Chicago chef Chris Jones respects the judges’ decision, he doesn’t harbor any ill will towards his competitors, and as he said on the phone earlier today, “I don’t make excuses.” That said, when the contestants on Top Chef: Texas were told to create a healthy version of a meal to be served at a block party (sponsored by Healthy Choice), Jones went healthy—a chicken salad sandwich, he points out, that didn’t use Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. Instead he used tofu as a binding agent, which technically worked. His problem was deciding to premake the sandwiches, which dried up under the hot Texas sun. Looking back, Jones said he should have done it “Subway style,” made to order. But there was another problem: A swarm of bees occupied his blender, and Jones is deathly allergic to bees.

One sting and the chef said he’d have swelled up. Two stings and he could’ve been done for. This explains why his frozen citrus refreshment wasn’t blended all that well and why judge Emeril Lagasse complained about a sizable piece of ice that didn’t belong there. After a while, Jones said, “they had to shut us down” because of the swarm.