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The bottom group is obviously Stefan, Josie and Brooke, all of whom served dishes that justify elimination. I am braced for the worst as the judges begin to grill the players about their mistakes. Brooke separates herself by acknowledging from the start that she blew the entire challenge. The judges respect her honesty. They do beat her up by identifying that she “overthought the process”. She humbly accepts this criticism.

Josie and Stefan go another way. Josie starts by blaming her fryer then she complains about the lack of time. A camera shot of Colicchio shows the veins on his forehead popping over the latest clock issue from Josie. He calls it The Josie Show. Perhaps the worst mistake occurs when she states that she felt that the chicken was delicious and that Lizzie agreed. Tom blows a gasket over this comment. Here is his quote:

“I guess Dave and Wolf and, you know, Emeril and Johnny and Vinny and Michelle and Padma and me, you know, we don’t know what we’re talking about.”

At this moment, there is no doubt in my mind that the judges are sick of Josie and want her gone. Then, Stefan starts talking. He claims that he grew up in Europe and the fried chicken is different there. Colicchio is aggravated again. He asks where Wolfgang was raised. Puck states that in Austria, fried chicken is a very popular dish.

Defensively, Stefan states that chicken cordon bleu is his version of fried chicken, only with a twist. Tom and Padma both jump on this statement, wondering how a subpar version of a well-known meal can be described as having a twist. Stefan is stymied by this and for the first time in two seasons, I feel bad for him. Stefan is having as bad a day by noon as Brooke had the entire day yesterday. Padma even punctuates the moment after he leaves Judges Table by announcing, “Such a bullshitter. Such a bullshitter!”

Brooke’s fatal errors will not be sending her home. Instead, the choice comes down to Josie’s cooking vs. Stefan’s personality. When Emeril states that he had a similar meal to Stefan’s “two flights ago,” I believe that Stefan is the choice for elimination. Padma clearly wants him gone. Colicchio disagrees, stating that he found Josie’s dish inedible. As is ordinarily the case on Top Chef, the head judge wins this argument and Josie is finally eliminated, a week too late.

Josie’s removal from the competition does lead to the epic showdown at Last Chance Kitchen that I had requested at the start of the column. Kristen appears focused and hungry when she sees her opponent. I described the face-off between John Tesar and CJ as a grudge match, but that was because of personalities. Josie’s failures led to Kristen’s elimination from Top Chef. This is a much more epic showdown.

Kristen is right to be bitter and while she comports herself with dignity when they drive together to retrieve their ingredients, the emotions teeming below the surface are unmistakable. Tom largely stays out of the way and lets the proceedings speak for themselves. Eventually, Kristen makes a mistake that she feels is unforgivable yet her dish still reigns supreme in the end. Kristen beats Josie at Last Chance Kitchen to maintain her status in the competition. Josie will be the least missed contestant since at least Robin Leventhal in season 6 if not Lisa Fernandes in season 4.

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