Bella

I find them inoffensive, and I don't like most of the teams this season, including most of those that remain. So they're my favorites to win simply because they don't piss me off. And that means they won't win.

I barely remember the hamsters more than a day after their seasons end, but Allison was memorable. I'm glad to read that she's working steadily.

I keep wondering how they stay in business. There must be enough curiosity-seekers and t-shirt buyers to keep them out of bankruptcy. She really is bat-shit crazy, and he's no better. Ramsey's set reminded me of the one used for Hell's Kitchen, btw, which would make sense - swap out some parts of the set, change the colorwash from red to blue, and have him come across as the most reasonable person around, which is funny in and of itself.

John is lucky to have Jessica, because she's sharper than him in a way that he needs. Rachel momentarily ceased to annoy me last night, but it passed. If she were smarter, I'd think she was saying some of these things as a goof, but.... None of the challenges in this episode were particularly compelling. Combined with the weak cast, it's a rather dull season. I tried to imagine these tasks being done by more likable racers in an earlier season when I was less jaded, and it didn't really help. I can't imagine that the show has run out of interesting things to do worldwide. It must be due to financial considerations and/or poor production decisions.

It looks like it's starting with a 2-hour premiere on May 28. I don't love, love, love this show as much as I did at first, but it's still a favorite.

That would be great! Top Chef has a "visited their restaurants" thread, and it would be totally appropriate here, too.

Also, we're not going to yell at you or give warning points for being in the wrong thread. Crossover happens and we're all going through a transition. We just want to organize the forum in a way that makes sense and is easy to navigate, not find ways to trip you up and go "aha!" We put a lot of thought into this - an awful lot of thought - and if you have suggestions, please tell us.

Also, she apparently had her second 1-on-1 date with Marcus Grodd.

This makes loads of sense. A friend of mine started college as an art major, decided she didn't want to make art to please other people, dropped out, and returned a year later with a different major. She's now an economist and is very happy painting on the weekends. So kudos to Josh for figuring this out. I just wish he'd have waited until after the odious Russ was eliminated.

Last night, we went to a kind of run-down Chinese restaurant that has been off of our list for a while but which we try now and then to see if it's improved. The menu listed some "Cajun-Asian" specials, so we ordered an appetizer to see how that played out. It was quite delicious. Then the chef came out to talk to us, and we spoke with him at length. He's from Louisiana and has been running a catering company. The owners of the restaurant are friends of his who asked him to come in and brighten up the menu, which he certainly did. They're going to be rolling out more Cajun-Asian fusion items over the summer. This made me think of Shirley on the TC:NO season. I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes with the new menu.

Lisin, I love your detailed description of Volt! DH and I went there last summer and ate from the regular fixed price menu, which we loved. It wasn't that hard to get in - I made the reservations about 3 weeks in advance - but it was also ghastly hot outside and a Sunday, so there were probably a lot of people at the beach, and Sundays can be slow at lots of restaurants.

I agree. When a network - cable or otherwise - keeps doing variations of the same show and/or using the same people, it strikes me that TPTB fear something. Maybe it's innovation, and they hide behind the "keep doing what works" bromide. But I don't think this is the way to go in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEsS8GyF00U This is one of my favorites. There's been better dancing on the show, but the energy and joy that Jason and Caitlin showed in this performance has stayed with me for several years now.

Lydia really does not know what she is doing, and I'm now more annoyed with her than I am with Naomi. How many bad ideas can Lydia come up with, anyway? And Amanda should want to leave her team - that was the only right answer, though Naomi shouldn't have asked the question in the first place. I'm still hoping Tiana wins the whole thing, but some of the other girls are picking up their game.

This is the kind of situation where I wonder what was really happening with the contestant. He mentioned being tired early in the show, and maybe he just didn't want to work so hard.

Josie also gave Kristen Kish a very hard time, IIRC, and led her to elimination, although Kristen then dominated Last Chance Kitchen to come back for the win. Josie then tried to buddy up to her at the finale. Lovely person. A season full of folks like that ... no, no way.

