I see this as something different. Yes, he did eat the soup but how does that make him an enthusiast or a supporter of those that do and those that eat? He did it as part of finding out what it was all about. He describes it as a bland soup that has zero culinary value.
If you watch the full video, you can tell how horrified he is by what he's seeing on the boats and with the overall trade of the fins.
At the end of the video, he meets with a number of culinary powerhouses from China Town asking them to stop serving the soup in their restaurants. He forced them to sit through a video showing, first hand, the callous destruction of the sharks on the boats he was on.
So why vilify him? Why boycott him? I think he did a pretty bold thing by going to see the trade with his own two eyes and carrying back the truth. If you read a bit more about his adventure, it sounded like he almost got it some major trouble for trying to expose the truth.
I would be surprised, too, if his stature in the culinary world didn't carry some weight. Do you think a group from Greenpeace could easily get top chefs and restaurant owners to sit down and talk about shark fin soup being served in their establishments?
Watch the full video before making comments. Spend 12 minutes watching it and then decide if he deserves your vilification.