Top Chef All Star favorite Carla Hall was sent packing on the last episode of the show after coming up short in the elimination and quick fire challenges.
In a new interview with TV Guide, Carla talks being eliminated and admits she would have sent herself packing too. Carla also discusses why she lost focus, what sheâs up to today and why she didnât give us any âhootie-hooâs this season. Excerpts from her interview below â
Could you have left the rice off since it was âundone-teâ?
Carla: [Laughs] Exactly, it was âundone-teâ! I couldâve left it off. As soon as I poured that rice into that pot, I turned to Hosea and said, âI just gave you $10,000.â Tom said, âI canât get past rice thatâs not cooked properly.â Me either. No argument there. ⊠My frame of mind wasnât there. Itâs also hard stopping the competition [in September], coming back to your regular life and then going back in [for the finals in January]. I didnât have the same focus.
You agreed with the judgesâ decision. Did you think you were going home?
Carla: Yeah, in the stew room, Antonia thought she was going. I said, âNo, Iâm going.â It wasnât until Judgesâ Table that I realized how underdone the pork was. As soon as I heard that, I knew. I wouldâve sent myself home too. I wonât fight for a bad dish. ⊠I said this on the show: I wouldâve rather gone home knowing I did a really great dish, even in New York at Ellis Island. I loved that dish. I wouldâve preferred to go home then because I wouldâve been out-cooked. I didnât want to go home with a dish that had technical flaws and one where I didnât push the envelope.
I was disappointed we didnât hear any âhootie-hooâs this season. What happened?
Carla: We did them. They just didnât show them. I know, with Matthew, people were saying, âWhy didnât you âhootie-hooâ each other?â Well, I knew where he was. He was right at the table!
As for what sheâs up to today, Carla reveals sheâs transitioning from catering into doing a line of cookies. âI changed the name from Alchemy Caterers to Alchemy by Carla Hall. Itâll be a line of seasonal products until I eventually hopefully open up a cafĂ©,â she said.
In other Carla news, she has talked on the show about being a former model in the early 90s, and now we have a number of her photos from her modelings days courtesy of ivillage. Carla was a high fashion model for a few years strutting her stuff on the runways of London, Paris and Milan. Those photos are below!
Moving on to tonightâs new episode as the four remaining All-Stars are left standing and itâs a fight to the finish to claim the coveted title of âTop Chef.â But it wonât be an easy road to the finale as the chefâtestants have to face the high stakes in the Bahamas. First roadblock? What happens when the chefâtestants must physically fish for local Bahamian protein? And for the elimination round, the chefâtestants must pair up to deliver a winning meal. When the pairs end up as girls vs. guys, it becomes one last battle-of-the-sexes before the Finale.
TELL US â THOUGHTS ON CARLAâS INTERVIEW, PHOTOS & TONIGHTâS EPISODE OF TOP CHEF?