Top Chef Returns to Same Old Format in Washington D.C

We have a few like Angelo who seems really cocky (maybe a clone of last seasons brother/winner Michael) and Tracey who will surely be a mouthful this season. With a few seconds each to get to know the cast, they were thrown into their first Quickfire Challenge. I mean... High Stakes Quickfire Challenge. Sorry, I guess they're still doing that "twist" even if they aren't in Las Vegas anymore.

For their first challenge it was a knock-out type task with rounds taking out several players at a time. First, the first so many to peal ten potatoes would move on. Then, those who chopped a set amount of onions first would move on. Next the four who would deconstruct a chicken the fastest moved to the finals. The winner of a cook off using those ingredients would win the $20,000 high stakes and that's about it.

During the initial chat before the challenge, Angelo and Kenny had a conversation of Angela stating everyone he's ever worked with and all the awards he's won while Kenny called BS. The tension between then continued into the challenge as Kenny finished first in the first three rounds, followed right behind by Angelo. In the cook-off, Angelo came out with the win and claimed that he wants to be the first to win every challenge. I doubt that will happen, at least I hope it won't so his head will deflate a little.

With the first challenge over with, the four who went to the final round chose those who they wanted to compete against in the Elimination Challenge. Their challenge: make a dish that represented where they come from for 300 people at a cocktail dinner. After rushing through Whole Foods, yet again, they entered the Top Chef kitchen for the first time this season. There you could tell who would struggle and who would do well pretty quickly. John and Jacqueline ran into trouble early on, making it obvious they'd be in the bottom while others tried to prove their worth by actually cooking well. I don't really know all of their names yet or what they cooked, since there are so many chefs to start, so let's just skip past this part.

In the end it came down to one person from each group up for elimination. For me it was obvious that John would go since he used premade dough and he screwed up early on. I have a feeling he was there for his personality/strangeness over his cooking so him going home first/early is not a shock to me. Hopefully the season will find its pace and somewhat break new ground as the format is getting a bit stale. Let's just hope we don't have a cocky clone, as I mentioned earlier, and Angelo either stops the act or goes home early. I don't see either happening anytime soon unfortunately.