‘Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen’ review: Did Kristen Kish redeem herself?

We were off on Wednesday and thus missed our weekly rant about “Top Chef,” so instead we are using to kick off the latest installment of “let’s talk ‘Last Chance Kitchen'” instead: Kristen Kish’s elimination was shocking, infuriating, but also appropriate to the show’s principal rule of judging each contestant on the body of work for that week. This elimination reminds us a great deal of when Kenny was eliminated from the Washington DC season, as he, like Kristen, was an extremely accomplished chef and fan favorite who ended up falling on his own sword after biting off more than he could chew during a team challenge like Restaurant Wars. Josie does deserve to go, but she has been smart enough to make sure every week that someone always makes a worse mistake than her.

However, the difference between then and now is pretty simple: while Kenny was simply out in the cold, Kristen gets a chance to compete again. This alone justifies the existence of “Last Chance Kitchen,” a web show that is not only entertaining, but it gives contestants a chance to seek revenge … and after everyone in the world thought that Josie should go home over Kristen (except for maybe Josie, even though she also seemed shocked), she gets a chance to fight her way back in.

We knew that it would take a warrior to defeat the six-time champ CJ, and Kristen was that warrior. She benefited in some ways from the challenge being French food, which was the same sort of food she cooked during Restaurant Wars. It gave her a shot of redemption, and she did not hold back.

Who will she be facing next? It really doesn’t matter, since we legitimately think that she can beat any person that comes her way until she ends up returning to the competition. Brooke or Sheldon could be her biggest challenge, but we don’t really think either of them is going to be the next to go. Josie is clearly on borrowed time, and if we had to predict, she, Josh, and Stefan will likely be the next ones out.

As for CJ, he still has a chance in the “Save a Chef” voting … though America seems to be intent on Kuniko getting another chance at this, even though she was the eliminated over a month ago on this web show.

Are you rooting for Kristen to make it back into the “Top Chef” kitchen? Be sure to share some more of your thoughts below, and you can read more news related to the show here.

Photo: Bravo