On SYTYCD, I don't think the show really had a choice about letting Ashleigh stay in the competition--they let Noelle stay when she was injured at the very start, and it sounded at the time like that was an established rule.

The voters, on the other hand--WTF?

TC: Man, what I wouldn't have given to have Michael have drawn Robin's knife.

Seriously, though, why bring back EVERYBODY? Why not just the last six?

My guess is they were hoping someone would draw Robin so there would be more drama!

While Kevin got sucky sous chefs, I'm not sure they were to blame for the choice of just having pork belly on that dish.

True. Preeti's slowness on the prep day wasn't the reason his pork belly wasn't tender enough, and that's what killed his shot.

Tom C's face during that course was like granite. It's been pointed out on several food blogs that I read that Kevin's food most closely resembles Tom C's own cooking style (almost all of his dishes would be at home at Craft or Grammercy Tavern), and I think he was really pulling for him to win.

yeah, the sous-chef set up was crazy. And the zillion twists- I liked it better when it was "The challenge is simple. Cook us the best meal of your life."

Also, with the moms being there, I smell production monkeying with the BROTHERS TO THE LAST MINUTE. I mean, has anyone been told "you are NOT Top Chef" and asked to leave the room? So that it's Brother v Brother to see who won? Yeeeaahhh.

The couple of times Kevin had an issue with his pork, it was because he didn't have all day to cook, right? That's a bummer, because I can see him thinking about what are his best dishes, realizing they are the ones that cook all day to eat at dinner, and trying to make them work anyway.

Yeah, I don't understand why you make "slow-cooked" pork when you don't actually have time to "slow-cook" it.

Also, early in the episode I discovered that I can tell the Voltaggio boys apart by their voices.

Now that's just wrong.

You know, after watching Sonya's piece last night (which was just OK for the most part), I am even less happy about Ashleigh getting through on the sympathy vote. She could not have kept up with Kathryn and Ellenore the way that Mollee did. And I still think it's just wrong for her to have gotten a bye into the finale. I do think the show could've had an out if they'd wanted to take it. In the past, they have set a precedent with how they treat injuries. But neither case of letting the injured girl continue in the competition (Jesse/Noelle) resulted in that person getting a potential pass into the finale. And both of those cases happened when the judges were still picking who stayed and who went home, not when it was open to audience vote, the audience being infinitely more susceptible to the sympathy pleas and more likely to give someone they like a pity vote than the judges. So I think the show could've reasonably argued that the circumstances in FP's case were different enough that a different policy was warranted. If they had wanted to, which they obviously didn't. Still chaps my ass, though.

Last night's show. I can't believe it's almost over.

Fwiw I hated the "girl group" in last night's show. I WTF'd my way through their performance. That also wasn't the best I've heard Kris Allen.

The girl group was horrid. I kept being distracted by the gold tennies one had on while the others were wearing heels. I kept expecting her to breakout into some flips or something. I guess that made it easier to ignore the "song".

Is it for sure that Ashleigh is cleared to dance in the finals? Will she be healed by then or will they try to choreograph around her limitations? Those questions alone should have given reason to not give her a bye. It is unfair to her partner if they choreograph around her or if she can't perform.