Could not agree more!! She deserved to win in so many different ways. I think I heard a sigh of relief from everywhere, including those who have not seen the show yet but logged on anyway.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!Stephanie

Where did you hear/read that?

And I just watched Part I of the Finale again, Lisa has the gaul to demand a congratulations when she doesn't deserve it?! Unbelievable!

Antonia did not deserve to go home. So many people expected her to be in the final 3 with Richard and Steph. And the way the judges were talking, it sounded like she should've been. I was worried she'd beat Stephanie but I'm so happy Steph won

What was the rationale behind the judges' keeping Lisa (and Spike) for so long? They were in the bottom 5 and 7 times respectively. Lisa and Antonia stayed for purposely and spitefully using chorizo instead of polish sausage in the improv challenge, but when Andrew didn't use a grain on the police challenge, he was sent home for it. Andrew is so weird and creepy, but if he was sent home for not following the rules (on purpose, no less) that should stand for everyone.

DOES ANYONE KNOW THE SONG THAT THEY ALWAYS PLAY AT THE HAPPY MOMENTS IN THE SHOW???

The other diner didn't say what you said he did. This is his exact statement - "When your primary ingredient is Polish sausage, to use chorizo is interesting, but it's not Polish sausage". He never used the -phrase "instead of". Clearly, he is probably talking about the use of Polish sausage as the main ingredient. Plus, it's not "correcting Ted" as was said in Toad's post.

As far as the sausages in the pan, it's not just that three were "nominally paler" than the others, the color is strikingly different (but I'm glad you noticed that the ratio was three to two in favor of the Polish. The original blogger didn't notice it). I don't have to distinguish between 12 types of sausage from a picture that you take at Whole Foods and be able to identify each one by sight - I simply have to see that there are two different types of sausage, one red and one greyish/pinkish. Chorizo is red. Polish is grey/pink. And, if they only have 5 1/2 lb sausages (which is what they looked like to me), they have to use them all to get at least 11 dishes with approximately 4 oz of sausage.

You assume that Antonia's confessional is there to "clarify" that they didn't use both. This is a big assumption (I think it's to create drama). The only thing that I'm assuming is that it had nothing to do with reality because they actually bought both sausages and clearly had them at the prep table. To believe what you believe, you have to assume that they threw out the Polish, which leaves only a pound of sausage to be divided between at least 11 dishes (10 diners and one for photography, and probably one other dish for them to taste). No, I didn't weigh them. But I've had some experience with sausage. For reference, this is what a lb of sausage looks like:

http://store.caviarideas.net/tesabe1lb.html
http://www.breakneckridgefarm.com/images/p.../sausage_sm.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/4yy392

It's only the clever editing and some seemingly contradictory statements (statements which cut both ways) that adds some doubt. Well, then there's the statement by Spike, but I don't think any of us really take that very seriously, considering his problem with ingredients.

The only thing that creates doubt in my mind is the photo of the dish. I don't see any Polish. But that's not definitive enough in my mind considering the angle of the shot (the fish covers most of the sausage) and considering that I can clearly see that there's not enough chorizo to go around (assuming that they decided at the last minute not to use the sausage that they had bought).

The idea that the episode leaves no doubt in your mind is a credit to the editing fairies.

I'm curious if Lisa congratulated Richard and Stephanie when she realized they were in the top two and she was in the bottom two.

do u know wut song they always played in season 4 with no vocals but was like happy music ha

Yep, that's the immersion method and it's the method that I use when I cook my two favorite rices, basmati and jasmine. I don't even use my finger. I just eyeball about an inch of water and I almost never have problems with it. Sometimes it needs to cook a little longer to get rid of all of the water though. When I cook my normal amount, it never takes any longer than 15 minutes or so. The only tricky part to me is cooking it until all of the water is gone and taking it off the heat before it starts to stick. Usually no problem at all.

Sorry Scotty, I don't know.

Well, now you've gone and made me get out the Grammar Hammer. What you've said is that Lisa belongs in the finale (double negative), and I don't think that's what you meant.

I can't believe Lisa's gall in guilting Steph and Rich into "congratulating" her. Did she congratulate Richard in winning the challenge and the car? No.

I think that Steph and Antonia kept their personal feelings about Lisa hidden very well. Richard started to vent after they reached Puerto Rico. Neither of them said anything snarky about anyone else. Well, Antonia did make a few comments about Dale (about how he does only Asian and how he needed a diaper change after losing the Mise En Place quickfire). But Lisa said that he can't cook and his personality sucks a$$. At least Spike was gracious enough to shake Dale's hand and give him a hug, saying that they had their differences but Dale is talented. Lisa was never gracious and always snarky.