You are so inspirational and you talk sense. That??в„ўs important. You??в„ўre intelligent and you have a lot of heart. I love your posts! Thank you! =-=

Too Funny!!!!!!!!!!

I know this happened weeks ago so I'm probably beating a dead horse, but Marcel on the balcony with Trey (who I adore) and Dale (who has come a long way since his season)... Really White Boy? Don't get me wrong, there are countless times that a camera on me would have been bad news, but national television? Ouch. That's enough to make a gal wanna sober up. On the other hand, it makes for great tv. He was just fun to watch! Jesus. The foam. He managed to turn something as innocuous as foam into pretentious giz. ---Whew, I've been holding that in for weeks. Having finally said all that, I wish Marcel all the luck in the world. Night y'all!

I always enjoy your commentary, whether here or on one of your shows (A Cook's Tour, No Reservations). You commented that it's a wonder Marcel has not gotten a pencil in his neck. Although not as life-threatening, Marcel was attacked in 2008 by a Top Chef viewer at a night club after he confirmed his identity to the viewer/attacker, who struck Marcel's head with a bottle and fled. Although I don't condone violence and assaults on people, I could not help thinking karma had occurred when Marcel was attacked.

OMG, this is the all time BEST blog. Toni your wit and humor is just so refreshing to read on this page. The usual here is fluff!!
You've hit every note and in this episode and in everything you report. Bravo take note Toni is a God among men when it comes to Top Chef. All praise Toni!!!

The problem with saying that Jamie survived as long as she did because she simply failed to be the worst in previous episodes is that it doesn't describe what happened in episodes two and four. That is why her continued participation felt "unseemly"--because it was. Other contestants have performed poorly and survived for a long time, most famously Lisa Fernandez, but their situations never seemed to rise above really annoying.

Nice call on Richard's choice of words. You can make a great drinking game with the product placement on the show.

Wolverine "actin' all gangsta up in here" was hilarious. Only thing funnier was reading Tony's comments on it.

Jamie is off to her new job at the post office to put her people skills and unquenchable thirst for excellence to good use.

The fishing was fantastic that day - what beautiful fish - especially Dale's catch of a lifetime. Fishing then shopping at the Farmer's Market - couldn't get a more real test of a chef's skill.

I guess Blaise/Marcel/Fabio's stragegy of just making one dish because it would be hard for the judges to figure out who to send home worked. Too bad Antonia didn't get to go to Amsterdam - with TONY!

I absolutely love this blog. Really well written humourous and seemingly spot on as it relates to how the food tasted.

I wasn't a Jamie hater but she seemed pretty talentless and it was gratifying to see her not able to hide away instead of actually participating and be judged as the others were, based on thier food.

Marcel completely puts me off, I would never hire him or work for unless I was absolutely desperate.

I am so enjoying your input on this show Mr. Bourdain! My husband and I enjoy your show on the travel channel. Again, what a great spot on blog entry.

If I were the proud owner of such a fine vehicle, I would name-drop the glorious El Camino as much as possible!

Chef Bourdain, Right on the mark as usual. Marcel is getting back to his obnoxious self again. I thought and hoped he had actually matured, but alas no.
Dale has impressed alot this season. He seems to be a happier person, not so negative and really trying not tie Marcel into a pretzel. Thank god, Jamie is out, though sorry to see Antonia had to go.
Your humorous and stinging insights are so apt. Look forward to more from you.

You're awesome Tony...I look SOOOO forward to your blog!! I can't wait to hear your wit and humor-incredible!! Keep it coming!!!

I laughed so hard when I read this! Hilarious, but true. Love it! Look forward to your blogs every week! =)

You gave Marcel the wrong nickname. You know for sure the real Snoop, ting though she may be, could whup Marcel's butt without even breaking a sweat and then have him make her a lake trout sandwich, hold the foam, of course.

Mr. Bourdain you rock! I missed this week's episode but tuned in to You Tube and was glad that I did not have to wait until Sunday for re-runs. Sad to see Tiffany go, it should have been Marcel. Anywaysssss, the competition is getting much more interesting. Congratulations to Carla, I hope she wins! She deserves it!

LOL!! I think u owe me a computer Mr. Bourdaine!! I spit out my drink reading this blog laughing!! Too funny!!

