S14.E07: Booty

[FormerMod-a1]

Ingredients and the element of the chefs' zodiac sign must correspond. Later, the food fighters divide into teams to throw a pirate-themed bash, during which they must race through Charleston in a treasure hunt to collect their ingredients. Appearing: Michael Cimarusti and Graham Elliot.

[chiaros]

Sounds like Top Chef Texas... :-( 

[Lamb18]

I wonder if they have to ride bikes.

[DarkRaichu]

On 1/6/2017 at 2:36 PM, aquarian1 said:

Ingredients and the element of the chefs' zodiac sign must correspond.

I feel bad for the chefs whose signs are Gemini (twin persons) and Sagitarius (half man half horse)

[cooksdelight]

I'm a Scorpio. I guess I could substitute crawdads...

[DarkRaichu]

37 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

I'm a Scorpio. I guess I could substitute crawdads...

Scorpions are considered delicacy in some parts of the world.

The dishes prepared by Libra (scale) cheftestants would probably taste metallic :P

[cooksdelight]

I was thinking about locally-sourced Southern critters. :)

[FormerMod-a1]

Gemini could do a duo of something.

Sagittarius could do a turf and turf option.

Scorpio could do something that "stings" (has heat) or use a lobster or langostine or some other crustacean which kind of look like scorpions.

Libra could do something "balanced" or "scaly" (fish, snake).

[spiderpig]

I'm Aquarius, so I guess I'd have to learn to boil water.

[cooksdelight]

Now the 5th Dimension's "Age of Aquarius" song is stuck in my head. :). Something psychedelic, maybe?

[ProudMary]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I'm a Scorpio. I guess I could substitute crawdads...

Less than three months ago, just outside Charleston.  I did not feel the need to sample this!
Coastal Carolina Fair unleashes scorpion pizza

[DarkRaichu]

4 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Gemini could do a duo of something.

Sagittarius could do a turf and turf option.

Scorpio could do something that "stings" (has heat) or use a lobster or langostine or some other crustacean which kind of look like scorpions.

Libra could do something "balanced" or "scaly" (fish, snake).

OR like past seasons, the cheftestants will just put some BS spin on why they choose the dishes.  As long as the food taste good, the judges won't mind ;)

I supposed Aquarius can make soup.  Not sure about Leo though, something hairy ?? :P

 

It will be interesting if some chef base their dishes on chinese zodiac instead.  "And for you, I prepared dragon's eggs" or "monkey's brain" :D :D :D

[biakbiak]

7 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I'm a Scorpio. I guess I could substitute crawdads...

It says the element so Scorpio would be water and it will be air, earth, water and fire. I believe they have done a similar challenge with the four elements they were just assigned and not related to their zodia sign.

Edited January 10, 2017 by biakbiak

[Totale]

We Tauri get off easy.

[chiaros]

On 1/6/2017 at 3:36 PM, aquarian1 said:

Quote

Ingredients and the element of the chefs' zodiac sign must correspond. 

 

On 1/9/2017 at 10:27 PM, biakbiak said:

It says the element so Scorpio would be water and it will be air, earth, water and fire. I believe they have done a similar challenge with the four elements they were just assigned and not related to their zodia sign.

Yes. The elements corresponding to the zodiacal signs seem to be what they are supposed to make their food correspond to. The preview of the QF on the Bravo website also seems to suggest that is what they are doing, from their comments.

Edited January 11, 2017 by chiaros

[DarkRaichu]

On 1/9/2017 at 9:27 PM, biakbiak said:

It says the element so Scorpio would be water and it will be air, earth, water and fire. I believe they have done a similar challenge with the four elements they were just assigned and not related to their zodia sign.

 

14 minutes ago, chiaros said:

 

Yes. The elements corresponding to the zodiacal signs seem to be what they are supposed to make their food correspond to. The preview of the QF on the Bravo website also seems to suggest that is what they are doing, from their comments.

Lol I never knew each zodiac was associated with an element. :P  I thought those elements were only for kids shows ie. Captain Planet: "by your powers combined..." 

[DHDancer]

WTF: No way that Jim goes home!   Does he go to LCK????

[Michichick]

My heart is broken! Here's hoping Jim wins his way through LCK.

