three categories:

 

- Season 2 was the absolute worst

- Texas was the absolute worst

- Betty was the absolute worst

 

Came on here to say that one of my favorite challenges they did was the one where they went head-to-head and had to identify ingredients in a particular sauce.  Have they done that one more than once?  That one and the similar taste-and-identify-this-ingredient and the mise en place relay -- those are some fun challenges.  If they're going to do a challenge that is not straight-up cooking at least have it be one that is related (hello, stupid Instagram challenge).

[Asp Burger]

I only started watching with season 5 (the one with Stefan, Hosea, and Starbuck), but for me, best seasons were the one with the Voltaggios and the all-star season, and worst was the D.C. one that ended in that dreary Singapore finale. 

 

Some of the female contestants of the Texas season were extremely unpleasant people to spend time with ("some" = mean girls Heather and Sarah), but I really liked the winner that year, Paul, so it ended happily.

 

I don't like Last Chance Kitchen and other gimmicks they've used to keep the show fresh, like that terrible format for the finale of the Kristen/Brooke season. 

[AshleyLyn]

So I haven't watched Top Chef in a while because I kept losing track when the seasons were starting, and when I finally found out, the new season would be nearly done. 

 

How have any of the past few seasons been?

I watched some of the seasons, and All Stars, but nothing after. and can't remember much about them now except for what happened in season 2. I've always been a Marcel fan. Not sure why, but there was something about him. Plus I hated how the others treated him, especially with how he helped out so much in the past. He got a bad edit in All Stars season, and I didn't even enjoy the All Stars season much but I will agree Marcel was a bit of a jerk in that season, but I still like him. I follow him on Facebook and he seems pretty cool and to this day I still defend him. *shrugs* Ilan is a just a piece of shit, Hosea and Leah were sucky as hell, and there were a couple others I couldn't stand. 

[HyeChaps]

Except for the prize of the expensive new kitchen last week, where have all the prizes gone?  There used to be money prizes, trip prizes, wine prizes.

[Totale]

Except for the prize of the expensive new kitchen last week, where have all the prizes gone?  There used to be money prizes, trip prizes, wine prizes.

 

Those cost money.  Maybe we can interest you in a month's supply of delicious Philly Cream Cheese?

[California Girl]

I loved Top Chef Season Four, in which Stephanie Izard was the winner.  It is ungracious of Richard Blais to say that Stephanie won because he choked in the Finals.  In truth, Stephanie and Richard appeared to be equals in terms of talent and execution throughout that entire Season Four.   Richard's failings in the Finals may have made it somewhat easier for the Judges to decide in favor of Stephanie, but even if Richard had put forth his best effort and cooking, Stephanie still had more than enough ability to win.  Stephanie's continued and impressive success (http://www.stephanieizard.com/about/) as a Chicago chef and restaurateur prove her mettle and the Judges' sound judgment.

 

I also loved Season Five, with its larger-than-life personalities, including Carla, Fabio, and Stefan.  Those three contestants really defined that entire Season Five for me, so much so that I had to Google it to see that Hosea Rosenberg was the actual winner.  And even then I couldn't quite remember anything about Hosea.  That said, I again think that time has proved the Judges' final decision was probably correct.  Remember that they have the actual benefit of tasting and evaluating a contestant's cooking over an entire month of filming. 

 

Carla Hall has deservedly found success with ABC's The Chew (http://www.carlahall.com/), and she has a wonderful spirit and personality.  Fabio Viviani has similarly benefitted from his engaging personality to attain a certain "celebrity" success as a restaurateur and general cooking-related entrepreneur (http://www.fabioviviani.com/).  And Stefan Richter has (perhaps somewhat disappointingly, as he was the runner-up that season), established mild success in the Los Angeles restaurant scene, though admittedly that is some very stiff competition. 

 

Hosea Rosenberg, to his credit, actually appears to be very successful as a chef and restaurateur in Boulder, CO (http://www.blackbelly.com/team/).  And his Blackbelly Market restaurant gets phenomenal reviews on Yelp and Open Table (http://www.yelp.com/biz/blackbelly-market-boulder-2) for the consistency, creativity, and quality of his food and preparation, particularly his work with meat.  So perhaps the Judges were right to declare Hosea the winner in the end.   

