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" Yeah, I&amp;#039;m pretty bummed out. I&amp;#039;m going to go ahead and spoil it right now \u2013 last night, Jamie was sent home. And, yes, I actually DID get a little teary-eyed. Here&amp;#039;s how it all went down: As soon as guest judge Eric Ripert walked into the kitchen for the Quickfire challenge, the cheftestants knew it was going to be all about seafood. They were noticeably nervous, filleting their fish with shaky hands and in some cases (Leah) giving up completely. After filleting sardines and arctic char, the final two cheftestants standing (Stefan and Hosea \u2013 a good match considering Stefan&amp;#039;s talent and Hosea&amp;#039;s background as a seafood chef) had to filet a fresh water eel. Funny thing about eels \u2013 even though they&amp;#039;re dead, their nervous system continues to operate, so they sort of flail around during the filleting process. Instead of watching the show alone as I typically do, I spent last night watching with a group of friends, whose reactions to the moving dead eel were far more notable than their reactions to Jamie leaving the show. Stefan wins the challenge, as Hosea admits his round-three filleting skills were a less than perfect. Apparently he had some trouble with the skin. The next day, cheftestants are treated to a six-course tasting at Le Bernadin, and then told they&amp;#039;ll each have to recreate one course. The chefs seemed impressed by the food, but many commented that they weren&amp;#039;t paying close enough attention to recreate the dishes. This begs the question: You are on Top Chef in the final six... did you think they were just being nice and allowing you to kick it at one of the nicest restaurants in New York without ulterior motives? Chefs draw knives (except Stefan, who, as the winner of the Quickfire challenge is allowed to select the dish he&amp;#039;d like to prepare) to figure which course they&amp;#039;ll be preparing. As the judges watch from the kitchen and later sit upstairs awaiting the meal, they seem to recognize the anxiety level that the chefs must be feeling. &amp;quot;To even be cooking in this kitchen must be making them nervous,&amp;quot; Tom said. In general, the judges seem fairly impressed by their efforts to recreate Chef Ripert&amp;#039;s dishes, but after proclaiming Stefan the winner, Jamie, Leah, and Hosea are sent in front of the judges. As they&amp;#039;re being critiqued, it&amp;#039;s clear that Jamie is about to end up on the bottom. Even though Tom mentions for the fourth or fifth time that, &amp;quot;Leah&amp;#039;s head just isn&amp;#039;t in the game,&amp;quot; Toby Young seems fixated on Jamie&amp;#039;s dish, calling it toxic, metallic, and insisting he &amp;quot;didn&amp;#039;t&amp;#039; want to eat anymore after the first bite.&amp;quot; And then, sadly, Padma tells Jamie to pack her knives and go. Reactions to this episode have been interesting, from a friend who texted me as soon as the decision was made (&amp;quot;I can&amp;#039;t believe they sent Jamie home over Leah!&amp;quot;) to a co-worker&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;She called Eric Ripert&amp;#039;s food boring! That was enough for me,&amp;quot; to my personal favorite, &amp;quot;I was so upset that I erased the episode from my DVR.&amp;quot; I leave you with my favorite image of the evening: my friend Robin&amp;#039;s reaction to Hosea skinning a writhing eel, which seemed far funnier before my favorite cheftestant was eliminated.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/restaurants/a29925/episode-11-eric-ripert-and-le/>