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I don't have the time to type out all the 'o's necessary for the kind of "no" that would do justice to my reaction to the finale of Top Chef Season Five.

My wife had picked Hosea from the beginning, although I thought Stephan was a more deserving winner.

The shame was what happened to Carla. Casey should not only pack her knives and go, she should pack the rest of her belongings too. I know it's all on Carla, as it was her meal to make, but man did she get hosed. You've never done sous vide before, and you allow yourself to get talked into it on the final challenge?

I liked Josea in the early episodes, then he did not produce. Carla was an also-ran then, but came into her own as she grew confidence.

I was rooting for Carla tonight, but I guess her lack of confidence came back, and she let hot Casey talk her into things too easily. (Pssst. Casey finished third in her season.) Stephan was kicking it until the last few episodes, when he seemed to take it for granted that anything he did would win.

If I had to choose yesterday to pay for a meal cooked by one of the top 3, Josea would likely have been my last choice. But the meal he cooked tonight would be my first choice of the 3.

Who would you choose to run a new restaurant for you? I still think I'd pick Stephan or Carla over Josea. But congrats to him. He brought it on when it counted.

Wow. Just kind of disappointed in the whole season. Most of the chefs seemed mediocre at best. Stephan was clearly the best technical chef, but Carla made food that had more feeling behind it. Hosea managed to squeak through and turn out something good in the end. It didn't hurt that he had Richard backing him up, I'm sure.

The whole season was just kind of a let down. I was really longing to see some truly inspired cooking, and I never saw it. Maybe it was the editing concentrating on the reality show crap, but I never got a real feel for the food this year. I honestly don't have a good grasp of what any of the chefs were about this. Oh well... maybe next season.

My friends and I were yelling "Don't do it! Don't do IT!!!!" to Carla, and then she went ahead and did it. O Carla. Everyone wanted you to win.

Hosea. Uch. Blandy bland bland blah. What a let down finale.

Stefan had a huge ego during the season but he understood teamwork and had moments of helping out people (the holiday episode and in part one of the finale helping Carla shuck oysters). I agree with Brooke that I thought it was sweet when he reached out to Carla during Judge's Table.

I was rooting for Carla - hootie who shout out and all - and I was sad to see her not listen to her inner voice/plan and follow Casey's ideas. When it was clear that Carla was out of the running, I thought Stefan should have won. Hosea has been either in the middle or bottom for the majority of the season. He talked the talk of being a great chef but honestly of five seasons of Top Chef, I think he is the weakest of the winners. I am really disappointed with the outcome.

Let's hope Carla wins fan favorite (although she might have to fight it out with Fabio!).

i still wanted fabio to win. dang. im not that happy with the results.
and honestly, i rather enjoyed seasons 1-4 than season 5. and i agree id rather stephan win that hosea. stephan actually showed he was good the entire season, cocky or not. i wasnt exaclty impressed with hosea, just that richard was his sous for this eppie and that probably helped.

I was not happy about this either, I feel that Stefan should have won, I love Carla and would have been ok with her winning for the awww factor but she proved she is not a Top Chef with the bad decisions she made at the end. I love Casey also but wtf was she thinking? I fear Carla is always going to feel terrible about the huge mistakes she made and well, that is just going to be her cross to bear.

This season has been awful. Not only are the contestants really weak chefs, they create some of the most boring food Ive ever seen. Put any of the three finalists against Hung, Richard, or Sam, and they'd all lose. It was all about the talent that they had from the get go, and taking some damn kid from my old cooking school is pretty much an awful sign of things to come. Right from the beginning apple peeling episode, I knew this season was going to let me down in all the ways the ,past one had made me excited. And the final dinner format went from a multi course tasting menu to a orgy of 3 chefs plates all at once. Really stupid. All in all a HUGE let down for any cook who's worth his burns and I feel ashamed that people who arent in this industry see these caterers/hacks up there taking food back to 1975.

This whole season was very "meh" to me, unlike last season where I had a clear favorite from the very first episode (yay Stephanie!). I don't think I even watched a entire episode this time around. At the end, I wanted Carla to win (I like good over the bad, in terms of personality) but I wasn't inspired enough to stay up to see who won. I was more annoyed that Hosea and Stefan seemed more involved about beating and sabotaging each other than winning the competition.

I hope Top Chef turns around next season and gets me into it as much I was dedicated to Season 4 but I'm afraid it's taken a new path with no sight of return.

i guess i'm surprised by the comments like "i hate hosea". "Uch" (mispelled.)
it shows that for the more moronic viewers among us, this isn't about technique, it's really just a personality contest. when you can't eat someone's food, how can judge it as bland? it's like looking in the window of a restaurant and saying that the food is bad.

I liked this season. Especially since Richard made an appearance (yummy!)

I wouldn't say I "hate" Hosea; he definitely needed to win more than Stephan or Carla...I appreciated his strategy from a personal standpoint because I don't like dessert--but I found that dissapointing. I thought he was too unprofessional to hold the title of Top Chef (especially making out with ugly whatserface). But Congratulations Hosea!

...I think Stephan SHOULD HAVE WON. His meal looked fab this time and everything he made was entirely appealing to me. *thumbs down for that*

:) Christel

Poor Carla. I felt so so bad for her. She should never have listened to Casey - as many have already said - but that has been her downfall all season, listening to others instead of herself, letting people push her around (like in the wedding shower episode).

Honestly though, who would you want to cook you a meal? I'd pick Carla hands down.

Hosea TOP Chef? No way, jose'.....ahhh! Not only did he not prove his cooking chops, but his public affair with Leah showed he has serious character flaws, too.

