How to display a list using ViewBag

In your view, you have to cast it back to the original type. Without the cast, it’s just an object.

<td>@((ViewBag.data as ICollection<Person>).First().FirstName)</td>

ViewBag is a C# 4 dynamic type. Entities returned from it are also dynamic unless cast. However, extension methods like .First() and all the other Linq ones do not work with dynamics.

Edit – to address the comment:

If you want to display the whole list, it’s as simple as this:

<ul>
    @foreach (var person in ViewBag.data)
    {
        <li>@person.FirstName</li>
    }
</ul>

Extension methods like .First() won’t work, but this will.