Kathy has been eliminated and things are beginning to heat up as the chefs grow more and more competitive against one another. This episode opens up with the revelation that Luca has survived another competition. This is very difficult for Krissi to hear as she and Kathy had grown close. She now feels that she is alone and that everyone hates her.

While I am cheering for Krissi, I feel that her personal life has caused her to put up this tough-girl persona that really turns others off to even getting to know her. She is right when she says that many of the other chefs don’t like her though I still am trying to figure out why because, since the beginning, a lot of competitors seemed to have it out for her. It was odd.

So during this mystery box challenge the chefs are presented with a bounty of strange ethnic ingredients (baby eels, cod’s liver in a can, black moss from China; just to name a few). Most of the competitors are thrown for a loop but a majority of them are able to pick and choose things that they are familiar with (elk flank and the Japanese sweet potatoes being two of the easier to identify ingredients).

What language is this?!

Bime, Eddie, and Jordon seemed to be very comfortable with these ingredients. Each one of them took the time to taste everything they grabbed before deciding on a meal. Lynn on the other hand, someone who has been a front runner so far, has stumbled with his ingredients when he tried to make a tartare.

Lynn’s Tartare

Eddie was the first chef chosen in the top three. As per usual, Jordon had a snide comment to make: “That’s a scapegoat. That’s easy to do. Anyone could cook a piece of meat.”

Eddie’s Steak

I don’t think Jordon knows what a Scapegoat is…

The second (unfortunately) competitor to be chosen was Jordon. It’s sad to see such delicious food coming from someone who is just so damn negative and snide.

Jordon’s Salad

Finally came Bime (once again proving to everyone else that he actually knows what he is doing). After Bime was chosen, Ramsay called out to Lynn proclaiming that presentation is nothing without proper seasoning.

Bime’s Elk

Out of the three it would be Eddie who was chosen as the best. This means he is given advantages over all the others during the elimination challenge. The first advantage, of course, is the fact that he will be excluded from elimination. The second advantage is choosing one of three dishes for his competitors to cook. The type of meals for this elimination challenge was “Stuffed Pasta”. The first choice was Agnolotti, a very technical pasta dish. The next was Mezzelune and the final choice was Casoncelli. Eddie chose Agnolotti, it being the most difficult and technical.

So after Eddie made his choice, judge Joe made a surprise announcement. The one who will show the competitors how to make this dish would be none other than his own mother Lidia (a woman who Krissi practically worships which made me laugh when I saw her reaction). After the arrival of Lidia, the judges proclaimed onto Eddie that his third advantage was in choosing two of his competitors to step out of the arena thus missing Lidia’s presentation. Eddie chose Lynn and James. What was amusing was the fact that James was more upset about missing Lidia’s live cooking demonstration over the fact that he won’t be learning how to make the dish. He proclaims to Lynn that Eddie will now have a target on his chest for making him miss this opportunity.

Joe and his Mother

After the demo, the chefs get to work. Johnny already upsets judge Joe when he explains he’ll be making a Maple Syrup Alfredo sauce (“Maple Syrup is sacrilege in Italian cooking” says Joe). Lynn worries the judges when they discover he is using a blender to chop up his meat as opposed to using an actual meat grinder. Jessie decides to play it safe by following the demo but changing up the meats whereas Howard chooses to add his own twist to the pasta by including peppers to the filling.

Once everything is said and done, it is up to Lidia and the judges to decide who stays and who shall go home. Right away the judges target James and Lynn as they were the two who were not able to see the demo. James squeaked by but Lynn’s butchering of the meat was an embarrassment to him as a chef as he is generally very high on the totem. Johnny’s maple-syrup pasta sauce just failed which was a bummer because I really hoped that he’d pull out some awesome weird miracle.

Jessie was next to be called. Just the sound of her name was enough to irritate Krissi – calling Jessie a “Do-No-Wrong Southern Bell”. It was a strange attack that I can only assume stems from the fact that (in how I see it) Krissi sees Jessie as a woman who “gets by on her good looks”. Ramsay eve comments on this, telling Jessie that she may have a target on her back because of her looks when in reality, she is one of the best chefs in the competition.

Krissi once again proves her talent as her dish is considered to be spot on with the judges. However, it was Howard’s whose dish would prove to be an insult to both Lidia and Joe. Joe was so frustrated with Howard’s constant use of “personal spins” that he perceives Howard as arrogant. Joe even throws Howard’s meal away and in the end, it was Lynn and Howard on the chopping block while Jessie and Krissi were chosen as the top two.

Ramsay calmly explained to both chefs that the person who should be eliminated knows who he is. Ramsay literally put the fate of both chefs in their own hands. In the end, it was Howard who stepped up and took off his apron. I really was rooting for the guy but he continuously made these kinds of errors and it was only a matter of time before he bombed out. Take care of yourself Howard! You will be missed!

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