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Richard thinks that Katsuji incorporated some nice elements, but was overly complicated. Katsuji compares himself to a kid in a candy store, and declares that he was just excited about getting to use so many ingredients. Gail, Tom, and Katsuji then go on to list the multitude of ingredients he put in his dish. As they do so, Katsuji clearly has no idea why this lack of restraint might have been a misstep. Tom pointedly tells him that while some dishes work right out of the gate, other dishes need work, and that Katsuji “will probably spend a lot of time on this dish.”

As a side note, I love this format for announcing the winner and loser of the elimination challenge. Cheftestants in the middle (Sara from last season quickly jumps to mind) often complain that they never get any feedback. By letting the other chefs watch, the judges are allowing them to see exactly what resonates (one way or another) with the judges. This is very, very smart and could lead to better food over the course of the season.

Aaaaaand the loser is... Michael. Tom says that the judges had issues with all three dishes on the bottom of the challenge, but that the sweetness of Michael’s corn soup with the fishiness of the salmon eggs resulted in the worst dish of the night.

In his closing interview, Michael opines that he tried to be creative and original, and that it might have backfired. He says that sometimes you need to fail to succeed, but he wishes that Tom had been a bit more open-minded. “You have to grow with age or get left behind,” he says, and declares that he doesn’t care what Tom thinks.

Sometimes, though, Michael, you also have to learn how to accept valid criticism in order to grow as well.

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