This is the Off-Topic thread, so we can talk about whatever we want here. Didn't Josie do something awful the last time she was on Top Chef? Like something bannable? Other than being her obnoxious self, of course. Curtis Stone probably cooks better than I do and would probably improve about half the restaurants that DH and I regularly visit, but I don't like him as a host and share your skepticism about him as a "top chef," FineWashables.

Good grief, Bravo is now milking the Top Chef concept the way they did the Real Housewives concept. Granted, I like Top Chef and the variations, but it speaks to a lack of originality at the network.

There are a couple of small women among the models this season. The blonde seems to be very popular among the contestants because she really sells her characters, but this was the brunette. I agree that Tyler's execution was lacking this week, and I actually thought that his choice of model was part of the problem. Had he gone with someone taller, with a longer torso and longer arms, he would have been able to do more with the wings. As it was, the character looked stumpy because the features were all shoved together. We don't know that he would have made better wings with a taller model, but I suspect it would have been easier. Niko has got to go. Rashaad seems to have hit his stride at just the right time. I agree that he should have been put into the finale based on his win, but he also seemed to want to impress the guest judge, which he did, and so maybe this will turn into a job for him.

Kromm, I have to say that that is brilliant. If TPTB did even a fraction of what you suggest, they'd be way ahead. And now Jillian is saying for the 34,926th time that she wants off the show.

This is not show-specific, but I had to run a couple of errands the other day and parked equidistant between the two stores. The car I parked next to had an old, somewhat unkempt woman in it who was smoking and reading. And the entire car was hoarded up. I briefly wondered if she was homeless and these were all her cherished possessions, but there was no organization to the stuff - it looked like someone had taken your basic hoarder room and jammed it into the car. So then I wondered if she might be so hoarded-up that she could only be in her car. In any case, it was sad.

Especially when the 2014 Winter Olympics, which ended just weeks ago, had camera drones on the snow events. You could see the shadows of the little things as the skiers and snowboarders competed - they looked sort of like mosquitoes. Occasionally, a drone would be shown via another camera, possibly another drone. This leads to a whole other line of thought about the robot challenge. Technology is becoming smaller and smaller, and with that, it's becoming more and more mobile. So at the risk of sounding like Daran, who came across as a whiner, I wonder what the point of a robot challenge is, given that they do have to use human models in Face Off. Of course, it's a sci-fi thing, not a modern tech thing, but robots were once envisioned as our future, and what we've got is the world at our fingertips on a device that's less than half the size of a deck of cards. Interesting factoid that might bring back the relevance of a robot: NASA has learned that astronauts show a very strong preference for working with robots that echo a human shape, in that testing shows the astronauts to be more effective when working with such a device. So the outside-the-ISS robots are being designed with a rough torso/head configuration and arm-like projections that come out of the sides of the torso. No legs, though.

Ramble, you didn't give genders or ages for your kids, but I'll just note that I was introduced by a friend who watched it with her daughter. The girl was 15, which can be a hideous age for communication, but my friend and her daughter were able to discuss dating, how to "read" a person who doesn't have your best interests at heart, the role a fun activity has in building a bond, etc., etc. Your M&M game sounds like fun!

Throughout PTV, "Small Talk" threads are for personal discussion, if I understand correctly, and the "General Discussion" threads are for non-episode-specific but show-related discussion. So I would consider your request to have been met. We'll undoubtedly have episode threads when it makes sense to do so. I imagine we could also give Jackson his very own thread, which might encompass his activities outside the show (if that's permissible).

Thanks for starting this thread, Bastet. I agree about Colicchio - the one time I ate at Craft, I did not think the food was too salty, but I was aware of the salt. I am easily aware of the salt (is this making any sense?), but when DH said something like "the chef certainly likes his salt," I knew it wasn't just me. Still, it was an excellent meal and I wouldn't turn down another opportunity to eat there.