S13.E06: Banannaise

[Tara Ariano]

The chefs head to San Diego and cook up high-end fish tacos. Then, they prepare dishes to complement handcrafted microbrews. Appearing: chef Javier Plascenia.

[avecsans]

"I love the mystery of chocolate." Oh my god stfu Richard Blais!!! He is such a pretentious twit and yet his insecurity is palpable. Can Stephanie please come and beat him again?

Glad to see Wesley and Angelina go. He had a short period last week when he was tolerable but he was back to being a disgusting slob. But Jason 's pork and squid meatballs looked so disgusting that he may have deserved to be eliminated for those.

[Lassus]

Plblblbllblblblb.  Kwame should have won, or Hipster Mashed Potatoes.  Hipster Mashed Potatoes really got crapped on unfairly this episode, I think.

 

Wesley deserved to be sent home. He really wasn't ever that good.

 

As usual, I just wanted Padma to shut up.

I will also say that I cannot for the life of me understand the dislike for Richard Blaise at all.  He seems dorky and friendly and happy as a person.  The venom he inspires strikes me as so bizarre.  YMMV, I suppose.

[Major Bigtime]

Anyone who can't put food on the plates sitting right in front of them deserves to go home. Wesley always struck me as a slob in the kitchen and I'd never want to eat anything he'd personally cooked. Tonight my feelings were affirmed.

[MerBearHou]

I am a fan of Richard Blaise. I think he's quirky and interesting and actually kind of cute in a nerdy way. I like him and am glad when he's on FN or TC. I too don't get the Blaise vitriol whatsoever.

Was thrilled when Angelina left. Was not pleased when Wesley left. I really felt that Jason's slimy, miscalculated dish should have sent his sour self packing.

So glad for Amar and Karen doing really well this episode. And Kwame of course -- love him and would be elated if he won the whole thing.

How in the world does Padma stay so fit???

Loved seeing Emeril -- as they said, he's like a food deity!

Edited January 15, 2016 by MerBearHou

[SFoster21]

Squid meatballs. How could you lose?

Sheesh! Richard has always been a class act, imo. And he's cute, too!

[Maysie]

It was nice to see a bit of Amar and Chad this episode - they've been so overlooked that I was wondering if they were going to stick around.  No surprise about Angelina or Wesley, though I did kinda like Wesley, and appreciated the crash in the kitchen sound effect as he left at the end of the show.

 

Though I like Isaac, that dish sounded disgusting, but then I hate bananas. Bananaise sounds awful, but I don't know what I would have done for such a dish. Kwame surely figured it out, though (and I never did get a grip on what he was doing - they seemed to gloss right over that). He seems to be the guy to beat right now - I think he's the only one who's been consistently in the top contenders and I can't think of anything negative that anyone's said about his cooking (or him, for that matter).

 

It appears that last week's pile-on made Man Bun think a bit. I don't think he necessarily agrees with the criticism, but I got the impression that he knows he has to play to the crowd at hand. I respect that type of pragmatism. I also have to wonder if things really are financially tight for him. Restaurant margins must be thin and his little talking head made me wonder if Top Chef and his other competitions have been part of building his brand for potential investors/greater stability? Just spitballing on that, though. Anyway, he was far less obnoxious to me this week.

 

I always enjoy seeing Emeril and I like it when he hangs out in the house with the chefs. However, I wish he would drop just a few pounds - I worry about the kind of extra weight he's carrying around.

 

Marjorie and Angelina definitely seem to have a big/little sister relationship that is sweet, though I don't much care for Angelina.

 

As far as personalities go, it was a bit of a bland show - and I'm not complaining about that. It seemed like a lot of action, I guess because of Angelina and Wesley's extra challenge. I do wonder: with two chefs gone in one episode, how does that work for future weeks? How can they plan for all their episodes? Does that mean someone gets a free pass at some point? Because if I understood it correctly, it wasn't an either/or proposition with Angelina and Wesley (she went or they both stayed, right?). So how does production account for that when they plan the episodes? I've only been watching this for about four seasons, so I'm in the dark about how this plays out.

[HunterHunted]

When Isaac was making his banannaise, I kept thinking why not make banana ketchup. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/02/banana-ketchup-recipe.html

Angelina needed to go. She was an aggressively mediocre chef.

[Calamity Jane]

It does finally seem to have dawned on Phillip that he has to please the judges, not just cook what he thinks is brilliant and "tasty."  He's still confused, however, about the fact that, even when he does well, someone else may do even better. Still it was good to see some level of self-awareness beginning to form under the bun. 

