‘Top Chef: Charleston’: Was Sheldon Simeon, Brooke Williamson eliminated before finale?
Tonight, “Top Chef: Charleston” narrowed down its field of contestants to two, and with that delivered one of its more surprising eliminations that we’ve seen on the show in a rather long time. There is no way of getting around seeing Sheldon Simeon eliminated.
Let’s say that again. In the closing minutes of tonight’s new episode, we saw the exit of one Sheldon Simeon, a man we were convinced would be making it into the finale for most of the season. He was dominant in most of the challenges, and if you are one of those people who reads heavily into the edit, then you probably saw during most of the season him portrayed in a fairly positive light.
To be honest, we’re surprised even after watching it that it happened, since we’d been banking on a Sheldon – Brooke Williamson final two for a few episodes now — at least since Brooke returned to the competition in Mexico.
Credit to Shirley Chung
She really stepped up! She was always a fantastic chef, but she had a quiet edit for most of the season and it was harder to imagine scenarios where her story equaled a final two appearance. That’s part of the joy of this show — it tricks you, and has no problem doing just that. It continually finds ways to throw you for various loops, and it almost does so gleefully.
Shirley has a good shot of winning the whole season now, even if Brooke’s a very formidable opponent who may feel more of a drive in the wake of her returning to the competition. This is a comment we made weeks ago, and we still think it’s interesting: It’d be somewhat-great to see Brooke return to the competition and win after this happened in her first season to her detriment.
As for Sheldon, he’s worthy of a very fond farewell as one of the greatest contestants to never win “Top Chef.” He was versatile, heartfelt, and you related to him. The heart behind his food is one of the reasons why he could create a culinary empire in Hawaii.
What did you think about the elimination of Sheldon? Who are you rooting for to win? Share in the comments below!