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Dave's presentation did not go well. He seemed flustered while describing the dishes to Scott and Scott. He barely paused for breath, rushed through it, and gasped for air as soon as he finished describing the wedding cake.

Despite his awkward pitch, Dave's proposed menu actually was the most realistic of the five. The chefs were warned in advance that food costs for the 100-person catering event could not go over $3000. Dave pitched the couple a very practical, workable menu that would actually fit within that limited budget. Unfortunately, it wasn't that exciting a meal, and they went with Lee Anne's pitch. Lee Anne's proposed 5-course meal was complicated, showy, and even included small origami birds arranged on the plates as garnish. It sounded dreamy, but expensive.

Lee Anne's glee over her winning pitch didn't last long as the judges explained the second part of the challenge. To the dismay of Lee Anne and the others, Scott and Scott's commitment ceremony was the very next day. The five remaining chefs were now supposed to work together to execute Lee Anne's complicated menu, and they had less than 16 hours until the actual reception.

It was a mad rush to the grocery store to buy ingredients, followed by an all-night stint in the kitchen.

The show actually cut away from the tense action in the kitchen to the gay couple's commitment ceremony, where we got to see Scott and Scott exchange their vows:

Scott 1: “You're an inspiration. It makes me proud to call you the love of my life, and I am blessed to call you husband.”
Scott 2: “Many days you give me butterflies in my stomach, and other days you make me want to pull out the remnants of my hair.”
Minister: “Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you the newly married Scott and Scott.”

After that, the rings went on, the guests went wild, sentimental music swelled, and we got to see the couple kiss.

What was so refreshing about this is that the show really didn't make a big deal about it being a gay wedding. In fact, they didn't make any deal at all. It was just an image of two people celebrating their love, and it was very touching. Hats off to Bravo for giving gays and lesbians the right kind of reality television.

The sentimentality didn't last long, however--only about one minute of airtime, in fact. Then it was straight on to the reception and the disaster of Lee Anne's overly ambitious menu.

Everything seemed to go wrong for the chefs. They ran out of appetizers, they forgot to remove the stickers from the dumpling spoons, and crazy Stephen pretty much abandoned the other chefs so he could go out and instruct the wait staff on pouring the wine and removing the plates, in unison, between courses. The waiters all probably wanted to kill him.

And the newly betrothed Scott and Scott, who moments before had seemed so sweet while exchanging their vows, turned out to be a little, well, bitchy. One Scott calls the salmon dish, “flavorless…and kind of fishy.” The other Scott sums up the entire meal as “Not quite as flavorful as I would've hoped.”

Well, honestly guys, you got your commitment ceremony on national television, you got Bravo to pick up the tab for your reception, and you had five crazy chefs working for you for 16 hours straight. Try to show a little gratitude.

The good news is that chef Dave's canapé appetizer was well received, and the remaining contestants had to concede he was extremely helpful in the kitchen. His catering experience came in handy. At the judging table, the three judges recognized his contributions and versatility, and pretty much gave him a pass.

Instead, it was a toss-up between Harold and Stephen as to who was going home. Harold had been responsible for the poorly-received salmon dish, while Stephen got slammed for abandoning the kitchen and spending all night playing tyrant with the wait staff. In the end, Stephen got the boot.

It's down to just four contestants now and if Dave can keep his confidence up tonight he might just make it all the way to the end. We're rooting for you, Dave!

On Wednesday, May 3rd Bravo will run the last six episodes of Top Chef from 4:00 to 9:00pm. The next episode, which will decide the final three, immediately follows at 10:00pm.

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