Don't blame Wayward and Biatchstein, possums. We merely followed our leads...to our inbox, that is.As you may remember, cheftestant Micah Edelstein's Bravo bio lists "South Africa" as her hometown (whereas, for comparison's sake, the bio for Hung Huynh, who was born in Vietnam, lists Pittsfield, Mass., as his hometown). And we saw some rumblings on other blogs regarding the authenticity of Micah's South African accent, made by people who said they went to school with Micah. (And, as one reader pointed out, Micah did seem rather good at coming up with conflicting stories, e.g., telling the camera that she bought the lamb for her barbecue because it was on sale, but telling the judges that she did lamb because "we" (presumably her family, or perhaps South Africans in general) always barbecue lamb whereas Americans have hot dogs and hamburgers.)
In the interest of clearing up the confusion, we asked for documentary evidence, and Amuse-Biatch reader "T." obliged us. T. writes:
"I also went to Junior High and High School with Micah. She was in my homeroom.... We were not that friendly in school but she really didn't bother me. I have nothing against her; I just want to set the record straight. It is sad that she seems so ashamed of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, as to lie that her hometown is South Africa. Bridgewater is actually quite a town here in New England with a premiere State College that was actually the first teachers college in the country. Bridgewater is also home to a state prison, which has a mental hospital that is one of the best in the state. It is a very quaint New England town, which has grown a lot in the last 20 years but has been able to retain its charm. It is a much sought after town to live in and thus has very high housing prices.
....
I don't remember Micah having the accent in high school, but she didn't have a true Boston Accent either, just no accent. She has been well travelled her whole life; I remember her talking in home room about going to Europe and stuff when we were in Jr. High. I found it very interesting to listen to her tell others of her travels, since the majority of us never went anywhere past Cape Cod, New York or Florida to see grandparents.
She hung out with a lot of the popular/smart kids in school. I just think it is interesting seeing someone from my past on TV. She has always had this worldly cultured way about her so I am not surprised of how her life has gone. I wish her luck but hope she doesn't forget where she really came from because it is a place, though not exotic also not a place to be ashamed of."
Now, we should make it clear that it is Bravo, rather than Micah, which has listed "South Africa" as her hometown, so there's no proof that Micah is lying (well, except about the lamb). It's entirely conceivable that Micah mentioned Bridgewater, Mass., and Bravo opted for the more exotic place; or perhaps it was Micah who omitted Bridgewater. We simply have no way of knowing.
However, what most fascinates us is the glimpse into Micah's high school past because, for one, her high school had much better yearbook photography than ours. According to T, Micah was on the soccer and tennis teams. Check out the following pictures, possums (click on each picture for a larger version). And consider this Wayward and Biatchstein investigation closed.
13 comments:
In what little defense she does have she did say "Chow" to her parents. Maybe she took off to South Africa after high school? Guess she stuck around long enough to acquire her fake accent.
Please tell me she was making some reference to food.
Because "chow" - is not the same as "ciao". And I'm from BFE Iowa and know that.
Maybe this has been already said, but I'm really confused... I think all in one episode, Micah said that she is originally from South Africa, that she made her business here in the States from ITALY with her daughter and $400, and that she also lived in the Bahamas for a while. Then she kept bashing American food. It all sounded "fishy" to me, and running across this yearbook page, if it's authentic, explains a lot. Why do people come up with fake identities on nat'l TV, knowing that someone out there can ID them? Too weird.
Having known Micah for the last 10 years I can say with full conviction that she has been and lived in South Africa, the Bahamas and most recently Italy and that there is nothing nefarious going on.
Being a world traveler and having lived abroad myself I have experienced first hand how an accent and inflection can quickly take hold...(especially english accents). Madonna was mentioned earlier and is an excellent example .
Having worked on the show I can tell you that Top Chef, like all shows, is highly edited and 16-18 hour days are compacted into a 1 hour show. What you hear and see in the final edited version is not always consistent with the true context.
this girl is a fraud. she went to university of miami after high school. she never had an accent in college. she claims poverty but how many people could afford a school that is over 30 grand for the year. this same girl who bashed american barbecues is the same girl that sure enjoyed them at miami while wearing her sorority letters
DUDES, i too when to University of Miami with her... so let's recap:
Junior High - USA
High School - USA
College - USA
and throw a sorority on top of it all.
so the person who knows Micah as the "world traveler" doesn't seem to know her very well.
I went to school with Micah in Massachusetts from grades 6-12. She never had a "foreign" accent. She did seem to fancy herself "above" her surroundings and was a bit of a snob. If she did spend her early years, before I knew of her, in South Africa, she completely lost any accent by age 11.
I didn't know her before middle school, but assumed she went to one of the other Bridgewater elementary schools, the students of which all merge together for middle school.
Although I didn't know her well, I remember one conversation I had with her during a high school lounge. She claimed her father's construction company made over a BILLION dollars a year. As I was quite sure she was full of ****, I asked her why she attended public school rather than going to Phillips Andover or one of the many elite private schools in the state. She seemed flustered and said something along the lines of the billion dollars was before taxes...HA HA. (I didn't have the nerve to ask why she lived in a very average house.)
That one poster who said she now knows her is making excuses. You don't live in a country from birth til mid twenties and then by mid 30s have a full blown foreign accent from a few trips.
There is a difference between "trips" and being a world traveler.
Micah wanted to re-invent herself. That is obvious. The thing is, you CAN do that, UNTIL you go on National television and out yourself to those from your past.
Also, the whole "I've never seen this show" excuse was lame. She said it to Justify why she didn't know what to expect. If it was an excuse, it made her look lame. WHO enters a competition without checking it out? If I got chosen for a show, I'd watch previous seasons all in one stretch, just so that I would be PREPARED and not going in blindly.
Fauxmicah is funny. Again, on the reunion show she said she DID go to HIGH SCHOOL in the US (answering to the commends online) but she failed to omit that uh she went to her entire lifetime of school in the US. You'd think maybe she went to live with her American mother for HS when she was here all along.
The most vivid memory I have of Micah was freshman year at Bridgewater Raynham High school was during gym class learning square dancing and every time she would spin around her shirt would fly up revealing both of her breasts would be exposed. "S"
Her accent is FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE. She's pretentious, and needs a reality check.
The girl if from Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Her father Sidney is from South Africa.
That's the long and short of it. Her mother Maureen was born and raised in Bridgewater.
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