TVSquad

That's awesome. All the other chefs knew better, he should have too. Spike (and Lisa) should have gone home before Dale anyway, I'm glad he's gone.

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Spike has shown poor choice in the last several challenges. When other Chefs saw the frozen scallops they voiced their concerns about them being frozen. Spike has first choice on another challenge and chose tomatoes, chicken, and other ingredients that he knew the other chefs could not use. He found himself on the chopping block for that challenge, even though he had won the quick fire advantage. It's because he chose those items to prevent other chefs from using them, not because he had a good idea for a dish. From watching this whole season, it was obvious that when Spike won the challenge he'd find someway to mess it up. He not only made a bad choice, but when it was made clear he could pick something else, he stuck with the scallops. He knew it was a bad choice. He also got sent home because his steaks weren't that great either. He won the quick fire on those same steaks, and there was that expectation that that part of the dish would be good and that also fell short.

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Spike should have known better. Bad choice on his part.

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I'm sad to see Spike go (Lisa should be out), but it is his fault for using them in the first place. I hate to think they planted sub-par items just to make the show more interesting cause it's not necessary.

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Why shouldn't the Top Chef producers add a trap or two in a contest of their making? Part of winning is decision-making. I see no reason why they shouldn't put that to the test.

Spike had more than a fair shake. He had choice of any protein in the joint. He failed miserably with nobody but himself to blame. Calling out the guest chef just put a fine point on just how bad his decisions can be.

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Two points: 1) if this was a trap, Spike fell in it. I think part of being Top Chef is knowing that every challenge has twists built in and if you're smart, you anticipate the pit falls and avoid them. 2) I think Spike's bad scallops was Karma...remember how he screwed over everyone in the box lunch challenge by taking chicken, lettuce, tomato and bread but only really using the chicken? He made sure nobody else had those things to use, even though he didn't want them for his dish. That was dirty pool and I think he got a Karmic screwing with the scallops!

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"What I don't understand is why Top Chef supplies its contestants with items that they don't want them to use."

It doesn't really have anything to do with not wanting them to use the items; it's not as subjective as you're making it sound. Quite simply, frozen items are rarely (almost never) as good as their fresh counterparts. If those scallops had been in good shape (they weren't, as Spike himself indicated) and Spike made something amazing from them, I'm sure he would have been given a pass. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The fact that they were frozen should have indicated to him that it was a risky choice; any cook can tell you this. He had free choice of the entire kitchen -- why not choose something fresh that you know you can rely on to produce good results? Spike wasn't eliminated just because he used frozen scallops. He was eliminated because the food he made from them didn't measure up, and he should have known this when he picked them.

Now, all that said, I liked Spike and was really, really hoping Lisa would get sent home first.

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Spike (and his damn annoying hats) was on the show way too long. He should have never made it this far (neither should have Lisa.) But this was his own fault. No fault at all of the producers for throwing them in the walk in as a trap. I am amazed that this many seasons into the show contestants aren't expecting the unexpected around every corner.

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Spike used the "Frozen" Scallops. That was his choice and was rude to the guest Judge!
I always thought Top Chef planted items. I mean really should you be a "top Chef" if you use sub-par ingredients?
Hell NO! So yes the plant the items there to weed out the dumb a$$ Chefs. Its a test!

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It's obvious the producers "set up" a lot of the challenges. You really think the chefs showed up unannounced to raid stranger's pantries prior to the block party? And the pantry magically held 4 large unopened bottles of ranch dressing?

Spike was a tard.

Lisa couldn't make a pb&j and will fail miserably compared to the other 3.

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I can appreciate the producers planting items to see who would use them, but they should have made that clear during the judging or at some point during the show. Colicchio could have done an on camera explanation that some items had been planted or as a voice over while Spike and the others looked for the items they wanted. I say it's fair to plant items to see who will use what and Spike fell for it even when the others knew better. However, coming out with all this information after the fact - and making Tramonto look bad on the show - seems more like excuses and damage control for Tramonto's more than anything else. People can say anything after the fact to cover up an embarrassing situation, but it should have been fully disclosed to the viewers on that episode.

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I know some people who worked at Tramantos during the filming of the show who all said that the scallops were intentionally planted as well. And said the producers were laughing about how someone ("Spike") fell for it while they were packing up the production after filming. Its not a controversy though... ITS REALITY TELEVISION.

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Check out Lee Anne Wong's blog:
http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/4/blogs/index.php?blog=lee_anne_wong&article=2008/06/and_for_my_next_trick

She is the culinary producer on the show and explains how and why she got the scallops.

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I was bummed that Spike got the boot instead of Lisa - I can't stand her; her angry face makes me want to throw something like frozen scallops at the tv.

But I digress. Regardless of whether or not Spike was the right contestant to get the boot, I don't think this needs to be turned into Scallopgate. He had the option to pick the ingredient and chose the planted frozen scallops. Apparently frozen scallops don't make for a Top Chef. It's just like when the producers decided to make the chefs improvise and took away their high-end cooking appliances during the Second City challenge; they wanted to see what decisions the chefs would make. It's no different here; Spike just made a poor decision.

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I got the impression from Tom that if Spike had made a stink about the quality of the scallops, he might have been able to substitute another ingredient. ("A good chef shouldn't accept sub-standard food" or something like that.) But Spike could have redeemed his appetizer had he served them a different way -- minced into a scallop salad or "deviled" and baked.

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If you were Rick Tramonto, and you knew that he frozen scallops were being "planted", wouldn't you want to be guaranteed by the producers of the show that it would explained "on air" that the scallops were planted, and not just part of the groceries in Tramonto's normal inventory? Maybe a secret was revealed that Tramonto didn't count on, and now damage control is in high gear. As far as Spike goes, he was immature in his attitudes towards his fellow challengers, was manipulative, and a sore loser---he just didn't cut it. Not sad to see him go.

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Tramonto, agree that frozen seafood shouldn't have been in his freezer. From the instant they said frozen seafood was going to used, I wonder why there was frozen seafood in HIS restaurant.

Padma, made it clear that they could only use what was in the restaurant, to me, that meant Tramonto inventory. It should have been clear during the show (to us) what shenanigans the producers were doing.

Tramonto rep is/was taking a hit for this.

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While not rooting for Spike or Lisa in this particular dispute, I do recall Spike saying that when he took the scallops, he didn't realize that they were frozen—perhaps because he wasn't expecting frozen scallops at a place like Tramonto's.

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Spike has shown before that he never thinks before making decisions so maybe now learned you must accept responsibility for your own actions. It was his choice, he has to own it!

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