I can remember Tom chewing out the chefs for letting the person with immunity lead the team. Tom would say, “You knew he had immunity. Why didn’t you insist on cooking your own food?”. Tom does this at least a couple times every season. If it’s your butt at risk then don’t let someone with immunity make the decisions.
It seems like the producers screwed up by offering immunity this late in the game. Also, the expert French/Spanish chefs had too much input on the dishes.
Maybe it would have been better not to eliminate anyone this episode? Eliminate 2 next week?
But, instead they make Nick look like a jerk and still eliminate someone.
I can’t believe there is still immunity. It should never be there for Restaurant Wars and beyond.
While I do think Nick should have quit to a certain extent, I don’t think less of him for staying. As cliche as it is, “hate the game, not the player” comes to mind. I think it would have been honorable for him to quit and he still would have had LCK. However, the judges’ reactions make me think less of them, not Nick.
You set up this idiocy and you can’t blame him for rolling with it. Team challenge, no autonomy for the members, immunity with so few people. It was all set up for the drama and they got what they wanted. I think they expected everyone to turn on Nick, but most of what I’ve read online is anger at the producers and judges and just slight annoyance at Nick. The judges could have not eliminated anyone. They could have sent someone from the other team home.
I don’t like the direction the show has gone this season. If I wanted amped up drama llamas, I’d watch something else. I want to see food and cooking and technique. I want to learn about new things and wish I could taste the food. I don’t want to sit there and watch this crap, or watching the contestants watch the judges’ table. It’s not that previous seasons weren’t immune to reality show BS (the pea puree editing comes to mind), but it’s bothering me more this season.
For all we know with the editing games, Tom does say “you should resign” to every on-the-bottom chef with immunity but we’ve never seen it before. The whole thing was just weird.
I was so sure Carlos would be gone. From the emphasis on his past bad behavior to the close up of his conversation with his daughter, it just seemed to lead up to his leaving.
Wasn’t it Jacques Pépin that first brought up the idea of resigning? I think that most of the anger towards Nick is because Pépin is such a respected legend in the culinary world, that for him to suggest that to you and then to go against his suggestion makes you look worse, even if you of course have every right to play the game and keep your immunity.
I want to make sweet sweet love to that potato salad though.
I have grown to dislike him quite intensely and can’t wait for him to get the boot.
Pepin might have said it first, but the others echoed it whole-heartedly. And yeah, going against the judges does make Nick look bad, or at least start to. I’d be more like “boo, hiss, go home, jerkface” if the judges didn’t alienate me.
The wrong person went home, but this was entirely the fault of the producers.
First, immunity this late in the games? The players weren’t expecting it to still be on the table, but you made it part of the game.
Next, another team challenge? Especially when teams are so small, AND one person will have immunity, does it really make sense to automatically say that one person on the TEAM that comes in second goes home?
Next, when have we ever seen having guests chefs dictate what the chefs must make as they did in this challenge? The guest chefs have no skin in the game, and the French chef assigned a crappy dish. Seriously, serving people corn silk to eat? That’s the part you throw away, lady. And the chicken/chocolate thing didn’t look that hot, either.
Nick specifically commented that he was taking on the weird dish because he had immunity. People who are claiming he should have thrown himself on his sword are changing the rules of the game after the game had been completed. Had he not had immunity, he wouldn’t have taken on that dish.
In reality, Brian or Carlos should have been the one who went home, but because of the stupid team concept, though, that didn’t happen.
Blame yourself for the stupid team challenges, producers. Don’t blame Nick for following the rules of the game.
I agree it was the producers fault. With six people their shouldn’t be team challenges. Nor should their be immunity.
But I do think Nicholas would have been smarter to fall on the sword. The value of Top Chef to him isn’t in the cash at the end of the show (although I’m sure he’d appreciate it).
The value is the reputation he develops by being on the show. Unless he wins (unlikely) he’ll be remembered as the whiny guy.
If he’d taken the bullet he would have made a lot more of a reputation for himself, particularly among those people likely to hire/invest with him.
I’m starting to think a Shirley/Nina finale would be really fun. And if Luis gets through LCK to rejoin them that would be great too.
I’m getting really tired of Nick and his whining.
And Roy Choi sure seems like a hardass.
Roy Choi ripped them all a new one. 
All the chefs are tired at this stage and most of their creativity is dried up. Especially for the quickfires.
Shirley is gaining confidence week by week. She’s going to be a serious challenge to Nina.
I stopped watching Project Runway because I thought it was focusing on the drama too much, especially making challenges that maximized drama. Bad editing and crazy judges sealed the deal. I am seeing the signs this season (I think I mentioned that before) but it’s getting stronger and stronger. Immunity is still in play? Guest judges being jerks? Tom’s bizarre tirade against the chicken? I hope next season reins it in.
The chicken thing really soured me. I know I don’t have a sophisticated palate and I really hate fine dining, but my favorite ingredient to use is boneless, skinless chicken. I hate chicken skin. I hate dark meat. I hate screwing around with bones. I know it can be dry. I know it’s not always the most flavorful part of a dish. I know it isn’t everyone’s favorite. But come on, criticize it for its presentation or its execution, not for the fact that it was served at all. It felt like no matter how out of the park he made that dish, Tom was going to be pissy that he made it at all.
Count me as another person who’s sick of Nick. His ‘oh, I’m not with my faaaaamily’ schtick got real old after his bitchfest about Carlos touching his pots (pretty sure I just heard him claiming the pots, not the burners, but whatever).
I’m a Chicagoan and have heard good things about Mexique (Carlos’ restaurant), and now I’m regretting not having gone there yet.
Well, hopefully Shirley will win. She’s about the only one left that I care for.
I eat a ton of chicken breast myself and I don’t know why Tom hates it. Mine is always great. That Roi fella was tough on them, but those po’boys did look like a lot more bread than you’d want in a good sandwich.
I’m pretty much rooting for Shirley, too. And yeah, I’m sad it took Padma saying basically “duh, all that bread soaked up all your flavors” for them to get it.
Am I imagining it, or did they show that when Nick put his dish in the oven, it was set at 500 degrees. If so then it was all on him that he burned it, so one sabotaged him.
Yeah, they showed that. I wasn’t watching the whole time, just listening part of it, so I rewound and watched again. It showed the dial set at 500 as he put the quinoa in.
That could mean someone fucked with it while he was putting it in the pan. He AND Carlos are dicks IMO. Shirley and Nina are clearly the frontrunners. The reason Tom called out the use of chicken is because any decent cook can make a chicken dish. Top Chef is a higher grade of cooking.
I’m beginning to think that Nick has naked pictures of Tom or something. Seriously. I know Brian’s wasn’t that great either, but oof. Nick’s been in the bottom or near the bottom of like half the challenges.
Plus, I kinda hate him for sending my girl Stephanie home. I was totally cheering for her - she’s hilarious.
Nick and Carlos have never figured out they are trailing along behind Nina and Shirley. It’s been so apparent the last few episodes that we’ll probably have another female Top Chef winner.
That said, Nick have screwed himself judging the last Top Chef Kitchen dish. A blind tasting and he really was harsh about this one dish. I think he outsmarted himself and thought he was bashing Carlos. It will be ironic if Carlos makes the final because of Nick’s big mouth.
I’ve really grown to like this cast. They’ve been supportive of each other and also competitive. The only blemish has been the Nick/Carlos battles. Which is kind of funny sense the ladies have been kicking their butts all season.
If by some chance Louis wins LCK that could be a game changer. I have no idea how well he would stack up against Nina/Shirley. He left so early that we never got to see him compete against them enough to judge.