Top Chef Seattle makes a memorable meal,Thomas in trouble at Downton Abbey and the winner of Rachael Vs. Guy is...

For those of you who check in on my regular TV Thursday post,my apologies for not having one up last week(had a few technical problems to work out that took longer than expected).

Hopefully,we can now get back on track with Top Chef: Seattle,which was still in Alaska last night.  The Final Three contenders consisted of Brooke,Sheldon and Josh,who was most anxious about the impending arrival of his first child(congrats are in order for him and his wife there,due to their lovely baby girl Georgia coming in safe and sound).

 Brooke got a little anxious herself when they all had to ride a helicopter to get to the Quickfire Challenge. Flying is not her thing, particularly in tight quarters,yet she managed to overcome her tensions there.

 After the copter ride,everyone traveled by dog sled to a camp for professional sled teams where Padma and Judge Tom were waiting.

 The challenge was to cook a meal in thirty minutes,using only what was available in the camp kitchen and supply tents.Brooke prepared a halibut dish,along with Sheldon. Hers,however,was more satisfying and Brooke won the round,a nice start for this day indeed.

Upon arriving at the place where the Final Three would be staying,two surprise guests were waiting for them. Emeril and special judge for this round Roy Choi(who worked with Brooke before) prepared for them a great meal and shared a few reminiscences about what was their turning
point for entering the culinary field.

 That,of course,lead to the Elimination Challenge. Each of them had to prepare a dish that defined their own personal push towards a career as chefs. Including Emeril and Roy Choi,Judge Tom,Padma,Wolfgang Puck and Gail Collins were also present for that extra special dinner party.

Brooke had a lot of difficulty in settling on what to make and for a while she was seriously floundering. Fortunately,she decided on a braised chicken(like her mother used to make) combined with a grilled quail(to represent the chef she is now).

 Even with the quail being a tad overdone,the other flavors on the plate more than made up for that. The judges loved the picked veggies and carrot barley served on the side as well. Brooke won this challenge and will be in the Final Two,yes! So happy for her,Brooke has been quite the rock star this season.

 I was worried for Sheldon,due to the saltiness of his broth. The judges really liked how his pan roasted rock fish was cooked and how well the
prawns went with it,too.

Sadly,he didn't realize until the last minute that the liquid for the broth had reduced too much,making it way too salty. Judge Tom was concerned that this one misstep could take him out of the game.

Lucky for him,Josh made an even bigger error. He chose foie gras and prepared it three ways;pan seared,profiterole and touchon. I'm not familiar with the last style but from what I gathered from the judges,it's a dish that takes a long time to cook before it's right and Josh did a rather hasty version that fell apart and was laden with veins.

 So,it's off to Last Chance Kitchen for Josh and next week,we will see if he returns to face off against Brooke and Sheldon for the win. I suspect that it will be Kristen who does the victory walk out of LCK,but we shall see.

 On Downton Abbey,the focus was on Thomas for the most part this episode,due to him giving into his loneliness and making a very unwelcome move on James. His lack of discretion was due to listening to O'Brien who slipped a good number of poison pills into the ears of most of the male servants here.

Thomas has usually been the type of guy who could bounce back from a sticky situation but this time,he felt truly defeated and didn't even bother to put up a fight when Carson(upon pressure from James via O'Brien)was ready to dismiss him without a reference. Mr. Bates wound up championing his cause,so to speak,and got the whole thing taken of,with a little help from Lord Grantham. As devious as Thomas has been to Mr. Bates in the past, Bates couldn't help but offer a hand to someone in such dire need of it and even Thomas didn't deserve to be set up like that,not at all:

The finale airs this upcoming Sunday and there are sure to be some surprises,along with surprise guests as well. I do hope that a fourth season of Downton Abbey will be coming our way in the near future because it's hard to see how everything will be neatly wrapped up for good:

The second season finale of Rachael Vs, Guy: Celebrity Cook Off had Dean McDermott(aka Mr. Tori Spelling) and Carnie Wilson going head to head to whip up a three course meal for a group of  guest judges that included Kathy Griffin.

It was touch and go there for awhile,but in the end,Dean emerged triumphant. He appeared to actually know what he was doing in the kitchen and his win was well earned.Carnie meant well but her erratic approach to cooking really got on my nerves.

 Since it was all for charity, the real winner was Miracle Babies,Dean's cause that he was competing for. Congrats,Dean!:

 RANDOM NOTES:

 WORST COOKS IN AMERICA: Season Three begins this Sunday,with Chef Anne going up against Bobby Flay as the best to teach the worst. Good luck to them both,since this new crew of recruits looks
rather raw indeed: