Pressure Cooker (2023) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[woman 1]
Every man, every woman for themselves.
It is cutthroat. [laughs]
[exhales]
[suspenseful music playing]
[narrator] Welcome to
the cooking show that asks,
what does it take to get to the top
of the culinary industry?
The most successful chefs
are not necessarily the best cooks.
A chef is a leader.
Nice hustle, guys.
- [man] A perfectionist.
- [woman 2] They inspire.
- [woman 3] You have to be resourceful.
- You've gotta have thick skin.
A chef is a survivor.
These 11 accomplished chefs,
each with different backgrounds
and skill sets,
have arrived to compete inside
the Pressure Cooker.
[sizzling]
On the line, $100,000 and a chance
to take their career to the next level.
I sacrificed a lot to make sure
that I could provide for my family.
The drive is still there,
and the fire still burns.
Time to do me.
[narrator] But in this house, they won't
be judged by a panel of celebrity judges.
They'll be judged by each other.
When it's chefs on chefs,
critique can be hard to take.
The seafood was just super overcooked.
It was not a thing
that should've been on that plate.
It's a little flat.
Damn!
[narrator] Just as important as the dishes
they make is the respect they earn
and the relationships they form.
God, what would I do without you?
When you have
this many intense personalities,
it's only a matter of time before someone
does something to piss someone off.
He's done raw food twice!
Check your ego at the door.
I'm very serious about that.
[narrator] They'll decide
who stays and who goes.
Just 'cause you can cook
doesn't mean you're safe.
- Literally, the game just shifted.
- It's all about the strategy.
[narrator] In the end,
they'll make the toughest choice of all.
[Jeana] Do you vote on personality?
You vote on threat level? On alliances?
Vote based on the skill alone.
Who do you want
to cook up against tomorrow?
Somebody just stabbed you in the back.
That's a stone-cold way to go home.
[narrator] Who deserves to win?
I got this in the bag.
It's time to go to battle. I'm a warrior.
Whatever's coming, I'm ready.
[narrator] Welcome to the Pressure Cooker.
[sizzling]
Holy
Hi, I'm Robbie Jester.
I'm 36 years old from Newark, Delaware.
Currently, I am the owner
of three businesses.
Chef-slash-owner,
so you wear all the hats.
That's the nature
of the restaurant business.
This is certainly not easy.
It is not for the faint of heart.
And then this is
where the magic happens, I guess.
The $100,000 prize
would allow me to make some moves
and create some opportunities for my team.
It's like a chef's dream come true.
I just wanna make them proud
and give it everything I got.
- Is anyone here?
- [Robbie] Hi!
- Hey!
- I'm Robbie.
- Christan. Nice to meet you.
- Yeah, nice to meet you.
I think when people see me,
they're thinking, like, okay,
"Her hair's cute. I love her dress."
- [laughing]
- [Robbie] It's just your height, yeah?
[Christan] But what they don't know is
I am a chef. I'm highly skilled.
I have 16 years in my industry.
You know, I can pull my hair back
and get dirty with the rest of them.
Welcome to your house,
but now I'm taking over.
[both laugh]
Wow.
I'm Liv Bin.
I am the executive chef and co-owner
of an Italian deli
in Melrose Hill, Los Angeles.
- Hi!
- Nice to meet you.
- [Liv] Liv.
- Robbie.
Most people work their way up
over a really long period of time,
and I've clashed heads with chefs before
that sometimes feel threatened
or, like, insecure about themselves
because of my position at my age.
I'm so excited!
I wanna be the youngest female chef
to earn a Michelin star.
If I win, it would make it a lot easier.
That's for sure.
- Hello, hello!
- [Liv] Hello.
- How you guys doing? I'm Ed.
- [Christan] Hi.
- Robbie.
- Nice to meet you.
I got a friend
looks just like you, brother.
- Hello!
- [Ed] Oh, hello!
- [Robbie] Hi!
- [Lana] How's it going?
- [Ed] I'm Ed.
- [Lana] Lana.
- Robbie. Nice to meet you.
- Lana.
- Nice to meet you.
- Where you from?
I'm from New York City.
[Ed] Where in New York?
- From the Bronx.
- I'm from the Bronx.
Okay, but now I live in Harlem.
I live in Minnesota, so
- What?
- [laughing]
Hey! What is up?
- What's up?
- Yes, the overalls!
Why do we not have drinks
in our hands already?
- [all cheering]
- What is going on?
- Rosé prosecco.
- [all] Whoo!
I run kitchens,
and I help open restaurants.
- Hold up! I'll pour the next ones, guys.
- [Ed] No, no, no.
[Jeana] In my kitchen,
it's really important to have a team
that will be there by your side
for anything you need.
Ladies, I got you.
I've actually had my sous-chef
bail me out of jail.
Thank you, Xavier. [kisses]
- Oh, hey!