Sapphire or Fiji? Granted Marcel's antics made it seem like he was probably guzzling sapphire, but i also noticed FIJI bottles all over the place.

junkie: Antonia had mentiond she spent too much time in high school smoking weed, hence the weed-legal Amsterdam reference

Wonderfully, funny yet insightful blog. Is it my imagination that Marcel has become less mature as time has gone by? He's positively juvenile now. In addition, he can't cook either! I'm glad Jamie (a legend in her own mind) has finally been tossed back into the sea. However, Tiffani's dismissal is a disappointment. I always liked her cooking skills and mental toughness throughout every competition she's entered. I knew it would be the girls to go. Marcel figured correctly that with 3 on his team claiming pride on their ill-fated dish, blame could not be assigned to only 2.

WOW!! You are hillarious! Never have read blogs here before, but enjoyed the fishin show so much I decided to check it out. Chef you capture pretty much all i thought (and more) as I've watched these contestants over the seasons including this one. Gotta say, i appreciate your humor, and if you actually have an El Camino, I'm jealous if it's an early model. I know a former CA chef relatively well (friend of the family) who used to be in Marcel's circle. She stated he is not what he appears on the show as this mouthy little wannabe gangsta, but this episode showed she's wrong as ya just can't edit that. I kinda bet that needle neck would pee a bit if he was actually in the company of who he wants to portray. Oh wait I think he did wet his panties when he got bullied on his season with the head shave attempt. Kinda wish they'd have succeeded in shaving his "Wolverine Do" seeing as there were repercussions for the mere attempt. Pullin for Carla, Dale and Tre on this one, because they seem like regular people who care about what they cook and how it will be received in general.

I was also surprised no one became seasick! I've worked on fishing and dive boats and it's very rare to have a group that size without anyone curling up in the corner and giving up on life until their feet touch land again. While I was watching the show, I thought to myself that they must have offered some scopolamine off-camera. Then again, a seasick cheftestant struggling to catch a fish, green-faced and yakking might have made for good drama. Luckily this episode was exciting enough on its own, without any puke-fest footage.

I love your blog, Mr. Bourdain. Always a great read filled with hilarity and wit, this week especially.

I loved his reaction when Tom suggested that foam was, perhaps, uncalled for. "What? Wh- Why WOULDN'T there be foam?" I wonder if Marcel made foams out of government cheese when he was growing up in the ghetto.

Jamie strikes me as a generally unhappy person with some self-esteem issues. She tries to fake it 'til she makes it but alas, all that snarkiness and pomp can't hide the fact that she just doesn't believe in her own ability to cook. Too bad, I seem to recall she was pretty impressive on her first season, all scallops aside.

Hey Tony I buy one of your books every Christmas for my ma, gonna need you to crank another one out in a little less than a year. Also can you set me up with Padma? I live in my parents basement and am a full time grad student with a steady income of nothing, but I think I can win her over. Thanks in advance.

I was impressed that Marcel seemed to have matured during the first few episodes, but douchebaggery will out. As the saying goes, beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone. A pissing match between Dale and Marcel (i.e. TweedleDee and TweedleDrunk) is barely worth watching, but what really soured me was watching Marcel suck the joy out of Carla's win by scolding her for being happy about it. She wasn't gloating or being ungracious, and she earned it. She's never been ugly to a single soul on that show, ever, and he was behaving like a pouty toddler. For shame.

That said, thanks for making me laugh so hard that I woke the cat. In the next room. Looking forward to next week, Tony!

Your blog is excellent as always Mr. Bourdain :) also thank you for reminding me about Antonia being the "black hammer" I can't believe I forgot.

Tony you are a Stud!

Hopefully your comment about Marcel will stop him from thinking he is a gangsta. Stop it Marcel!

Anthony;s bogs are so much fun to read. So funny, sharp, precise with wit galore. I truly look forward to reading them the most.
I would so love to travel and dine with him. Fun, fun, fun...

I love you Tony this Blog was sooo Funny and True...Marcel is killin me with the down in the Hood talk and I want to drown him with FOAM or at least shave his head myself....Thanks for makin me laugh!!!

Um, can someone enlighten me about a connection I obviously missed, about Antonia and Amsterdam? Sorry about my ignorance.

Also I agree with a poster a few people back who said Carla will bury them all. I too love her and think, for all some of the others' bluster, she is the one to watch.

I have three words for Tony in response to his chastisement of Blais for being a shill for Toyota: "Chase Sapphire Card."