 

If there is a more disgusting combination than squid and pork, I don't want to know about it. Ever.  How that didn't get him sent home, I don't know.  Tom always says the decision is based on the food that day, not past performance or future promise, but they already blew that cover last week, so I think perhaps they felt Wesley was at the end of his creativity and Jason was not. 

 

Kwame looks like the clear leader right now.  The only thing I fear for him is one of those ridiculous team-of-two challenges where his partner has immunity and fails but can't be sent home, so Kwame has to go.  That happened a couple of seasons ago and it was just so entirely unfair.  Last-chance Kitchen isn't a good enough excuse for that level of idiocy. 

[Totale]

I'm a huge craft beer fan but I like beer-flavored beer. The judge's attempts all sounded revolting, even with whatever help they got from the usually solid Ballast Point and Stone.  The craft of it involves someone like Brooklyn Brewery invoking chocolate without adding it as they do with their Black Chocolate Stout or the subtle hint of banana that Belgian brewers can get from their choice of yeasts, not taking whatever base beer the guys gave them to play with and adding flavors to it.

[Bastet]

I love Stone beer, so I'd likely have been pleased with most dishes, but Emeril's beer sounded the worst to me (and Padma's sounded the best).

 

I do not like how androcentric this competition is at the midpoint, and was hoping Angelina would have emerged victorious over Wes in the QF so that there was a chance in the elimination round for a woman to stay while a man went home- and to see Wes over-cook lamb (quite the culinary sin to my palate) really made me wish she'd had that one more chance to do better than him -  but both were (over?)due to go so I can't get too fired up.  And when you do something so stupid in the first place to land yourself in the hot seat -- plating your food on a cutting board rather than on the plate that will be judged -- I can't muster up much sympathy.

 

Kudos to Karen, whose food has interested me all along.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Bastet

[Bastet]

One of the many reasons I make tacos so often is how quickly they can be prepared, so all the "Only 20 minutes?!" crap can miss me, especially since they were charged with making a fish taco.

[HunterHunted]

It's funny that the pork and squid was disgusting because bacon works great with shrimp, scallops, and many types of fish.

[Bastet]

Yeah, in the initial stages of describing that dish, it sounded delicious (based on its ingredients).   And I've made squid stuffed with pork sausage before, so I was pulling for it.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Bastet

[forum4idiots]

"oh, i just misplaced my lobster"....lmao.  he looked adorable saying that.  he's an idiot, but that was a funny moment.

 

"i've been on the bottom a couple of times..."  really girl?  like we didn't know.  "seems" like you've been on the bottom "every" time.  so, we know...

 

.....and a friendly reminder, most people in los angeles ARE NOT like that douchebag on the show......thank you.

 

richard blase'....yup...you are blase'.... "the mystery of chocolate...."........stop, just stop.

Edited January 15, 2016 by lovebug1975

[forum4idiots]

When Isaac was making his banannaise, I kept thinking why not make banana ketchup. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/02/banana-ketchup-recipe.html

Angelina needed to go. She was an aggressively mediocre chef.

i know, right?  banana ketchup is very popular in the philippines.   pretty darn good too.  then again, "chefs" frown upon ketchup.

Edited January 15, 2016 by lovebug1975

[mlp]

I was quite surprised when pork with slimy squid beat Wesley's dish.  It must have been a case of over-cooked protein.  I can't think of any other way they could have justified that decision.  I don't like Angelina or Jason so I was hoping they'd both get booted.  

 

Whose bare butt was that?  I thought Wesley but, when the camera pulled back and I got a glimpse of the station, I wasn't sure.

[GaT]

Angelina was in over her head since the beginning, it was only a matter of time until she was gone.

 

It does finally seem to have dawned on Phillip that he has to please the judges, not just cook what he thinks is brilliant and "tasty."  He's still confused, however, about the fact that, even when he does well, someone else may do even better. Still it was good to see some level of self-awareness beginning to form under the bun. 

 

I'm not sure he's experiencing any self-awareness, I think he's decided to "cook down" for the judges because they can't seem to recognize that he's so brilliant.

[In Pog Form]

• Note the first:

ManBun: "Gummy was what I intended."

ManBun in the very next sentence: "I described it as mashed potatoes in the form of whipped cream."

Since when is whipped cream gummy? It's supposed to be light and airy.

