Ditto, Dio. (:D)
It’s irrational, but he’s just so… smarmy.
I lived Carla and was sad to see her go. She brought a certain lightness and kindness to the show.
It looked to me like she had some uneven sunburn, so her color was off.
Yes, yes, yes.
On top of the uneven tan, I think she’s lost a lot of weight. She wasn’t as luscious-looking as usual. Boo.
Padma looked like a coathanger.
I have the impression that Padma’s little trick may have broken something in Richard. I mean, it was fragile to begin with, but he does not seem to have recovered. Maybe it’s just the impending birth, but he seems really changed to me. And I hate the new hair color/length.
Same with Mike V - a normal haircut just doesn’t work for him. 
I love Carla. Of all the chefs from all the seasons, she’d be my number one choice if I could travel to sample her cooking.
The production quality on this show is just pathetic. WTF is wrong with a freakin’ cooking show that consistently, year ofter year, provides faulty equipment? If they aren’t going to fire somebody over the inability to provide a working frickin’ burner then when the frick are they going to fire someone? I don’t use those words lightly, I’ve had to fire people and it’s really horrid. But this is ridiculous. Now they failed to even check the safety of the equipment, before allowing the whole crew in there. I mean, how many gallons of burning oil?
That could have been a real tragedy. Thank goodness for Richard’s quick thinking in getting it covered and preventing any dumb responses. He showed real leadership there, and I didn’t see it acknowledged at all.
At least there’s been no cheating crap this time around. That’s one thing I’m glad to see gone and if it comes back I will drop the series. Well, there was the plagiarISm, but it was out in the open, and the judges addressed it.
I’ve watched every season of Top Chef. I still prefer season 6 because it had the most fine dining challenges. It did have a few weak ones too (cooking in the desert, the room service challenge). They set the bar very high as a genuine cooking show. Season 3 is my favorite because it was the most drama free and I really liked the chefs personalities.
All Stars has been pretty good. But, overall there’s been way too many casual dining challenges. This season seems more like Survivor than a cooking competition. I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with cheftestants from prior seasons. Some like Richard have been a shock. He was a lot more confidant in his original season. Carla and Antonia have been much more impressive in All Stars. I like Mike I. better this season too.
Once they sign up for something, I tell them they can’t quit until the natural end of the season/year. So when my son got on a soccer team, he had to finish the season, but he certainly doesn’t have to sign up to do it again next year. I think this is a good in between from the kids who want to quit something because they had a bad day, to being forced to do it forever because they signed up once. My neighbor is constantly signing her daughters up for activities and then quitting them after a few weeks because they don’t’ want to do it anymore. That’s just stupid.
I wonder how this post ended up in the Top Chef thread. 
So you’re saying you’ll keep watching Top Chef because you committed to it, but won’t sign up to watch it next year?
Oops. that was supposed to go in the thread about should you let your kids quit activities they no longer enjoy. Sorry.
I hope they aren’t really making the contestants on Top Chef Masters cook worms and bugs, as the promo seemed to suggest.
video here:
The Black Widow struck again. 
Never partner with Antonio. Tiffany should have known that.
I had to laugh at the bikini shot of Padma. It was so obviously posed. They must have spent hours getting just the right light and pose. They kept cutting back and forth between her posed shot and the shot with the chefs. It was the Bahamas. Topless would have been better.
This was a fun episode. I’m a little jealous of that private island. I’d love to spend a few days there myself, snorkeling, harvesting conchs, and grilling on an open file. <sigh>
Mike spent a lot of time training and preparing for the finale. It shows. He was the only one that had spent time testing conch recipes before filming.
Blais is just so over stressed. It’s affecting his cooking. The faces he’s been making. He looks so miserable.
Poor Blaise hates himself and second guesses himself so much. Mike is a self-satisfied jackass, but at least he’s never self-sabotaging like that. he always thinks he hit a homerun no matter what. he doesn’t agonize and dicker over his dishes. He just knocks them out.
I don’t think Richard has won an elimination challenge yet. I’d like to see him really step up and hammer it in the finale.
Richard’s won three (tied for the most with Carla and Dale), Antonia and Mike have both won two. Richard reminds me of every artist I know, including myself. Totally cocky regarding your work compared to everyone else’s, and then full of self-doubt about everything you make until someone reassures that it’s good. I can tell Mike’s last two wins are really getting to him, since he was clearly in second place each time.
Also regarding the preview:
It doesn’t look that next week is the finale. So we’ll be back down to just two in the finale.
Black Hammer, not Black Widow.
The extended judges tables adds some insight about the person sent home.
spoilers
I wonder if we’ll get to see the former winners again? It seems silly to fly them out to the Bahamas for only the QF last week. I’m hoping they’ll be the sous chefs in the Finale. Just a guess on my part.
We still have two more episodes. I’m a little nervous because I recall last season Ed rocked the semi-final. Then got beat in the Final. Mike I. has rocked the last two episodes. I sure hope he can keep it up and doesn’t slip.
Poor Richard. That fakeout was a really mean thing to do to him, especially in his emotional state. My dad died when I was in college and I was dragging myself through first semester senior year classes. I probably would have come apart if I’d had to do anything half as intense, much less have your loved ones - oh yes, minus a very important one for you - right there for it. He’s so talented and so helpful, and I completely recognize the whole artist/performer’s second thoughts about their work.
I actually loathed Mike during his previous season but find I like him more now. Yes, he’s smarmy and cocky, but I can get where he’s coming from.
I wish Carla hadn’t been voted off the previous episode, but she just fell down on the job. Not surprised at all about the latest person to get the boot.
I cannot stand Mike I. maybe he’s more annoying this time around because he’s hung around longer. It’s how he has to knock everyone else’s dishes and abilities to build himself up that gets to me. If he wins his head will be bigger than the rest of him.
FYI: interview with Tom Colicchio from The Onion’s AV Club.
<for those of you who know me by my posts, I am a big guitar geek; Tom plays and was featured on the cover of Guitar Aficionado. Near as I can tell, he has a great collection of guitars, but I have no idea if he is any good as a player…>
Also, for those wondering, Colicchio’s blog says there are two more episodes to come.
I really don’t know how they kept the sand out of those dishes, especially with the wind blowing. I can’t unwrap a sadnwich at the beach without it ending up sandy.