Top Chef: a twist! Lilian leaves the competition for “personal reasons”

At the start of the episode, Stéphane Rotenberg announced, this Wednesday, April 13, that Lilian Douchet had left the Top Chef competition. He is replaced by the last eliminated: Wilfried Romain. The weeks follow each other but are not alike in Top Chef! For this ninth episode, the culinary competition saw things big by inviting a “living legend of gastronomy”, to quote Hélène Darroze, chef Massimo Bottura. Before the passage of the Italian, the program welcomes one of its emblematic figures: Adrien Cachot, unfortunate finalist of season 11. And this one reserves a colorful test for the candidates still in the running since they will have to work offal. Dishes that will first be blind tested by people who do not like these tripe products. The chef will only be able to taste them if this first jury has appreciated them. “In Paul Pairet’s purple brigade, Lilian had to stop competing for personal reasons,” said the host. “As provided for in the regulations, he is replaced by the last outgoing, Wilfried”, he specifies before wishing him “good luck”. The 28-year-old chef therefore swaps his red cuffs for purple ones. He competes in pairs with Sébastien Renard who, following the rebalancing operated last week, went from the brigade of Philippe Etchebest to that of Paul Pairet. Not the first hasty departure This unprecedented twist of fate is not the first early departure of the history of the competition. In 2012, the second episode of season 3 had experienced a major twist. Eliminated as a last chance, Florent Pietravalle was able to re-enter the competition the same evening following the abandonment of Mehdi Kebboul. Very touched by the remarks of the jurors, in particular Christian Constant and Thierry Marx, the 31-year-old chef announced his decision to his teammates in the locker room. Unfortunately, Florent Pietravalle had been eliminated (definitively) the following week. We wish Wilfried Romain a different fate for this second chance.