top chef d.c.I knew from the beginning of Season 7 of Top Chef D.C. that Angelo was bad news; but after watching Episode 6 it became clear that even I had underestimated his ambition.

The show started off innocently enough with a quirky Quickfire Challenge in which contestants had to make delicious dishes using outlandish ingredients like rattlesnake, duck testicles, tongue, and emu egg. But soon it devolved into back-biting and manipulation. I've complained in past posts that this season is putting me to sleep; well, last night the show definitely picked up the pace.

*SPOILERS BELOW*

In the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were split into Group A and Group B and asked to each make a dish that was best served cold. Playing off the theme of "Cold Wars," Group A tasted and (brutally) critiqued Group B's dishes and vice versa -- eventually nominating a winning and losing dish. Did the producers expect the chefs to be so harsh in judging their peers' dishes? I'm guessing they did.

Despite the fact that this was an individual competition, Angelo appeared to be helping two of his fellow contestants -- Tamesha and Stephen -- while bragging about his superior strategy behind their backs. The other chefs warned in their interviews that Angelo was not to be trusted and up to no good. And yet his two proteges hung on his every word.

The chefs tried their darnedest to get Kenny eliminated; he is the biggest threat after all. But when he boasted to the judges that the only reason he was on the chopping block was because the other chefs wanted him gone for being consistently in the top, guest judge Michelle Bernstein cut him off with one of my favorite lines of the show this season:

I really didn't enjoy the flavors. If I were to sit here and talk about each piece, it would take until the end of the show.

Ha! Take that, Kenny! (Is it obvious how much I dislike this guy?)

In the end, Tamesha was sent home. And later, in her interview, Tiffany confirmed what we expected all along:

Angelo did have a hand in [Tamesha's] dish. He tasted the flavors ... You can't trust anyone.

Tamesha was one of my favorites. But there's no excuse for not trusting her own instincts and being confident in her cooking. Plus, I can't help but question her intelligence for thinking Angelo was a "mentor" when really he was the biggest slime of all time. This is a competition after all!

Do you think Tamesha deserved to go home?


Image via Bravo.com