• Note the second:

If ManBun was allowed to serve his Quickfire on a dirty rock, why wasn't Angelina allowed to serve hers on a chopping board? I know which one I'd prefer to eat from.

Edited January 15, 2016 by In Pog Form

[RCharter]

I'm thinking Amar may be the dark horse of the season.  Right now, you don't hear much from him, but he is always putting out really good food.

 

I think Angelina was ready to go.  And was happy to be able to blame it on the fact that she didn't plate her tacos.  Dollars to donuts those tacos, just like almost everything else she has made, would have been in the bottom.  Yes, I'm sure those tacos that no one got to try were the so much more tasty than every other piece of food that you have put out, which has almost universally been disliked.

 

I also don't know why she chose Wesley.  Wesley can be hit or miss, but, IMO, there were worse chefs in the competition.  For however much of a slob he is, hasn't he been a James Beard winner/nominee twice?  I think if she was serious, she would have taken on ManBun, or Jason.  Jason has put out a few good dishes lately, but he has also put out some straight up losers, and ManBun has also put out quite a few bad dishes and hasn't really been in the top for anything.   And honestly, if she had gone with Marjorie, there is a small chance that Marjorie may have thrown it to her subconsciously just to keep her in the competition.

 

Glad to see that it wasn't Issac going home, I think I would have felt better if it was Jason going home.  I understand his feelings of exclusion, but its no fun watching someone that sour.

 

I was interested in their "hash out" at the start of the episode.  There still seems to be no logical reason why Jason said anything, other than that he was on a mission to get ManBun to admit that he messed up the dish.  And why?  Whether he messed it up or not, he was getting raked over the coals for it.  It was also made me like ManBun much more to hear him admit to his insecurities.  Kwame also had a very good point, if you keep insisting that you meant to make gummy potatoes people are going to think that that is the sort of food you serve in your restaurant and no one is going to want to eat there, because I don't want to eat at a place where a guy thinks gummy potatoes are delicious.

I was quite surprised when pork with slimy squid beat Wesley's dish.  It must have been a case of over-cooked protein.  I can't think of any other way they could have justified that decision.  I don't like Angelina or Jason so I was hoping they'd both get booted.  

 

Whose bare butt was that?  I thought Wesley but, when the camera pulled back and I got a glimpse of the station, I wasn't sure.

It was Wesleys, and it was wildly unnecessary to zoom in on it.  

 

Or at least thats how I saw it.

[tenativelyyours]

Yeah, I'm not so sure Angelina plating her tacos would have kept her in the challenge.  Who were the others in the bottom of the Quickfire?  Did they tell us or did they not bother since Angelina was automatically going into the elimination round?  I wonder if they did have the judge tell what his least favorites were and we didn't see it?  I just don't remember it but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention since I knew she was going in.

 

Blais.  Oh so not of glory.  Still trying way too hard.  Still a huge smarmy douche.  The answer to your question Padma as to why he choose the flavors he did was because he is a pretentious tool. 

 

Manbun.  Still acting like he cooks perfectly and the problem is the judges not having the palate to correctly judge him.  Did anyone else notice how high his voice got with glee when he was asking everyone how they felt they did and where they were.  He so knew he was not in the bottom.  He really is that brown nosing little weasel every class had that did well on the pop quiz but goes around asking everyone else how they did before revealing his own score.  And I'm pretty sure he was the one to almost cackle 'good luck' as they went out to the judging table.  It sounded so self satisfied.  I don't want him just to go.  I want him to fail utterly when the biggest judge of the season is there. 

 

I found myself disliking Karen with the comment about it being too many times Kwame and (did she say Jason or Jeremy?) were winning challenges.  I know what she meant.  But it was still one of those comments we seem to get from someone each season.  For me?  No.  Someone isn't winning too often.  what you mean is that you haven't won. 

 

and I do think this is hard.  Competition.  Pressure.  I do wonder sometimes if maybe Kwame has an edge as he is rather young has been traveling extensively rather recently.  And isn't acting like the dent int he sofa with his butt's name on it plaintively sings sad love songs missing him.  These people are all relatively young and they still act like the weeks they are gone are the hardest thing ever.  Just for compare I would love to see any of them make it through a skills test on Masterchef UK the Professionals.  Let alone a signature challenge or the Michelin star guest kitchen test pair off.  Even the new team challenges when they cock up on organization make most of these guys look like they should only be trusted with refilling the relish counter at a hot dog shop. 

