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Yeah, I really, really, really hate fat, Pompous Mike.

Robin says that she stands by her dish, as she thought it tasted good and paired well with the subtle flavors in her wine. Tom criticizes the texture of the sauce (gummy) and Charlie says that he couldn't have ever called that dish "great."

I immediately think that she's going home because she has decided to stand by a dish that was clearly bad. That's NEVER a good sign.

Ash is surprised to be in the bottom three, saying that maybe his dish was too simple. Tom says that he needed to develop his flavors more. Padma asks Ash if he tasted his dish (to which he responds "yes") and wonders if Ash thought that it lacked flavor. Ash backtracks, protecting his ego by saying that the dish wasn't what he initially wanted to do. He describes the dish he was going to prepare before Pompous Mike talked him out of it and Charlie says "that sounds fantastic, why didn't you do it?"

"Cause I'm an idiot," says Ash.

Okay, Ash is going home. After completing ceding the floor to Michael last week (and taking a lot of criticism for it), the fact that he CHANGED his dish based on his competitor's input this week means that he's now made the "Top Sous-Chef" mistake in two consecutive challenges. He's going home.

As for Laurine, she claims that she ran out of time . . . though Toby says that it tasted like "dry hash," and Dana Gowin (Gail's boss at Food and Wine magazine) called it "cat food" at the charity event. Charlie also SLAMS her for the way she cooked the rillette, saying that it's completely wrong. She had sautéed it when she should have poached it in fat. Laurine is horribly embarrassed.

The cheftestants walk backstage and as he sits down, Ash slaps his forehead in mock surprise, exclaiming, "Oh! I forgot flavor!" No, you didn't. You forgot to cook your own food, dummy.

Meanwhile, the judges try to figure out who should go home. Robin's dish had no pork flavor, it didn't pair well with the wine, and had a gunky/salt residue at the bottom of the plate ("like instant coffee at the bottom of a mug," says Toby). Charlie admits that she probably has no idea how to flavor pork.

Ash had an amateur pork dish. Tom doesn't think he knows how to develop flavor. Toby didn't like the bitter corn. Charlie said it was not well executed. Tom further takes issue with the fact that this is the second challenge in a row when he didn't cook "his food."

Laurine had an idea that was never going to pan out. Toby didn't think it was recognizable as rillette and Tom thought the texture was terrible.

It's definitely between Robin and Ash - but I'm sticking with my pick for Ash to go home.

And he does. Ash is asked to pack his knives. He promises that the first thing he'll do when he gets home is cook the pork dish that he'd intended to cook all along and invite Tom, Toby and Charlie to eat it.

But while Ash is eliminated, Robin is the real loser. The other cheftestants are going to be merciless with her. All they'll see is an undeserving chef somehow making it through at the expense of another chef that they genuinely liked. I'm afraid to see how badly they'll treat her after this.

LEADERS AFTER 8 EPISODES:

Kevin: Five times in the top of the Elimination Challenge, three Elimination Challenge wins, two Quickfire Wins

Bryan: Five times in the top of the Elimination Challenge, three Elimination Challenge wins

Jennifer: Five times in the top of the Elimination Challenge, one Elimination Challenge win, two Quickfire Wins

Michael: Six times in the top of the Elimination Challenge, one Elimination Challenge win, one Quickfire Win

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