Top Chef, Spoilers--running commentary

[jjsooner73]

Wanna play?

Spoilers

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chocolate truffles with sauteed chicken livers?
WTF???? That must makes me nauseous.

Everything else looks palatable.
Marcel's looked interesting, and something different from most of the others.

[jjsooner73]

I can't believe Elia shaved her head.

Wow. She had beautiful hair.


And as for what happes next. . . wow, this could be considered criminal if it happens, no?

[SheRa]

i'm SOOOO glad ilan saved his butt on that last challenge, because the quickfire was a disaster! i had a feeling that cliff was going to have to go home after he did the sleeper hold on marcel. what a way to wake up! but at least he went home without putting up a fight or being immature. sad though, because he has a lot of talent.

that thing at the end was a little too set up. i knew they'd send all 4. but it's good, i can't wait to see what they do next week. and 2 are going home, right?

[Peweh]

Elia's hair looked so REAL too before she whipped that bandanna off!

I was glad they all got to go, but if one had to leave it would've been her. After all, she maybe should have had to leave already before (Mia?) volunteered in her place.

Cliff's behavior was unacceptable. I'm all for a little hazing but only if Marcel had been in on the whole thing from the beginning. I feel bad for him, yeah he's slightly annoying but then they show shots of him sitting alone on the roof just to avoid the harrassment, he went and slept in the bathroom tonight... I DON'T think he ratted out Cliff either, it was just the videos that caused the inquiry. Marcel is about 1/10th as annoying as Stephen was.

I vote for Sam. He's been my favorite for a while.

[KristiB]

No chicken liver chocolate truffles for me either. Blechh.

I was so disappointed in Cliff even though he seemed to regret his actions. It looked more aggressive than a "prank" and Marcel felt threatened enough to spend the night in the bathroom without blankets. I think Sam was kind of egging him on too. He's a tool but he'll probrably win.

Sending Cliff home was the right thing to do.

And Elia and her whining... she 's not much of a competitor if she wants to pack her own knives and leave because things aren't going her way. Between shaving her head and the chocolate pudding incident I think she's a bit of a nut.

[lindrusso]

Between shaving her head and the chocolate pudding incident I think she's a bit of a nut.

I kind of like that about her. :) But yes, she tends to have tantrums.

I figured they would have sent Cliff home anyway, which they did then say, but I'm glad they chose not to send anyone else home - they all deserve to be in the finals.

I think it's anyone's game to win since they all seem to have off nights and the judges decisions seemed to be based more on the current night than on past performance. Though I do think that if they can't decide between 2, they do take past performance into account.

However, I think Sam has probably been the most consistent in what he has turned out and probably deserves to win based on that - but it's not based on that, so who knows? :)

For the first time I kind of liked Marcel. He handled the whole thing with Cliff in a dignified manner - shaking his hand and wishing him well when Cliff had to leave. And no, I don't think Marcel ratted him out either.

How much time passes between each episode? In the next show, Elias hair has grown in quite a bit - it has to have been several weeks......

At least NOW I know why Ilan kept wearing a bandana and a hoodie in all the post-interviews! They must have been taping those post interviews after he shaved his head and he had to cover that up. I just thought he was being a doofus and trying to look cool!

Ilan REALLY needs to wipe that sh*t-eating grin off of his face. When they lined up for the judges, the others were serious (and taking the whole thing seriously) and there he was, obviously thinking his shaved head was just so very funny........ :rolleyes:

Interesting episode! I liked that Padma said called them idiots. :D They are behaving like college frat kids, not chefs..........