- Yo, what up?
[cheering]
- Hello!
- [Mike] Yo.
- [Jeana] Get this man a drink.
- What's your name?
- Mike.
- Mike. Christan.
The restaurant I used to work at,
everyone called me Big Mike.
I'm the smallest guy, but I act
like the biggest guy in the room,
and I think that makes
guys like me very competitive.
- Before you sip, what's your sign?
- [Jeana] Yeah!
- [laughing]
- What's your sign?
My sign?
Gosh, like,
I don't know what's going on.
I've never done this before.
I'm just used to cooking food.
Way less talking, way more cooking,
that'd be happy with me.
- Hey!
- Hey!
- Liv.
- Yo, I'm Renee!
I'm a personal chef and caterer
to some of your favorite stars.
- [Renee] How are you?
- I'm Lana.
- I like your shirt.
- Thank you. Hey.
I am extremely competitive.
I wanna know who's my enemy,
what your weaknesses are,
how can I play on it.
It's a pleasure to meet everybody.
I'm here to get this money, baby. Come on!
- Where you guys from?
- I'm from Atlanta.
- [Ed] I love Atlanta.
- It's evolved.
Legitimately, I go to their strip clubs
for the wings. Legitimately.
- [all] Hey!
- Yo!
My name is Brian Nadeau.
I own an Italian restaurant,
me and my wife, in Cranston, Rhode Island.
What up, man?
- [Brian] Good. Eddie.
- Eddie. Brian.
- You're Brian?
- Hey. Brian.
She's the front of the house.
I'm the back of the house.
There's a line in my restaurant
that neither one of us cross.
She stays there. I stay here.
I'm just kidding.
- Hey, guys.
- [Robbie] Hi!
My name's Caroline Gutierrez,
and I own a private chef business.
[Jeana] What's up?
- Hi, I'm good. I'm Caroline.
- Jeana.
- [both] Nice to meet you.
- I'm Renee.
[Caroline] I was born in Miami,
moved to LA when I was 20.
I was modeling and trying to figure out
what I was gonna do with my life.
Didn't really feel fulfilling.
And then, you know,
I found my way into food.
Cheers, guys!
- Cheers! Welcome!
- Cheers. Thanks.
Certainly, when I started in the kitchen,
that came
with people not taking me seriously.
A big part of me wanted
to start my own business
because always feeling like I had
to fight so much harder than other people.
To be even selected
to something like this.
It's pretty dope.
[Caroline] My business
is super successful,
but I am here to get the brick-and-mortar
restaurant that I have always dreamed of.
- Now I'm curious
- [man] What up?
- Whoa!
- [all] Hey!
- [Jeana] Last one! There we go.
- [man] What's up, brother? Sergei.
My name is Sergei Simonov.
I'm an executive chef, and I've been
in this industry for ten-plus years.
- [Christan] Sergei?
- Sergei.
[Sergei] I've worked under great chefs.
I'm very confident in what I can do.
- That's it!
- Oh, thank you. A lot of bubbles.
Going into this competition,
my strategy would be
to make friends with everybody first
and find out their weaknesses.
I definitely wanna find out
who the strongest people are.
You don't necessarily take them out,
but you wanna be their friends.
- [Christan] Yes!
- [Sergei] Cheers.
- [Christan] Cheers!
- [all] Whoo!
I'm gonna go check out this kitchen.
Who wants to come?
Let's go check this out.
Let's go, let's go!
My first reaction
to Sergei was I didn't like him at all.
[blows raspberries]
[Lana chuckles] Ladies room.
Living in a house with a bunch of chefs.
[Liv] I am way too tall for these beds.
I have no idea what to expect, but
[Brian] Three amigos, all right?
There's no girls in our room.
[laughing]
Game on.
My clients who have Wolf and Thermador
ovens, just like freakin' $20,000 ovens.
- I'm like, shoot me.
- You can cook on 'em. [chuckles]
Yeah, yeah.
I pride myself
in knowing all the different ovens,
even, like, the weird ones, you know.
Mike is a different
kind of dude altogether.
- Do they have liquid nitrogen?
- [Ed] Yeah, this here.
[Robbie] He just seems like a quirky dude
with tons of nervous energy.
I can't wait to see
how that ends up on the plate.
- [chattering]
- [bell chimes]
[computer] Ticket printing.
- [Ed] Sit on the water.
- [printer whirring]
- Oh, my gosh, you guys, we got a ticket!
- [Robbie] Oh!
- [Mike] That's awesome.
- We got a ticket?
- [Lana] Uh-oh.
- [both] We got a ticket!
As a chef,
you can recognize a ticket printer noise
from a different room.
It is very specific.
The second you hear that ticket print,
you immediately go to,
"What am I firing next?"
- What's it say? What's it say?
- We got a ticket!
- [Liv] Wow.
- [Caroline] Let's go.
[Robbie] "Welcome to the Pressure Cooker."
"This is a Chef's Choice challenge."
"You'll have 90 minutes to cook the dish
you think best shows off
who you are as a chef."
- Sheesh!
- Today? Right now?
"You won't be judged by a panel
of celebrity chefs."
- "You'll be judged by each other."
- [Christan] Each other?
[Robbie] "Because impressing your peers
will play a big part
in your success or failure in this house."
[all] Oh!
- That's awesome.
- Oh, okay.
I don't think that I expected
that we were all gonna judge each other.
Now I see where the game
is gonna be played.
You tend to like a plate a little bit more
if you like the person
that made it for you.
So the personalities and the relationships
are gonna matter.
[Mike] That makes me a little nervous.
I don't feel as confident
at getting people to like me
as much as the food
that I put on the plate.
"Your challenge starts now."
- [dramatic music playing]
- [clock beeping]
So in my head, I'm thinking already,
I'm gonna go to my roots
for this challenge.
I wanna make sure everyone knows
Sergei's here,
you know, for the big bold flavors.
His food's coming out punchy and strong.
Claiming this space.
Setting up here?
We working next to each other?
Uh, yeah.
We just getting all buddy and Kumbaya-ish.
Now we gotta get cutthroat immediately.
Let's let the beast out. [exhales]
[Jeana] Being here is so important.
I want to showcase my talents,
and this first challenge is
the perfect way to do that.
Sweatin' my ass off.
People dream to do this type of stuff.
I never thought I would do this.
I'm making a seafood fra diavolo
with a squid ink pasta.
[Christan] Sounds fire.
[Brian] Coming together nice though.
I'm a street chef.
I didn't go to school
for any cooking whatsoever.
Basically, I was at work one time,
they were like, "Oh, hey, filet a fish."
I didn't even know how.
You wanna know what I did?
I went in the bathroom.
I Googled how to filet a salmon.
Came out, butchered the first one.
Next one, knocked it out the park.
Sorry, buddy.
I pretty much faked it
for the first year or so,
but before you know it,
I I'm already running kitchens.
Are you using morels?
- I am.
- What you doing?
I'm making a Wellington for my duxelles.
A salmon Wellington?
- [Jeana] Yeah.
- Oh, shoot!
[Jeana] Salmon Wellington is something
that could really impress
the entire group if I can pull it off.
And I really wanted
to give everybody a plate
that they would be scared of
or intimidated by.
Uh, Wellington can be really difficult
because you want
to get this outside pastry
golden brown and flaky and flavorful
while making sure
that your proteins and sauces
are cooked correctly on the inside.
- [Mike] You making the puff pastry?
- I'm using puff pastry. Yes.
[Mike laughs]
Better make that puff pastry
in 90 minutes.
- Especially we got a blast chiller.
- "Blast chiller." Where you from?
- [laughs]
- Oh, shut up! All right.
- Oh, Michigan.
- Michigan?
I would say I definitely
got a lot of pride in Michigan.
Grew up there, great place to grow up.
But I would say people typically
don't think of fine dining at all.
I didn't know I had an accent
until I went to New York and everyone's
like, "Dude, where you from?"
I have a high standard
for what a good chef is.
I went to Culinary Institute of America,
and I think that demands respect.
It's literally,
like Hogwarts is for Harry Potter
as that school is for cooking.
Whatever you're making looks fun.
[Mike] I am making
a classic mushroom ravioli
with a truffle demi-glace,
some sautéed morel mushrooms
and then a fresh Périgord black truffle.
Everybody loves mushroom ravioli, right?
I just tried to kick it up a notch.
What do you got going on,
gonna smoke a duck breast?
I'm smoking some duck breast
with juniper and some cherry wood.
The dish that I've decided to prepare
for this is juniper smoked duck breast
with a celery root puree,
celery root chips, a duck jus
and a salad of micro arugula
and gooseberries.
The breast is gonna be smoked.
- Gonna sear it, make it sexy.
- [Sergei] Very cool.
Keep it simple.
Keep it tasty. Keep it sexy.
I do think my food is
of Michelin-star quality.
I've been trained
by enough Michelin-starred restaurants
that at this point, if it's not,
then I definitely didn't learn anything
in any of those kitchens.
All right, let's make duck sauce, huh?
This dish that I'm cooking is one
that's very near and dear to my heart,
but also one that I know
that I can execute in the time limit.
I'm taking up all the space, so sorry.
- Um, I'll scoot you over, don't you worry.
- Oh, heard.
- Wow.
- Wow, that's really nice, yes.
Dang. Okay.
- Tell me really how you feel.
- Just saying.
There is no space
for divas or egos in my kitchen,
but if there's space for one, it is mine.
- What you got going on?
- I'm making Cuban arroz con pollo.
