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1) Doug

I have an extremely hard time picking between Doug and Greg for the top spot heading into the Top Chef finale. On the one hand, Doug has all the momentum in the world - surviving Last Chance Kitchen and sweeping both of last week’s challenges. We’ve seen this narrative before (Kristin Kish, anyone?). On the other hand, when Greg is on, he’s on, and his flavors dazzle the judges. Moreover, despite his QF flub, Greg looks like he’s rediscovered his mojo. I’m going with Doug as this season wraps up...

2) Greg

...though I could easily see Greg taking the title, as well. For me, this is a gut call. The challenge in the finale is typically the one challenge all season that comes closest to “just cook some f-ing good food,” with open-ended challenges that give the chefs a wide berth to show their best stuff. With this understanding, which chef’s best will end up being deemed the best? Doug, over the course of the season, proved himself the far more consistent chef than Greg - with Doug in the bottom three of only one elimination, compared to four for Greg.

3) Mei

This is not to say that I can’t imagine Mei winning the title. She’s done relatively well in the past couple of episodes, with one Quickfire win, two Elimination wins, and two almost-Elimination-wins in the past five episodes. I’m not convinced, however, that her food has the soulfulness that will be able to win over the judges in the finale - see Doug’s chili for comparison. But who knows? Maybe the dual mentoring by both of the Voltaggio brothers will give her the spark needed to become just the third female to win Top Chef.