 

Top Chef is still fun and I like it overall.  But it is nothing in terms of professional testing of skills and talent to the Masterchef UK professionals show.  Not even close.  So Emeril?  You might want to upgrade your cable package and see what a real cooking competition show looks like.  And stop having your mail delivered up Tom's butt.

Edited January 15, 2016 by tenativelyyours

[Wings]

The right people left, Jason next please.  

 

I have made banana mashed potatoes as a side with fish.  It is delicious so banana mayo is not a stretch for me and I will try doing a kind of tarter sauce with banana next time.  

 

Squid and pork do go together, I agree, Bastet.  I don't see the textures working well in a meat ball though and neither did the judges!  

 

I will have to re watch to remember each individual dish, it seemed to go so fast.  Or better stated I am slow to register.  :>) 

 

note to self- watch this in the morning when you are fresh.

 

Pepper Mostly, I see now that Marjorie really did have a friendship with Angelina and was not forced to say something nice last week.   Ha! 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Angelina has not seemed to cook a single thing well independently. But I gave her a fair amount of slack because she's a cutie.

 

Seems to me this was the first time someone got PYKAG'ed over a Sudden Death Quickfire. Or at least, it's the only one I can recall. Any Top Chef historians remember others?

I wonder if they build in double eliminations or "everyone's safe this week" based on if people win or lose these Sudden Death Quickfires.

[tenativelyyours]

I thought the guy in the very first round on the Boston season got canned in a humiliating fashion and then they brought him back thanks to a popularity vote 'twist'.

[jette]

STFU, Padma. If Isaac had served crab salad - with banannaise! - on a cracker, he'd had have been gone.

 

I continue to despise Jason. Do the judges really see someone so sour and entitled (yes, even moreso than Philip) as worthy "of the title of Top Chef?" I fail to see how he inspires in his restaurant kitchen. Though last night, he did inspire my gag reflex...

[Pepper Mostly]

Pepper Mostly, I see now that Marjorie really did have a friendship with Angelina and was not forced to say something nice last week.   Ha! 

I had to go back and see what I said--and found to my relief that I am not sinking inexorably into senility, but that it wasn't Pepper Mostly, it was Pepper Monkey! :-)

[Lamb18]

I wonder if they did have the judge tell what his least favorites were and we didn't see it?  I just don't remember it but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention since I knew she was going in.

 

The guest judge did tell Padma his least favorites. Angelina, of course, and Wesley, plus maybe Marjorie - I think she didn't have enough heat.

[Moncheechee]

I'm getting a little tired of Karen's affectation of always referring to her apparently genderless "spouse."

And sayonara, Messley. Don't let the door hit ya where we all got to see that the good lord split ya.

[Wings]

I had to go back and see what I said--and found to my relief that I am not sinking inexorably into senility, but that it wasn't Pepper Mostly, it was Pepper Monkey! :-)

 

 

Ha ha ha ha!  I changed it.  I should have gone back and looked!

 

 

STFU, Padma. If Isaac had served crab salad - with banannaise! - on a cracker, he'd had have been gone.

 

I continue to despise Jason. Do the judges really see someone so sour and entitled (yes, even moreso than Philip) as worthy "of the title of Top Chef?" I fail to see how he inspires in his restaurant kitchen. Though last night, he did inspire my gag reflex...

 

They loved the crab with the banana  mayo so I think that was the case.  They hated that bowl of gruel and the corn cob used to hold the crab salad.  

[RCharter]

Angelina has not seemed to cook a single thing well independently. But I gave her a fair amount of slack because she's a cutie.

 

Seems to me this was the first time someone got PYKAG'ed over a Sudden Death Quickfire. Or at least, it's the only one I can recall. Any Top Chef historians remember others?

I wonder if they build in double eliminations or "everyone's safe this week" based on if people win or lose these Sudden Death Quickfires.

Last season, I believe.  George v. Gregory.  It was one of the first challenges....the one where they are all on teams and have to do various techniques (mise en place?)  So, I think George and Gregory were on the same team and there had been some tiff because they both wanted to de-bone fish or whatever.  Gregory ended up de-boning the fish and they lost.  George ended up the loser and challenged Gregory in the sudden death quickfire.  Gregory smoked him and George was sent packing.

 

It was a dumb move on George's part because there were so many cannon fodder contestants and he chose Gregory almost purely out of spite.