[avariell]

i am a lurker on this thread :) but last night's episode was enough to get me talking!! :eek:
i may be in the minority when i voice this opinion... but here goes- i can't really blame them for acting like idiots. after however long of rooming and working with the same set of people in such a stressful environment, you are bound to go a little nutty. i think marcel handled the situation very well... and i felt bad he slept in the bathroom. i guess i do think they acted stupidly but i can't really blame them for going crazy. i would lose my marbles if i had to be roommates with my co-workers, let alone if we were all competing for some huge prize. besides if this show was really all about being chefs, they would NOT live together or be sequestered from their families, etc.
also - i think elia looked stunning with a shaved head. i thought she was much prettier without hair :D :p

[lindrusso]

i may be in the minority when i voice this opinion... but here goes- i can't really blame them for acting like idiots. after however long of rooming and working with the same set of people in such a stressful environment, you are bound to go a little nutty.

I was thinking the same thing with some of the antics and was inclined to agree, but there are constructive ways to blow off steam and get nutty - like Elia smearing chocolate all over her face or shaving her OWN head - but to engage in conduct that could get you kicked off the show is crossing a line and just stupid.

Establishing yourself as a great chef is very difficult. If they come off bad on TV, they may risk quite a bit when they go out into the real world and try to get people to take them seriously. I would think they would want to show themselves in the best light possible.

[avariell]

lindrusso: i do agree with you about maybe thinking about finding a more constructive way to blow off steam... i found it interesting that ilan and elia were sort of missing in action during the marcel-cliff thing. i think sam came off as the biggest idiot for just sitting there. it didn't even sound/look like elia was in the same room - plus i can't see her participating in physically harassing marcel since they are friends in real life.
establishing yourself in any profession is a challenge, but i personally wouldn't hold any of what happened in last night's episode against them. it is difficult enough to always be on your "a" game in everyday life- i don't think it is possible to imagine how it feels to do it in a fishbowl environment. (having said all of that, i figure they all signed up for this experience so it is their own fault :))

[newtricks]

Establishing yourself as a great chef is very difficult. If they come off bad on TV, they may risk quite a bit when they go out into the real world and try to get people to take them seriously. I would think they would want to show themselves in the best light possible.

You would think that wouldn't you?:D Most chefs are pretty nuts though. Investors and owners are looking for someone who can get good food out to the customers. Bad behavior and idiosyncracies completely go with the territory (think Mario Batali doing lines on a pizza box!) Seriously, many big chefs are totally insane.

[avariell]

You would think that wouldn't you?:D Most chefs are pretty nuts though. Investors and owners are looking for someone who can get good food out to the customers. Bad behavior and idiosyncracies completely go with the territory (think Mario Batali doing lines on a pizza box!) Seriously, many big chefs are totally insane.

or anthony bourdain's experiences he talks about in Kitchen Confidential! it really is a profession for nuts :)

[newtricks]

or anthony bourdain's experiences he talks about in Kitchen Confidential! it really is a profession for nuts :)

;) Bingo. They are bad bad bad boys. (the women tend to be quite down to earth actually)

[SDMomChef]

What an episode! I was just cringing when Elia shaved her head - she had such beautiful hair! And, I agree with lindrusso that a few weeks had to pass between competitions since her hair has grown out so much in the previews.

I kind of think that Elia and Elan are cute together - like Elan moving into the "girls" room to keep Elia company.

I am wondering if the stress of the competition is getting to Elan - he seems to have had a couple of bad quick fires.

I also like the way that the final 4 seem willing to help each other (other than Marcel) - like with Elia and her dessert. I can't blame her for being upset - the pressure to be perfect is huge, and if you are a perfectionist to begin with - it would be really hard. But, she needs to learn how to adjust too. I just like Elia - love her accent.

[Hammster]

What an episode! Both challenges were relatively easy compared to those that have gone before. The Quickfire was 90 minutes! How quick is that? (Or did I not hear right and it was shorter?) And, with the exception of having to use chocolate, it was pretty wide open. And then the elimination challenge was equally wide open. Pick your menu, shop and 5 hours to prepare it.

