Dignan

I have it from a pretty good source that Kevin's dismissal was an unscripted moment; my source said that the reason they held the camera tight on Padma then cut to Kevin was because the rest of the judges were staring at Padma in shock; some with their mouths hanging open. I'd love to see the raw footage. The declarations are always edited in the same way. Long tortured tight shot of Padma with the loser/winner's name poised at the tip of her tongue, Padma's announcement, shot of winner/loser's reaction. I'd be willing to wager we've never seen an edit where we got Padma's announcement, Judge's reactions, then loser/winner's reaction. The lack of one in this case seems to me evidence of nothing regarding what was planned or unplanned in the production.

And he basically won that because his food tasted best, and not because of its Bocuse d'Or-ness, which makes it wierder.

Kevin won the first episode. Micheal V. won the 3rd. Kevin won 2 more before Micheal V. won another. Kevin won 5 eliminations. Michael V. won 4, including the final. Kevin had the most wins in total. And he "did slowly begin to impress people"? And Bryan had the most wins early, with 3 in the first 5 episodes, then didn't win another until the penultimate show.

I'd like to see a special production that takes us on a longer journey through a single episode. A single episode is an hour long, but generally takes two days to actually complete all the activity that goes into getting one hour of video. There would be "making off" elements, and the quickfire challenge wouldn't be over in 10 minutes, and we could actually see the reactions and facial expressions of the cheftestants that actually match up with what is actually happening, instead of edited in reaction shots. We'd get a lot more of the preparation and cooking for the emlination challenge, a lot more of the interrogation at judges table, and a lot more of the discussion at judges table. How many hours would that be? A lot. We might need to raise Warhol.

I'm just glad they finally put Robin out of her misery. It had to be hard to keep competing and keep getting called out on the bottom, waiting for the ax to fall each time. I was disappointed at times at how high schoolish things turned in the group re Robin's insufferable-ness and at the same time think I understood it and was certainly no fan of hers. They mustered up the empathy to be nice to her as she was leaving, and she accepted the gestures though I wonder whether her middle finger was twitching to make its own gesture. But she should have been long gone.... Jen just seems dispirited, and I'm not sure what it was that turned her from the self-composed competitor she was at the beginning to something Robin might try to make for dessert. I predict she will go next -- the judges are just too aware of her dwindling enthusiasm.

Those crispy snack things, don't recall the name of the product but I looked and found them at the store so that much of the placement worked (and the other part, where I'm supposed to then buy them, did not -- I was just curious to see if they sold them). Plus Macy's.

I am assuming they looked at the calendar and realized they could be up against the World Series, and needed something else they could use as filler. I don't think so. A few weeks ago they annoyed everyone by not showing anything new at all for no apparent reason at all. That would be what you do if you were afraid about a drain on viewers. The reunion show may have sucked, but it sure wasn't a freebie for them that they could toss away rather than just taking a pass altogether. And also, they showed a new episode last Wednesday and that one was up against Game 1 of the series. They just have these crappy event shows once in a while, to stretch out the season run and remind us of personalities from previous seasons for when they rerun them at slow times.

Because Laurine thought she was making rillettes, but she wasn't because she didn't know how to? The tomato sashimi wasn't meant to be "sashimi," but the pork rillettes were intended to be "rillettes." It was a play on the word and style of preparation, while the other was a lapse of knowledge/technique.

Those thrown by scheduling irregularities, prepare to have kittens. It appears competition is suspended this week in favor of a "Dinner Party at Fabio's" reunion special. Then next week we'll get a visit from Nigella.

There is a link to information above under "Spoiler" cover.

The posts from the Chef Mehta PR team are getting a little tiresome. He could cook human flesh in a garbage can lid and it would "show killer instinct."

No more offended than if he called the *men* "the guys." The producers dsiclaimer is there, it is said, so that a failure by the judges to pick a winner or a loser in a particular event can be resolved if necessary. It probably came into play in episodes where no one was sent home, like when the refrigerator was left open which I think happened to last season's group.

Well, color me corrected. I sure didn't think that would ever be in the cards.

That sounds silly. Kevin seems like the most mature and even mannered person out of this bunch. That aside, I think trying to sabotage someone else by cooking poorly in a cooking competition would be a foolhardy manuever. If Laurine had stepped up and managed the service well, then the blame for the lamb dish probably would have weighed Kevin down more. So rare as to be gelatinous, or words to that effect. He stumbled, Jen stumbled, and what's more they were very aware of it which is why they were obviously upset. Laurine, though, was going through the motions and didn't really appear to care anymore.

I think the only thing Ash made the entire time that received any praise was the ice cream he tried and failed to make but presented anyway as a custard. He deserved to go as much as anyone else did.

You can't edit in what doesn't happen. He'll have to own it. And Zagat ratings are not the best indicator of a restaurants quality.

Well, they are/were both in Atlanta, which certainly narrows the world down some.

It's Charlie Palmer: "Season 6, Episode 8 – Aired: 10/14/2009 Pigs and Pinot The chefs create their version of Charlie Palmer's annual Pigs & Pinot event at his restaurant Aureole, hoping to perfectly pair their pork dishes with wine." I think it will be a cold day in the Top Chef kitchen before Thomas Keller appeared on this show.

I hate to say I agree, but it has been kinda boring. Not because I hate agreement, but because there are some very talented and very professional contestants competing, which is itself a good thing, but there seems to be very little suspense at this point about who will be in the top. Sure, one of the brothers dropped this week, and Jen didn't win the quickfire, but the dividing lines between the good, mediocre, and the not very good at all have been pretty clear this year. Now we are down to the suspense of how long Ash will be able to dodge elimination while the judges pick off the likes of Robin, Laurine, Eli, and Mike I. Then we'll have a competition about who is the best, rather than who will be worst in a particular episode, which is what we often got from the motley bunch last year.

Absurd. How did it do so, other than by some abject conspiracy theory, when we know the judges that eliminated the man did not take part in the round involving the matzoh balls, and we know the round had no positive or negative affect on his circumstances in the elimination round?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall in the version of the show I saw that the judges who eliminated him (for using grasshoppers as the equivalent of parsley garnish) ever got anywhere near his matzoh balls. That was a whole other part of the show, wasn't it? So, if I'm remembering correctly, how could it result in his elimination by the three judges? edit for sp

What prejudice(s) were the judges basing the decision on, and what did you see/hear that leads you to believe that is the case?

This article in the WSJ explores the phenomenon. The usual Food Network suspects are present, with Guy F. and Paula Deen and even the Neeleys cashing in. Paula Deen took folks on an Alaska Cruise: Bourdain is in there with them: Sounds like a lucrative sideline for most participants. Edited to ask: Anybody been to one?

It appears the season will resume with a new episode next week and finish out without further interruption (though I don't know when the finale is to occur). And it looks like the only seasons that didn't have some sort of interruption in the schedule were the 1st and 4th. Season 3 had 3 of them, with the 4th of July, a "special" re"crap" episode week or some such thing, and then a late wednesday in August. Most hiatus occured during holiday "seasons" rather than because they fell on specific holidays. This gap and the 3rd one in Season 3 seems like the only completely random ones.