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There are four different teams. Two of them are comprised of five players while two only include four. That extra person seems like a huge advantage to me, but we will see how it plays out. Nicholas, Jason, Bret and Patty are one of the four player teams, and their Blue group is instantly highlighted. In other words, they are either going to hit this meal out of the park or one of their four will be eliminated.

The next bunch revealed is the Yellow team of Aaron, Carlos, Travis, Carrie and Brian. The same reality show editing rules apply to them. So the Green and Red teams are probably not going to be a factor tonight. With 18 contestants involved and a third of the show already gone, anyone else involved who is not up for the win or elimination will have little to no screen time. It’s a necessary constraint in crafting tonight’s show. The people who won’t be shown as much are the Green team of Louis, Sara, Shirley and Stephanie and the Red team of Bene, Janine, Justin, Michael and Nina.

The Yellow team’s concept is a taco truck, and they express confidence because “We have the Mexican on the Mexican taco truck.” The Blue team chooses a beach theme, deciding upon the surf truck. The Green team mentions shawarma as an option, which should make all of us want to watch The Avengers once again. The Red team seems to have an advantage since both locals are in this group. Their initial conversation is odd, though. Bene offers multiple suggestions that do not get shot down as much as totally ignored. It’s as if nobody can hear him talking. Apparently, there is a disadvantage to having an additional cook in that five people talk over one another more than four would.

The bonding experience for the chefs involves a crawfish boil at the house. Jason adopts a pet named Rocky the Red Crawfish. I expect this to be a children’s book any day now. After bonding with his new friend by haphazardly throwing the thing 15 feet into a tiny pool, Jason announces that he will work the window at his surf truck. “He looks like a surfer dude… And he’s really fking pretty, so…” That’s how his buddy Nicholas evaluates the situation. My thinking is that a four player team is going to need all four chefs working the grills. We’ll see which of us is right.

Justin recounts his personal experience with Hurricane Katrina. He and his (eventual) wife and fled the night before its arrival. When they returned 10 days later, all of their stuff was destroyed. Justin is now the third person in this episode to recount how Katrina ruined all of his belongings. Suffice to say that the meals for these volunteers should be perfect. Everybody working to rebuild this town is a hero.

Work site #1 is serviced by the Red team and the Yellow team. Poor Bene is being treated like a sous chef and he knows it. If he wants to be competitive on Top Chef, he will have to learn to speak up for himself. Otherwise, some manipulative opponent will use him to do all the heavy lifting then leave Bene stuck with the blame when the dish implodes. Angelo Sosa was really good at using weaker willed contestants in this fashion.

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