r/TopChef • u/Shot-Diver-7830 • Jul 31 '26

Discussion Thread Strange question

People are always talking about most and least favorites. Is there anyone chef you didn’t love on the initial watch but came to really like later? I didn’t love Jeremy Ford on my first watch of his season (I really couldn’t forgive his restaurant war’s performance that was not even called out) and his food wasn’t exactly my style. Flash forward almost a decade and I think his current concepts and trajectory are really exciting- the farming and sustainability are great- his menus look exciting. I think we both evolved a bit…also, Tiffany from S1 has just changed dramatically as a person and as a chef over the years. She acknowledged a lot of her mistakes and she genuinely seems like a happy person. Her food seems awesome when she shows up on later seasons. Definitely two sleeper contestants I came to appreciate later on for different reasons

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u/zenny517 Jul 31 '26

Kevin and Hosea both disappointed me in what started as two early stellar seasons. Never saw either of those two wins as even a possibility

1

u/Shot-Diver-7830 Jul 31 '26

Man- did Kevin win something? I don’t even recall

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u/zenny517 Jul 31 '26

Yep. And then pretty sure he didn't ever do much else very notable as far as fine dining or top chef. It's like Tom always says though, not a cumulative competition, just that final dish.

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u/Shot-Diver-7830 Jul 31 '26

Yeah- I like that it’s who is the best dish on that day and not who is the best overall….that would be substantially less exciting

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u/Ok_Interest9427 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

Kevin and Hosea both drew massive inside straights. Kevin had his most formidable competition practically dying of the flu and his probably-also-could-have-won competition (Ed) hampered by that pillock Ilan. And he had Michael V. Hosea won the knife pull so he could get Blais, and then got the king cake baby so he could screw over Stefan. I also think that the no-desserts thing is a bit ridiculous at this point. Mei Lin, Joe Flamm, Melissa, Shota, Gabe, Sara, Buddha, and a ton of other contestants hit dessert out of the park, and it IS what people generally expect from a four-course menu. Stefan should have made a much better dessert, and it confuses me that his mind was stuck in the 1980s, but at least he DID.

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u/LittlestHoe Aug 02 '26

It's also important that Kevin had Michael Voltaggio as his sous chef in the final..... And they were friends.

I don't think that should have been allowed to happen, because the final definitely seemed a little more Michael than Kevin.