I believe the only reason Mike is still around is because Tom has a Man crush on him. He should have been gone after stealing another chefs ideas.

Well, aren't all dishes "stolen" from others? I've heard on this show Tom and other chefs say that they would steal ideas that cheftestants have used, and as a teacher myself, I often do the same. I don't think it's any huge crime, and one easily avoided, if, as Mike said himself, Richard was less helpful to competitors. If he hadn't taught Antonia how to pressure cook, she may not have been at the finale at all!

I really don't have any problem with Mike -- it certainly seems like a lot of sour grapes from people who preferred Antonia or Carla. To put it bluntly, Carla just wasn't up to par this season. As she herself pointed out, she failed on Southern cooking challenges!!! Antonia has been predictable -- tasty but boring. Frankly, people watch these shows for inspiration -- what Mike and Richard have done, I've never thought to do. However, I could EASILY come up with Antonia's dishes (and have before) though maybe not quite to her standard.

Remember Mike won several challenges in a row, some handedly, without the help of others. Since this is a reality show, he has used it to his advantage. If Antonia wanted to control the elimination challenges, then she should have won the quickfire! I don't see how people are using this against Mike. Mostly people just gripe about the producers. Some challenges his season have been awful (notably the ferry challenge), but on the whole have been pretty good.

I think Bahamas in general has been a mistake, especially the royalty challenge with the kitchen fire issues and the spoilt hamachi. All in all, not the best season, but I definitely think the final two deserve to be here.

In my opinion, if Richard cooked normally and Antonia pulled a Hosea like final, I think Richard would still win. Only Mike beats a non-choking Richard. PLUS, the preview of the Finale part 3 looked AMAZING. I am genuinely excited and can't wait for the ending!

Yes, Big K, I agree.

Tom needs to go.

Oh, and whomever is coming up with this ridiculous challenges needs to be fired too. Stop with the "twists" non stop. One or two idiot things is expected, but having nearly every single show have nothing to do with excellent cooking is missing the mark by so far, I think the bullets are killing your viewers.

Give the chefs real kitchens, good ingredients, and fair challenges. NOW.

Or don't. I am not watching again until Tom C is gone.

A "tie?"

Seriously?

Soggy over-cooked chicken and no biscuits at all was "tied" with a complicated Bento dish?

Yeah, right. Get a grip producers. You are killing this show for gimmicks and slap-dash food that any home cook could make. Chicken and biscuits? Learned how to do both before I wore was allowed to wear high heels. Grilled cheese and tomato soup? Cookies? Ferry food? Cooking without equipment over and over again? Target? One handed? No utensils? Here is a tip. TWO of that kind of challenge is plenty for a season, and NEVER OK near the finale.

SERIOUSLY?

"Top Chef" my Aunt Bessie's smelly nightgown! A home-ec high school student could have done as well as "chefs" with these set ups. Or, you know, someone as odious as Mike.

Writing to say I love Big Kielbasa's "Man Crush" comment, as the same thought occurred to me; but I immediately dismissed it!

Writing to say I love Big Kielbasa's "Man Crush" comment, as the same thought occurred to me; but I immediately dismissed it!

Re this ongoing argument about stealing another chef's dish: check out Eric Ripert's video blog from that episode. It's not stealing once it's "out there", on your menu, in your cookbook, whatever. It happens everywhere, all the time, and is a generally understood concept by those in the cooking field. If there's a more unbiased judge than Chef Ripert, I don't know who it might be. If you don't want your concept in the public domain, it's up to you to keep it private. Richard was showing Mike his notebook and talking about his ideas. Mike also showed all the chefs how to make a perfect gnocchi back at their apartment, in an earlier episode. Was he concerned that they might use it in a future challenge? Get it now?

Have no problem with a Chef taking someone's thought about a dish and trying it out. The difference being the recipe was in Rich's play book of dish's he might try out during the competition and Mike knew this yet he still went with the stolen thought and won the day's comp with it. You might have thought he would given Richard a cudo at judges table but he stood there smugly giving the impression he thought this up all on his own. Let's call a spade a spade, Mike is a RAT!

It's one thing to offer one's assitance or suggestions but something totally different to take something as your own, taking credit of the item as your own creation (remember Tom and the others said THEY liked RICHARDS or KEVINS dish so much they were going to put it on their menus) just after looking at it, PRIOR to your competitor preparing the menu item himself.

Richard instructions on how to quickly prepare beef tongue in a pressure cooker to Antonia or saying he would help Fabio with his preparations of hamburgers since he had never made them is a conscious choice made by Richard to do so. Had Mike requested Richard to allow him to make the chicken oysters for the challenge and he said yes, then there would have been no issue. But what if Richard would have said no, he wanted to retain the menu item for himself for a future challenge, like the finale?

Mike took that creatve menu item opportunity away from Richard and claimed it as his own. No matter how you want to spin that salad, it's immoral in most people's books. Then, to make matters worse, Mike was a poor sport when he won the challenge with Richard's item.

These qualities are not those I would consider "worthy" of I would consider a "Top" Chef. Desperate, nasty, cro-magnum, and sexist Chef yes, but Top Chef? No way...