[Mike] Whoo!
- Are you Cuban?
- Arroz con pollo. I am Cuban.
This is, like, the first dish
I ever learned how to make.
My grandmom taught me how to make this,
when I was, I kid you not,
maybe six years old.
I grew up eating Cuban food
all the time in my house.
So I'm gonna stick to my skills,
really try to focus on my bread and butter
and show people what I'm good at.
Chefs, one hour left!
- [Liv] What are you making?
- I've got scallops.
- Gonna do some nice five-spice potatoes.
- Yummy. I like that.
Chimichurri, candy-pickled onions.
As always, hit it with the salt.
I'm from Barbados,
so this dish really speaks to my culture.
Pan-seared scallops
with Argentinian chimichurri,
a nice mélange of cherries,
kumquats and tomatoes.
You know, I love bold flavors.
You know, those island flavors,
things that really speak out to you.
- What are you making, bro?
- I'm from Maryland originally.
- I'm making Eastern Shore crab cake.
- Behind, behind.
[Robbie] Gonna do a little, uh,
elote, some asparagus.
- It's delicious Eastern Shore stuff.
- Beautiful.
[Robbie] I know that some of these guys
and girls are coming into this competition
with a lot of contemporary knowledge,
but to be honest with you,
that's not who I am as a chef.
At end of the day, if it don't taste good
and it don't look good, it don't matter.
[Liv] Throw people in for a treat, huh?
I'm just trying to sear everything off
and render down the chicken skin.
But I think I got a little excited,
put it in a little cold, yeah.
In my own restaurant, I create recipes.
It makes sense to me, but I haven't been
on a line in a really long time.
[sighs] Okay, I'm just
so discombobulated right now.
I'm not used to that level of stress.
So I'm going to have to take a step back
to really think about what I'm doing
and how I'm gonna elevate that dish
before I put it out for everybody to try.
[Sergei] Forty minutes.
[suspenseful music playing]
Man, that's good.
Wellington in whatever time we have
is rough.
[Christan] I got
a red curry tomato butter working.
[Mike] Whoo!
My dish is sea bass with crispy shallots.
The sweetness of the shallots
and the crunch
is gonna bring that dish together.
We're actually
just getting the skin crispy.
This dish to me is comfort food.
I love to cook with a lot
of Southeast Asian flavors
because of my ethnicity.
I wanna make sure that they know
I am coming with a boldness and a richness
and a curiosity for food,
just like they are.
You're cooking your fish
30 minutes beforehand, chef?
It's actually about to go in the oven.
You know,
everyone has their own opinion, right?
But I'm still gonna cook my flavors
and what I know as a chef.
- There's a method.
- Just questions.
- Just questions. Jesus! Jesus!
- There is a method, sir.
- I'm here just grilling my venison loin.
- Thank you.
- You know, humble.
- Oh. Humble.
- [chuckles] Humbly.
- Humbly grilling my venison.
I definitely have an upper hand
on these private chefs.
They don't get
to feel the heat and the burn
of, like, the kitchen and the line.
Stay together.
I'm one of the few
that we do 500, 600 covers a night.
[Christan] Stay humble.
- It'll get you far.
- Whoo!
[Christan] Twenty on the clock!
I think I'm gonna come down to the wire.
My Wellington needs
to take longer than that,
and I know I don't have the time for it.
I need a miracle.
It's like watching grass grow.
You know what I mean?
I don't think they're gonna be done.
[Sergei] Good luck.
- [Jeana] Thank you.
- Good luck.
[Jeana] Stay hot.
I don't have enough time.
I'm not gonna be able to make it.
Nobody open this. [chuckles]
I can't serve dough on raw salmon
Excuse me.
That will be horrible.
The pizza oven. I know it's hotter
than the oven I'm using. [chuckles]
[fire roars]
- [Sergei] Ten minutes!
- [Caroline] Ten minutes heard!
[suspenseful music continues]
[Jeana laughs] This is getting crazy.
This is pretty close to a restaurant.
- That looks good, man.
- [Robbie] Thank you.
- Oh, that scallops?
- [Renee] Yeah.
[Robbie] Mm! Mmm!
[Mike] Okay.
[Sergei] That's a beautiful piece.
I finished early. I figured I'd just
maybe get in people's heads a little bit.
This floor looks great,
but it's not a nonslip.
I just start cleaning the kitchen.
So it's just to be like, "Hey,
I'm faster than you, you know." [laughs]
[exhales] A lot of components.
I'm starting to realize the dish
that I chose is a little ambitious.
I had to make pasta from scratch.
I'm over here breaking down three,
four lobsters.
Ninety minutes is not a long time.
Jesus Christ.
We ain't gonna make it, Ed.
Hope this isn't an elimination.
- [Jeana] Done?
- I don't know if that's gonna happen.
