02x04 - Less Is More

[bunniefuu]

Previously on "Top Chef"...

Your challenge is to create a dish

that you think would appeal
to the TGI Friday's guests.

This is not what I do.
I'm not a mass producer.

I'm not a turn-and-burner.

I'm making a steak sandwich.

If I saw this sandwich on the menu,

I'd totally order it, and
I think I'm gonna win.

[upbeat music]

Hi, guys, I'm Emily,

and I made super salmon surf and turf.

Oh, my God. Really salty.

Marcel is rubbing me the wrong way.

And I've had it up to here.
- What did I do to you?

You're a selfish, self-centered,

egotistical b*stard.

Which one will be appearing
on the TGI Friday's menu?

Betty. - [screams]

Michael.

I don't know whether
you think this is a joke.

No, I don't, man. I just...
- 'Cause this was sloppy.

Really sloppy.

Emily, the dish wasn't edible.

Please pack your knives and go.

Now 12 chefs remain to fight it out.

At stake, for the winner,

a state-of-the-art Kenmore Pro Kitchen,

furnished by Sears,

an editorial feature in
"Food & Wine" magazine,

a chance to showcase their culinary talent

at the 25th anniversary
Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

$100,000 to kick-start
their culinary career,

furnished by the makers of
the GLAAD family of products,

and title of "Top Chef."

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

[screaming]

♪

♪

I'm excited to get back in town.

Yeah, I gotta try to kick it up a notch.

It's starting to get fierce.

Yeah, it is, huh?

You know, I'm feeling really good.

I've already won two challenges,

and I am going to stay in
this game for as long as I can.

Got, like, ten more minutes
of snooze time, dude.

So I wake up this
morning, and I feel like crap.

I'm pissed off from
that last challenge still.

Can't believe I was on the block.

I miss my wife.

Get a new pair of panties.

I'm hurting.

[shouting]

♪

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to the Kenmore Kitchen.

Congratulations to the 12
of you who've made it this far.

Our guest judge for this
round is former food and wine

best new chef, Suzanne Goyne.

Hi, guys.

Suzanne is the executive chef and owner

of Luke and AOC restaurants here in L.A.

Suzanne Goyne's one of
my all-time favorite chefs.

She's very innovative,
very simple, very rustic.

This round is about the chef's life.

She's very innovative,
very simple, very rustic.

This round is about attention to detail.

For your quick-fire challenge,

you must create an amuse-bouche.

From the French, it literally
means "to amuse the mouth."

Really what the amuse-bouche should be

is sort of like your calling card

or a little tease of what's to come.

I know it's a great one if I
wish there was a little more.

You'll shop for ingredients
and have limited access

to basic items in the Top Chef pantry.

You have 30 minutes to
create your amuse-bouche,

and Suzanne will pick the winner.

As you know, that winner will be immune

from elimination in the next challenge.

So let's start with the shopping.

Follow us.

[clock ticking]

You know, I could go
a lot of different routes.

I could make a nice little oyster dish

with an apple jelly, maybe
some julienne apples,

like something super refreshing.

Oh, sorry.

[dramatic music]

This is how it's gonna be, huh?

This is where you'll do your shopping.

[laughter]

You each have a roll of quarters worth $10

to buy two ingredients at each machine.

This is absolute madness.
There's just no way.

[upbeat music]

You know, when you
look at a vending machine,

all you find is sodas, chips, cookies.

Cold, bold sandwiches.

You know, it's like, great!

That's a way to impress Suzanne, God.

Give me a freaking vending machine.

Hey, swallowed my coin... there we go.

Frozen burrito, pastrami sandwich, dude.

We definitely all think
that Mike is definitely

gonna be the champ on this one.

I've never seen a man
put more crap into his body.

Keepin' it Mike style, baby.

Round and round he goes.

Where he stops, nobody knows.

Oh, I've eaten out of
many vending machines.

So I picked squirt, sunflower seeds,

carrots, and some hard-boiled eggs.

Get the pickled eggs.

Atta boy. - Atta boy.

Atta boy.

I'm thinking to myself, what am I gonna do?

I have no idea. There's
just all these variables.

I see you cracklings, and
I see you the lemon pies.

No oysters in the vending machine.

I was so pissed. I was the last one.

I had a couple ideas.

I saw the items get pulled in front of me,

so I can't use those.

