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Justin stopped listening to Nina disparage him long enough to present a wood-roasted pork breast taco with pork liver salsa verde. I am prepared to make a joke about him putting Taco Bell out of business right when the guest judge for the day, Donald Link, notes that the dish was dry. The fact that a restaurateur immediately recognizes his mistake is worrisome.

Louis seems to be in the worst trouble. He had a great plan to craft some peppercorn popcorn, and the guests looooove it. Before Tom receives his dish, one of them whispers, “It’s the best one.” Popcorn is such a great populist choice in a situation like this. Unfortunately, Tom’s palette is more refined. Louis provides a plate of slow-grilled pork leg with spring onions, shiitake mushrooms, melted corn & popcorn. Hugh does not understand the components of the dish although he does note that the cooking is impeccable.

Frankly, there is as little mystery to the judges’ opinions in this episode as at any point in recent memory. I cannot even pretend to be shocked when the multicultural dishes of Carlos, Nina and Shirley are lauded as the best at the boucherie. The only surprise occurs when Carlos is announced as the winner. Nina has not emerged victorious in consecutive elimination challenges! She’s human! Nicholas makes a similar joke in the stew room. “Don’t be mad that you lost one, Nina! Let us get one once in a while.”

The bottom group is obviously comprised of Justin, Louis and Stephanie. This announcement is bad news for Louis in that Stephanie and Justin are upper tier competitors. He has been struggling for most of the season, because as I have mentioned previously, he doesn’t seem particularly competitive. That’s far from a personal failing yet it does create issues for people who participate on Top Chef.

The judges go out of their way to stress that none of the dishes were bad. In fact, I would maintain that Carlos’ victory tonight is one of the most impressive in the history of the program. Winning this round is like winning the All-Star Game Home Run Derby in that every opponent excelled. Similarly, losing tonight would suck yet it would be as tolerable as any elimination to date because the person exiting knows that they did quite well. They were simply unfortunate in that they were less great during a week when everything was at the height of their skill.

And the unlucky person in this scenario is Louis, who delivered a good dish in a challenge wherein the rest of the competition delivered great ones. He can exit with his head held high, but that will not be for at least a while longer because Louis unseats Janine to become the defending champion of Last Chance Kitchen. I am not the least bit surprised because he seems like a great chef, simply not a person who is a great fit for this particular format.

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