The chefs are shocked that Angelo went home last week; they all think that a chef of his caliber would have made it closer to the end. Tiffany thought that it was absolutely her time to go last week, and the other chefs agree with that sentiment.

Quickfire: Create a Deep-Fried Dish

Oh boy. The guest judge for this week is Paula Deen. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Ms. Deen (which more often borders on hate). I like her sassy southern ways, but her food is generally disgusting (often using an entire jar of mayonnaise for its base). It shocks no one that Paula’s challenge is to “create a deep-fried dish”. Paula claims that she has deep-fried balls of butter. Disgusting! The winner will get $5000.

Antonia: Fried avocado, shrimp, jalapeno, grilled corn, tomato and fried herbs. Antonia somehow forgets that she needs to make a plate for each judge, and is concerned about it. The judges don’t say anything about this, and Paula Deen loves fried avocado. Shocker.

Dale T.: Fried steak wrapped oyster with egg yolk omelet, parsley tips and chives.

Tiffany:  Fried chicken and pickles, honey mustard sauce with cilantro and cumin salad. I LOVE fried pickles. This challenge is making me miss the south.

Richard: Richard takes a bit of genius approach to the challenge and decides to fry mayonnaise. It sounds revolting, and just like the kind of thing Paula Deen would cackle over. His dish is fried bacon with fried mayonnaise, tomato and cucumber.

Mike: Fried chicken oysters with mustard gravy and oyster liquor. What the hell is oyster liquor? Gross! It seems that Mike stole this idea from Richard, who was sharing some of his plans with him in an earlier segment. Mike is so annoying. He doesn’t own up to stealing the idea.

Hootie (Carla): Carla has some problems with this challenge, and she tells us that she just tends to freak out during quickfires and not do her best work. We have seen this a few times now. Her dish is catfish with Dijon mustard, hushpuppies, coleslaw with mayo, hot sauce and mint. It doesn’t look appetizing at all, and Carla knows they were too heavy.

Bottom 2: Dale and Carla. Dale’s flavors didn’t wow Paula. Carla’s hushpuppies were terrible.

Honorable Mention: Antonia is told by Paula that her dish was hands down the very best, but because she didn’t follow the rules and create the two plates, she is disqualified. Paula colorfully tells her that she “could come over there, put you over my knee, and whip your cute little ass”. What a crazy!

Top 2: Richard and Mike are in the top two, and Richard points out that he is actually competing against himself, because Mike stole the idea. Mike wins and then is a more of an ass to the camera. God, Mike is the worst.

John Besh is introduced as another guest judge for this round. He is a chef from New Orleans.

Elimination Challenge: Make Gulf Coast Seafood for 300 People. The chefs will be cooking for  a charity event to support the Gulf region, hosted by Paula Deen and John Besh. Another twist for the challenge is that some of the eliminated chefs will be back to help with the cooking. They are all holding a type of seafood, and the chefs select the food and their helper chef together. The teams pan out as follows.

Antonia (and Spike)- Crab

We don’t see much of their prep or working together, but Antonia delivers a blue crab cake, corn, jalapeno and andouille relish with crab broth. The judges love it, and Antonia is hoping for her second win.

Dale T. (and Angelo) – Amberjack

Holy hell, Dale starts by hacking into the head of his amberjack, and it is the size of a Labrador retriever. During the service, Dale is really struggling and he knows the food isn’t great. His dish is amberjack stew with andouille sausage and potatoes, creole mustard crouton. This is the kind of thing my Dad loves to eat. The judges get some pieces of undercooked potato in their portions, and everyone hates the overpowering mustard in the crouton.

Tiffany (and Marcel)- White Shrimp

It surprises no one that Marcel is difficult to work with, and he is bothering Tiffany right off the bat. We get a story from Tiffany about how they ran out of some honey glaze and she had Marcel make another batch, but didn’t taste it. This is going to come up in judging, for sure. When a chef is making excuses for their situation before the judges even arrive, you know it is heading south. Her dish is honey glazed shrimp, grits with jalapeno and cheese, shellfish sauce. The judges don’t seem to like the dish. They say the glaze isn’t good and you can’t taste the shrimp.

Richard (and Fabio) – Snapper

Crispy Gulf snapper with pulled pork and citrus grits. The relationship between Richard and Fabio continues to blossom. Richard took a risk using another protein when the Gulf seafood was meant to be the star. The judges seem to like it, but they aren’t over the moon about it.

Mike (and Tiffani) – Brown Shrimp

Mike is annoying everyone in the kitchen. His dish is grit-crusted gulf shrimp, sour cream and chive potatoes with pork and lobster sauce. Grit-crusted just doesn’t sound appetizing. The judges all seem to like it, which is too bad, because now I hate him.

Carla (and Tre) – Red Grouper

Fried grouper with collard greens and chow-chow pico. I have no idea what chow-chow pico is. The judges don’t like a lot of her elements. Deen doesn’t like the collard greens at all and Colicchio thinks there is too much hot sauce. Carla is in trouble, here.

Judges’ Table

Top 3: Antonia, Richard and Mike. Richard is praised for his pork touch (that sounded dirty). Mike is praised for putting grits right on the shrimp. Antonia’s dish was nuanced and delicious.

Richard takes the win, and a trip to the Caribbean. Hilariously, he tells us that he is going to invite Fabio to go with him…..and his family. It would be better if it were just the two of them.

Bottom 3: Tiffany, Carla and Dale. Tiffany’s shrimp were overcooked, and the sweetness of the dish wasn’t good. Dale’s potatoes were undercooked, and his mustard crouton was terrible. Carla over-seasoned her fish, and the dish didn’t make sense.

I am worried for Carla, but she just didn’t cook good food today. It could be any one of the three going home.

Going home tonight is…Dale! Wow. I guess when Angelo told him earlier in the episode that he could take the whole thing, he was wrong. Poor Dale is really distraught about it in an interview. He wanted to win this badly, and I think he had the skill to do it.

Other Notes:

• Noise of the Week: Without a doubt, the Noise of the Week is Paula Deen’s fried balls of butter. You disgust me, Deen.
• I am shocked that both Dale and Angelo are gone before people like Mike and Tiffany. I am hoping for a final with Antonia, Richard and Carla.
• We are really getting down to the end here, and it is exciting. I wonder if Tiffany’s constant bottom 3-ing will ever come back to bite her in the ass.
• God lord, Mike is the worst.