I'm like, what am I gonna do?

So I walk up to the machine,

and I make a decision like, screw this.

Screw the quick fire today.

Oh, there we go.

Snickers, Cheetos, corn nuts.

You'll see.

Okay, so you've shopped
for your ingredients.

Start cooking, because
your time starts now.

The quick fire challenge
is exactly 30 minutes,

so there really isn't much time for error.

I bought the chicken Caesar salad,

a bag of potato chips,

a bag of trail mix, and a fresh apple.

I'm trying to utilize the ingredients

in such a way that I bring as much quality

to the dish as I can,

not just aesthetically, but flavor-wise.

I love it when I get
diverse items to work with.

Every challenge, whether
it's a quick fire challenge

or an elimination challenge,

to me, I go in with the
same amount of vigor.

Make it perfect. VIP or nothing.

I think an amuse-bouche
should just be something

interesting, something tasty,

and I kind of like to
steer on the sweeter side

over the savory for the amuse.


- Thank you, sweetheart.

Just so pissed off already.

Now I gotta do this cr*cker Jack challenge.

It's stupid.

Mike's Cheeto vending dish
was the most phallic thing

I've ever seen in my life.

Borky, borky, borky, borka.

You have five minutes left.

Five minutes to finish your dishes.

I want to win the quick fire challenge,

and I'm looking around,
people's portions are kind of big.

An amuse-bouche is supposed
to be something very small

that you can just pop in your mouth

or eat in one bite that
tickles your appetite.

Oh!

Okay, utensils down, time is up.

Let's start with Frank.

What I have done here for you today

is a ham and Swiss cheese quiche

served in a pesto dressing
with a mint-infused tea.

Mm, I feel like I'm on the porch.

Thank you.

I made a fromage frittata chiffonade

with a pear fig basil cream sauce.

Where'd you get the figs?

Fig Newton's. - Ah, I should've guessed.

Great, thank you.

The pickles were... tell
me about the pickles.

The pickles, I sliced them, I
dusted them in fennel powder

and a little red chili flake.

Thanks, man. - Thanks.

I did a mini tostada with Doritos,

and I did a chicken salad.

You make Doritos sound
better with that accent.

Yeah.

Got a playful presentation there.

Yeah, it's playful.

So is that a... - You know, I didn't...

Is this a finger food? - Yeah, finger food.

Knock yourself out.

What's in it? - Cheetos and Snickers.

Cheetos and Snickers.

I see it. - It's an ode to the ingredient.

This is kind of lunch
and dessert all in one.

What we have here is a
curried banana pudding.

Thank you.

What's its title? - Tropical salad.

I like the mint.

Today we have a mini
loaf of cilantro, carrot,

and sunflower seeds, and it's accented with

a little bit of squirt and lime juice.

What was your inspiration?

I have a friend who's a vegetarian,

and so we're always trying to come up

with different combinations.

So I just tried to tailor it to that.

Nice and bright and clean and tastes good.

I made a little la bocadita delicioso.

The little delicious mouth.

So I did the Twinkie on top of
the whipped strawberry yogurt,

and I charred the banana and
the top of the Twinkie a little.

You know what? It tastes like dessert.

That's what it is.

Yeah, but it's supposed
to be in a mousse gouche.

I made a duo of cracklings
with lemon and rice pudding,

and a humble mousse
soda with tropical fruit,

and nobody likes to
eat alone, so I'll join you.

You're gonna join me?

Tell me again what that is.

That's the inside of the lemon pie.

This is like the dessert area of the...

Kitchen. - I think you have a little bit

of that too sweet thing going on.

Okay.

Last but not least.

I made my version of a deviled egg.

I sliced up some salami and deep-fried it

with a little bit of
crisp, a little texture.

Suzanne, what did you think of the level

of the plates in general?

I was really impressed.

A lot of sophisticated presentation.

Why don't we do the bad mousse first?

I would say Mia just
because... and it was delicious.

I just think you weren't
working in the framework

of a mousse gouche, 'cause for me,

I'm actually really hungry right now,

and so when I went, it was
like, that wasn't what I wanted.

It's not what you want
to get your palate going.

Michael, I get this vibe from you

that you could not care less,
and I feel like nobody kidnapped

you to put you on the show to try to win

against all these people
who are trying really hard,

so I don't know if you weren't trying,

or if you're just like,
it's part of your, like,

cavalier cool guy thing.

