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We get to the Top Chef kitchen (which looks bigger than in years past) and Padma springs a surprise on us. The Quickfire for the first episode will be the Mise en Place Relay Race. Four teams of four chefs will have four tasks to accomplish in the quickest time possible. I love this challenge but I'm surprised that we're seeing it so early, especially when we really don't know who is who yet. I fondly remember in Season 3 when we saw a team of misfits (including Hung and Sara) take down the popular kids (including CJ and Casey). Now THAT was drama. Here, I'm not sure who to root for yet.

The chefs draw chips to see what team they're on. Robin, an older lady, draws a golden chip, which means not only does she not have to participate in the Quickfire, she has immunity for this episode. WOW. What a lucky draw.

The tasks for the relay race are to shuck 15 clams, peel 30 prawns, clean five lobsters and butcher two chops of prime rib. Tom blows his whistle and the teams are off. Two teams, the black and the blue teams, are doing great and pretty evenly matched. The other two teams are struggling. One girl, Preeti, is trying to open her clams as you would an oyster, which is apparently NOT how you do it. Meanwhile the other girl has sliced her fingers and is bleeding all over the clams.

It's official: we are certainly NOT watching Masters anymore.

While two teams flounder, it's down to the Blue and Black team for the win. Different people are screaming at different people and I can't quite tell what's going on. All I know is that the French guy just massacred the lobsters and has given the Blue team a huge time advantage, which they capitalize on and win.

But there's a twist! The four chefs on the winning team now have an opportunity to participate in a cook-off for the chance to win $15,000. HOLY COW. Being able to take home some cold, hard cash for winning a Quickfire? Vegas is certainly gonna pay out.

Robin, Miss Immunity, has the chance to trade her immunity to participate in the cook-off but she wisely declines. Yeah, I would, too.

The four chefs of the blue team each begin cooking their own ingredient. For a while, it looks like the guys on the team, who did the lobster and the prime rib, have an advantage - not only are they more confident but they have better ingredients. The prawn and clam ladies are struggling.

Time is up and we have a clam ceviche from Jennifer (Eric Ripert's sous chef), lobster with star anise from Mattin (the French guy), shrimp and grits from Jesse (a plump, tattoo-ed girl) and a fennel crusted rib-eye from Bryan (the quiet one of the brothers). In a surprise turn, Tom finds Mattin and Bryan's dishes flavorless and picks Jennifer and Jesse as the top. Jesse ends up wining and gleefully picks up her $15K chip.

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