“I’m going to be like the proverbial cockroach.”
Just the image you want to leave as a chef, Justin B.
I really, really want Penny to fall into a buffalo chopper. Jyll and Mary Beth rock, and Chris is actually competent when Orchid has ahold of his leash. I never would have thought of buttermilk and panko in a meatloaf.
Did Justin go home? My DVR cut off the whole judges table part.
I like Orchid for the win. Whitney seems like a Rachel Ray clone. Hope Mary Beth and Penny stay around for a little while- hilarious kissy-face snark scene :).
When Bobby said that Paula was changing her meatloaf recipe, I laughed, cause I use Paula’s recipe!
Now I have to change mine. 
Justin wasn’t exactly a gracious loser. Cockroaches? Ick.
I wonder how much coaching/editing was done to get Justin B’s shock at being eliminated. Maybe he really is oblivious to the problems in his on camera delivery, or maybe he thinks somehow the quality of his food communicates itself to viewers, but the anger and surprise seemed a bit disproportionate.
And yeah, “I’ll be like the proverbial cockroach” is maybe not the memento you want to leave as you follow your lower lip out the door.
Per [previous thread](” http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=611315”), here’s my rundown of the remainders from this week:
Chris – It’s hilarious that his major breakthrough (a gift from Orchid) was getting through an entire challenge without acting foolish. His countdown to elimination is approaching 0, but I’d bet money it’s not next episode.
Jeff – His gamble paid off with the tofu, but I would’ve liked to have seen more of the technique. It was edited to ‘look’ like a lucky shot, but I gotta believe Jeff had some familiarity with the ingredient beforehand. (I already know how to cook on a wing and a prayer and get sometimes-edible-but-sometimes-brilliant dishes. I’d like to learn proper stuff from a cooking show.) With that said, I think if Jeff maintains the food quality, he’ll be competing in the season final.
Justin D. – It’s just a matter of time before the competition weeds out the final Justin. I had thought Justin D.’s problem would be finding a unique perspective, but it just seems to be the same problem Whitney has. He’s just not interesting to watch, even when his dishes are intriguing.
Jyll – Wins the first challenge for the second week in a row. I think these mystery ingredient appetizer challenges are right in her wheelhouse, but her big advantage is her fearlessness in presentation. This is a very confident person. Still my odds on favorite to make the final.
Mary Beth – Keeps improving on the performance side, and she made a great choice of dish with the meatloaf. She’s one of two contestants who actually implemented Paula Deen’s advice intelligently. It looked like she was relaxed and having fun in front of the cast and judges, and that’s what wins this show in the end. MB has shown the ability to shoot herself in the foot, so I think her chances of making the final four are less than even because of that and because of strong competition from Jeff, Jyll, Orchid, Susie and Vic.
Orchid – That was a lucky pairing for Chris, and I think Orchid’s qualities were very well highlighted in this episode, including that sort of calm strength you see in successful small business owners. It’d be a joy to work with O, and I’d watch her show just for the lack of bullshit and pretention. The Cougar Town challenge really shows how good a collaborative, ensemble cooking show could be if FN would go that route. I could see Orchid as an anchor on a show like that.
Penny – She chose a side dish instead of an entree for the big challenge and executed it poorly. But at least she got to insult MB behind her back. (Really? Stovetop mac & cheese with the cheese cooked to frickin’ death? That’s your showcase and you’re scoffing at other chefs?) I’ve joked about an imminent FBI smackdown, but FN is foreshadowing a Penny meltdown for the next episode, so I’m hopeful they’ll finally show this woman the door. They keep going back to the “Penny’s a tough, independent woman” line in the judges’ on-camera dialogues -which I’m convinced are mostly pretend- so it’d be nice to show the difference between actual toughness and Penny’s selfish spitefulness. (And really, butting heads with your most self possessed competitor over something I’m assuming based on history will be essentially petty just isn’t choosing your battles wisely.)
Susie – I hope FN keeps Susie’s number, but I just don’t think they’ve been portraying her as a strong finalist. To me, this is a shame because a) I love the Mexican-American fusion styles of cooking, and b) Susie’s fun to watch. I may be surprised, so I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll see S in the final four.
Vic – Great performance, good looking dish and he apparently impressed the CT cast. Vic is one of the guys I really want to warm up to, but I still don’t know what a Vic show would be like. (I’d like to see V in a behind the scenes resaurant kitchen show. Sort of Kitchen Confidential with less emphasis on snark and social commentary, and more emphasis on the operations – including staff disputes, equipment conundra and, ultimately, the production of great food.) (Food Network will never produce a show like that without introducing artificial drama a la Dinner Impossible.)
Whitney – After four episodes, I feel about the same for Whitney as I did for Justin B. or Juba after the first one. Unless they throw in a band, dancers and color commentator, I wouldn’t watch a Whitney show.
It seems that everyone’s DVR cut off the ending, so I went ahead and spoiled the ending. The biggest surprise was Chris, who I suspected would breathe and be eliminated… he was able to get his food and camera tasks taken care of (of course, he couldn’t avoid one jackass move by shoving the two pieces of food in his mouth. Was that necessary?).
Penny predictably behaved like an ass. I figured she burned the cheese.
Not surprised Justin Fishmonger got the boot. I have no doubt his food is great, but he’s possibly the worst on camera persona out there. Dude looks like he’s going to harm me through the tv screen. I didn’t see that getting any better with practice, either. He would be a good “segment” guy but I don’t think most of us could bear him glaring at us for 22 minutes a pop.
Jyll is starting to grate on me. Maybe’s it’s the way she spells her name…
There’s just something about Vic that bugs me. I think it’s that he can’t scratch his own ass. Look at the way he holds his arms. Gym-rat, and too muscular to be supple. I would spend the entire episode laughing at him, rather than paying attention to his obvious cooking chops.
On the other hand, this is advantageous for maintaining food prep hygiene.
[sub]Unless he’s scratching other people’s asses…[/sub]
Sidebar: I set my DVR to begin recording 5 mins before a program is due to start and to end 15 mins after a program is due to end. Don’t know if that would have helped in this case or not.
I usually don’t jump on this program until the first few elimination rounds— too nerve-wracking, not to mention painful, to watch. Think I’ll get on board now. Sounds interesting.
Justin was on the wrong show. He is obviously a talented Chef, just a terrible TV star.
Also, all the talk of Cougars proved none of the contestants ever actually watch Cougar Town. I know Bill Lawrence was hoping this will draw some publicity to the show but this set his efforts to run away from its horrible title back by 6 months.
You’ll be just in time for the cast to collectively murder Chris and Penny.
Based on this week’s performance, I predict that Justin D. will depart next week.
Food Network seems determined to sabotage this show for anyone using a DVR. First they change the name of the show with no notice, then throw in an extended time episode without updating TIVO. I checked on the TIVO listings and it showed it as being a 60 minute episode.
When I saw the title of the show, and then who the surprise guest judge was, I almost couldn’t bring myself to watch it. I’m glad that my initial assumptions were off-base.
Well, there are plenty of sharp instruments around. Hehe.