Mary wrote:
I hope Stephanie wins, though I'm probably biased because I ate once at her restaurant in Chicago before it closed and loved it. She's still easily the least annoying person this season.

I concur. Stephanie is easily the most talented and humble person this season, aside from that Curry Peanut Tomato abortion she made recently.

mr.arrison wrote:

Mary wrote:
I hope Stephanie wins, though I'm probably biased because I ate once at her restaurant in Chicago before it closed and loved it. She's still easily the least annoying person this season.

I concur. Stephanie is easily the most talented and humble person this season, aside from that Curry Peanut Tomato abortion she made recently.

heh, yeah i like stephanie a lot, she seems nice and her food usually looks damn tasty. probably the only person who hasn't annoyed me once and definitely the best of the female cooks (cute as a button too).

but as sketchy as his faux hawk and boner for molecular gastronomy are, i still think richard is probably the most talented... dale too although his chance was lost the second hung won last season.

kenoki wrote:but as sketchy as his faux hawk and boner for molecular gastronomy are, i still think richard is probably the most talented... dale too although his chance was lost the second hung won last season.

I agree that Richard is really talented. They should be getting old, but I find I'm still a sucker for his food puns.

Go Antonia! She is easily the most normal person on the show.

I'm so glad that Nikki is finally gone. I've hated her since the first episode with the Chicago style pizzas, where she got all, "*nasal Fran Drescher voice* I'm from New Yawwwwkkkk. We don't eeeat deep dish pizzawz."

I've read a couple of rumours about her sleeping with one of the producers of the show and thus being spared for so long. I'm normally not one to pay attention to gossip, but in this case it would be completely believable that this happened.

scoopneck: Why do you think that Antonia is the most normal one on the show? She seems like a backstabbing cunt to me, possibly with severe control issues (if anyone diverges from her lead she immediately puts them and their ideas to the grave as being rubbish, and continues to attack them until they submit to her and let her plan everything instead).

I'm actually hoping Richard wins this, or Stephanie. No way Dale will win the contest, as pointed out earlier in the thread re: The Hung Factor. Andrew will be kept on as long as possible because he's constantly tweaked the fuck out and an entertaining antagonist. Lisa will be kept around for the same reason, though she lacks the spectacle produced by the meth/coke. Shit, of all of them, Lisa is the one who should be doing heavy drugs. Get that woman some opiates pronto.

I'm going to guess that Antonia or Dale disappears next episode, though I lean toward it being Antonia.

Mandroid2.0 wrote:
scoopneck: Why do you think that Antonia is the most normal one on the show? She seems like a backstabbing cunt to me, possibly with severe control issues (if anyone diverges from her lead she immediately puts them and their ideas to the grave as being rubbish, and continues to attack them until they submit to her and let her plan everything instead).

I'm going to guess that Antonia or Dale disappears next episode, though I lean toward it being Antonia.

I don't get from the show that she has control issues. She seems really level headed to me. If she shot someone's idea down, it was probably because it was rubbish. You didn't love what she said about Dale and his diaper?

Unfortunately, I don't see Dale going any time soon because he brings the drama, and TV loves that crap.

scoopneck wrote:I don't get from the show that she has control issues. She seems really level headed to me. If she shot someone's idea down, it was probably because it was rubbish. You didn't love what she said about Dale and his diaper?

She shot down the idea for the squash soup in the episode where she had immunity anyway, which seemed sort of dickish to me. If she didn't like it, perhaps she could have compromised. Andrew got kudos for using that recipe in the next episode.

I also eternally detest her for being half of the "Polish Sausage Incident" team (with Lisa), which essentially spat on kielbasa as being lowly and replaced it with unrelated chorizo and Chilean sea bass (which you really shouldn't eat if you are even half paying attention to the world of over-fished marine life). My family has always had two meats it prepares on Easter Sunday---kielbasa from our butcher and a ham---and having those two prostitutes spit on the face of my heritage and equate kielbasa with the Hillshire package you put in the microwave makes me want to bludgeon both of them and projectile vomit down their throats.

