I neglected to mention last week that I had a Top Chef dream. I don't remember much of it anymore, except to note that I was a Season 3 contestant, but somehow got bailed out of totally misunderstanding a challenge by Season 2's Elia.
Anyhow, my top picks keep losing. At the beginning of the season, if I had had to pick who I thought would make it to the final 4, I would have chosen CJ, Tre, Lia, and Hung. And as I mentioned to Derek today, if you gave me Tre, Lia, and CJ, I'd put that team up against any combo of the folk who are left.
It's been a weird season, and no one's rise to "success" has been more symptomatic of that than Brian, I think. You'll recall that, during the after-party challenge, he spent most of his time grabbing customers. During the 2 weeks of restaurant wars, he was in the front. And on the boat, he was coordinating most of the time. What saved him last night from elimination was the Dread Broccolini. By my count, that's like 4 or 5 episodes in a row where he hasn't exactly earned the right to stay on the show. And now he's one elim away from the final 4? Hmm. It's not that I don't like him or anything, but I'd have a tough time arguing that he's a better chef than those who've packed up their knives and gone.
We'll see, I suppose.
Jeff predicted a CJ victory, which made no sense to me at all. He seems to be one of the most average of all the chefs--never shining, never really sucking. No way was CJ a winner.
My prediction: Dale. Jeff predicts Casey.
Oh, I pick Casey too. It would be weird if Sara won. She seems good, but not quite good enough. And I really liked Lia. I think the final two will be Hung and Casey. Hung could totally screw up, but he doesn't do that often.
I thought Tre was going to take it all and Hung would be long gone by now. I liked CJ too and agree with your assessment of Brian. Casey squeaked through early and has come on strong as of late.
Now what .... Sara? No. Dale? Likely. Hung? I hope not. Have to go with Casey, I think.