No, no, I just... I was looking
in the vending machine,

I was blank, you know?

Yeah, but did you look around?

I mean, everybody else kind of...
- Yeah, I did.

I looked around everyone's plates,

and I was just like, you know.

On to the good news. - On to the good news.

Um, Frank, your dish was really delicious.

I would never have guessed it
came out of a vending machine.

I think your use of
basil to make that pesto

lightened the whole thing up

and took us kind of out of that realm.

Carlos, I think you really
thought outside the box,

and you really were going by the guidelines

of what a mousse bouche should be.

And, uh, Elon, that
yours was also delicious.

I thought your little
fried salami on the top

was really good.

You didn't need that sweet puree thing.

It's like, you guys need to
walk past the pear nectar.

Like, it doesn't have to be on every dish.

So the winner is, um...

Carlos.

[cheers and applause]

It feels really great to have immunity,

but it feels even better
to be selected the winner.

Congratulations, Carlos.

As you know, you are
immune from elimination

in the next challenge.

Time for the knife block.

Each of you will draw knives
and divide into four teams.

Black, red, white, and orange.

Black. - Red.

Orange.

White.

[dramatic music]

Black.

As we draw knives, I realize
that I am on the black team

accompanied by my arch-nemesis, Betty.

It's not a secret that Marcel and I

have had our words in the past,

and I called him some
names that weren't nice,

and I felt badly about it.

You know, I'm an adult.
I shouldn't talk like that.

♪ ♪

He's a nudge.

♪ ♪

Betty's dish is just plummeting.

It's just failing.

In other words, Betty's failing.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Any chef will tell you
that no detail is too small

when creating truly outstanding food.

For this elimination challenge,

you must work together to create an entree,

a side dish, and a dessert.

What else?

But the entire meal must
not exceed 500 calories.

♪ ♪



I've never counted
calories for a dish before.

I don't like being very
scientific with cooking.

I think it should be all
about adjusting flavors

and feeling... feeling food.

You'll be serving your
meal at Camp Glucose,

which is a fitness camp
for children ages 8 to 18.

Good luck. We'll see you at Camp Glucose.

♪ ♪

I feel pretty good about the challenge.

You know, I'm diabetic,
so I know how hard it is

to constantly be eating
healthy or thinking healthy.

Having Sam on the team, somebody who has to

count carbohydrates for his survival,

he has a lot to bring.

You're at 10 pounds of
your ground turkey mass.

The thing about doing
turkey for this challenge

is that it's a very lean meat.

It tends to dry out very easily.

♪ ♪

Maybe asparagus, like, wrapped in, like,

really thin, like, minute
amount of prosciutto.

When you were a kid, you were 8 years old,

do you think you would
have eaten asparagus?

Mm-hmm. - A really big pizza.

I don't have any children of my own,

but I know that kids love pizza.

You know, we can do, like, a sausage pizza.

Turkey sausage or,
like, something like that.

Mm, that's not a bad idea.

This isn't about how I feel about Betty.

It's not about how Betty feels about me.

This is about the food.

All right, let's do it.

♪ ♪

Tomato.

♪ ♪

We get back from shopping,

and there's this foreign nutritionist

that we're gonna be
watching us to really, like,

find out if we're meeting
exactly the amount of calories

that we're supposed to.

She's gonna observe everything

that we're putting into our dish,

and then she's gonna have
to sign off at the end of today,

and then we can deviate from that.

One cup of oil is 19.09.

One cup of olive oil? - Yes.



That's when all the... - Wow.



You know, all of us are
under this misconception

that, like, "Oh, yeah, you
know, I don't use butter,

but I use olive oil."

Well, hell, at 1900 calories a cup,

I might want to just use
the butter, you know?

And no extra pinches to grow any inches.

I'm feeling awesome about this challenge.

I've taken on the role
as the chief this time.

I also think that Mikey is the wild card.

A lot of people don't realize Mikey went

to a fine culinary school,

and both of us were in the bottom today.

And there's nothing more dangerous

than an injured animal.

Your cupcakes, Marisa, are
about 120, 125 calories each

without the frosting or your garnish.

Okay. - Okay?

I want to make a chocolate fudge cake.

