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On last night's episode of Top Chef, contestants traveled to Puerto Rico for an Elimination Challenge that determined which chefs are this season's final three.
If you watched it, you know what went down, so let's get angry.
We'll rehash the Quickfire and the technicalities of the Elimination Challenge in a bit, because what we all really want to discuss is that Antonia left and Lisa slipped through once again. Seriously, the girl has been in the bottom during the past four challenges. I'm not saying that Antonia didn't mess up, but it saddens me to see Lisa in the final three because it feels like the show just wants to infuriate its viewers and cause drama. I'm all for drama, just not when it compromises the competition. And because it didn't seem like there was a clear loser in terms of the taste of the dishes, I keep thinking that it would have been nice for the judges to just push Antonia through because she has been consistently solid and Lisa has been consistently sub-par. It almost reminds me of last season, when Dale somehow ended up in the final three, and competed well there, even though he was never considered among the strongest contenders throughout.
My favorite part of the episode was at the very end, when Richard and Stephanie clearly couldn't hide their disappointment at Antonia's departure, and Lisa confronted them for not congratulating her. Stephanie and Richard looked so confused at her accusation that I had to laugh. I understand why the show might want to keep her around, though I'm not sure I can stomach her harsh words for another entire episode.
Okay, back to business. For the Quickfire Challenge, chefs created two dishes of frituras for Padma and guest judge Wilo Bennet. Stephanie won her first Quickfire ever for making tostones with seared tuna and pork and shrimp fritters, even though she commented that plantains were among her least favorite dishes with which to work. Lisa also did well in the challenge, whereas Richard's pork meatballs and fried plantain chips were less loved.
For winning the Quickfire, Stephanie was allowed to decide which eliminated cheftestant would serve as sous-chef to the remaining four in the Elimination Challege -- taking an entire pig and turning it into three pork dishes for a VIP garden party at the home of the Puerto Rican President. She paired herself with Dale, Antonia with Nikki, Richard with Spike, and Andrew with Lisa. Unlike Spike who in the past has tried to hurt the other contestants with his advantage, Stephanie did a nice job of pairing everyone except for Andrew and Lisa, though there was really no one with whom Lisa would have matched well. It turns out that Dale and Stephanie have actually known each other for 10 years.
All was going well with preparations for the garden party, until it was discovered that Dale left Stephanie's pork belly out of the refrigerator overnight, and she had to come up with a third pork dish at the last minute. Though it flustered her a bit, the judges love the salad with chicharrones that she eventually came up with. She and Richard were the top two, and Richard won for a lovely combination of dishes: fresh ham with local beans, pressure cooked pork belly with pickled watermelon rinds, and pork ribs with malta glaze. Oh yeah, he won a car.
We all know what happened with the elimination and I'm too sad to go over it all again. I don't think I'm alone, so show me some support! Lisa should have gone, right? Or do I just love Antonia too much to see that she deserved to leave?
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6-05-2008 @9:18AM Maman said... I was appalled that Lisa remained after that episode. That is all I can muster to say without starting to foam at the mouth as she is the most irritating contestant that I have seen in a while.
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6-05-2008 @9:17AM laura said... I cannot believe, wait I can believe that self absorbed negative Lisa would ever tell Richard and Steph that they were being rude for not congratulating her for not being eliminated and making it the final three....I love when he said "yea, congrats lisa for taking the bronze medal?" or something like that! Again the B*tch was at judging table with her arms folded, chin tucked and making excuses, darn those Pigeon Peas!!!! She has no chance against steph and richard, unlike previous "villians" marcel and hung (who I actually loved to death and never understood why people didnt like them) this Villian is not worthy of "you hate to love them, love to hate them" If she wins i will be so mad.
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6-05-2008 @9:32AM R. P. McMurphy said... Congraduations??
......on almost losing?
How about.......
"Hey, thank GOD you aren't attracted to men"
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6-05-2008 @10:17AM Beth said... It WAS satisfying to see Stephanie and Richards' reactions to Lisa's confrontation. There is no way she can win; I'm not worried about that at all. Unlike Marcel, whom I was worried about in the last round, Lisa doesn't have the skill. She's ALWAYS subpar, if not awful. She should have been eliminated many rounds ago, and she's clearly only there for diversity and adversity.
Most satisfying moment? Bravo.tv's texting poll results that showed up during the break, showing that 91% of viewers wanted Lisa elimiated. Take that, ho.
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6-05-2008 @10:09PM KF said... At least she cut that skanky oily hair off. ::shudder:: Didn't help her appearance any, but seeing her lank hair just drove me crazy. Should she have gone home? Absolutely. But, she's so toxic, they keep her around. Someone needs to frag her.
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6-05-2008 @11:06AM GL said... It is rather stunning that Lisa has managed to get this far. She is consistently on the bottom and appears to have an awful attitude (though I did see an interview with Steph where she mentions thinking Lisa was portrayed as more negative than she really is).
That said, I have to wonder that part of the judges mindset wasn't that if Antonia performed equal to Lisa, then Antonia actually performed well below her capabilities. In essence, Antonia's failure at the challenge was far greater than Lisa's. The expectations being higher for Antonia, her results seem much more pedestrian.
I hate to think of Lisa getting pushed through for dramatic reasons as she provides little entertainment value and is as weak a villain as there could ever be.
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6-05-2008 @11:23AM GL said... The aforementioned interview with Stephanie:
http://chicagoist.com/2008/06/02/chicagoist_gril.php
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6-05-2008 @12:05PM guest1234567 said... Unfortunately, Antonia actually did worse than Lisa. There was no denying it when Tom C. explained that it was decided by which table nobody wanted to eat from. We must face it, if the party left free food on the table, then the food was bad. I absolutely don't believe they pushed Lisa through to create more dramatic tension. Tom C. has too much integrity to participate in such nonsense.
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6-05-2008 @1:18PM KF said... Reading the comments by Bourdain actually make me feel MUCH better. Having that additional insider information makes so much more sense, now. I still think she's a toxic brew, but at least I understand why she's still there. Somewhat.
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6-05-2008 @2:57PM Kathy said... I, too, am upset that Lisa beat out Antonia. Although I've been pulling for Richard to win, it would also thrill me for Steph to get top honors, and I wouldn't have been upset if Antonia won. But Lisa...:::hiss::: such a crappy attitude.
Check out my recap: http://minxeats.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-chef-chicago-finale-part-one.html
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6-06-2008 @9:07AM Bernie B said... Don't crucify me, but during the quickfire when Lisa goes in to examine the proteins and yet again goes right for the Chorizo I couldn't help but think that for a Lesbian she really likes the sausage. Ouch. Sorry.
Great to see Andrew again as I really do like the mans integrity and humor. Uno mas plasticas. Ha!
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