Yeah, nothing quite like watching contestants complete a leg totally soused. It's a good thing they got the night to sleep it off before trying to cook, but it would have been fun to make them do more while the ale was still working. You could put a little blame for one side lacking a desert on the average alcohol content per player.

I don't blame the team which ran. Imagine you're in the first episode of the original Race and you've just been given expense money. What is it for? Are you taking the Underground? Taxi? Do you need a club admission fee? Will the pubs require you to pay for those meals? Until you have some idea of how the format functions, cash management climbs close to Rank #1 and stays there for a while.

I guessed on Scrumpy when I saw how the name was spelled. (It's mostly apples...) So what else should have been on the menu?

The Ingredient prize threw me. I thought the winning team would be given something extra to spice up the meals -- not that the losing one would be denied a normal component. That could get old fast.

Unfortunately, the season preview cell shows Anti-Darwin Syndrome in full effect: Nookie was just the first person to openly figure it out. Without a moderating hand to call people out on it and override votes, the teams are just going to get weaker and weaker. Which, for a cooking competition, means that once you start losing, you're arguably going to keep right on doing it. Good luck running a kitchen as a brigade of one -- but the producers will just reshuffle teams. One episode in and the format already has visible problems. Gordon could always yell "Bull!" and kick the strategists to the curb because it was his reputation on the line. Curtis Stone? Not so much. Once you've done a stint with Donald, there's no reputation left to defend.

I'm in for now, but 'for now' is the crucial bit.

Could someone explain what Cat Cora is for? I understand that she is a very good chef and knows a lot about food, but all she is doing on the show is being Curtis +1.

Although I can understand why she wouldn't want to be remembered for this. I'm just watching due to habit, and the fact that the tasks are better than TARs.

Lovely cheese Mooney

Where are Voice of the Beehive when we need them?