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.