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Back at the loft, the other chefs are laughing hysterically.

In an incredible turn of events, the four Today Show hosts confer and decide that Ariane has the winning dish. She is thrilled. So am I. I still don't think that she has a shot as winning the whole shebang but I'm at least happy that she's had a chance to redeem herself after her early struggles.

The bottom three slouch out to Judges Table. Melissa gets hammered for her overly-spicy shrimp. Rocco doesn't believe that even Melissa could have eaten her shrimp. Padma says that the entire left side of her mouth was throbbing after eating it. Gail chides her for using habanero chilies when it's simply not an ingredient that a home cook should be experimenting with. Maybe Melissa is going home?

Uh oh, Jaime gets nailed next. Tom points out that if her egg was going to be under-done, she could have simply flipped it during the waning moments to, at the very least, get the egg cooked all the way. Rocco seems to have a major problem with her body language during the challenge, crossing her arms and becoming uncommunicative after she plated her dish. Clearly, he's forgotten about last year's finalist, Crossed Arms Lisa, who had the body language of a pissed off orangutan.

Alex is next and he gets the same painful treatment from the judges. Why use a dish that takes more than an hour to make for a two and a half minute demonstration? It was a doomed project from the start. Alex stands up for his decision to make a crème brûlée, saying that he was just trying to make a dish that would stand out among his fellow chefs. "The whole point of Top Chef is to be different," Alex says. "The whole point of Top Chef is to win," Tom shoots back.

The chefs leave and the judges confer. Tom seems very willing to forgive Jaime's slight mess-up with her egg. "Jaime was really close to having a good dish," he says. Rocco disagrees instantly. "The difference between a cooked egg and a raw egg is a huge difference," he says. He seems to have a real vendetta against Jaime. The execution failed. Serving a raw egg is unforgivable. The whole dish was a disaster. As I hear him speak, I begin to truly fear for Jaime's ability to continue on with Top Chef. Will this be the end of Team Rainbow?

The other judges have points to consider as well. Padma argues that the amount of spice heaped onto Melissa's shrimp was unacceptable in any situation. Gail feels that Alex's crème brûlée was flawed from the start. Rocco agrees and says that Alex's dish was a mathematical impossibility. Tom points out that Alex never even gave them a crème brûlée.

I agree with Tom. You give each chef an extra 15 seconds and Jaime would have turned in a good dish. Not so with Spice-Happy Melissa and Invisible-Crème-Brûlée Alex. They had fundamental flaws in their dish that prevented them from any sort of executional success. I'd send Alex home.

And the judges agree. Tom says that Alex could have never completed the task set forth by the judges and Padma asks him to pack his knives and go. It's somewhat sad . . . but only somewhat. Alex never got the camera time that the other chefs did and I never felt like we ever truly got to know him. Though I'm sure he's talented, I didn't feel any emotion when he left.

I did, however, feel emotion when Jaime returned to the Stew Room, hugged Stefan and heard him say to her, "I'm glad you're still here." What a compliment. Clearly, Stefan, a good chef in his own right, recognizes that Jaime is a very talented chef and deserves to stay in the competition. I'm eager to see how this whole competition develops. We clearly have some great chefs this season. Even Ariane.

As for Alex, I hope he has a great wedding.

BOP is doing a link exchange with our good friends at Buddy TV this season. For more Top Chef info, visit their site.

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