Scores Episode 12

Noah: 760
Nikki: 610
Kristen: 470
Mike: 390
Brittany: 330
Shyla: 80
Tegan:70
Shirley: -90

Scores Episode 11

Noah: 660
Nikki: 510
Kristen: 470
Mike: 430
Brittany: 370
Tegan:70
Shyla: -20
Shirley: -90

Lots of Picks

Noah's Picks:

Quickfire - Lisa
Winner - Stephanie
Loser - Spike

Nikki's Picks:

Quickfire - Stephanie
Winner - Stephanie
Loser - Spike

Shyla's Picks:

Quickfire - Richard
Winner - Stephanie
Loser - Spike

Kristen's Picks:

Quickfire - Richard
Winner - Richard
Loser - Lisa

Shirley's Picks

Quickfire - Antonia
Winner - Richard
Loser - Lisa

Tegan's Picks for Wednesday May 28

Quickfire: Richard
Elimination Winner: Richard
Elimination Loser: Lisa

Tegan's Picks

Quickfire: Stephanie
Elimination Winner: Richard
Elimination Loser: Lisa

Nikki's Picks

Quickfire Challenge Winner: Antonia
Elimination Challenge Winner: Antonia
Elimination Challenge Loser: Spike

brit's picks

Quickfire Winner: Dale
Challenge Winner: Stephanie
Eliminated: Stephanie

Shirley's Picks

Quickfire: Stephanie
Win: Richard
Eliminate: Lisa

Noah's Picks

Quickfire Challenge Winner: Lisa
Elimination Challenge Winner: Stephanie
Elimination Challenge Loser: Spike

Shyla's Picks

Quick Fire Winner: Dale
Elimination Challenge Winner: Richard
LOSER: Spike

Kristen's picks

Quick fire winner: Dale
Elimination winner: Stephanie
Sent packing: Lisa

Rule Proposal

On behalf of Nikki, I propose the following rule:

By 5 p.m. of the day on which the new episode will air, each participant must post on the blog with the name of the contestant the participant predicts will be eliminated. Once a name is given, there can be no changes. If the participant guesses correctly, the participant will win 50 points. If the contestant chosen by the participant to be eliminated wins the elimination challenge, the participant will lose 30 points. Failure to submit any name as the person who will be eliminated results in -20 points.

Scores Episode 10

Noah: 610
Nikki: 500
Mike: 470
Kristen: 420
Brittany: 320
Tegan:70
Shyla: -20
Shirley: -90

Scores Episode 9

Noah: 600
Nikki: 450
Mike: 420
Kristen: 370
Brittany: 310
Tegan: 80
Shyla: -30
Shirley: -50

Powerankings: Episode Ten

1. Dale - With good form in the quickfire and another elimination win, Dale nudges past Richard and Stephanie, who both wound up in the bottom of the quickfire. And, he's probably not the most hated remaining contestant.

2. Stephanie - Stephanie appears to be back. Perhaps she's starting to regain some confidence.

3. Richard - I'm chalking this weeks performance up to sleep deprivation.

4. Antonia - Safe, reliable, but unspectacular. She could be on the outside looking into the finals.

5. Spike - That was probably one of the weakest dishes ever. He gets the nod over Lisa because: (1) Lisa eats puppies and small children for fun ; (2) he didn't act like a four year old and claim that someone sabotaged his dish.

6. Lisa - I could see Lisa going to the finals. I could also see Lisa jumping over the table to strangle Padma.

Eliminated

Andrew - I heard the reason that Lisa is currently unemployed is that Andrew sabotaged a dish at her last restaurant. Apparently he threw the rice under a passing bus, then scraped it back into the pan before she noticed.

How many contestants left?

Everyone: 0

Its time to pick individual winners and losers.

For the record, this is how the teams panned out.

Noah: 3 - Poor Andrew, if he could have just made it one more week.
Nikki: 3
Mike: 3
Kristen:3
Brit: 3
Shyla: 1
Tegan: 1
Shirley: 0

A Joke

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Noah.
Noah who?
Noah something? Andrew eats poo!

Now there's a culinary boner!

How many contestants left?

Noah: 4 - That's right folks, unscathed by elimination challenges, your clairvoyant frontrunner has four.
Nikki: 3
Mike: 3
Kristen:3
Brit: 3
Shyla: 1
Shirley: 1
Tegan: 1

Its Richard v. Antonia next week in the Freestone battle royal. Stay tuned, this is starting to get interesting.

