tim love

Chef Tim Love from 'Top Chef Masters' showed up Thursday on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC) to put his urban western touch on rainbow trout, and Savannah Guthrie got a tad sentimental about it. Love had prepared some Chorizo, garlic, chili, and sweet potatoes with which to stuff the little guy, and had gutted him beforehand.

As Love began to put the filling in the fish and sew it up, Guthrie looked down and said, "He's looking at us." Love joked that he had been talking to the fish earlier, and it had noticed Guthrie didn't like him looking at her. But where Love saw a tasty meal, Guthrie saw only sadness. "I feel like he might have some hopes and dreams and they've come to a terrible end," she said.

After the trout was cooked (and his eye put back in its socket), she didn't seem to have a problem shoveling it in. But if you pause the video there, just at the end, you can see the tears just starting in her eyes.

(S0605) Last week was a big one, with two contestants being eliminated. I'm all for double-eliminations, since the fewer contestants there are, the easier my job generally is. Though Mattin was spared, he is understandably a little embarrassed, since he's from France and completely biffed the French cuisine challenge. I mean, you don't see Kevin screwing up barbecue or anything.

Tim Love is the guest judge; he's one of those rough-and-tumble types who infuses rustic food into fine dining. So I love the idea of letting the audience choose this week's Quickfire Challenge, but the fact that Top Chef is trying to make me believe that with cactus, snake, and kangaroo as choices, 57% of the people asked for cactus? Shenanigans! You know that vote was for Kangaroo Jack to bite the big one. I simply will not believe otherwise.