Having served in the Navy on Submarines I know a bit about what kind of special person it takes to do certain jobs. Submariners are known as wild and crazy away from work because the stress of the job requires some steam blowoff later. So, Elia and Ilan shaving heads was a hoot and very enjoyable to see. Glad to see them blow off that steam. Cliff was a favorite (and still is) but his aggressiveness led to his demise. He really did break a hard, line in the sand, rule and had to be let go. There was no choice. I'm glad to see the remaining 4 get to go to Hawaii. I think Padma's delivery to Marcel and Elia was great. A bit of comic relief in what was a very stressful judges table. Marcel still makes me crazy with the way he talks, (can anyone tell me what soignee (Sp?) means?) but his cooking is good and consistent I think. I think it's gonna be Sam or Elia in the final. Avariell said Elia looks good with her head shaved. I agree, but I think she looks better with hair. I'm just glad to see Ilan's pointy hairdo gone.
Lindrusso, I'm not so sure Ilan thought his shaved head was funny in front of the judges. I got the impression that the grin on his face was more from embarrassment and he was looking pretty sheepish to me.

[Sookie]

I personally do not dislike Marcel. Nor do I think he's as bad as his co-chefs seem to think. Maybe they cut out the parts where he is horrible, but what parts they do show I don't see him as that annoying. He's really not worse than any of the others and I think he has the desire to become a top chef more than any of the others - just MHO.

As for the attack on him by Cliff, I thought that was all wrong. He should pick on someone his own size. Big Cliff and Little Marcel? Marcel handled that way better than I would have.

[MISSINDI]

Wow, last night's episode was quite the shocker, wasn't it? I felt bad for Marcel too, and they definitely got a little out of hand. I can't believe she shaved her head - what beautiful curls! - but I guess it was probably a little freeing.

Did you guys read the piece in NY magazine on Padma (http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/26577/index.html)? There's also a piece on Marcel (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/01/top_chef8217s_marcel_doesnt_lo.html).

[Hammster]

...and I think he has the desire to become a top chef more than any of the others - just MHO.



This, I agree with. But I'm not sure the judges agree. Although Padma really seems to like him based on her comments from this last episode. I'm not so sure he has the leadership qualities necessary to be Top Chef whereas I believe Sam does.

[little_bopeep]

OK, I've gotta keep up better. Was I the last to know that Padma is married to Salman Rushdie???

[SDMomChef]

OK, I've gotta keep up better. Was I the last to know that Padma is married to Salman Rushdie???

I didn't know that either....

And - did you notice in the article that it referred to Sam as the "former" executive chef - hmmmm....is that a clue that he wins?

[gertdog]

Wow- what an episode!

I thought Ilan and Elia shaving their heads was fun. I'd read a spoiler long ago that Elia shaved her head and that the producers were livid because they had to hide her new appearance in the "confessional" interviews so that they could splice them into the episodes w/o obvious breaks in continuity.

I do think Elia gets a little annoyingly "woe is me" when she's really stressed or frustrated, but I liked the chocolate facial and head shaving- harmless ways to blow off steam.

As for the Marcel situation- Cliff definitely needed to go. I wonder if there was any discussion of sending Sam or Ilan home too- clearly there was someone else in the room as Cliff held Marcel down- you could hear the clippers being turned on and off, and someone kept calling for Elia to come in (to watch? help?). Considering what we've seen on this show I think Marcel has handled himself remarkably well.

I think Sam or Elia will win. Or maybe I just think the two of them make the food I'm most likely to want to eat! :)

[Beth H]

I thought Ilan and Elia shaving their heads was fun. I'd read a spoiler long ago that Elia shaved her head and that the producers were livid because they had to hide her new appearance in the "confessional" interviews so that they could splice them into the episodes w/o obvious breaks in continuity.

I couldn't believe she did that - her hair is beautiful. Did anyone else pick up on a bit of an Ilan-Elia "vibe" last night? Although they did pointedly show a picture of Elia and her boyfriend at one point during the episode.

[mrswaz]

I learn a lot reading the blogs. According to Tom's blog, they took a 3 month break between last nights episode and the finale in Hawaii.

