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In other red team news, their teammate, Jamie, is having some serious problems with his chicken. Someone (no clue as to who) turned off his grill, which led to his chicken breast strips sticking to the grate. He throws batch after batch of the chicken into what looks like a toaster oven to finish them off, just as the diners start to arrive in the Top Chef kitchen.

The judges head first to the Yellow team’s station, and they get rave reviews. Sylva has an asparagus soup with a soft-poached egg that is well cooked and has great flavor. So does Sheldon’s filet mignon with charred pineapple, though Tom finds it a bit too sweet. Padma declares Shirley’s take on a crewman’s stew with mussels to be delicious, and Tom likes the texture she added by including farro at the bottom.

The Black team fares much worse. Though Katsuji’s cauliflower soup with chorize is a hit with everyone, Brooke’s fried cauliflower with preserved lemon aioli is, according to Padma, an “acid bomb.” The judges can barely swallow it down. Same goes for Casey’s salt-brined scallop. Upon putting a bite of it in her mouth, Padma makes such a pained expression that Casey knows without a doubt that things are not going well. The problem, according to Tom, is that Casey decided to serve the scallops raw when they were nowhere near in good enough condition to do so. Searing them would have been the smarter way.

If the Black team thought they had it bad, it’s nothing compared to the Red team. The judges hate Emily’s fennel and lobster chowder, with its heaviness and muddy flavors. John’s lobster and canned pea gnocchi goes over well (it amazingly has good pea flavor) but Jamie’s chicken satay with pickled fennel is a disaster. Padma makes yet another “eww” face upon eating it, which Jamie takes as a bad sign (ya think?). Tom says it tasted like it came from a new-age cafeteria, and Padma criticizes the “synthetic and cloying” flavor of the sauce.

Tom has a clear understanding of what happened. He points out that the Red team dumped the bad ingredients on Jamie, who had immunity, who made a bad dish and sunk the team. Jamie realizes the same - he’s pretty guilt ridden about the fact that he made a bad dish and likely has put his teammates up for elimination. If that’s the case, he tells the other chefs in the stew room, he’ll give up immunity. The other chefs are stunned. Shirley points out that he only took those ingredients in the first place to try and help his teammates. Casey and Katsuji aren’t sure it’s even possible to relinquish immunity.

The chefs are brought to Judges’ Table and to no one’s surprise, the Red team takes top honors. Shirley’s stew didn’t look like much on the surface, but it delivered in terms of flavor and texture. Sheldon’s beef was well cooked and deftly incorporated charred pineapple. And Sylva’s asparagus soup had great flavor and an appropriate heartiness.

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