I saw the same thing. I wonder if that means the other person wins?

They always do that. What a way to tease us. But I have faith in Richard.

I've called the last two Top Chefs just by watching Padma's eyes in the previews. Unless they play a round of musical chairs before the verdict it's pretty clear who she's looking at (at whom she's looking?)

Just speculation, not a known spoiler, but Mike Isabella is working on opening his own restaurant Graffiato in Washington, DC. Maybe just getting to the final two got him enough clout to have someone invest in his idea -- or maybe he had $200,000 burning a hole in his pocket.

Yep.

Antonia looked really cute in the last episode. A lot better than before. Maybe the anxiety brought it out? I thought she should have advanced because of that.

I'm so confused....

He like's his women crying.

Finally caught up with this season and don't have to avoid the thread any more!

It's been tough going rooting for Blais because he has seemed to lose his mojo, and it was way cruel how Padma told him he was going to the Bahamas, but glad they sent him to the finals without any suspense.

I never expected Isabella to get this far since from the beginning he seemed like a backup choice to fill out the roster, but I give him credit for cooking really well lately, and both he and Blais get big credit for studying up on Bahamian food while they were off.

At one point I thought Antonia was destined to win. I didn't expect her to do that well either, but she's performed at a high level.

I was really surprised to see Angelo and Dale get bounced when they did. Sure, it's about the last dish, but at the time Dale was clearly one of the top two or three performers of the season so I expected him to get a little benefit of the doubt in order to move the best competitors forward. Tiffany is likable but should have been gone long ago.

Last week Top Chef disappeared from my Comcast on demand, which sucks because I've been DVRing the SD episodes for safety and then watching the episodes in HD via on demand. And it's not a Bravo thing because they still have Top Chef Masters. Fortunately I was still able to watch the episodes.

That happened to me as well. I wonder why Bravo yanked it from On Demand?

Congrats to Richard, very well deserved. Lame that they basically gave it away in the previews.

I'm really glad he won it as well. I didn't really get anything spoiled by the previews.

Yay! Richard won!! Now I can go to bed as all is right in the world.

Never watch previews, so didn't know.
Things are right in the Universe. Blais should have won his season -he's a rockstar.

Blais!

Congrats to Isabella too for making it a real battle. I thought the blind sous-chef selection was interesting, probably more than it would have been had they just picked the usual suspects. Though it would have been nice to get Jen more screen time after her early exit.

Fantastic finale.

So happy to see the producers cut the gimmicks and twists and just let the chefs cook their food. The fact that both of the finalists made what appeared to be really good dishes was just icing on the cake.

I even liked the fact that they brought back all of the prior bootees because it really conveyed the sense that this was an ALL-STARS season. The fact that Richard and Mike beat some really strong contenders such as Jen Carroll, Angry Dale, Angelo and Tre just made Richard's win more fulfilling IMHO.

Thrilled that Blais won. Spike's espionage tactics

Glad Blais won, but Mike put up a good fight, I'm surprised neither guy had really prepared a slam dunk desert.

That live show after was AWFUL.

I agree. It was the worst. The host was terrible. I've seen him before and always find him tasteless, witless and an egomaniac. He never appears to care about the guests that the show is about and is more than happy to embarrass them in a mean way. He always acts like he's the main attraction and star draw. With that, they certainly could have planned it out a little more. It became a free for all and a messy and uninteresting one at that.

Who won the viewers choice award?

Carla

Just now watched the finale, and was upset that I had forgotten to record the after show. Looks like I didn't miss much. Was it Andy Cohen hosting?

Had a lot of fun with this season. I remember when the contestants were announced, EVERYONE questioned the Mike I selection (myself included). It's insane the transformation he went through during the course of the show.

Glad to see Blais win. Definitely agree he should have won his season, and definitely agree he was right to win this one.

very boring finale but im glad blaise won.

Andy Cohen is the one and only reason I never watch any of the reunion shows. He's just so... creepy.

Agreed. This was my post on the first page of this thread (where I correctly predicted the winner ).

They must have known something we don't (as Mike was the executive chef at a top restaurant). And I agree, he really impressed. If they had announced him as the winner, I would not have thought it was undeserved.