Top Chef’s Casey: The Challenge Was Set Up For Disaster

Fans were once again shocked at the judge’s choices on Top Chef: All Stars this week when they chose to send Casey Thompson home. But in a recent interview, Thompson says she’s not losing any sleep over it…

When asked why she thought she went home so soon, and if she felt the challenge (to prepare dim sum for about 100 people at Chinatown restaurant in NYC) was fair, Thompson responded: “I kind of feel like it was out of control. That’s what it was. It’s just hilarious to me. It was totally out of control and a disaster. Let’s just look at the highlights from the very get-go: a team challenge has disaster written all over it. Then they stack the cards against us, because we’re in a dim sum restaurant in the middle of Chinatown preparing food for people from…China! It was hardcore. And then we’re in the kitchen and half of the stuff works and the other half doesn’t. It’s like woks and minimal equipment that we’re not used to.”

And about her meal of choice, chicken feet. Why chicken feet? “Well, because I’m not scared. The group also agreed we needed variety, not just a bunch of dim sum. But like they said, chicken feet is not dim sum. That’s like street food. Whoops, but you also don’t find cabbage rolls with oxtail wrapped around it. It’s like, where do you want to stop your creativity? Do I just want to do minced shrimp in a wrap?”

By now, it’s no surprise that both the chefs on the show and a large percentage of viewers both agree on one thing; Jamie should have went home by now. Does Casey think Jamie should have went home for her not-so-tasty treat on this episode instead of her? “Yeah, that’s a tough one. She sure is getting the bad rap this go-around…But in the end the comments that I got from the judges were that the chicken felt were inedible, which really is like being punched in the gut and slapped in the face all at the same time. At least they didn’t say it about something like broccolini. I got it on chicken feet. You know what? If I’m going home over chicken feet, I’m just not going to lose sleep over it.”

And to wind things up, Casey talks a little bit more about an odd but interesting fact some fans may remember from hearing her reveal on her season of Top Chef in the past; her love for collecting butchery art. Just what are some of her prized pieces? And are guests intimidated by the art? “I have a Monet and a Rembrandt, where they’re two prints of paintings of proteins. There’s one where there’s a whole cattle hanging upside down with a butcher. Then there’s one that is a large piece of roast and it’s got the bone in it. They’re gorgeous.”

“At first, it’s like, this is a little disturbing. But as they get to know me, they understand this is my life. This is what I love.”

Are you going to miss Casey on Top Chef: All Stars?

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