"carla" news and stories

Well, Top Chef Season Five has come to an end, although the conclusion feels far from satisfying to me. Watching the episode last night, I was practically screaming at Carla, begging her not to surrender to Casey's influence (why on earth would she sous vide something when it was so obviously not her cooking style?). Scott and I picked our winners (he was betting on Carla, whereas, despite my love for Ms. Hootie Hoo, I figured that Stefan was going to be victorious) before we turned on the TV and were flabbergasted when neither one of our chef'testants ended up pulling out a win.

Reaction to the winner has been vociferous across the internet. The comment thread over at Skillet Doux is nearing 100 and if you search for Hosea, Carla or Stefan on Twitter, there are pages and pages of tweets related to the episode. Reading Michael Y. Park's analysis over at the Epi-Log, one thing stood out for me and that's his recommendation that the Top Chef producers change the way the winner is selected. He says,

Because the winner of the final challenge is crowned winner of the entire season, the show has devolved into the contestants trying not to screw up rather than be great chefs.

What do you think about Park's comment? Do you think that it's wrong to pick the winner based upon that single meal? And how are you feeling about Hosea's win (and Carla's tragic abdication of her authority)? What about Stefan? Should he have been the winner?