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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What was going through Paul Qui's head when Padma Lakshmi named him Top Chef? "I was honestly so tired that I think I missed it and I had a really delayed reaction," he tells TVGuide.com. "But then I realized she [said my name] and I was super excited." In addition to his big win over Sarah, the Austin-based chef set a record this season for most elimination challenges wins (eight) and won another $60,000 on top of his $125,000 grand prize. How does he plan on using the money? And why is he so calm, cool and collected? Find out below.
Top Chef's Lindsay: I didn't take enough risks
Congratulations! The judges kept reiterating that it was really close. Did it feel that way to you?
Paul: Thanks! Yeah. I didn't have any idea. I wanted to win, but it could've gone either way. You never know what's going to make or break it and sometimes you still don't.
Your dad was adorable crying on the side after you won.
Paul: Oh yeah! I've never seen my dad cry like that. It was pretty...
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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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Did Ty-Lör Boring think he was going to get eliminated during Top Chef's Restaurant Wars? No, but he doesn't have any objections to it. "The only thing I really remember is that Restaurant Wars is probably the worst service ever I have had in 20 years of cooking in 16 countries on four continents. It was just a very intense situation," he tells TVGuide.com. "And I remember thinking if I got sent home for that, then it would've been accordingly. And I was. There was no way to recover from it." The Brooklyn-based chef was dinged for underseasoning two dishes, but he doesn't think that was the boys team's most egregious error.
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