Reality Star Life Cycle: From Birth To The Supernova (Top Chef 3; Episode 9)

After last week’s disaster, the producers had a huge hurdle to overcome. Whether or not they succeeded is subject to debate. Now, I enjoyed this episode for various reasons. For starters, the quickfire challenge was great—a real competition. And the restaurants looked much better and the service was also quite improved compared to what we saw last week.

This episode offered two extremes. We witnessed the highs of success and those almost miraculous moments when things just come together perfectly. But we also got to see abject failure. Sara M’s performance in this episode was phenomenal. Not only did she kick Casey’s slow ass, but she also kicked my ass and made me eat my words. I will never call her lazy again. She rocked!

Interestingly, this episode kind of made me think of the life cycle of a star, those magnificent entities that live in solar systems near and far. I know, the strangest things pop into my head as I watch these reality programs. Anyway, Sara M’s success represents the birth of a star—a reality star.



She came out of nowhere, diced onions like there was no tomorrow, and proved more than effective as the executive chef of Quatre. Her star shone brighter than any other. Tre, on the other hand, represents the other end of the spectrum. He started off strong; easily one of the most promising of all the chefs.



Yes, he was once a bright star, wowing the judges with his well executed and beautiful dishes. Everyone expected him to make it to the final. However, he was unable to pull his team together. His unfortunate fall from grace was kind of like a stellar event—an explosion or supernova, one of the final stages of a star’s life cycle.



This episode offered quite a few pleasant surprises. We got to see a very loquacious Steven, showing off his sommelier skills. I actually like Steven.



There were other familiar faces—Joey, Sara N., Camille, and Lia. Oh, I just have to commend Lia for looking so amazing. Well done!




I was particularly pleased to see the lovely Camille. I can’t explain it; I don’t know much about her, but she seems like the kind of person who’d be fun to hang out with. She’s my kind of girl.



I have no idea why they invited Christopher Ciccone to participate this season. I mean, there are certainly better qualified interior designers. I guess producers assumed the gays would love to see Madonna’s pompous brother. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Bravo is seriously courting gay viewers. Yeah, they want us!



Now, I’ve made it very clear that I like Dale. I think he did an excellent job at the front of the house, and he also contributed a successful dish. However, this man has the most insane mix of gay traits. Stereotypes can be a gay man’s best friend. For example, people often assume that gay men have impeccable taste. Of course, not all gay have good taste, and some gays should never be allowed to express their inner gayness. Dale, I’m afraid, is a case in point. His unfortunate fashion sense, terrible interior design skills, and penchant for scented candles could have been his undoing in the previous episode. Fortunately, Bravo gave him and the other cheftestants another chance. Well, Dale did something that I found quite bizarre. As Ted pointed out, he was not dressed appropriately for the challenge. I can’t understand how any gay man could turn down an opportunity to dress to the nines. Brian looked more presentable. It’s a sad day when one is out-gayed by a straight man with subsyndromal Adult ADD. Hold on a minute; is Brian straight?



I’ve complained about the lack of female talent this season. Fortunately, Sara M stepped up to the plate and hit a home run. Casey is another story. She was the reason her team lost the quickfire challenge. Watching her dice onions was unnerving. How can one be a chef with such poor knife skills? I guess it’s possible, but I’m sure that kind of Chef is not Top Chef material. I’m so close to giving up on Casey. Actually, she should be eliminated soon. She really doesn’t deserve to make it to the final. I love ya, Casey, but I’m just being objective here.

CJ and Brian did almost nothing. They essentially left Tre alone. CJ’s dish failed, and Brian didn’t prepare anything. And his customer service skills were far from exceptional. I was a bit surprised that they eliminated Tre. However, his inability to lead his team to victory was a major downfall. How can you be a Top Chef and have poor leadership skills. Also, at this point of the competition, he should have known better than to send out food that was less than perfect. And it’s a shame that none of the other chefs bothered to scrutinize any of the food before it left the kitchen. They all failed their executive chef and themselves. It's sad that Tre was eliminated, but the show must go on.