Chris Crary Responds to Shrimpgate 2011

It was the shrimp cooked 'round the world, and now Chef Chris Crary is answering our burning questions about what really went down on the most recent episode of Top Chef: Texas.

For those who didn't watch it, ch-ch-check it out:

What you don't see here, but you don't see on-air is that Keith says to his teammates, "I'm gonna get the cooked shrimp." Chris responds, "Whatever, get it."

Ultimately, Keith gets called out for the bad shrimp purchase at Judges' Table, and gets iced out by teammates Sarah and Lindsay in the kitchen. Sooo, we asked Chris Crary what happened. Chris claims, "I didn't even notice the shimp were cooked until we were loading up the car. At that point it was to late to do anything about it. As for telling Lindsay, I just wanted to let her know before she got started on anything she had planned, before checking the product quality." He goes on to say, "I do not recall him saying anything about buying pre-cooked shrimp at all."

But there's no love lost between these two chefs (at least from Chris' perspective): "I know for a fact that Keith didn't maliciously buy pre-cooked shrimp. I can only assume, given the situation we were placed under, that he was taking time and money into consideration. So he got the item that best fit those restraints. Not knowing what Lindsay had in mind for the dish could have also altered his final decision."

Chris does, however, seem to think his team could have handled the let-down differently. "We as a team should have risen above this hurdle and came together as a group, rather than cast Keith as a saboteur," he regrets.

Ultimately, Keith was eliminated... but not because of the cooked shrimp. Phew?