In our first helping on Top Chef Masters, the four competing chefs were Douglas Rodriguez from Philadelphia, Anita Lo from New York, John Besh from New Orleans, and Mark Peel from Los Angeles.
Their Quick Fire Challenge was to cook an egg dish with one hand behind their back! Wow, um, hard! Anita walked away with a perfect score, whereas John ended up with 0.5 stars. Ouch.
The Elimination Challenge was to cook a meal for Neil Patrick Harris and his friends. They were each given a card with a magic term on it which is meant to be the inspiration for their dish. Mark had mystery and did a cute snapper meal wrapped in paper. John had surprise and he “surprised” the guests by making a horseradish cream with liquid nitrogen. Anita had illusion and made a faux scallop and surf & turf dish. Douglas ended the night with a spectacle of duck four ways.
Anita took home the win. Hoping to join her in the Champion’s Round were Rick Moonen from Las Vegas, Nils Norén from New York, Lachlan Patterson from Boulder, and Michael Chiarello from Napa.
They needed to take a classic junk food item and make it fine cuisine for their Quick Fire Challenge. The cast of Bravo’s Flipping Out. Poor Rick, he didn’t even finish his dish! That’s even worse than John Besh in the last episode. So, naturally, Rick ended up with 0.0 stars and Michael got 4.5 stars. The Elimination Challenge was a doozy! They had to do a 3-course meal for 100 people. But in miniature version. Yay for mini things! Michael sure was a schmoozer with the audience but his basil and goat cheese gelato sounded so good. Nils took a huge risk with smoking his tea for the chocolate ganache. Rick might just make the biggest comeback with his individual panicottas and ceviche.
Too bad. Michael ended up winning. If only Rick had actually finished the Quick Fire then he would have won the whole thing. Sigh.
Now, onto the main event…So You Think You Can Dance. They went all out for this show by getting Debbie Allen to be the guest judge.
The top five girls – Randi, Melissa, Jeanine, Kayla, and Janette – took on a Bollywood number. Ooh, I bet this is going to be good! Really, I just don’t think you can mess up Bollywood because it’s so fun and wonderful.
The first new couple was…Kayla & Evan! Hmm, I am not excited about this because I don’t really like Kayla. But I love Evan so I am hoping that they do well together. They danced a Viennese Waltz, which is a little bit of a problem since Kayla is the tallest girl and Evan is the shortest guy. I thought they did really well! And you could definitely tell sometimes that he was shorter than her, but I think they danced it really beautifully and the height didn’t seem to get in the way at all. He was able to lift her just as well, if not better, than Kūpono did! Perhaps I will like this couple after all!! They were followed by my least favorite dancer ever, Brandon. I still think he is so incredibly arrogant! I admit that he is good and talented but he knows it and he does not hide it in any way!Janette ended up with Ade as her partner. They ended up as the opposite in height compared to Kayla & Evan. The two were given a Hip Hop routine with Tabitha and Napoleon. I have never seen Ade do Hip Hop! Ade was completely awesome in this! I wish we had been able to see him do this genre more. I didn’t think that Janette did as well and she as a little skittish.
Randi danced her solo next and I forgot that we have yet to see her dance a solo so far! She was so great and cute. Kūpono followed up with his solo. He has such strange solos and dance styles. But not as strange and wonderful as last year’s resident Hawaiian, Mark. Let’s hope that he does better with his new partner, whoever she may be.
Jeanine & Jason were the next new pairing and maybe he will break out of his shell with her. And the two for a Contemporary routine from Travis Wall from Season 2!! Eek! Oh, this better be good. Oh, oh, oh!! They got a standing ovation from the audience and the judges!! Oh, Travis, how wonderful! This was probably my favorite dance to date on this season. It was so fantastic and passionate and sexy and hot and sweet. Just perfect.Melissa took the stage next for her solo. It’s so wonderful to have a ballerina on the show doing her solos. She is just so good at what she does. And my fave Evan followed. He is just so good at the old Hollywood style of dance. It’s like looking back at a young Gene Kelly. I just love him and hope that the audience likes him as well. In a trio of solos, Kayla took to the stage next. And finally she did a solo worthy of her skills! Seeing her excitement of working with Evan has changed my mind about her. She doesn’t seem nearly as shallow anymore.
Randi & Kūpono ended up together in the end. Poor them, they had to do a Paso Doble. Okay, what was the need for putting Randi in a wig? I think she would have looked just fine with her normal hair. I think there was something lacking here. It just wasn’t powerful enough. I honestly don’t think Kūpono was strong enough for her. She needed someone to throw her around and take that leading role for her.
Ade did his solo next and it was really fantastic. I feel like he often falls to the background too much, which is such a bummer because he is just too good for that to happen.
After the break, Jeanine took the stage with a fiery tango style solo. She is so good! Love her. Then her new partner, Jason, performed a cute solo to a Muddy Waters tune. He is too freaking cute.
Melissa & Brandon were the last couple to dance and they got a Tyce Diorio Broadway number. It will be interesting to see Melissa do this style of dance because I don’t think she done anything yet that has really required her to have such a character. They danced to Aquarius from Hair and the piece was just so true to the show and the song. My nervousness towards this pairing and seeing Brandon was calmed a little by the fact that Melissa is so good that you basically only watch her when she is dancing.
Janette finished up the solos and being the only ballroom dancer left, she has a bit more trouble doing solos because she really needs to be with a partner to get her full dancing potential out.
The Top 5 guys finished off the night with an African themed dance. The boys did really well. It was a good match to the girls’ dance. I kept being drawn to Jason. He is really coming into his own. Love it!
Next up on Get Real, an old episode of The Fashion Show and the results of So You Think You Can Dance. Stay tuned :)
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