"contestants" news and stories

The annoying thing about starting up a new season of a show like Bravo's Top Chef is that you have to learn all about a whole new cast of characters. It is fun to watch fifteen new contestants - three more than last season - compete in the various challenges, but it is awfully hard to keep track of them all as the show finds its stride and you don't get invested in the characters until the cast has been narrowed down a bit.

That being said, the cast seems like a fairly talented bunch this time around according to their credentials. But that can all change once they move into the Los Angeles loft that they share and get in front of the cameras in the kitchen.

Tomorrow night is the second-to-last episode of Bravo's Top Chef. Only three of the final four contestants will be chosen to compete in the Las Vegas finals in the season finale. Here's a rundown of the final four and what their chances of winning are:

Tiffani Faisson - Tiffani, 28, is a Boston native who has spent the past few years living in Las Vegas, where she worked as chef de partie at the Daniel Boulud Brasserie in the Wynn Hotel. She also worked the front of the house, as a server at the Venetian, before moving back east to return to the kitchen. She's a talented chef with high ideals, ideals that she refuses to compromise. As it was first pointed out to her in Episode 3, cooking is a service industry and often you have to serve what the customers want, not just what you want to give them. She is also too controlling. She loves to micromanage, but being a Top Chef is about leadership and you can't lead people without letting them walk on their own two feet. In fact, Tiffani doesn't lead people at all. If she's not getting her way, she's saying "I knew that would fail and I let them do it anyway." The judges hate it because it is indicative of the fact that Tiffani does not work well as part of a team.