[Christina]

I watched Season 4 not too long ago and think Blais DID do the best he could. He just wasn't as good as Stephanie. As they stood there talking to them about their dishes, he realized it, and when given the option to say something, said he choked. He then seemed to walk through life with the belief that he should have won. I watched All Stars too, and he was still going on about "choking" in Season 4.

 

I then went back and watched Seasons 1 and 2, rediscovered the reason I bailed on the show, just finished season 3 and am now watching Season 5. I've taken breaks to catch up on the Americans, but expect to finish the rest of the seasons this month. Then, I'll be back to wishing that Dateline/Snapped/48 Hours, etc or Food Channel get's new stuff. 

[Julia]

Feh. Stephanie has proved what she's capable of since, and so has Blais. And what he's capable of, when propped up by a truly ludicrous level of famewhoring on television, is putting his name on other peoples' jumped-up burger barns.

I think it's absolutely telling that her food was sufficiently better than his that it overcame their clear institutional desire to make Richard happen, but the only thing you really need to know is that given a chance to build on her once in a lifetime opportunity, Stephanie wins awards for her work as a chef. Richard is a B-list food celebrity who used to be a fairly good cook, back when he still cooked.

[Wings]

I watched Season 4 not too long ago and think Blais DID do the best he could. He just wasn't as good as Stephanie. As they stood there talking to them about their dishes, he realized it, and when given the option to say something, said he choked. He then seemed to walk through life with the belief that he should have won. I watched All Stars too, and he was still going on about "choking" in Season 4.

 

 

 

 

Yes, she won clearly, fairly and earned it.  She is my favorite winner. 

 

Feh. Stephanie has proved what she's capable of since, and so has Blais. And what he's capable of, when propped up by a truly ludicrous level of famewhoring on television, is putting his name on other peoples' jumped-up burger barns.

I think it's absolutely telling that her food was sufficiently better than his that itto mak overcame their clear institutional desire to make Richard happen, but the only thing you really need to know is that given a chance to build on her once in a lifetime opportunity, Stephanie wins awards for her work as a chef. Richard is a B-list food celebrity who used to be a fairly good cook, back when he still cooked.

 

 

I don't see this, never did.  Tom was impressed with Stephanie straight out of the gate.  I saw no bias. 

[Julia]

I don't see this, never did.  Tom was impressed with Stephanie straight out of the gate.  I saw no bias. 

 

And since then, Richard has soused for Rick Bayless on Masters, had the after Top Chef mini-series, another bite of the apple on All Stars, an invitation to Duels, and a running spot as the least informative and charismatic judge in the franchise. I assume someone wishes him well.

[Christina]

I was searching for the photos of Elia with hair during the Marcel attack, and came across this video from Eric Ripert to Elia after she left the All-Stars season and insulted Tom. It's on Bravo's site, and autoplays. I hate autoplay with the fire of a thousand suns, but love Eric Ripert at least that much. 

 

I also found this blog post of his where he suggests that Jamie should remove herself from the competition. It is quite the passive-aggressive take down, but since it is Eric Ripert, it is excusable. :D

 

 

So Jamie, for some reason, doesn't cook for two times in a row and is still in the competition. I think a lot of the viewers are frustrated with that. I myself am very surprised that she's still in the game. I think she should go home, but not necessarily by being sent home, I think she should just go home on her own, because she seems to be absolutely miserable. She doesn't like anything, she's not a good teammate, she doesn't show any good cooking skills. I think she is very overwhelmed by the season, and I must say I really feel bad for her. And when we look at her on our TV screens, it's really painful to see someone so miserable like that. The team started to be after her obviously because they are frustrated to see someone who doesn't cook go to the next step and someone who cooks go home. It's not fair for everyone, I think she feels it also. I don't know what to say, I don't picture her going to far in the competition. Although we'll see what happens, she may just wake up or have a different state of mind, but as of now it's very, very painful to watch her showing no skills of leadership. So therefore, if you cannot be a leader, you cannot be a chef. She has no good technique or skills, so she cannot be a cook. So what are you doing on Top Chef?

 

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/blogs/eric-ripert/she-should-just-go-home?page=0,2

[NewDigs]

Ooh. Burn.

If I remember correctly she was the most cavalier/defiant of the almost-barbers and seemed almost proud of herself and them. A truly disgusting display.

Go Eric! I did not know he blogged the shows. Love me some Ripert.

