In "Really Lame" News: Top Chef Masters Winner Leaked

Photo borrowed from Bravo

We're week two into Bravo's Top Chef Masters and the winner has already been leaked. SF-based food writer Grace Ann Walden has apparently revealed the winner in her Yummy Newsletter, and MenuPages Chicago confirmed the tip. Quoth the chef's publicist:

"You want my comment? I think it's really lame that this is online. Nobody knows who the winner is. It's all for charity, it's for fun. I think it's a disservice to these chefs, a disservice to these charities. I think it's really lame that it's out there, and I think it's lame that you put it up there. It's lame for everybody."

To get spoiled, make the jump.

And the winner is...

Rick Bayless, owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, both in Chicago, and Frontera Frescos branches in Macy's stores around the country.

Each chef signed a contract that stipulates it would cost them $1 million if they revealed the outcome before the finale's air date. But Walden is not telling who told. "I am protected by the California Reporters' Shield law and something called the First Amendment," she writes in this week's newsletter.

Did she ruin it for everyone by reporting it? Or was the outcome of the show news, as she claimed, which the news business is charged with reporting? We tend to think we would have rather not known. And now that we do, it's like, meh. We'll still tune in to see if Anita Lo wins her episode.

[MenuPages Chicago via Grub Street]