Fabio Viviani Is Still The Fan Favorite

Last week we asked our readers who their favorite former Top Chef contestant was, celebrating the return of the addictive Bravo show. Fabio Viviani was the clear winner, with 29 percent of the votes.

Richard Blais fell in second place with 26 percent, and Carla Hall received 22 percent.

The bottom three chefs in our poll were Sam Talbot (9 percent), Spike Mendelsohn (8 percent), and Stephanie Izard (7 percent). Talbot, Mendelsohn, and Izard were all contestants on earlier Top Chef seasons, which may explain their small amount of votes.

Yet Viviani's win is far from surprising — with his smooth-talking Italian accent, sense of humor (those sound effects!), and pet turtle, the fan favorite in season five now has his own series with Yahoo! called Chow Ciao.

Blais is the most recent winner of Top Chef All-Stars, and the perfectionist may have captured readers' attention with his use of liquid nitrogen and flashy molecular gastronomy tricks. And finally, Carla Hall, who you can see on The Chew these days, won fans over with her too-adorable catchphrases and down-to-earth demeanor.

Who is your favorite former Top Chef contestant? And who do you think will win this season? Leave your comments below.

The Daily Byte is a regular column dedicated to covering interesting food news and trends across the country. Click here for previous columns.