Top Chef 2, episode 6 recap

When you were in school and didn't get along with someone, parents and teaches probably told you that in the "real world" you have to try to get along with people you don't like because you often have to work with them no matter what your personal feelings are. Reality TV might not exactly be the "real" world, but it is becoming more clear that not all of the contestants had this lesson when they were growing up. On this week's episode of Bravo's Top Chef, the camera spent a lot of time on the personal interactions of the cooks, as well as filming the cooking itself.

This was a Thanksgiving themed episode, so it was particularly appropriate for this week despite the fact that it was probably filmed earlier this summer. For the quickfire challenge, chef Tom Colicchio served as the judge and the contestants were given only 15 minutes to create a "tasty" dish using three different canned ingredients. There was no time for anyone to utter more than one or two words of complaint as everyone got down to cooking.

The dishes that everyone made didn't seem terribly unlike what any un-televised person might do if they only had canned foods to work with and most of the dishes were salads or other uncooked things, given the time constraints. The important thing about this challenge was that a total of five winners were picked and ALL were given immunity: Cliff, Sam, Mia, Ilan and Frank. The remaining five contestants - Betty, Marcel, Elia, Carlos and Michael - were the only ones who had to even participate in the elimination challenge, which involved cooking a "cutting edge" rendition of Thanksgiving dinner for their five fellow contestants and the judges.

The five participating chefs were all a bit disheartened after their loss. Elia, whose food was good but just not to Chef Tom's tastes, went through a bit of a depression for most of the challenge, but recovered by the end. The bigger issue was that it was immediately apparent that Marcel was the only one who understood the meaning of the phrase "cutting edge." As the group tried to plan the multi-course meal, Betty tried to force everyone into making her idea of comfort food and sticking to a traditional dinner. Everyone tried to get her to back off and the group ended up splintering and just working on their own. Betty ranted throughout the episode about how Marcel was impossible to work with (despite the fact that several of the other chefs have no problems working with him at all) while demonstrating a rather astonishing unwillingness to compromise with anyone else.

When dinner was finally served, it was revealed that the guest judge this episode was Anthony Bourdain, who the chefs were all excited to cook for. The dinner included:

• Michael's Turkey and egg toast canapes and Twice baked potatoes with shrimp
• Carlos's Salad with chipotle peppers, queso fresco and butternut squash
• Elia's Portabello mushroom cream soup with walnuts
• Marcel's Stuffed turkey roulade with cranberry gelee and cranberry foam
• Betty's Pumpkin pie and chocolate hazelnut creme brulees

Michael's dishes were tasty, but unappealingly monochromatic. Carlos's salad was nothing special. Elia's soup was excellent. Marcel's turkey was slightly dry but the judges liked the cranberries. Betty's desserts were basically pie filling with sugar on top - not creme brulees. In short, the dinner was almost a disaster. The only one who came close to making something cutting edge was Marcel (who the other chefs tried to put down for actually following the directions of the challenge) and the only dish that was really good, although Tony declared that he loved Michael "like a son," was Elia's and she was declared the winner.

The choice between Carlos and Betty was not a difficult one, despite the fact that the judges seemed very tempted to eliminate Betty. For the second time in two weeks, they eliminated the chef who (a) served something that wasn't really cooked and (b) declared his intention to aim for the middle of the pack, not the top. Carlos went home.

Did you miss an episode? Check out the recaps from previous episodes to catch up!

• Season Premier
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5

Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this, everyone. You know how holidays can keep you away from the computer!