Normally, a slice of chocolate fudge cake

will probably have 500
or 600 calories on its own.

Let me know when you're ready for the...

Yeah, so I'm going to...

what I'm gonna do is tabulate,

and then after I
tabulate, I'll call you over,

and then I'll start mixing,

'cause I don't want to mix
unless you're there to see it.

Okay.

She was measuring
and looking at everything.

It almost felt like the dietary n*zi.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

How many calories in a white?

It's only about 20 calories in a white.

Okay, so I was going to use two whites per.

It's basically up to each team

to create their dishes
below the 500 calories,

no matter how they slice 'em or dice 'em.

You know, they can put


if they want to.

One ounce of cheese per pizza.

Correct.

Our nutritionist, Renee,

had really never seen pizza
done on a low-calorie menu before

and was very leery on whether or not

we could keep the calorie
count under the 500 mark.

And I knew that because
of my Italian background

that I could come up with a recipe

that was under the calorie count.

I had decided to make meringues,

also known as pavlovas.

They're basically egg whites and sugar,

but they make a wonderfully crispy cookie.

I had put 30 egg whites
into the KitchenAid.

I was blending it and blending it,

and it just wasn't coming
to a firm peak stage.

I noticed that Betty was
having some problems

with her meringues,

and I saw that she was using
Splenda other than sugar,

which is just a huge no-no.

Pastry is a science.

You put something into it

that has a different molecular structure,

it's gonna react differently.

♪♪♪♪♪

What are we making? - Chocolate.

Oh, an old-fashioned chocolate fudge cake

with fresh strawberries.

Chocolate fudge cake.

Are there beets in there?

I put some beets in to
make sure it's nice and moist

and to bring out the chocolate flavor.

Okay.

How's the red team doing
on their caloric count here?

They came out to about 480 calories.

We're, like, at 480 with chocolate cake.

I feel so confident in this challenge.

I really want to win it.

I just feel like I have
a little bit to prove.

Good luck tomorrow. - Thank you, Chef.

Pizza for the kids. Kids love pizza.

They do. - This is what we thought.

This was the first thing
that went through our minds.

Okay. So how are you gonna
explain this one to the kids?

'Cause I think Pavlova, they may...

I'm gonna call it a crispy cookie.

Okay. - Yeah.

Peanut butter, chocolate, crispy cookie

with fresh bananas and Splenda.

Sounds good.

How are we doing with
our calorie count here?

You know, um, I'm impressed.

You're impressed? - I'm impressed.

They're about 440 calories.



What are we doing for the kids today?

We're taking a little
home-style approach to the food.

You know, we thought if we
put something on the menu

that kids like, like chicken parmesan,

they'll definitely go for
the chicken parmesan.

Instead of using breadcrumbs,
we're using oat bran.

Okay. - For dessert, a fruit pie

using yogurt, cream cheese, and granola.

And so why do you think the
kids are gonna go for this one?

Because I love pie.

Me, I love pie. - And you're a big kid.

I think I'm a big kid in some way, yeah.

Carolyn, how did they
do with their calories?

They did really, really well.

And altogether, it came to 398.



I'm very confident going into this.

We all are very confident that
not only did we meet the mark,

but we met it minus 100 calories.

Here we have the spiced turkey meatballs.

Spiced turkey meatballs, okay.

We also have fire-roasted corn here.

Then for dessert, we have a fruit smoothie.

So let me ask you a question.

There's a chocolate cake over there,

and there's a pie over
there, and then over here,

Betty is making a crispy cookie
with peanut butter and bananas.

Mm-hmm.

We went the healthy route.
- Went the healthy route.

I guess what I'm getting at is a
bunch of kids in the fitness camp,

I'm sure they haven't seen
chocolate cake in a while.

You know, it's about learning a lifestyle.

They're at a fitness camp,
and they have to learn

how to eat smoothies and stay
away from the chocolate cake.

Where are we as far as
our calories are concerned?

We're gonna guess at 450.
- You're gonna guess at 450?

You think that's a good guess?
- I have 454.

Ha! - Ah!

Very good. - Bravo, thank you, Isabel.

Aw. - Oh, sounds good.

Looking forward to it.

We have 17 minutes exactly. - Yeah, great.

Looking forward to all of it.

All right, let's wrap it up.

