Top Chef's Marcel Vigneron "Astonished" by Another A-Hole Edit

Foam king says Bravo isn't showing his great relationship with castmates—except for Dale

By Drusilla Moorhouse Jan 14, 2011 12:45 AMTags
Marcel Vigneron, Top ChefGiovanni Rufino/Bravo

Top Chef All-Star's Marcel Vigneron is not an "asshole."

No, really. 

Many reality-show stars complain about their "bad edits," but Marcel—whose own new reality cooking series, Marcel's Quantum Kitchen premieres March 7 on Syfy—has a good reason to gripe...

Full disclosure: We've always been Marcel superfans—and he is a charming, cool dude in real life. That's why we expected to see him portrayed more positively this season. 

So did Marcel. "They totally were like that," he just told us about the way producers said he would be depicted. "Which is funny, but you know how Bravo is. They have the ability to show whatever they want to show. So when Carla [Hall] breaks down crying and says, 'Marcel, I was so wrong about you…you're actually the nicest guy I've ever met'—because I was helping her roll her spring rolls [which received more praise from the judges than their actual flavor], developing her recipes, giving her recommendations—they just don't show any of that. 

"If they want to paint me and portray me as an asshole, I don't really have any control over that. It's kind of funny—I'm actually astonished to see the same thing.

"I actually got a text message from Tre [Wilcox]—I guess in this last episode he was like, 'Marcel is an asshole' or whatever—and he texted me, he was like, 'Oh my god! I can't believe they said that. I [actually] said, 'Marcel's an asshole but we are all assholes,' which is actually the biggest compliment. 

"So they cut all this stuff out. It's funny to me. Tre's like, 'Dude, I'm sorry, I didn't say it like that.' So it's funny the way they put it all together—and is usually funny to watch."

One thing the show portrayed accurately, Marcel told us, is his conflict with Dale [Talde]. "Yeah, I was a little pissed off," he told us about his styling hip-hop tirade last night against Dale's dim sum challenge victory.

"Dale told me, 'You know what, dude?  I only made eight good plates and sent them to the judges and that was it, and I won the challenge." And I'm like, 'Really dude, you're bragging about that?'

"I busted my ass, ran up the stairs 15-20 times—the people  were hungry. I simplified my dish, I served about 200 portions…I was following the challenge. I helped Blais out, I helped Tiffany and Carla plate up their dishes, I was frying Antonia's shrimp toast, I was all over the place, helping everybody. And Dale just did eight portions for the judges and was polishing his shoes and putting extra components on the judges  table. 

"On my season, if you didn't follow a challenge you didn't win," Marcel said. (On other seasons contestants had to actually cook to move on, too. Cough, Jamie, cough.)

"I was a little perturbed," Marcel admits. "I think it's funny that I'll actually tell Dale that to his face, where he never says anything to my face. All he says is in his interviews. Dale was actually pretty two-faced, which is funny for me to see.

"I'm not that type of person, I don't talk s--t about people behind their back. If I have something to say to you, I'll just tell you. I'm very open and up front about it.."

Are you a card-carrying member of the Marcel Fan Club, or are you on Team Dale? Is All-Stars playing by the rules? Sharpen your knives in the comments.

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