[Julia]

Ooh. Burn.

If I remember correctly she was the most cavalier/defiant of the almost-barbers and seemed almost proud of herself and them. A truly disgusting display.

Go Eric! I did not know he blogged the shows. Love me some Ripert.

Wasn't that the season when he replaced that trollish little british man?

[NewDigs]

Wasn't that the season when he replaced that trollish little british man?

And that would explain his Bravo blog.

But it doesn't explain how I managed to forget he was a recurring judge in Season 7. Hmm. I've been wondering which season to maybe rewatch.

And I am now going try to re-forget the "trollish little british man". (snort @ description. Perfect.)

[Rai]

Come to think of it, there were several reasons why I stopped watching Top Chef on the regular for a few seasons, but clearly, the horribleness of THAT MAN of whom we shall not name was actually the main reason I stopped.  He was so terrible!  The only redeeming quality to him being on the judging panel was seeing how much the other judges hated him!

[Julia]

I loved the internet set-to between Jay Rayner (the snotty british critic from the early seasons of TCM) and our boy, who said americans hated him for being british:
 

I need to find a careful way to phrase this but... Toby, as you know, I also judge on part of the Top Chef franchise. And while I make no claims for myself, I can happily report there is no baying mob at the door, dressed like extras out of American Gothic, wielding burning stakes and pitchforks.
So consider this. Perhaps Americans don't hate people being British. Perhaps they just hate you.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Julia

[Tarasme]

Enjoying a re-watch.

S1- I'd forgotten how truly wooden Katie L not!Joel was. When I was busy in the kitchen, listening to my TC S1 rewatch in the background, I'd hear her and my minds eye would go to Cecily Strong and Vanessa Bayer's porn starts pushing mundane cookware.

S2- stopped watching after Sam won the first QC. Though, I admit, I was hoping I'd hang in there long enough to see Elan's much lauded by Gail Simmon's cookery skills.

S3-S5 not much reason to watch, though I think I'll go back and watch Chicago's first pizza challenge and maybe the finale.

S6- (I always think this is S5!!!) I LOVE VEGAS. Granted, I didn't re-watch much between the end of S1 and the beginning of S6 but S6 seems to have amazing chefs making amazing food rather than gimmicky seat o' yer pants challenges.

I just finished the AirForce ep- Volt takes a slab of bacon and treats it as pork belly. Simple and gorgeous with a crisp piece of bright green lettuce and sauce. Please note, I'm completely ignorant of the industry except as an interested civie but to me Volt seems to think of food, presentation, meals, etc. differently- in an almost savant like way. If it wasn't for Michael and Bryan (*sigh* Bryan *sigh*), I think I'd have had to burn Mike Isabella in effigy. Gag.

I'm not sure how much of post S6 I'll watch. I almost hate to watch Paul Qui knowing how sadly that's turned out. Maybe I'll sit through all of All-Stars. Probably I'll jump into a TC Masters re-watch.

[RealityCheck]

2 hours ago, Tarasme said:

S3-S5 not much reason to watch, ....

Season 3 episode 9 is worth watching for the quick fire mise en place relay when Hung broke down 4 chickens.  It's worth watching just for Tom's reaction to Hung's speed.

[mjforty]

I just finished rewatching Season 2 and I cannot believe the bullying of Marcel that was allowed.  I hope the participants in Season 2 look back on their behavior and are ashamed of themselves.  I get that Marcel was probably annoying but their main complaint seemed to be that he was confident in his ability as a chef.  Given the stereotype about chefs and their egos, I'm surprised this was an issue.  Marcel was much kinder to the other chefs than I would have been.  They were constantly yelling at him, degrading him verbally and calling him all sorts of offensive names.  They chastised him for minor infractions (the aforementioned refusal to help with service because he told Betty to hold off serving because the wine hadn't been served yet.  Betty claimed he barked at her and all he did was yell "hold off" because people were starting to serve.  He was talking to the room and saying it loudly so everyone could hear).  Yet, in that same episode, Sam is screaming at Marcel in the middle of a store and Ilan is undermining his dish to the guests but Marcel is expected to take that and not react.  They were just awful.  And, unless there's a ton of unaired footage where Marcel is absolutely horrible to everyone, there was nothing shown that justified the bullying Marcel had to endure the entire season.  And that does not even include pinning him down and trying to shave his head.

