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The chefs are aggravated about the inclusion of Eggs over Everything since they all love that style of cooking. For my part, I miss Oklahoma Josh from last season, who would have joined me in berating Cowin for saying something, ANYTHING negative about bacon. Why does Dana Cowin hate joy?

The real shock of the Quickfire is that the producers appear to be taking me up on the previously stated idea that there are too many chefs and that at least three need to be eliminated. The loser of this challenge will be sent to Last Chance Kitchen. Now we’re talking. At least one Quickfire each season should be handled in this manner. Otherwise, they are fairly innocuous.

Ordinarily, the only important part of Quickfire voting is who wins. That is not the case today so the announcement order is inverted. In keeping with the early trend this season, the women dominate. Nina, Shirley and Stephanie finish in the top group. Not coincidentally, their trends are eggs and bacon, the most delicious foods. Judging by the effusive praise, all three ladies have crafted marvelous dishes that are worthy of winning. Shirley is eventually revealed as the winner, which means she is immune from elimination in the second challenge of the episode.

One unlucky member of the bottom group will be sent home. As mentioned above, Cowin lectures Bret for inexplicably preparing exactly the dish he was instructed to avoid. Aaron is also in trouble. He felt his dish was on the salty side, and he humorously noted that when something is close to too salty for him, everyone else will consider it bordering on poisonous. Cowin’s face reflects the immortal words of Philip J. Fry. “That's the saltiest thing I ever tasted, and I once ate a big heaping bowl of salt.”

The recently introduced Louis is the third person in danger. His failed attempt to solve the puzzle of a failed food trend was to avoid smoky flavor as much as possible. Emeril feels that the has violated the intent of the challenge, and he’s right. Given the recent demonstration of Louis’ personal life, I expect the reality show trope of showing more of the person right before they are eliminated to hold true.

To my surprise, Aaron’s too-seasoned dish is determined to be the worst. After narrowly avoiding defeat during the first challenge, Aaron had a strong second episode wherein he finished in the top group in both challenges. Alas, the short-lived hot streak meets a harsh end as Aaron is sent to Last Chance Kitchen. The good news is that I believe he is clearly a better chef than the other opponents thus far, Jason and Ramon. The bad news is that a fourth person will join them by the end of the episode, and there are not a lot of people left who seem like cast filler. Bret and Patty are probably the only remaining players who seem over their heads. And ring rust could be Bret’s issue, something he can work on as the competition continues.

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