Susie's Answers - Episode 4

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Thanks for another great week of questions! I'm traveling sans video camera this week, so blogging answers to you instead. Back up vlogging next week (promise), so post all your questions for this Sunday's Episode 5 over here.

Onto my Episode 4 responses...

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Of course Teddy is the talk of the town this week! Courtney specifically wrote in wanting to know, “Was the decision to send Teddy home unanimous? If not, who did each judge vote to send home and why?”

I was really on the fence at first about whether we should let Teddy or Katie go. But Bob, and especially Bobby, really liked Katie and wanted to see more from her. I came down pretty hard on Katie for the under-cooked food, but Teddy just could not overcome being so forced and fake on camera. You saw in the challenge he had notes on his hand! So even though both of them were almost equally at the bottom for me, in the end, it was unanimous for us that Teddy needed to leave this week.

Jeffrey definitely had a tough episode this week. Debby asked me in the comments, “What the heck was Jeffrey supposed to do with blueberries and lobster? Since the baskets were chosen for them, are you trying to make Jeffrey fail?”

Bobby was actually very excited about Jeffrey’s basket and was looking forward to seeing what he would do with it. Look, I think it was a very, VERY difficult pairing of ingredients, but I’ve seen harder combinations on our show Chopped. This is where ingenuity, creativity and survival all come into play. The blueberries and taste of the dish weren’t his downfall; it was actually the consistency and preparation of what was, in fact, a failed pot pie. Jeffrey performed pretty poorly on this challenge, which is not typical for him. But his dish didn’t fail because it was blue; it failed because it was bad.

Megan wants to know, “Who is to blame for Debbie catching a pan in the face? Michael or Debbie? As a chef… if you are behind, say BEHIND!”

You are right. It was definitely Debbie’s call to let Michael know she was behind him. He had no idea that someone was there, especially with the pace and intensity of the clock ticking away. Just like when you’re passing someone on a bike, you should say, “on your left” or “behind you” – it’s more than just courtesy; it’s safety in a situation like that. Nonetheless, we felt terrible that Debbie got hurt, and we were absolutely worried about her. What you wouldn’t have known just by watching Episode 4 was that Debbie’s bruise was so severe, she had to keep applying and reapplying make-up as the bruise proceeded to grow and change colors. However, with all of that said, I feel a situation like this either makes you stronger, or you recoil in the face of obstacles. And in the end, I was disappointed that Debbie recoiled.

Dee, Susan, Brian, and Jennifer were all curious about the faulty equipment on this week’s episode. Dabney said, “It appeared not all of the stoves on the Intrepid were calibrated, resulting in some really bad dishes. Was this by design to see how the contestants would compensate?”

We didn’t plan to send the finalists into a faulty kitchen as a part of the challenge. However, I think cooking in different environments always presents different obstacles, so you have to be prepared to improvise. I was recently at a festival in San Francisco in which Guy Feiri, Aida Mollenkamp and Anne Burrell all performed culinary demos in the same outdoor kitchen. The wind was blowing hard that day, and it was very hard to keep the flame going. I noticed each one of them working through it, and even though they all handled it differently, everyone overcame the challenge with grace. These are very real situations the finalists are facing, and it tells us a lot about how they may face adversities as a Food Network star.

*****

Remember to send in your questions for this Sunday's Episode 5 in the comments section of the Ask Susie - Episode 5 post.

Thanks!
Susie

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