Top Jello

Tiffani is getting railroaded.

I finally saw the “reunion” episode of Top Chef the other night, and I seriously couldn’t sleep afterward.

Tiffani is being cast in the role of the villain. Don’t think for a minute that just because it’s Reality Television that there aren’t people behind the scenes working the events into “story lines” and pushing the players into “characters”. They are called editors and directors.

I’m not saying Tiffani is a saint, if you’ve ever worked in a real pro kitchen, you know it aint stocked with saints. My problem is that they are taking some of her best attributes and by virtue of editing and bitter co-player assessment, turning them into unsavory qualities.

Plus, the same people are trying to turn Dave into the Fair Princess. Poor Dave has been run over by Tiffani, poor Dave has had to endure being interrupted. Poor Dave needs to grow a pair.

In a strange way it’s a bizarre sexism. The ballsy bitch is being beat down by the shemale. Huh?

When you cut through all the dramatics, all the camera angles and created strained pauses, you come down to this: Who is more like Tom Colicchio and Hubert Keller and Charlie Trotter?

Is it Dave who shows panic and flusters through a kitchen? Or is it Tiffani who is curt and focused and drives to get the job done, no matter what? Can you honestly see a legion of sous chefs and line-cooks responding to Dave with a respectful YES CHEF! while he twitches and mumbles to himself as the pressure mounts? It takes a strong person, someone to lead the battle that is dinner service in a top kitchen.

What about Harold? I like Harold quite a bit, he reminds me of someone I know (I’m just a cook). But I worry that Harold doesn’t have the fire in the belly or the knowledge of the other side of a restaurant to really be a star.

Who will win? Who knows. If Dave wins it will be Top Jello, pandering to the masses who want their winners to be sweet and palatable. If Tiffani wins it could be Top Bitch, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in a real kitchen. If Harold wins, it will be because the other two started to believe their own press.