S22.E06: Pickle Me This

[ProudMary]

Airdate: Thursday, April 17, 2025

Synopsis:

Top Chef Masters alum Susur Lee and Jet Bent-Lee join Kristen for the Quickfire Challenge, where the chefs must create a dish using a limited amount of ingredients. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs must create dishes that highlight pickles.

[Quilt Fairy]

NM

Edited April 18 by Quilt Fairy

[Bastet]

I had already completely forgotten last season's winner.

It was unusual for Katiana to do something that just did not work at all.  It sucks to see her go at this stage of the game, and it's disappointing she didn't seem to grasp it wasn't about looking broken, it was about being no good.

Not remotely unusual for Vinny to make a dish from someone else's restaurant.  Given how disliked the chilaquiles he did come up with on his own were, I guess I see why he's adopted that MO.

I loved hearing someone respond to a question with "Is a pig's ass pork?" as their version of "duh, of course", as we say that a lot in my family.

[marke34]

Welp, Massimo, and Paula FINALLY got out of their slump where they constantly are at the bottom, and actually put out some great performances this episode, I'm pleasantly surprised, Henry's the worst chef in the season now.  Sucks that Massimo got immunity for next week though, even if he earned it.

Also, YUP, another frontrunner bombed and got taken out, Katianna established herself as the second best chef in the season after last episode...and out she went, along with Shuai getting another bottom performance, what we all feared came true.

Tristen finally didn't get called as one of the top peeps in the EC this episode after that happened 4 times in a row, even though he won the quickfire.  Cesar or Tristen better not go out next week.

Edited April 18 by marke34

[Quilt Fairy]

5 minutes ago, marke34 said:

Tristen finally didn't get called as one of the top peeps in the EC this episode

Actually, he did.  The judges went out of their way to call out Cesar and Tristen as having the best dishes of the night even though they were on the losing team. 

[marke34]

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Actually, he did.  The judges went out of their way to call out Cesar and Tristen as having the best dishes of the night even though they were on the losing team. 

Oh, I forgot that part for some reason, Tristen's officially a god, literally the only bad dish he ever made was the one back at the episode 4 quickfire.  If Tristen goes next episode, because he wasn't in the correct team to be eligible to get immunity, I'm throwing my TV out of the window.

Edited April 18 by marke34

[HappyDancex2]

Anyone else yell at the TV when Vinny was presenting his dish he mentioned, yet again, the Nomad?   Yikes dude.

[Salacious Kitty]

This goes old school, but Vinny's Nomad references remind me of Ilan Hall ripping off the entire menu at his restaurant, Casa Mono, all the way to the finals.

[marke34]

8 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

This goes old school, but Vinny's Nomad references remind me of Ilan Hall ripping off the entire menu at his restaurant, Casa Mono, all the way to the finals.

At least with Ilan, he was in a season where the cast...was atrocious when it comes to talent.  Vinny is in a season with one of the most, if not THE MOST stacked casts in top chef history making it even more glaring.

Edited April 18 by marke34

[Salacious Kitty]

Oh, I in no way believe that Vinny can ride that wave to the finals. It's already getting old. 😀

[buttersister]

Not nearly enough Susur.

[ILuvShibaInus]

34 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Oh, I in no way believe that Vinny can ride that wave to the finals. It's already getting old. 😀

But Vinny (and Massimo) are getting the "villain" edit this season and we know that type goes far into the competition. Vinny should have been gone last week for making a dish that did not fit the challenge but producer manipulation steps in and he lives another week.

[PhoneCop]

Well, nothing like getting my hopes up for a Tristen/Katianna/César finale these last couple of weeks, only to watch it all hit the bin like an unattended mise en place. At least the two guys killed it and got their flowers. And yeah, she could fight her way back from LCK, but that's a whole separate set of odds.

I did wonder if Shuai might fall on his sword for (inadvertently) screwing Henry and, possibly, the entire team. But the judges' comments made it clear that Katianna's dish as a whole was a misfire, not just the tofu, so that makes the outcome easier for me to digest.

[Ancaster]

"Not to worry, you don't have to actually use the prepared food to cook with, instead you'll have access to the real ingredients" says Kristen.

