“I had had enough of it for a week or two”: why did Clotaire from Top Chef experience her elimination almost as a relief?

This Wednesday, May 22, the Top Chef candidates first had to compete in a test that highlighted vegan cuisine. They had to make a sandwich without any animal proteins. It was ultimately Jorick who qualified. The other candidates competed in pairs during a challenge launched by brothers Léo and César Troisgros. Valentin and Clotaire were beaten by Marie and Pavel. The two friends must then face each other in the last chance test. It is ultimately Clotaire who leaves the official competition. The young man returned to his elimination in an interview given to Leisure TV. We tell you more.

Clotaire is undoubtedly one of the least stressed candidates in the competition. His motto “slowly but surely”. However, his adventure was not always as easy as that: “I had the impression that it was a long way of the cross. (He laughs.) It was very laborious, but that’s a bit of my fault too. I can’t work when I’m stressed, it blocks me. To be honest, I took it lightly, telling myself that if I lost, it was because I wasn’t giving my all”.

Far from not being motivated, on the contrary, the young man simply explains that he is not competitive, preferring to let himself be carried away and see what the future has in store for him: “The others were going to train in their restaurant, were worrying. I was just happy to be on time for the shoot and I said to myself:“We’ll see !” It’s a little shell that I created for myself to cope with failure.”

A philosophy which paid off since the young man still came 5th in the competition. His limitless creativity will undoubtedly remain one of his most striking personality traits. Remember that the candidate had managed to make the members of the jury eat insects.

Accustomed to last chances, Clotaire still had hope of remaining in the competition: “In the qualifying events, I always told myself that, if it didn’t go well, there was always the elimination event and that at that point, I would do a little more.”

But this ordeal had a bitter taste for the 33-year-old cook since he found himself with one of his friends from the program: Valentin. It is against him that he fights to try to save his place in the competition. A situation not very obvious for him: “It was a big dilemma to find myself facing Valentin because we became very good friends during filming. He’s the person I’ve spent the most time with. I wanted him to be the one to pass.”

Indeed, the candidate confides to our colleagues that he felt he had reached the end of what he could give: “I’m quite relieved, honestly. Because I had had enough of it for a week or two. I was thinking of Marilys (his partner, editor’s note) pregnant in Copenhagen and it no longer necessarily amused me to do Top Chef. It was more important for Valentin than for me to go far. He gave his all from the start. I told myself that it would be unfair if it was me who passed.”

Finally, Clotaire’s wish was fulfilled since it was Valentin who qualified. However, the competition is not yet over for Clotaire because he managed to qualify in the hidden brigade, once again narrowly: “As per usual ! (He laughs.) I went there saying to myself “We’ll see”, I didn’t really know what I was going to do. It built up as the ordeal progressed.”

So there is still a chance that the young man will come out of this and return to the competition. As the cook says “We’ll see”.