I also found that Tom actually wanted to send all the chefs home and let Marcel win by default-and I don't think he was kidding, given his tone in the blog.

Something else I didn't know has to do with the timing. This episode was filmed in summer, but planned to air in winter, so the chefs need to use off-season ingredients when preparing their food. That has to be hard in itself! I knew there was some time delay to consider, but that has to be difficult to try and think out of season. It also changes things when there is a budget involved- don't you think?

I also didn't know that the interview segments were all done afterwards. I am one of the ones who thinks that Elia is stunning with her shaved head. And Ilan is so immature... I think he would just go along with the pack no matter the consequences. Now I'm going to go find his recipe from last night- that sounded to good to pass up. :)

[rosen]

But what about when Marcel grabbed at the camera/camera person shooting the scene? Did he actually shove or knock or harm either of them? He is not totally guiltless in his behavior. The whole situation was so uncomfortable to watch... it was too quiet, too one sided, & it went on & on & on. Cliff is huge compared to petite little Marcel... yesh!, a head lock?!?

The article posted by Missindi was very interesting in that they were able to give a few more details on the reasons why they all didn't care for Marcel.

As far as Sam being a "former"...perhaps he had to quit his job to be able to compete & hasn't found a like position. I'd rather think that he did win. Even though many of you found a lot of Sams" behavior childish or uncalled for... when it comes right down to it: his food was consistent, often good, often got compliments, he is a diabetic that took chances w/ foods he can't even eat, & even if he picked on Marcel-- his overall character was mature. JMHO!

[gertdog]

But what about when Marcel grabbed at the camera/camera person shooting the scene? Did he actually shove or knock or harm either of them? He is not totally guiltless in his behavior. The whole situation was so uncomfortable to watch... it was too quiet, too one sided, & it went on & on & on. Cliff is huge compared to petite little Marcel... yesh!, a head lock?!?

This is just my opinion, but I would think that Marcel's reaction would be considered reasonable self-defense. He's been awakened, attacked and threatened, is retreating to the bathroom all kinds of freaked out, and here's this tool with the camera coming at him again to do... who knows what? Part two of the "prank?" So he shoves them out of the room and closes the door, thereby ending the whole mess. I don't have a problem with that.

The blogs were definitely an interesting read this week! The judges sound genuinely disgusted.

[swquilts]

Someone above mentioned Elan's spikey hair...what about Sam's goofy quasi-tied up ponytail thing or Marcel's turbanesqe Oompa Loompa hairdo??? If you want to stand out....cook great!

Anyway, I digress. Even tho Marcel is a sniveler, (IMHO not an outstanding chef either) they shouldn't have picked on him like that. Sam was a bit instigater in that little episode too, but he didn't manhandle Marcel so Cliff took the fall.

I thought Cliff's dish was BORINNNGGGGGG. I feel that he would have gotten the axe anyway.

PS: For DVR users...how come only the "semi" finale is showing up in my Season Pass Upcoming Episode list? Weird........

[Canice]

Caught this week's episode tonight! Well, it promised to be filled with mischief and drama, and in its own small reality-TV way, delivered.

Yup, Cliff had to go home. No matter what the others said or did, or however they egged him on - that was assault. I can't imagine having someone jump on me in the middle of the night and wrestle me to the floor. Who doesn't know that's wrong, wrong, wrong? And being drunk is not, obviously, an out.
I have no problem with Marcel shoving the person with camera away; that had to be very traumatic, even if he was "cool" about it later.

i may be in the minority when i voice this opinion... but here goes- i can't really blame them for acting like idiots. after however long of rooming and working with the same set of people in such a stressful environment, you are bound to go a little nutty.

