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Gina Keatley is the first of the three women to be featured. I instantly despise her. She boasts during her initial comments that she enjoys running over people who are unwilling to acquiesce to her demands. Such people have historically fared poorly on Top Chef. Hung Huynh from Season 3 is the only winner who demonstrated such behavior and Hung is a different case since he was a preparation animal in the kitchen, probably the finest in the history of the competition. Gina, on the other hand, seems like an entitled brat.

My opinion of her spills over into the next introduction. Danyele McPherson of Dallas, Texas, is so fixated upon food preparation that she is curt with Hugh Acheson. For no apparent reason, Gina offers commentary on her fellow competitor. Danyele is “flaring her tomatoes." Ignoring the double entendre opportunities, I instead take note of Gina’s depiction of such cooking behavior as “ridiculously amateurish." I also note that while the viewer can never be 100% confident when such commentary is performed, Gina seems dialed up emotionally as she speaks. My suspicion is that this is her post-elimination rant. If true, Danyele is going to Seattle as well while Gina is green with envy. Please oh please oh please.

The fifth and final contestant is finally revealed. Her name is Brooke and she gets exactly 11 seconds of face time prior to Hugh’s judging of the dishes. What we learn about Brooke is that she has a son. That’s it. Good luck in working on her biography.

This segment is by far the shortest of the four. John Tesar probably received more attention than all five of these entrants combined. Hugh is already prepared to judge the dishes only four minutes after Sheldon’s first words. Sheldon’s dish is criticized for two reasons: he has used an ingredient that is three months out of season and there is not enough vinaigrette. Sir Bart is not criticized per se. Hugh simply states that “there is a lot going on." What an inscrutable reply.

Brooke, who we know is a mother (I work with what I’ve got, people), delivers some “awesome” fried kale. In spite of the inattention shown to her during the segment, Brooke quickly becomes the first of these five players to advance to Seattle. That was unexpected. Judging from Hugh’s reaction, however, Brooke may be a legitimate contender for the title of Top Chef this season.

The final two women are insecure, bitchy Gina and laser-focused Danyele. Hugh describes Gina’s dish as “weighty” then notes that some aspects of the dish are overcooked. She tries to manipulate him emotionally by requesting “Don’t make me cry.” This seems to aggravate Hugh more than anything else. While the judge likes Danyele’s dish, he does provide the same appraisal that Gina had mentioned. The flavor contains a bit of “propaneyness."

The remaining four potentials in the kitchen demonstrate a bundle of nerves as Hugh begins to speak. He echoes the comments from Wolfgang Puck earlier. He is not simply seeking players who have produced quality dishes. He is targeting candidates who he deems capable of winning Top Chef. Only three members of the quartet are capable in his estimation. As I had anticipated, Gina falls short of the mark while the knight, the Hawaiian and Little Miss Propaneyness are headed to Seattle. So the identities of 13 Top Chef contestants this season have been identified. Only the remaining group at Craft is unsettled.

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