Entertainment
Who Are 'Top Chef Duels' Richard Blais & Marcel Vigneron? Meet the All-Star Rivals
It hasn't even premiered yet and Bravo's Top Chef Duels is already promising lots of drama. This may seem like your average run of the mill cooking competition, but you'd be wrong to underestimate it, especially considering Shailene Woodley is lined up to be a guest judge.
Top Chef Duels takes the best parts of all of your favorite shows — huge personalities, competitive spirit, reality TV style drama, elimination challenges, cooking — and puts them all together. It's essentially Bachelor Pad, but with chef hats and knives (but not knives in the back, hopefully).
Matching up Top Chef All Stars winner Richard Blais with celebrity chef Marcel Vigneron, this battle is definitely going to leave one chef walking home unhappy. According to Bravo, the first duel episode of the season will feature a hot and cold component dessert from Richard, a burger from Marcel (which is one of his specialties), and a three-course meal cooked by both chefs, which will decide who moves on to the season finale.
Take a look at both competitor's to decide who you think will come out on top.
Image: Bravo
Richard Has Kind Of Done This Before, A Lot
Having participated in three different Top Chef seasons including his first appearance on the show, Top Chef All-Stars, and Life After Top Chef, Richard has already got this whole Bravo thing down to a science. Not to mention a competitive stint on Iron Chef: America and Chopped All-Stars. He will definitely be strong competition.
Image: Bravo
Marcel's Dignity Is On The Line
Having competed against Blais in Top Chef All-Stars and lost, it seems Marcel, who is constantly described as the most dramatic Bravo chef to date, has a bone to pick with Richard. Marcel isn’t one to take a runner-up title lightly. He’ll be out for blood.
Richard's In Great Shape
Richard, 42, may be a little bit older than Marcel, 34, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have the endurance to outlast this young buck. Richard has not only competed in the marathon that is Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars, but he’s actually competed in full-length marathons. Marcel needs to watch out for this one. It’ll take a lot to tire him out.
RichardBlais/Twitter
Marcel Is A New Breed Of Chef
Sure Richard may have years on Marcel, but Marcel has committed to subverting people’s normal understanding of meals and exploring different approaches to cooking, like gastronomy. His razor sharp view on food and cooking in general is completely different compared to Richard, who has a more classical based training and only really experiments with liquid nitrogen in the kitchen. We may see Marcel pulling a few scientific rabbits out of his hat this duel.
Image: Bravo
Richard Knows What Judges Want
Blais has been a judge on Top Chef Canada and Rachel vs. Guy, as well as competing on a myriad of cooking competition shows.
He understands each angle of Top Chef Duels: how to be a competitor, how to win, and how to be a judge/what a judge wants. That’s a very dangerous skill to possess in this game.
Image: Bravo
Who Will Win?
My money is on Marcel. Bravo says it in the episode description, “Never underestimate the power of revenge” and I completely agree. Having already lost to Richard, Marcel has definitely got something to prove going into this particular duel. He’s a skilled chef with a unique approach to the art of cooking, so I’d be surprised if he didn’t win. Then again, you never know. You’ll have to watch this duel yourself to see who gets eliminated.
