So, I might not be a huge Brooke fan, but at least the girl embraces color. Nice aqua colored pants in a sea of drab. What’s up with that anyway? Fear not colorful fabric, people!

Brooke, she is safe, as is Carly and the Davids. Chikezie? Not as much. Syesha, either. They are bottom two. Michael is safe.

We find out Dolly is mentoring next week. Wow. Country week. Or is it Dolly Week? Contemplating them all singing Dolly songs is kind of…interesting. Of course, if they can pick from everything she’s written, too, then that’s a hefty percentage of songs anyway.

Okay, back to the show… Augh! Constantine? Next time, prepare me for that! Jeez.

Also, Ramiele is safe. (Wha?) Now I’m worried about Chikezie, and I shouldn’t have to be. Rrr.

Of course, that leaves Jason and Perrenial Bottom Three-er, Kristy Lee, so maybe I don’t have to be so worried, but honestly, I doubt she leaves this week after the patriot number. I’m hoping at this point it’s Syesha. But let’s find out who is bottom three first. And, yeah, so Kristy ain’t even bottom three, which means my Woodland Nymph is at risk!

What is wrong with people?

Look at that Bottom Three. Wrong, wrong, and, well, one is right. But…seriously?

Now I’m really hopin’ it’s Syesha, but I have a sick feeling it’s Chikezie. I really like his vibe, and I think, of the two of them, he has a lot more potential to bring something interesting to the show (like….any) than she does, but I read the bb’s and I’m very alone in that. Which I don’t get. So….crossing fingers!

Okay, Jason is like so totally adorably freaked out but trying to be cool with being in the bottom three, then Ryan just casually tells him he’s safe before he can even get done stammering his coolness. Loved that. Very cute. And, yay!

And going home? Is Chikezie. Pout.

Now we’re still stuck with Kristy Lee, Syesha, and Ramiele, who will bring precisely what to the show? At least he had a chance to be interesting and memorable. I’d have liked to see him go to top four, so this sucks. At least he gets to go on tour.

What did you think? Do you have a favorite yet? Right now, the only album I’d buy is David Cooks…but who knows? We haven’t seen them go through all the hoops yet. His sing out was great. Still shaking my head…. Bye, Soul Boy.

So…on Top Chef we have a whole host of chefs left with all kinds of challenges left to face.

Quickfire Challenge was to make a high end, fine dining….taco. Interesting challenge and kind of wild what they came up with. Andrew, and, yes, Richard, were probably the most unique, but a lot of them looked amazing. Bottom was the guys who stuck with more traditional flavors, including Eric, Lisa, and Ryan. Top Tacos, were Andrew (see?), Richard (I’m so on), and Spike (who stuck with traditional flavors, but won the guest judge over anyway.) Winner? Richard. Ugh. Yes, I did put him in the top three, because he deserved to be there, but he didn’t have to, you know, actually win. God, I want to hold his head down and shave that incredibly ridiculous and unnecessary fauxhawk off. Of all the people, it so doesn’t suit him and you just know it’s this ploy to help stand out in the crowd, and I just want to smack it off him. I didn’t want Spike to win, either, he’s unsufferable enough as it is. Andrew, however, is such a personal, twitchy trainwreck, that it totally mystifies me how he puts out amazing food. So, for pure entertainment value, I want to see him continue.

Elimination Round, we’re in teams. Sigh. I already have Team Fatigue, and we just started the season. Blue Team = Spike, Red Teah = Richard. God, the team captains from hell. So, the challenge is to cook for a neighborhood block party in Chicago, the catch, is the chefs have to go to the houses on the block party street and raid pantries and fridges for the food they will use. Richard says he’s glad he’s got immunity as he’s not particularly social. Um, ya think? At least he acknowledges he has weaknesses. Oh my god, cut that stuff off your head. I can’t look at him.

I can’t tell, really, which team has the edge. Richard is all about making the judges happy and saying if they like it, so will the folks he’s actually cooking for. Yes, Richard, because seven year olds have sophisticated pallates. But he gets props for attacking the challenge full tilt, even with immunity. Red Team seems to be going more traditional, while Blue Team’s food is a bit more upscale. I don’t recall if they said the actual neighborhood folks preferences play any role in who wins, but I hope so!

So, at the block party, the red team, in terms of actual block parties, were totally one with the people as they set up their spread, whereas the blue team came off looking incredibly pretentious. But since the judges will judge this, yeah, guess who wins? My bets aren’t on the yummy street food. It’s a shame, for both teams, that the food they’re preparing for a street fest, which would have traditionally been prepared, carted straight out the door to the feast, or cooked on premises, had a long holding and waiting time, not in optimal conditions, which really shouldn’t be the deciding factor here, but you know it will.

Red Team just enjoys their day and each other, playing with the kids, while the Blue Team just stands there being totally unsociable, and Richard talks smack about the opposition’s food, sure as hell he’s gotten his ass kicked, which….you know what that means. Dammit.

So…yeah, they pull the blue team in first for judges table, which means they won. Hate that. Really. Hate. Not that their food wasn’t more sophisticated, it was. I just…didn’t like them or the attitude of their food for a street bbq. Tom does throw me a bone and say it was close, and that there were things on both sides they didn’t like, and were a bit underwhelmed with the food prepared (which, totally obvious there is no way the Red Team wins, given the street nature of their food.) They won based on two things prepared by Stephanie, which they were told, and is why she is chosen as winner. And, I like her, so yay, well done, but also? Sucks. Only because the Red Team will be crushed and rightfully so. It was a totally triumphant day for them with the folks they actually cooked for, so….whatev. But it’s a shame someone goes home since both sides had bad dishes. My guess? Eric and his soggy corn dogs.

Red Team comes in. They stand united and get a bit bitchy about it with the judges, which I usually hate, but I was all for it this time. Andrew proves he’s the trainwreck we love, and totally says they’d have to drag him out. God, he’s so twitchy, it’s scary. But entertaining as hell. And oooh, the judges don’t love that shit. So, they get all pompous about how if it’s good, it doesn’t matter if you’re seven, and you know? Buzzer. I don’t necessarily agree. But, it’s Top Chef, not Top Neighborhood BBQ Guy, so whaddya gonna do? Usually, I tend to go with the judges, but they were really condescending,and if you listen to their critcisms, the list didn’t really add up any different than the blue team diss list, so…shut up about how you couldn’t believe they thought they lost. What street party were you at?

But, lose they did. And someone goes home. And that someone is? Eric. So, I picked it, but I kinda hate that I did. Ah well. It was interesting, considering he initially came off as this big, gruff guy, that he genuinely enjoyed meeting and working with the other chefs and totally got into the experience. So there was that.

Next week? More hilarity and insanity. And food. Mmmmmmm.

So…dish it up! What did you think? Did the right idol go home? The right chef?

Tomorrow it’s contest winner time, and sneak peek time!

Tags: Writing //