That's okay, I don't think my Wellingtons
are gonna be cooked at all, so
One minute, guys.
[Jeana] Get 'em out really fast.
You are toasty,
but maybe not done. [chuckles]
I am just praying
that somebody has screwed up
more than I have at this point.
Ooh, yeah, they are raw.
This is just gonna be what it's gonna be.
- [Mike and Christan] Time's up.
- [Liv] Whoo!
[Jeana] Yeah!
- Good job!
- [Lana laughs]
I feel good. I feel like
this is me.
This is the kind of food I like to make.
So, you know, I'm happy to put it up,
that's for sure.
- What we got? What we got?
- Oh, that looks nice.
I feel good about my dish.
It feels like a beautiful reflection
of who I am
and what I normally would put on a plate
for any of my clients.
[Christan] I forgot my fried shallots.
I cannot believe I ran out of time.
And I just completely forgot
about my shallots.
Leaving that off, um,
you know, it's it's an incomplete dish.
Wow, beautiful.
[Jeana] Walking into this tasting,
I'm feeling very stressed and nervous.
My pastry was completely raw
on the bottom.
But I'm a badass chef,
and I know that I can put out
some badass food.
And this just isn't a reflection of that.
- How do you guys feel?
- Stressed.
- [Sergei] That was fun.
- That was fun.
This is the dish that
you're introducing yourself with.
And knowing that
we are gonna be judging each other,
it's a scary feeling for sure
because you know that there
might be maybe some strategic gameplay,
um, in the back of people's minds.
But it's hard to judge your peers,
especially when
you're sitting right next to them,
but I think it's something
we're all gonna have to get used to.
What I prepared for you today is, uh,
seafood fra diavolo
with fresh squid ink pasta.
This is a big hit at my restaurant,
and, um, I figured it'd be good thing
to showcase, so
[Lana] Honestly, I wanna try your pasta.
Anyone who makes pasta
in an hour and half, I'm trying to try.
And is this the thickness
that you normally do your pasta?
- [Brian] No.
- No.
[Lana] It leans more cioppino than
fra diavolo 'cause it's not very spicy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[pensive music playing]
So the, uh, the pasta I think
is a little thick and a little under,
and the scallops are, like,
I think pretty overcooked,
but the lobster is good though.
The clam I got was really nice,
but I agree on the pasta.
I like constructive criticism,
but getting criticized here
is not like getting criticized at home.
At home, you're like,
"Comp his fra diavolo."
"Like, give him a round
of drinks or whatever."
Salt? For all the
Here, you're on the chopping block.
You're going home.
Okay, I've been working
with Brian Malarkey.
If you guys don't know,
he's, like, a celebrity chef.
He's known for all
of his kind of wood-fired cooking,
and that's kind of where
this dish kind of came from.
So big bold flavors is
kind of like what I'm known for.
I did a berbere crusted venison loin,
and then on the bottom
is a grilled Napa cabbage,
which I tossed in a little bit
of charred orange vinaigrette.
Um, and then the yellow sauce
in the middle is a Peruvian ají amarillo
and then fresh orange.
Yeah, your, uh,
your techniques are pretty good.
I think something about the flavors
just isn't doing it for me.
Like, the spice
on the meat's, like, a little bitter.
- For some reason. Did you grill it?
- Yeah, I grilled it.
Um, you know, I thought
my dish was way better than that.
Like, I nailed the cook on my venison.
The sauce is delicious.
Everything's just flowing and perfect.
I could have toned down
that heat a little bit,
but you know,
I stand by my food that I make.
I'd like to think I'm trying to be honest
just based off the food in front of me
when I, uh,
say things that I like or don't like.
And I think
everyone's taking it pretty well.
Yeah, I was gonna say it's bitter.
[Sergei] I'm kind of pissed,
to be completely honest with you.
Like, what the hell?
So I made a, um,
lightly smoked, uh, duck breast.
Underneath I made a purée of celery root
with some gooseberries as well on top.
- [Mike] Nice render on that duck.
- [Lana laughs] Thank you.
[Mike] I was gonna look for it.
I was like, "She's doing duck.
I'm gonna check it for sure."
[Renee] Ooh, that sauce!
While she was reducing it,
it smelled amazing, so I'm really excited.
- [Lana] Thank you.
- [Jeana] Nice.
That's what I'm talking about.
I'm starting to think some of us
might know what we're doing.
- Mm!
- Thank you.
As someone who spent most of their life
wondering if they're good enough,
to have that instant answer
from my fellow chefs
is confidence boosting, for sure.
So this is a salmon Wellington
with a creamed spinach and a duxelles.
Wellington is one of those iconic dishes
you see when you're younger
and you're like,
"That's amazing! I didn't know"
You know you see it. I think this is it.
"I wanna be a chef."
Wellington did that for me.
It's pretty simple.
