"Top Chef" Recaps: Episode 4.8 "Common Threads"

Another nice article! :D and funny at that =). Is it me or top chef is loosing interest now that the chefbians are not there anymore, or now that they are ranking low =|. Lol.

And poor Mark, it was time for him to go, I cant imagine how he cooks at his restaurant if he was always one of the lowest lately, I would never go to his restaurant, thats for certain XD.

I dont think Lisa will stay long on that show?..anyone agrees? LOL

Lisa should have gone last week. she's gross and has a terrible attitude. i stand by that.

and while we're on the subject, richard should be gone, too. the scales thing? that's just gross and unaccepable.

Remember the criticism that Mark got during the tailgating challenge that he was a mess because he tasted his food and then put the same spoon he used back into the pot? Well he did it again during the quickfire challenge. It was pretty gross. My mom likes to read the blogs on the Bravo website and she said that a lot of people mentioned that Richard does the same thing, too. Then, when the bottom three were Mark, Stephanie, and Lisa, I was so upset that another woman might go home that I was actually rooting for him to go home. Stephanie is definitely my favorite cheftestant, so I hope she does better next time. Andrew is way to creepy for his own good, and his "boner" comment is going to give me nightmares.

has anyone ever noticed that they give away who will either win or be on the chopping block during the first few minutes of every episode. they either interviewed or showed clips lisa, antonia, and stephanie (maybe mark too, but i forget) right at the beginning. spoils the ending for me.

after watching these last few episodes, its seems pretty clear that the judges aren't judging fairly or solely based on food. richard should have gone home for making ming tsai spit out fish scales, but because he is one of the best chefs, they sent zoi home instead. i would rather eat tasteless mushrooms than fish scales, but that's just me.

...and yet, i still love this show. curse you top chef!

I thought they weren't allowed contact with those from outside of the show. We've had past contestants complain that they weren't able to talk to their kids and that it was a damper on their creativity and positivity and such, but we get a shot of Antonia talking to her daughter. Are the parents allowed to talk to their kids? Wives to their husbands? In four seasons, have they showed anyone else talking to their family on the phone? There has got to be a slight advantage to those who get to talk to their loved ones, if others are not able.

Am I losing interest in the show since the lesbians are dwindling? Nope. Zoi was obnoxious with her incessant whining (and sucking) and Jennifer wasn't even featured all that much until Zoi was booted. I'm even hoping the last remaining lesbian is kicked off shortly. Now, if Stephanie and Dale are kicked off, I will probably lose a lot of interest. Quickly.

If they are judging cumulatively, there is no way Richard should have gone home for the fish scales while Zoi stays with her mushrooms. Richard has proved he can cook in different genres, Zoi has pretty much sucked all around. Now, if they are judging on that single event, then Richard should have gone home, not for the fish scales, but for the shite texture and taste of the salmon. I would rather pick out a couple scales, than eat something completely tasteless. I think from Tom's comment about Stephanie generally rocking her food that they are judging cumulatively. The one flaw in my thinking is that freaking Nikki is still there.

1.  Bacon added to anything is great and soup really impresses chefs.  I am totally expecting to see bacon soup or soup-infused bacon before this season is over.

2.  Once a someone wins multiple challenges, the judges will let them get away with more; i.e. Richard's scaly fish and Stephanie's detested couscous and peanut butter.  Although, there is a part of me that wonders if the judges would have sang a different tune if only she had crumbled bacon over the top...

3.  The more annoying a contestant is, the longer their run on the show will be.  As much as it irks me Spike, Dale, Andrew and Nikki will probably be there for the final challenge.

It seems to me that basically, they follow the three strikes and you are out rule.  Spike came close to being out of there but he redeemed himself...I think it involved soup.  lol  But Mark...Mark Mark Mark...his second strike had a big exclamation to go along with it...so when he was among the bottom this time, I knew he was going.

 You can wrap almost anything in bacon--water chestnuts, scallops, filets, meat loaf, flank steak rolled up around stuffing and a sausage, and veggie burgers (infinitely better with bacon and cheese)...oooh, I think I just got a chill...