So let me take a moment to thank the good people over at Bravo for allowing me to spend an hour a week with my most favorite fashion insider and ultra NYC tough chick. The show premieres on February 1st at 10PM, but you can get a sneak peek right now.

For more on “Kell on Earth”, check out BravoTV.com.

If you are not aware of the magic that is Kim, then I feel sorry for you. Well, no really I feel sorry for me for being so stoked about this, but to learn more you need to check out BravoTV.com and watch the classy and beautiful Kim Zolciak. Here she is in Los Angeles with my other favorite Bravo Reality Diva Whore, Chad, from ‘Million Dollar Listing‘. Can’t you just smell the success and confidence these two possess?

Image via Splash News

And thanks to the perfect reality TV tool of foretelling interview sequences, we know right away that the bottom bunch for the quickfire will be a handful of women (Thanks Robin). On the other hand, Kevin wowed the judges with his snail fricassee and with his win, he secured immunity as well as a seat at the elimination challenge table. Anyway back to the losers: Ashley, Jesse and Robin all ended up at the bottom of the snail heap and were asked to create an amuse bouche in like two minutes to see who should get the boot. Jesse’s did not make the cut and she was asked to pack her knives and get the F out the kitchen, which obviously didn’t make her happy. See?

So for the elimination challenge, the chefs, sans Kevin, picked knives which held proteins that would split them into teams. They then found out that they would be creating dishes for French masters like Hubert Keller, Laurent Tourondel, and Joël Robuchon. I can’t even imagine what must have been going through Kevin’s head, not only does he get to sit out on this challenge, but he gets to discuss food with French culinary masters, as well as learning what his opponents in the kitchen can really bring to a challenge first hand. This really is the best prize so far. Some of the teams, while picked at random, were practically guaranteed a win, like Jen and Michael V. and Bryan and Mike I. These two teams were focused, their talents complimented each other and their communication was the core ingredient to a winning dish. And the other teams, like Robin and Ron, Ash and Hector, Laurine and Eli and finally Mattin and Ashley, seemed stressed, uncomfortable and it could be seen in their dishes. Mattin, who is French and well versed with the cuisine, took control over his team with some lackluster results. Robin and Ron kept it simple and under the radar as always and Laurine and Eli were safe with their lobster dish. But Hector and Ash seemed to have the biggest issues with their dish, with their meat not cooked correctly and no sauce to add to it. When the masters were eating, they seemed to truly love Jen and Michael’s rabbit chasseur and felt that Brian and Mike I.’s trout dish was superb. The trout was cooked perfectly and the deconstructed béarnaise sauce drove the judges crazy. Now Kevin was incredibly smart and tactful after the dinner, avoiding confirmation of anything he had heard at the dinner table, which allows him to be as impartial as Switzerland.

When the winners were called in, Mike I showcased why he is a perfect team mate, he knows where credit is due. While I definitely have a few problems with this dude, his understanding of what it takes to be successful in the kitchen is impressive. And the adorable chemistry between Jen and Michael V. made me hope there could be a love connection down the line, but thats the reality romantic in me. Michael I. won the challenge with his interesting take on trout and won the opportunity to work in Joel Robuchon’s restaurant for a week, an incredible honor for any chef. And for the bottom four, Ash, Hector, Mattin and Ashley, the judges were beyond not pleased with what they were given. But overall, Mattin’s lackluster meal fared better than Hector’s poorly cooked beef dish. Since this was the second time Hector was on the chopping block for his methods of cooking beef, the judges had to have him go. I think its actually the only that save Mattin and his red neckerchief. Overall, this challenge was able to showcase the level of talent that is participating this season. I cant image any other group of chefs from the show’s history being so calm and able to perform the feat of preparing French cuisine for the masters of the technique. I just hope that these ladies start coming to forefront and killing it.

Personally, I don’t hate Gosselin, but I am mad at the great deal of coverage she gets. I think she has made some bad choices, namely marrying a douchebag like Jon, but to keep a family of eight afloat nowadays, you have to get creative. I find it interesting that she has received the majority of the backlash from the public until Jon stepped out with some young coed. Every time I watched the show, which wasn’t often, she seemed intent in getting her kids to be disciplined and enjoying the most out of what reality fame could bring them. But that doesnt make the above clip any less funny. I can’t wait to see who Griffin takes on next.

I was actually hesitant to bite into last night’s “Top Chef”, since I had to watch the “Top Chef: Masters” season finale first. See I like to truly complete things, so I couldn’t begin on the Las Vegas journey without knowing if Hubert took home some cash to his non-profit. And after I watched Rick Bayless kill it with his 27 ingredients mole sauce and win the Masters challenge, I settled in for what I would assume to be quite a disappointing culinary experience. While I adore “Top Chef”, the first few episodes of the season are always a bit rough. In the beginning, chefs don’t really get to showcase their talents, they let fears take over their menu and they tend to have to work with their competition, so its always a bit daunting to follow and figure out who will impress with their culinary prowess in the beginning. This season, while we have a deficit of hotties, we are overflowing with annoying and douchey chefs. Oh and a whole lot of ladies who look like dude bike messengers, but let’s not judge too much. There are a few annoying sub-plots from the beginning, dueling brothers, one being quite stoic and professional and the other being quientesential southern California., seems to be one plot I will easily get bored with. Not sure if “Top Chef” really needed the “The Odd Couple” treatment, but it seems these dudes are accomplished so they might be sticking around for quite some time. We also see a few burly dudes making fat jokes about themselves, a whole lot of bad tattoos, the quintessential “mom doing it for her kid” reality contestant and a chef who endured 27 days at sea to get to America from Haiti.