I don't buy that. On last week's thread, a lot people said Sam was out of line for blowing up at Marcel, and I made a similar argument - the producers intentionally create a situation of personality conflict in addition to professional competion, and there's a lot (what with cameras rolling all day long, having to share bedrooms, no free time, etc.) that we don't see. So that much I get. But Cliff didn't just "act like an idiot" -- he physically assaulted someone. Can you imagine what it was like to be Marcel, sound asleep one minute and thrown to the floor the next? No amount of stress allows for writing that off as going "a little nutty". I get testy when over-exposed to people, but I wouldn't try to shave someone's head, or wrestle him to the floor. That's a whole different level of aggression. And very not OK. Even in a professional kitchen. It may be considered OK because Marcel is a guy, but what if they'd decided ELIA "needed" to have her head shaved. Probably less OK.

I'm guessing Sam won, just because he's been the most consistent and the most chef-like of all. As for the "former chef at..." well, Marisa is now the former pastry chef of Ame: she had to quit to do Top Chef (well, there's probably more to it than that -- but being away doing the show has to have professonal implications, bad as well as good).
Elia has turned out way more talented than I thought at first, but she's not a chef. llan is obviously talented, but I think he'd have to hit one out of the ball park to prove himself. Is Marcel the dark horse? Obviously talented, buuuuut.....

I look forward to catching up on the blogs tomorrow (except for Dave's, which I will torment myself with despite my better judgment).

[PAMMELA]

OK, I've gotta keep up better. Was I the last to know that Padma is married to Salman Rushdie???


Ummmm......who is Salman Rushdie?:o

[SheRa]

Ummmm......who is Salman Rushdie?:o

i'm in the same boat as you...i have no clue who that is.

[Beth H]

Salman Rushdie is an important contemporary author - this is from Wikipedia:

Salman Rushdie (born Ahmed Salman Rushdie, on June 19, 1947, in Mumbai, India) is a British-Indian essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), which won the prestigious Booker Prize, and his ongoing literary output has continued to receive critical acclaim and commercial success. Rushdie is best known, however, for the violent criticism that his book The Satanic Verses (1988) provoked in the Muslim community. After death threats and a fatwa by Ruhollah Khomeini, calling for his assassination, he spent years underground, appearing in public only sporadically.

[barbara-cook]

I didn't see the whole episode by my husband and stepdaughter were watching it and filled me in. We had watched the previous episode and the previews and she was certain that there would be head shaving on the next episode. She really likes Marcel, but my husband and I do not.

As for having to live in that environment full time for x amount of weeks, and put up with "talented' personalities (which can be tough), and be creative and competitive, I think I would've lost it long before now. Still everyone is correct in saying that Cliff is a big guy and should know better than to pick on someone Marcel's size. He did take his dismissal well, and I was glad to see him apologize to Marcel, who seemed sincere in accepting it.

Overall, I think the food in this season has been disappointing. Maybe the producers of this show need to get back on track and focus on that instead of the personalities more next season. Yeah, we enjoy the fireworks from time to time, but it's a show to become TOP CHEF, not top idiot.

I'd like to see Sam win, but as someone else said, he (and Marcel) could do with a little less hair and their little tied back do's.

[stacy7272]

Ilan REALLY needs to wipe that sh*t-eating grin off of his face. When they lined up for the judges, the others were serious (and taking the whole thing seriously) and there he was, obviously thinking his shaved head was just so very funny........ :rolleyes:

I actually thought of you when I was watching this episode seeing that grin on Ilan's face. I hate it too but I get the impression that Ilan is like Jerry Seinfeld, he almost can't have a serious look on his face. Annoying.

Cliff crossed the line but I was very impressed that he took full responsibility for his actions and didn't try to make excuses.

I did think that they would take all 4 contestants to Hawaii but they actually did get me with the "pack up your knives" line. I thought maybe they changed it to have the finals just be against two people! :eek: Luckily that wasn't the case.

Honestly, I think Marcel was the only one (besides Elia) that wasn't annoying this episode. I can't believe that Sam wasn't going to help Marcel with service just because Marcel couldn't help him. They were different situations! Then he says, "I'm not that guy." Um - yes you are - you hadn't helped Marcel in the past because you were acting immature.

