Thanks to a tip-off from Gawker alum Richard Lawson, we know that Page 134 of the December 21 issue (the one with Tiger's wife on the cover) shows the above picture with the winner hugging Tom Colicchio and Padma's bad idea bangs. The copy refers to the person in the picture as the "reigning Top Chef champ" and the photo caption says "[the winner]...beat out [the losers]." There is also a recipe for Bell Pepper Couscous with Tomato-Harissa Broth. Don't make it. If you eat it, you will be able to tell the future, but all your friends will hate you for revealing events before they occur.

We're not going to tell you the results of the show, because that would kill the fun of tonight's live blog here on Gawker, but if you are really dying to know, get down to your local magazine dealer and look for yourself.

The picture that they ran is courtesy of Bravo, and it is not yet on Bravo's press website, so that means someone at the network had to release it to People. Didn't they realize the December 21 issue would come out well before December 21? Or maybe they didn't care because it would only be on the stands for a day before we find out who won. We wish People was a blog so a million commenters could leave "thanks for the spoiler alert assholes" under the article. Just so they knew what it's like.

His account follows:

"You're bringing a book?" This was Tom Colicchio's reaction on seeing the paperback in the pocket of my Tux. Had that been a mistake?

It was 1.30pm when I got into the limo with Tom outside our hotel and the Emmys weren't due to start until 5pm. Even factoring in a bit of red carpet action, that was a lot of down time.

Top Chef was nominated for six Emmys this year, including one for hosting and one for outstanding reality show. As a regular judge on the show, I had been flown in by Bravo to attend the ceremony. It felt strange heading over to the event in a limousine with Tom. Back in my days as a hard-drinking rogue journalist I had crashed plenty of award shows, but I'd never been invited to one before.

Gail Simmons was also in the car and we discussed whether to rush the stage if Top Chef won in the hosting category. Technically, the hosts of the show are Tom and Padma — they were the named nominees — but I did my best to convince Gail that if we grabbed the Emmys before them we'd probably be able to keep them.

One of my closest friend in Los Angeles is a television writer and the previous night he'd told me about a similar stunt pulled by a couple of writers on a show he'd worked on that won a Golden Globe. These two writers weren't the named nominees, but they'd rushed the stage, hoping to grab the statuettes, only to be apprehended by security. Afterward, an official of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association came and sat down at their table and told them that all the writers on the show, including my friend, were entitled to take home a Globe. "All you have to do is fill out these forms," he said, pulling a sheaf of documents out of his pocket. The only snag was that they'd have to cough up $750 a piece. "Back then, the Globes weren't as big a deal as they are today," my friend explained. "In retrospect, I wish I'd handed over the cash."

Tom revealed that, as a nominee, he'd had to fill out a long questionnaire sent to him by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "One of the questions said, ‘If you weren't an actor, what you be?'" revealed Tom. "I didn't know how to answer that one."

He'd also been sent an elaborate set of guidelines, telling him exactly how to behave if he won. If you were nominated as part of a group, only one member of the group was allowed to speak and if you went on for more than 40 seconds they would cue the orchestra to play you off. Tom didn't think this applied to the hosting category and if he and Padma won they were planning to speak for 15 seconds each.

"Who's going to speak first?" I asked.

"Padma."

"In that case, forget about it. She's just going to carry on talking until they cue the music."

In the event, this wasn't put to the test because the Emmy in question went to Jeff Probst for hosting Survivor. I had joked to Padma the night before that if she didn't win I was going to "do a Kanye", ie, storm the stage, grab the statuette and say, "This should have gone to Padma."

"Oh please, please, please do that," she said, her eyes sparking with mischief.

As anyone who watched the Emmys will know, good sense prevailed. One of the reasons I restrained myself is because I was convinced that Top Chef would win for outstanding reality show and that category was up next. I didn't want to tarnish what would be a proud moment for the show by behaving like a jackass. (There's quite enough of that in each episode.)

I carefully placed the book I'd brought under my chair. Gail and I really would be going up on stage if Top Chef won in this category — "We all go up," Tom explained — and I didn't want to be seen by 13 million people clutching a copy of Hold Tight by Harlan Coben.

Unfortunately, we didn't win for outstanding reality show either. For the third year running, Top Chef was beaten by The Amazing Race. A clip was shown in which a deaf contestant told the host that being in The Amazing Race meant the world to him because it proved that deaf people could achieve their dreams, too. This proved to be such an emotional moment that both the deaf man and the host broke down in tears. Cue rapturous applause in the Emmy auditorium. In the bar afterwards, I told Tom that if we wanted to stand a chance next year we'd have to get some contestants with disabilities.

"That's why we hired you Toby," he said.

Believe it or not, going home empty handed wasn't too much of a blow. We were up against 27 different reality shows in our category — that's how many official submissions there were — and to make it to the final shortlist of six was an achievement in itself. At least, that's what I kept telling myself as I headed off to the HBO party in my limo, reading Hold Tight. In any event, there's always next year …

Tom Colicchio, the bald but decidedly un-jolly chef and Top Chef TV judge has turned the front half of his new-ish, poorly-received Craftsteak (he owns a whole chain of branded "Craft" restaurants), appropriately located in the Meatpacking District, into something cleverly called Halfsteak. There you can get a variety of meats and other small plates, all for under $15. Plus you can get half a beer for $4! A steal! And there's the added benefit of feeling smug and thrifty compared to those at the back of the restaurant, while they get to feel smug and wealthy as they lazily look at you teetering on a bar stool.

Colicchio has employed other measures to get butts in seats of late, from special prix fixe tasting room meals to Pay-What-You-Weigh. (That second one might not have actually happened.) Our relatively uniformed guess about this Halfsteak is that it'll be affordable, sure, but pretty cut-rate food not worth fighting the crowds and the long journey to 10th avenue. I mean, doesn't that mean that it's basically a couple of booths floating on the Hudson? Surely there can't be ten avenues!

If you're dying to go, you'd better get in line, as they don't take reservations. But, once there, you can show the hostess your Padma Lakshmi zombie bite for a free order of Craftsouthwestern Crafteggrolls.

See, Colicchio's not actually opening a new restaurant; he's starting a venture called "Tom: Tuesday Dinner" that will open up every other Tuesday, then disappear! The first exotic location for your pricey meal? A "tiny space" in the private dining room of Craft, another one of his already existing restaurants!

Reservations will be taken by telephone six weeks in advance, and the price of the meal ($150 to $250 depending on the menu) will have to be prepaid with a credit card. Menus will only be announced about a week before each meal; they will be posted on a website, tomtuesdaydinner.com.

If this works out, we're starting a new venture: "Track me down at an undisclosed location and pay me $1,000 and I will tell you where the nearest McDonald's is."

That leaves Tom C. as the one of the few celebrity chefs on "Top Chef" who has a restaurant but doesn't have a Michelin star. But Michelin also gave Peter Luger Steakhouse a star, though the New York Times' recently made the case that the Brooklyn institution had jumped the cow. Michelin also awarded two stars to testicle-searing and, by some accounts, boring chef Gordon Ramsay for his New York restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London. Maybe the Michelin Man just prefers aging twinks to bears?

2008 Michelin Guide Results