I did run out of time,
so you might get
a little bit of puff pastry that's under.
I do apologize, but I'm happy
I got something on the plate.
[steady rock music playing]
Puff pastry's a little under.
I do like the mushroom.
I wish there was more.
The puff pastry's just a little burnt
in some spots. See how it's too dark?
- [Liv] The creamed spinach is delicious.
- [Jeana] Thank you.
I'm very confused,
because I feel like my dish is horrible.
People are like, "Oh, it's it's good!"
Oh, my God, it's so creamy though.
Obviously, you don't wanna, you know,
say something bad about someone's food,
and then it bites you in the ass,
um, later down the road.
It's honestly kind of impressive
that this salmon is, like,
still pretty medium, you know.
[Jeana] I'm getting a read
on these people about, like,
all right, you can't really trust
what they're saying exactly. [sighs]
- [Christan] Ooh!
- [Sergei] Oh, my God.
We have seared crab cakes here.
We have the asparagus on the bottom.
And then on top, I have a little bit
of corn that was grilled. Enjoy.
- Okay. Ooh, that looks delicious.
- [chattering]
[Robbie] In real-world
and real-life restaurants,
not only do you live and die
by your guests' perception of you,
but you also can get
a lot of progress or a lot of failure
based on what your peers think about you.
That sort of peer criticism is invaluable.
- My father was a chef.
- [Lana] Wow, that's cool.
We wanted to have crab cakes, even back
in the day that were gluten-free.
So the binder is actually, uh,
dehydrated mashed potato flakes.
- Wow!
- Just a bit.
I love a meal with a story too.
- Robbie.
- What's up?
- Good.
- Thank you so much.
- Who's next?
- [Jeana trills] Renee.
[Robbie] Saw them scallops.
- All right, guys.
- [Mike] Nice.
[Renee] We have some pan-seared scallops
and Argentinian spice chimichurri.
Jump in. Enjoy.
[Lana] Mm.
- [Liv] Mm.
- I love the sear on the scallops.
Scallops are nice and seared.
- Beautifully cooked.
- Thank you.
The chimichurri,
the scallops are beautifully seared.
In the bag.
- Who's next? Let's go.
- [Ed] Christan.
So we have a pan-seared
striped sea bass, uh, crispy skin.
I like to cook
with a lot of Southeast Asian flavors,
so we'll find that in there. So enjoy.
[Jeana] You forgot your shallots.
- That would've added a lot.
- Yeah.
Crispy shallots? Crispy shallots?
- Oh, you had crispy shallots?
- [Renee] Oh!
Um, the fish is,
I think for me, a little over.
And the carrots are a little under.
I bit, it was, like, crunchy.
I did start searing super early.
Freakin' called it.
Pastelón is kind of one
of my favorite go-to comfort dishes.
It's a, like,
traditional Puerto Rican dish.
Uh, my dad and I kind of started doing it
with lamb and feta,
just as, like, something fun to do,
instead of just doing,
like, a beef picadillo.
You had so many, like,
naturally salt-forward items there,
but it doesn't come across
that way on the plate at all. It's great.
Yeah, I was gonna say the lamb,
I agree, needs a little salt.
The plantain's a little under.
But the croquette. Great.
- Great. Awesome. Cool.
- [Mike] I love it.
[Robbie] Mike's an opinionated guy.
I just hope that Mike can take
a look in the mirror, uh,
and see his own food
with the same critical eye
that he was judging everybody else's.
So this is a mushroom ravioli with morels.
It has black Périgord truffle
and then a truffle demi-glace.
[Robbie] I love how mushroom
forward it is. How truffle forward it is.
- For me, pasta's a little hair under.
- A little thick.
- Or a little thick.
- [Ed] Well, it was a little thick.
It's hard to make pasta
in an hour and a half.
- I commend you for the effort.
- Yeah, just the effort.
But yeah, it's, um, a little thick.
Of all the dishes that I've seen,
I like mine the best.
[Christan] Ed, it's all you.
So, chefs, what I prepared is
a pan-seared airline chicken breast
on a bed of popcorn polenta
made with actual popcorn.
To me, the reason why I serve the dish
is my daughter Tatis.
She loves this dish.
Sweet, salty, little bit of bitter,
tiny bit of sour,
and everybody loves chicken.
That polenta is really interesting.
- Really good.
- [Ed] Thank you.
[Christan] Is your spice pink peppercorn?
- [Ed] Yes.
- Cool.
[Robbie] Who's next?
- This is Cuban arroz con pollo.
- [cheering]
[Liv] I made a Cuban-size portion,
so there is a lot.
- Yeah, look how much rice is on it.
- Like five pounds of rice. [laughs]
[Liv] Saffron, cumin.
We finish it with beer,
so there's a kind of surprising taste
you don't get with rice very often.
The light braise on some chicken thighs.
