by Gina Scarpa

Top Chef: Las Vegas is about to come to a close, with only four chefs left in the running.  Jennifer Carroll, Kevin Gillespie, Bryan Voltaggio, and Michael Voltaggio have had to impress world class chefs such as Wolfgang Puck and Daniel Boulud, celebrities like Natalie Portman and Penn & Teller, survive high stakes quickfires, and make it through grueling elimination challenges.  Only one will walk away with the title of Top Chef and we thought we’d take look at the final four to see who stands the best chance of doing so.

4. Jennifer Carroll
Jennifer started out so strong and I had high hopes for her… until about midway through the season, when the competition REALLY started to take its toll on her.  Suddenly, every time she was on camera, she looked as if she hadn’t slept in days and had cried for hours.  Starting with Restaurant Wars, she landed in the bottom group three weeks in a row, more than any other final four contestant.  If she plans on winning this thing, she needs to pull herself together and get her mindset back to the way it was day one.  Where’s that fire, Jen?

3. & 2. Michael & Bryan Voltaggio
I really thought that Top Chef was going to be quite predictable – Bravo was setting us up for a brother vs. brother finale.  However, Kevin has been an absolute force to be reckoned with and it seems that the Voltaggios may just be fighting for second place.  Both have won three elimination challenges but Michael has landed in the top group more often and won a quickfire.  They seem pretty dead even and they know it so they’re going to have to pull out all the stops in their final challenge (if they both make it there) in order to impress the judges and set themselves apart from one another.

1.  Kevin Gillespie
First of all, Kevin is the most winning chef this season.  He’s won three quickfires and seven elimination challenges.  He only landed in the bottom group once and, to be fair, it was during Restaurant Wars.  He was stuck on a team with Jennifer (who was slowly melting down), Laurine (who was eliminated), and Mike (who left the following week).  Kevin’s a likeable guy.  He’s accessible.  He’s relatable.  Though I respect the cooking of Jennifer, Bryan, and Michael, the average person probably wouldn’t know what to do with themselves in their restaurants.  Kevin cooks high quality food, but somehow, it doesn’t come off as being pretentious.  He’s not there for the drama and he’s not there for the fame.  He’s there to cook a good meal and he does a damn good job at it.


Be sure to tune in and see who makes it to the finale on Top Chef: Las Vegas, Wednesday at 10pm ET on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

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