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Previously on Top Chef, everyone was asked to create a meal that demonstrated their roots. Psycho Heather, the most loathsome person in the history of a show that has featured multiple appearances by Marcel Vigneron, failed completely and was eliminated. This leads to speculation on my part that she was never actually born. Presumably, she manifested out of thin air, probably after a virgin’s blood was spilt on an altar. Now that the gypsy curse has been lifted with the malevolent spirit’s removal from the game, we can continue on as if Beverly were not treated deplorably by a terrible human being.

Tonight’s episode begins with Beverly celebrating the elimination of She Who Must Not Be Allowed in a Kitchen. And I can hardly blame her. The last time I saw a much larger woman treat a petite girl so crudely was in a women-in-prison film. Beverly would not be the groom in this scenario.

Several other cheftestants are equally relieved by her elimination. Edward is still irritated by Heather’s usage of his cake recipe on multiple occasions. Yes, he is right that using his intellectual property not once but twice is demonstrative of poor etiquette. Still, this reveals a side of his personality that seeps out from time to time. Edward is not here to compete on Top Chef. His sole purpose is to win. And this makes him a less than optimal reality show participant in that he gets mean and petty too often with regards to the competition. We otherwise think he’s great and believe he is one of the few participants thus far who seems capable of winning this season. We would like to see him dial down the ruthless, though.

An odd turn occurs as Sarah latches on to Edward’s revelation of the recipe as uncouth behavior for a variety of reasons. We weren’t crazy about what he did but she flips her bit over it. The editing of this is such that anyone with an understanding of the show’s production elements immediately recognizes that these two are going to butt heads at some point this episode or at some point down the line. Whether Edward is aware of it or not, Sarah is now his mortal enemy. And here we had just healed the wounds caused by the Beverly/Heather schism. Top Chef turned into professional wrestling so gradually I hardly noticed.

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