S12.E05: It's War

[Tara Ariano]

The chefs create dishes on a lean budget in a challenge that features a Revolutionary War theme. Guest judge: Jamie Bissonnette.

[Veruca Assault]

"The competition heats up when the chefs cook in head-to-head battles in a Quickfire Challenge with guest judge Jamie Bissonnette, where the victor wins bragging rights and $10,000. For the Elimination Challenge, the team of Quickfire Losers gets a chance at redemption as they cook off as a team against the Quickfire Winners. In another head-to-head competition, the chefs strategize the best dishes they can make on a lean military budget with Revolutionary War-themed battles that take place at the historic Watertown Arsenal."

[Lamb18]

Padma's pants look like she spilled ketchup and mustard on them. Good for Gregory winning the Quickie but I was hoping Katie would win. They did a head to head battle several seasons ago, but I think first team to get to seven won. Yes, Katie! Chocolate cake rules over limp scallop noodles and lame meatballs. Adam is the prince of throwing his teammate under the bus. Not that I mind Aaron being throw under it. The way he is, if Katie bumped into him by accident he'd probably shriek, "Ugh! Girl germs!"

YES!!! Aaron is gone!

[elzin]

I thought the highlight of the week for tv would be Supernatural's 200th episode by a landslide, but the elimination here is a scarily close second.

 

It was made even better by his constant disparaging remarks about Katie,and then being just slaughtered by her.

Edited November 13, 2014 by elzin

[avecsans]

See, this is why I love Top Chef. Arrogant assholes like Aaron are eliminated if they don't cook well, conflict or no conflict. I normally loathe Hugh (and I did later in the episode) but I loved his smack down of Aaron.

I like Gregory more and more every week and I pulling for him to win.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I was faked out by the mini-focus on Stacy's upbringing but I am relieved it was Aaron.  I do think, though, that if Keri Ann had been on the losing team, she would have been the one to go home.

[LilyoftheValley]

What is wrong with chocolate cake? It made sense to do a dessert as the last team serving.  As Tom correctly pointed out, desserts have always been the Achilles heel of the cheftestants, so making a great dessert would really stand out.   

[jackjill89]

I don't think Katie has proven to be a stellar chef, but I kind of love how they all dump on her and underestimate her and she pulls it out. Hee, hee. Ding, dong Aaron. Please let the door hit you on your way out. Jerk.

[Quilt Fairy]

God, dripping water on the floor, reminds me that I'm not going to get presents like this all the time and gets back in the tub. Thank you, God.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Quilt Fairy

[LilyoftheValley]

I don't think Katie has proven to be a stellar chef, but I kind of love how they all dump on her and underestimate her and she pulls it out. Hee, hee. Ding, dong Aaron. Please let the door hit you on your way out. Jerk.

 

Katie clearly was not going to win Top Chef, or even be in the top three, but Aaron was in the exact same category.  I have no idea where he got the idea that he would annihilate her.  

[WickedTuna]

I wonder why Gregory thought he needed to put his 2 cents in at JT? Your team won...did you really need to kick dirt on their shoes?

I really, really dislike Katsuji. WTF was with him telling Katie not to whoop for their teammate.

So glad Aaron is gone. It was so sweet to see him eliminated but sweeter still to see Katie beat his ass after all his trash talking. And almost as sweet was Katie mentioning what he said and the judges giving him a smackdown.

[stanleyk]

What is wrong with chocolate cake? It made sense to do a dessert as the last team serving.  As Tom correctly pointed out, desserts have always been the Achilles heel of the cheftestants, so making a great dessert would really stand out.   

 

There may be nothing wrong with a chocolate cake with berries, but there's nothing particularly right about it, in the context. It's just pedestrian. I really want to like Katie, and I believe she has some skills, but her style just seems to lack sophistication and under pressure she falls back to dishes that are unremarkable. 

 

Seems like we still have a lot of chaff to get through: Kerriann, Stacy, Katie, maybe Melissa (despite her credentials). 

 

I really, really dislike Katsuji. WTF was with him telling Katie not to whoop for their teammate.

 

I've found him extremely irritating from the beginning and am looking forward to his departure.

 

And I guess it shows my age, but I also find Adam childish and exhausting, so I'm ready for him to leave as well. All the silly talk about "redemption" and "revenge" and "validation" because he lost a single challenge...take a breath, Adam, and try to find some internal measure of your self-worth. His posturing and belligerence is such a transparent young man's move of trying to hide a panicked insecurity.

