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Finally, it’s his turn and he shucks the blindfold, while next to him, Marcus A-Hole Samuelsson starts up. Jonathan figures out the dish after some pensive pacing and adds some butter for flavor and to mellow the acid. Marcus starts plating his dish, commenting that he believes that his “artistic flair” his really brought the dish alive on the plate. Before you know it, time is up.

Wow, that was intense.

The dishes will be judged by Top Chef Masters critic, Jay Rayner. He tries the Red Team’s dish of pan seared sea bass with truffle scented shellfish broth and prosciutto. The bass is well-cooked, through the prosciutto is a little grey. He also doesn’t understand how the two components of the dish are supposed to work together, though they taste good.

The Blue Team presents a mussel and scallop stew with fennel. Jay notes that this team’s scallop is cooked better than the other team’s, and that the mussels are perfectly cooked (whew, Susan is relieved). He notes that there’s a bitterness to the flavor – not that the bitterness is BAD per se, it’s just “pronounced.” Jonathan, watching backstage with his team, takes credit for that, saying that he added some fennel at the last minute.

I love this challenge, it’s so much fun.

The verdict is in: the Red Team gets 4 stars and the Blue Team gets 4 ½ stars. Victory blue! Susan is excited to win money for her charity, Susur is pissed off that he lost yet another Quickfire.

And things only get better for us viewers. The Elimination Challenge will keep the Masters in their teams because we’re doing WEDDING WARS. Oh my god, I love this challenge. It’s so tough but so much fun. I remember how utterly exhausted the chefs from Season 1 looked after cooking all night, and I remember the chaos of Season 4 where Stephanie made a beautiful looking cake. And of course, there were the dueling bachelor and bachelorette parties from last season (which Bryan won).

Of course, the Masters are NOT HAPPY at all. They think this will be tough, and they say this will be grueling. The producers of Top Chef Masters don’t help, as they air a montage of different chefs from different wedding-related challenges complaining about how tired they are. F*.

But these Masters have no choice. They’ll be catering a wedding for 150 guests, one team cooking for the groom and the other for the bride. Oh yeah, and they BOTH have to make a wedding cake. Double F***.

The happy (?) couple enters and announces that they’re getting married tomorrow. Silence. The happy (?) couple notes that they’re not sure who’s more scared: the Masters or them.

Aaron, the groom, goes ahead and tells the Masters that he’s a “steak and potatoes” kind of guy - specifically, potatoes au gratin or fillets. Elizabeth, the bride, loves French and Asian food. Since the Blue Team won, they get to choose who they’ll be cooking for. I hope that the Blue Team chooses Elizabeth so that Susur can’t just take over and cook Asian. They DO choose Elizabeth, and Marcus is the one who’s pissed. Because she gave them two different types of cuisine, he argues, they have more flexibility in coming up with their menu.

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