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The fourteen remaining chef'testants vie for a chance to display their skills on the nation's highest rated morning program, "Today." The winner of a super fast food demonstration challenge will get the booking, with the chance to display their unique culinary expertise on live network television.—Anonymous

Ariane works on building the confidence. Alex misses his roommate Richard, who left an emotional and sincere letter for him. It makes him cry as he reads it to Jamie and Carla. It's a pep talk, telling him to go for it. Jamie is OK with being the last member of "team rainbow."

Quickfire

Rocco DiSpirito is the guest. They're supposed to make a breakfast amuse-bouche. Rocco says he loves bacon and suggests they use it. Daniel makes cornflakes and zucchini flowers. Ariane makes stuffed French toast with bacon. Leah makes bacon, egg and cheese. Melissa pierces her frying egg.

Rocco and Padma make the rounds. Stefan made huevos rancheros in an egg shell. Radhika made a potato pancake with Hollandaise. Rocco says Daniel's cornflakes aren't balanced. Ariane's is well put together. Jamie made a breakfast BLT and Rocco mmms. Leah is peeved that Jamie's is two bites and an amuse is supposed to be one. Leah makes bacon and quail egg and when Padma says it's the perfect size she makes her point about it's supposed to be one bite. (Cut to Jamie.) Fabio lays on the Italian with Rocco.

Rocco says only a few of them got both the breakfast and amuse bouche ideas together.

The failures: Daniel, Fabio (who thinks he should have listened to Rocco liking bacon).

His favorites: Stefan, Leah and Jamie.

If he could pick two it'd be Jamie and Leah, but he's going with Leah. She gets a copy of his new book. It's her second win in a row. Jamie's upset to come close and come up short again.

Elimination Challenge Padma talks about the importance of being known. They have to create a dish for a two and a half minute presentation suitable for a live TV segment.

They'll practice in the kitchen for the judges first and winning has some major advantages. Leah admits to being scared as hell by live TV. Rocco reminds them it should be simple. Fabio worries about speaking clearly.

They have $100 and 30 minutes to shop. Tuna is the first thing to go. Fabio asks to cut it himself. Eugene, with a background in sushi, is going to do sushi. Then Gene asks to cut his own and Hosea does, too. Alex decides to be the only one doing dessert.

Jeff is making something with shrimp that sounds intimidating, but he says is easy. Alex needs 22 minutes to cook his creme brulee. Fabio says there isn't enough time to cook, cool and rest it. Jamie goes to a frisee salad with a fried duck egg she's actually made on live TV before. Leah is doing seared duck breast with corn and blueberries and is glad she has immunity. Radhika is making sweet shrimp. Carla is making tortilla soup. She says psychologically she can't handle being on the bottom. Daniel is making a ginger sweet skirt steak. He wants to be like Bobby Flay and make people laugh because he "lights up in front of the camera."

In come the judges. The cheftestants practice their spiels. Ariane powers through, talking up local ingredients. Jamie feels confident but mid-cook she realizes her duck egg hasn't cooked through. She doesn't know which is worse: having uncooked egg or going over the time. She serves raw egg. Alex goes over time and his creme brulee hasn't set. Jeff is jazzed about his malfouf roll. Fabio thinks he has an advantage using simple ingredients. Daniel goes nuts with the catch phrases. As each person goes through their routine, Padma, Rocco, Tom and Gail play helpful co-host, interrupting with questions. Radhika, Carla and Leah go over time and Melissa makes something so spicy Tom has to spit it out.

They talk about the disappointments, beginning with Jamie's raw egg. Tom says Leah sounded not confident at all. Tom thinks Alex made a poor choice. Rocco didn't like Carla's nervous energy, but her dish was good. Padma and Gail like Daniel's personality, but Tom thinks he mugged for the camera. (At least he didn't say "bam!") Stefan was smart to do a soup, but his personality wasn't great. Melissa's shrimp was too spicy. Tom says Jeff pulled all his things together and had confidence. Rocco says Fabio is a dream talk show guest. Tom thought Ariane was "perfect."