I really am starting to like Marcel and I find myself wanting him to win because he's the underdog. If it were Marcel taking up every darn burner and Ilan had to cook his whole meal on one burner - boy they would have talked about how horrible Marcel was. But it is okay for Ilan to do.:rolleyes:

[avariell]

I don't buy that. On last week's thread, a lot people said Sam was out of line for blowing up at Marcel, and I made a similar argument - the producers intentionally create a situation of personality conflict in addition to professional competion, and there's a lot (what with cameras rolling all day long, having to share bedrooms, no free time, etc.) that we don't see. So that much I get. But Cliff didn't just "act like an idiot" -- he physically assaulted someone. Can you imagine what it was like to be Marcel, sound asleep one minute and thrown to the floor the next? No amount of stress allows for writing that off as going "a little nutty". I get testy when over-exposed to people, but I wouldn't try to shave someone's head, or wrestle him to the floor. That's a whole different level of aggression. And very not OK. Even in a professional kitchen. It may be considered OK because Marcel is a guy, but what if they'd decided ELIA "needed" to have her head shaved. Probably less OK.

i actually agree with what you said - i just don't think that cliff deserves any criminal charges or anything... it was a mistake but a forgivable one (imho) :)

[rosen]

I can't believe that Sam wasn't going to help Marcel with service just because Marcel couldn't help him. They were different situations! Then he says, "I'm not that guy." Um - yes you are - you hadn't helped Marcel in the past because you were acting immature.



Tit for tat. It doesn't matter that the situation was different. Marcel did not help Sam. Sam did end up helping Marcel. Marcel has chosen who to help & not help in past episodes & it hasn't always been Sam that he did. The NY article said that Marcel went off on Sam about cheating (not explained). If someone called you a cheater would you later jump in to assist? I'm not saying that Sam is the most mature individual... just that by editing, he is shown to be more not than I think he really is. He runs (ran) a kitchen w/ 8 cooks under him-- not exactly something you can do if you can't handle pressure or different personalities. I think Marcel just takes him to his breaking point.

Sams' hair is long & kinky (you saw it wild for 2 seconds in the last episode)so he has to wear a headband & tie it back in a ponytail to conform to professional kitchen hygiene. This is something that grosses me out about Marcel... all that Edie Munster hair. Ick!

And what I said earlier about Marcel shoving the camera person-- I didn't mean that he should be punished, too. I just ment that he has not been blameless in his treatment of his roomies. He chose to use verbal assults & not physical ones. I do not condone what Cliff did at all-- he went over the line. I just ment that Marcel was an easy target for their venting.

[MISSINDI]

I don't think Marcel pushed or shoved the cameraman - it seemed like he was lunging at him a bit just to scare him off, but hard to tell.

Sam reminds me a lot of the the guy who won last year (what was his name again?) - consistent, nose to the grindstone, concentrating on becoming Top Chef. Aside from the little bit of sniping lately with Marcel, he really seems to be concentrating on winning, from the very beginning. And if I remember correctly, he was one of Food & Wine's Top New Chefs... I'm looking forward to the reunion show when they bring everyone back. I wish they'd bring everyone back from the last episode - I like to see what everyone's been up to.

[KristiB]

On TWOP someone took screencaps of this episode. They show Elia with a full head of hair right after Cliff attacked Marcel. That means that Bravo lied in editing the show. Ilan and Elia shaved their heads to cover their butts after the fact.

Take a look......

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/306/eliaqe1.jpg

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7414/elia2pj3.jpg

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/178/elia3iu3.jpg

Also Marcel gave an interview:

-Cliff followed him after the assault and was throwing things(like chocolate bars) at him and THEN he went into the bathroom to hide. Ilan was holding the camera.

-Marcel was at a nightclub after filming in Vegas and some girl came up to him and said, "are you Marcel from Top Chef?' and when he said yes he was hit in the face with a bottle-30 stitches!!!