At this point in time, I feel
confident about our entree,

I feel confident about our side,

and at the same time, I'm
worried about our dessert.

We just didn't get to the right one.

No, you know what?

My cookies were not the best idea to do.

I completely forgot that
you needed to let them sit

overnight in an oven
to get the crispy cookie.

Betty's dish is just plummeting.

It's just failing. In other
words, Betty's failing.

And I know if the black team goes down,

she's gonna throw me under
the bus any chance she gets.

So I want to execute every
dish to the utmost perfection.

We've signed off on a menu
that the nutritionist observed

You assume everyone is on the
honor system day 2 because

there are no nutritionists,
but, you never know....

So am I the only insecure one who's
packed with bags for elimination?

This competition means so much to me.

It will just k*ll me if I have to go home.

Morning, kisses.

Morning.

Good morning.

What's up?

Marcel, you want a kiss?

If the black team loses, I would be extremely
disappointed in my teammates because there's

nothing more disappointing than placing your
trust in your teammates and having them let

you down.

I feel so confident in this challenge.

I really want to win it, especially since
the remarks that one of the judges had made

to me in the quick fire.

I do want to be here.

I know no one kidnapped me.

I'm dead confident I'm not going home.

Today's challenge is Camp Glucose.

We have been asked to prepare a special menu
for children between the ages of 8 and 18,

and we cannot exceed 500 calories.

All right, man.

Here we go.

The first day's batch of the meringues failed
miserably, so I had to start over again from

beginning with the cookies.

We're signed off on a menu
that the nutritionists observed.

We're prepared to honor
what was signed off on.

You assume everyone is on the honor system
day two because there are no nutritionists,

but you never know.

As I was cooking on the second day and the
nutritionists weren't around anymore, there

was squeeze bottles
of olive oil on the line.

I saw hands just randomly squeezing
olive oil wherever people wanted to put it.

Betty's meringue cookies were
not turning out on the first day.

The second day, I had
noticed the recipe had changed.

The cookies visually looked different.

They were smaller and
had a different consistency.

Yesterday, I put too many egg whites in the
bowl, and so now we've reduced the portion

of egg whites.

And I added two more
tablespoons of the sugar.

The nutritionists told us yesterday that our
calorie count was at about 440, so I felt

very safe in the fact that I was
staying within the calorie realm of 500.

We finish up our prep, pack all our
food, and we head off to camp glucose.

[music]

Welcome to camp glucose.

Our judges for this challenge are Gail Simmons
from Food and Wine, of course you guys know

Tom Colicchio, and Suzanne
Goen, who you met earlier.

The kids will arrive in about half an hour.

They'll be given your menus, and then one
member from each team will go and present

their menu to the group.

Then the kids will order
the meal they want.

The judges will check in with our campers to
find out what really worked and what really

didn't.

And of course, there'll be one winner
and one person packing their knives.

Good luck to all of you.

[music]

Yay, yay, yay, yay.

Frank made a rocking little pizza, and I
think that they're really gonna choose it.

Elliot's cheesecake is perfect.

I think that we have a very
good chance at winning this.

The initial thing is to try and
get the kids to vote for our menu.

Kids love meatballs.

So, I think we have a good chance.

We are asked to send a representative
forward to present our menu.

Mikey is a big kid at heart, so I feel good
about sending Mikey out to the kids to present

our dish.

[music]

They bring all the kids running, and I feel
really happy to have the opportunity to cook

for these kids.

They're in this camp on diets, and we're
able to give them something really yummy with

dessert and everything that meets the diet.

Good afternoon.

Thank you guys for having us.

The black team decided that we
would like to treat you guys all to pizza.

We start out with a sausage pizza.

We have a berry and melon skewer.

We also have thin, crispy chocolate cookies
topped with bananas and peanut butter and

chocolate shavings.

And just to finish it off, a
little bit of berry lemonade.

Do I have any questions that I'm un…

Yes?

Can you get the pizza and the lemonade?

You get the pizza, the lemonade,
the fruit, and the cookies.

Hey guys, how you doing today?

Good.

No one likes to eat vegetables, but we
have to eat them because they're healthy.

So, we decided to jazz
up your veggies today.

We're making a veggie lasagna, chicken parmesan
with marinara sauce and mozzarella all over

it.

And then for dessert, we put
together a berry-rific cheesecake.