Big old portion,
some roasted red peppers, so enjoy.
The chicken I think could be
Isn't it supposed to be like almost
like a braise? Like it falls off the bone?
- Yeah, it is. You cook it a little longer.
- And then crispier skin.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news.
Chicken thigh's under.
It's two seconds from clucking.
- That one's under?
- [Brian] Yeah, mine is.
There is another one here.
I looked at the bottom.
It's still a little bloody.
I temped most of them.
It is on the bone.
It's chicken on the bone.
Sometimes it's red-looking.
But no harm, no foul.
I don't think anyone's sick.
Any restaurant you go to,
if you get raw chicken,
you're not being quiet about that.
You make a stink.
Don't pay for it and get free dessert.
That's the way it goes.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[printer whirring]
[suspenseful music playing]
Okay, so somebody's
gotta go get the ticket.
Oh, man.
The printer goes off again,
and instantly I'm like, what's happening?
You know,
you can kind of tell everyone's startled.
[exhales]
Okay. [sighs]
"Chefs, you will now rank
each other's dishes from one to ten,
with ten being your least favorite."
"The chefs with the bottom three dishes
will be up for elimination."
- All right. All right. All right.
- [Robbie] Crunch time.
It's crunch time!
That ain't cool.
You're gonna have people hate each other.
- [Lana] All right.
- [Mike] Great.
- [Sergei] Bye!
- [all] Bye!
[gasps] I'm gonna throw up.
We have to kind of
rank each other one through ten.
And I know that I want Renee number one.
Her dish was on top.
I instantly know that
Brian's gonna be on the bottom
with his, like,
undercooked pasta on that dish.
And I also put Mike on the bottom
with his undercooked pasta as well.
[Mike] There's a lot of different factors
I'm taking into consideration.
Not just what I like the most,
but also technique and skill.
[Caroline] You're back?
[Mike] Oh, yeah.
- I already knew.
- [Caroline] Damn.
All right.
[Jeana] There is a strategy that I think
is really important to put into play.
There are people I would rather see on top
and other people I'd rather see
hit more of a lower-middle because
by rating someone
like Sergei's dish dead last [chuckles]
I'm making sure
that he doesn't come out on top.
I don't think that would be good.
So I'm thinking about all those things,
because I need to make sure that
in the long haul, I'm set up for success.
- [Liv] Oh, Lana.
- [Jeana] All right, girl!
Lana, if you give me a bad rating,
ravioli in your suitcase.
[laughing]
- If you can find it.
- [chuckles]
I think he's serious.
[Lana] Just meeting these people,
you're bonding with these people.
You like everyone.
Now you have to tell them, "Sorry,
you put your heart on this plate, but
[clicks tongue] wasn't enough."
- Came back sweatin'.
- Yeah, you know.
Is that everybody?
[Sergei] That was it. Whoo!
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[printer whirring]
- [Ed] Oh, shoot.
- [all groan]
- [Jeana] Don't wanna hear this.
- [Mike] Dang!
[exhales]
- [Liv] I don't wanna know at all.
- [Renee] I don't wanna know. I am nervous.
All right.
Okay, the lowest ranked dishes are
Chef Brian's squid ink pasta,
Jeana's salmon Wellington
and Chef Liv's arroz con pollo.
"The remaining chefs
will vote to eliminate
one of the bottom three
before the end of the night."
"The chef with the most votes
will leave the house tomorrow morning."
[Jeana] Damn.
- [Christan] No!
- [Ed] Damn!
[Lana] Aw
I am shaking in my boots having to
send someone home, to be quite honest.
There's a lot going through my head
to make a decision,
but I know it has to be made,
and I know I will make it.
But I'm not gonna rush to make it.
I thought they were gonna
have you cook against each other.
I know. I thought so too.
I'm not surprised that
there's gonna be an elimination tonight.
You know, it seems like the right time
to send someone home already.
You know, we got 11 of us.
There's one winner.
We gotta get someone out at some point.
So might as well be tonight.
We can clean,
and then we can all think about it.
I am feeling deflated,
defeated, disappointed. [laughs]
Not the kind of D I want. [chuckles]
[Robbie] There's so much.
[Ed] And there's a lot of dishes
that are dirty here.
[Liv] There's so much crap
on this stuff, guys.
- [Sergei] Take it back if it's dirty.
- You know you're kind of bossy?
- Huh?
- You're kinda bossy.
- It's not nice.
- I'm a boss.
You guys getting hot water over there?
Can I give you a hug?
I'm sorry we didn't, you know,
get to work next to each other.
Hey, and we know who we're going for.
- [Liv] Obviously.
- [Jeana chuckles]
I think that we gotta lean on each other
'cause this sucks.
- If we can rally everybody then
- [Liv] I know.