So now that we have met the chefs, lets get to the challenges. For the first quick fire, the chefs learn they will be performing a relay as teams of four, which were chosen from random chip picking. This also allowed the odd man out, Robin, the cancer survivor and older woman of the bunch, to pick a gold chip, which gave her the ability to sit out for the quickfire and receive immunity in the first cooking competition. Not sure if this will be the way every challenge and quickfire teams are chosen, but so far this “luck” theme is really being played up. The blue team won the relay race and thought this would mean they were automatically safe, but with the obligatory surprise twist, they were asked to prepare a dish based on their relay item and the winner of the cooking challenged would win the quickfire. All four seemed to do pretty well, but it was Jennifer with her clam ceviche, the one she was afraid would be too simple, that won the first competition. This season we learned that quick fire wins will not automatically give a chef immunity, for main challenge, but it will bank them $15K, nothing to scoff at. For the main challenge, Robin had to join a team, naturally it was the winning blue team and we watched as the teams produced dishes relating to the individual vices of the chefs, another tie-in with their sin city location, which I only imagine getting old real quick this season.

There were more than a handful of chefs who for their vices used the obligatory “I drink too much” and some did the over eating thing, but there were a few clever dishes, like the “rack” of lamb (joke intended) and slow cooked fish, for the procrastinator. For this competition, the chefs were battling their own teams and the best in the bunch would be in the running to win and the worst would be up for elimination. There were a handful of great dishes, which is promising for the season, and even the worst dishes seemed better than a lot of the worst for other seasons. Wolfgang Puck was the first guest judge for the season and his energy was definitely appreciated. The winner this week was Kevin, the young chef from Atlanta who has already been nominated for a James Beard award. His arctic char was the favorite with the judges, but Puck really fell in love with it. And for the worst of the bunch, it was really down to Eve and Jennifer, since Jennie’s chicken was a bit dry, but had great flavor and Hector’s deep friend steak was not the best idea, but it wasnt an ill conceived dish all together. Eve’spoorly conceived and lackluster shrimp dish was supposed to explain her “over complicating things” but it left the judges wanting a whole lot more and Jennifer’s bizarrely seitan stuffed pepper, was neither spicy nor good. The judges were a bit confused by her dishes’ clunkiness and the usage of seitan. They felt it was under seasoned as well, which is ironic because it was supposed to express her “hot temper”, which the judges did not get. Unfortunately, I dont think she understood that the judges weren’t penalizing her for using a non-meat product like seitan, they just wanted it to taste good. Jennifer was given the heave ho, like I predicted and had this to say to Bravo the next day. Apparently, she still doesnt get why she was kicked off the show.

This season definitely looks to be interesting with such a dynamic group of competent chefs. And as I predicted, the guest judges will be some of the best chefs in the world and your standard Las Vegas performer fare. What do you think of the show so far?

Check out Entertainment Weekly’s Recap for a more in depth look at each chef.

Check out what we can expect to see from the sixth season of Top Chef……

So don’t forget to check out the season premiere tonight, as well as the season finale of “Top Chef: Masters”. The action begins at 9PM EST on Bravo. And as always, The Spielster will be doing episode recaps and reviews for Top Chef and Project Runway all season long! Enjoy and don’t forget to sharpen the knives!

I honestly don’t care if these ladies are involved in the mob, hate each other or are actually millionaires due to the astonishing catering and construction budgets the folks in Franklin Lakes, but I do think its pretty petty of them to attack Geri.
No, Im kidding. The above was just an awesome spoof the ladies did over at “Chelsea Lately”. Brad sure did a great impression of Caroline. So who is stoked for the next installment of this hot mess?

Hosea, a chef with good intentions, has done well throughout the season, but hasn’t had many highlights. The seafood chef from Colorado is not as trained as Stefan or Carla and was side saddled by some junior high style romance with Leah, the most annoying chef this season. I think unfortunately his nice person strike held him back this season because he didn’t go for the jugular until the near end. He has hit a few good notes with the judges and his intensity can be seen by anyone. I do think his weirdo rivalry with Stefan has actually sidelined both men. Unless Hosea somehow makes the most amazing meal of his life during the final challenge, I think he doesn’t stand a chance to walk away with the title.

My new favorite and hopefully the winner of the whole thing is Carla, or as she is known in my house “Hootie Hoot”. Carla is a classically French trained chef, but she was flailing for the majority of this season. The pastry chef from Washington, D.C. almost lost on her bad deserts a few challenges ago, but sneaked by due to her ability to express what she was aiming for in the kitchen. Since then she has pulled a 180 and has won a few challenges with her skillful menus and simple dishes. I would love for her to win, since there could be no shortage of women master chefs, but also so that cocky Stefan gets sent home. And per a poll on BravoTV – 60% of the viewers think she is going to pull through. Of course there will be some sort of curveball thrown at the chefs, so there is a good possibility Hosea can pull through and win this whole thing. But my money is Carla for the win.
I guess only time will tell who will be packing their knives tonight. What did you think of this season of “Top Chef”? (Programming Note – Project Runway article this Friday!)