 

I still like Gregory, but, man...not too many favorites for me this season. Most of them kind of suck, either as cooks or as people (or as both...Aaron, I'm looking at you).

[buttersister]

Goodbye, Aaron. Ambition is fine, but execution is key, not limp and falling far short. Assholery makes people glad you've lost. Mighty glad.

[ShadowSixx]

So glad that Aaron is gone, he's such a douche and didn't mind Gregory speaking up because Aaron has done nothing but speak nonsense. Saying dessert is a cop out but he lost to dessert, so karma is a bitch. Also icing on the cake was judges shutting Aaron down when he said you wouldn't bring dessert to war and Unibrow said would anyone bring Aaron's dish to a war.

 

Katie's dishes aren't the best but she's competent enough, don't know how much longer she'll survive with her simple routine.

 

Gregory is just unbeatable right now, he's just hard to compete against. Said that Doug lost his war but on the winning team. Just sucked that KeriAnn was on the winning team. She needs to go next.

 

Would love a Gregory vs Doug finale.

Edited November 13, 2014 by ShadowSixx

[WickedTuna]

And I guess it shows my age, but I also find Adam childish and exhausting, so I'm ready for him to leave as well. All the silly talk about "redemption" and "revenge" and "validation" because he lost a single challenge...take a breath, Adam, and try to find some internal measure of your self-worth. His posturing and belligerence is such a transparent young man's move of trying to hide a panicked insecurity.

ITA. I meant to mention him in my post. I've found him annoying from the start but tonight especially. I wanted to give him a bonk on the head.

I wasn't very impressed with the food...again. Boy do I miss the days of watching Top Chef and I'd get so hungry I was drooling.

[Bastet]

Piss up a rope, Aaron.  There are several more middle-of-the-road chefs who need to be weeded out at this stage of the competition, but I'm quite happy for him to be among the first of his talent level thanks to his odious personality.  I didn't realize quite how much I cared until I frightened my cat by cheering at his head-to-head loss. 

 

My bare minimum was for Keriann and Katie to outlast Aaron, given the fact he's a sexist asshole - rather than an equal-opportunity asshole - who has specifically targeted them, so I'm good with whatever happens going forward.  And, hey, I can eat at Bow & Truss again.

 

I am in the midst of rereading 1776, so dividing it up into those battles got me oddly fired up.

[Charlesman]

The Red team did a terrible job picking who to go up against. Gotta figure Aaron's a guaranteed loss, Gregory's a guaranteed win on Blue, so have them face off. Putting Mei against Gregory was such a waste. Mei would have trounced Katsuji. There's the win that would have put them over the top. Sacrifice one chef against Blue's best, then take the others out by putting your best against their second-best, and so on down the line. Easily could have been a 3-2 or 4-1 victory for Red if they'd let go of the egos for a second.

[Annetteboardman]

Other than Gregory and Mei, I really don't like any of these contestants.  There are only some I don't find terribly objectionable (Katey comes to mind).  And I found the attempt to tie in battles very very lame.  Ick.  I would have hoped that Boston itself would have had more to offer than Cheers and musket shots.  I am really hoping next week, which seems to be a first Thanksgiving-themed episode, will be somewhat more entertaining.  I am spoiled by Facce Off, I guess.  But even the silliness of Cutthroat Kitchen is less boring than this.

 

[GaT]

Yeah Aaron is gone! Didn't like him from the first episode. I had to laugh during his final TH when he said he didn't make many friends while he was there, really Aaron? Do you think it has something to do with the fact that you're an asshole?

 

 

I really, really dislike Katsuji. WTF was with him telling Katie not to whoop for their teammate.

 

He needs to leave next, I don't like him either, he's another asshole.

 

The show needs to get in someone new to think up the challenges, this battle thing was incredibly stupid.

 

Gregory is kicking ass.

[phoenix780]

I thought that was a great episode, even before Aaron was eliminated.  The battle elements were fun, I enjoyed the little pops of rivalry we saw- even Aaron's dessert comment.  Wait to go, show.  I'm also glad they got lucky and it wasn't a blowout victory for one of the teams. 

 

When Gregory said he never would have allowed Aaron's dish to happen I wished the judges had asked him what specifically he would have done.  It's great to shout out things that echo what the judges are saying.  Back that shit up with some details, though, because I can't think of one way any chef could have stopped someone like Aaron from making their dish- short of perhaps jumping in and cooking the ingredients themselves or sabotaging them.

