by Michael J. Lamp

 

"It Smells Like Fish Up in Here "

This week begins like every other week, with the rehashing of last week's elimination. In this case, it's all about the fact that Jamie kind of, should of definitely gone home. Antonia, in particular, seems to have had her fill of the tiny, tattooed chef.

Dale and Marcel get into a little squabble on the roof of the cheftestants' apartment, which ends with Marcel barking. That was a bark, right?

 

The gang gets an early wake up call the next day and soon enters a Padma-less Top Chef kitchen. They soon discover that they are meeting Tom and Padma in Montauk for a fishing challenge. Yeehaw!

 

Padma announces that there will be no Quickfire Challenge this week. Instead, the chefs will have five hours to catch and cook as much fish as possible. The chefs will compete in four teams of three. Right as the challenge starts, Tom drops the double elimination bombshell. Oh ne he didn't. (Just to be clear, he did. There really is a double elimination.)

 

As the chefs set sail, we find out that Angelo has seen Jaws one too many times and Carla has never held a rod. A fishing rod, you dirty, dirty freaks.

 

While half of the teams seem to be fish rich, the teams of Fabio/Marcel/Blais and Mike/Tiffani D./Angelo are off to a shaky start. After some troubleshooting, the apparent strategy of placing Richard Blais in Marcel's lap begins to pay off, and the fish start biting. At the end of the trip, Dale catches an insanely large fish. We're talking singing bass on a hillbilly's wall big.

 

A Fabio-Blais bromance springs up during the chefs' trip to the market. What do we think their celebrity nickname should be? I'm going with Blaibio. Said bromance soon becomes a Blais beat down, as Richard assumes his usual position as head chef and bullies the Italiano around the kitchen for the duration of the challenge.

 

Kerry Heffernan of Southgate restaurant (and personal fishing buddy to Tom Colicchio) is this week's guest judge. The teams mostly succeed, especially compared to the shit show that was the dim sum challenge.

 

The top six includes the teams of Carla/Dale/Tre and Mike/Tiffany D./Angelo. Dale's fish taco and Carla's bluefish play on the classic NYC bagel were the favorites of the day, and my girl Carla takes home the big win. She also scores a trip to Amsterdam, and I can only hope she takes me with her.

 

The bottom two teams are in decidedly different situations. Blais/Marcel/Fabio's decision to only create one dish is coming back to bite them on the ass, while the team of Antonia/Jamie/Tiffani F. was weighed down by the weakness of Tiffani and Jamie's dishes. Antonia's porgy po' boy was Tom's favorite of the night.

 

Tiffani F. and Jamie are the victims of the double boot. I'm sure exactly no one is surprised about Jamie, including Jamie, but I'm bummed to see Tiffani go. More to come when we chat with both ladies tomorrow!

 

 

Top Chef: All Stars airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

 

Follow Michael @mjlamp

 

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