Eli, Kevin, Ron and a lot of attitude. Photo: Bravo.

Cocky much? You'd think that in the highest-stakes episode yet this season, a bunch of young cooks with their reputations on the line would be too busy sweating the details to gloat.

But on Wednesday night's tribute to the art of French cooking, awe quickly gave way to a swaggering show of braggadocio the likes of which we haven't seen since Eminem was doing freestyle rap-offs on the streets of Detroit. Chalk it up to nerves -- or ironic editing -- if you want, but when the headstrong, "I'm better than my brother" Michael V. seems the most shy and unassuming of the bunch, you know something's out of whack.

Sure, a few were in awe: Not only did the cooks have to make snails for Daniel Boulud in a quickfire challenge, but none other than Joël Robuchon held court at the elimination dinner.

Beaming with the most respect was quickfire winner Kevin, whose prize of immunity meant he could grin like a drunk leprechaun for the rest of the episode. And while the ever-tearful Jesse was put out of her "Top Chef" misery early on, and the humble Hector was ultimately let go for poorly cooked beef, it was the also-rans who fascinated us the most this week.

Jen, usually one of the cockiest of the bunch in terms of sound bites, toned her rhetoric down for the challenge. But if she was hyper-focused, professional annoyances Jersey Mike and Eli merely turned up their volume. The former at least backed up his boasting with a gimmicky (if decently deconstructed) béarnaise, even if his teammate Bryan was the real star, winning the episode with his expertly presented, warm-cured trout. As for Eli, some advice: Not only are your jokes not funny, but wishing your colleagues will fail (and sarcastically calling their work "awesome") is about as un-classy as it gets.

But if you're looking for real hubris, thy name is Mattin: The ascot-sporting Frenchman who's been blithely occupying the sidelines in previous weeks' episodes got a chance to fully flower this week, cooking the meals of his homeland, and ... well, he blew it.

It was his bright idea to add lots of smoky bacon to a velouté -- prompting the judges to dub it "bacon cream sauce." All the while he steamrolled the suggestions of teammate Ashley, who, after consistent appearances in the lower echelons of both quickfire and elimination challenges, can't be blamed for thinking it a good idea to hitch her wagon to an impish Gallic wunderkind for this challenge.

Perhaps part of the blame could be directed at his hangover: A mid-show interlude gave us a behind-the-scenes peek at Mattin's birthday bash, which seemed to include clothed hot-tubbing, very little sleep and a liquor-intake-to-body-weight ratio that made us worry for the man's liver.

The next day, the writing was on the wall: Robuchon at least admired Mattin's ability to speak French, even if he couldn't adequately cook it.