Oh, and Richard Blais is a sore loser and I can't stand him.  I hate that Top Chef keeps trying to make him happen.

[The Solution]

On 11/22/2016 at 7:00 PM, mjforty said:

I just finished rewatching Season 2 and I cannot believe the bullying of Marcel that was allowed.  I hope the participants in Season 2 look back on their behavior and are ashamed of themselves.  I get that Marcel was probably annoying but their main complaint seemed to be that he was confident in his ability as a chef.  Given the stereotype about chefs and their egos, I'm surprised this was an issue.  Marcel was much kinder to the other chefs than I would have been.  They were constantly yelling at him, degrading him verbally and calling him all sorts of offensive names.  They chastised him for minor infractions (the aforementioned refusal to help with service because he told Betty to hold off serving because the wine hadn't been served yet.  Betty claimed he barked at her and all he did was yell "hold off" because people were starting to serve.  He was talking to the room and saying it loudly so everyone could hear).  Yet, in that same episode, Sam is screaming at Marcel in the middle of a store and Ilan is undermining his dish to the guests but Marcel is expected to take that and not react.  They were just awful.  And, unless there's a ton of unaired footage where Marcel is absolutely horrible to everyone, there was nothing shown that justified the bullying Marcel had to endure the entire season.  And that does not even include pinning him down and trying to shave his head.

 

I always thought Ilan was WAY into Marcel and teased/annoyed him just like a teenage boy does with a teenage girl that he likes. Marcel was oblivious to all of this and wouldn't give him any attention which was hilarious.

Sam was just King of the Douchebags and Bullies. He probably has small hands.

[FormerMod-a1]

Question for the masses.  Who do you think is "worse", current season's Emily or Lisa Fernandes from Season 4?  They have the similarity of lasting way longer than anyone expected.  I'm thinking it may be Emily for me.  By all accounts Lisa's final challenge tasted good.

FYI, full disclosure - while they both have annoyed me at times, and maybe more than most contestants, I don't hate either one of them.  I just think they stayed longer than they "should have" based on what I saw.  

[cooksdelight]

I agree that Emily is worse. Lisa could cook, she just had a shitty "Me Me Me" attitude all the time. Emily doesn't have the cooking ability to still be in this, in my opinion. She is the luckiest competitor in the history of this show in that she manages to skate by every week. When someone like Jim goes out ahead of her.... I'm dumbfounded.

[ProudMary]

I think Lisa's attitude was far worse.  Also, Emily has been among the top three in at least two Quickfire Challenges, which indicates to me that she can cook well.  

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, sourpickles said:

Can't wait for this season reunion...you know it'll be a sound bite...

They don't do season reunions for this show and havent for a longtime. I want to say the last one was Vegas but I might be wrong.

Edited February 1, 2017 by biakbiak

[sourpickles]

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

They don't do season reunions for this show and havent for a longtime. I want to say the last one was Vegas but I might be wrong.

Well, that's a bummer.  I thought I was just missing them!  This is yonks ago, but I could have sworn they did one for Texas.  Not positive though.  Anyone?

[VintageJ]

I seem to remember a Texas reunion with the mean girls trying to justify/explain their mean behavior.  

[sourpickles]

5 minutes ago, VintageJ said:

I seem to remember a Texas reunion with the mean girls trying to justify/explain their mean behavior.  

Once you said that I went over to Wikipedia (though I'm sure there is a TopChefapedia somewhere) and it looks to be the last season they did the reunion.  I think maybe it's all on Watch What Happens......  Speaking of which, so I don't have to go back and sift through so much stuff, does anyone know off the top of their head when the last time a blind taste test was done?  I really enjoyed having that back, silly answers and all, and I know ppl. had mentioned previous go rounds, but I also know it was gone for a bit.

[chiaros]

50 minutes ago, VintageJ said:

I seem to remember a Texas reunion with the mean girls trying to justify/explain their mean behavior.  

See here; and here for a discussion of it.

[VintageJ]

Thanks Chiaros.  But I'm almost mad at myself for reading it because it reminded me of all the nastiness.  But then again, thanks cause it also reminded me how much I loved Paul winning.

[cooksdelight]

Has anyone heard any news about Paul, updates on his recent arrest and drug issues?

