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I agree that Leah should of went home. She gave up on the fish fillet and then she wasn't paying attention to the flavors of the dish that she had to prepare. I knew right away that she wasn't going to be picked when they all started talking about how she should go home. They ALWAYS do that now, talk bad about one person and then send the other home.
I think Stefan is talented but is not impressive. He's won all the quickfires but for the main challenges he always takes the easy way out. I won't be impressed with him until he wins a quickfire and chooses a difficult dish to prepare.

Leah should have went home. But...I Jamie's must have been super bad if they sent her home. I got the feeling that they liked her and her other dishes all season. I think at this point Stefan should win or Carla. I think Carla is a really good all around chef but sometimes flakes out during challenges.

Leah giving up is pathetic. You're there *because* it's difficult- so something being "hard" is kind of the point... right?

I was sad to see Jamie go. I'm just not sure why Leah is still there...

Leah should have been sent packing her knives just for having such a piss-poor attitude about everything. Hell, I would have at least kept plugging away at that fish, even if I didn't know what I was doing. And how could she have NOT known? That seems like a pretty basic skill of you went to a damn school for such things. And during the EC she just threw away a whisk to her side, it looked pretty rude to me.

I certainly thought (like everyone) that Jamie would have been in the finals, but dissing Eric R? Seriously, Jamie? Bad idea, you should have kept your disdain to yourself. It's bad form, if nothing else. I'll keep watching, of course, but my level of caring has gone way down. Except for HootieHoo, she is the one bright spot remaining and keeping it interesting.

I think they are holding out for Leah and Hosea to rekindle...its the only reason she is still there...

Peggasus,

I had a feeling once Jaime said that the dish she cooked wasn't her fav that she could be the sacrificial lamb for this week. But how in the freak is Leah still there? Maybe the producers are hoping she will seduce Stephan next. I bet the other contestants are thinking every week, well, there is no way Leah's dish is better than mine, and every week every other single excellent cook is picked off. Why? She has worn her welcome out. I think watching her give up was reason alone to send her home.

If there is one blessing and curse that every true chef has it is the instinctual need to probe, examine and analyze every professionally crafted dish that is put before them. I am always conscious of my actions at a restaurant because I don't want to be conspicuous. I would have had mental notes of every single dish that I tried at that table--chances are, I would have been typing them into my iphone.

Stefan continues to prove that you cannot improvise fundamentals.

I was very impressed with Fabio. He did not have an easy dish.

Eric Ripert comes off as a very classy and somewhat humble professional. He listens to people. The fact that he went around and gave everyone advice and a chance to fix their dishes was extremely admirable. He is where he is for good reason.

Just a personal observation--I love how Ripert's dishes are a reflection of his own personal inspirations. Za'tar from the Middle East, Serrano ham from Spain, miso from Japan. He's just like us who read about these ingredients from posts on The Kitchn or discover an exotic spice from a corner ethnic take-out and find it to be stimulating and want to use it so we can continue to experience it or share it with others. So even though his restaurant may be "she-she" and all of that, the dishes have a real soul as they were created out of what the chef tasted on his street corner or on his travels.

Also--I think everyone did their best "impersonation" of the dishes. Some of the techniques behind what seemed to be simple elements though, I'm sure the contestants were not privy to.

And a chef would never give up while filleting a fish. Maybe an eel (which were alive) but never a char which is like salmon--the first fish any chef ever learns how to filet.

AT's comments above are right on. My wife and I were wondering the same thing about the wriggling eels (sorry, but eww). The nail-in-the-head seemed to take care of that. Stefan's work was beautiful - no arguing.

Amen on number five - Carla is totally growing on me. The admission during last night's dinner conversation that she'd wanted to be a drama major made a ton of sense. And she proved her smarts AND grace.

RE: Leah vs. Jamie - On the panel last night, one of the judges made the comment that it was a greater offense to not know what you were doing than to mess up a dish and know what you'd screwed up about it. Due to that statement, I thought Leah would go (it's time). But this is TV so they must throw us off. And I'm with the above posters that Jamie may have ultimately sabotaged herself by smack-talking the dish itself...

I thought Jamie seemed really, profoundly tired. Maybe some of the attitude of the last 2 weeks originated in sheer fatigue.

But I agree that Leah was ridiculous and needs to go home. The rule that prohibits the judges from considering past performance seems ridiculous to me, and Tom C. clearly wanted to send Leah home for the balance of her incompetence, rather than Jamie for one (really bad) component.

I'm loving Carla more and more. She demonstrated serious competency, and I agree with the above poster who thought she should win. Stefan's dish was great, but easier than hers. And her identification of the sauce as a form of beurre rouge was fun - Eric Ripert obviously liked her a lot. Stefan's extremely talented, and he clearly did a great job. But Carla makes me root for her.

Carla made a beurre rouge. I was impressed by her skills, too, and she has been growing on me. I always found her crazypants ways entertaining, but it seems like she can really cook!

I was SO pissed that Jamie--who I thought had a real chance of being in the finals--went home, while Leah and her whine stuck around *again*. Ugh.

