The Love Episode: Tis The Season Of Love!

Gail found LOVE! Stefan wants some lesbian LOVE, Leah and Hosea are dabbling in friendly LOVE! We are starting to LOVE Ariane but Tom and the judges had no LOVE lost for Daniel who LOVES crazy eyes and silly faces. Oh yes one more: It seems after your responses last week that nobody loves Kathie Lee!

I challenge you as readers to pick the final four right now. Let's go -- send in your picks and let's see who's got game. To make it a little more interesting let's get some friendly online bets to see who Martha Stewart is going to ship off to solitary confinement next week. (OK -- no bets.)

My choices to make the finals:

Fabio: The Charmer!

Stefan: The Ice Man!

Jamie: The Pot o' Gold at the end of the Rainbow!

Hosea: The Palate! Gone next week: Melissa: The Hat!

Now on to the Malarkey Power Ranking:

Fabio: Obviously I'm not changing my picks by weekly performances. I believe he has all the skills to go all the way. This week we saw him get stuck in the blue with a few fatal errors: Chilean Sea bass in this country is a "no should do" and being on a team without a lot of input didn't help. We saw him on the bottom for the first time and obviously he was none to happy. I look for a huge step back to the top for him in the coming episodes.

Stefan: I have to admit I'm starting to enjoy the confidence that he is bathed in. This guy is so sure of himself he is trying to talk Jamie into switching teams, and he went eight ingredients deep on the Palate Challenge. The terrine looked great and the balsamic should have given it plenty of flavors. The tougher the challenge the more he likes it! Jamie: A constant at the top and very competitive. She's got to figure out that the protein gets the judges' attention rather then the accompaniments.

Hosea: When you got a dome to match the head judge's, life ain't so bad. He stands up to Stefan and has a great palate -- what's not to like?

Jeff: Has a great week with his sorbet that Stefan told him could not be done. I really thought he had the win and by the disappointment on his face so did he. I'm still confused by the dueling watches; that's very Ilan Hall.

Ariane: A huge step up this week with her second win in a row. I thought last week she did great and was in her element with the TV challenge but this week proves once again she is ready and willing to be a major player by taking the main focus of her team's dish -- "the lamb." She is so sweet she apologizes for winning; my, we have some great contrast in our chefs.

Radhika: She showed her native dishes with great pride and helped bring Ariane the win. From the seafood guy to the Indian girl: "Watch out -- they are going to come after you."

Leah: She really took a dive in my ranking this week because she showed so little on the Blue team. Had some great early success and needs to get back in the game. Carla: HOODY HOO! So cute, kind of weird, but very cute! I loved her comment when Daniel tried telling her he wanted to do pickles "Pickles are new?" She didn't stand up to her team as they crashed all around her. Sweet lady but not made to last much longer. Eugene: Sometimes when people get rattled there is no coming back and our Aloha boy is a mess. He was the one that came up with the "Surf and Turf, fully-cooked sushi" and crashed it with overcooked rice. It just as easily could have been him going home.

Melissa: I'm not being a hater on the "love episode" but she looks like she wants to go home; she doesn't seem to be contributing to the dishes or the conversations and the green hat looks just as confused. Daniel provided some good entertainment for us this season but looked like he was kind of losing it this whole episode. Was it just me or did he look slightly crazy-eyed and giddy with confusion? Until next week with Martha ...