From his very first week on Bravo’s reality cooking series “Top Chef,” when he won an elimination challenge with a dish of escargot and cheese sauce–24-year-old Ilan Hall has proven he has what it takes to win.
But then again, so do Elia Aboumrad, Marcel Vigneron and Sam Talbot–the three other chefs who traveled from L.A. to Hawaii for the two final rounds of “Top Chef,” which begin at 9 p.m. Wednesday. They’re all focused on a prize package that includes $100,000 and a feature in Food & Wine magazine.
Throughout the series, Hall has clearly stood out as one of the more friendly, creative and provocative personalities on the show. Early on, it was his creativity with the show’s many challenges that attracted the attention of the judges; in Weeks 1 and 5, he was named the winner of the “elimination challenge,” ensuring he could not be sent home.
Midcompetition, it was Hall’s stability that stood out, just as other contestants were overcome by stress, frustration and anger. Seemingly friends with everyone in the cast, he was among the first to console pastry chef Betty Fraser, who was eliminated in Week 9, as well as Michael Midgley, who was voted off a week after he made “Top Chef” history in winning both of the night’s cooking challenges.
Over the past few weeks, however, that creativity has almost cost Hall a chance at the show’s final rounds, and that sense of good cheer has all but evaporated.
The judges have disliked some of Hall’s recent, riskier dishes, though he has managed to survive each round. And he has joined his competitors in turning against Marcel, the confident–most say arrogant–cook whose personality has clashed with everyone on the show. In recent weeks, Hall has mocked, yelled at and insulted Marcel, once going so far as to criticize Marcel’s dish to the judges before they tasted it.
“I want to win this competition,” Hall said in a statement released last week by Bravo. “I want the recognition, I want all of it. I think I deserve it, and I’m going to win.”
