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

BUT WAIT. Padma strides into the kitchen with 30 minutes left in cooking time. Cheftestants are all on high alert.

“Please take over the protein to your immediate left,” she instructs them.

ST. CRAP. F*$#.

So not only are the chefs NOT HAPPY about their new protein (since they didn’t actually pick them), they only have half an hour left to figure out a new plan of action. Well, two chefs are happy. Amanda is gleeful to be rid of her emu egg, and Hot Angelo is thrilled to hand his testicles over to another man (yes, I got a kick out of writing that last part).

Thirty minutes later and the cheftestants submit their dishes to the scrutinizing review of Michelle and Padma. For the most part, it seemed obvious that most chefs had no idea what to do with their protein, submitting them to the most obvious cooking method possible. Andrea roasted her boar like a steak, Kelly turned her emu egg into an omelette, Tamesha makes a duck tongue soup. It seems all rather obvious.

On the bottom of the challenge are Stephen’s seared frog legs with confit (“insipid”), Alex’s ostrich barded in caul fat and basil (“dry and not sweet enough”), and Andrea's wild boar with risotto (“the boar was chewy and needed more cooking”). Andrea is totally pissed about being called out by her rival on national television, especially since she knows exactly what she did wrong.

On the top, we have Kelly with her emu egg omelette (“creamy and delicious”), Tamesha’s duck tongue soup (“cooked to perfection”) and Amanda’s roasted llama (“beautiful job”). Kelly wins with her omelette, and I gotta admit, I was pretty darn surprised. How good can an omelette be?

The Elimination Challenge will be in the spirit of the US-Russia Cold War. The cheftestants will be split into two groups, each making a dish served cold. Group A will serve their food to the judges plus Group B, and vice versa. Each group will be able to nominate one dish from the opposing team for the win and one for elimination. Immediately, the cheftestants know what they’re in for. This is all of a sudden Top Chef: Survivor. Will the groups nominate a “bad” dish for elimination or be crafty and nominate the dish from a strong chef, thereby reducing the competition for the title?

This is about to get VERY interesting.

(Incidentally, I think this whole challenge is brilliant. Not only are you actually forcing the cast to work against each other in two opposing camps (a la the Cold War), but you’re drawing on US history, you have a theme for the dishes, etc. Just brilliant.)

The cheftestants head onto a ship that’s been used by many famous presidents (like Nixon) while they grappled with some serious issues dealing with the Cold War (writing the Nuclear Arms Treaty). Whilst traveling down the Potomac River, they get to plan their dishes and conspire in little, snarky groups.

Continued:       1       2       3       4