[Pickles]

This is ridiculous. It is like the Amazing Race. Too much time racing around and not cooking.

[elzin]

This is some major bullshit. I was expecting him to win.

Katsuji is still there and that awesome guy goes home? (or at least LCK) gah.

I'm not sure I want to keep even watching anymore.

[Michichick]

Jamie was pretty classy to give up his immunity when he knew he had the worst dish.

Though I'm bummed because I don't like Emily and I want her gone.

[Randomosity]

Ugh, if they're going to do these sudden-death eliminations, they need to be more judicious with the snippets that they tease for later in the show. Like, hi, when I see Casey, Sheldon, Sylva, etc., running around in the rain looking for treasure, you know they don't end up eliminated. Even when down to the bad three, it was really only two because I'd already seen Sylva. (Emily may have even been in the teaser clips as well, but she's easier to mistake for Brooke and/or Casey when they're running by for half a second in raincoats and/or ponchos.) Not cool. I mean, that's why there's nothing teasing the next episode until after the show ends.

And Jim? WTF? Emily keeps barely surviving by being a smidge better than the worst, apparently. (Disclaimer: I wrote this mid-episode before seeing where she lands later. But dang it if she didn't do it again. ) Should we extrapolate and take that to mean that she wins the title by a hair? :P

Ha - the shot of Katsuji pausing before a big puddle then "f*ck me" :D

Ok, I like John a tad better now that he dissed Phillip from last season.

The immunity/not-immunity thing is mildly interesting, since it's different from when Stephanie got the boot. Stephanie had a great dish; Nick's was the only crappy one. Here, both Emily and Jamie had crappy food. Nick didn't give his up and a chef deserving of staying got the boot. Here, Emily had a case for going home regardless of Jamie having immunity or giving it up. I felt very badly for Stephanie. I don't really give a rats ass whether Emily or Jamie got eliminated. I do give him credit for his perspective on pride, etc.

[urusai]

Emily owes Jamie big time.

[archer1267]

Mucho respect for Jamie...I was sad to see him (and Jim!) go too.

[TazDevil]

Emily has T-Rex arms

[FormerMod-a1]

Emily - you could have just told John "No.  I don't have the time.  Take care of your own tails."  Not that I think it would have helped her dish at all.

Jamie - why give up immunity????

[CaliCheeseSucks]

Jim is gone, Jamie is gone, Silvia is gone... but Emily is still in it? Yikes.

[elzin]

Tattoo guy (Jamie, apparently) really grew on me too. This double sucks.

[CookieChica]

"If you can't execute, you shouldn't move on."

Really? Then why is Emily still here?! Does anyone know how many times she's been in the bottom this season? I can think of 5 off the top of my head (which includes both of the ones in this episode). 

[KenyaJ]

I was so sad to see Jim go. I loved him! The fact that Emily is still there just makes it worse.

[Moncheechee]

If his giving up immunity didn't mean that Emily would plague viewers for another week, I would totally blow Jamie.

[AttackTurtle]

Oh man seeing Jim go sucked.   

I was really hoping that the fact that two of the judges really didn't like Emily's dish, that she would go.   That being said, it sounds like Jamie's dish was terrible.   Should've known he was a goner when we got the backstory.  

Emily just seems very immature compared to the rest of the chefs.   And I just bought an ISI and it's amazing.

I still adore Sheldon.

Edited January 13, 2017 by AttackTurtle

[chiaros]

I haven't been in Charleston for a while. But the next time I am there I shall look up where Emily Hahn is cooking (or still cooking) and make sure that I do not patronize that place.

It was very noble of Jamie to give up his immunity. I salute him for it, and wish him well in his future endeavors.

As for the Red Team - I note that John Tesar's dish was received favorably, and the choice of "worst dish" was really between Jamie's and Emily's. Tom Colicchio said as much. As for Emily's attack on John - that was what I classify as "after the fact".

But the whole thing - yep, it reminded me of TC Texas (and then BC), the scurrying around the town that the cheftestants had to do; and even that ridiculous shooting-at-targets fiasco and hacking-out-of-ice spectacle that TPTB thought was a good idea. It is getting harder and harder to watch this show.

[twilightzone]

33 minutes ago, CookieChica said:

Really? Then why is Emily still here?!

