The judges arrive: Tom, Padma, Gail, Tony, and a tennis player named Taylor Dent. Padma calls for the first dish. Fabio has previously volunteered to go first for Team Orange, probably because his gnocchi are better the fresher they are, and he's ready. Team Yellow is thrown for a loop, since they were expecting Blais, but Tiffani urges them to stick to their strategy. I think another flaw in their strategy is that they didn't decide ahead of time how they would determine the worst dish. Did they think it would be easy to come to a consensus as a team? Did they assume that someone would volunteer? This was a horrible idea. As they all stand there and stare at each other, Spike asks for a volunteer and Tiffany volunteers Jamie (I don't think that's what he meant). Jamie firmly shakes her head no and says that her chickpeas aren't done. I don't really blame her at this point if she honestly believes that they are almost there and will be done in time for a future round. But this is where having a more fully-formed strategy ahead of time would have helped, because there would be less wiggle room. So then Casey can't take it any more and offers to go first. Spike interviews that he didn't know how that happened. I guess his strategy was for everyone to just refuse to go until Jamie was forced to go? I don't think that would work. Jamie is pretty stubborn. What a fiasco.

Team Orange sends out Fabio, who serves whole wheat gnocchi (using only egg whites, not the yolk) with pork loin ragout, caramelized fennel and zucchini. He's up against Team Yellow's Casey, who serves grilled pork tenderloin with farro, cherries, sugar snap peas, and vinaigrette. Taylor likes Fabio's gnocchi, and Padma says that Casey's plate is heavier, which wouldn't be great for an athlete. Tom admires that Fabio's gnocchi has flavor, so Fabio wins, and Fabio leaps over the net and cheers for himself to let his team (who are way at the end of the court) know that he won. Spike is disappointed because, while they planned to lose the first round, they planned to lose it with their worst dish. Although from what Padma said, it didn't sound like Casey's dish would have won any round.