New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Back with the ladies, we see that Jennifer is using frozen octopus. I start to swear at the TV. Doesn't she know the perils of using frozen seafood? Didn't she see the episode where Spike used frozen scallops and got sent home because of it? Across the table Ashley has decided that her watermelon carpaccio is not good enough and wants to make a dessert as her SECOND dish - a bay leaf panna cotta even though she admits that she's not a pastry chef.

STUPID STUPID STUPID. These women are not only bad cooks, they're idiots.

The next day the chefs head to a gorgeous outside pool where they'll be serving their food. Michael, due to the hot sun, will be making his frozen Golden Delicious dishes to order. Preeti thinks that her dish needs a garnish and adds what looks like a shred of lettuce to the bottom of her ahi tuna. Oh boy, adding ingredients because of presentation instead of flavor? Stupid.

There's also some side drama concerning Eve's shrimp, which are bland. The women panic, not wanting to be on the bottom and see one of their own go home. I'm sure that Jennifer is fuming.

The judges arrive and begin with the two dishes that pair with the Golden Delicious. Robin (the woman who drew the golden chip and won immunity last week in the Quickfire challenge) serves a duck mole with cocoa nubs. Laurine has a Moroccan lamb chop with pine nut relish. Gail likes Robin's mole and Todd remarks about how hard that dish was to make. Todd likes the spice on Laurine's lamb and Tom calls it well-cooked. Not bad start for the girls.

The Tequila dishes are next and we have Eve's shrimp and avocado ceviche (boy, that sounds like such a commonly-made dish) and Jennifer's octopus ceviche. The judges HATE Eve's shrimp, remarking on how they'd criticized Eve's shrimp in the last episode and clearly she hasn't learned her lesson. As for Jennifer's dish, Tom says that it needs a touch more salt but Gail loves how the acid pairs with the tequila. Yep, she's a strong chef.

The judges come over, ready to taste the dishes that pair with the Moscow Mule but Ashley shows them one last Tequila dish - a watermelon carpaccio - before presenting her panna cotta for the Moscow Mule. Preeti has a coriander sesame tuna with eggplant crush and Jesse has her thai lettuce cup.

More bad news for Jesse as Todd hates her lettuce cup, saying that there's too much going on and that it makes no sense with the shot. Tom calls Preeti's dish "pedestrian" and Gail says that it looks "sad." They judges rave about Ashley's carpaccio but go to town on her panna cotta, with Padma saying that it tastes bitter. Tom really has a problem with the fact that she made two dishes instead of focusing on one.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5