First, Robin may be the luckiest cheftestant in the history of the show. I'd have to think about that a little longer to confirm my suspicions, but she should have been gone in about every episode this year and has simply been lucky. Part of luck is creating your own luck and it appears that is how she got through last nights episode again. I do not think that she will last much longer.

Ron has been hanging on by a thread on occasion as well and this time I think he just got confused and ran out of time. Again, a part of the game/contest. I enjoyed watching Ron, but there was never a doubt that he was not going to make it to the final eight chefs.

Michael V, Kevin and Bryan V are consistently creative and produce the best food.

Micheal I and Ely are less consistent but produce interesting meals.

The remainder are brilliant on occasion and middling on average. I suppose it will all depend on when they peak in their brilliance compared to the others.

That Lasagna last night looked great. I am not into Pot Roast, but it sounded amazing. Great work by the chefs.

If you are not reading the Blogs on Bravo TV, you might be missing a quarter of scoop behind a lot of the competition. Especially the look behind the judging table. This is well worth a gander once a week, or if you do not mind the trees, print it out and it makes for better reading than your Hemispheres.

Interesting, as it seems to me that Robin gets more face time than just about anybody but Mike. Now that everyone seems to dislike her (her non-stop chatter seems to be getting to a couple of the chefs), I would expect we'll be seeing even more of her.

I thought that more face time on reality shows meant you were going to be eliminated soon. While Robin seems to be outcooked by the other contestants, there seem to be a lot of poor sports out there. When they announced her quickfire win, the younger brother did not clap and I think Ely's comments were so base. She created the most compelling story and married it to the food she made -- that was the whole point of the challenge.

I see her and Ash going in the next couple of rounds, though I would not mind if Ely got bounced.

...and the fact Eli was using a damaged pressure cooker. That's real smart.

There must be more to the pressure cooker story. Supposedly there are shelves of new pressure cookers available to the cheftestants in the kitchen.

No TC tonight, the 30th???? Bummer. I guess they have to spread 10 weeks out over the TV season.

Interesting comment from Tom Colicchio which covers some of the topics we have brought up again in this thread.

"We shoot a season in 20 days, two days per episode. During that time, we judges are not allowed to interact with the contestants at all. So the whole �reality� aspect of the program? We don�t see it until you do. The �villains,� so to speak, the �nice guys,� the crowd favorites and least favorites � we don�t know the personalities. For example, we didn�t know that Mattin was lying at the Judges' Table about negging the asparagus in the volute in Episode Four. I learned about it the same way you did, by watching the edited episode. We have never made decisions about whom to send home based on who or what might be more interesting or �make better TV.� We couldn�t if we wanted to � which we don�t, anyway. We judge the food, plain and simple, and it�s the food that determines who will be packing his/her knives."

I just got around to watching last weeks episode about an hour ago. I wanted to get it before tonight's episode. Ashley! Wow, definitely one of the better chef's. The problem here is that the core groups of guys are just SO tough. I thought that Kevin was going to win the challenge as well and was a little surprised that Jennifer pulled it out for her sauce. Last week was Kevin's week. I am going to have to find his restaurant.

I just never bought the fact that Michael was in danger. The meal did not turn out correctly, but none of the judges said that it tasted bad as they had a couple of the other meals.

Ok, can't wait for tonight's. Aghh...just back from a trip and I do not think that there is any wine in the house. Negro Modelo will have to do.

Yes, Robin, there is a clique. It's called "everyone but you."

I just wished they did a triple elimination tonight. The bottom three can't hold a candle to the rest.

I liked that line, "Big R, little obin."

Big R little obin is such a diva, but in the worst way. I really wonder if she talks that much or is it just edited like that.

If you have read Tom's blogs, they really do not know the contestants personalities the way it is filmed, so they really do not know the discord she is causing.

You know what? You don't know her. You don't get to call her names.

FYI, she doesn't talk "that much". She also happens to be one of the kindest people I've ever met. But hey, it's not good "reality" TV if they don't have someone to make into a villian.

OTOH, the Voltaggio boys just happen to have worked (one for 10 years) for one of the guest judges last night. And guess who had two of the top four dishes in the elimination challenge? It may not be fishy, it just looks that way sometimes.

First, It's an internet message board. Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers get called names, it's not that big a deal. She has a compelling story, is a cancer survivor, and is very likely a kind, gentle soul.

What I do know, at least from what I've seen, is that her cooking doesn't appear to be better than many of the other contestants.

Ummm...I was not trying to insult Robin. I have NEVER claimed to know her, nor have I ever tasted her cooking. I also said up front that I have no idea how much is editing or how much is her personality. I was ONLY stating my opinion that she seems to annoy the heck out of the other cheftestants and certainly the viewers. Again, this could be editing.

Also, possibly a culprit of editing, she appears make food that places her squarely in the bottom three nearly every time. Robin's time is limited unless she really turns it on. Oh, and I am NOT under the illusion that she would not cook circles around me

I thought Ash was going to go, though if someone refers to your cooking as pet food, you probably are also close. Robin served too thin a slice and had a gritty sauce, so not sure it is of the level of boring Ash served up.

I find the Robin-hate on the show kinda sad. From what I have seen, she does not deserve the nastiness of her fellow cheftestants. It may be a generational thing, or the others may truly believe she does not belong there, but hey, if you have a beef with the fact that she is still there, blame the judges.

The younger Voltaggio brother is a prick, but everyone gets along with him (though he did flummox Ely, so ^). Still think the older brother, or Kevin will win (or Jen).