-The reason he said stuff after the catering thing(when Sam won) was because he had worked very hard and they had all congratulated themselves and thanked eachother(Sam, Ilan, Betty) and had completely ignored him. He was upset by not getting any recognition from any ot them and that is why he spoke up..he was just pissed that he was not recognized at all.

link to interview:

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/2007/01/18/feature2.html

[lindrusso]

On TWOP someone took screencaps of this episode. They show Elia with a full head of hair right after Cliff attacked Marcel. That means that Bravo lied in editing the show. Ilan and Elia shaved their heads to cover their butts after the fact.


Hmmmm..interesting that her head is not yet shaved, but how would shaving their heads after the fact save their butts?

[Jazzmatazz49]

It would not save their butts! They are all nuts. I want Project Runway...Top Chef has not been fun this season. :confused:

[Canice]

I guess the bottom line is that Cliff was sent home for violiating the rules of his agreement by assaulting Marcel. I'm not sure it would be any worse if Elia shaved her head *after* the incident (though it would be worse IMO if she'd staged the conversation about wanting to shave her head afterward.
Can you imagine what would have happened to Stephen if he'd been saddled with that cast??

[Tally]

Hmmmm..interesting that her head is not yet shaved, but how would shaving their heads after the fact save their butts?

Both the cheftestants' interviews and Bravo's editing make it appear as if the attempt to shave Marcel was after Ilan and Elia had done theirs first and then things "got a little out of hand" with Marcel. Instead, they went after Marcel first, got a big laugh out of it, and then decided to do it to themselves. Not much of a difference, but makes them more meanspirited and dishonest. It also paints Elia in less sympathetic light, as she clearly knew what was happening during the incident.

I agree with Jazzmatazz49 - this has not been a fun season.

[Canice]

Not splitting hairs, so to speak, but what I was driving at was that if they really DID have the conversation about "I always wanted to shave my head" and "what if Marcel..." and so hatches the plan is really what occurred: they talk, make the assault on Marcel, and THEN shave their own heads...to me it's not exactly as bad as if they hatched the plan and then staged the "setup" conversation after. If that makes sense. But ultimately it really it all nets out in the same place, no?

[cminmd]

I have been bummed that no one from "project whatever" has ever gone on to do anything. Part of the reason the show is so exciting is that you see the baby steps of a new career. But Harold never opened up Perilla (100,000 does NOT go far in opening a new restaurant in NYC. Too bad he didn't try to open somewhere else where things aren't quite so competative first.)
And for Project Runway, Jay has done nothing but a few bags and the dress Heidi didn't wear and Chloe just has the same store she started with, she just charges more. And I have no interest in anything that this last guy designs. I couldn't even watch the finale show because someone told me who won and I lost all interest. I did look at the collections online, all were a bit dull. I think Michael and Uli killed each other by coming up with the same collection concept. It's just sad that even with the tremendous exposure and seed money nothing got off the ground. That is why I wish Laura had won project runway. If she had won, a new collection would have hit Bergdorf's the friday after the final episode!

[Miss_Liss]

I'm new am just joining in but wanted to add my 2 cents :p

Personally, I feel that that it was unfortunate that Cliff had to go but am glad there were consequences for his actions. The contestants are under enormous pressure but Cliff made the decision to make it physical and there is no excuse for that (even if Marcel is a total pain).That being said, there is some fault on Marcel's side as I feel he "baited" the other contestants (do I hear passive-aggressive) but once again, no excuse for any form of physical assault!

Is it just me or do the producers need to take some responsibility for this. This has not been an isolated incident. Does anyone remember when Frank physically threatened Marcel for putting the bag with his toothbrush on the floor? The Top Chef rule is "harming or threatening to harm other contestants was potential grounds for disqualification". And when Betty and Marcel were having screaming matches?

It's unfortunate that this great show has spiraled into being just another reality show -- *sigh* what about the food!!??