Third Mystery Helper Elf Revealed! (We Think)

As you may remember, possums, at the end of last night’s episode, Tom Colicchio promised the remaining three finalists that they would have help for the final challenge, and for a split second we got a shot of three shadowy figures advancing through an archway. And no, it wasn’t a Watchmen promo, but there is a cartoon character involved.

At the far right is Richard Blais, one of last season’s runners-up. In the middle is Casey Thompson, one of Season 3’s runners-up (her presence is confirmed here). The most inscrutable of the shades is at the far left. At first, something about the slightly pigeon-toed walk suggested Sam Talbot, but the figure isn’t tall enough to be That Guy. We briefly considered Ilan, at the risk of our sanity. But then we remembered something we had read a few weeks ago, and it all made sense.

Now, our money’s on Season 2 runner-up Marcel Vigneron. It makes a certain kind of thematic sense for Wolverine to return--runners-up from past seasons, vous voyez? And then the details of the slightly bouffant hairdo seemed to fill themselves in. And this item from the New Orleans Times-Picayune would seem to clinch it:

Turns out some colleagues here at the paper are such big “Top Chef” fans they trekked to Commander's [Palace] on Thursday, Jan. 15, hoping to catch a glimpse of the [finale] action. They snapped [a] picture of Marcel Vigneron, runner-up in the reality show's second season. Vigneron told my friends that past contestants were involved in the episode being filmed at Commander's.

Q.E.D, possums, Q.E.D. Unless, of course, it’s someone else.