He won't make final 5. Villainous Douche winning was so last year.

Terrific recap… Maybe they didn't exploit Boston and 9/11. But they brought out ALL the cliches - honoring bravery, heroic, keeping us safe, Boston's finest…

I think people are still pissed because Nicholas was (or at least was edited to look like) a complete asshat. And that's good editing because it worked on the majority of viewers (less so on commenters here). I did a post on my blog about this - I totally fell for the villain edit, but in retrospect Nicholas…

lol… or can of spam or package of ramen noodles!

My immediate thought was also "A salad? seriously?" But then I remembered that in the season premiere of TC Seattle, Brooke made it in the competition with a ugly looking kale salad.

They kept on referencing how the judges were giving quick negative feedback at the actual event and how that's new. Thinking back, I guess they usually did just say "thanks" when something sucked. Not sure if that'll increase the quality of the food, but it could be fun to see them sink into deep levels of despair -…

You talking about the lunatic they let out of the box? Or the guy in the flashback scene when Gareth was still in the box. THAT guy looked like Negan.

What was the significance of the letter "A"? It was all along their path and the boxcar was labeled as such. Is it like "Grade A" meat? Or just a sort of filing system?

With the candle room it seems like they're more of a cult who does it, rather than a last resort.

And there were cries for help coming out of the other boxcars she they were running.

One other thing - Not sure if you can compare this to the real world. It's a competition, so maybe comparison to football might be more apt. A few years ago the New England Patriots were unstoppable and had an undefeated record. But in the Super Bowl the Giants beat them. Sucks for Patriot fans, but on that day…

I know he didn't win, but they missed an opportunity by not having local boy Sheldon more in the past two episodes. He didn't even have to cook to be entertaining. Just have him hang out in the kitchen rolling joints.

He picked Brian because they worked really well together in restaurant challenge. He had the ringer in Louis so he went with the guys he trusted and could boss around.

I looked back at it and my unofficial count of wins in Elimination Challenges had Nick and Nina getting three each. I didn't count Quickfires because I'm not convinced they're trying really hard on those. Didn't count who was in top/bottom, but the three wins for Nick surprised me.

That dessert would've had to be the best ever because it would've had to compensate for the reviled swordfish.

Oof - I can't believe I'm about to defend that asshat, but… Up until this episode I couldn't stand Nick, but something made me root for him midway through - could've been the bourbon.

Where did it say this was the last one? Is this where I put my shameless plug for my recaps? http://foodandwinehedonist….

Where were the bikini shots of Janine? Damn them

Right on the money with Carlos being ripped for cooking Mexican yet Shirley (Chinese) and Nina (pasta) get a pass for doing the same thing. And the only thing Mexican about his final dish was that it was in the form of a tamale. I've yet to go to a Taco Bell or Chi Chi's that serves seafood mousse and saffron cream…

Really curious to see who "won." I'm guessing they pick who they think they can beat, not actually which dish was better. It was probably really easy to tell which is Carlos' but they had not clue who he was up against. So, do they pick the "guy who only cooks Mexican food" but made the final 4 or someone that was…