 

Aaron's goodbye speech seemed really long.  He should have aimed for Food Network instead of this show.  They'd have edited him down more succinctly to "I wasn't trained" and "I'm the youngest" to make him more of a clear underdog.

[cooksdelight]

Aaron's goodbye speech seemed really long. He should have aimed for Food Network instead of this show. They'd have edited him down more succinctly to "I wasn't trained" and "I'm the youngest" to make him more of a clear underdog.

Oh, I have a feeling he'll pop up on Chopped or some other FN show at some point, seeing as how he's unemployed now. He'd be a nice fit over at Hell's Kitchen where he could be the douche du'jour.

Wednesday nights just aren't the same this season, between this show AND Survivor both putting me to sleep. Can the camera focus in on Keriann some more? Geesh.... I'm just going to call her Sarah and be done with it.

[Julia]

Did it seem odd to anyone else that the theme of the elimination challenge was "battles which mostly took place nowhere near Boston"?

 

Oh, Aaron. With any luck at all, you've hit bottom now. Just, wash your hair and get started on your highly publicized personal redemption by not being a trash talking misogynist tool. People do it all the time. Some of them haven't even been to culinary school. Or, you know, since you seem to have a high level of flexibility in your personal life these days, why not get a loan and go to culinary school?

[RealityGal]

I was faked out by the mini-focus on Stacy's upbringing but I am relieved it was Aaron.  I do think, though, that if Keri Ann had been on the losing team, she would have been the one to go home.

I am really ready for her to go home.  She is so annoying.

 

And while I may be the only one, Katie annoys me too.  She can talk all the shit she wants now, but for a cooking school instructor she doesn't seem very impressive.  She made a salad and landed on the bottom on the first challenge, she basically messed up and was able to pull something together at the last minute that put her in the top, and she made cake.  None of this convinces me she is a great chef.  As much of an asshole as Aaron is, I think she is equally an asshole for bitching about how Aaron called dessert a cop out.  Most of the time, on Top Chef, everyone either avoids dessert, or considers it a cop out. And it appeared as though everyone was talking shit, so why whine and complain to the judges about it, do you think it makes your boring cake any more exciting because someone talked crap about it?

 

If she thought her food was that great there would be no need to bring that up in front of the judges.

Edited November 13, 2014 by RealityGal

[RealityGal]

Geesh.... I'm just going to call her Sarah and be done with it.

KeriAnn is the worst, I can't wait for her and her "Best Chef that ever lived to see the closing credits of Captain EO" award to get kicked off.

[Lura]

I thought this was a good battle all the way through, including the ending!  A gripe:  Tom  Colicchio talks like a machine gun and can be hard to understand.  I think sometimes that he has diarrhea and has to talk fast and run.  My respect for Katie is growing by the minute.  She's no shrinking wallflower and dares to take risks.  Observation:  I think that Adam could almost take over for Aaron in the boasting department.  Adam talks incessantly and can't back up on his promises.  He says, "I could beat everyone in this room," then proceeds to fail!  I won't weep if and when he's eliminated.  For me, Aaron's "farewell speech" was as filled with baloney as anything else he's said this season and was filled with his usual "Pity me" rhetoric.  Then, we had the greatest match-up of the season, not once, but twice -- Greg vs. Mei!  Those two battles were worth the entire show for me.

[TrueBlue]

When Gregory said he never would have allowed Aaron's dish to happen I wished the judges had asked him what specifically he would have done.  It's great to shout out things that echo what the judges are saying.  Back that shit up with some details, though, because I can't think of one way any chef could have stopped someone like Aaron from making their dish- short of perhaps jumping in and cooking the ingredients themselves or sabotaging them.

 

Well, they did show footage of Gregory acting as EC on his team.  He was tasting the other chefs' food, giving them feedback, etc.  Based on what we saw, I think he would've made every effort to rein Aaron in.

[Wings]

I wonder why Gregory thought he needed to put his 2 cents in at JT? Your team won...did you really need to kick dirt on their shoes?

 

 

 

We may have just seem a small window into why he was not chosen in the team challenge last week, and ended up with Aaron and Katsuji.  

 

He would have managed Aaron, given the chance, but speaking up probably did not serve him well when it came to his fellow chefs. 

 

I have come to appreciate Hugh very much.  Loved his comment to Aaron. 

 

 

And I found the attempt to tie in battles very very lame.  Ick.  I would have hoped that Boston itself would have had more to offer than Cheers and musket shots.