Carla's sauce was a beurre rouge, a butter sauce with red wine.

The eels were dead, just as Ripert explained: it was their nervous system being all twitchy like that made them writhe like that. Kudos to Stefan for knowing how to skin them. Where in the world did they get those nails?

I loved the look on Ripert's face as he asked Carla how she figured out the sauce--it was pure and deserved admiration, especially after she explained how well she paid attention to what she'd eaten during the lunch and broken down what was going into her mouth and happening on her plate. In short--I agree: she deserved the win.

On the other end of the spectrum, I was disappointed to hear Jamie complain about being unimpressed with Ripert's food and "over it." Some people might call that karma--her fish turned out to be unrefined, and she messed up the celery that she hated so much. She's also the first person I've ever heard say she didn't like celery. Toward the end, she just had an "oh well, whatcha gonna do" attitude, like she'd pulled her heart out of the competition.

Leah makes me want to nail my head to a plank and skin myself. Argh.

I CANNOT believe Jaimie went home. Seriously, Leah's dish was better?

After the last two weeks, I am starting to think the Top Chef methodology is dead wrong.

In his blog, Tom Collichio said they had five dishes that were successful, although at varying levels, and one dish that was flat-out inedible -- Jamie's dish. So I'll accept his word for it.

But I do agree that Carla should have taken the win.

@OneWallKitchen: I hate celery! But I'm pretty sure I could braise it successfully.

Why is Leah still there? She should have been sent home weeks ago. Whatever it is she has going with Hosea isn't interesting enough to keep her and her bad cooking on the show.

I've been rooting for Carla since the beginning and I'm glad she's really starting to shine.

yay carla! I've always liked her and it's nice that she's finally relaxing enough to let her skills show. I suspect, however, that sefan won because of the prize. his no-nonsense, get it done attitude and skills would be more appreciated that carla's quirks when following ripert around in his restaurants.

As my roommate said, "Oversalting is a rookie mistake." And that's why Jamie went home. She was near the top in the early episodes, but recently has really not been so great.

Still, Leah and Jamie produced bad dishes. I think Leah's failure in concept is worse than Jamie's failure in execution. Because at least Jamie knew what to do. Leah may have slid by if the producers were hoping for more Hosea/Leah action.

I think Stefan won because he reproduced the dish almost exactly. Maybe it was less difficult to cook, but he knew exactly how to cook it except for the hand whisk vs blender. Carla showed technical proficiency, but didn't copy the dish as exactly. And copying the dish was the challenge.

Also, Eric Ripert is so awesome.

in Jaime's defense, she was the only one who didn't have the chance to get Eric Ripert's critique during the prep (they ran out of time?!? -- um, totally ridiculous). i was sorry to see her go.

also, while butchering her mahi mahi, Leah mentioned that in the restaurant where she works, she is responsible for doing the seafood, so she is comfortable w/ that. on the heels of giving up on the arctic char during the quickfire challenge. she bugs.

i must confess that i covered my eyes when the eels were being skinned. ever since i saw the Japanese film "the eel" in which the main character has one as a pet, i haven't been able to eat them, so i couldn't bring myself to watch.

Fish twitches, not just eels. Its just that 99% of the population gets its fish wrapped in plastic or pre-filleted off a mound of ice at Whole Foods.

Go to Chinatown - where they sell live fish (and live chickens, live geese, live frogs, live turtles, live squab...) and kill it on the spot, and you will see dead, but twitchy fish.

We bought a live catfish once that the fishmonger killed, gutted and chopped into steaks for us. When we got it home and unwrapped it in the sink to rinse it off, the catfish steaks were...pulsing. As in, post-morten, "thump-thump", twitchy, pulsating pieces of fishmeat.

It was so awesome. (And tasted great to boot!)

Like everyone else, I thought Leah should have gone home too. Well, I am not going to analyze their dishes here cuz we all saw the episode and felt the same way.

But...who's rooting for Hosea (or Fabio?) I am rooting for either one of them because Hosea is very concentrated and knew exactly what goes on in his dish. He knew he made a mistake on the monkfish and come on...he beat Stephan in tasting challenge back in the beginning of the season...that's an indicator of a great chef - a great palate. And about Fabio...I hated him in the beginning of the season because of his arrogance ("maybe I will just put some bacon and fry an egg the next time they have something like this" - from the Rocco DisPirito, excuse my spelling, episode), but he has turned the corner and become the clown of the season. He is funny, relaxed, and very charming, which are very important traits to be a top chef - someone who is poised in the kitchen.

Well...another 7 days before another intrigued episode!

Leah should have gone home. Not a fan of Jamie after she dissed Eric Ripert like that (LOVE that man!). But there's no excuse for Leah's attitude and is it me or does she just constantly whine??

Not a fan of Hosea - he rubs me the wrong way and I honestly think it has to do with the hookup with Leah.

Carla is growing on me and has become much more likeable as the season goes on.

Fabio and Stefan are my favorites. I would happy if any of the top three from the Ripert episode won.

Skinning a catfish is best done in the manner that Stefan did the eel--nail the head of the fish into a board and peel down the skin. That's how it's done in the South!