For the bottom three Padma comes for Melissa, Alex and Jamie. The top three are Jeff, Fabio and Ariane. (Everyone cheers for Ariane, aww.) Padma says it's getting late and she'll see them at judge's table tomorrow.

They go home, where Jamie cries herself to sleep. Alex defends himself to himself, saying he could have "wimped out" (he uses a different phrase) and made a salad. Ariane, who did make a salad, thinks she was "smart" about the whole thing. Alex is getting married in 20 days and Leah think his head isn't in the game. She tries to rev Melissa up to defend herself.

In the middle of the night, Tom comes over and wakes up the top three, telling them to report to the kitchen. It's 2 a.m. He tells them the hosts of the "Today Show" will be judging their dishes. They'll cook at 30 Rock and then watch the hosts sample their food on live TV.

Jeff is worried about serving his Middle Eastern roll to a "bunch of ladies with unsophisticated palates at 6:30 in the morning." He's displeased. Ariane is ready to show the kids how it's done. "Move over, here comes the old lady." The food stylist stops in and they transport their food.

The rest of the apartment wakes up and realizes the top three are gone. They find a big TV set up in the living room.

The contestants watch their food being tasted from the green room.

Meredith Viera introduces the segment, with Tom Colicchio as the guest. The ladies dig into Ariane's first. Meredith hates watermelon, (it upsets her poor widdle tummy) but they seem to like it. On to Fabio's seared tuna with carrots. He can't really understand what they're saying. They taste Jeff's and then Kathie Lee gags and spits it out. Wow. That is harsh. The ladies huddle on air and Ariane wins, even if it's "not the most original." At the apartment, Carla goes nuts for her. Meredith comes back stage and hugs Ariane.

Judges' Table Padma congratulates the three of them and Rocco picks out his favorite tools for Ariane, as the winner. She thinks it's what she needed to get back in the game. But that's not all. She'll be presenting a dish live on the "Today Show" the day after this episode airs. She's thinking about her restaurant 30 minutes from the city and how national TV exposure will help.

Time for the bottom three. They slink out. Melissa says her spicy food was well-balanced, but Rocco says it was "inedible." Padma adds that one side of her mouth was throbbing from the heat. Jamie says she knew the egg wasn't set, but thought she needed to finish. Tom says she could have flipped the egg. Rocco says she looked angry and defensive. Jamie says she learned from the experience. Alex says he picked the wrong dish, but he was trying to be a bit different. He says the point of the competition was to push himself and Tom corrects him that the point is to win. Padma asks if anyone has anything to add. Melissa says she really wants to be there which prompts Tom to ask if she's implying some people don't. She demurs.

They send them away. Rocco says all three delivered an inedible dish. Tom says Jamie was close, but Rocco disagrees. He harps on Jamie for recoiling in anger when the egg wasn't done. He's also annoyed with the way that Melissa defended herself.

In the stew room, Melissa explains that she talked about wanting to be there, unlike some people. Across the room, Alex wonders if she's throwing him under the bus.

Gail says Alex's dish was flawed from the start. They have their answer.

In the stew room, Hosea and Leah play around while Bravo lays a baby-making soundtrack. Carla thinks they have sexual chemistry, not a serious relationship.

Verdict time. Tom recaps their sins. Melissa = too spicy; Alex = wrong dish; Jamie = raw egg and bad attitude.

The knife packer is: Alex.

His final thoughts: "My only regret is I should have stuck to my guns and I would have been fine. I tried to take a risk and I got burned for it. I learned so much in the couple weeks I was here. I have other things on my mind besides this competition. I'm thinking about my wedding and my fiancee. And you can't win this competition if you're not 100 percent."

Next week: they're cooking for Gail's bridal shower.