 

It was just a backdrop for the challenge. Change venues and the theme would be different but with the same competition.  I liked it and was happy the food was not dictated by their location or a specific food item.   It is all about the food for me. 

[BusyOctober]

It's been bugging me since the start of the season but I finally figured out why Adam and KeriAnn irk me.  Adam reminds me of Josh Harris from Deadliest Catch.  He is also a tool and spouts nonsense a lot.  KeriAnn is Tracy Flick from "Election".  Her superiority, the smugness and "watch me sparkle!" smiles make me want punch her in the throat sometimes. Phew! Am I glad my brain finally made those connections!  Now maybe I will be able to focus on the food part of this competition.

 

Woo Hoo!  Bye Aaron.  Take your stupid hat and sob story with you.  You are not the first "untrained" chef to work in a kitchen.  You are not the first child of divorce to have a rough path to overcome.  And you're certainly not the first person to struggle financially.  Get over yourself.

[elzin]

As much of an asshole as Aaron is, I think she is equally an asshole for bitching about how Aaron called dessert a cop out.  Most of the time, on Top Chef, everyone either avoids dessert, or considers it a cop out. And it appeared as though everyone was talking shit, so why whine and complain to the judges about it, do you think it makes your boring cake any more exciting because someone talked crap about it?

 

While she's not my favorite and I think she'll be next to go, I think she played Aaron really well. I think she gave him the rope to hang himself without directly calling him out on his bull and I loved it.  If it were someone else doing it to someone else, I might not have liked it (like the Mean Girls season), but since she seems so passive and he was so sexist and gross, it was great to see her outwit him.  He could have saved face by saying "It was just competition trash talk," but he had to double down.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I am really ready for her to go home.  She is so annoying.

 

And while I may be the only one, Katie annoys me too.  She can talk all the shit she wants now, but for a cooking school instructor she doesn't seem very impressive.  She made a salad and landed on the bottom on the first challenge, she basically messed up and was able to pull something together at the last minute that put her in the top, and she made cake.  None of this convinces me she is a great chef.  As much of an asshole as Aaron is, I think she is equally an asshole for bitching about how Aaron called dessert a cop out.  Most of the time, on Top Chef, everyone either avoids dessert, or considers it a cop out. And it appeared as though everyone was talking shit, so why whine and complain to the judges about it, do you think it makes your boring cake any more exciting because someone talked crap about it?

 

If she thought her food was that great there would be no need to bring that up in front of the judges.

 

I didn't have any issue with Katie bringing up Aaron's trash-talking at judges table, but I did have an issue with her saying, "it isn't on me, it's on the team."  The fact is that hers was the last dish, and whoever said it was on her to win wasn't putting any undue pressure on her at that point.  But I didn't think there was anything that wrong with her pointing out how ridiculous Aaron's comments were because I suspect she's been hearing him say a lot of disparaging things about her cooking for a while.

 

I think that not only did Aaron have issues with Katie because she's a woman but he also seemed extremely focused on the idea that she is a cooking school instructor. I think, in his head, the idea that he could beat her shows that he didn't need to go to culinary school.  Of course, no one said he had to go to culinary school to be a good chef, so that was all totally in his head.  But that seemed really important to him, to show that he could beat the instructor.

[JTMacc99]

[The tie in to the battles] was just a backdrop for the challenge. Change venues and the theme would be different but with the same competition.  I liked it and was happy the food was not dictated by their location or a specific food item.   It is all about the food for me. 

I agree 100%.  This was a perfectly acceptable way not to screw up the actual competition while still making some vague connection to the location.  I would take lame revolutionary war themes over making them stay up all night cooking chili (like they did in the Texas season ::shudder::) every single time.

[Totale]

Katie was making not just chocolate cake but Imperial Stout chocolate cake which sounded a lot more interesting to me.  A well made imperial stout can be delicious, and some (like Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout) can make you swear you're tasting chocolate while they're actually using nothing but carefully selected and prepared malts and hops. I don't bake but if I did I might try to pull one off. 

 

I was amazed that Mei got enough strip steak to serve 100 guests plus the judges for her $200.  There was only a sliver of meat on the plate, but I guess a doll-sized portion of properly cooked meat trumps a portion of crap you can actually taste.  Still, I wonder since she was cutting it that small if she might not have gotten away with top sirloin or spare ribs or something. 

