Top Chef: I like my reunion shows montage-y

The most interesting footage from this season’s Top Chef seemed to end up on the cutting floor but luckily we got to see it all in the reunion episode. Bravo TV’s Andy Cohen once again hosts the special with guests Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons, and Toby Young as well as cheftestants in the latest round of the show. This episode was like one long gag reel and it was fun to watch all the funny things that happened while they were filming.

The first big question of the night is how the judges decided that Michael Voltaggio won the title. In the end Tom explained that it was as simple as Bryan’s first two dishes being under salted. They proceed on to the next question on what life has been like after being on the show. Most of them had mentioned the publicity their own restaurants have gotten as being great for business, getting more customers as well as more reviews than before. This seems particularly comforting for our runner up seeing that before he came on he was worried that his restaurant would go bankrupt.

While the whole Robin vs. Mike Isabella/Eli/Michael scenario made for good television, they patched it all up with Eli even apologizing to her for anything he said that might have offended her. It was funny to see the montage of Robin talking to herself throughout the season that seemed to annoy a lot of the other contestants. Who knows if they were playing nice in the reunion special or that they just played up the annoyance in the show for the sake of television ratings? In any case it was entertaining to see the character that was Mike Isabella. The DC chef, who apparently just got married recently, proclaimed he was actually a nice guy in real life and that his undying confidence in himself was what kept him motivated to be better. Did he seem annoying at times? Yes. At least he wasn’t being fake.

Another hilarious thing pointed out this season was while the caliber of contestants was the highest it’s ever been, there seemed to be a lot of self directed criticism and bashing going on. This was probably my favorite clip out of the entire episode because it was pretty funny to watch how often the chefs thought their dishes sucked.

The best behind the scenes footage also always involves drunken revelry and nothing was more entertaining than the night of Mattin’s birthday, where the name of the game was to get as intoxicated as possible. The birthday celebrant proceeded to throw up and then jump into the hot tub to strip down while Jen and Ash were still inside. At the very end Mike and Mattin carry Jen who was fighting so hard to not get thrown into the pool (which she did).

We also learn that former Top Chef contestants Marcel Vigneron (season two runner up) and Hung Huynh (season three winner) had both worked with Michael and had been the ones to encourage him to join the show. The two had both cooked for him in the past. Meanwhile, Ilan Hall (winner of season two) had worked with Bryan at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole and according to a Q&A chat session hosted by the Washington Post got this Voltaggio brother interested in the show.

It dawned on me after watching that they never announced who the fan favorite was! There was a small blurb at one point where they debated on who would win, having it be either Kevin (or his beard) or Bryan. Padma points out that she thought Jen would have a big chance as well and then they went to a montage on Jen’s time on the show. Apparently if we want to find out, we’ll have to watch it on Andy Cohen’s show Watch What Happens that airs on Thursdays at midnight.

Lastly, why did they choose to air the reunion special an hour earlier than the normal 10 pm spot that the show has been on? Perhaps I should write to Bravo and demand an explanation, or at least ask where I can get a bottle of the quickfire wine.

Season 6, Episode 15: Watch What Happens Reunion (original air date December 16, 2009)

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Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and Virginia Sherwood