@A Blaffair to Rememblack

Jen's reaction at the end
She appeared to take Ashley's departure pretty hard.

I've been on record that Mike should have to wear that cap all the time.

I found it both dickish and somewhat heartwarming. Dickish because Kevin seems to be the nicest guy ever. Heartwarming because they are constantly nagging on each other, but when there's an outside threat, they circle the wagons.

Mike is a solid cook; tonight was probably his strongest epidsode. That said, no way he can hang with Jenn, McBeardy, and the bros.

Roman Polanski
you are hereby sexiled from the United States!

I would be surprised if LeBron jumped ship for the Knicks. Not saying he won't leave, but the Knicks are not exactlya well run NBA franchise. LeBron can't win a title with some talent, so there is no way he'll win wth negative talent, which the Knicks have in spades.

Dear LeBron
Please stay in Ohio

Who's the dark horse?
Scott's right, at this point it is becoming easier to tell who the most talented chef's are. The two brothers, Jenn, and redbeard have to be considered the favorite, with Robin and Laurine not long for this world. I always like trying to pick the darkhorse, and I think Eli has to be the…

Agreed-paella has some many components that can stand alone, so I think that was probably the easiest (although you have to execute, as we found out).

Can't they just tell the "bad" one to leave his crocked backward hat on all the time-in one interview he wasn't wearing it and it totally fucked me up.

That shit flies when you have the entire world under your boot, but now its just pathetic.

Strategy for surviving a shitty dish
seems to be the willingness to acknowledge said dish was shitty. I mean, lip ring's gotten by a few times on that, and Mikey grudgening admitted it as well. Hell, Laurine didn't even seem to really admit the pasta salad sucked, but Tom put some words in her mouth, and boom, safe…

To me, Tom's worthwhile to have around because he will call bullshit on a dish in a knowledgeable way (as opposed to Padma's generally vapid comments). Gail will do this as well, although generally less frowny

With every word of praise MIke through the bro's way, I could see him digging himself deeper into a whole. You're right though, he was honest.

Good point-tofu probably has more flavor than a boneless, skinless chicken breat

How about a roast chicken dish with just salt and pepper? Making a perfect, simple roast chicken is damned hard to pull off, and would probably separate the good from the bad in the contest pretty quickly.

Hosea would have been the first one off this year
I agree that the episode wasn't that fantastic, but is there any doubt that this group is far superior to last years? Last year you could avoid elimination by making something that didn't trigger Padma's gag reflex (unless it was so good she ate a lot of it), but…

I'd love to see Besh come back on, no doubt he'd own this fucker. I"m still shcoked that he didn't win, never mind make it to the finale.

I loved this episode as well. Could you imagine hanging out with those three guys in the kitchen? It would have been an amazing experience. I was rooting for Rick, but would have been happy with any of them winning. I like Rick's farmers charity, but Chierello's charity for migrant workers also warmed the cockles…