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The chefs end up cooking in a very cramped kitchen. Tiffany is forced to finish out her sauce in a different way to compensate for the lack of mussels, Ed is worried about a layer of fat he’s leaving on his lamb, and Angelo is worried that his sauce is too sweet. Meanwhile, Kelly predicts that the final four will include her, Angelo, Tiffany and Kevin.

Kelly serves her dish first to a panel that includes NASA scientists, Astronauts, the judges and the feared Anthony Bourdain. She has a pan-roasted halibut with artichoke and a fennel bargoule. Tom thinks that it’s really well done, and an astronaut thinks that the crunch of the artichoke would be welcomed in space.

Ed is next - and as a side note, I’m realizing that the requirement that the dish be able to be freeze-dried is playing no part here. The dishes are being served in the same way that they would be in a restaurant.

But anyways, Ed serves up a Morrocan-inspired yogurt-marinated rack of lamb with an eggplant puree and hummus. One astronaut objects to the bone still being in the lamb, pointing out that trash is a huge issue in space. As for the food itself, it’s well-cooked, well-seasoned, and even though Eric Ripert thinks that it’s too complicated, Anthony Bourdain says Ed nailed the Moroccan flavors.

Kevin is up net with a grilled NY strip with a corn puree and crispy onions. Tom thinks that Kevin did a nice job of cooking the meat and flavoring it, but an astronaut points out that it would be near impossible to keep the onions crispy in space (not that it matters in this challenge) .

Tiffany says that she gave it all she had, though she seriously wishes that she had her mussels on the plate. She has a pan-seared halibut over coconut curry jasmine rice with wild pea shoots. Eric is not excited about her combination of flavors, seeing no attempt to elevate the halibut. Anthony Bourdain loves the fish sauce.

Lastly, we have Angelo’s ginger-lacquered short ribs with a horseradish creme fraiche. Tom doesn’t care for the candied ginger, but other than that, he calls it a successful, elegant dish. Eric thinks that the mushrooms are a bit sharp, but they bring a nice contrast. Anthony thought it was very sophisticated.

Tom brings all of the chefs back before Judges Table and tells them that they all did a great job. The span between the winner and loser, he continues, will be very small.

One by one, the dishes are discussed; Ed had a lot of things going on, though some judges didn’t mind that; Tom really didn’t like the tomatoes in Tiffany’s dish and thought that leaving the skin on her peppers made them bitter; Tom loved the artichoke in Kelly’s dish and Eric loved her classic cooking technique; Tom didn’t like the ginger in Angelo’s dish, though Anthony loved the dish as a whole; Anthony thought that Kevin stayed too safe, and Tom wished that it wasn’t cooked so thin (though maybe that was due to the necessity of freeze drying the dish).

I predict that Kelly has won this challenge but it ends up being Angelo who takes the win and the Toyota Avalon. He’s absolutely blown away and takes a moment to thank Jesus.

As for the remaining chefs, they all did a great job. Tom comments that Kevin’s concept was great, Kelly made it look effortless, Tiffany’s flavors leaped off the plate and Ed had a tremendous plate full of flavor. But who’s going home? I have absolutely no freaking idea. I can’t even hazard a guess.

It’s Tiffany. Wow. I’m blown away...and I’m also really sad. She immediately starts to tear up, but thanks the judges for the opportunity to be on the show. “The worst part is that I made it so far,” she says. Tiffany walks back into the stew room and Angelo jumps up to hug her, thinking that she made it to the finale. She tells him she didn’t, and he gives her a big long hug anyways. She’s crying and I feel awful for her.

The remaining three finalists hug out in front of Judges Table, though you can tell that Ed feels horrible for Tiffany. They make their way back to the Stew Room and Tiffany bids them goodbye. It’s so sad.

In her exit interview, Tiffany says that she was happy to be a part of it all. You can tell, though, that she’s incredibly disappointed. She pauses and then says in a choked up voice, “Just so close...“

I can hardly believe it, but she wasn’t close enough.

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