Top Chef Week 5: Camping

The challenge gets campy when the food fighters visit a campsite and concoct a menu for a collection of Las Vegas cowboys. They must also cook with cactus. Texas chef and "Top Chef Masters" player Tim Love is the guest judge.

Tonight on Top Chef, the chefs cooked things.  In in the quickfire challenge, the chefs had to make a dish with cactus.  Mmm, yummy yummy cactus.  The winner wins $15K, but no immunity tonight. 

It seems as if all of the chefs except Mike I. had no idea how to cook with it.  Fake it ‘til ya make it, I say.  The chefs do just that.  The bottom three are Ash, who tried to make sort of grilled cheese/tortilla with cactus inside (what??), Ron, and Mike V.   Ash had the best line of the night though—“The judge just looked at me like he was pissed I made him eat my dish.”  That was EXACTLY what the judge looked like.

The top three were Laurine, Mike I., and Mattin.  Mattin didn’t even know cactus was edible.  But the winner was the ever cocky Mike I.  Sorry to our contestant who has him, but I can’t wait for him to go home.

For the elimination challenge, the chefs have to prepare a meal at a campsite on the campfire.  In the desert.  They all really hate this, except Ashley, who lets us know that she felt at home  in this challenge, with the outhouse and such.  Side note, wtf is up with her hair? 

On to the elimination challenge, the top four chefs are Mike V., Brian, Laurine, and Ashley.  Ashley looks so delighted not to be in the bottom group finally.  But the winner of this challenge is Brian.  He lets us know that he’s now won three elimination challenges and his brother has only won one.  I’m so over it.

It didn’t seem that the judges really liked very many of the campfire dishes, but their least favorite dishes were made by Robin, Ron, and Mattin.  Robin made drunken prawns, and apparently the prawns were not good.  However, she tasted them after she gave her dish to the judges.  Bad idea.  Ron made a ceviche that was too sweet (Tom said that over and over and over) and a coconut mojito that was apparently foul.  And Tom actually spit out his bite of Mattin’s dish.

And the chef who’s toast tonight is….. Mattin.  He thought his dish was fine, which is really what did him in, in my opinion.  Both Robin and Mattin’s dishes were rank, but Robin recognized hers tasted off.

And with Mattin, we say goodbye to….

KM!!

Updated scores.