Thursday, November 11, 2010

Reactions to Top Chef Just Desserts Episode 9

In this penultimate episode of Top Chef Just Desserts, we're left with four pastrycheftestants, each vying to be number one.

For the Quickfire Challenge, they are tasked with creating a four-piece assortment of chocolates that tells their life stories, one of which must represent their "golden moment." The winner of this challenge will have one piece of their chocolate manufactured and sold by Godiva. The pastrycheftestants all seem to think this is a great thing, when really it's Godiva making money off of them.

After two hours, the candy making is complete...well, except for Yigit's fourth piece which didn't want to cooperate...and Gail Simmons and guest judge Francois Payard come in for a tasting and judgement. For a minute there, it looks like Danielle will get the win, but Morgan is once more the victor.

Next up, the Elimination Challenge. Gail introduces an old man named Ben to the pastrycheftestants and tells them they will be creating an anniversary cake for Ben's 61st wedding anniversary. The cakes will be judged on flavor as well as appearance, and the winner of the challenge will receive $15K.

After shopping, the chefs have 10 hours to prep. During this time, Gail thinks it would be fun for them to get to know their clients better, so in strolls Ben with his wife...Sylvia Weinstock, the bespectacled judge from earlier in the season. The pastrycheftestants now know they need to step up their game if they're going to impress the Cake Queen. Even Johnny Iuzzini admits that making a cake for Sylvia would intimidate him.

The next day, they move their cakes to the venue, a hideous, flat, modern-style house in Beverly Hills, where they have two more hours to complete their project. Soon enough, the place is swarming with senior citizens with forks ready to taste. Sylvia is quick with the barbs, saying that Zac's inelegant pile of blue and disco dust "would be a great bar mitzvah cake" and that Yigit's cake was like "a woman who wears all of her jewelry at one time." Zing!

Morgan's cake is a little dry and boring, but Payard likes the piano on top. Danielle's cake gets mostly praise, apart from displeasure at the "battleship gray" color of her buttercream.

The judges manage to find something bad to say about all of the cakes, but they seemed especially hard on Zac who takes the opportunity to throw Morgan under a vehicle of mass transportation. His complaint? Morgan doesn't seem excited when he wins challenges. Morgan then retorts that he would rather remain composed than flail around like a little girl.

Zing!

It ends up being Danielle who flails around like a little girl after being announced the winner of the challenge. And Zac is asked to pack up his offset spatula and candy thermometer and begone.

So what did you think about this episode? Please leave a comment!

4 comments:

DebbyT said...

I actually loved the Godiva challenge. It was enlightening and touching to learn the pastrycheftestants' life stories through their chocolate. And I crave Danielle's baseball truffle!!!

Maeve said...

Morgan is such a douchebag, even they are just picking out his best comments and toning down others he is such a douche and his a douche in the way that straight white guys often are, thinking he is the poor victim when he's the freaking bully.

His comments that if you are excited then you are acting like a girl were both sexist and homophobic since they were clearly meant as a slam against the gay boys especially zac. Zac's cake was the worst looking and it really made me sad that he basically sent himself home.

Morgan seems to not be able to get that he could have a single fault and it's really really creepy. I doubt he even know what a sexist, homophobic pig he is but it's clear that everyone there was picking up on it.
this season has been disappointing with too much focus on shit talk and not enough on making pretty tasty desserts.

I hope morgan doesn't win but unless yigit gets his nerves in check, morgan is going to be the winner. wouldn't be the first douche winner of top chef but I'd rather he didn't win.

Anonymous said...

I thought the sniping between Morgan and Zac was uncalled for and 'undignfied.' Morgan seems to need to assert his 'manliness' at every turn and Zac can be pretty darn catty. So, neither 'win' in my eyes. Yigit has the potential to win, but he's lost his momentum. Hopefully, he'll pull it together. I do think he's got the talent and the soul to be the first Top Chef J.D.

Cliff O'Neill said...

Strangely, I rather like Morgan. Plus, I get the feeling that the whole "bully" thing seems to be pretty manufactured, since everyone seems to actually like each other in some shots. This suggests editing nonsense and puffery. But that's me.

Also, how nuts am I that it didn't occur to me until tins episode that "Go Diva" was a play on Godiva?!