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Again, I'm struck by the creativity that went into making this challenge. I honestly believe that this season has had the best challenges to date on Top Chef. Cook a meal themed around the Twelve Days of Christmas? For my money's worth, this is the most ingenious challenge since Season Two's challenge around the Seven Deadly Sins.

As the chefs file into Whole Foods, I start to try and pick out which chefs will have the toughest time. A few have obvious directions based off of their theme. Leah is, of course, going with poultry on a puff pastry since she has Three French Hens (though I'm a bit worried because the judges never like puff pastry dishes). Radhika is doing duck with a pear chutney since she has a Partridge in a Pear Tree (sounds delicious).

Little Ariane is doing deviled eggs since she has Six Geese a Laying . . . she has me the most concerned because her dish seems the most basic and simplistic. Granted, this strategy won her the competition on the Today Show challenge but as I've said before, if your answer to the question of "Will this dish win me the competition?" is "no" then you're not shooting high enough. Ariane has immunity but still...

In any case, many other chefs are having a much harder time coming up with dishes for their number. Fabio is at a loss for Nine Ladies Dancing and using the chain of association between dancing, which requires that you move your legs and crabs have eight legs . . . he decides to do crabcakes. Jeff has it equally tough with Ten Lords a Leaping and initially wants to do a frog dish (none available at Whole Foods) but settles for doing a seared cheese dish (rationale: he'll use cheeses from different Greek islands so they'll be "island hopping).

The chefs head back to the kitchen at midnight and they'll have until 3:00 a.m. to do the majority of their prep work before the day of the event when they'll have a scant hour to prepare dishes for 250 people. Everyone is tired and rushing but there aren't any obvious culinary debacles like last week's "overcooked sushi rice" mistake by Eugene. The cooks put in a good day in the office then go home for some rest.

Upon returning to the kitchen, disaster has struck. One of the refrigerator doors was not closed all the way and so Hosea's pork tenderloin and Radhika's duck breast have gone bad, while Melissa's cheese has melted. Hosea is angry, Radhika is in tears and Melissa is emphysemic. I know that this is a terrible situation for those three chefs but really and truly, this is fantastic reality television.

I know this episode was probably filmed back in September but in the holiday spirit, all of the chefs band together to help Radhika and Hosea complete their dishes. It's actually a really moving sequence, with chef after chef talking about how you always have to lend a hand in the kitchen, you don't want to beat someone because they had a strike of bad luck, they're competitors but also friends, etc. etc. Again, it's great reality television.

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