Does anyone have any questions?

All right, well, cool.

How you doing?

Good.

Yeah, that's it.

Let me tell you a little bit about
ourselves before we get into the menu.

My partner Sam here, he's a diabetic,
so he has to watch his sugar all the time.

And Clifford has a physical fitness background,
so he's a calorie counter all the way.

On today's menu, we have turkey
meatballs served with a corn on the cob.

And then for dessert, a fruit smoothie with
chocolate graham cr*cker crumbs on top.

What's happening, campers?

I'm Mike from the red team.

I kind of like want to get
the wave going, you know?

It's like...

No, anyways.

Hey, we got a pretty k*ller menu.

It's like chicken on a stick,
some barbecue sauce.

It's grilled.

It's awesome.

And we have a little coleslaw.

Some raisins are in it.

And to top it all off, we got some old-fashioned
fudge cake with some fudge frosting.

Let's rock and roll.

How many of you want some chicken?

Any orders for orange?

Anyone who would like
to order from team white?

All right.

Any orders for black?

That better be some damn good pizza.

I thought I had sold it, but pizza was all
they could see in their little bright shiny

eyes.

That is so good.

That is like... good!

Back away from my fudge cake!

They swapped out yoghurt but they
didn't add enough salt to the salsa.

How's the cake? Is it good?
-It's really good.

Got 1 right?

You're diabetic and you didn't order
the turkey meatballs?

I'm sorry I didn't know
-But the sauce..

How's the corn?

Tasty.

Ok?

We're going to come right back
with the smoothies.

I'm gonna go marry the hot diabetic
over there

[laughing]
-Which one is he?

I'm the pizza girl.

Oh, the pizza.

It's so good.

The pizza's good.
Yeah

Except I think there's
like too much sauce on it.

I don't know I'm a sucker for pizza.
Yeah me too.

Especially if you're,
you know, 8 years old.

How you doing campers?

How's it going?

Were you all happy
with what you ordered?

It was really good actually.
I thought it was great.

I liked the chicken parmesan,
and the lasagne was like it was good.

It was just strange.

So what did you have?

I had the barbeque chicken, coleslaw
and grilled vegetables.

What do you think?

I like the chicken and the
vegetables, they were really good.

But the coleslaw I wasn't
really impressed with.

I really like the pizza.
Yeah.

It had a really good flavour.
It was different than regular pizza.

What was different about it?

It wasn't greasy, so I liked it better.

The smoothie was sour.

Was it sour?

Yeah.

I would think probably
everthing would be good

except the smoothie,
because I think they put

too much grapes and

I think too much cantalope.

When they said smoothie, I was
thinking there was gonna be more thicker

Like ice cream.

Like a milkshake?

Yeah but it was like juice.

Alright, cool. Good talking to you.

So after the tasting we
played soccer with the kids.

It was so nice getting
to give these children

A healthy but enjoyable meal.

And getting to play soccer with them.

Marcel shoots the ball, and
the ball goes to Elian face.

Hilarious!

You're saying people cheated?

I'm not gonna go there, but...

I'll go there.

I like this challenge because its
easy to make something taste good

If you have all these
resources, of fat and sugar

And it's harder to do it.

When you are really
concerned with the health issue.

Which every parent will
tell you is a daily concern

when you're feeding children.

Chef Suzanne, what did you
think of how everything tasted?

Some things were better
than I would of imagined.

some things, like the turkey
meatballs, looked good

and then when we went to
cut into it, it was like a rock.

So that was the orange
teams turkey meatballs

Right. It was a rock,
a rock and a stick.

Some things were salty, some
things were so underseasoned.

The red teams chicken
skewers and the coleslaw

It was so bland

and, just a little seasoning on
that would have gone a long way.

Would have brought the whole thing together,
made the barbeque thing make sense.

It's true, that coleslaw on
the red teams was really weak.

It certainly didn't
entice the kids to order.

And they had the chocolate cake,

which I really thought was going
to capture a bunch of the kids,

What were some of the
more stand out dishes?

Because, lets try
to find a winner here.

The one thing we finished was the pizza.

I think it was a very smart
thing for the black team to do.

Kids love pizza.

Was it the best thing there?

I thought the cheesecake was better.

That's the white team.

Yeah.

I didn't think the white team's menu was
very balanced, but the chicken was cooked

well, so I was happy with that.

