Fans and reality show judges don't always agree. When a competitor gets the boot, it often shocks the fans watching at home. Perhaps no reality competition series has featured more shocking eliminations than "Top Chef." Here are the eliminations that left fans feeling utterly gobsmacked.
Tre Wilcox, Season 3 and All Stars
Tre was a fierce competitor who clearly knew his way around a kitchen. But both times he appeared on "Top Chef," he was eliminated, much to the surprise of fans watching at home. In Season 3, Tre was eliminated after Restaurant Wars, as he was the executive chef of a losing restaurant, which featured a bad dessert course. But up until that point, Tre was the favorite to win the competition, having won three challenges: the most elimination challenges out of anyone.
When he returned for the All Stars season, Tre was once again eliminated in a surprising turn of events. Despite getting rave reviews (and his first win) for his Season 3 dish of seared ostrich and heirloom tomato risotto, it was a bungled risotto dish that got Tre sent home in All Stars. The judges said it was too thick, and Antonia noted he wasn't cooking the rice properly.
Jennifer Carroll, All Stars
After proving her mettle in Season 6, Jen was a favored competitor going into All Stars. But a dish of "wet bacon" got her sent home in the show's second episode. What was surprising about this elimination was both Jen's failure to execute a simple dish, but also her rude, snappy, and argumentative interaction with the judges in defense of her indefensible offering.
Nyesha Arrington, Season 9
Everything is bigger in Texas, and this Texas-inspired season of "Top Chef" feature some truly big shockers. Despite being a talented chef (and winning a previous cooking competition on the Food Network), Nyesha was booted from the competition very early on because of a double elimination challenge where she was paired with a lackluster chef. She later went on to win four consecutive "Last Chance Kitchen" segments.
Angelo Sosa, All Stars
Surprises abounded in the All Stars season of the show, and many fans were surprised when Angelo Sosa was eliminated after his performance in the Target challenge. While it wasn't surprising that he was sent home (he clearly deserved to go home for serving a too-salty baked potato soup,) it was surprising that a chef of his caliber would make such a rookie mistake, and then not have the wherewithal to correct his mistake by simply adding more cream. To be fair, Angelo did only have about 2 weeks between the end of Season 7 and the beginning of the All Stars season to get well and prepare himself.
