Tonight, Top Chef 5 takes a page from America's Next Top Model: winning isn't just a matter of hitting the mark with your task; in this challenge, personality counts.

The cheftestants will have to try their hand at playing “celebrity chef” by doing a live TV-style demo. The chefs who can get their dish done, make it tasty and charm the judges will move on. But will the pressure of the short time frame bring out the prickly temperament of any of the chefs and put them on the chopping blog?

Before the chefs get to all that, though, there's still the Quickfire to be faced. Alex Eusebio is feeling emotional heading into it; his roommate Richard Sweeney was eliminated last episode, and left a heartfelt letter about the competition that touches Alex. He is also feeling the effects of being away from his family and fiancée.

Padma Lakshmi meets with the chefs and introduces Rocco DiSpirito, who will be the guest judge. Their challenge: a breakfast amuse bouche, a dish that will capture their flavors in a single bite. Rocco tells them he loves bacon, and off they go.

Overall, the chefs seem to do well, except Danny Gagnon and Fabio Viviani, who both land in the bottom. Danny's cornflake-coated zucchini flower flopped, and Fabio ignored Rocco's desire for savory by making a very sweet brioche and pudding-like espresso shot.

Leah Cohen, Jamie Lauren and Stefan Richter all land in the top. Leah and Jamie both did a little egg on toast dish (although Leah sniffs that hers is a proper, one-bite amuse bouche) and Stefan used a special tool to perfectly lop off the top of an egg so as to use the shell as a vessel in which to serve his huevos rancheros. Rocco says he would give it to Jamie and Leah both if he could, but since he has to pick one, Leah wins, and for the second time, has immunity. Jamie is irritated to have missed the top again but a narrow margin.

Padma then delivers the Elimination Challenge. The chefs have to do a 2 ½ minute segment live TV-style cooking demo. The chef whose personality and food shine through will win.

The chefs have to pick some dishes that will be able to be at least partially prepped in the 2 ½ minutes, and that would be simple enough for and appealing to the home chef.

The chefs shop, and Eugene Villiatora, Hosea Rosenberg and Fabio all opt for tuna, going so far as to get behind the counter and cut it themselves. Alex decides he's going to take a risk and make a rose crème brulee. This could be challenging, Fabio notes, because it has to be prepped, cooked, rested and cooled within the one hour they have.

Many of the chefs opt for some version of a salad. Ariane Duarte does a beefsteak tomato salad with watermelon and feta, and her presentation goes well. Jamie, on the other hand, does a frisee salad with a duck egg, and when her egg doesn't set, she shuts down and looks pissed.

Fabio does well, making fun of his own accent and finishing his dish. Jeff McInnis once again has a frenetic bunch of ideas, including making a more exotic Middle Eastern dish than one might expect for this challenge, but his confidence and constant movement carry him through. Challenging flavors are less successful for Melissa Harrison: her habanero-spiced shrimp is so hot Tom Colicchio can't eat it.

Carla Hall, Radhika Desai and Leah all run out of time. Alex does as well, but even worse for him, his swap out dish isn't done either. Danny does pretty well, but smokes up the kitchen with his seared steak and annoys Tom with his “mugging for the camera.” Stefan's dish is solid (he does a swap out of his minestrone), but he's no charmer. Hosea and Eugene don't even really get a mention.

Ariane, Fabio and Jeff all get spots in the top, and Melissa, Jamie and Alex are in the bottom. Padma tells them the judging will be the next day. Back at the pad, Alex says at least he took a risk, not taking the “easy way” out with a salad. Leah tells Melissa she better defend herself well in the judging. The seed seems to be planted with Melissa that Alex doesn't really want to be there since he is going to be married in 20 days.

In the middle of the night, Tom arrives to fetch Ariane, Jeff and Fabio. They are going to the Today show, where their food will be judged by, as Jeff puts it, “ladies with unsophisticated palates at 6:30 AM.” The Today show women taste all three dishes while the chefs watch outside the studio and back at the apartment on TV. Kathie Lee Gifford spits out Jeff's, and Ariane is announced to be the winner, even if Meredith Viera doesn't care for watermelon.

Back at judging, Ariane wins a kit of tools handpicked by Rocco for her win and seems further buoyed by her second strong performance in Top Chef 5.

The bottom three come in and make their cases. Melissa stresses that she has always wanted to be there, which the judges rightly pick up on seeming to indicate someone else doesn't. (More America's Next Top Model time, wherein desire and “wanting it more” is supposed to trump actual talent?)

Rocco seems out for Jamie, noting that she just gave up and got grumpy when she failed, but ultimately it's Alex who is sent home from Top Chef 5 for his incomplete dish and the decision-making process that brought it there.

He'll be speaking with us tomorrow, so head on back here for our interview with Alex.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist  See what I am cooking this week at Three-Bowls.com! 

(Image courtesy of BravoTV)