Stunt casting.  She is not a legit threat in the competition and is obviously a fodder brought on for the drama.

Come on BRAVO - This is Top Chef, not Real Housewives.

Edited January 13, 2017 by twilightzone

[bitchin camaro]

Well, that was odd.

And I'm not sure when exactly they filmed this, but if there was an actual tropical storm going on where downtown was more or less abandoned it was really irresponsible for them to continue during it. (I'm guessing it was Bonnie back in June, which wasn't a horrible one, considering, but still.)

[avecsans]

What are they doing to my favorite show?  If they have to have a sudden death quickfire, do they have to handicap the contestants with a lame. Zodiac challenge?  And then a pirate challenge?  Come on.  They took up so much time showing them wandering around the city trying to find the ingredients that I was actually yelling at the tv.  This is not why I watch Top Chef.  I want to see them cooking and there was precious little of that in this episode.

Is Emily's last name Trump?  She is one of the worst, if not the worst, cheftestant in Top Chef history.  It's admirable that Jamie gave up his immunity, but dude, why save her?  She wouldn't speak up to John one on one about the ingredients but she was more than happy to knife him in the back when she needed an excuse for her suckage.

 I am super sick of Casey and her talking heads and her scallops must have been repulsive.  She can go after Emily.

[CookieChica]

1 hour ago, CookieChica said:

"If you can't execute, you shouldn't move on."

Really? Then why is Emily still here?! Does anyone know how many times she's been in the bottom this season? I can think of 5 off the top of my head (which includes both of the ones in this episode). 

So in fairness to Emily, I answered my own question and it is only 5. I think I remembered more because she had a couple bad dishes on good teams (BBQ beans). 

[Court]

UGH, I already knew the outcome of the Sudden Death thanks to Bravo promos. They showed Emily at JT all this week arguing. You see Sylva in the promos in the episode looking for treasure.

I'm also ticked. Emily needed to go home in the QF or JT. She didn't earn immunity, Jamie did. He had every right to keep it and send her packing. She didn't cook well at all. Jamie did during the QF, at least. UGH. I wish the judges had said we reject that, Emily is leaving.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Court

[ProudMary]

I hate that it had to be a team loss and that the PYKAGd chef had to be from the losing team because I think Casey should have gotten the boot for serving uncooked scallops that had been laying in a box for a couple of hours.  She can argue all she wants that they smelled them 10 times and they were fine.  Not just the judges but the guests said the scallops were fishy.  

My favorite moment of the night was right at the beginning as the chefs walked into the Top Chef kitchen for the Quickfire Challenge and saw the Air, Water, Fire and Earth pantries and Sheldon says, "Who's going to walk in?  Captain Planet?"  :-D  Love Sheldon!

[zxy556575]

So Emily is now the only "new" contestant remaining. Inspiring.

[Court]

7 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

I hate that it had to be a team loss and that the PYKAGd chef had to be from the losing team because I think Casey should have gotten the boot for serving uncooked scallops that had been laying in a box for a couple of hours.  She can argue all she wants that they smelled them 10 times and they were fine.  Not just the judges but the guests said the scallops were fishy.  

My favorite moment of the night was right at the beginning as the chefs walked into the Top Chef kitchen for the Quickfire Challenge and saw the Air, Water, Fire and Earth pantries and Sheldon says, "Who's going to walk in?  Captain Planet?"  :-D  Love Sheldon!

You're right. This is why I don't like team losses either. If it hadn't been, it would have between Emily and Casey. I would have been fine with either of them leaving.

I'm really going to miss Jim.

[Souris]

Ugh, I haaaaate sudden-death Quickfires. Boo! How is Jim gone and Emily is still there??? 

I was already pissy about that and then they had the audacity to claim/imply that Blackbeard died in Charleston. He died off Ocracoke Island in NORTH Carolina, you scurvy dogs! Wrong Carolina!!!! They wanted to bring in pirates so they retconned history. I was spitting the rest of the episode. He did blockade Charleston for a bit, so there was no reason to rewrite history to bring in a completely separate incident. (The pirate party of legend was also on Ocracoke Island. You can visit the beach where it supposedly occurred if the mosquitoes don't kill you first.)