Yay, way to represent your underwriter.  "Please, come to Chipotle, we use only the cheapest, crappiest prepared food.  No real fresh food here!"

Edited April 19 by Ancaster

[dleighg]

11 hours ago, Bastet said:

I had already completely forgotten last season's winner.

 

me too. Then I remembered it was the Danny vs the Danny.

 

11 hours ago, Bastet said:

Not remotely unusual for Vinny to make a dish from someone else's restaurant.

Yeah, the editors definitely left the comment from Danny in about "this is just like something with did at Nomad" on purpose. That's the narrative they are giving Vinny (perhaps exaggerated, but that's what they are showing)

 

4 hours ago, Ancaster said:

Yay, way to represent your underwriter.  "Please, come to Chipotle, we use only the cheapest, crappiest prepared food.  No real, fresh food here!"

I don't think that's what they meant. They meant they didn't have to use their "bagged lunch" (ala Susur). I actually thought they did a good job for Chipotle (not that I've ever eaten there). It was clear to me: no freezers and no can openers, so they can't use them either. As I've said, I've never eaten there, but I got a good impression.

I was pleasantly surprised that they actually let a team win before the end. I'm always suspicious in these things that they like the suspense. I was really wondering if Henri was the loser, would Shuai volunteer to take his place (since his dish was also a loser, but not as badly). Throwing out someone's stuff is really a sin. Honestly glad it didn't come to that.

Edited April 18 by dleighg

[marke34]

I feel like if I was the one judging this show, I would just have Tristen, and Cesar go head to head to determine if either one of those 2 wins the challenge, and gets immunity, even if they were on the losing team for having the 2 best dishes.

Edited April 18 by marke34

[BlackberryJam]

I don’t want to defend Chipotle, because it can totally tear people up, but the lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole have always been fresh and good for me. I enjoyed the challenge and it made me hungry for a chicken bowl with fajita veg  and guacamole. 

Vinny is too milquetoast for me to care about his edit. He feels like cannon fodder. Henry too. I’m not that bothered by Massimo because I think there is no way he makes the final. 

[Pandora]

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

Throwing out someone's stuff is really a sin. Honestly glad it didn't come to that.

I’ve never worked in a kitchen, so I don’t know what level of chef hell is appropriate for this sin. Cleaning someone else’s stuff could be good or inappropriate or whatever, I don’t know.

It was clear Shuai felt awful for it, and I’m glad both he and Henry survived. It was a mistake. I did like that the other chefs were looking to help, instead of doing a happy dance over another competitor’s misfortune. I love that about this show. Kitchens seem crazy to me.

Speaking of crazy kitchen stuff, Massimo’s unintentional arson was spectacular to me. Glad nobody was hurt or seriously derailed. Even stupid me thinks twice about what I toss into hot oil. Geez.

Katianna going home was a bummer because she was a strong competitor but it’s true, all it takes is one bad dish and you can be gone.

[amarante]

I think tossing the Banchan was up there with the episode years ago when the spare ribs were left out overnight and had to be tossed. As I recall this was the Finale and so there was one of the eliminated contestants who had come back to be the sous.

I expected Katianna to be gone because it wasn't just the porridge which did sound wretched. As soon as she added the tofu I thought WTF and no one wants cold tofu added at the last moment to a sauce. And the judges also said there really wasn't any "pickle" element as it was basically a cucumber dish and the elements didn't come together. So poorly conceived and poorly executed.

I think the short rib and the sauce was probably delicious and the comment about the meat not being super tender was a quibble. As I recall one of the judges said they were happy to eat the short ribs versus Katianna's dish which they all seemed to find unappetizing. 

[carrps]

Well, on the snide side, I was not surprised Massimo is separated.

I really want to try Cesar's dish. It sounded so different, and I was having a hard time imagining how it would taste.

[dleighg]

6 minutes ago, carrps said:

I was not surprised Massimo is separated

yeah he's pretty extra, and seemingly self-centered.

7 minutes ago, carrps said:

I really want to try Cesar's dish. It sounded so different, and I was having a hard time imagining how it would taste

Honestly if it tasted good at all (and it sounds like it did), he deserved to win based on going out on a big limb

[caitmcg]

25 minutes ago, dleighg said:

32 minutes ago, carrps said:

I was not surprised Massimo is separated

yeah he's pretty extra, and seemingly self-centered.

