Spies Like Us

Top Chef - Season 7, Episode 6

Note to readers: The following is a short summary of the episode that will (probably) be converted to a full, blow-by-blow recap later. As often happens, Life has intruded, and the first thing to get sacrificed when free time is short is the blog. Stay tuned!

I don't know if it's the recent Russian-agents-living-among-us-and-trying-to-garner-secrets-by-being-suburbanites story that feeds the undercurrent of shifty goings-on in this episode, or if everyone really is being this sneaky.

Agent Alpha comes in the form of guest judge Michelle Bernstein, who has a rocky past relationship with Andrea. Does she consider this old rivalry when she punts Andrea to the bottom of the Quickfire, or is Andrea's food genuinely bad? Said Quickfire is to work with an exotic protein, and to switch proteins midway through the challenge. Along with Andrea, Alex and Stephen sink to the bottom. Kelly, Tamesha, and Amanda rise to the top, with Kelly winning the challenge and its attendant immunity. I'm a little confused as to how she won with an emu egg omelet, as an egg is pretty much an egg, no matter which fowl has shot it out its butt.

The Elimination Challenge splits the chefs into two groups (not teams), and tasks them with making a cold dish. Their food will be served to the opposing group, who will nominate a top and bottom chef to be presented for the win and elimination. Angelo may or may not be acting as Agent Beta when he advises fellow groupmates Tamesha and Stephen on their dishes. The other chefs certainly think so. Alex takes on Agent Gamma status when he intentionally refrains from telling Amanda her chicken is full of cartilage, while Ed happily refers to his Agent Delta past in stealing Angelo's girlfriend.

The Tamesha/Tiffany/Stephen/Angelo/Andrea group may form a little cabal in nominating Kenny for the loss, while admitting that Kevin's dish was the best. The Kevin/Kenny/Kelly/Amanda/Alex group puts Tiffany up for the win, and Tamesha's disconcerting scallop up for the loss. At this point, since Kenny and FillInTheBlank are up for elimination, there's hardly any point in watching the rest of the episode. To make a long story short, Kevin scores the individual win, and since Kenny could do anything short of defecating on the plate and still be safe, Tamesha takes the hit. Yawn. For an episode so full of intrigue, this sure fits nicely into the most boring season to date.