Top Chef Exit Interview: Episode 12

Jacquey P, Wylie D-50 and Mama Lydia all showed up for an epic Top Chef last supper, but one chef’testant didn’t make it to dessert. They tell all, after the jump…

Can’t say we never saw this one coming. Leah seems like she’s had her head out of the game ever since the whole face-sucking scandal. But she did cook a few impressive dishes along the way. Here’s her side of the story:

If you could have traded for a different culinary celeb to cook for, who would you have picked?
I think I probably would have chosen the same thing I got. I thought all of them were pretty simple and straight-forward, and I was happy with eggs Benedict.  If I had to, I would have chosen the squab, because that one’s pretty easy, and it’s for chef Pepin, who’s so awesome.

OK, enough with the softball questions. Let’s talk about Hosea. What happened?
Not much. Whatever you saw on TV was pretty much the extent of what went down. We hung out all the time, we’re really good friends, and then we kissed — on TV. Nothing else happened. We’re really just friends and it went a little too far. We’re just good friends, we’re not romantically involved, and I wouldn’t say that we were on the show. I see him as a friend.

Are you still with your bf?
No. Unfortunately not.

It seemed like you were losing steam towards the end of the season.
Yeah, I really just kind of did not want to be there towards the end of the competition. I was stressed out, and it takes a toll. Each challenge really wears you down. That’s part of the game, it’s designed to wear you down and unfortunately I couldn’t handle it.

Were you surprised when Jamie got kicked off?
I was surprised, only because I thought she would be in the final four. But in that episode, we all tasted her dish and I knew she would be going home, because her celery was salty and the skin of her fish was a little off. But I think overall she’s one of the most talented chefs, even more talented than some people in the final four.

What about this episode, did you know you were gonna go?
After judges’ tables, I knew from the criticism I would be going home. But before that, no, I didn’t think so, I didn’t think my dish was the worst, but I guess there were probably other times when I could have gone home but didn’t.

What about the episode where Ariane got kicked off? She seemed to think the lamb debacle was your fault for not helping her enough.
My take on that whole thing is that it’s kind of hard when you’re put in a group where two people out of the three have a friendship, and I think she felt like an outsider. I never intentionally threw her under the bus, and I didn’t think she should have gone home. I know a lot of viewers thought I should have gone home. But I didn’t think we should have been the losing team, I thought the pink team should have lost and Radhika should have gone home.

Who are you rooting for now?
Stefan or Hosea.

Who do you think will win?
Stefan.

Is he as annoying as they make him seem? 
No. It’s really funny because everyone thinks Stefan is this arrogant asshole, but you know, he’s got 23 years of experience, he knows what he wants and how to get it done. And yes, that can come off as a little arrogant, but he’s really a nice guy and I love him.

What about the judges?
Gail is awesome. She was really nice and spot-on, but really critiqued us in a postivie and constructive way. Padma, well Padma is Padma. There’s really nothing else to say. I don’t have anything nice to say about Padma, so I’m not goig to say anything. Toby, I didn’t get. He was just brought in to give his English wit and I just didn’t get it at all. Tom, I have a lot of respect for.

What did you think of Bravo’s portrayal of you?
I kind of stopped watching halfway through the season. I didn’t really like it. They made me seem like this clingy girl who was just throwing herself at Hosea, and that wasn’t how it went down at all. But that was a storyline that I guess was interesting, so whatever.