We're all in agreement?

I think so.

Yes.

Okay, I'm gonna go call them in.

Can we see the black team, please?

The reason that you guys are here,
you are the winner of this challenge.

Doing the pizza was really smart, because
part of the challenge was to get the kids

to pick your menu.

And whose decision was it to make pizza?

The pizza was well ex*cuted.

It was the one main course we finished.

So Suzanne, we'd like you to have
the privilege of picking the winner.

The person I choose as the winner is...

Frank.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

You made the pizza happen, and you really
impressed me in the quick fire challenge.

And I have a little extra
present for you two.

I wanted to give you a copy of
my book, Sunday Suppers at Luke.

We do a three course menu every Sunday.

I would love to have you
collaborate on a menu with me.

Wow, I'd be honored.

Great.

Congratulations.

Great job.

When I found out that I was the winner, and I
was gonna get this bonus and this recognition,

my skin started to tingle.

And you guys can go now, but do me a favor,
call back the orange and the red team.

All right.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

We won.

The judges want to see the
red team and the orange team.

You two teams were at the
bottom of the barrel in this challenge.

And one of you will be going home.

Mia, why do you think you're here?

To be perfectly honest with you,
I have no idea why we're here.

I thought that our chicken
was moist, it was tasty.

Who made the coleslaw?

We all made it.

It was a collaboration.

We made it together.

We all found that it was completely under
seasoned, and that it really lacked acidity.

There was almost no flavor because of it.

As far as selling the menu, I just
want to know what the thought process

into having Michael up
there selling the menu.

Michael, he really wanted to do something to
illustrate that he was active in this competition.

Why do you think that we feel
that you're not really contributing?

I had to lap back a couple days,
you know, I really miss my wife.

And, you know, that vending
machine challenge, I just threw a blank.

And, you know, you said you had
a vibe from me that I didn't care.

And if I might speak, I almost resent the fact
that anybody would say that he doesn't care

because I do know
Michael, and he does care.

I didn't say he didn't care, I
said he acts like he doesn't care.

That's not what you want to present.

That's not what you should be presenting.

Tam, who led your team?

I guess it was called the team captain.

Did you try the turkey ba*ls?

Yeah.

I did like the seasoning
and the tomato sauce.

Seasoning was fine,
texture was a little hard.

No, turkey was not the correct choice.

Who chose the fruit that
would go into the smoothie?

I think I did.

Did you think about the grape situation,
that it might be too sour for the dish?

Once we tasted it,
then yes, we strained it.

So could you have stirred a
little yogurt or something into that?

We weren't allowed to go back and...

And touch it from yesterday.

And that's another
thing I can say, you know,

I saw people walking around
with, like, squeeze bottles of olive oil.

You're saying people cheated?

I'm not saying people cheated, I'm
saying maybe they had it accounted for.

But during the cooking
process today, you know,

I saw people with, like, squeeze
bottles of olive oil walking around,

like, squirting it to coat this or that.

Who?

I'm just saying.

A tablespoon of olive oil has 120 calories.

I saw many problems occurring yesterday,

that all of a sudden today
were miraculously, like, "Oh."

Well, what wasn't working yesterday
that started working today miraculously?

I'm not that guy, I'm just
saying, I'm not gonna go there.

I'll go there.

Those meringue cookies, yesterday
when they made the meringue cookies,

they used Splenda.

Today, I believe, when they remade
the cookies, they used all sugar.

They eliminated the Splenda.

All right.

Well, we have to make a decision, I think.

Either way, someone has to go home.

And, um, once we have a
decision, we'll call you back.

Thank you.

[suspenseful music]

What are they saying?

We got grilled.

We got grilled.

There's just so much going on.

You have Sam sitting
up here in the 11th hour,

starting to point fingers at other people.

And that other team's managed
to get flavor into their food

by breaking the rules, or
at least bending the rules.

Do they take it into consideration?

I don't know.

I really don't know.

It's just, you know, no idea where to go.

Usually, it's pretty clear-cut that
there's a loser, you know, and a winner.

And this, I don't know,
this is just very, very difficult.

But at this point, there are errors,

and they aren't showing
us who made those errors.

And they know someone goes home every week.

Exactly.

