1. I was discussing Top Chef with my friend (and frequent commenter on this blog), Jake, and he pointed out something I hadn’t noticed before: at the beginning of each episode there’s usually a brief segment highlighting the person who will by sent home later in the episode, thus making it easy to predict who will be sent home.
2. Earlier in the conversation I had mentioned my surprise at the fact that Robin’s cancer has not been mentioned yet. Jake predicted that this week’s episode would focus on Robin and her battle, and that she would be sent home.
3. This week’s episode begins with the camera trained on Robin discussing the fact that everyone thinks she is a terrible chef.
4.Cut to the quickfire, which is “angels and demons” themed. Robin’s demon is cancer. Her angel is struggling to overcome cancer.
5. Jake is a smart guy.
6. You know who isn’t a smart guy: Eli.
7. How was Jake to know that Robin would win the quickfire, thus gaining immunity in this week’s elimination challenge?
8. Eli, though, he should have understood a simple rule: if you want to be a sympathetic reality show character, don’t be snarky to the woman with cancer.
9. The next challenge is judged by Penn and Teller.
10. More proof that Kevin might have actually gotten in to MIT: he’s a “huge” Penn and Teller fan. The only people who are “huge” Penn and Teller fans are a) deliriously hungry jungle animals, and b) tech nerds with poor senses of humor.
11. To re-iterate: Penn and Teller aren’t funny. Especially Teller’s whole “no talking” schtick.
12. There is a problem with this week’s challenge, which is to make a “deconstructed” version of a classic dish. The problem is that Ron doesn’t seem to know what deconstructed means. It’s not his fault; his English isn’t great.
13. That said, his dish still sounds pretty terrible.
14. Okay, so Penn is a bit funny.
15. Padma: “Believe it or not I’ve actually had bull’s testicles.”
Penn: “I bet.” 
16. She kind of walked right into that one.
17. Toby Young makes a good point about the pronunciation of paella. Why do Americans pretend to be Spanish and pronounce it correctly (pie-Aey-uh), as opposed to the way it looks (pie-ella)? We don’t pronounce “Mexico,” meh-hee-coe.
18. However you say it, Ron loses.
adam wilson
Adam Wilson’s first novel, Flatscreen will be published by Harper Perennial in Winter 2012. He is a former culture columnist for Blackbook, and a former TV blogger for Flavorwire. His journalism, criticism, and fiction have appeared in many publications ...
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