Welcome to our season-ending chat-a-palooza. Will Gregory "Tall Urkel" Gourdet take home the top prize tonight? Or will it be Mei "Unresolved Family Issues" Lin? Join us as we watch the show, discuss the unfolding events and experience the final outcome together!
As always, the show will air on Bravo (at 9 Eastern, when it will also stream online here), and our chat will happen down in the comments — just as it has nearly every Wednesday night for the past four months. And that time has flown right by, hasn't it? It has for me, anyway. Not only did I have a lot of fun chatting and watching Top Chef with you folks, but I learned many valuable things along the way. Take last week, for example, when — after seeing Gregory cook escamoles (ant larvae) — I asked commenters to share their insect-eating experiences, and subsequently learned the following:
- AgingHipster, who has eaten Mexican xamoes beetles, reported that they taste "delicious, like really crunchy sunflower seeds."
- LiliVonShtupp, who once ate green ants in the rainforest, said they were "awesome" and "tasted like mint."
- carlinemom once ate a candied grasshopper in Vietnam, and said it was "revolting."
So there's some useful international entomophagy info for anyone planning any globe-trotting, bug-eating excursions. You're welcome!
And here is some not-so-useful anticipatory info about tonight's episode:
- Gregory and Mei will get high together – in a balloon. And as they reflect on the natural beauty of Mexico from aloft, they'll probably come to realize just how much they truly dislike each other.
- Tonight's guest judges will include Donnie Masterton, a Mexico-based chef. He is not, by the way, the same person as the actor from That 70s Show — that's Danny Masterson. I just thought I'd clear that up now to avoid any future disappointment for any Stephen Hyde fans out there.
- Mei will tell us she wants to "punch the judges in the face with flavor" — much as, I'm sure, she used to punch her little brother Harly in the face when they were kids.
- Eliminated chefs will return to serve as "sous chefs" — again. This time, it'll be Melissa and Rebecca cooking for Mei, and Doug and (who else?) George cooking for Gregory. In the end, this season will probably be remembered most for all the contestants who packed their knives but never seemed to actually go away — like college graduates perpetually living at their parents' house instead of moving out and getting on with their lives.
And of course, tonight, a winner will finally be crowned, whom most of us will probably forget about within a month or two. (Who won last year again?) But what I won't forget is all the fun I've chatting with you all you fine, funny folks in these open threads each week. It's been an honor to be your host, and I hope we get to do it again sometime soon.
OK, the show will start soon, so ... once more unto the comments, dear friends, once more!
[Image via Bravo]