Powerankings:Episode Nine

Top Chef Powerankings: Episode Nine

1. Richard - Another win for team Blais. You could say he's "blazing" the competition.

2. Antonia - Sitting pretty on team Blais. Lets see how she does on her own next week.

3. Stephanie - Turns out she's pretty handy with the cake. But not as handy as Lisa.

4. Dale - Classy, professional, sweet, what doesn't describe this lovable chef?

5. Lisa - She shows some skill making the German chocolate cake, and later gives the judges the look of death for not eliminating Dale.

6. Andrew - Sitting right where he needs to be to make the top six. Ha, Shyla.

7. Spike - Amus B. had it right on this one.

Eliminated

Nikki - If she were a batman villain, she would be "the Choker." Its about time. She should have been eliminated before Mark.

Consolation Prize

I found a great consolation prize for Kristen. They're not as cool as the sunglasses I'll be winning, but they will do.

Andrew is the new black

Two important comments, followed by some other random thoughts:
1. My team has scored the most points two weeks in a row because of Andrew. He's been the difference make both weeks for my team.

2. I can't help but notice that I am the only person remaining with four chefs on my team. Here's a tally of remaining team members for those of you keeping score at home:

Noah: 4
Nikki: 3
Mike: 3
Kristen:3
Brit: 3
Shyla: 2
Shirley: 2
Tegan: 1

Random Thoughts:
1. Its now impossible for Mike to gain ground on Nikki during the team portion of the competition. They have the same three chefs on their team.
2. Kristen needs Stephanie to do well and Andrew to do poorly to catch up to Noah. They share two of the same chefs on their teams.
3. Nikki and Mike can only gain ground on Noah during the team portion if Andrew does poorly. They each share three of the same chefs on their teams.
4. Although Shyla nearly pulled herself out of the negative this week, her magic number grew by 20 points to 520.
5. This seems to be shaping into a four-person race. However, if Stephanie returns to form, Brit could find herself in the mix.
6. The Tegan/Shyla battle is turning out to be interesting. Although Tegan only has one remaining chef, its Richard. Shyla does have Antonia, but she also has Nikki.

Scores - Fantasy Comunity Property Top Chef

Nikki and Noah: 910

Mike and Brittany: 550

A quote from Brittany:
"I am fine with you and Noah considering yourself Top Chef Spouses. [Mike and I] could still take you."

If by "take you" Brittany meant lose to you, then she is correct. Also, I would like to point out that although Noah is the dominate point contributor on our team I am only 110 points behind him. Brittany, on the other hand, is still riding Mikes "success" as she is 190 points behind him. It looks like if they ever want a chance at beating us she is going to have to start bringing something to the table.

Scores episode 8

Noah: 510
Nikki: 400
Mike: 370
Kristen: 320
Brittany: 180
Tegan: 30
Shyla: -10
Shirley: -30

Top Chef Powerankings: Episode Eight

This is a snapshot of how the contestants rank against each other after eight episodes.

1. Dale - Another solid performance from Dale. He's like a cooking machine with tons of attitude.

2. Richard - He needs a good week to wrestle the top spot from Dale, but he's been almost as consistent, except for that one salmon snafu.

3. Antonia - Finally, she fulfills some of the potential everyone saw in her. The question is whether we will see the Antonia from episode 8 down the stretch, or whether she will revert to her mediocre ways.

4. Andrew - With two good elimination challenge dishes in a row, Andrew is starting to break out of the middle of the pack.

5. Stephanie - How the mighty have fallen. She was so good until two weeks ago. Now her dishes are just pedestrian. Has she run out of creative ideas, was she just a flash in the pan, or is this just a temporary slump?

6. Spike - A middle of the pack performance from Spike, but the bottom chefs are starting to get weeded out. Maybe he should make a few more soup dishes.

7. Nikki - Her best performance since episode one. She could be the next chef kicked off, however. She's been the most consistent poor performer of all the remaining chefs. Some people may think she's turned the corner, but I wouldn't bet on it.

8. Lisa - Surprise, more attitude at the judges table. She's probably a better cook than Nikki, but she could be sent home first for running her mouth.

Eliminated

Mark - He had been on a downward spiral for a few weeks, so this wasn't unexpected. However, I thought he would pull it together for a little longer and at least outlast Nikki. He certainly didn't help himself when he called out Colicchio at the judges' table. The judges are probably happy they don't have to eat marmite anymore.