Top Chef Power Rankings: Week 9

By Chuck Sudo in Food on May 12, 2008 3:00PM

It's starting to become anticlimactic in what, for us, has been an underwhelming season of "Top Chef." We really tried to get sucked into the show, with its local setting and local contestants. But it just seems as though all we've seen is the inside of the Boystown Whole Foods week after week, as if it's the only one in the city.

Now Nikki is gone, which brings the remaining contestants down to seven. The only real sense of drama left now is trying to predict what hat Spike will wear, how horny is Andrew, and when Lisa will leave. For all we know, it could be this week. Barring a colossal meltdown (which Dale seems capable of, judging from the video), the final four of Richard, Dale, Stephanie and Antonia is set. After that we start to wonder who will join Richard for the live finale, although some besides us have been intimating that Ms. Izard has actually been prepping for it with dinner parties.

And now, this week's rankings.

1. Richard (last week – 2): Making every man in the planet except this one look bad by offering to share his elimination challenge prize with Steph.

2. Antonia (last week – 3): Dare we say she just might sneak up and win the whole thing?

3. Stephanie (last week – 4): Grace under pressure, showing impressive forearm strength whipping up mayonnaise and tackling a wedding cake that received approval from Gale Gand. Bless you.

4. Dale (last week – 1): Yes, being a whiny bitch can drop you three spots in the rankings.

5. Andrew (last week – 5): Starting to develop a form of culinary priapism. Again, we don't want to hear about his boners, culinary or otherwise.

6. Spike (last week – 7): Held his tongue for way too long while Dale threw his entire team under the bus.

7. Lisa (last week – 6): Hair in need of a major hot oil treatment holds on for another week.

8. Nikki – (last week – 9): If she had at least shown a backbone and took charge she could have made the elimination interesting. Instead she went out as meekly as her pasta.