Game on! Ilan Hall, who reportedly left his job at Mario Batali's Casa Mono the day the first of two final "Top Chef" episodes aired, will be in the final TC challenge against arch rival Marcel Vigneron. No one saw this coming, (especially Sam) but put your producer's hat on for a second and it makes sense—controversy makes good TV, so little smarmy gastro-chemist chef vs. line cook who doesn't have much vision beyond what he's been trained to do is a solid match.
But if we were to wager, we'll say Hall takes it all, and here's why. It's not that he's really the Top Chef of the bunch; few think he is. He's too young and punky for that. It's because he's no longer employed at Casa Mono, and he was once employed at Tom Colicchio's Craft in NYC. Yes, the alpha-male judge, the chef host, the one deciding everyone's fate (except when he's overruled by the producers). And although Colicchio almost "sent the lot of them home and let Marcel win by default" for the let's-shave-the-little-bastard's-weird-hair antics the week before, we can't see him, Padma, and Gail pick the Wolverine-weasel as the winner. Ilan has the best odds.
· Top Chef Semi-Spoiler: Ilan Hall Quits Job [Eater LA]
· Awful Ending [AOL Television]
· Top Chef Finale-Part One [Chowhound]
· Finale Part 1 [Tom's Blog]
· Sam's Exit Video [Bravo]
· Ilan Hall's Bio [Bravo]
