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Originally Posted by KDawg
Melissa absolutely kicked ass this year, but an overall dominant performance was likely Paul Qui. The judges have said that they had to edit it down to make it look more competitive. He even had a strong cast around him with Lindsey Autry/Ed Lee/Sarah Grueneberg/Bev Kim.
Not trying to lessen Melissa’s season, but leaving Paul out of the convo is a mistake IMO
We rewatched the finale the other day. Once you know that Melissa is the winner it is clear the editors had to manufacture drama to make this competition seem closer than it was. All the conflict with Leanne ("She has an opinion") was very low stakes and Melissa was in total control the whole way. Leanne was getting dragged on Twitter throughout the finale, but she was the one that remade the Tiramisu under a time crunch and nailed it. It helped that both Bryan and Steph cooked really great food as well - Melissa wasn't going to win because the others made a mistake - but it really wasn't close.
And Tom and Padma were on the Andy Cohen show after the finale and they made it pretty clear Melissa was a dominant winner. When asked how Melissa ranks amongst all Top Chef winners, Tom said that he has always thought that Paul Qui was the most talented chef they'd ever had, but now he puts Melissa even with him.
Personal aside - I live a 3 minute walk from East Side King, which is Qui's brick & mortar of his original food truck. We've ordered a ton of takeout from there during the lockdown and it is always great.