[Princess Sparkle]

18 hours ago, biakbiak said:

They don't do season reunions for this show and havent for a longtime. I want to say the last one was Vegas but I might be wrong.

I think the last one was for Texas actually, because I remember Andy Cohen asking Sarah about saying "Fuck you!" to a judge after losing in the finale, and she lost her shit and denyed it. Which made me laugh, because based on Emeril and Tom's reactions to her denial, she definitely said it to one of them.  But I can't remember a reunion after that, so maybe they figured they couldn't top that. 

I wish they'd bring them back though, because I always enjoyed them. Plus, with no judges blogs, it would be an opportunity to find out the judges thoughts on their decisions throughout the season. 

Edited February 1, 2017 by Princess Sparkle

[chiaros]

20 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Has anyone heard any news about Paul, updates on his recent arrest and drug issues?

http://www.eater.com/2017/1/4/14166784/paul-qui-kuneho-austin

http://specials.mystatesman.com/paul-qui/

[chiaros]

18 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

I think the last one was for Texas actually, because I remember Andy Cohen asking Sarah about saying "Fuck you!" to a judge after losing in the finale, and she lost her shit and denyed it. Which made me laugh, because based on Emeril and Tom's reactions to her denial, she definitely said it to one of them.  But I can't remember a reunion after that, so maybe they figured they couldn't top that. 

I wish they'd bring them back though, because I always enjoyed them. Plus, with no judges blogs, it would be an opportunity to find out the judges thoughts on their decisions throughout the season. 

Yes, TC Texas was the last one they did a reunion for. And yes, Sarah Grueneberg was reported to have cursed at Emeril LaGasse. It was said by some that Sarah G shifted into "Wah, Wah, I'm the Victim" mode when questioned on this by Andy Cohen, who was the "lead host" of that reunion; and that Tom C and Emeril L were both recognizant of this having happened and were discomfited by this being raised in the reunion.  The reunion also included various sorts of stuff, other than the revisit of the "Mean Girls" versus "Beverly Kim", but the latter was the driving force of much of the viewer and reunion attention - and was unpleasant to watch. Heather Terhune simply refused to apologize to Beverly Kim and bluntly stated that she said what she said and that it was what she believed to be true, at least at the time. It was also commented upon by some folks (in blogs and recaps) that Gail Simmons seemed quite shocked that Heather T was so unrepentant about her behavior. The EW recap I posted above gives a precis of this reunion without being complete about what went on.  

I somewhat suspect that TPTB decided after this "reunion" that future ones should be avoided.

[cooksdelight]

@chiaros, thank you for the update on Paul. I hope good things continue to happen to him and he can put the past far in the rear view mirror.

Anytime Andy Cohen is involved in a reunion show, it turns into a shitfest. If left to their own choice of emcee, I think Tom and Padma could conduct a nice recap of what everyone's doing now.

Don't get me started on the Mean Girls.....Sarah and Heather were awful. I was once friends with Sarah on Facebook until I saw how she talked to some people. I blocked her.

[Mrs. DuRona]

On 3/8/2016 at 1:41 PM, HyeChaps said:

Except for the prize of the expensive new kitchen last week, where have all the prizes gone?  There used to be money prizes, trip prizes, wine prizes.

Rewatching from the beginning on Hulu, and the prizes weren't really there early on.  There were cookbooks from the gust judges or an invitation to work with them at a festival.  The big trips and money prizes were in the later seasons - probably once the show took off.  

[holly4755]

I just wanted to put this back in there because season 2 faded into history and Marcel now seems just like a weirdo that annoys by being different, but at the time there were a lot of not on TV videos on the web site. My husband and I would go and look at them after each show. What you are missing is that Marcel thought he was a great rapper.  and he was not, he would follow other chefs around the living quarters rapping about how he was great and they were crap. ALL THE TIME. He was young and stupid. And more than annoying, probably enough to make people insane. And then they acted out and poor Cliff(?) lost out.  Anyway if other chefs tried to have a conversation, there would be Marcel rapping and waving his hands in their faces. If they were trying to sleep he would be over their beds, if they were in the bathroom, he would be outside the door. The major complaint of most was that they could never get any peace. I guess it got worse as there were fewer and fewer chefs. 

I just wanted to put that out there, he has apparently grown up and is friends with many people now, but he ws really young on the show. 

