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Gail thought that Bryan's pasta dough was perfect and Padma loved his pumpkin polenta, though she would have liked more seasoning in the mushroom sauce. Michael was impressed with the level of flavor infused in the short rib given the short amount of time he had. Gail didn't taste enough fig in his short rib, though.

Gail didn't like the fact that Michael chopped his veggies so small – said that they lost texture and that perhaps using a more rustic cut would have enhanced the dish. Padma said that the white of her egg was colorless and liquid, leading Tom to chide him for not paying more attention to detail. He did, however, enjoy the meat dish and Michael chimes in by saying that he was surprised how it all came together. Gail disagrees, though, saying that it was far too bitter.

Lastly, we have Jen. Tom calls her use of goat cheese "interesting," but then after seeing the look of fear on Jennifer's face, he quickly adds "but in a good way." Michael confesses that he had never tried basil with goat cheese before but found it beautiful with the citrus flavor. Padma criticizes the overuse of salt, but Michael jumps to Jen's defense. He says that he's cooked with the salt that Jennifer used and that when you add it to food, it doesn't taste very salty but will later melt into the dish and release all its flavor.

Gail asks why Jen chose duck as her protein and she responds by saying that she felt that she would be able to use all parts of the duck in her protein dish. Michael comments that all the judges had appreciated the "ducky" quality of the dish, saying it came through. Jen then describes the initial approach that she'd wanted to take with the dish – grilling it over a wood oven – and explains that she could not follow through with this plan due to the fact that the coals in her oven cooled too quickly.

"If you could go back, would you have grilled it or would you still have cooked it the way you did?" asks Tom.

"I would have grilled it to get that smoky flavor in it," Jen responds truthfully. I really respect that she was honest about this. Most cheftestants would have lied, saying that they were 100% happy with how the dish came out, brashly trying to stand behind what they served. Jennifer told the truth and I admire her for that.

The chefs head back to the Stew Room while the judges hash things out. Michael loved the use of the goat cheese in Jen's dish but notes that it got too salty. Gail says that Jen's idea was so striking that you couldn't help but take notice. Michael wishes that he could have seen Jennifer's initial vision for the dish because it sounds delicious. Tom says that she was still thinking through the dish and didn't realize it.

Tom loves how bold Michael was in his cooking, saying that he got different flavors as he put together different bites of his turnip/pear dish. Gail still didn't like how bitter it got. Tom calls Michael's preparation of the egg "sloppy," and says that it overwhelmed the dish.

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