That was quite the challenge. The other chefs still don’t respect Faulkner, but she came to kick ass and chew bubblegum and she’s all out of bubblegum.
Was I right in my prediction? Did Burrell make it into the final four, or will she have more time to spike her hair? Of course I was right. It’s uncanny how well I’ve predicted.
I thought the auction was set up poorly… the “5 minutes less than the lowest other bid” thing makes it game-theoretically flawed, as once it’s down to 2 chefs you can bid 5 minutes leaving your opponent with 0 minutes.
The way it should have worked is that there should have been a tough but fair known baseline… say, “scallops in 20 minutes” or something, that they all know ahead of time. Then the 6th chef is going to get that. Then you would basically bid numbers lower and lower until you think “well, tuna jerky at 35 minutes is going to be worse than scallops at 20 minutes, so I’ll stop bidding now” or whatever.
Personally, I thought it was one of the more appropriate Iron Chef challenges. We’ve seen, on Iron Chef, where a chef has to recover from a botched or failed dish with little time left on the clock.
I think the last dish was only 5 minutes less than the previous dish, not the lowest other dish, but I won’t bet the house on that. Still, to decide that she could do a souffle in 25 minutes with tuna jerky, Faulkner put Guarnaschelli on the spot. I bet she was wishing for scallops. Still, that was a smart decision on her part.
And, while I don’t execute as his level, my risotto has never taken 45 minutes to cook. Butter-poached lobster risotto was a lay-up.
How is a sausage risk-taking?
Wow, did Burrell really screw the pooch by trying to eliminate a top competitor rather than someone she was guarantied to beat (Snarkaschelli).
Has Snarkaschelli really backed into the top-4? I wonder how she feels about being back-doored?
I told you guys Alex is going to win. That editing at the beginning of the series to make her look incompetent was to set up her victory, making it look like she was overcoming the odds from a rough start and being “outmatched”.
Anne Burrell lost any sympathy from me as she contorted her face while the other competitors were being judged. Yeah for Zakarian!
StG
Yep. Everyone in the household commented on it during each of the times they showed her making some sort of body language comment that made us all hate her more. She’s way more bitchy and snarky than Alex has shown at all, good riddance.
You know, I’ve never liked Zakarian on Chopped, but I’ve really come to respect and appreciate him. I thought Burrell was going to win, so I was extremely surprised that she (1) played the whole ‘strategy’ angle and (2) showed her butt snarking on Faulkner. I was so glad that he beat her, but I was pretty concerned, given the edit they presented where it seemed like the judges were 50/50 split.
Going forward, I would be happy to see either Zakarian or Faulkner win. However, I can almost guarantee that won’t happen now that I want it to. 
I agree, even though I squirmed for Alex when she got 20 minutes for the lamb. I don’t care what anyone says – her making sausage in 20 minutes was the risk. Making carpaccio or tartare? No risk because either would have been logical.
I honestly don’t get the Alex hate. I like her on Chopped and I like her here. Ditto Zakarian. They both play up the “judge demeanor” thing on Chopped because that’s what they’re supposed to do.
As I posted before, I disagree. Sausage is a common technique when faced with a time crunch. I agree that a raw dish is the obvious one but that doesn’t mean that sausage is a risk. Now cutting and searing a faux-medallion or faux-filet would be a risk.
I have not watched Chopped, so my dislike off Guarnaschelli is wholly from this show. I still predict she fails in her first showdown. I think the finale comes down to Faulkner versus Zakarian, though these 4 are too close to call.
You’re confusing ‘risk’ with ‘almost certain failure’.
You have to do more than what is obvious/easy, but less than what would be outright daring but virtually doomed to failure. They could have patted on her on the back after she ‘went for it’ and tried to concoct something elaborate as they cringe at the undercooked whatever. In the end, if you pay attention to the successes here, it’s staying above the line drawn, even if it is slightly so. Falling below the line for sake of creativity/risk/whatever looks good and gets the pat on the back… as you head home or into a cook off.
We’ve learned this from these types of shows.
.
Also: Everyone realizes that an Iron Chef is a TV personality – correct? I mean, there is room to criticize people with cardboard personas. It’s a factor. A must? No. But it has to be considered.
And if she’s making a simple garlic sausage, even giving the time constraints I would expect it to have the proper amount of fat and no gristle.
Anyways, the next episode is a double-elimination that will lead directly to the finale. Since Faulkner has an advantage from winning the challenge this week, I would hope that she’ll be a lock to make it to the finale.
I’m crossing my fingers for a Falkner-Zahkarian final
A Faulkner-Zekarian final would be win-win in my book!
~VOW
Except I don’t want either of them to lose. I like them both a lot.
Well, I’m pretty happy with who made the final. It’s the two I wanted, so I think this is gonna be good. It was a tight match tonight, but I’m not disappointed at all. 
So much for prediction of Alex winning.
Go Zakarian!
So, D_Odds, who’s gonna win the Superbowl? I always get stuck running the office pool so I could use a little inside info 