To Save a Chef

I watch a fair amount of TV. Thanks to the internet and iTunes, I can catch up on the years of TV that I missed when I didn't have a TV. Yes!
So I've been watching old episodes of Top Chef, a competitive chef elimination showdown!
Anyway, a ways into the season a situation occurs where one of the better chefs, Elia, has kind of a bad day and is in danger of being eliminated. It was looking pretty bad for Elia, but then another chef (who also had a shot at elimination) stepped in and said she would resign so that Elia could stay in the competition. They don't ever tell us if it was actually Elia who would have been eliminated, but the judges accepted Mia's resignation instead of eliminating someone.
I think about how Elia must have felt, knowing that someone else gave up their chance at winning the competition for her sake, and I think that must have been really motivating for her. Knowing that someone cared enough about her and wanted her to succeed bad enough that this person would give up her spot so that Elia could continue, must have helped her work pretty hard to succeed.
I hope this isn't too terribly cliché, but I was struck by some of the similarities between the situation with these chefs, and our situation with Jesus.
Jesus gave up his life for us. But it wasn't only so that we could be a part of the big party, it was also so that we could do the work that he wants to do: sharing the gospel through these lives we've been given by loving the people around us in the way he loves and giving ourselves to a world in desperate need.
The analogy breaks down of course, because Mia might have been toast anyway, and Jesus didn't give himself up for us because we were doing so well in the game. But I felt there was still a little something there.