This is my first comment on this show on here, so forgive the long post as i address a number of things...
I've never found Marcel to be that annoying. He's a little patronizing, but not nearly as bad as Stephen was last season. Marcel actually reads my mind a lot of the time with his comments, like last night when Elia and Ilan were saying, "Some people...cheat," or to that effect. Lately, Ilan bugs me waaaay more than Marcel. I thought it was really crummy the way Ilan convinced Elia and Sam to throw Marcel under the bus before the Judge's Table, brought it up, then let Elia take all the pressure for making the accusations, which were BS anyway. Sam and Ilan have actually been just as patronizing, just aimed at Marcel, which seems to be accepted by everyone.
I'm sad Sam is gone, because I thought he was the best cook there. Still, Marcel and Ilan have been pretty consistantly good throughout, so I can accept them as the final two. In the beginning of the season, i was guessing Sam and Ilan as the final two...on this show it's pretty easy to see which chefs have real skill and which just have a few good dishes up their sleeve.
I thought last season was way better. I can't stand shows that use heavy product placement, even though i'm a PR person! Gourmet cooking with Kraft Mayonaise? It was actually kindof bad for Kraft because they kept saying that mayo isn't an ingredient commonly used in gourmet cuisine, and all the chefs were complaining about it. I'm sure Kraft loved that!
I also can't stand the way Padma talks. At least I could understand what Katie Joel was saying. Padma sounds like she has food stuffed in her cheeks when she talks. Can't they teach the hosts to open their mouth more when they talk?