Heh - MEOW!! Bring on the popcorn and catnip!

For all of Anne's crowing, and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Kristen start out on Tyler's team? If so, shouldn't it be a "purple" victory, since she was under Tyler's mentoring during those first formative weeks? And speaking of Anne's crowing, enough already with her squawking about "3 FEET!!! 3 FEET!!" If the mentors can't taste or touch the food, what's the flippin' difference if they're screeching instructions from 6 inches away or clear across the room? And not for nothing, but I'm sure I saw Anne break that rule herself.

I've always had a problem with the format of the finale, the mentors should NOT be in the room at all. Of course they can pull out all the fancy-schmancy techniques if they're right there telling the contestants what to do every step of the way. A more telling challenge of "who's the better teacher" would be to select recipes that the contestants could truly do ALL on their own (that is, without their puppetmasters standing right there intercepting potential disasters - ie, coagulated creme anglaise), that would be strike a balance between being do-able by novices yet impressive enough to garner high marks from the judges.

She did seem to my entire family, to be not as "worst cook" bad as the others.

I wondered the same thing re the truffles. Yeah right, like these people are really going to go home,and buy whole squid just to pull out the ink sac to color their pasta.

It makes for a funny story (sort of) but I have a hard time believing that's really what happened, for a couple of reasons.

a) You'd think if they were tasting each others' dishes, more than just one person would get sick (ie, the person who made it didn't?).

b) With so many people involved on the set who know (or should know) about food safety I can't imagine how an ingredient would be left lying around long enough to spoil in that way, and even if it was, that nobody would 'intercept' it before it went into a dish. The FN chefs are always on about cross contamination, washing hands, washing utensils etc, it just seems really strange that it would happen under their noses.

c) Even if she did really get food poisoning from "another contestant's dish", wouldn't it be fair for THAT contestant to be sent home and Stephanie be allowed to re-enter the competition when she was able? I mean, the ONLY silver lining of food poisoning is that it doesn't last long. But maybe in the official rules it says if you miss any part of the competition, you're disqualified.

Of course, it could just be a "cute" cover story if she really didn't want to discuss the true nature of her illness (which is totally her business and understandable if that's what happened). Just saying that "getting food poisoning from a worst cook in America" just seems too "fitting" to be true given the controlled environment.

Hope they don't hire the husband as a math tutor.

Eh, regarding the decor, I agree that the "seaside" theme is wayyy overdone among Fla restaurants in general, but I like the cool, fresh color scheme of this makeover and it wasn't loaded with the usual fish nets and stuffed marlins, but a more subtle and tastefully done nautical look. The previous colors were hideous, more appropriate to a Chuck E Cheese type kiddie place or a 70's era Howard Johnson's. (I did not thumb you down. To each his own.)

Awesome!! FN, are you listening??

Well, she won multiple times so I consider that earning the job. I admit it was a nice surprise to see Emily Ellyn as a helper on Cupcake Wars. I was referring more to those "characters" who go around...and around...if they don't win one show, they pop up on another...and another...like extras from central casting. Makes me wonder if FN is just toying with them, bringing them in to spice up the lineup moreso than what they bring to the table in a culinary sense. But, I suppose it's publicity, and who knows? If at first you don't succeed... We just might just see a future CK episode where Russell has his bacon taken away, Rodney's forbidden from singing or telling jokes for 5 minutes and Stacey is forced to do all her stirring with a fork!

Good to hear! Guess marriage did the trick, haven't kept up with him - and I'm a Jersey girl myself. Loooove Carla!