In front of the judges, the four cheftestants are congratulated for being the top dishes, and Colicchio wants to know what they thought of the challenge. CJ really didn't find it that difficult because they just examined the bags and saw how things were frozen. As CJ explains their approach, Tre just stands there, his lips pursed, his face set. Is being on Top Chef bringing back bad memories for Tre? Because he always stands at attention as if he's being yelled at by a drill sergeant. Tre says they really read into the rules, in that they were given two hours to prep but also got an additional hour the next day to prep, "'Cuz, if anything -- it's IQF: individually quick frozen. Those things need to be assembled during that hour." When Colicchio sticks them with the truffles question, Tre responds that they wanted to think of it as both Italian and Mediterranean. CJ adds that he's had truffles all over Italy, including in Sicily. Colicchio says no more about the truffles. Turning to Dale and Casey, Rocco mentions that the meatball he sampled was undercooked, "And uh, I was trying to tell you without telling you that you should maybe taste it again." What other things does Rocco do without doing them -- run a restaurant? Colicchio enjoyed the meatball dish except for the metallic-tasting artichoke hearts. Oh, come on -- it's irony! (Sort of like goldy or silvery but with iron!) Rocco praises their pesto highly. Colicchio then tediously asks each cheftestant to say what going to Italy would mean to them. Tre says he plans to open an Italian restaurant, so it would just serve to further his education on the cuisine, and he's really got the best response out of all of them. It's very "Sir! Yessir! I will go to Italy! I will open an Italian restaurant! It will be good!" The other three are just like, "I love Italy. It is pretty. It has good food. And flowers and butterflies and I will sing and be happy." Rocco tells CJ and Tre that they will be the ones going to Italy. CJ tells us he's very happy and Tre tells the judges, "I'll smile now." He grins sort of scarily.

After recapping a super-sized, Rocco-rich episode, I refuse to recap his stupid Bertolli commercials.

In the back, CJ bellows and does a jig of joy to celebrate their win. All the cheftestants clap, and Howie, Sara M., Hung, and Joey are told to sally forth and be judged for the sum of their parts. Hung recounts that their dish failed because of mushy pasta and a lack of IQF. Gail asks why that all didn't happen. Hung pretty much blames Joey. Joey protests that he did not hear Hung say that they could separate everything and freeze it and pack it the next day. He admits that Hung said something and he wasn't paying attention and he just wanted to make sure they had everything packed and ready for the next day. Colicchio points out that Joey is getting blamed for the loss. "I'm not blaming Joey," Hung says. "Well, you are," Colicchio announces. "Yes, you are," we can hear Padma say somewhere. "I'm not blaming Joey," Hung says stubbornly. Padma asks if Hung should blame himself for not getting Joey to do what he wanted and what he knew was right. Joey insists he's not that stubborn, he just didn't comprehend the rules and didn't listen to Hung telling him what they should do. Joey explains that Hung should have slammed some boards down and gotten his attention and there would have been no problem. ["Okay, I totally love Joey's whole defense here. 'I am so dumb and worthless and it's Hung's fault that he didn't just sit me in a corner and do the whole task himself.' Stupid Hung!" -- Joe R] Rocco asks about the choice of pasta and Hung says he wanted to do penne. Joey says he never knew that and that Hung grabbed fusilli first. "I chose penne," Hung says. "It was fusilli first and I said, 'Let's go with the tri-colored.'" "It was penne," Hung says again and explains that fusilli is thinner than linguini. I guess that's his way of proving that it never would have been his choice.