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While the challenge finishes soon afterward, Nick is informed of Carlos’s comments. Rather than let them slide, he vents in the Stew Room as the players await word from the judges. “Apparently, I stole Carlos’s oven. Chef Tom told me that you told him that I stole your oven.” Carlos weakly defends himself by saying, “I really needed an oven.” Later, he adds that he didn’t say it in a mean way.

The opinion in the stew room is unanimous. This is a huge no-no in the competition. Carlos spends the next several moments defending himself before eventually offering a full throated apology. He also starts to tear up a bit. Still, I believe Brian speaks for everyone when he says, “Some of the moves he makes in the kitchen kind of questions his integrity.”

The producers give the signal that the drama has died down so the judges begin to speak. As if on cue, Emeril mentions that Carlos said he had an oven problem before announcing that the food was delicious. Nick does his best “I could have had a V8!” impression, worrying that the judges will punish him for something he did not do. Fortunately, Top Chef has never been that type of show, which is why I love it so much.

Eventually, a consensus is reached. Shirley, Brian and Carlos are called back to Judges Table, presumably in order to allow Shirley to complain about Brian’s chattiness. All kidding aside, Carlos’s presence is infuriating and I say that as someone who likes him quite a bit. He was selfish and immature today. I resent that he receives positive reinforcement for his behavior. He is not given a new car, though. That honor goes to Shirley, who is the proud owner of a new RAV4. This is her fourth victory this season. Shirley is a real threat to win Top Chef.

The loser’s bracket is not a mystery. Had Carrie not won the Quickfire challenge, she would probably be going home. In her absence, the editing all but shouted who would be on the bottom. Nina, Stephanie and Justin all made mistakes. And a very good chef will be going home tonight.

Tom lectures Stephanie on dipping the sandwich in the soup bowl. A couple of the other players, notably Justin, had indicated that they liked the choice and I thought it was spontaneous fun. Tom disagrees and we all know that Tom is the only voice that matters on the topic. Fortunately for Stephanie, her dish is very well received otherwise. She did a great job in finding the right flavors for the lackluster cheeses available in the kitchen.

Nina and Justin, on the other hand, are in real danger. The corn puree is a disaster. It is “watery and thin” according to Gail Simmons, and everyone agrees that it needed to be cooked twice, something Tom noted while standing in line earlier. Even worse, Nina’s server had presented the dish sans the corn to several students, a huge no-no since it violated the explicit instructions of the challenge. Nina’s only hope is that Justin has done worse.

He has. Justin also added a puree that was on the bottom of his dish. According to Gail, it had no flavor save for garlic, which is great if LSU is ever overrun by the cast of True Blood. For Top Chef, it’s not good. Tom adds that the dish was bland. Justin explains his decision by pointing out that he refused to play it safe. The judges are kind to him, noting that his lack of experience with the college diet hurt him. There is some truth to that.

There is also truth to the fact that Justin’s palate has never seemed in line with that of the head judge. Tom frequently lamented the dryness of Justin’s worst dishes this season. Every time, Justin thought he had nailed the flavors. We have witnessed this situation a handful of times over the 11 seasons. Sometimes, a chef’s natural cooking style does not ingratiate him/her with the judges.

Justin has undeniably made some mistakes over the last few episodes, but I also believe that some of his struggles were wholly beyond his control. Tom was the wrong type of food critic for Justin’s flavor, and this thought process is reinforced during Last Chance Kitchen. Justin is defeated by Louis because Tom once again finds Justin’s dish a bit too dry. This situation must be maddening to Justin, but if he reflects upon it, his elimination should be more tolerable than most. He made some great food. His primary struggle was caused by a specific style of New Orleans cooking not being a good fit with the judges despite the season’s locality.

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