Double the Elimination Fun

This season of Top Chef is proving to be an exciting one. After last week's lack of elimination, this week we were treated to a double. Josie and Marisa (above, with judge Tom Colicchio) were both cut after a pairs challenge making a six course meal for "Stifler's mom," actress Jennifer Coolidge.

This fast-moving episode began quite unappetizingly. The chefs were presented with undesirable ingredients - from pigs feet to cow cheeks - for their initial quickfire challenge. Shockingly, some of the dishes rose above their disarming ingredients and looked restaurant-ready. The guest judge chose Sam (one of New York's sexiest chefs he is quick to remind us) as the challenge winner, and he was granted immunity from the second challenge of the episode.

This was where the real fun began. Chefs were told to pair off to create six teams, one for each course of Jennifer Coolidge's dinner party. Some of the pairings were unexpected - Mia partnered with Betty after accusing her of cheating just last week - and some were plain weird - Marcel compared his teaming with Frank to a less-than-stellar prom date you just don't want to turn down. After pairing off, teams began planning their dishes, but with little inter-team communication, and as a result the meal seemed disjointed and failed to impress the judges.

As this challenge progressed, it started becoming clear who the front-runners would be for this season. Cliff, who has won two previous immunity challenges and seems to always be in the top three, was teamed with Sam, and though he was already saved from elimination, the two slaved over an intricate two-part dish that landed them in the top two. Rounding out the top four chefs were Mike and Ilan, whose seafood paella won the dinner challenge and brought Mike out of the apathetic slump that had been plaguing him for the last two challenges.

The most exciting part of this episode, for me, was seeing self-obsessed Marisa go home. Somehow her unimpressive dishes hadn't been enough to send her home until last night. I sympathized with Josie about wanting to stay until the end, but after her ego-boosting reaffirmations ("I am a great chef") I realized she and Marisa had partnered for a reason - overconfidence in their own abilities. After a double elimination we're back on schedule with only ten chefs remaining.

The Marcel and Betty Show

It's now coming into focus who the real stars of this season's Top Chef will be. This week's two challenges kept the episode moving at a brisk pace, drew out some fiery personality quirks we had yet to see this season and gave us all a well-appreciated new T.G.I.Friday's menu item.

First up for the contestants was a dessert challenge in which the chefs were assigned to whip up original ice cream flavors. While self-obsessed Marcel concocted an "avant garde" avocado-bacon ice cream, more traditional flavors like peach cobbler and marshmellow-graham cracker (Cliff's winning flavor) impressed the chefs' young customers. Sam, the good-looking hipster - "one of New York's ten sexiest chefs," he reminded us - took it upon himself to flirt with not only his ice cream customers but one of the judges, Gail Simmons. Until this week I had forgotten he was even on the show, so he must be doing something right.

The real fun of this episode wasn't one dorky chef flirting with a judge or even a vat of avocado-bacon ice cream, it was the Marcel vs. Betty (above) blowout. Until Wednesday's episode, Betty had seemed fun, outgoing and well-loved among the cast. However, after witnessing Marcel's childish breakdown in reaction to a faulty deep-frier, she'd had enough and set him straight about his egotistical boasting, immature whining and genuinely obnoxious personality. Though the other contestants seemed to appreciate Betty's blunt honesty, karma, it appears, will bite you in the ass. When it was her turn to quickly cook her Grilled Cheese with Fire Roasted Red Pepper Soup, she had similar equipment problems and was barely able to complete her dish.
Though she and Marcel coincidentally had similar technical problems, instead of bemoaning her poor luck, she forged ahead and ended up winning the challenge.

I have to say the elimination round was a little surprising to me. Michael, a line cook from California, who spent eight dollars of his $100 food budget on beer...for himself, seemed to be the obvious pick to go, as he seems to be blowing off the seriousness of the competition. Alas, it was Emily, boring, salt-loving Emily who was kicked off in this week's installment. I have a sneaking suspicion Michael won't be with us too much longer anyway. Previews for next week include ANOTHER round of cheating accusations and Michael's lackadaisical attitude permeating the kitchen. Sadly, I can't wait.