What Do You Mean They're Not Superheroes?: Richard Was Robbed

So, I admit it ... I am a fan of the BravoTV reality competition show "Top Chef". I blame it on my friend Stephanie. She didn't turn me on to the show, she didn't even recommend it to me, as a matter of fact we never even spoke about it before I found myself addicted( ... shit ... I used the "A-word"). You see, I house sit for Steff when she goes out of town. And when I house sit I channel surf. Typically I am more of a Hulu ( www.hulu.com ), SurftheChannel (www.surfthechannel.com ), and BitTorrent kind of guy ... but you put me on Steff's couch with her big-ass television and her OnDemand and whatnot ... I return to my old ways. So when I started watching Top Chef: Miami (Season 3) I was both surprised and pleased. I have always been a huge fan of cooking shows ... mostly because I am a huge fan of food. But add to the idea of a cooking show that there are like 16 different people cooking 16 different things and I go into sensory overload in a good way. So I watched through to the conclusion of season 3 and it just so happened that I was house sitting for Steff again when Season 4 (Top Chef: Chicago) hit the airwaves. So, I watched each episode with growing affection for some of the chefs and growing hatred for some of the others. By the time the 4th or 5th episode had rolled around I knew a few things about how I wanted things to turn out. Dale and Spike had to go, Dale was just a big ol' sack of annoying and reminded me too much of last years winner Hung (curiously enough the winner last year should have been faux-hawked Dale, native Chicagoan and gay restaurateur) and Spike was just too conniving to continue. I also knew that Lisa didn't deserve to make it to the top, so when she did over Antonia I was flabbergasted. Talk about just staying under the radar and finding a way to draft your way into the finale. So by the end of it all I knew the same thing I knew from episode 1, Richard and Stephanie (not the one I was house sitting for) needed to be at the finale in Puerto Rico, and to be honest I would have been pleased with either winning but I was really rooting for Richard. But, he got robbed. Richard had shown throughout the season that when he knew he would have support that he could take his more imaginative ideas and really showcase his talent as molecular gastronomist but that when he was working by himself that he knew to keep things more simple. So, when they were given sous chefs for prep day Richard clearly let his mind run a little wilder than he probably would have if he had known that he was going to be doing things on his own. So come the final day and his and the other contestants sous chefs weren't there ... things went awry. I feel sorry for Richard Blais because I think that he would have made a fine Top Chef, but I think that making it to the top 3 will still make his career go forward and ultimately that is probably satisfying enough. Congratulations to Stephanie Izard, the first female contestant to be named Top Chef.