House of Dioxin

So that was it for surprises. Everything else just spooled out as expected. By this point in the season, we have a sense of who each contestant is (at least in terms of the version that the show has created). Given that, plus the set of variables from this week's ep, I pretty much knew where we were going. K-bot got on pretty well w/ Demitra but they showed her a couple of times musing on how she could finally demonstrate authority cos she was older and taller than Demitra. It's not a good sign when you're boasting that you've got more gravitas than an 8 year old. Her dishes (breakfast meatball sandwich, banana boat -- halved banana topped w/ fruit salad and yogurt) were okay but uninspired. The banana boat she said was her breakfast every single day while she was in college and I think it showed. There is such a thing as being too simple and if the judges are already telling you that you lack presence and authority, falling back on an old undergrad staple is probably not the best choice. No one was much crazy about the sandwich but I don't think they ever got at what was wrong w/ it. 3 meatballs, cheese & scrambled eggs on toast is, admittedly, not all that interesting. But it's also impossible to eat. Even if she'd cut it in half (which she didn't) the meatballs would still have come shooting out the sides. Meatballs are round. That's why they serve meatball subs on sub rolls. I think no one mentioned this tactical error because they were all too dumb-founded by her TV demo w/ RR. Taking the judges advice that she lacked presence and authority in completely the wrong way, K-bot spent the bulk of her 4 min. ordering RR around, telling Demitra to do stuff, and doing nothing herself. If she'd had anything interesting to say about the food that might have slightly mitigated her odd "respect my authoritah" power grab. But only slightly. RR did not look too pleased. And when K-bot called RR "Raych" the judges all visibly winced. This was also the segment where Flay uttered the line of the week, which titles this post.
Adamski was, no surprise, golden on the TV demo. Like they said, last week, that's why he's still here. He saved his bacon by actually cooking something good (BBQ chicken pita & fruit kabobs). Also he was able to produce a Bob Waldman moment for the judges by talking about his failed restaurant business and how it had robbed him of the joy he used to get from cooking. One of the best moment was when Sheneja (and no, I have no idea how that's supposed to be spelled) bogarted Adamski's chicken sandwich plate at the end of the demo and just walked off set eating. I think Michaela did the same thing w/ Is-He-Still-Boring Aaron's pizza.
Ah, Ro... I'll believe she actually has a chance to win this thing if she ever shows up in a kitchen looking like she's there to cook instead of audition for ANTM. Last night she was wearing some insane ruffled blouse that looked like it was threatening to eat her head at any moment. After announcing that her son has an extremely sophisticated palate (which I don't doubt -- she and her husband are in the resto biz and I'm sure the kid's been eating wasabi mashed potatoes and truffled mac & cheese since he was six) she basically steamrollered Hayley into agreeing to a menu of steak w/ horseradish cream sauce, sauteed broccoli and couscous. Then she got into her TV demo and started spinning this story about what a little gourmand Hayley was and how these were all foods that she loved. The fact that she said the same things at judging makes me wonder if she's so wrapped up in the idea that food doesn't need to be dumbed down for kids that she didn't notice the degree to which she was dominating the transaction. Flay quickly called shenanigans on that, pointing out that Ro had totally browbeaten the girl into going along w/ whatever she wanted to make. Oh, and Ro was godawful in the RR demo. Grabbing ahold of the wrong end of her advice stick, she attempted to be less bossy and perfectionist by basically shutting down halfway thru, letting RR take over the demo. To the point where she wasn't even responding to questions RR was asking her. Scary bad.
Alas, though, any student of reality TV would look at the math at the start (3 men, 2 women) and realize that the loser this week had to be either Adamski, Possibly-No-Longer-Boring Aaron or Young Shane. And since I just told you how well A and A did, it was, clearly and sadly, Young Shane who was crushed by the wheels of demographics. Not that he didn't have a hand in his undoing. He was completely uncomfortable dealing w/ Francesca, to the point where he couldn't even remember her name, calling her his Brownie buddy and such lameness. I think he tried to incorporate her ideas but he couldn't relate to her at all. And that made his TV demo stiff and uncomfortable and not even the good food could save him.
Next week: Vegas, baby! I still can't see K-bot winning and unless they plan to put him on the Fieri no-cooking-on-this-show job track (which he'd be good at & a damn sight less annoying than GF), I don't see Adamski ever having the chops to host an FN show. So that leaves me w/ PNLB Aaron and Ensign Ro as the final two. I could see either of them winning the fan vote. And I think they both could either make a go of their series or crash and burn after six eps. Honestly, I think the best show they could get would be one w/ A & A. I think they have complementary skill sets. They could call it "the Defiant Cooks" Okay, maybe not.
Interesting thing we learned from the previews: this season was filmed in late January or February. You could tell it was cold from the coats they were wearing whenever they had to go outside. But Sarah noticed in the shots of the Caesar's Palace lobby that they had their Chinese New Year decorations up, the same one's we saw when we were there in Feb.