The Chef is Manny.

Look, let's get the obvious out of the way. It would be a minor miracle if Manny somehow made the finals, let alone won the whole thing. At this point, he has been everyone's choice to go home at least since Rasika was eliminated. That said, that doesn't imply he is a bad chef. As has been stated many many times, lots of chefs who got eliminated in the middle of the season turned out to be amazing chefs in real life.

Btw, Manny's situation isn't abnormal if you look back far enough. Yes, he's been on the bottom for what feels like 10 consecutive weeks - basically surviving because some other chef messed up worse than he has. However, there have been examples of this in the past and they didn't always resemble some chef way out of their depth. People will remember Josie and Robyn, but LeAnne and Tiffany Derry went through a similar phase in their respective all star seasons; with Tiffany even making it to the finals!

However, what sets Manny apart is the fact that he won the first challenge. The challenge that had every single contestant trying their best - he won it. That told me there is something there that has gone missing these X number of weeks since. Part of it, I feel, is that he won that challenge doing a traditional Mexican dish and since then, most of his dishes have not been of the Mexican variety. And the times hes done Mexican food; its been of the most standard, unimaginative variety with a simple protein and some sides - something Kristin regarded in a comment of derision.

There have been Mexican chefs who have done successful Mexican food over and over to much high regard. But Manny, who is capable of doing it, has either gone away from that or has done a muted version of it. I can't tell if this because he is in Wisconsin and feels the need to conform to some convention because the ingredients are cheese and cherries or he just thinks its not WOW enough or maybe being on the bottom so often has completely destroyed his confidence? Either way, I feel like there is a version of Manny that could hit a much higher note with the judges and this season if he had just embraced his background and kept his confidence.

All that to say, there is a good chef here. He doesn't have the range and technique to outshine someone like Danny or Dan, but a lot better than what he has shown. Its unfortunate.