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It's time for our first judging table of the new season! The four judges, Harold, Padma, Tom, and Gail, quickly discuss their thoughts on the dishes. We get a brief but unpleasant glimpse of things to come when there's a bit of food snobbery about Mia's down-home cooking style. In the end though, they agree that she clearly showed what she's about and her dish was by far the most satisfying. I hope they don't bash on her later down the line. I grew up in the South so I'm partial to soul food. Everything doesn't have to have a French name or a compound sauce to be good.

Padma calls in the top four chefs: Betty, Mia, Elia, and Ilan. They congratulate all of them, and give Ilan the win. Tom points out that Harold won the first elimination challenge last season, and went on to win the whole shebang. Not that there's any pressure, Ilan.

Padma asks the winners to send in the losers: Carlos, Otto, Suyai, and Marcel.

Once they're lined up in front of the judging table, Tom asks them all why they think they're there. Otto blames his undercooked rice and says he should stay because even top chefs have bad days. Wrong answer.

Suyai once more throws herself on the sword by pretty much saying she sucked. Gail tries to help her out by saying, "We agreed with your peers in that it was one of our least favorites, but there were definitely parts of the dish we enjoyed." Tom turns to Gail with a look of disbelief, as if to say, name one. "There was a lot of good potato in there..." she flounders, and Tom cracks up. "Um..." Gail is still fishing for something else positive to say about the dish. "We'll leave it at that," Tom finishes up with a smirk. I almost feel bad for Suyai, but she's just laughing and shrugging as if she hadn't just been totally slammed.

Marcel snorts that he doesn't know why he's there and Harold quickly speaks up on his behalf. "I don't think you belong here. I didn't think yours was one of the weaker dishes. I thought you were somewhere in the middle." I'm not surprised. Harold has always had a weak spot for insufferable jerks who value style over substance. He was a big fan of Stephen the Sommelier in the first season.

Tom calls out Carlos as someone who voted for Marcel to be in the bottom four, and Carlos reiterates that the group consensus was that Marcel's garlic sauce overwhelmed the palate. Marcel thinks that everyone else is just threatened by him so they're trying to get rid of him early. Sigh.

Carlos admits his dish wasn't his crowning achievement, but doesn't feel it was "crap on a plate." No, that would be Suyai's dish, as she'd probably tell you if you gave her half a chance.

The four losers leave, and Tom says he feels any of the four could go home "for various reasons." They all really seemed to dislike Carlos' dish. Tom thinks Marcel is too cocky, and no one is willing to overlook the fact that his peers all seem to dislike him so strongly so early in the show. Suyai clearly has no confidence, and Otto didn't stand behind his food. "You have to sell it," Harold says with conviction.

Throughout the show, Bravo has been polling to see who America thinks is this season's villain. Marcel wins with 72%. Well, duh. I think it's pretty clear that he's aiming to be the villain.

Anyway, back to the real action. The bottom four file back in, and Tom berates each of them for their shortcomings. He tells Otto that he should know better due to his experience, and he should have left off the rice since it wasn't even one of the required ingredients. He tells Suyai that he doesn't feel she's ready. To Marcel, he says, "Everyone isn't out to get you... just yet. There were issues with the dish so you shouldn't be so surprised to be here." He tells Carlos that his dish was unfocused and lacked flavor.

And the first person told to pack their knives is... Suyai. To the shock of no one. Not even her. But hey, at least she learned how to flambé!

The rest of the season looks to be chock full of drama. Mostly, the previews show a lot of people yelling at Marcel, including Frank who speaks for all of America when he threatens him with bodily harm. "I'll beat you so bad your mother won't recognize you," he snarls with a beefy finger in Marcel's face. Hehe! I can't wait! It looks like it's gonna be a fun season!

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