by Gina Scarpa and Michael J. Lamp

 

Earlier this month, Yigit Pura was crowned the first champion of Bravo's Top Chef: Just Desserts. He competed in the finale against Morgan Wilson and Danielle Keene. Morgan performed consistently well throughout the season but his collapsed soufflé in the finale challenge may have cost him the whole thing. We caught up with Morgan today in an exclusive interview to get his thoughts on the competition, the contestants, the highs and the lows of Top Chef: Just Desserts.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you want to try out for Just Desserts? Were you a fan of Top Chef previously?
A. Morgan: I have always been a big fan of Top Chef and have watched nearly all of its seasons. I love a challenge and when the opportunity arose, I couldn't imagine not taking it.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which contestants stood out to you as a threat early on?
A. Morgan: From first meeting and cooking, both Yigit and Seth showed a great pedigree and good amount of talent placing themselves in my sights as an early threat to my own success.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was your personal favorite dessert that you made this season?
A. Morgan: I loved the passion canoli from the finale. Using the plantain as a shell worked nicely and the passion Chiboust had great flavor and texture for no recipe. However the baumkuchen came out very awesomely as well and allowed me to show knowledge and respect for the classics.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How do you feel that you and Claudia worked together in the final challenge?
A. Morgan: I loved the chance to work with Claudia. I wish it were under different circumstances. Pressure was very high and I am not sure she wanted to be in that scenario. I have a massive amount of respect for her and her body of work. I hope someday I can hold her to her promise to signing my very beaten copy of "The Last Course", her book from Gramercy Tavern.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You let loose about your feelings for Zac during the finale. Do you really feel that strongly about him or were you in the heat of the moment?
A. Morgan: Zac is a bit too much for me in close quarters. He has a very controversial personality. He admitted frequently to trash talking a lot of us during his interviews. As well his attempt to survive by sacrificing me on terms other than cooking have soiled me on any desire to have drinks with him, but I do wish him all the best in his career.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was the biggest problem with the soufflé in the final challenge?
A. Morgan: The soufflé was a big risk to make without a long standing relationship with my oven there. However the biggest problem was that I didn't have enough extras to overcome the loss of a few.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who did you think was going to win, heading into the final Judges' Table?
A. Morgan: I assumed when my soufflés fell that Yigit would come away the winner. From Seth's exit, I always thought the only person who could beat me was Yigit. I was quite surprised and impressed with Danielle's performance.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Any advice for future cheftestants?
A. Morgan: Best advice I could imagine is probably going to be said by all over and over: memorize your recipes.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa and Michael @mjlamp

 

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