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Brooke is up next, and unlike her competitors, she breezes through with nary a complaint. Her chilled avocado soup with watermelon and coconut salad, presented with a spicy watermelon and hibiscus margarita, gets raves for its refreshing quality. Tom likes the balance between sweetness and acid. He also notes that though the margarita is good on its own, in combination with the dish, it really sings.

Last up is John with a simple caldo verde con pollo paired with a relatively straightforward Patron Silver margarita. There’s not much that’s special about his food, even with Katsuji’s relish, and Tom complains that the strong flavors in John’s margarita overwhelm the subtleness in his food.

With that done, it seems clear that Brooke is the winner of the day, and the judges make it official with little fanfare. What a return… from eliminated to sweeping both challenges in Guadalajara. For the win, she gets a special edition Patron Crystal that’s worth $7,500. Brooke wastes no time in popping the top and taking a swig. She’s thrilled to be back in the final round - matching what she did in Top Chef Seattle.

But who’ll be joining her? None of the remaining chefs made it to the final rounds of their respective seasons, and they’d all love to make it further. John gets criticized for being relatively unambitious with his dish and for the way his margarita dominated the pairing. Sheldon did a nice job cooking his octopus but the dish was overly sweet. Moreover, his flat and sweet cocktail didn’t pair that well with his flat and sweet dish. As for Shirley, the judges loved her salsa but hated her use of Mexican vanilla and the chunkiness of her margarita.

So who’s going forward? In a surprising change from the most recent seasons (at least for me), the final round will feature THREE chefs, meaning that only one chef is going home today. And that person, again unsurprisingly, is John, who is being sent home largely for the pairing of his dish and margarita. He’s pretty devastated, feeling like he didn’t make the worst dish or worst drink, but he vows to accept the decision with grace and dignity.

And he does. John should be proud that he improved on his performance last time on Top Chef in two big ways - he made it to the finale and he was not the biggest a-hole on the show. Props to him.

As for the last three chefs standing, they’ll be taking a trip to the Yucatan peninsula, after only days before arriving in Guadalajara (“But our princess is in another castle!”). Everything will be decided on the next episode in Cancun. Stay tuned.

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