Edited January 15, 2016 by RCharter

[Canada]

Man Bun finally understands the concept of 'competition' and 'judging' - "Oh, I'm supposed to give them what THEY want!  Well, I'll try it and see how that works out."  Still arrogant and clueless!!

[notoffred]

I'm getting a little tired of Karen's affectation of always referring to her apparently genderless "spouse."

And sayonara, Messley. Don't let the door hit ya where we all got to see that the good lord split ya.

Her "spouse" may identify as genderqueer or a-gender, which would require her to do that if she wanted to respect their wishes. There's an interview with her on AfterEllen in which Karen identifies as queer and femme, but we have no idea how her "spouse" feels. Yeah, it's very obvious, but for me it's a shrug at the end. 

[tenativelyyours]

My problem with Karen stems more from a sense I get, just a gut feeling if you will, that she tends to make stuff all about herself.  I'm cold hearted I know.  And I get that much of her commentary is encouraged to some degree by production and simply the nature of the show itself.  But everything with her always seems a bit extra.  Her annoyance with Giselle,  Her judgement of Angelina early on that seemed to lack merit since it was when Angelina has done well as part of the Persian team.   Her making sure to insert herself more fully in front of the cameras during the explanation of the wedding challenge. Even her comment about the wins in regards to Kwame and another dominating.  She just seems to make it sound like she is taking on burdens and challenges the rest are not up to. 

[Corgi-ears]

JESUS. Javier Plascencia is a beautiful man.

[RCharter]

JESUS. Javier Plascencia is a beautiful man.

Right?  Even before we got to the front of him, I knew I was going to like what I saw!

[Primetimer]

The chefs turn to beer for inspiration. There's also tacos! And disgusting balls of meat!

Read the story

[FineWashables]

 

If ManBun was allowed to serve his Quickfire on a dirty rock, why wasn't Angelina allowed to serve hers on a chopping board? I know which one I'd prefer to eat from.

Right?  Why is snot on a rock acceptable, but taco on a cutting board is inedible?

 

And listen up, people: Mr Snot On A Rock isn't trying to make tasty food, he wants to make yummy food. Rhymes with gummy.

 

He seems to believe that the judges and the diners in his restaurant need him to educate their palates about what is yummy. I think this is his way of branding himself, like when Paris Hilton tried to trademark "that's hot."

Edited January 15, 2016 by FineWashables

[Empress1]

I fell out when someone said that if he were in Angelina's situation during the Quickfire, he'd just jump off the pier. That was a rookie mistake and Angelina was clearly a rookie out of her element. I do think that she and Marjorie had a very sweet big sis/little sis relationship, but Angelina was out of her depth. She should come back in a few years.

 

JESUS. Javier Plascencia is a beautiful man.

YES. I was walking through the living room when he appeared on my way to the kitchen, and I said out loud "Oooh, he's hot!" And I may or may not have thought "I'll give you some more heat" when he said he wished a dish had a little more heat.

 

I, too, assumed Karen's spouse is genderqueer and uses gender-neutral pronouns.

 

Yay Kwame! I'm so happy to see him doing so well. He seems very composed too.

 

I like Isaac but that banannaise looked really unappetizing. And I love lamb so when Wesley said his lamb was overcooked I was like "OUT." He also seems to love that "Jackson Pollock thing," as he was splattering that beet puree with real gusto. And the tentacles looked slimy on my TV, so I'm in full agreement with the bottom three.

[AriAu]

If there is a more disgusting combination than squid and pork, I don't want to know about it. Ever.  How that didn't get him sent home, I don't know.

 

Poorly cooked protein is always a disaster and Wesley committed that sin, but it must have been really, really bad to lost to that disgusting looking combo.

Wesley was a mess and it was likely a good choice but I do wonder it was a case of not following their own rules and not looking just at the dish and instead taking past performance into account. While Jason has come off as a prissy, bossy, know-it-all, pain in the butt, he has had some very strong dishes in the past, including that "not dolma" from last week. I will give Jason credit for one thing-he clearly is not just cooking dishes off of his restaurant's menu (or slight variations thereof)!

I will say this, these chefs seem to be turning out some really good food-Tom has been smiling a lot this season and I think they have had to struggle to find 3 for the bottom some weeks. I never had a feeling that Isaac was in any real danger, although that kind of a dish could get him ppykag'd in a week were everyone is at the top of their game.

How in the world does Padma stay so fit???

 

I do not always find her attractive, but she was S M O K I N G hot at the elimination tasting/JT-the pulled back hair look and outfit was stunning and reminded me that she is a model. However, it was so tight that I am sure they could just about see how much she ate.

