Top Chef's Tiffany: Was Fiancé Worried About Ed?

Dallas cheftestant weighs in on last night's NASA challenge, Angelo's maybe-big head and so much more

Tiffany Derry had a feeling the producers of Top Chef were going to make big deal about the close relationship she developed with fellow cheftestant Ed Cotton.

What we all didn't know was what her fiancé thought of all that…until now.

I caught up with the Dallas chef earlier today to talk about last night's NASA challenge, Angelo's ego and that Ed thing...

I'm sad. Everyone I talk to is sad that you were sent home last night.
Don't be sad. (Laughs).

Yeah, but it was because you didn't take the skin off your peppers! Really? That's what Tom had a problem with?
I thought with Asian no one takes the pepper skin off. Had I been doing something else, I would have…but it didn't feel like that had anything to with my dish. I wanted a pepper with a bit of a crunch to it.

The challenge was kind funky and weird, don't you think? Freeze-dried food for NASA astronauts?
It was weird. It was just weird from the get-go. I was actually thinking we would be making the food and then they would freeze-drying the food and serving it [to the judging panel] like that. I was like, "That doesn't make any sense." So I was confused from the very beginning.

Is Angelo as, well, confident as he appears?
Angelo is good. Being so good sometimes you don't realize how you come across. I don't think he has as big a head as it was played up.

I have to talk you about your laugh. You have the best cheftestant laugh…ever!
Well, thank you. You know, I had someone come into the restaurant and say, "Oh, my gosh—she laughs the same way!"…I was like, "That's really me."

What did your then-fiancé (they married on July 17) have to say when he saw how much they played it up between you and Ed?
One of the first times they did a little teaser for the next week and someone said, "Oh, if Tiffany's fiancé knew!," he turned around and looked at me with that one-eyed look. I was like, "Babe, come on!" He then started laughing. He always says, "I could put her in a room with 500 men and I know things will be just fine. I trust her completely."