Robin, the despised? Photo: Bravo.

Since the very beginning of "Top Chef Vegas" -- when she sheepishly chose immunity over a prize in a quickfire challenge -- the spazzy, chatty 40-something firebrand with the Kool-Aid hair has been courting the hatred of just about every mammal on the show, including the dead ones she's overcooked in the kitchen.

Even the cameramen seem to be joining in the slander. Each week, her pancake makeup looks a little worse, her puttering around the house more aimless, her early morning pilates routine more ridiculous. If you're looking for someone to teach you the doggy paddle on your front lawn, Robin's your girl.

Call it ageist, call it sexist, call it discrimination against the uniquely untalented, but certainly the bile and vitriol directed her way are disproportionate to her overall annoyance factor -- or are they? This week, the show's editors played up the Eli-vs.-Robin smackdown, wherein the elder stateswoman of "Top Chef" had the gall to suggest a nice serving platter for the Weeble-like Eli's scallops.

"You're not my mom," the snotty 25-year-old shouted, just after reminding us that he still lives with his mom and dad -- and is quite happy with the arrangement, thank you.

"If I was your mother, I would've raised you better," she snapped bitterly, making us wonder if perhaps the show's producers will reveal, just in time for sweeps week, that Robin actually is Eli's birth mom, and gave him away years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer. Seriously, who wouldn't want a little "Days of our Lives" injected into their weekly dose of "Top Chef"? Such absurdity would fit right into Wednesday night's episode, right alongside the floating "wine angels" -- women fetching bottles of wine while suspended by wires -- featured at Aureole, guest Charlie Palmer's Las Vegas eatery.

It was the best of episodes; it was the worst of episodes. As if the Robin-haters weren't enough, we got a long-overdue reminder of the sibling-rivalry mind games that fuel professional showoffs Michael and Bryan Voltaggio (former Palmer acolytes, both).

We got a completely arbitrary product placement for Alexia frozen foods during the quickfire challenge: Seriously, how is anyone supposed to pair anything with a spicy processed waffle fry? Ash, our sympathies.

We got the squarest dining crowd yet this season -- the pastel-attired mid-life crisis set attending Palmer's "Pigs and Pinot" charity event, for which our hardy competitors had to cook 150 sow-based wine pairings.

In a challenge like this, it made sense that the ever-humble, eminently endearing, pig-roast whiz kid Kevin would walk away with the top honors -- with an intricate, perfectly executed pork-leg pate -- even if the Voltaggios and Jennifer gave him a worthy run for his money.

But once again, in eliminations, irony reigned supreme. In an evening when all early signs pointed to Robin or Eli going home -- too much camera time, too many boastful predictions -- neither was the proverbial whipping boy, despite Robin's poor showing for her thinly sliced pork in a tacky coffee sauce. And the description of Laurine's pork rillette as "cat food" certainly seemed to have her marked for doom.

But no, the evening's ultimate dishonor belonged to Ash, whose habit of throwing himself under his own bus finally convinced Tom and company to give him the boot. As if the idea of a clammy, chilled tenderloin wasn't bad enough, Ash had to reveal that his first choice -- pork on a bed of jack polenta -- was a better idea.

So much for Eli and Jersey Mike's "I hope grandma goes!" chants. As tasteless as they may have been, in retrospect, we were kind of hoping the same thing.