Last night's Top Chef All-Stars reunion episode was a rather timid affair: they talked about bromances and how stylish Angelo Sosa was, showed the Marcel Vigneron autotune video, and they presented evidence of Antonia Lofaso being the "Black Hammer" (video of that below). But things got heated when host Andy Cohen goaded fiery Mexican cheftestapant Elia Aboumrad to repeat her criticisms of judge Tom Colicchio.
Back in December, after Aboumrad got eliminated in the very first episode of Top Chef All-Stars, in an exit interview she talked smack about judge Tom Colicchio's use of corn-fed beef and his Diet Coke endorsement, saying that "Fame gets to your head and makes it grow."
And last night, faced with similar criticisms and being called a "sell-out," Colicchio kept his cool.
He told her, "I understand that you're upset, and that's fine... being the first person to go, obviously, it was difficult. There are four people on the panel, four judges, this was something that was a unanimous decision. This wasn't personal, but you chose to make it personal."
He continued, addressing all the cheftestapants: "I've been to some of your restaurants, I've eaten your food off the show. I've never commented on any of that stuff off the show... I consider it off-limits commenting on what you're doing in your restaurant. This is a good lesson as a young chef: Be careful what you say in the press."
When asked if she regretted what she had said, Elia replied "I stand by it."
Video: Elia vs Tom
Video: The Black Hammer
· All Elia Aboumrad Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Tom Colicchio Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Antonia Lofaso Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Top Chef All-Stars Coverage on Eater [-E-]
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