But he also seemed (surprisingly) self-aware of his self-centeredness, at least regarding personal relationships. Maybe not so much in the context of TC.

[mlp]

5 hours ago, Pandora said:

It was clear Shuai felt awful for it, and I’m glad both he and Henry survived. It was a mistake. I did like that the other chefs were looking to help, instead of doing a happy dance over another competitor’s misfortune.

I was soooooo relieved that Henry didn't get eliminated.  Shuai clearly felt terrible.  I don't know what his sense of honor would have caused him to do if he'd been responsible for Henry's failure even though it was unintentional.  He and Tristen are my favorites so I'm glad his mistake didn't ruin his chances.  Or Henry's for that matter.

[bravofan27]

It's interesting that they outed (producers) on Shuai's asshole comment, "Let' get rid of her shit" since they spent so much time making him look like a really nice humble guy. And in doing so, he took out Henry's food, which implied he thought it was shit. Oh my.

Sloppy.

Massimo wouldn't do something like that-- throw away someone's food, regardless of if they had competed already, and also, referred to someone's food as 'shit." Very telling of his character IMO.

Jet Bent-Lee is extraordinarily attractive. He looks like a very tall and athletic K-boy band star.  He towers over his dad and Kristen. He's sweet and well-spoken. He defers to his elders. Such a gem.  I'm going to try to find him on Instagram! LOL. I hope we can someday marry. :)

Paula nailed this challenge, which was nice. 

Tristen is also adorable, and I love his smile. Vinny is a "pick-me" guy. He just tries too hard to please others, and hasn't found an identity. I see him leaving soon, even though he is clearly (IMO) the most technically talented chef. He needs to get rid of the anxiety that leads him to be extra officious.

Massimo being chose last really affected him. I felt bad. :(

 

[carrps]

28 minutes ago, bravofan27 said:

Massimo wouldn't do something like that-- throw away someone's food

Nah, he'd just set it on fire.

 

[LBC Me]

Well, César unwittingly brought the funny for me in this episode.  First we heard him say, "I have a grow light underneath my bed," which is such a bizarre thing to say and do.  Then he said, with a straight face, "I just wanna pull it off and say that I did it," funny because I'm very childish.

Susur Lee and Jet Bent-Lee sound exactly alike.  Low, deep voices that melt like butter.

We know Massimo is a sore loser, but this episode showed him to be an unexpectedly gracious winner.  I was very surprised by that.

Why is Vinnie still here and Katianna gone?  Make it make sense.

[violet and green]

Is this the first season where Tom no longer comes into the kitchen when they're doing their elimination challenge? Admittedly, I am only half-watching...

[bravofan27]

28 minutes ago, carrps said:

Nah, he'd just set it on fire.

 

It was a rookie move. LOL. He's the chef from silly Canada. 

28 minutes ago, LBC Me said:

 

Susur Lee and Jet Bent-Lee sound exactly alike.  Low, deep voices that melt like butter.

We know Massimo is a sore loser, but this episode showed him to be an unexpectedly gracious winner.  I was very surprised by that.

Why is Vinnie still here and Katianna gone?  Make it make sense.

Jet Bent-Lee (and more age appropriate) Susur Lee are dreamboats. Dreamy. I have no idea why or what they did on the show but I will remember them.

Massimo is a good guy. He's a little odd and has a loud voice and a bit awkward, but he's sweet.

Katianna is gone because she put tofu under pickles. 

[Bastet]

35 minutes ago, violet and green said:

Is this the first season where Tom no longer comes into the kitchen when they're doing their elimination challenge? Admittedly, I am only half-watching...

They show outtakes on The Dish With Kish, and on this week's episode they showed Tom's reaction, in the kitchen, to César describing his dessert (which was hilarious), so he is still doing his sniff & sneer routine at least some of the time, but we haven't seen it on the show yet this season.

[Souris]

What is with apparent frontrunners getting eliminated early this season?? I hated to see Katianna PYKAG'ed, but that porridge sounded awful (and I like tofu).

Kudos to César for making that crazy dessert work.

Like Tristan, I hate pickles. He must be protected at all costs.

