John Tesar Has Been Eliminated From Top Chef

It was a good run for Dallas-based chef and Top Chef Seattle veteran, but John Tesar’s run on Top Chef officially ended tonight.

On tonight’s episode, Tesar and the three remaining finalists headed to Guadalajara, Mexico. For the QuickFire challenge, the chefs were tasked with making a goat-based dish inspired by its setting, the fancy new Chivas soccer stadium. Tesar’s goat torta was hit or miss (mostly miss) with the judges, but the final straw came later.

Then, the contestants were required to prepare both a dish and a cocktail, and serve up their take on a margarita. Working alongside Katsuji Tanabe, whom Tesar had a lot of tension with ahead of Tanabe’s elimination, the duo prepared a chamoy-spiked margarita and caldo de pollo.

The margarita took jabs from the judges for being overly boozy, and ultimately was Tesar’s downfall, despite earning praise for his caldo. Because his pairing “fell a little flat,” Tesar was told to pack his knives and go home, and off he went gracefully.

He also was surprisingly gracious on Twitter (so far), sending just one tweet in support of finalist Sheldon Simeon after it was announced that he’d been booted:

Who knows whether or not Tesar will make an appearance on the season finale, but if he does, it won’t be as one of the competitors vying to be the next Top Chef.