Ok, we're beginning to annoy ourselves with this incessant reporting on all the Top Chef shenanigans, but since we've come this far?. Food & Wine posts a disclaimer today:
Yesterday, an intrepid reality tv fan found a Top Chef story on Food & Wine's server. Food & Wine prepared profiles of both Top Chef finalists in advance of the last episode so that we had a story on the winner ready to publish immediately after the season finale. Now for everyone to see, here are profiles of both finalists, Marcel and Ilan. Watch Top Chef on Wednesday, January 31 at 10PM EST to find out the real winner.We love that it was a fan's fault for stumbling into the "server" and smacking head-first into the Ilan article, but it's no one's fault for putting it on the website. Hands shaking as they typed as fast as possible, F&W practically begs us to watch the final episode.
In our TV-like mind, here's how we saw it go down: Gail flew through the F&W offices yesterday, fire coming out of every orifice, slicing heads with red laser-beam eyes, roaring at the top of her lungs (not that we think she wields that much power, we just like the image). To save themselves, someone said "Hey, let's just say there were two stories and keep everyone guessing." No one had a better idea, so Gail's fire turned to steam as she slumped back to her lair office. An article was thrown together about Marcel, following the same format as aforementioned Ilan profile—even interviewing Gail, since, you know, she was there—and they hope beyond hope that everyone buys it. But there's an apathetic tone to the Marcel piece, with a hint of?sniff sniff?Is that desperation I smell? Perhaps that's Marcel's natural scent, or it's just a quick hatchet job to keep fuming Bravo/NBC Universal execs at bay.
In true Bizarro World fashion, there could be another reality: F&W did the whole leak thing on purpose to see how rabid everyone would get over a supposed spoiler and watched as the fan base spun itself into a tizzy before the finale. Maybe this was all some sort of brilliant media maneuver (we like to stay positive; we actually like Food & Wine). Maybe it was the ultimate Punk, now that the news spread like wildfire.
In the end, TC2 fans are calling this sophomore season a mess, from the contestants to the lack of focus on the food to the head-shaving antics to the faux-real spoiler leakages. Let's just call Wednesday's final ep "Two A**holes Go to a Cooking Show," and you might as well watch, feign surprise, and then blame the messengers for getting the spoilers wrong. It could be anyone's game at this point (but we still think Ilan takes it all). With this, we'll try to stop talking about the show and get back to our regularly scheduled programming.
· Top Chef: Season 2 [Food & Wine]
· Breaking: Top Chef Finale Spoiled AGAIN [Eater LA]
