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The "main course" hors d'oeuvre comes out and Michael has a prawn with chili and garlic oil – Gael doesn't like that you'd need a knife to eat this hors d'oeuvre at a cocktail party. Wow, she's POed for the first time in the series. Rick has a brandade (what the hell is a brandade?) of scallop with a fennel salad – everyone loves it. Lachlan has grilled short ribs with an anchovy parmesan vinaigrette and everyone loves the lettuce he's used as a cup for the beef. Nils has salmon with napa cabbage and James says that it's the best visual so far.

For those keeping track, I really thought Nils was in the lead at this point.

The dessert hors d'oeuvres come out and Lachlan has a strawberry tart. James says that there's a mint taste in the strawberries and Kelly talks through a mouthful of tart (very unladylike) to agree. Michael's dish looks like a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream with oreos but is actually a mint sorbet. "I don't like lawn cuttings in my dessert," says Gael. Wow, she is really on tonight.

Rick has a lemon panna cotta and the critics are impressed by the fact that he made 100 individual panna cottas that all have the right consistency. "A good panna cotta should wobble like a woman's breast," says Jay. Great, I'm never going to be able to eat another panna cotta again without thinking about eating a breast. Thanks, Jay.

Nils comes out with a chocolate and goat cheese ganache but most diners feel like it was over their culinary heads. James thinks that the dessert tastes like bacon . . . well, I guess bacon doesn't work in everything after all.

Back at Critics table, Michael gets praise for his appetizer and minor criticism for his main course (too oily but delicious) and dessert (lawn cuttings, but also delicious). Rick gets the most praise for his menu of ceviche, brundade (best of the night, says James) and dessert (perfect ending, says Gael). Nils gets complimented on his presentation but James criticizes the fishy-ness of his salmon (Gael and Jay say that they thought it was fine) and the smoke in his dessert (James brings up its bacon taste again). Lachlan gets slammed for his fried pineapple and James says the flavor of his dessert had a meat-like quality.

"Someone should study that palate of yours and donate it to the Smithsonian," quips James. I'm glad that someone other than me is fed up with the over-analyzing and minute dissection of the flaws of each of the Masters' dishes.

The Masters are called back and await their scores. I think Rick won the Elimination but due to his zero stars in the Quickfire, I think either Michael or Nils will take it home.

Rick gets four stars from the diners, four from James, four and a half from Gael and four and a half from Jay. Wow, that's a huge elimination challenge score but an unimpressive 17 and a half star total.

Lachlan gets three and a half from the diners, three from Jay, two and a half from James and three and a half from Gael. That's only 15 and a half in total and he's gone.

Nils gets three and a half from the diners, three and a half from Gael (due to his dessert), four from James and three from Jay. Wow, that's a shocker. Nils is now tied with Rick for the lead. It's pretty obvious that Michael will be able to pass them both up.

Michael only needs 13 stars to win. He gets three and a half from the diners, three and a half from James, four from Gael and four from Jay. Yep, 19 and a half stars and he wins. It's the weakest total thus far from a Top Chef Masters winner but it gets him to the finale. Overall, this was a pretty lackluster episode – I'm eager to see all of the winners back in two weeks for what I'm hoping will be a blockbuster hour of Top Chef.

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