I hope to see you again Carla, and I'd love to taste your food - over any of the other competitors.

absolute joke! I'd like to second the opinion someone had about past episodes not counting in the final. Hosea had a couple tasty dishes in the final So F@#!$%& WHAT! where was he the rest of the season? Oh yes, usually in the bottom three. Stefan should have walked away with the honors hands down. For all of you who thought Stefan was an ass, he proved you wrong by showing what a class act he really is when Carla was upset. That was an hour of time I'll never get back and feel worse for wasting it!

LOL @ Perky - You're so friggin funny. I LMAO thanks for making my morning :D

@Nemis - I didn't find it fair that Fabio got to "say" who he thought would win; though I'm sure his opinion matters I guess

@ Pavlov - I agree entirely. I thought Stephan showed great empathy for Carla. That was a joke, he should have won with all the risks he took nevermind his "reflection of himself" in the meal. BS all the way. Stephan is my Top Chef this season for sure.

I've been saying all along that Bravo has been playing up Stefan as the "bad guy". But really, I don't think he's as arrogant, egotistical as they say. I think Bravo has some formula of cheftestant roles they need filled that they think will make the most "drama".

He clearly went and helped out other chefs at times. Probably more times than were actually shown. There was one challenge that Carla won I think, but only after he helped her get plating done on time. He could have done nothing and given himself an advantage. And really, I don't think there was any point where he actually sabotaged another contestant. He was clearly the best leader out of all of the cheftestants but that brings him into conflict with others since he's not really assigned as the leader, even if he should be on the team challenges. And he probably had the best technique and most cooking knowledge overall.

Either way, I was really hoping Hosea didn't win...and then it happened. Especially the way he was actively trying to disadvantage whoever he thought was his competition (mostly Stefan obviously). Especially this episode. He goes and grabs all of some ingredients so others can't have it? I didn't really like Carla either, but I would rather her have won that Hosea. At least she showed growth through the season. It seemed like the judges really reluctantly followed the rule of not considering the prior performance and thus had to concede the title to Hosea. But my problem with that is one great meal doesn't make a top chef. So why should the judging not consider the performance over the season. What's the point in winning challenges then (especially the ones where there isn't a big prize like a car or superbowl tickets). You just have to not lose them.

This season was not so great really. There was lots of bad cooking all around. People making mistakes that they could have learned not to do by watching previous seasons. Mediocre and bad chefs repeatedly staying.

I feel like "I" lost Top Chef today...very disappointed...

I thought Stefan deserved it over Hosea, considering his all around performance. I am pretty disappointed.

I got a little annoyed with the comments from the judges last night that while they think Stefan might be the best technical chef, they never got a feeling for who he was from his food, or any soul behind it. I thought the squab dish, and his duck breast and dumplings at the family style dinner, were very good examples of who he was. I was just surprised his dessert came out so poorly after his dessert was the only thing that saved his team at all during restaurant wars.

They do need to find a way to take past performance into consideration for the final. Even if it's only something like you earn (or lose) points for winning quickfires and making the Top 3 during the season, losing points for the Bottom 3. Then in the finale you get either extra money to shop for ingredients, or extra time to prepare, compared to everyone else. I also loved that Carla, unlike everyone else, didn't go straight for Foie Gras or Caviar for her meal. I hated that everything on Iron Chef always wound up with Foie Gras on it somehow.

booooooo.
even jamie would have been better than hosea in the finale. i don't understand how you can win top chef when you're a "seafood chef" and you make a crappy ceviche that you make in your restaurant 1,000 times. his goofy, hands-in-his-pockets, aw shucks attitude annoys me much more than carla's ostrich neck and fluttery eyelids.

stefan is as pompous/evil as all the other chefs i've ever worked with. it takes a bit of an ego and thick skin to be successful in the biz.

no dessert? a cop out. i don't care what tom says. it's a trick!!!!
and they were complaining that stefan's dessert was 1982...ceviche with citrus? scallops with foie gras? hello french laundry's first menu.

When I heard the word sous vide and saw carla's face, I started cringing ... when I heard her agree to make the souffle, I covered my eyes unable to watch.... When they brought her food out to judge I was fully hiding under a throw pillow unable to watch it unfold. Oh Carla, stand up for yourself! Say no to sous vide!

@marchpane, you moron! don't you know television shows are STRICTLY about the cooking??? especially reality television!

Top Chef has jumped the shark.

Or drowned.

Or whatever.

@sweethunibabi Top Chef has sous-vide'd the shark.

There were so many freaking commercials in that episode last night. They showed maybe 8 minutes of cooking and 35 minutes of ads. Does anybody else think there are more ads now? Is it the recession?
And I hate how they have those moments where they come back from a commercial break for two seconds of Top Chef and then go straight back to commercial.

Thanks Radman, you're a nice guy.

if not mentioned before, Casey has been trash-talking Carla already.
Very classy.
http://tinyurl.com/dgqtnh

marchpane: although you didn't cut hosea any slack, and because you did spell "misspell" correctly at least one of the three times in your epistle, i will apologize for my use of the word "moron".

i will continue to contend though that judging chefs by their personality instead of their cooking is moronic.

have a great day.

Easily the worst season of TC. Right from the start, apple peeling, the season was weak. Not one of the final three chefs would have stood a chance in the first couple seasons. This season should have been called "Under The Radar" as Hosea cooked well enough to move on and then waited for his final two competitors to screw up.

Don't blame Casey for Carla's downfall. She should have stuck with her menu ideas and told Casey to assist. I was actually surprised how quiet Marcel was, apparently knowing his foams would not worked for Stefan.

Hosea could have given a weeping Carla a hug by the way, as Stefan did. He came across as a boob (rolling on couch groping Leah) while he evidently had a girlfriend. Hopefully Season 6 will bring back the talent.

So who else hates Casey?