After a short hiatus for the holidays Top Chef is back! During this week’s set of challenges, the chefs were forced to embrace their inner romance. 

The chefs found themselves at date farm learning how dates were harvested and about different types of dates. Most of the chefs guessed where this challenge was going, but most definitely didn’t expect Chrissy Teigen to be there.

“Obviously, unless you’re a moron right now, we’re going off to a date challenge,” – Isaac

Source: Dale Berman/Bravo

Top Chef Super Fan Chrissy explained for the Quickfire Challenge, the chefs would have to created a date dish that reminded them of their best and most romantic dates. The chefs created a smorgasbord of dishes from milkshakes to cheese plates. Kwame seemed to have a difficult time concentrating and was wasy more interested in Chrissy Teigen.

“Get it together, Kwame. You’re a serious person.” Kwame to Kwame

Jason walked away with the win with his spicy and super charred carrot dish. The win seemed to lift Jason spirits after they were down from the competition last week, claiming he doesn’t socially get the other contestants.

Continuing on the whole date and romance theme, the chefs welcomed Art Smith. Art, chef to Oprah and Obama and former Top Chef Master, joined Padma to tell the chefs they were catering a wedding!

But not just any wedding! The chefs joined forces to cater a 25 same-sex couples wedding with the ceremony officiated by Padma.

The chefs quickly came up with a semi-cohesive menu and were on their way to Whole Foods. Phillip pitched the team on a meat and potatoes dish, but with a twist. Jason and Angelina partnered to make a cabbage rolls with chard, Kwame took on the sauce for Phillip’s dish and Wesley’s shrimp dish, while Karen and Giselle bitterly partnered together to create a rather depressing asparagus dish. Art told the chefs he would take care of the cake, but they still need to cook some kind of dessert. Marjorie and Carl seem to be on top of that.

Source: Dale Berman/Bravo

After a quick yoga session by the pool in the morning, the big wedding day was here!! The kitchen was pretty hectic considering the calming vibes the chefs just received.

Jason was frustrated with Angelina because she didn’t understand the precision of the dish. Kwame joined in on the confusion with Phillip because his so-called “mashed potatoes” dish turned into gummy, potato cream. Classic Phillip. 

When it was time for the wedding, the chefs seemed to have it pretty together. Jason had even labeled each table according to each stage in the marriage such as “buying a station wagon” for the different courses.

Highlights from the chefs included Isaac’s dirty rice; Angelina and Jason stuffed chard, and Marjorie and Carl’s mascarpone and grilled apricot dessert. In the end, Kwame and Wesley walked away with the top prize for their shrimp dish. However, there could only be one winner from the pair. Kwame took the win, prompting Art to say he wished he could hire him.

However, in Top Chef fashion nothing is as easy as it seems and some how Kwame was in bottom as well. Padma was quick to tell Kwame he was not going home, they just want to understand what happened with the potato dish.

Phillip, Karen and Giselle joined Kwame to round out the bottom. Phillip was quick to defend his rather unusual take on potatoes explaining pretty much the opposite of what did happen. The other contestants were quick to correct him, sharing that wasn’t how the dish was explained to any of them.

Moving on to the sad asparagus dish, Karen and Giselle were really just blaming each other. However, Giselle attempted to save herself and threw Phillip under the bus.

Source: Dale Berman/Bravo

“I think it’s shocking that Phillip doesn’t recognize his flaws. I think Karen and I stand here understanding that we could have done much better, which makes us much stronger.”- Giselle

Phillip looked rather shocked to hear something negative about him, but in the end it didn’t really matter. Giselle was sent packing her knives, but overall didn’t seem too disappointed.

“I’m a nice, honorable person, and I’ve been able to thrive in my life because of the love and the support that I get from my friends and family, and I felt very little of that here.” – Giselle

Next week, San Diego!