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Mike’s dish is the first presented. His meal is a grit-crusted Gulf shrimp, sour cream & chives potatoes with pork & lobster sauce. The judges love it. I had hoped tonight was Mike’s time to pack his knives and go, but he sounds like he’s a strong contender to win twice today…and this dish is even his idea! Richard isn’t actually ready to plate his dish when the judges arrive and while they’re friendly about it, they seem a bit stunned that the details oriented competitor isn’t rising above the chaotic conditions. His dish of crispy Gulf snapper with pulled pork & citrus grits looks divine. Their praise of it is a bit tepid, though. Tom and John Besh both say, “It kinda works.” That doesn’t sound like an overall winner to me.

The chef who is in the weeds the most is the breakout star of this season, Dale. He and Angelo wind up so far behind in their preparations that they stop the line for a bit in order to catch up. By the time the judges arrive at his table, he is producing unevenly cooked dishes and he knows it. He delivers amberjack stew with andouille sausage & potatoes and creole mustard crouton. Padma and Paula Deen both immediately comment that their potatoes are not done while Tom and some of the guests indicate that the mustard is far too strong. Dale appears to be in serious danger of going home.

The good news for him is that Carla and Tiffany both struggle. Carla’s fried grouper with collard greens & chow-chow pico disappoints Paula Deen, who is “kind of a bitch about (her) collard greens”. Tiffany’s honey glazed shrimp, grits with jalapeno & cheese, shellfish sauce is an okay dish, but one that leaves everyone wanting for more. Carla thinks she needs someone else to mess up worse in order for her to be safe tonight while Tiffany’s mistakes are probably not significant enough on their own. Cumulatively, she may be in some trouble for her overall lackluster performance this season, though.

The top and the bottom this week are easily divisible. Mike, Richard and Antonia are called to Judges Table to have praise heaped upon them. The shock here is that Richard Blais wins for a dish that didn’t seem particularly well received at the time. Blais wins a trip to Barbados for the effort and states that he will take Fabio along with his family on the vacation. Mrs. Richard Blais might want to keep an eye on this burgeoning relationship.

When Dale, Tiffany and Carla go to Judges Table, they know their fate already. Tiffany is queried first about the shrimp and Marcel and to her credit, she takes the hit when John Besh indicates Marcel’s efforts led to mealy shrimp. Even after his elimination, Marcel is having a train wreck of a performance on Top Chef All Stars. Dale is hammered for, well, everything. The mustard was too strong, the potatoes were undercooked, and the amberjack was almost unnoticed in a dish where it was supposed to highlighted. Carla is critiqued for a dish that didn’t seem to mesh well at all and while her problems seem elimination-worthy, all of them seem to know that Dale’s mistakes are by far the worst.

During their return to the waiting room, Tiffany explains that Marcel screwed up her chili mixture by forgetting her instruction to dilute it with water to prevent the flavor overwhelming the other components of the dish. Richard also marks Marcel for bad-mouthing Tiffany behind her back after the meal was completed, moments before his mistakes almost got her eliminated from the show. This is the time where I point out that SyFy Channel wants Marcel to host his own cooking program. This is like naming a career .200 hitter your team’s batting instructor.

In the end, everyone knows how this will play out. By naming Dale as number one in the power rankings for the first time this season, I have clearly jinxed him. His dish is unequivocally the worst of the night and among the worst of the entire season. The brutal reality of Top Chef All Stars is that a single lousy performance will lead to a player’s elimination. Dale has been the ultimate performer for the first 11 episodes of the seasons as well as someone who has demonstrated tremendous personal/professional growth. Unfortunately, he will not be taking his rightful place among the finalists. This is a truly unfortunate turn of events, but at least Dale won $30,000 the episode prior to his elimination.

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