Top Chef Power Rankings: Week 7
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Apr 28, 2008 2:30PM
One thing that has never happened throughout the series run of "Top Chef" has been a female chef taking home the big prize, as monotoned by Padma in the introductions. If one wins this season, she won't be Jennifer Biesty (left in photo, with her lovah Zoi), who flamed out marvelously last week.
As the remaining chefs in the competition now number in the single digits, we thought it might be time to take a look at the possibility that one of the remaining female contestants breaks through the patriarchal glass ceiling. A case can be made that the odds-on favorite to do this would be Stephanie. She's responded amazingly well with her back to the wall and has been very consistent in elimination challenges. But frontrunners rarely win these competitions and Steph hasn't won a quickfire, which is why last week was a bracing reminder of how quickly you can be eliminated. Expect her to buckle down this week and beyond.
As good as Steph's been, Antonia may be just as consistent, despite the lack of seriousness she and Lisa took their elimination challenge last week. Antonia has been steady throughout the competition, as evidenced by her blind taste win in the quickfire challenge two weeks ago. She and Steph both favor balance in their cooking and classic technique, as opposed to Richard, who might be as inclined to shower with a mud shark as he is smoking something with ras al hanout. Those three, along with Dale, are our penciled-in final four, but anything can happen in the next five weeks.
Anything did happen last week, which is why we have a shakeup in the power rankings.
1. Dale (last week – 2): To paraphrase the Dude, "He's a creep, but he can roll, man."
2. Richard (last week – 3): Dual wins in both the quickfire and elimination challenges bumps him up a notch below Dale.
3. Stephanie (last week – 1): An off week, but one that should have reminded her that you can't always be in the gold star line during every elimination challenge.
4. Andrew (last week – 5): Is it us, or is Andrew calming down as the competition progresses?
5. Antonia (last week – 4): Flamed out almost as hard as Ms. Izard last week, but still in it.
6. Lisa (last week – 6): Her dessert item in the quickfire showed that she doesn't need to be paired with a mature chef in order to deliver, then she and Antonia putzed around through the improv elimination challenge.
7. Spike (last week – 8): We're suspecting that time's running out for the walking hat rack.
8. Mark (last week – 5): He and Nikki delivered in last week's elimination challenge. Gets to wear aviator shades another week.
9. Nikki – (last week – 10): Still alive, but we don't think for long.
10. Jennifer (last week – 9): The first major faux hawk eliminated in the competition. That sigh of relief you hear is Richard thanking his dumb luck at not having to share his hairstyle any more.