OK -- I need a moment of silence. Dale is gone. A tear just fell on my keyboard. Was it a crush? Perhaps. I didn't think Dale would win, but I certainly wanted him in the top 3. Him being home-microwaving a turkey pot pie and Spike still being in the competition is upsetting. Spike is no Dale, and cooking is no personality is no beauty contest. I know the boys do love Spike.

I will live. Now to the Quickfire. I loved this challenge. Having lived in Chicago, I know Lou Mitchell's very well. Breakfast is religion in Chicago. Sports, bars, and breakfast. These are things that are religion in Chicago. Go to a game, get drunk, and wake up in the freezing cold, weather the storm and wait for an hour for breakfast. That being said, that town has the best breakfast I've ever had, and Lou Mitchell's makes a mean skillet omelet. I digress.

Antonia is street. I am street, so I love it, I have to admit. I didn't think she had the goods in the beginning, but like me on The Apprentice, I caught my stride once the riff raff was out of the way. I will still be shocked if she takes it from Stephanie, but she is scrappy. The fact that she hustled and held down that grill is respectable. Stephanie may be an artist, patient, a chef, but truthfully, most of being in a professional kitchen is the grind, the hustle and the utter stress. If Stephanie can only excel when in a calm culinary bubble, then we have a problem. Most of cooking is nothing close to glamorous. Stephanie can't conquer a Quickfire, and these challenges are really the guts of what being a chef is.

Richard may be guilty of the same syndrome. He creates art and culinary innovation, but sometimes slinging hash is what the job boils down to. You need to work on your feet.