 

Tom should have responded to Gregory at JT with "Who asked you?"  You're already safe, sit back and shut up.

[Calamity Jane]

I enjoyed the episode, and Aaron leaving was the icing on Katie's cake.  

[AriAu]

The Red team did a terrible job picking who to go up against. Gotta figure Aaron's a guaranteed loss, Gregory's a guaranteed win on Blue, so have them face off. Putting Mei against Gregory was such a waste.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing. I am sure Mei wanted to beat the guy who topped her dumplings, but gotta be strategic and figure out how to get to 3 wins and based on what we have seen so far, Gregory was close to a sure win so why waste your best against him......unless egos are still getting in the way and they all think they are the best.

Rarely have I been happier to see someone go this early in the season-normally it takes more than a couple of weeks to become annoying enough to have me root against you.

[Primetimer]

When the chefs of Top Chef: Boston go to war, everyone wins. Well, except one chef, who goes home.

Read the story

[stillshimpy]

I think if Gregory had decided to shout from the peanut gallery to help oust anyone other than Aaron (maybe Katsuji, because I agree that guy is not improving upon further exposure) , it would have bugged me.  Since it was Aaron, and because Gregory had the great joy of having to work with him and Katsuji, when the latter took a pass on effort because of immunity, I was more the mindset of letting Gregory heap dirt on Aaron's grave. 

 

Not just because Aaron is a weed in the garden of life, but because this show has a lot of team challenges and when anyone is that difficult to work with, it's a good idea to try and get him out of the picture if the opportunity presents itself.  It didn't reflect all that well on Gregory, but I had the sense that Gregory very personally disliked Aaron.  Again, in this instance, I think it simply showed that Gregory was no fool. 

 

Speaking of:

 

 

If she thought her food was that great there would be no need to bring that up in front of the judges.

 

Katie, who I think is a middle-pack chef too, had been very personally targeted by Aaron prior to this.  He was essentially bullying her repeatedly, so I take no issue with standing tall, getting him in the laser beams and shining a light on why -- far outside of cooking, which in Aaron's instance would also be enough to hang him -- Aaron isn't material for Top Anything, unless they're holding a Top Burr and Irritant contest.  I don't know why Katie should be required to just quietly sit on the guy essentially heaping abuse on her head, for no other real reason than he needs to sort out his childhood trauma.

Edited November 13, 2014 by stillshimpy

[Calamity Jane]

I think ego was precisely their downfall.  Aaron was sure he was able to beat anyone, not realistic at all about his actual abilities.  

[JTMacc99]

Tom should have responded to Gregory at JT with "Who asked you?"  You're already safe, sit back and shut up.

Oh, heck no. Tom's been a producer of television shows long enough to know he's much better off encouraging that behavior than shutting it down.

 

Gregory is clearly the star contestant right now with his cooking. If he's also going to be willing to jump into the fray like that, Top Chef has itself a real star on its hands.

[heebiejeebie]

No matter how many of challenges they do in a similar vein.  No matter who I loathe gets the knife due to the structure.  I will never find a challenge that lets the potentially worse dish creator stay even close to fine or acceptable.  Horrible challenge and dull to boot.  Did like we had a completely Blais free episode and enjoyed the guest chef judge.  If Gregory doesn't "Paul Qui" this, it will be a bit of surprise for me.  Though I'm hoping a couple of the others get into the groove and offer some real competition.  I will hate to sit through another season like Texas when the edit tried so hard and failed to convince me Sarah deserved to go the finals let alone it was any kind of real match up with Paul.

Edited November 13, 2014 by heebiejeebie

[Bella]

I am among those who wish that Kristen Kish had stood up for herself at the JT when she was eliminated during her season's Restaurant Wars episode, so I'm glad that Katie did the same. That's probably the last time I'll favorably compare the two, but still... 

[MangoFed]

Gregory looks like he's on the Paul Qui track at this point. His style actually reminds me of Dale Talde's, in the sense that he's excellent at balancing a wide array of flavours and making a complex dish taste cohesive. And he's flashing a level of consistency that Dale didn't have. Must be incredibly frustrating for Mei, who pulled out 2 killer dishes, and watched them lose to him. Dougie and Adam both look like pretty strong cooks too. I think they're the top 4 at this point. 

[Pepper Mostly]

I'm glad Aaron's gone. He was a bore, in the end. I strongly disliked him as the season began, but he was so one-note and unoriginal in his assholery I couldn't even muster up the energy to hate him any more. Just go, douche. And please, plenty of celebrated chefs never went to culinary school (Thomas Keller, anyone? Jacques Pepin? Charlie Trotter? Ferran Adria? TOM COLICCHIO?) so quit whining about how you never had the opportunities the others had. Shut it.

[elzin]

I forgot to mention something that annoyed me mildly.  When you're talking about Concord, MA, it's CONcord, not conCORD (like the airplaine).  It was consistent in this episode.  To pronounce it like a local, it'd be more akin to KAHNkid. 

[Quilt Fairy]

Easily could have been a 3-2 or 4-1 victory for Red if they'd let go of the egos for a second

 

Except it could never be a 4-1 victory, it was 'first team to 3 points'.  Which is a stupid and obviously pointless way to set up the challenge since they were announcing the winners after each round. Suppose one team ran the table 3-0 and game over. Then the judges are supposed to pick someone from the losing team to go home but there are 2 chefs on that team who didn't even get to present their dishes. How could they possibly select one of those chefs to leave? And all of this is a long way of saying you knew it was going to be 2-2 and go down to the last pair.  

Edited November 13, 2014 by Quilt Fairy

[MangoFed]

The Red team did a terrible job picking who to go up against. Gotta figure Aaron's a guaranteed loss, Gregory's a guaranteed win on Blue, so have them face off. Putting Mei against Gregory was such a waste. Mei would have trounced Katsuji. There's the win that would have put them over the top. Sacrifice one chef against Blue's best, then take the others out by putting your best against their second-best, and so on down the line. Easily could have been a 3-2 or 4-1 victory for Red if they'd let go of the egos for a second.

The issue with this is the fact that these are chefs who have massive egos and aren't going to give that away. Look how many rematches we saw. They could have played strategically, but it's just not their nature.

[Julia]

And please, plenty of celebrated chefs never went to culinary school (Thomas Keller, anyone? Jacques Pepin? Charlie Trotter? Ferran Adria? TOM COLICCHIO?) 

 

This. Kristen Kish went to culinary school. She credits her former boss, Barbara Lynch, for teaching her to be a chef. Barbara Lynch grew up in a housing project and never went to culinary school. 

[backgroundnoise]

Then the judges are supposed to pick someone from the losing team to go home but there are 2 chefs on that team who didn't even get to present their dishes. How could they possibly select one of those chefs to leave? And all of this is a long way of saying you knew it was going to be 2-2 and go down to the last pair.

I am cynical enough to believe that it was going to be 2-2 regardless of who was matched against who.  But they still could have set it up that the remaining chefs on the losing team would basically be at war with each other, rather than the opposing team (additional winning team members could still have presented if they had chosen to declare an individual winner).   I was rather hoping it wouldn't be 2-2 just to see what they'd do.

[dolewhip]

Except it could never be a 4-1 victory, it was 'first team to 3 points'.  Which is a stupid and obviously pointless way to set up the challenge since they were announcing the winners after each round. Suppose one team ran the table 3-0 and game over. Then the judges are supposed to pick someone from the losing team to go home but there are 2 chefs on that team who didn't even get to present their dishes. How could they possibly select one of those chefs to leave? And all of this is a long way of saying you knew it was going to be 2-2 and go down to the last pair.  

Not exactly. They had a very similar challenge in the All-Stars season when there were 14 chefs left. The chefs were divided into 2 teams of 7 and each chef competed head-to-head with another - the first team to reach 4 points won. It was particularly memorable because Jamie refused to serve her dish (knowing how bad it was), and the challenge ended before she and Mike Isabella had to serve anything. The judges never tried her food and she wasn't up for elimination.

 

That said, I'm happy things went differently in this episode, since Aaron completely deserved the schooling he got from Katie and Hugh. That wouldn't have happened if the war had ended sooner.

[msburg]

I think the judging of the elimination challenge would've been a lot more interesting if the entire process (the pairing of contestants and the presentation of food) had been blind.  Do the judges know the contestants well enough to determine how they each cook at this point?

[WickedTuna]

I liked the guest judge too. He was on a couple of episodes of Chopped. He won on his original episode but unfortunately went out early in the Championship Tournament. I don't remember exactly what he made but I remember thinking how good it sounded.

Tom talking about a grain of salt either way was another eye roller for me. I know he was exaggerating but I get annoyed when they talk about a small amount of salt making or breaking a dish. I'm not a good cook so maybe my palate doesn't appreciate the difference.