I still believe your finest moment was eating the assh**e out of that warthog, brother.

Great riff! Before or after a spliff?

"So. What say you and us jump in the El Camino and head down to Seaside?"

Tony, for shame - if you're going down the shore, you always take a Bitchin' Camero.

Marcel is a fool, have him come down to the Lower and we'll show him whats up. Tony don't forget someone all ready cracked a bottle over this dudes head in Vegas. I like watching him cook though he has skills.
Also how are you gonna have a fish challenge on LI and not have my man Dave Pasternack of ESCA as host. Obviously Tony you know Dave, he would have been perfect.
Follow me on twitter @NYCook

Could you try to gather up some energy and act like you want to be there ? I have watched you for awhile, you are so jaded.

I love it, right on the mark Tony. Really, the way you worked Suge into it was beautiful. Currently livin' in the hood in South Central, I wanted to pop Marcel. Not in the Gangsta sense, but in the back hand across the back of his head sense. But Dale punked him by not recognizin'. Bottomline Dale won and all the whining by Wolverine ain't going to change that. I, too, was saying finally on Jamie. Tiffani, whatever, she wasn't going to win.

You know they caught me hook, line and sinker when they said you were going to be on the show. I want more of you, that's all I'm saying.

Aside from the fact that I am disappointed in how Jamie represented San Francisco so incredibly bad, I am finally secure in my opinion that Marcel is a self righteous douchebag. Who drinks gin straight from the bottle?! He needs to grow a pair and at least be chugging whiskey next time. Does he even cook outside of Top Chef anymore? Ugh.

This is the first blog post I've read and it really makes me miss the feeling I got the first time I read Kitchen Confidential years ago. It would probably be inappropriate to say, "I'm lovin' it."

This blog entry is an instant classic. I'd pay to see Marcel roll up to your front door with his Bombay in his right, a nerf gun in his left, and lay down some serious gangsta smack on how you need to get out tha f-ckin game for disrespecting. "So. What say you and us jump in the El Camino and head down to Seaside?"

Ah, product placement - Yes, Richard Blais did perpetuate the constant string of Toyota advertising that has run through pretty much every Top Chef series that I can remember. It seems like for a lot of shows it isn't enough to just have commercials, so ads need to seep into the show and take up dialogue space in the mere 45 minutes of air time which occupy an hour-long time slot these days. I don't think that No Reservations, monsieur Bourdain, is any exception. I vividly recall Tony reciting the slogan "I got this" at meals in exotic locales on the show, where he subsequently paid with his Chase credit card.

...But seriously, when is the next season of No Reservations coming? It and Top Chef are two of the best shows on tv.

Exactly, but I still feel blind judging would be interesting.

When Jamie blogged for a while she as much as admitted she got burned out during her season. This season she looked kind of burned out from the start. She's probably a good chef but she knew what she was in for, if she was ready for the ramp up the show demanded she shouldn't have accepted the invite to return.

Tiffani gets high fives for her much improved attitude. gracious in defeat I hope she does well. Ditto for Dale who has also matured nicely and is holding more than his own in this competition

As for Marcel, you wonder who the new villain will be.... He seems to be ready to reclaim his role from season two. For a time I thought he had matured some in the last 5-6 years - maybe not.

The other Tiffani has yet to emerge, I expect she will if she doesn't just get tired - she's had a long continuous run on TC.

Angelo on the other hand is like the energizer bunny - But I hope he doesn't start getting mopey

Tre - solid guy, we saw too little of you on your season, I'm not yet sure what exactly we missed.

Mike I - every season needs it's comic relief, can he do it between crack ups? He also looks like he's gaining a bunch of weight, maybe the next Dom DeLouise.

Richard - intense as ever, very capable but every so often loses it in the weeds. Hope he doesn't get caught on an off night.

Fabio - I'm sure he's another good chef whose food I would enjoy but on TC he seems to always be in the land of not quite right.

Antonia comes in as my backup choice to take it all. She has the skills and attitude to stay til the end

Carla - My bet on the one to beat - fully confident now in her ideas and food she creates. She and Antonia are the most balanced personalities in left in this competition.

After RW I hope to see more solo challenges, these team things are getting old.

I love the no-holds comments on people and outlook. Tony doesn't care who he pissed off (or on for that matter.)
For his tell-it-like-it-is in an intelligent manner and this blog is the reason I watch Top Chef.
Thanks Tony.