Elimination or Incrimination...You decide?

by Chef Back Burner

So the challenge is presented by “The Beauty with the braids”...



2 teams...2 types of Asian cuisine...1,000 people. Just a bit daunting! People handle pressure in different ways...the Vietnamese team took the professional route. Attack head on with clear and open minds. Come on guys, that’s not the reality tv way...but as if scripted Team Korea steps in to fill our need for conflict and tension and mixes up the Sangria....



I think at this stage we reality tv junkies can see where this is going....little did we know what was coming after the commercial break.... ...The “Lychee Scandal” The next morning it’s off to the grocery store.



Team “V” sends their shopping team who enter the store with the stealthiness of the secret service...I almost expected George W to show up to buy some rice. But no problems...everything’s bought with money to spare....YAY! Is there really any need to keep watching....the suspense is really waning... On the other hand Team “K” arrives looking confused and ready to make a mess of an already crazy situation.



The first time we see the lychees they are being placed under the cart where you put your dog food...

Then we proceed through checkout where they don’t have enough money...BIG surprise...anyone else see that coming. I mean the episode is starting to take a “Right way/Wrong way” look, kinda like those CPR movies they show in high school Phys Ed. So the next time they show the infamous lychees they are being loaded in the car when Otto makes the statement “I think we got a whole case of lychee without paying for it" and we learn that Marisa had heard it right away...

OK, here’s where I have to step in. Be an adult...stop everyone from getting in the car, ask Otto why he thinks that, and check the reciept...Problem solved. But no we had to pull a typical female stereotype and go back to the kitchen and gossip about it.



“Oh no he didn’t...” Some producer was sitting somewhere thinking “This is too easy!” Personally, I liked the sneaky footage of Marisa in the store stuffing her mouth with food that she hadn’t paid for...



so under her example and need for “above board” behavior...if they had all stuffed their cheeks with the lychee and walked out of the store looking like chipmunks but not having paid for it ...it would have been ok.

I could stay here all day but moving on...the presentation goes well and once again Team ”V” shows their work ethic and class.



Service with a smile.

Team “K” is a mess, confusing, bitter... and to top it off they’re serving hard gelatin...(ahem, Marissa, maybe a little less time with the lychee and more time with gelatin)...Can it get any worse? So...drumroll...what no, drum roll?...oh right, no suspense...no drum roll... The Vietnamese team wins and Betty wins “Miss Congeniality” and....a knife...”Damn,” she’s thinking,”Now I have one more thing to pack.”



Although, I’ve never seen anyone hug a knife that tight.

The Korean Team loses and the fingers fly...her fault, his fault, their fault, not my fault... Then we get to “Lychee Scandal: Part 2”. I’m going to skip over the “He said, she said” stuff.



I think Marisa's face says it all...What I will pick on is Tom. During deliberations Tom says that the team lost because of the dessert. That if Otto stepped up and took responsibility, Marisa would go home. But then he didn’t follow through...Tom, come on...where’s the integrity? Otto steps up to gain his back and you lose yours...



Oh and one more question...Where’s the receipt?



So Otto goes home to Las Vegas to end hunger. Which I think is good because George W never did show up to buy that rice. (Anyone else think we haven’t seen the last of Otto...my husband bet me a case of lychee that he’ll be back. Should I take the bet?)