Thursday, January 13, 2011

Reactions to Top Chef All Stars Episode 6

This week, nothing happened. And yet, there was a double elimination.

No Quickfire Challenge; instead, the recheftestants went fishing at Montauk. The fish caught would be cooked and served the next day to 200 guests. But first - teams:

Jamie, Tiffani, Antonia
Dale, Carla, Tre
Blais, Fabio, Marcel
Mike, Angelo, Tiffany

Team Blais/Fab/Marcel decided to make one very complicated dish, strategizing that the judges wouldn't be able to eliminate one or two of the three. Note they were playing not to win, but simply not to lose. The other teams did two or three dishes, taking responsibility where required.

After the judges - including Tom's "fishing buddy" Kerry Heffernan of South Gate Restaurant - tasted each dish, they decided that teams Dale/Carla/Tre and Mike/Angelo/Tiffany had their favorite offerings. For a few minutes it looked like Dale would win yet again with his fish taco, but instead that fiendishly clever Carla won with her salute to NY smoked fish and bagel crouton lettuce wrap.

The other six recheftestants were on the bottom, natch. While the home audience was no doubt rooting for Jamie's offing (she created a watered-down, bland dish), for a few minutes it looked like Fabio might be sent home for contributing nothing to his team's dish other than "knife cuts." But Jamie indeed was sent packing, as was Tiffani for her heavy-handed smoked bluefish that unfortunately contained the nasty-tasting bloodline.

So what did you think about this episode? Was it time for Jamie to hit the road? Or did you think someone else deserved to go? Please leave a comment!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agreed with the judging. Yay, Carla! For the lose, it was a close call between Tiffani and Fabio, and Fabio might be next in line to go. It seems like Tiffani has not been killing it the way she did in her season, but she certainly is a much nicer presence, and I wish her well. Jamie came off way worse in the All Stars than in her season, and really have to question her decision to appear at all.

CyMacGregor said...

I gotta say I think team Blais/Fabio/Marcel played the game perfectly to stay in it. Their dish wasn't that good, but as Fabio said in the episode, 3 people working on one dish it's hard to determine who exactly led to the dish's downfall.

Hopefully, next episode they will bang out some good dishes as they're all talented enough that they shouldn't have to stoop to playing the game in order to get by.

MoHub said...

I was really hoping for one chef from each losing team to go: Jamie and Marcel, but it was not to be.

Anonymous said...

i'm glad marcel didn't go, but i'm sad that tiffani had to go. i think it was bullsh*t that the judges blamed antonia for jamie and tiffani's poor dishes - she was responsible for only herself. and prepping the food is just as hard as actually cooking it. *bah* the judges need to lay off the booze!

Anonymous said...

Why does everyone keep expecting Antonia to do other chef's work in addition to her own? It's not her responsibility to keep the other chefs in the competition. She shouldn't have to compromise her own dish by making sure other dishes are good. It wasn't her responsibility to help Jamie send another chef home.

Kristine said...

I think, because Antonia's team was in the bottom, they felt they had to say something negative, so they came up with that, to add to the drama. They should have just said, you're safe, you can leave. She may be the Black Hammer, but she keeps getting hosed as well.