Ash is making his food, his way, so he's serving up something I think is on the menu at Chili's: chilled cucumber avocado soup with crème fraiche, crab, and red pepper. At least it's visually interesting, but it doesn't seem all that creative. It's paired with the barbeque-flavored snacks. Now-back-to-invisible Laurine made swordfish with spinach, asparagus, and fava bean puree. I feel like this was an ill-designed challenge because some of the cheftestants (Bryan, Laurine) incorporated the snack food into their dishes, and some just served them on the side (which was the actual challenge, I think), and nothing is ever mentioned about which was the right thing to do. It just bothers me. I like rules, and I like knowing the rules ahead of time. Jen finally gets her food tasted last, and you can't tell me that wasn't planned ahead of time. Come on. She made a sautéed pork chop with tomato sauce and feta cheese, and she's another one that incorporated the snack into her dish. Charlie and Padma both comment that the pork chop was overdone, which Jen already knew, and going last didn't help.

Having tasted all the food, Charlie is ready to tell us what sucked and what rocked. He didn't like Robin's dish, and didn't think it worked with her chip, and he thought Ash's dish just tasted weird. Jen's pork was overcooked, duh. So Robin and Ash are in the bottom because their whole concept sucked, while Jen's was just a matter of execution, and at this level, you can't screw up like that and expect to skate by in the middle of the pack anymore.

So who was awesome? Charlie liked Eli's concept, and it was well-executed. Bryan also executed well, even if his dish was a little safe. Kevin incorporated his ingredients well. Note that all of the top three used the onion-flavored snack food. Coincidence? Winner? Eli. Great. Just what he needs. More confidence. Ash interviews that he thinks Eli is a great chef, although he himself deserves a win too. Does he really? What have we seen Ash do that deserved a win?

Elimination Challenge: The cheftestants draw knives with the names of parts of a pig on them. Michael V. tells us about how Charlie loves pork and how one day when they worked together, Charlie shot a wild boar and brought it into the restaurant for Michael to cook. Where does Charlie live, Lost island? Who has wild boars in their backyard? I need more details on this development. Kevin interviews that he loves pork and pigs so much that he got a pig tattoo. This is sweet, but also unfortunate in that Kevin is a little piggy, facially, since his eyes are kind of close together and his cheeks are chubby. It's just not something I would emphasize, were I him. Jen gets the wild card and chooses pork belly, because she's no dummy and all of the pork belly dishes this season have gotten lavished with praise.