Yeah, definitely Starr got off easiest being first. They didn't really even notice her until she was up on the ladder. And if you specifically took note of where the ladder was, you could pretty much get straight there.

However, I can see how you could get really really disoriented on your way, with a faceful of pigment.

Wee! New TOP CHEF in T-minus...

OK, can someone explain this elimination challenge to me? I must have missed something, because I thought they were teamed up, but everyone is acting like it's head to head, one on one. If so, why was EVERYBODY shopping together?

I thought that, too. It's weird that they decided to make them go head to head.

I don't know about that - it seemed to me more that as the day wore on the crowd was more and more focused on getting the racer.

Agree. The paint throwers organized themselves into two columns and pretty much forced the later arrivals to run between them, pelting them pretty hard. (I wonder if that stuff stings if it's throw hard enough.) The first person through was barely noticed by the paint-throwing crowd.

TC: First they were paired up then they were told they would be going head to head. But, they knew they were competing against each other when they went shopping.

This will be my last TC on tv. I cancelled my cable and it should be gone tomorrow. I'll have to live through you guys and what I can find on the net.

I was really annoyed by the many chefs who said "I've never had X" or "I've never worked with Y". I would think that a professional chef would be familiar with other cuisines.

Seriously, even if you haven't cooked Italian very often, you've eaten it, haven't you?

I was really annoyed by the many chefs who said "I've never had X" or "I've never worked with Y". I would think that a professional chef would be familiar with other cuisines.

True, but that doesn't mean you're familiar with all of them. Russian cuisine's not exactly widespread, and Middle Eastern food's just catching on. No one can be expected to be familiar with everything. That being said ...

Seriously, even if you haven't cooked Italian very often, you've eaten it, haven't you?

Italian and Chinese food are fairly ubiquitous, even if both cuisines are often butchered by American interpretations. (Or, reasons why Victor refuses to eat at Olive Garden.) They're hardly alien.

On the whole, though, the Hawaiian guy was the one who nailed it in my book, because he wandered into a cuisine he wasn't familiar with (Indian) and began making associations and figuring out what things do. Which takes good instincts. I suspect a lot of those who got lost easy will be gone soon.

I loved that: "You didn't make what you thought you were making; however, you made a stellar something else!"