OF COURSE Massimo would accidentally start a fire.

What a terrible situation for Henry, and also for Shuai. I am glad Henry didn't get eliminated, even though he's one of the weakest chefs and it was at Katianna's expense. His dish wasn't as it was supposed to be through no fault of his own.

[caitmcg]

11 minutes ago, Bastet said:

so he is still doing his sniff & sneer routine at least some of the time

And since he clearly did it for this EC, I wonder if he got a preview of what Henry intended to serve before his garnishes were trashed, only to then see none of it on the plate at service.

[tvfanatic13]

Anyone else catch Massimo’s eye rolls when the he wasn’t getting picked? 

[Rammchick]

8 hours ago, bravofan27 said:

Jet Bent-Lee is extraordinarily attractive. He looks like a very tall and athletic K-boy band star.  He towers over his dad and Kristen. He's sweet and well-spoken. He defers to his elders. Such a gem.  I'm going to try to find him on Instagram! LOL. I hope we can someday marry. :)

 

They have a YouTube channel called Iron Chef Dad.  Their dynamic is very cute.

[Yeah No]

On 4/18/2025 at 12:01 AM, marke34 said:

At least with Ilan, he was in a season where the cast...was atrocious when it comes to talent.  Vinny is in a season with one of the most, if not THE MOST stacked casts in top chef history making it even more glaring.

I seem to remember the judges last week making mention of how Vinny needs to show more originality rather than doing takes on Nomad dishes so we know it's not getting past them.

On 4/18/2025 at 12:48 AM, ILuvShibaInus said:

But Vinny (and Massimo) are getting the "villain" edit this season and we know that type goes far into the competition. Vinny should have been gone last week for making a dish that did not fit the challenge but producer manipulation steps in and he lives another week.

I don't think I would say that either of them is getting a "villain" edit. Neither one is mean spirited and toxic in that way. They are both somewhat problematic in their own ways, though.

12 hours ago, bravofan27 said:

It's interesting that they outed (producers) on Shuai's asshole comment, "Let' get rid of her shit" since they spent so much time making him look like a really nice humble guy. And in doing so, he took out Henry's food, which implied he thought it was shit. Oh my.

Sloppy.

Massimo wouldn't do something like that-- throw away someone's food, regardless of if they had competed already, and also, referred to someone's food as 'shit." Very telling of his character IMO.

Thank you for pointing that out. I have been feeling like we're not getting the full story on some of these people. I hate that the show makes some look like saints while others are given a less than flattering edit. Perhaps Shuai is more of an asshole than they have shown us.

And Massimo is just a mess but a good natured one, despite his ego issues (which at least he seems to acknowledge). If anyone is interested, I peg Massimo for a Myers-Briggs ESFP. He reminds me SO MUCH of a friend it's uncanny. You really want to love someone like that and they are very appealing but after a while they can grate on your nerves and become a real PITA. I get the feeling that Massimo and his ex are still on decent terms. She probably got fed up with his quirks and possible ADHD and just couldn't live with him anymore.

12 hours ago, bravofan27 said:

Jet Bent-Lee is extraordinarily attractive. He looks like a very tall and athletic K-boy band star.  He towers over his dad and Kristen. He's sweet and well-spoken. He defers to his elders. Such a gem.  I'm going to try to find him on Instagram! LOL. I hope we can someday marry. :)

LOL, he's way too young for me, but the heart wants what the heart wants, right? I found a photo of Sursur with his wife Brenda and not surprisingly she is a very tall attractive blonde with Nordic features. I somehow knew Jet was Eurasian. No surprises there. And WOWZA!!! 😍

11 hours ago, bravofan27 said:

Massimo is a good guy. He's a little odd and has a loud voice and a bit awkward, but he's sweet.

Yes, I stand by what I said about him a couple of weeks back. No villain there, just a goofy guy with some quirks.

11 hours ago, Souris said:

What a terrible situation for Henry, and also for Shuai. I am glad Henry didn't get eliminated, even though he's one of the weakest chefs and it was at Katianna's expense. His dish wasn't as it was supposed to be through no fault of his own.