In all seriousness, she has said that she does gain weight during the season, and actually brings clothes in different sizes. ....

He so knew he was not in the bottom.  He really is that brown nosing little weasel every class had that did well on the pop quiz but goes around asking everyone else how they did before revealing his own score.

 

Manbun reminds me of the know-it-all from law school who then flunked the bar!

[backgroundnoise]

I do wonder: with two chefs gone in one episode, how does that work for future weeks? How can they plan for all their episodes?

They can always throw an extra offing in or a week where no one is offed if they need the next week to have even numbers for teams.

 

I would think squid is too bland a flavor even if you can past the rubbery consistency to make a good meatball.

The comment about Jason using "old" recipes made me think of A Taste of History--anyone see that show?  A chef does 1700's recipes over a hearth.  I like seeing the old time methods, but I have to say the food doesn't really look very good when it's done.  Ditto for the meatballs.

[Canada]

Man Bun seems to me to be one of those chefs who thinks he's the shit because he's 'innovative'.  It doesn't matter if his food tastes like crap, or is served on a dirty rock, and no one wants to eat it.  That is their fault, not his!

[susannot]

One of the many reasons I make tacos so often is how quickly they can be prepared, so all the "Only 20 minutes?!" crap can miss me, especially since they were charged with making a fish taco.

Dammit,fish tacos are just about my favorite food so I was hoping to get some new ideas from this, but I really didn't.  Someone did use pickled red cabbage which sounds delicious.  Maybe it went by too fast.  One thing I definitely would not do is make pretentious fancy fish tacos with foie grois--I think that was Philip/ManBun.

[Gajic]

Raffi also likes to ate ate ate apples and banainaise. 

[Wings]

Dammit,fish tacos are just about my favorite food so I was hoping to get some new ideas from this, but I really didn't.  Someone did use pickled red cabbage which sounds delicious.  Maybe it went by too fast.  One thing I definitely would not do is make pretentious fancy fish tacos with foie grois--I think that was Philip/ManBun.

 

I love fish tacos, too.  I make the traditional Baja style with the fish fried in beer batter, shaved green cabbage and crema in a four tortilla.  I do take liberties with the sauce though.  Anything other than that is NOT a Baja fish taco, it is a taco with fish!  

[susannot]

That is EXACTLY how I make them too wings707.  I love them!  I do try new recipes when I come across them but always regret it because my fish tacos are better.

 

I'm glad that Isaac didn't get cut.  He is amusing.  I think a crab salad with "bananaisse" does sound good--agree with Padma there.

[In Pog Form]

And listen up, people: Mr Snot On A Rock isn't trying to make tasty food, he wants to make yummy food. Rhymes with gummy.

He's a gummy artisan who works exclusively in the medium of gummy.

Edited January 15, 2016 by In Pog Form

[Wings]

 

I do wonder: with two chefs gone in one episode, how does that work for future weeks? How can they plan for all their episodes?

 

They started the elimination on a quick fire a few or so seasons back.  All the eliminations and challenges are planned and 2 people going is in the plan. 

[CatWarmer]

Re Richard Blaise - I went to Juniper and Ivy last year and mentioned to the waitress that I was a Top Chef fan and that it was my birthday.  Richard came out, wished me a happy birthday, and sat next to me for a picture.  He couldn't have been more pleasant and friendly.  So I suspect he's much nicer in person than on a scripted show.

[BrakeLites]

I'm bummed to see Messley go. He actually seemed to me to have one real thing working in his favor: he LEARNED while he was on the show, and seemed to view the experience as a chance for more than $125K (is that right?) He recognized his faults/weaknesses out loud, tried to clean up some of his filthy flaws, and his fellow cheftestants seemed sincerely sad to lose what he brought to the cobbled- together, disfunctional family that was thrown into the gunny sack for the sake of reality TV. Being a person other people like in a competitive situation like that goes a long way in my book. Plumber's butt and all.

 

All to explain exactly why Manbun has been under my skin in a bad way from the beginning of the season. I get a Marcel vibe from the guy, and I could never, ever warm to that guy, not matter how terribly he was treated by Ilan et al.  

 

 

[NaughtyKitty]

There were a few funny bits that no one has mentioned....  

 

Razzing Messley at the quickfire about not reusing his tasting spoon

The comment about freezing a banana and putting it up his butt

The word Bananaise (makes me giggle)