abdicating all responsibility for his kitchen. And he failed to really cook anything good enough to make up for that.

Yeah, if his dish hadn't been nasty, maybe they could have gotten rid of Lisa. But lack of leadership AND lack of cooking? Yeah, no.

The other team was such a refreshing blast of almost zen calm, it was soothing.

I was thinking about how on these talent/skill shows, I don't mind boring, when it comes with actual talent and skill. It's nice to watch people who are good at what they do trying to do well, you know?

Yes, she yelled at him about it during the process - but didn't bring it up at judges' table. I hope Bourdain blogs too. I like him in the Head Judge role. I believe he strikes fear into the hearts of the Cheftestants.

I was thinking about how on these talent/skill shows, I don't mind boring, when it comes with actual talent and skill. It's nice to watch people who are good at what they do trying to do well, you know?

Wasn't it basically this same group, plus Andrew, during Wedding Wars? I remember that they dealt with him as well as anybody has. I also remember one of them saying "we decided that we couldn't let Andrew anywhere near the guests" which made me laugh and laugh at the time.

Lisa has the worst case of kitty-butt face since the Church Lady.

have I mentioned how much I hate that she has my name? so much!

I believe he strikes fear into the hearts of the Cheftestants.

Plus him and Ted seemed to try to top each other for most hilarious comments on the dishes during the tasting, which is a hoot.

Plus him and Ted seemed to try to top each other for most hilarious comments on the dishes during the tasting, which is a hoot.

I adore Tom, but Bourdain is so much fun to have on. And yeah, talk about striking fear into the hearts of cheftestants. Even Tom is never as blunt as Bourdain.

The idea that either Spike or Lisa is going to be in the final four enrages me. I know Dale fell apart last night, and yeah, no leadership plus BUTTERSCOTCH SCALLOPS WTF?! earned him a ticket home, but it still sucks. Especially Spike, gloating over there on the end in his suit and stupid hat, so proud of the fact that he managed to worm his way out of any responsibility for the actual FOOD. Grrr.

worm

God, this is the PERFECT nickname for Spike.

Wormhat?

Lisa DID blame Dale for the rice at judges table, though - she said WF didn't have the right kind of rice so she got the kind Dale said to buy.

To which I say, if you can't get the MAIN INGREDIENT for your dish during the shopping phase? Maybe you need to change the dish! You can't make sticky rice without the sticky rice part!

I adore Stephanie and Richard. And Antonia is growing on me, even if I still haven't been impressed by her food - it's telling that the challenges she's won have been the "home cooking" ones. She has yet to prove to me that she can cook gourmet restaurant food.

And Antonia is growing on me, even if I still haven't been impressed by her food

Someone upthread said it for me, though -- even if I don't think Antonia is at the same level as the others with regard to food, she seems like someone I could hang out with comfortably for hours, minutes after meeting her. Just no bullshit there.

The thing is, though, Dale clearly does not have the chops to be an executive chef. He was just like Nikki in the Wedding Wars - deciding early on that his team was too irritating to deal with (understandable given the players involved) and abdicating all responsibility for his kitchen.

I quite agree. He knew what he was getting into with this team, and actively took the reins at the beginning, but never throught through how to make personalities like these work together. Which, admittedly, is a tough question. But he seemed to be going through the motions of leadership, and not actually leading.

(and bless you, Tony B, for pointing out that Asia is, in fact, a pretty big place)

Indeed, this had bene driving me crazy for ages, especially when people complain that Dale"only cooks Asian," when in fact, he's probably covered a larger geographic area knowledge than just about anyone else on the show. Fucking Americans.

Plus him and Ted seemed to try to top each other for most hilarious comments on the dishes during the tasting, which is a hoot.

Heh. I think Bourdain's gotten very comfortable as an occasional part of the show, so his appearances are both exciting and fairly seemless.

But I thought the neat bit was that he was a little less the snarky guest judge this episode, and seemed to be making an honest effort to do Tom's job. Which somehow made him even more terrifying.