Yeah, I really felt bad for Katianna and if my ability to read emotions is correct, she was pissed at being eliminated. If so, I wouldn't blame her because if I were her I'd wonder if Henry was spared because of Shuai's mistake, which would mean that she'd be the next alternative, which might not have been the case otherwise. So she may feel that she was made to pay for the mistake when she had absolutely nothing to do with it. I get it that there were problems with her dish but were they enough to warrant elimination if all other things were as they should have been?

[rhofmovalley]

I don't believe Shuai meant Katianna's food was "shit" but that it is just a term used to refer to "stuff".  I'll say "let me move my shit out of the way" if someone needs the space I'm occupying. 

[jpgr]

13 hours ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Anyone else catch Massimo’s eye rolls when the he wasn’t getting picked? 

While the edit softened his image in this episode, I stand by my statement from an earlier episode that he is chaotic in the kitchen. I don't blame Tristen and Bailey for not choosing him because he is difficult to work with in a team setting. 

He made the third best dish and was lucky to be on the winning team. I still say he can go any time now.

[carrps]

7 hours ago, Rammchick said:

They have a YouTube channel called Iron Chef Dad.  Their dynamic is very cute.

I love the ones where Jet takes Susur to fast food places to rate the food. Susur is hilarious!

 

[Mountainair]

I have a hockey obsessed pickle lover in my house. He’s 12. He doesn’t watch with me but I’ve been telling him about all these episodes he would have loved! For his 10th birthday I had the whole family gift him jars of pickles- he had about 20 jars afterward! 

Me- I hate pickles so this continues the trend of watching Top Chef with zero inspiration to replicate any of the food the chefs are putting out.

[meep.meep]

17 hours ago, violet and green said:

Is this the first season where Tom no longer comes into the kitchen when they're doing their elimination challenge? Admittedly, I am only half-watching...

The Sniff and Sneer!  How we've missed you...

The QuickFire was totally Fast Foodies aka Kristin's former show.

[ProudMary]

For those who are saying that Massimo's a good guy, I'm going to assume that you don't watch the Top Chef offshoot, The Dish With Kish. During last week's episode, Kristen was cooking with Sara Bradley, who was a guest judge for last week's Top Chef episode where Massimo was paired with Paula for the Elimination Challenge. Here's a YouTube link to the episode. You don't have to watch the full episode, but If you fast forward to 3:47, you'll see Kristin introduce a clip that didn't air on the main show of the "tension" encountered by the judges as they approached Massimo and Paula's station. You'll see why Paula wasn't exactly thrilled to discover that they were going to be teamed up again this week.

JMO, but Massimo's a misogynistic DB. The quicker he gets off my screen, the better. I'm not thrilled that he has immunity in the next challenge. 

 

[Salacious Kitty]

Wow, he treated her like shit. Fuck him. 

[AnnieBananie]

Pickle people might be interested in the WaPo's review of Popeye's temporary pickle-based menu. Critic Tim Carman loves the pickle lemonade. I'd try it...?

I haven't watched TC since Kristen's season, and I think she does a great job as a host. Bring back the sniff n' sneer!

[Fukui San]

Conceptually, I don't understand how a porridge can be "broken" unless one of those words are being used differently than I'm understanding. In my mind it's an Asian rice porridge with crumbled tofu in it, which doesn't sound great but also doesn't sound terrible so I think there's something I'm not understanding.

[janeyjay]

On 4/18/2025 at 1:34 PM, Pandora said:

 

Speaking of crazy kitchen stuff, Massimo’s unintentional arson was spectacular to me. Glad nobody was hurt or seriously derailed. Even stupid me thinks twice about what I toss into hot oil. Geez.

Massimo's Unintentional Arson is my new pretend band name.

[Rai]

On 4/19/2025 at 11:03 AM, rhofmovalley said:

I don't believe Shuai meant Katianna's food was "shit" but that it is just a term used to refer to "stuff".  I'll say "let me move my shit out of the way" if someone needs the space I'm occupying. 

I agree with this. A lot of chefs just swear all the time casually as their conversation. I didn't take it as pejorative at all.

I felt so bad for Henry. On the one hand, I think he's lucky to still have gotten to this episode. On the other hand, had he been kicked off for this dish when it was screwed over so badly by Shuai (accidentally), that would've been wildly unfair to me. Ultimately, I guess I felt he should've gone home because of his track record vs. Katianna's, but that's not how the rules work. All I can hope is Katianna dominates LCK and gets back in to where she deserves. She and Tristan have really seemed like the front runners so far (Cesar possibly too; Shuai has fallen off, unfortunately).