Edited January 13, 2017 by Souris

[AnnaBaptist]

19 minutes ago, lordonia said:

So Emily is now the only "new" contestant remaining. Inspiring.

Silva is still competing.

[pinguina]

Wow!  I really liked Jim!  I didn't want him to go :(    Emily should have gone.

It made me laugh when the red team was treasure hunting and Brooke would shout, "Katsuji! Hurry up!"

I knew the black team would be at the bottom!  It seemed as if John took the lead but Emily should have spoken up way sooner than she did!

Although I thought it was honorably of Jamie to give up his immunity, I remember that seasons ago someone tried to do that and they said "No."  But I also remember when someone with immunity had a terrible dish and another had a good dish and they kind of hinted to him to give up immunity and he said "No."  Well, they're the judges!

[Muffyn]

Dammit, Jim!  You're a chef not a  . . .  I got nuthin' except sadness that he's gone.   I will miss that soft-spoken, cheery elf of a man. 

Emily is going for the Wendy Pepper reality show cockroach award.  She is always just barely better than someone else.  What is it going to take for her to go home?

[theajw]

37 minutes ago, Muffyn said:

Emily is going for the Wendy Pepper reality show cockroach award.  She is always just barely better than someone else.  What is it going to take for her to go home?

Or as we have in Charleston, Palmetto bugs, which are even worse than your garden-variety cockroaches.  

Edited January 13, 2017 by theajw

[Richness]

Thanks, Muffyn, I really needed that "Dammit, Jim" chuckle after that horrible episode.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I despise Sudden Death Quickfires. Quickfires should be for awarding immunity or advantages. At most, there might be some sort of prize, especially toward the end when immunity among a small group is really unfair. However, when they eliminate a chef, it's nothing but a short Elimination Challenge.  It's only slightly less annoying when the chef has an opportunity to avoid elimination on the cook off. Today, someone was going home regardless of the cook-off's outcome.

 

I'd be saying the same thing even if someone I didn't like the eliminated player. That it was sweet, adorkable Jim just makes it that much worse. :( I was really concerned he was going to embarrass himself and Alabama when the season began, but he grew into my favorite contestant. Hope he makes it back from Last Chance Kitchen.

 

The rest of the episode was just as rotten. At least the horrid Texas season that ended up in Canada was somewhat related, as the target shooting paralleled hunting for food. What the hell did this treasure hunt parallel? Searching? Gathering? Whatever it was, they spent way too much time on it. It was just as pointless and unwanted as the Pee Wee bike riding episode or cooking in a Target store. I really want them to elevate their Elimination Challenges above such physical gimmicks. As a result, they got some of the worst food they've ever had.

 

While I wish he hadn't said it to begin with, I'm glad Jamie stuck to his guns about relinquishing immunity. It would have been horrible form to say what he did in the Stew Room, only to go back on it at the actual Judge's Table. I don't think he would have done it had he not just turned in another bad dish while holding immunity. It's unfortunate that he was stuck with crap ingredients and suffered some cooking mishaps. While I don't dislike John, I don't like him either.

 

Emily, on the other hand, I despise. She's annoying and not very talented. Don't be cocky and stubborn if you can't back it up. I also wanted raw scallop lady (Casey?) to shut-up as well. She normally doesn't bother me, but she did then. Now that he's gone, maybe Padma can give it a rest about Jamie's skipped plate.

 

Again, this was a wretched episode for a multitude of reasons.

[threebluestars]

This episode sucked. I hate that we lost Jim. I'm getting really tired of the stupid kitschy quickfires. I just want them to make some food.

[spiderpig]

Not our Jim!  (*looking daggers at Emily*)  Didn't Jim want to do steak and potatoes, but John and Emily kept saying "steak tartare"?  Emily skates.

Jamie takes the worst ingredients because he has immunity, and makes the worst dish, giving up said immunity.  Emily skates again.

We all know Emily's not going to take home the prize - she has no flair, creativity or technical skill.  But every time I see her she grates, especially knowing that more talented chefs have been booted before her.

Then there's the matter of her 'tude...

Guess I'm back to Team Sheldon.

[windtrix]

What is the freaking point of immunity if you can't use it? The ONLY time you would use it is if you have the worst dish so why would they allow someone to give it up because they had the worse dish? It makes no sense at all!