QUICKFIRE: At the start the chefs were told that this week two all-time-favorite challenges would be repeated. First up was the mise en place relay race challenge. They drew utensil-named knives to see what teams they’d be on. Team RASA was Richard, Andrew, Stephanie and Antonia. Team LNDS was Lisa, Nikki, Dale and Spike. The skills they had to compete with were peel and supreme a bunch of oranges, clean and turn two artichokes, clean a gross monstrous monkfish and trim out two fillets, and make mayonnaise from scratch.
     Out of the chopping block, Lisa blew past Antonia by supremely sectioning her oranges. But once Andrew stepped up to attack the artichokes, his use of a peeler was the secret weapon that made him catch up to Spike. It was a dead heat between Richard and Dale’s scale-athon with the monkfish. And Stephanie proved to have the fastest whisk in the west, to beat Nikki at the mayo challenge. To which, Dale responded, as Antonia said, by punching a locker and “had to have his diaper changed.”
     For all their manic efforts, the win didn’t mean much. From this point on, no more immunity gained in the quickfire.

ELIMINATION: To the disappointment of the chefs, they were told that this challenge would not be that old TC chestnut, restaurant wars. Instead, the chefs were then introduced to Corey and JP who were getting married the next day. They were told the teams had to pick the bride or groom and cook food that they like for 125 of the guests. Oh, and the lovely couple owns a catering/wedding venue. Oh, and don’t worry, we’ll have cots for you in case you get sleepy cooking straight through from now until you serve the meal.
     Wow, TC, this was brutal!
     The groom bonded instantly with Nikki because he loved Italian food. The bride bonded instantly with Richard, because they were both from the Atlanta area and love Southern, downhome cookin’. Sounded like each team had an advantage, right? Not so.
     The lack of sleep was taking a toll. The lack of direction, took an even bigger toll on Team Groom. They offered antipasti with grilled veggies, flat breads, pizza with sausage, bruschetta, homemade butternut squash tortellini, Chilean sea bass, pork ragout with orrichiette, beef filet with horseradish sauce and a chocolate hazelnut groom’s cake. Dale was all ”woe is me I have to shoulder all the responsibility.” Nikki reiterated “I never want to be on Dale’s team.” Dale said “We’re a hodgepodge, I hate to take direction from Nikki.” Yes, it was a perfect recipe for disaster.
     Over on Team Bride, the menu was pizza with goat cheese & prosciutto, pulled pork sandwich with homemade pickle, short ribs in phyllo with blue cheese, almonds and red wine sauce, crispy chicken with an almond basil crust, braised brisket, filet mignon with horseradish sauce and red wine syrup, creamed spinach, potato gratin and five-tiered wedding cake that was made of layers of chocolate and lemon.
     On Colicchio’s drive-by of the kitchen, he dubbed the groom’s cake ugly like a battleship, but at the final judging admitted it tasted best.
     Andrew lucked out that he was on the winning team, because the judges didn’t like his soggy crispy chicken and were not fond of the star anise {blecch!!!} he put in the creamed spinach at Richard’s suggestion. Guest judge Gail Gand was quite impressed that Stephanie was able to make, bake & decorate a five-tiered cake in such short time — it takes her three days. For that reason, plus the fact that their food tasted best, Team Bride caught the victory bouquet, which Richard graciously handed to Stephanie.
     Things got gloomy for Team Groom. The judges said the tortellini were “too sweet” and felt like dessert. The pizza was hard to chew, as was the bruschetta. The filet was “overcooked” and horseradish “flavorless.” Dale argued, “Dude, I hustled, I banged it out.” And when Spike was complimented for his sea bass, Dale sniped, “It took three hours to make.” 
     When the rice was all tossed, Nikki’s reluctance to accept a leadership role sent her packing. Bada-bing, bada-boom!