Bienvenida a nuestro chat de grupo! The Top Chef action heads to Mexico in tonight's episode — which starts at 9 pm Eastern (note new time) — and our open-thread chat will get underway in the comments soon. Únete a nosotros!
We're into the final phase of the season, which Bravo describes as a "three-part finale." That's a lot of finality! I'll share a few tidbits about tonight's episode shortly, but first, here's a quick announcement concerning our last open thread: I counted up the commenter votes, and the winner of the best title for our proposed reality show — featuring Mei Lin and her bumbling brother Harly — was "Can't Harly Cook," by Substitute Preacher. So congrats to Subsy!
Listed below are a few other notable moments from last week's chat, all of which happen to involve contestant George Pagonis — which is fitting, I guess, given that we just can't seem to escape this guy. (He's been eliminated twice, but he's he keeps coming back — there's no getting rid of him!)
- heywhat provided a metaphor to nicely sums up what I find problematic about George's recent re-entry into the competition after being booted in Episode 1: "It's like he took a cab to the finish line." Exactly — he's just like Rosie Ruiz! (Except she allegedly took the subway to the finish line, rather than a cab.) George will always be "the Rosie Ruiz of Top Chef" in my book.
- littleolive asked this outraged question regarding one of George's concoctions: "How in the fresh hell does one make harissa with green apples?" To which I can only say: How, indeed? (Because I don't know anything about harissa.)
- GoOnWithoutMe coined this term to describe George's prolonged whining about the lack of pork belly in the supermarket: "Pork belly aching."
- A few commenters filled me in on the meaning of "crop dusting," a term George used during baked-bean challenge. Apparently, this is slang for "releasing gas while walking." So, I learned something new last week! The more you know ...
Here are a few other new things I recently learned — from the preview clips, concerning what's in store on tonight's episode:
- After arriving in Mexico, Gregory, Mei and Melissa will be joined by the newly revealed winner of "Last Chance Kitchen" — who will be either Doug or that "never-seems-to-go-away" guy. (You know the one.)
- In a "local artist"-themed challenge, sourpuss Mei will be entertainingly paired up with a kooky abstract painter (pictured above) — who reminds me of an older version Elisa Jimenez, the eccentric Project Runway contestant who used to spit on fabric. Perhaps she's Elisa's mom?
- All of this season's ex-chefs will turn up to serve as "helper teammates" for the finalists. So everybody got a trip to Mexico — even long-ago-eliminated chefs we can barely remember, like this guy! That's nice.
Ok, time to head down to the comments and get this fiesta started. Vamanos!
[Image via Bravo]
