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Before we watch Group B cook, we have a short vignette in which Andrea talks to Ed about Angelo, whom she calls “the ring leader” and “the one who possesses people’s minds.” She’s clearly referring to Angelo’s tendency to exert influence over the dishes of his competitors. Ed, ready to dump on Angelo as well, tells her, “It’s okay, I fked his girlfriend.” He further elaborates saying that they knew each other in college and that he started to date a girl while she was dating Angelo.

It’s worth saying again: Hot Angelo is STRAIGHT?!?! He just seems so...gay.

Anyhow, it’s time for him and his team to cook and for the other team to dine.

“Boy, you should have heard what the other team said about your food,” Tom jokes as they sit down. *said between clenched teeth* TOM-THAT’S-NOT-HELPING. Sigh, these chefs are pissed off as it is. Let’s not throw oil on the fire.

Tiffany presents a peppercorn-crusted ahi tuna in gaspacho. Alex calls the sear “perfect.” Andrea has a trio of tartares and Kenny says it needs more seasoning. Stephen has a chilled beef with crispy rice and Kenny says it doesn’t blow his socks off. Tamesha has a lightly seared scallop with pickled rhubarb jus, which had a texture that didn’t thrill Kevin. Angelo has a slow-poached sockeye salmon with pineapple tea and Kenny says he couldn’t appreciate the flavor of the salmon.

For the win, Kevin likes Angelo’s dish the best but everyone else picks Tiffany. For elimination, Tamsha is the unanimous choice.

The next scene in the Stew Room, when Group A comes clean about who they picked in Group B, is fantastic reality television. Andrea tells Amanda that she had a big piece of cartilage in her chicken and Amanda is instantly sure that she’s going home. Hot Angelo gleefully tells Kenny (but in a somber tone of voice) that everyone else picked his dish for elimination, saying that no one understood the vision of the dish. Kenny instantly blames it on his “being a threat” to everyone else in the competition.

Padma calls Tiffany and Kevin before the judges, the two chefs up for the win. Padma congratulates them both on being nominated for the win by their opposing groups and each chef smiles...but not huge smiles. They’re both wondering if there’s some sort of strategy in their selection.

But then, Tom tells them that the judges pretty much agreed with the chef’s choices. Gail loved the textural contrast in Kevin’s dish and Tom appreciated Tiffany’s consistent sear on all sides of her protein. Michelle says that the winning dish was the most refreshing and that everyone wanted to keep eating it - and it’s KEVIN. Wow. He’s surprised and so am I.

But, of course, there’s bad news, too. Tamesha and Kenny are up for elimination. Padma asks Tamesha if she’s surprised that she’s here and she is. Gail questions the use of her long pepper, saying that it was really strong and really overpowering. Michelle Bernstein really had a problem with the cooking of the scallop, which left it cooked on one side but raw on the other. Tom says the scallop got lost in the dish.

As for Kenny, Tom criticizes the fact that Kenny didn’t have anything in his dish that tied his two components together. Gail said that he diluted his flavors. Padma asks why he thinks he was voted in the bottom and Kenny responds by saying that he was a threat.

“As someone who just got here,” Michelle interjects, “I didn’t enjoy the flavors of the dish. If I talked about each component of the dish, it would take me until the end of the show.”

Wow, so Kenny wants to blame interpersonal behaviors on his being up for elimination, but Michelle Bernstein says that even though she knew nothing coming in, she didn’t like his dish. So there. Stupid pompous Kenny. He really grates on me.

The judges make final cases for each chef going home. Kenny’s dish was anything but straightforward, with Tom calling the lamb “gummy” and saying that he disliked the puree. Gail says that Tamesha’s flavors were at war with each other, Tom says that it wasn’t put together well and Michelle hated the way it was cooked.

So yeah, sounds like Tamesha is going home.

And indeed, Padma tells her that she is. Most in the cast seem to blame Angelo for Tamesha going home. He had, after all, been mentoring her and had helped to design her dishes. Andrea even notes that he tasted every component of Tamesha’s losing dish and wonders if he set her up to go home. I doubt this. Hot-But-Apparently-Straight Angelo wouldn’t have set her up to go home before getting in her pants at least once. Because that’s what Hot-But-Apparently-Straight people do. Try and get into the pants of cute girls.

Insert sarcastic smirk here.

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