by Gina Scarpa

Whether she's defending her dishes at Judges' Table or putting people in their place for bullying her fellow contestants, if there's one thing Grayson's done this season on Top Chef: Texas, it's speak her mind. Beyond that, the impressive young chef proved herself to be a worthy competitor, winning two Elimination and two Quickfire challenges. This week though, the judges felt she tried to do too much with her dish and sent her to Last Chance Kitchen, much to her unhappiness. We talked to Grayson today in an exclusive interview to find out more about her thoughts on her Top Chef experience.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you decide to try out for Top Chef?
A. Grayson: You know, I don't know! It's never really been something that I ever wanted to do, I'm gonna say. The opportunity presented itself and I took it. It wasn't really, really thought out on my end but with that said, I am SO happy that I did it! I've made amazing friends and I've learned so much through it all. It's made me realize my potential because you're put in these crazy situations. I feel thankful for the whole experience because I learned so much.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who stuck out to you as someone to keep your eye on during the competition?
A. Grayson: There were some people that I thought would do really, really well and then there were people that were cutthroat competitive. I would say that Bev is the most competitive person ever! She is a little bulldog, man! She was definitely somebody to be reckoned with. Sarah's food is incredible! She does Italian food as well, and that's pretty much my style too. I always thought her plates were amazing. I really liked her style of cooking. Competitor wise, she just kind of did her thing. She wasn't a little bulldog running around like Bev, you know? But she always seemed to put out really beautiful food in the end. I also had my eye on Paul the whole way through. He is really amazing. His flavor combinations are definitely something to be reckoned with. He's so damn creative, it's insane! Basically, when I got eliminated last week, every single person there was extremely talented.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Speaking of Bev, a lot of the girls ganged up on her this season but it seemed like you stuck up for her. What was your opinion on the whole situation between them?
A. Grayson: Oh god! This is like the loaded question. Basically, I'm the kind of the person where I feel like I'm a chameleon. I understand people. I don't judge ever. I kind of see a lot of different sides when there's things that come up. I like Bev a lot, she's a good friend of mine. I like the other girls as well. I wouldn't say that I necessarily had her back. It's more or less when somebody says something messed up and I think it's messed up, I'm going to say something. I'm not just going to sit in the corner and say it to myself. I say it. Whether that's speaking up for her or not, I don't know. It's piping in and telling someone they're out of control. She is a friend of mine but I wouldn't want to say that I stuck up for her because that girl can stick up for herself! She was strong enough, she had a little game going on, and she's a very smart girl. She was fine. The other girls... you know, you can't put 16 people together and expect everyone to get along. Sarah and Heather got a lot of crap for things that they said to Bev. At the end, end of the day, we're all very close and we're all good friends. Was there hurtful things said? Absolutely. Do I think that Heather and Sarah ever tried to be malicious? No.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: One of my favorite moments from you this season is when you defended your chicken salad to Tom on last week's episode. When you look back on it, do you wish you had kept your opinion to yourself?
A. Grayson: I mean, I'm pretty sure that I'm kind of known for defending my dishes. I don't have any regrets. I was on Watch What Happens Live with Tom and he thought the whole thing was hilarious. He enjoyed that conversation between us. I don't regret it but I'm not gonna lie. When I was watching it, I had my hand over my mouth like, "You just said that Tom f-ing Colicchio!" I respect the man so much. He's amazing and he does so well for himself. On the other hand, don't be making fun of my chicken salad when there's a meatball next to me!

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You were in the very last Last Change Kitchen against Beverly. Even though you can't tell us what happened because we have to wait until Wednesday to find out, can you tell us about how you felt competing?
A. Grayson: Well, I would love to tell you how I felt. I felt absolutely screwed over. I was really not happy with it. Basically, when Padma tells you to pack your knives and go, you accept it. When I walked into the kitchen, I was like, "Are you kidding me? What is this?" In my head, I only thought about my friends that were still in the competition. I knew where their heads were out. I had just gotten out, everybody was beat down. I don't know if you can imagine riding bikes all over San Antonio for hours, cooking in that heat - we were taxed in a pretty major way. You're cut off from life, from normalness. It was very hard. It's a total mental game. I knew where everybody else was at. They were screwed. It's so intense that I just knew that when somebody else walks through the door, they would be like totally feeling screwed. I didn't want them to have that feeling but me being the competitive person that I am, when Tom says "Go" I'm gonna go. I'm gonna do my best. I would never not. You're going to have to watch and see because Bev brings it too. She probably wanted it more than I did at that moment because I was having all of these emotions. I think everyone this season would agree that Last Chance Kitchen should've been a separate competition.

Top Chef: Texas airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

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