Top Chef wraps up Season 9 on Wednesday with its reunion episode (9/8c, Bravo), and if you ask us, it couldn't come a moment sooner.
That's not because we want to see Heather and Beverly square off, but we want to move on as quickly as possible from this underwhelming season. The series proudly boasted about its biggest season ever — 29 contestants! three cities! — in the state with the biggest motto of all, Texas, but it turns out bigger is not necessarily better. Between the new twists and the umpteenth team challenge, Season 9 was but a shadow of its former Emmy-winning self — and that's not even counting the overwrought drama between Beverly and Heather, Sarah and Lindsay. (Let's be real — there'll be drama every season.) Here are six reasons Top Chef: Texas has been a big letdown.
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Sarah Grueneberg came up short to Paul on the Top Chef finale, but if you ask her, she did win. "I feel like I won too," she tells TVGuide.com. "I truly believe that. I woke up [the day after the finale aired] with this great calm. There is no more nervousness and nothing to be ashamed about. I'm really excited for my career now. It was overall a positive experience. I can't be more proud of how I did. If I'm going to be second, I couldn't think of a better way and a better place to be." But what part of her final meal cost her the title and $125,000? See what she thinks below. Plus: What's up with her and Beverly?
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[SPOILER ALERT: The following story reveals the winner of Top Chef Season 9. Read at your own risk.]
After trekking through Texas and enduring more all-nighters and meat challenges than you can imagine, Paul Qui and Sarah Grueneberg faced off for the last time for the Top Chef Season 9 title.
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When does frozen mousse trump perfectly cooked halibut? When you're on Top Chef! Despite her nearly inedible, ice-hard confection, Sarah — with some major backing from Tom Colicchio — made it to the finale with Paul over her pal Lindsay Autry, whose error-free, albeit less creative, dish sent her packing. "I think they were really nitpicking at that point and it came down to doing something risky like what she did against me being great, but not risky enough," Lindsay tells TVGuide.com. "I know I didn't make any mistakes, but I guess they wanted to see more." Was she surprised that her well-made dish lost to such shoddy execution? Find out below.
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Edward Lee would like to point out that he technically was in the final four of Top Chef — for a few hours. But then Beverly, having won Last Chance Kitchen, returned to the game and out-cooked him for a spot in the actual final four. "It is what it is. I don't hold a grudge. She won fair and square," Ed tells TVGuide.com. "I shouldn't have used the smoked oysters, so it was all on me." Still, the Louisville-based chef is none too pleased with the second-chance secret competition for eliminated cheftestants. Find out why.
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