Tele-bits: Top Chef - Down to Five

As we start the show I notice that no one is weeping over Howie being gone. Just something I noticed. No, everyone is pulled out of bed by Padma as she giggles and jumps up and down and makes all the chefs get out of bed. Ohh how fun! ohh how silly! echhh

Actually I do like Padma. I think she's sweet and funny. I saw her on The View last season and both Rosie and I wanted to make her our best friend. She would have been a GREAT addition to that show. I loved her story about the scar on her arm that she doesn't bother to hide. She is proud of it! It happened in a car accident with her Mother. She put her arm out to protect her Mom and was injured.

Anyway, back to Top Chef. The only one who seemed happy to see Ms. Lakshi was CJ. He looked way too happy for early morning. CJ is adorable and so obviously has it bad for her.

I won't go into the details too heavily because I'm betting if you're reading this you watched it already. Quickfire Challenge: Make Padma breakfast. Hung (and obviously all the other chefs!) talk about how much Padma likes her booze. But only Hung used it in his smoothy and won the challenge. Steak and Eggs for a tiny woman like Padma seemed pretty dumb to me but she actually liked it. Just not as much as she liked the Grand Marnier in the smoothy! He was the winner.

The chefs were very impressive this week. To end up in a totally unfamiliar kitchen and be forced to make GOOD airline food is a crazy-hard challenge. I actually thought they all did a good job but CJ was probably the weakest link. He was unorganized and wouldn't have made it if Casey and others hadn't helped him out and he couldn't quite get the packages to hold together so they'd fit nicely in the airplane ovens. But at least he had 18 entrees, DALE.

The judges are still mean-spirited and petty. What I think is happening is that they have all good chefs this year (at least the top 8 or so) and they had to figure out things to criticize. Can't you see conferring, figuring out who to throw under the bus this week? "How can I be mean but not so mean that the audience hates me?"

Well Casey's broccolini (wtf is that?) lost it for him. He was the obvious choice given all the troubles he had this week. But he is my favorite and I'll miss him. You are the weakest link, goodbye!

Did anyone else think that Padma was going to cry when she had to tell him to pack his knives and go??