All-Stars 2/23 Show Discussion **Spoilers**

[AcookerTV]

I thought it was kind of cruel of Paula Dean to emphasize so much how Antonia would have won the quickfire if she'd plated two plates. To acknowledge her food was great would have been nice. But the way she did it just dug the knife in too much to me. I also thought it was interesting to see two contestants (can't remember who) talking about what they needed to do to take Richard out. Made me thing that perhaps some of the pressure Richard is showing on himself isn't coming entirely from him, but from talk from others that he's the one to beat. And I hate to say it, but I got really tired of Carla this week. I'm sure she felt pressure with the style of cooking just like Fabio would for an Itallian challenge, or Angelo for an Asian challenge. But the way she was talking to the judges about how they expected something great from her for this just seemed arrogant, and I didn't like it.

[Shoepie]

I am actually kind of glad Dale is gone. I'm neither a hater or a major fan. But, the guy is strong...but when he blows it, he blows it in a big way. And, given how this season is going, I suppose i shouldn't be surprised.

I really wish Tiffany would go...there's no room for mediocrity at this stage of the game, and I think she, like Angelo, are just burned out.

On the flip side, with Dale gone, my personal favorites (of those that remain) have a better shot of going to the end - Richard, Carla, and Antonia. I like Mike. I know, audience of one, but I do like him. I'd like to see him as F4.

I'm always wrong about these things...but Carla has a tendency to crash and burn - kind of like Dale. As she said tonight, she gets stressed. For that reason, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't make it to the end.

Just had a thought ... what if she did and they pair her with Casey again?!?! They wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't do that, but it would be good tv.

I agree with you.

Carla, please pull it together! I believe she would have won in her season had she not done sous vide.

I don't fault Richard for sharing his book with Mike, he trusted the chef oath was solid in his competition. Mike is a snake and he did more harm to himself than he realizes. A reputation is something to guard and polish. Once you get a lable it is hard to wiggle out of it. It won't matter in this competition other than losing the respect of his peers. And that could cause his to be off his game. But in his career it will cause a wrinkle that he will have to fix.

I loved that Paula stressed that Antonia's dish was the best. She had to know that! A verbal endorsement from Paula on national TV is wonderful to have. And it took a bit of the shine off of Mike's win, which was good, given the circumstances. It wasn't bad for Richard to hear either. Antonia is to be taken seriously and I am not sure Richard sees any of them as stiff competition. I like the guy but his ego gets in the way, sometimes.

[Bearcata]

Great interview with Dale at 'Top Chef: All-Stars': Eliminated contestant blogs episode 11: 'I literally went to therapy' | PopWatch | EW.com

I really like his comments about Mike and the "stolen" idea:

What I thought was weird was that Mike confessed that he saw the oyster dish in Blais’ book and said he took it. I thought that was bizarre. Why would you even confess to that? But Blais didn’t create that dish. That dish has been out. Go on Ideas in Food and hit it up. That’s where that dish came from. It’s a cheeky play on that. Blais might’ve been writing it down and had a concept for it, but that dish has been done before. But for Mike to say that, that was like, “Dude why would you say that? Just say you got it from somewhere else!” But “chef code”? Really? Come on. To me, it doesn’t exist. You can’t put a patent on food. Food has been done before, no matter what anybody says.

[ASassyKat]

I was uber worried for Carla. Girl needs to get her groove back, stat!

I don't like Mike I, it was still sucky to see the idea and steal it to use. Clearly he wouldn't have come up with it otherwise.

[Shoepie]

Great interview with Dale at 'Top Chef: All-Stars': Eliminated contestant blogs episode 11: 'I literally went to therapy' | PopWatch | EW.com

I really like his comments about Mike and the "stolen" idea:

Thanks, that was a good article.

[HaikenEdge]

After this episode, you've got to believe that Angelo is the kiss of death for any chef. I mean, it's not always any fault of his own, but still, everybody else's stuff he touches seems to turn to heck.

I used to be ambivalent about Mike, but after this episode, I've got to say, he really seems like a douche.

With Dale elimmed, I'd like to see Richard, Carla and Antonia in the finals.

[live4romance]

I'm so glad Dale is gone, and can't wait for Mike to get the boot! I say go Karla, Richard and Antonia.

[KeepItReal]

If anyone had a golden touch this season it's been Dale, followed by Antonia. Everyone else seemed to be a bit off from their previous seasons, excluding Mike, who is pretty much who he was during his season. I can understand Angelo and Tiffany being saddled with a combination of fatigue and not having the time to sit and develop a new arsenal of recipes for the show. I can understand people like Blaise, Carla, Angelo and Jen doing so well in their seasons and getting such high praise that they have added pressure on themselves to do even better this time. I can understand people like Dale T and Tiffani F. wanting to do some repair to their images. Add that to the fact that they have all done this before and don't get to indulge in the excuse of not being ready to cook in a Top Chef situation. This season just doesn't have the same expectations of your average season of Top Chef. Couple that all with the feeling that each of them may feel like they are cooking next to the cream of the crop and that there are few to no truly weak links. You can see Richard and now Carla feeling the pressure. Jen was the first to crack with her outburst. Not many of us would have thought that Jaime would hide under a table or use a cut on the finger to avoid cooking. As fun as this season has been, in a way it's been kind of sad to see so many of our favorites underperform or crumple this go around. I'd like to believe that they are more like the chefs we saw the first time around than they are this go around.

[rfromp]

I also thought it was interesting to see two contestants (can't remember who) talking about what they needed to do to take Richard out.

That was Angelo whispering to Dale that he (Dale) was in his (Richard) head. I suppose because Dale won the challenges last episode. What I thought was funny was that Angelo then told him he was going to win it and then subsequently went on to lose. lol.

I don't fault Richard for showing his book to greasy Mike, that was just poor judgment but Mike flat-out stole the idea. To say he was inspired by Richard is like saying the ocean is a little wet.

[pretlitdev]

I think what was really telling for me about the whole Quickfire situation was that afterwards, Mike goes "I won, so it's MY dish now." And granted, as Dale pointed out in that blog, Richard's inspiration for the dish was an older recipe, it pretty much seemed to me like Richard took the inspiration from the original and added his own spin. What Mike appeared to do was copy it almost exactly from Richard's book, which IS stealing. Granted, none of us have actually seen the book so we can't say just how close Mike's was to Richard's, but based on the utterly gobsmacked look on Richard's face during judging and the chefs' conversations afterwards, it seemed to be pretty dang close to whatever was in the book.

I was kinda sad to see so many of the chefs struggling with this challenge. I'm from the south and I love Cajun food, so I was excited to see what the chefs would come up with. I remember eating at one restaurant in Baton Rouge years ago and having blackened snapper, dirty rice, and turnip greens....so yummy. Too bad none of them went with something really simple like that.

I also didn't like that Paula kept mentioning how Antonia would have won-saying it once was enough, saying it over and over was a bit unkind. then again, I've never exactly seen Paula Deen as having the most tact. She's definitely one to say whatever's on her mind without running it through a filter.


Richard's a class act. I guess I don't see why some are calling him arrogant this season because I think if he was full of himself, he'd have called Mike out right during the judging of the quickfire. It's great of him to say he wants Fabio go with him and his family to Barbados....Richard for the win! I think this season is once again his to lose, so hopefully he doesn't overthink everything again.

Marcel, Marcel....he's never gonna change.

I was sad to see Dale go, he's really grown up a lot this season and I enjoyed watching him so much more. But he's got a great future ahead of him.