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Lizzie, Kristen, Tyler and Stefan comprise the best chefs for the meal. This is great news for Tyler, who clearly needed a win after his struggles to date. Since he cooked a key component, the crab, he could benefit from the side dish nature of his competitors. Stefan's liver is similar in this regard yet the nature of the discourse reveals that the judges feel a deeper appreciation for the unheralded contributors. The person we believed was least likely of these four to win, Kristen, is the victor thanks to onion rings and mushrooms. How do her feet smell now, Stefan?

The bottom group is a quartet of players who all deserve elimination. Carla, Chrissy, CJ and Josh are unquestionably the worst performers. Josh is grilled first. When pressed about the saltiness of the dish as well as how cold it is, Josh goes on the attack. He accuses John Tesar of being "a monkey" in terms of expediting the food. The judges quickly change the subject. Out of the four, Josh appears to be safe.

Two of the other contestants bungle their replies. When pressed about the quality of her squab, Carla professes that she tried the last one. Yes, several hours passed between her first sampling and her last. Even if the dish had not been terrible, she would be in danger of going home for this statement. Her elimination is inevitable. As much as the other chefs attacked Tesar for his comments at the start of the episode, there is simply no excuse for a chef to fail to taste their dish multiple times throughout the evening.

The other decision regarding elimination comes down to the quality of Chrissy's food versus CJ's decision making. The sous vide process is not even a little bit representative of the 1950s. It wasn't a popular American style until the 1960s. Even worse, in cooking his protein with this method, he created the mealiness. We love CJ yet we must acknowledge he should go home for his mistake. Fortunately for us, this does not occur.

Chrissy joins Carla as they pack their knives and go. Carla plaintively states that if we visit her restaurant, she will cook a delicious squab meal. What we have learned from this season of Top Chef thus far is that nobody, even the finest chefs in the world, can create a delicious squab meal. The attempt almost eliminated Stefan and now it has crippled Carla as well. As for Chrissy, she got a raw deal in being forced to cook a family brand salad. Still, if a player can win with onion rings and mushrooms, any kind of salad should be manageable.

CJ, you need to step it up. We are noticing that Padma isn't flirting with you as much as she did in season 4. Supermodels date winners.

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