Top Chef Power Rankings

By David Mumpower

November 20, 2013

I'm dating which season 5 contestant? Please be Fabio. Please be Fabio.

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4) Stephanie
The Boston BFF of last season’s champion, Kristen Kish, jumps into the top four after winning the Elimination challenge last week. I have previously mentioned how Stephanie can struggle in pressure situations on the show. What seems to be transpiring this season is that the deeper she goes into the show, the more that volatile cooking situations become the new normal for her. That constant stress is allowing the hysterically caustic woman to adapt. The most impressive aspect of Stephanie’s victory last week is that the judges all adored Nina’s gnocchi. For Stephanie’s dish to be their favorite, it must have been the stuff of myth and legend. Last season, the former basketball player experienced a brutal turn of events. First, she was not deemed unworthy of a chef’s jacket. Then, her best friend differentiated herself from the other competitors early in the Seattle season before eventually winning the whole shebang. I don’t care how great a friend someone is. Jealousy has to be a factor in play after such a scenario. How has Stephanie handled her humiliation? She has not only earned a spot in season 11, but she is identifying herself as a legitimate threat to win. That is a remarkable showing of personal strength.

5) Carlos
Another part of the winning Green Team, Carlos again demonstrated that he is great in a team atmosphere. I questioned Carlos’s range as a chef last week, which may prove to be an unfair criticism as we move forward. What I maintained then that was reaffirmed last night is that when Carlos cooks his style of food untethered by arbitrary, oftentimes silly rules on Top Chef, he possesses dazzling skill. There are not a lot of chefs I believe can win this season. Carlos is one of the few.

6) Shirley
The words that resonate in my head while Shirley is onscreen are “jibber jabber." The unspoken thought is not a concept that Shirley understands. Yes, that can make her annoying at times, but I still find her endearing because she is a maximum effort, maximum focus contestant. Who happens to talk too much.




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7) Nicholas
I am not sure how to proceed with Nicholas right now. Based on talent, he is in the upper half of the remaining players. He also happens to have a communicable disease, and I don’t mean the kind that requires penicillin. Nicholas wore gloves for most (but scarily not all) of the Elimination Challenge. He seems to be recovering. The only true cure for strep throat is a tonsillectomy, at least long term. I suspect that Nick recovers from his illness, and we all forget about this incident. I have dropped him two spots not because of his performance last week – it was a miraculous performance for even half his food to be lavishly praised – but due to the uncertainty regarding his health.

8) Sara
Sara did not win the Quickfire challenge last week. What she did manage, though, was that she worked on half of the winning dish. Brian’s food came from the station she manned twice. Given the struggles Sara faced the previous week, this upturn in performance was enough to reassure me that Sara is not in the downward spiral. The editing indicates that she will be a presence for a while, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if anyone from this point downward were eliminated. All of them have struggled more often than they have excelled. On the plus side, we are at roughly the point in the season where Joshua caught fire last year (but not in the Katniss Everdeen sense).


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