Mandroid2.0 wrote:

scoopneck wrote:I don't get from the show that she has control issues. She seems really level headed to me. If she shot someone's idea down, it was probably because it was rubbish. You didn't love what she said about Dale and his diaper?

She shot down the idea for the squash soup in the episode where she had immunity anyway, which seemed sort of dickish to me. If she didn't like it, perhaps she could have compromised. Andrew got kudos for using that recipe in the next episode.

I also eternally detest her for being half of the "Polish Sausage Incident" team (with Lisa), which essentially spat on kielbasa as being lowly and replaced it with unrelated chorizo and Chilean sea bass (which you really shouldn't eat if you are even half paying attention to the world of over-fished marine life). My family has always had two meats it prepares on Easter Sunday---kielbasa from our butcher and a ham---and having those two prostitutes spit on the face of my heritage and equate kielbasa with the Hillshire package you put in the microwave makes me want to bludgeon both of them and projectile vomit down their throats.

So far she hasn't insulted my family heritage, so I suppose my emotional investment in the show is less than yours. I could be wrong, but Lisa seemed to be behind the anti sausage movement. Either way, it was a bad strategy that almost got one of them kicked off. That said, Antonia is still at the top of my list for her overall attitude and skills. She won the tasting challenge too, which I think is pretty important in the kitchen.

1. Stephanie will win.
2. Richard is THIS close, but will take a risk that backfires on him in the final episode just enough for Stephanie to take it.
3. Dale could win if he had control over his "street" persona that comes out every few episodes. His desire to kick ass gets in the way of his obvious skills.
4. Andrew is better than I would have ever guessed, but he's still too much of a hyper lunatic to focus on actually winning. He does have the best line of the season so far when he stated when on the chopping block that he would only leave the competition if forcibly removed. He almost won me over with that one. Because it would be really really difficult to forcibly remove him. HEH!
5. Spike has actually impressed me a couple of times, but overall, he doesn't have the skills to win. And he's kind of a doofus with the hat schtick.
6. Antonia had a nice couple of feel good episodes spun her way, but in general, I have to concur with 'droid. She's a mean girl and a cheater to boot. She's playing the psychology game more than trying to win with food. "If he wins with that dish I'm going to throw up in my mouth." Nice.
7. Lisa. Cheer up. Man, THAT is a depressed person. You're on Top Chef. You presumably put yourself there.
8. Nikki - THAT took longer than I would have guessed. I'm sure she cranks out some fine home made Italian fare at her restaurant, but top chef?

cesb wrote:1. Stephanie will win.
2. Richard is THIS close, but will take a risk that backfires on him in the final episode just enough for Stephanie to take it.
3. Dale could win if he had control over his "street" persona that comes out every few episodes. His desire to kick ass gets in the way of his obvious skills.
4. Andrew is better than I would have ever guessed, but he's still too much of a hyper lunatic to focus on actually winning. He does have the best line of the season so far when he stated when on the chopping block that he would only leave the competition if forcibly removed. He almost won me over with that one. Because it would be really really difficult to forcibly remove him. HEH!
5. Spike has actually impressed me a couple of times, but overall, he doesn't have the skills to win. And he's kind of a doofus with the hat schtick.
6. Antonia had a nice couple of feel good episodes spun her way, but in general, I have to concur with 'droid. She's a mean girl and a cheater to boot. She's playing the psychology game more than trying to win with food. "If he wins with that dish I'm going to throw up in my mouth." Nice.
7. Lisa. Cheer up. Man, THAT is a depressed person. You're on Top Chef. You presumably put yourself there.
8. Nikki - THAT took longer than I would have guessed. I'm sure she cranks out some fine home made Italian fare at her restaurant, but top chef?

if we had a top chef pool going, i would steal your picks