Top Chef -- High Steaks

A little pre-episode commentary (this is kind of a live blog): I hope either Lisa or Antonia goes home this episode. If not and one of the other three don't make it to the finale I'll be pretty annoyed. With that said....

What an epic Quickfire Challenge. Butchering chops into singles, how fun. The only thing that would make this more fun is if Rocky Balboa was punching a slab of cow in the background. But the cutting of the chop isn't the whole challenge. They have to cook a perfect medium-rare steak for the guest judge. Hmm...

I'm not a big fan of Padma sporting the Kate Hepburn look. Or her bad puns. But hey, you can't win them all.

Go Spike with his amazing butcher skills. Too bad Stephanie is just awful at all the Quickfire Challenges. The cutting part, at least. But Stephanie's looks delicious. Odd that the judges aren't trying the steaks... something must be up.

As expected, Stephanie's butcher skills fail. Richard... I'm so over this guy.

Go Spike, winning the challenge! My boy is tearing it up. Now he gets to pick first what protein he wants for his appetizer and entree in the Elimination Challenge. But as we know, from before, he screwed it up. We'll see.

Yay for Chef Tom being back. Also, we get some Gail and no Ted. Why do I bother pointing that out every time? It is pretty cool they brought the former winners to eat, but they do that in every reality show, so whatever.

Damnit, they didn't like Spikes appetizer. But they also didn't like Antonia's, so there's still hope.

Richard's entree looks delicious. And with his appetizer, it seems like he's going to win again. Sweet....

Man, and Spike bombed on the entree, too. Okay, so all season I've accepted he's not the best chef, but I play favorites, so he should get to the finale based on that.

I'm glad they liked Stephanie's dishes, though. She's my real favorite. I would kill to have either Antonia or Lisa go home.

Oh man, the chefs are drinking wine out of plastic Solo cups. I'm glad people on television roll the same way I do.

As dumb as it was for Spike to call the guest judge out for having frozen scallops in his cooler, he was right. And him immediately regretting his decision was pretty funny. But looking at the way the judges were talking, it seems like Spike is going to go home. I've never been more hopeful for tricky reality TV editing. But that's more of a VH1/MTV trick.

Awesome that Stephanie won. I like her a lot. Two wins in a row, holler.

Not surprised Richard is going, and kind of annoyed Antonia is going. But, she did cook well. Meh.

And of course Spike goes home. I hate reality TV. Oh well Padma, I'll still marry you even though you sent my boy home.