As a longtime country music fan, Top Chef Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard was more than willing to serve as executive chef at the 2011 CMT Artists of the Year gala airing Tuesday (9/8c, CMT) but looked to the honorees for inspiration when designing the evening's menu.
"I got a list from each of them, of the different things they like to eat and don't like to eat," Izard tells TVGuide.com. "Taylor Swift said she liked sausage and gravy from Cracker Barrel, so I did an itty bitty sausage and gravy thing for a passed hors d'oeurve."
read moreIn case you missed it, Elia is so not over having been eliminated first on Top Chef All-Stars.
After getting the boot in the season premiere, she mouthed off to the press about how she had been unfairly judged and specifically went after head judge Tom, accusing him of not serving grass-fed beef in his restaurants and endorsing Diet Coke. "He has become someone who is not all about the food anymore," she told the Chicago Tribune in December. "He's not all about supporting farmers markets. He's all about high-fructose corn syrup and there is only corn-fed beef on all of his menus now."
Top Chef's Mike: I thought I won
At the end of Wednesday's reunion special, host Andy Cohen asked her to explain her comments. read more
After putting out his "best food" on the Top Chef: All-Stars finale, Mike Isabella thought victory was his — until Padma Lakshmi announced Richard Blais as the champ. "I thought I won. I've never gotten comments like that before in both seasons," Mike tells TVGuide.com. "Regardless, I did win. ... It was a personal victory. To be on All-Stars and to make it that far — when it was time to step up, I stepped up. As it got tighter and tighter, I got better and better. I couldn't ask for anything more of myself. I'm really proud of myself." Find out how he prepped for the finale, why he's "so proud" of Jamie and if he ever got that "8:37" tattoo.
read more