If you're playing by the rules,

and you see someone that
you think is breaking the rules,

I think it's your
responsibility for them to say,

"Hey, wait a minute, that
doesn't seem right over there."

You know, whether it was
done intentionally, or whether...

Well, we don't know if it was ever done.

I don't know. - That's another thing.

I don't know. - We don't really have proof.

I don't know. - This is what Sam said,

but he's not willing to name names.

Because of that, we don't
have any proof that anyone did it.

Where are you going with this, Suzanne?

I don't... you know,
honestly, in good conscience,

I don't know. I don't know.

I wouldn't feel good sending
anyone of them home.

This is the most difficult
decision at this table so far.

It's hard, and quite frankly,

I just got a few more
things to say to them.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

You know...

sitting there at judges' table,

accusations start flying back and forth.

You know, who's using extra olive oil?

Who's putting sugar into the recipes,

and it doesn't belong there?

I mean, this is a competition.

We should be playing by the rules.

Are you... did you guys
feel that people cheated

on their ingredients?

At the judges' table, people
start bringing it up, yeah.

The comment that I had made was that

I said that during the
cooking process today,

there was, like, squeeze
bottles of olive oil,

and during cooking, it
seemed like people were using,

like, unmeasured amounts.

And you don't even know what
we talk to our nutritionists about.

Marcel! - No one's accusing you, man.

Stop talking about us!
- No one accused you,

but if you're getting all defensive,

maybe you want to tell
the chef something now.

You don't even know
what you're talking about,

so I'm gonna get defensive.

Well, let me ask Betty directly.

Betty, did you follow the exact recipe

you followed yesterday?

♪ ♪

Let me just say... - Mm-hmm.

I put two additional
tablespoons of sugar in.

But the portions were a lot smaller,

and that was where I
figured that was compensated.

Plus, we had an additional 60 calories

in our 500-calorie compensation,

which I thought that that was the guideline

that we needed to stick with.

Right, but once the recipes
were locked in yesterday,

you were not supposed
to deviate today at all.

I misunderstood that.

Are you the only one
who misunderstood that?

It was not something
that was done maliciously.

I thought that I could still add it

and still be within the 500-calorie range.

I believe that you misunderstood that.

However, other people are saying

they know what the rules were.

I know, but I didn't.

And it wasn't something that I did, like,

to [bleep] anybody else.

And the reason is, hey, you can change it,

but how do you verify the 500?

It depends on your education

and what your nutrition told you.

Bingo. - Or your nutrition...

Listen, guys, we can go on all night long,

and we just gotta end this.

No one's going home tonight.

But believe me,

we're gonna be watching you really closely

from here on out.

Consider yourselves on probation.

Thank you, Chef. - Thank you.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

It was a mess.

Apparently, Betty misunderstood the rules.

And just the fact that she admitted it

made me think, you know
what, she's not cheating.

First of all, I know that our
team played by the rules,

so I know that whatever was said tonight

was not directed at our team.

Number two, I'm gonna also say

that, you know, when we're out there

on the [bleep] chopping block

and we throw each other off the bus,

don't come holding my
hand afterwards, all right?

Josie, it's not about you.

It's about the competition.

We were all in that room,

and nobody who wasn't in that room

can say what happened.

And there was no one
throwing anybody under the bus.

I was shocked.

I did not once hear Mia say to Betty,

"I actually said something
at the judges' table."

I just thought it was really
hypocritical and really phony.

She's saying that I threw you under a bus.

Get it on your...
- It's not about you and I.

It's not about you and I.
- The fact of the matter is

that I did something,

but I didn't think I was
doing anything wrong.

Okay, guys, listen.

There were rules.

Rules were not followed
completely properly.

Misunderstanding.

We're all still here.

We're all still in the competition.

Everybody should be ecstatic.

And if there's a question of anyone else

that didn't play by the
rules on the team that won,

then we should have [bleep] won, all right?

And you heard it right here.

Coming up next on "Top Chef,"

your challenge is to create a dish

using one of these
ingredients on the table here.

Send all our plates out,

and one of the plates comes back.

Where's the clock? Your time is up.

The plate can't go out.

Someone's got to say,

"Hey, that looks like peppered bits."

Well, we can't serve that,
and we have two hours left.

Let's fix it.

Let's fix the problem.

For more about the recipes seen tonight,

go to bravotv.com.

[upbeat music]