Nothing like a day of mandatory bedrest to get a girl all caught up on her reality TV viewing.

So ... whaddaya think about the final three going in to next week's Top Chef finale? Are you surprised? I didn't expect it to be Dale, Casey and Hung. Well, Hung, I thought if he was as good as he kept saying he was would probably be there, but he wasn't sweeping challenges or anything ... Casey cranked it up toward the end, as did Dale, I guess. Hmm, actually, you know, I like Dale, but I don't really recall his food standing out all that much until this last episode. But hey, he made it through.

I sure didn't think somewhat nutty Brian would make it to the top four.

Hung is definitely the typical "I didn't come here to make friends" reality contestant. He didn't seem that excited to see his fellow members of the final four, whereas the three of them were group-hugging before he got there. During the quickfire, they had 20 minutes, and he finished in 13 and started gloating. Then, as the clock ran out, he realized he'd forgotten to garnish with lemon juice. Hello, instant karma! Casey ended up winning that one.

For the elimination challenge, the four remaining chefs had to cook elk for the participants in the Snowmass Rodeo. Brian's was overly complicated, Casey's was too rare, Hung's wasn't quite the best, and Dale's was judged most excellent. It seemed like it was a tough decision for the judges, but they finally sent Brian home for being too indecisive by offering a choice of cheese with his dish.

Brian did give the best quote of the night, I thought. When talking about how he didn't think he had sullied his reputation as a seafood guy in his failure in the quickfire challenge, he said, "When chefs consider seafood, they don't think of trout as seafood." I'd say overall, wrong, especially in Colorado, where they were for the challenge.  

Next week, finale. I'm thinking Hung or Casey will be the winner.