I love pickles a lot, so this was a fun challenge for me! I actually wasn't paying attention to the first course, so I still don't quite know what Massimo served, but congrats anyway, dude. I have no doubt that he's exhausting in real life, and I sure wouldn't want to work on a team with him, but as TV entertainment, he keeps the cast lively. Otherwise, I'd just have to dunk on Vinny all day, and that gets boring cuz it's too easy. Fun cast so far though! I don't even mind Bailey much anymore.

(Oh wait, Massimo served a tartar to woo Gail specifically. Right, I remember that now. It didn't look like a tartar, so maybe that's why I got confused.)

[ILuvShibaInus]

On 4/19/2025 at 8:06 AM, Yeah No said:

I seem to remember the judges last week making mention of how Vinny needs to show more originality rather than doing takes on Nomad dishes so we know it's not getting past them.

I don't think I would say that either of them is getting a "villain" edit. Neither one is mean spirited and toxic in that way. They are both somewhat problematic in their own ways, though.

Thank you for pointing that out. I have been feeling like we're not getting the full story on some of these people. I hate that the show makes some look like saints while others are given a less than flattering edit. Perhaps Shuai is more of an asshole than they have shown us.

And Massimo is just a mess but a good natured one, despite his ego issues (which at least he seems to acknowledge). If anyone is interested, I peg Massimo for a Myers-Briggs ESFP. He reminds me SO MUCH of a friend it's uncanny. You really want to love someone like that and they are very appealing but after a while they can grate on your nerves and become a real PITA. I get the feeling that Massimo and his ex are still on decent terms. She probably got fed up with his quirks and possible ADHD and just couldn't live with him anymore.

LOL, he's way too young for me, but the heart wants what the heart wants, right? I found a photo of Sursur with his wife Brenda and not surprisingly she is a very tall attractive blonde with Nordic features. I somehow knew Jet was Eurasian. No surprises there. And WOWZA!!! 😍

Yes, I stand by what I said about him a couple of weeks back. No villain there, just a goofy guy with some quirks.

Yeah, I really felt bad for Katianna and if my ability to read emotions is correct, she was pissed at being eliminated. If so, I wouldn't blame her because if I were her I'd wonder if Henry was spared because of Shuai's mistake, which would mean that she'd be the next alternative, which might not have been the case otherwise. So she may feel that she was made to pay for the mistake when she had absolutely nothing to do with it. I get it that there were problems with her dish but were they enough to warrant elimination if all other things were as they should have been?

"I hate that the show makes some look like saints while others are given a less than flattering edit." 

That's exactly what i mean by the "villain" edit. They are usually full of ego, don't work well in teams/duos as their ideas are always the better ones and they have haven shown to use the majority of money at Whole Foods on team challenges. They may cook very well but their personality is another story. However, they make for great tv since they bring the drama and hang around for a while. See Mike Isabella as an example. Also Spike M. and Tom from the international all-stars edition to a lesser degree.

And just like with any other TV reality show, if you don't behave like a know it all or come across with attitude, the producers have nothing to work with.

 

[LBC Me]

On 4/18/2025 at 6:32 PM, bravofan27 said:

Katianna is gone because she put tofu under pickles.

Well, when you put it THAT way, it makes perfect sense!  lol

[gorgy]

I have the haziest memory of the winner of last year's Top Chef getting into some sort of dustup over not crediting a dish he made on the show to a restaurant he worked at. Anyway, Vinny seems the type that he'd be scarred shitless of getting into any sort of trouble, so he'll tell you the when, the where, the who, and the how of any dish he created along with a full cited sources page in MLA, APA, and every other format you can imagine. 

[BlackberryJam]

When Katianna added the tofu, I was screaming NOOOO. It just seemed unnecessary. The judges kept calling it porridge but I thought she said it was just crumbled tofu.

[dleighg]

The thing on the bottom was some kind of goop made from cucumber guts. Which sounds disgusting to begin with. Adding tofu certainly wouldn't improve it.