Top Chef All Stars,Hell's Kitchen opens up for business and The Riches' season finale

As a prelude to Season 3,Bravo gave us a showdown between the earlier contestants of Top Chef in a Four Star All Stars challenge,granting the winning team $20,000 for the charity of their choice. Season One was represented by Harold(who won that time and is still quite the looker),Tiffani,Dave and Stephen. Season Two's team was made up of Ilan(the sneaky snarkboy winner),Elia,Sam and Marcel. A Quickfire challenge was held to decide who would be the team captains and it was a doozy. Everyone had to cook two eggs in ten minutes,with one hand behind their back. I am not kidding,folks. All of the chefs had to put one hand in an oven mitt and literally keep them behind their backs as they prepared their egg dishes.


Marcel and Stephen were declared the winners(Marcel used a saffron foam in his dish as a little jib to Ilan there,so his mini victory was sweet)and Season One recieved an extra $100 dollars for the Final Challenge,which was a four course protein meal. The meats they had to use were lobster,scallops,duck and kobe beef. The meal was judged not only by the regular TC panel(with new member Ted Allen),but with input from the new chefs about to compete in Season Three.



Ilan and Harold wound up going head to head with the duck dishes and while Harold's was deemed to feel "imcomplete",it was certainly better than the half assed plate of Ilan's,which was screwing up while he was making it and had to do a hasty improv to finish it. Also,Ilan's duck was well done,which is not good tasting duck from what I understand. Marcel and Stephen had a lobster battle,and yes,Marcel used a foam and a gelee that melted on the plate. Marcel even served up the foam by hand,going from table to table with this huge dispenser. Elia beat Dave out with her duet of scallops and Tiffani whipped Sam's butt on the kobe beef(she seemed less bitchy here,good for her).




When it came down to it,Season One was declared the winner and the money went to the Susan G Komen for the cure(breast cancer)charity. Congrats,guys! As for Season Two-Marcel,it's obvious that Ilan's win is still bugging you and while I don't fully blame you for that,you need to chill. Getting cocky with the Season One crew looks bad on you,my friend. Ilan and Elia,what is up with your hair? Elia's looked like a shredded pina colada and Ilan,that shaved design thing on your sides was damn goofy. Maybe the two of you should head over to Shear Design for a makeover.



Hell's Kitchen got off to a fiery start,as Gordon Ramsey had his new batch of chefs whip up their signature dishes(very few pleased him)and then divided the teams into boys(Blue) vs. girls(Red). The girls were either fighting or ignoring each other,particlarly Julia. I couldn't figure out what most of these gals had against Julia,who only wanted to help but was being shut out until GR was appealed to. Turns out that since she used to work at a waffle house,certain people didn't think that Julia was good enough to be there. What nonsense,especially when Julia was the only one who could cook the quail eggs for the appetizer,which all of the others kept screwing up! Guess that waffle house experience paid off there,huh,ladies?

The fellas were having trouble,too as Aaron couldn't turn off the waterworks(that man gets more emotional than me on a PMS bender)and took himself off of the line during the dinner service. Vinnie did himself no favors as he mouthed off to Chef Ramsey more than once. The Blue Team managed to do somewhat better than the Red,so one of the ladies was selected to be kicked off. Tiffani(who bad mouthed Julia)was given her walking papers and good riddance. If I went to Hell's Kitchen with some friends,it would be more for the entertainment value than the food:






The Riches finished up their first season with quite a cliffhanger as the Malloy clan tries to flee Eden Falls before whiny Pete(well played by Mark Linn-Baker)wakes up to blow the whole deal. Pete's running into Dale(who now knows the real deal)may mean that he doesn't show up for Season Two. The Riches will be getting another season,and I'm glad of that. This was a fun and interesting show that I hope will continue to grow in depth and audience members. Check out some of these clips to whet your appetite:

DAHLIA'S IDEA OF DENTAL HYGENE



DAHLIA DISCOVERS THE RICHE'S RELIGION



Random Notes:

The MTV Movie Awards: The show was great this year,and please keep doing it live! Yes, Sarah Silverman made a Paris Hilton joke while poor little Paris was in the audience and no,I don't feel sorry for her. Sarah ripped on Jack Nicholson,who was there also(and pretty drunk looking to me)and he took it in stride. Here are a few other highlights of the show:

BEST KISS



SARAH'S MOVIE MONTAGE BIT



AMY WINEHOUSE PERFORMS



OKAY,HERE'S THE PARIS JOKE