Edited September 13, 2017 by holly4755

[Bastet]

Nothing justifies the battery, but even without seeing that extra footage (I don't watch the online-only stuff), I always thought if I had to spend 24 hours a day with Marcel, I would want to wrestle him to the ground.  I wouldn't actually do it, and I should at the least be kicked right off the show if I did, but I would want to -- he drove me fucking nuts just from an hour per week. 

[holly4755]

Who ever used to do their extra video was great, I loved it when the vitaggio brothers were on, they were such brothers off the show, fighting (silly not aggressive) over the last bag of potato ships, running through the house jumping over things.  They were more like 10 year old brothers, Sort of reversed the serious reputation of the kitchen. A copuple of the people who were not fan favorites, seemed so much better off the air. 

[chiaros]

This current season – Season 15, Top Chef Colorado – does not particularly excite me, and specifically in terms of the cooking. I have said elsewhere that IMO Top Chef has "jumped the shark".  In this regard I also find the cooking to be...underwhelming.  I still think of TC Season 6 – with the Voltaggio brothers, Kevin Gillespie, Jennifer Carroll (at a time when she was cooking well) to be the season which interested me the most in terms of what the cheftestants cooked and presented. There was a lot of interesting good food then.

[cooksdelight]

I agree. I could have done better on this week’s show and I’m not a professional restaurant-owning chef. I do private catering, that’s about it. 

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, chiaros said:

I still think of TC Season 6 – with the Voltaggio brothers, Kevin Gillespie, Jennifer Carroll

That season was head and shoulders above all of the others IMHO. Loved it.

[threebluestars]

Which season was the Quickfire challenge where they had to cook with peppers, and the hotter one you chose, the higher the prize money? I really loved that challenge, but damn if I can remember what season it was lol.

[biakbiak]

29 minutes ago, threebluestars said:

Which season was the Quickfire challenge where they had to cook with peppers, and the hotter one you chose, the higher the prize money? I really loved that challenge, but damn if I can remember what season it was lol.

It was Texas, Paul won using the ghost pepper and then the elimination challenge was the chili cookoff. 

[threebluestars]

Damn, I was hoping it wasn't Texas so I wouldn't have to rewatch it lol.

[HunterHunted]

On 9/13/2017 at 12:22 AM, holly4755 said:

I just wanted to put this back in there because season 2 faded into history and Marcel now seems just like a weirdo that annoys by being different, but at the time there were a lot of not on TV videos on the web site. My husband and I would go and look at them after each show. What you are missing is that Marcel thought he was a great rapper.  and he was not, he would follow other chefs around the living quarters rapping about how he was great and they were crap. ALL THE TIME. He was young and stupid. And more than annoying, probably enough to make people insane. And then they acted out and poor Cliff(?) lost out.  Anyway if other chefs tried to have a conversation, there would be Marcel rapping and waving his hands in their faces. If they were trying to sleep he would be over their beds, if they were in the bathroom, he would be outside the door. The major complaint of most was that they could never get any peace. I guess it got worse as there were fewer and fewer chefs. 

I just wanted to put that out there, he has apparently grown up and is friends with many people now, but he ws really young on the show. 

Marcel was annoying, but those assholes physically assaulted him. Betty was an unrelenting cow to him. I thought Marcel was annoying when I watched that season, but was more put off by Betty who repulsed me on a visceral level. I'd always thought Ilan was a smug douche. Furthermore, the internet did kinda erupt when Ilan won basically remaking Casa Mono's tasting menu. I still think he's a smug douche. This doesn't mean I like or love Marcel. In truth, is Marcel any worse than Katsuji, Spike, Fabio, Philip Frankland Lee, Dale Talde, Beverly, or any of the more annoying chefs. I think Claudette is awful. I don't want anyone to assault her.

What was a truism in reality tv at that time was that you NEVER laid hands on other people. Cliff, Sam, Elia, and Ilan were disgusting. Even worse was how they blatantly tried to cover their asses after they realized they fucked up. Cliff lost out because he was the only one to actually touch Marcel, but Tom really wanted to kick every last one of them out.

I watched that season live.  I've since rewatched it. One of the things that Marcel did that pissed the other chefs off was that he talked extemporaneously to the camera about what he was making. That's something that they expect the chefs to do now. When Marcel was doing it, it was clearly novel. It's since become standard procedure.