We're Tired of Casey Thompson

By KRISTY CHU and GREG JANDA

Updated 11:25 AM CST, Thu, Jul 9, 2009

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Ex-Dallas chef Casey Thompson sure does know how to cook up controversy. Reality TV thrives on controversial characters, and we will give her this—she made for some good reality television in not just one, but two seasons of Bravo's “Top Chef.”

Thompson went from a North Texas business major to earning her first culinary position at The Mansion on Turtle Creek where she gradually worked her way up through the ranks of sous chefs under the revered celebrity chef Dean Fearing.

She later became a chef at Shinsei restaurant before joining “Top Chef” where she was runner-up during the show’s 3^rd season. She returned for the finale of Season 5 to assist front-runner Carla Hall, who subsequently lost after a disastrously-prepared meal in the finale.

In a comment posted -- out of context, says Thompson -- by D Magazine's SideDish blog about the finale, Thompson had some not-so-kind words about Hall and the show’s editors: read that post here.

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Fiesty, for sure, but what really busts our lamb chops is the fact that Thompson's abandoned Dallas. Unlike fellow Top Chef contestant Tre Wilcox, or Food Network's Lisa Garza, Thompson made for the coast nearly a year ago and has decided doing "personal appearances" were more her style than working in Shinsei.

Hey, we're all for making the best out of your reality show "stardom," but leaving the place that cultivated that culinary skill so quickly moves you from taking an opportunity to just being opportunistic.