Top Chef: Hello, goodbye

Ah, trios. I hadn't even seen a culinary trio before I started watching Top Chef, and now they're old friends. Seems like someone does a trio of something every week, and that must have been the inspiration for this week's challenge: the chefs split into teams of three to create trios. I really, really hope that the show came up with this challenge to poke fun at the chefs for their penchant for trios. That would make my week. Anyway, it was Lia, who I originally thought was getting the loser edit, who walked away with the victory. On the losing side, the judges put a "guilt blanket" (her words) over on Casey, who had immunity but made the worst dish, thereby putting her teammates, Joey and Howie, in danger. But Casey needn't have been smothered under the guilt blanket, because the judges sent Camille home. Wait, who?

Poor Camille. I still don't know who she is. At least now I know why they never showed any interviews with her before: because she delivered them in an expressionless monotone that was just painful to sit through. Honestly, I probably could have guessed from the editing that Camille was going home, because she had more interviews in this episode than every other episode combined. However, I didn't listen to her interviews, because they bored me senseless. She's probably just one of those people who doesn't do well on camera. Or else she's a robot. Either way, Camille: we didn't know ye. At all.

One thing I'm really loving about this season of Top Chef (and far more than I should, I know): the guest judges. A few weeks ago, there was Dick Van Patten lookalike Norm Van Aken, and this week, for the Quickfire, there was Jamie Walker, mixologist for Bombay Sapphire, who looked like Dave Foley playing season one's Stephen in Sommelier: The Movie. It didn't hurt at all that Jamie was pretty funny, too. The first thing he said to CJ was "You're very tall," both a remarkably astute observation and probably the first thing I would say to CJ too, if I were ever confronted with him.

Meanwhile, I'm getting really annoyed by Hung. Every time he doesn't win something or his dish gets criticized, he has to tell us about how the judge "didn't get it" or was "confused." Partly I'm annoyed with the show, which has to show these complainterviews with him all the time, even though I've reached the point where I can pretty much assume that if something is happening, Hung doesn't like it. (Dessert? Who needs it! Hard alcohol? Doesn't like it! He's like Mikey!) Didn't he learn anything from his pal Marcel's experience last season? Marcel was positively cute compared to Hung, certainly much more excitable and happy to be there, and the other contestants still hated him. Perhaps Hung only saves his bitching for the audience and is otherwise pleasant. I feel so privileged.