I finally caught the Next Iron Chef, and I totally agree that the "extreme cuisine" challenge was a horrid idea for a first round elimination. Maybe if ICA was using those wacky kind of ingredients like the original did it would make sense, but as things are - nsm. A few weeks down the road would have been a lot better.

Also, I must sadly agree that Steingarten seems to have permanently crossed over from curmudgeon to asshole.

Survivor was particularly lame. It seemed like Jeff and the challenge designers decided to take the week off.

These people are WAY too well behaved - if Jeff's not there to referee, why do the challenge at all? Why not say whoever gets to the chickens first wins them? Split the chickens up and rock-paper-scissors for the last one?

If this was a test on how to be a dumb sheep, everyone passed with flying colors.

I had the same "garbage bag" reaction as Michael Kors.

Me, too! But Epperson (as much as I love his personality) put out a second super-dated, ugly dress in a row, after that horrendous shirt-dress last week. That entire silhouette just screamed "'80s!!!!" with a dash of (like the judges said) "Oktoberfest." Ugh. So, as much as I had a visceral dislike of Christopher's garbage bag look, Epperson had to go.

So I totally misread who went home on TC:LV and now I'm pissed!! It should have been the other one similarly named.

Survivor: But I love that Shambo KNEW chickens, TALKED to chickens and yet could not control the selfame chickens. Doofus. Or as we say in my house for the female version of the term, Doofa.

I also liked seeing more of Galu this time.

But I love that Shambo KNEW chickens, TALKED to chickens and yet could not control the selfame chickens.

Seriously - who doesn't know chickens can fly??? I mean, maybe she was assuming their wings had been clipped, but what she said was "I didn't know they could fly."

PR: I was on the phone the whole time, so only half watching, but damn. Epperson, really?! What the hell was that? I had a horrible 1984 flashback to Jessica McClintock and GunneSax.

"As god is my witness, I thought chickens could not fly."

I'd completely forgotten that Jeff has a blog!

HOST-LESS CHALLENGE INSIGHT – We have talked about doing something like this for a long time. A challenge in which nobody is there. Nobody tells them anything. We just watch to see what they do. This was a major experiment. How would it work without having me there to moderate and oversee everything? And for the record, I wasn’t hiding in the bushes, “just in case.” When we commit, we commit. I was back in my tent reading an old copy of Rolling Stone. Poor Michael Jackson.

And as you saw, the host-less challenge worked so well CBS is probably figuring out how they can do a “Host –less Tribal Council” as well! Hope not. I have not yet paid off my mortgage.

oh brenda, you have me cackling over here.