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Before the most hated chef in Dallas can celebrate, Top Chef provides a Huge. Shocking. Twist! Ordinarily, I loathe these desperate attempts to create chaos. Today’s surprise is different. Stefan, CJ and Whatsherface are no longer judges. Instead, they are competitors. Remember what I said above about Top Chef: Seattle focusing on quality instead of quantity? Instead, it’s going to focus on both. Stefan and CJ are both high profile chefs whose participation this season fundamentally changes the show’s dynamic. Tesar has gone from the most Stefan-like chef in Seattle to the cut rate version of Stefan himself. Also, there are 18 contenders rather than the anticipated 15. Much has changed.

The returning players are immediately grouped together as a team. Padma coordinates their inclusion with the instructions for the Elimination challenge. The time constraint is an odd one. The six (no longer five) teams will have 47 minutes to prepare their respective dishes. The explanation is that the Seattle Space Needle requires 47 minutes to complete a full rotation. Obviously, this will be the setting for the challenge, an unfortunate turn of events for the chef who is afraid of heights (sorry, Brooke!).

A lot of the trends from the Quickfire carry over to the Elimination challenge. Eliza, Danyele and Josh fail in the preparation stage to the degree that they do not even know the type of fish they select for the challenge. Ye gods, people. Carla also continues to be overbearing and overwhelming. Her personality is an eclipse. The difference is that being too close for too long turns a chef deaf, not blind.

The chefs will be plating for Tom Douglas, the restaurant overlord of Seattle. Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi, Emeril Lagasse and Tom Colicchio will be the other judges for this meal. The first two groups to have their food tasted are Team Carla and Team Three People Much Quieter Than Carla. The latter trio is John Tesar’s Quickfire winning bunch.

The kitchen is strange during the pre-service portion of the challenge. The other dozen players can watch as the six chefs prepare their dishes. Carla’s boisterous shenanigans are the subject of ridicule from her competitors. To a person, they agree that win or lose, at least they did not wind up on her team. This is something to monitor as the participants advance further in the game. Fair or not, Carla is seen as an albatross.

Team Carla presents poached salmon with seasonal vegetables & beurre blanc. Ooh, that is white butter. I can translate that one! Meanwhile, Team Tesar delivers a chili oil poached cod with dash and spot prawn shabu shabu. Both dishes look divine. If the plating is this good all season, Top Chef: Seattle is going to be mind boggling. Colicchio reinforces the premise when he states, “These dishes are both, really, REALLY, well done.”

The third and fourth teams to plate are Team Knight and Team Redemption. The knight group includes Belgian Bart, Brooke and Jeffrey. Team Redemption is of course Stefan, CJ and I wanna say Jenna. As I mentioned earlier, Brooke is afraid of heights which means she is too terrified of her surroundings to focus on the horror of presenting her first elimination dish for the judges. The dish is a pan roasted halibut, mushrooms, English peas and wheat beer with herb sabayon. Their plating is a bit sloppy as specks of food clutter the appearance.

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