by Gina Scarpa

 

If there's one thing Top Chef has taught us over the years, it's that any contestant can quickly fall from the top of the pack to the bottom with just one bad service. That unfortunately became the case for Ty-Lor Boring, who was recently coming off of one Elimination and two Quickfire wins. During Restaurant Wars, the judges could not forgive his under seasoned Thai dish and sent him to Last Chance Kitchen, where the seemingly unstoppable Nyesha defeated him. Today, we talked to Ty-Lor in an exclusive interview to learn more about his time on Top Chef.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you decide to try out for Top Chef at this point in your career?
A. Ty-Lor: You know, I've been trying to open my own restaurant in New York and when I sat down with my agent, we figured it would be one of the best things to help advance my career and get my name out there. I wanted to show people my cooking and what it was.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You started off the competition a little shaky but found your groove by the 5th episode, winning Quickfire and Elimination challenges. What changed?
A. Ty-Lor: I think whether it was just me or not, it took all of us about three episodes to try and get comfortable with the reality of being on Top Chef. You have 15 minutes to cook and 15 minutes to shop at Whole Foods and so on and so forth. It takes a couple of episodes. It's almost anybody's game in the beginning.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Paul mentioned on last night's episode that it's tough to separate friendship from the competition sometimes. We know that you worked with Heather in the past and formed some good friendships with others on the show. Was that separation hard for you at all?
A. Ty-Lor: No, I don't think so. At the end of the day, it's a competition and you just have to work through it. Okay yeah, I mean, there are friendships on the show but I don't think you lose sight of what the ultimate goal is which is to be named Top Chef.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Restaurant Wars is always tough and often times, a strong chef takes the fall for the losing team. What was the biggest issue with your dish?
A. Ty-Lor: That it was under seasoned, especially for being a Thai dish. I could've done a much better job at making that dish stand out. I had a hard time finding the ingredients I needed during a crazy Texas drought. I could've used better judgment. I know better and I didn't exercise that judgment.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Tom was certainly hard on your dish but he pointed out that Chris has yet to really step up. Which is worse - to be ambitious and fail or to be safe and just skate by with decent dishes?
A. Ty-Lor: Well I don't know because I mean, ultimately, Chris is still on the show and I'm at home talking to you. I mean, there's $125,000 on the line I think my philosophy was to put it all out there and really go for it. Is that in fact the best choice? I mean, I guess no because I got eliminated but... at the same time, if I had chosen an easier dish to execute and seasons properly, the outcome of the competition might have been much different.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you aware that Nyesha, whom you faced in Last Chance Kitchen, had such a personal issue with you?
A. Ty-Lor: No, not at all. I haven't watched it yet. 100 people on Twitter and Facebook have told me. All I can say is that on Top Chef, there are some very intense situations and I think things get... there's a lot of pressure and might cause people to say things that maybe have no basis just because it's a really intense process. It's a really tough competition as you can see on tv, and there are things you don't see on tv.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You said that you went on Top Chef to show people your cooking and to hopefully open a restaurant. Has the show given you the exposure that you wanted?
A. Ty-Lor: More than I could've ever imagined. I'm opening my first pop up restaurant during Fashion Week in New York. It's called TBD, as in To Be Determined. We are halfway sold out with the tickets for that. On our second night there, I'm doing a private event for Michael Kors and Diane von Fursternberg. I've raised over $6 million in private investments for my restaurant. I'm very excited about it.  People can keep up with me on Twitter or on my website, tylorboring.com.

 

Top Chef: Texas airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

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