- I just honestly don't wanna be
- I don't wanna be like that either, but
But at the same time,
we both wanna be here,
and we both wanna be here together.
Okay, coming down!
Avoiding Sergei
'cause he pisses me off a lot. [laughs]
- I feel he's gonna be hard to win over.
- Yeah.
- But if we work together, we got it.
- We got it.
'Cause I could probably get him.
I got it.
I'll work on everybody else.
If you can get the people on our team,
I think I can work him over for you.
Absolutely sweating and wet.
[laughs] We got this. Okay.
I'm gonna go clean some more.
I am going to try to create,
I guess, as many alliances as I can.
Um, I think it's important
to have people on your side.
Thank you.
I think
if I can make it through the first day
and have that opportunity
to really shine and show off my skills,
I know that
I'll probably succeed and last.
To do that,
I need people to vote against Brian.
- [Ed] Don't. Don't even stress it, bro.
- I am stressed. You would be.
You're right. You're 100% right.
And it's always easier said than done.
I can clearly see how the play
would be to eliminate the threats.
I came here to compete against the best.
And therefore, let's keep the best around.
See what happens.
- I wanna talk to you, Serg.
- [Sergei] Oh.
I hope you know my dish had
a lot more technique than them other two.
Oh, for sure, big guy.
When you vote, man, just keep me in mind.
- I'll keep you in mind.
- I appreciate that.
[Sergei] You got a lot of talent, man.
I can see that.
I was thinking, I was like, dude,
what if you had made it,
like, just mussels or something?
Like, mussels and squid ink fettuccine
would've been fire!
Would've been a lot easier, but
- I appreciate you, man. I like that dish.
- Yeah, thanks, brother.
- Absolutely.
- I appreciate you.
Keep the ball rolling here.
[Brian] If you could help me out,
it'll come back to you.
- [Renee] We making progress, y'all.
- Yeah.
[Ed] Confessional time.
This is sick.
I need to move in here.
[Mike] All right, guys, are we done?
I believe so.
[Ed] The game is going, man.
This is gonna be tough.
It's a lot of, um, talented people.
There's also a lot
of X factors thrown our way
as we can see from day one.
[Liv] So before everybody votes
[laughs] let me do my speech.
I feel personally I could've
executed things much better.
I was nervous.
I was intimidated.
I was not, like, acting
in my true self, and so
You know, at the end of the day,
it comes down
to what we actually presented
and which
we actually brought out to everybody.
But I do at the very least
want y'all to know, like,
I'm passionate about this. I care a lot.
I know I can put out better food.
And, um, I wanna at least show people
I can do a little better than what I did.
You know what I mean? That's the least
you can say for yourself, right?
- You're disappointed too.
- No, I totally respect it.
[Ed] Liv comes up to plead her case.
Little did she know, I voted immediately
because it was an easy decision for me.
Not all professions get
to have a bad day at work. [chuckles]
There's no, hey, the pilot
has a bad day and crashes,
and you survive and get another job.
You don't get a second chance at that.
Do I feel good about that? No.
But there's no chicken sushi for a reason.
No no disrespect to you at all.
I appreciate everything you just said
and everything.
But I was nervous coming into it too.
It's still a competition.
No disrespect to you or to anybody else.
[Renee] I am kind of torn at this point
because it's time to vote.
You could say the weakest dish
needs to go home.
[Christan] Voting?
- [Renee] Yeah.
- Oh, no.
[Renee] And that's
kind of why I voted for Brian.
I definitely expect a little bit more
from someone who is so seasoned,
especially since he has
his own restaurant.
I think he could have come
with his A game, and he didn't.
[Jeana] What are people voting on?
Are they voting on the dish or voting
on who they want to stay in the house?
That's the stuff in my head.
That's the thing that
I was wondering about too.
I know that Liv and I
have the biggest alliance,
but I don't wanna go home first.
So I'm so focused on myself,
and I think that that is my only chance
of being saved is thinking like that.
Are people gonna pull the weakest link?
You think people
are gonna pull the stronger one?
[Jeana] I don't know
who the weakest link is
because I don't think I am.
[Christan] Okay, so what do you wanna do?
Do you, like, wanna build the alliance
and play the game?
If people are playing the game,
then they're gonna take out the person
that could actually have potential, right?
I'm not doing that.
Like, I'm going based off taste
and then potential.
[Jeana] Everyone's making me feel
very comfortable.
"I'm good. I'm good."
But, like,
that's what I would do too. [chuckles]
I can't trust anyone fully.
Well, we'll all find out
in the morning. [scoffs]
Oh, man. [sighs]
Okay, so first day in the Pressure Cooker
- Uh, you get to shoot solids for me.
- [Christan] Cool.
[Sergei] Brian came and talked to me
and was like,
"Hey, like, you know, you got me.
I got you in the end."
And I was like, "Okay."
- He ran. Why'd he run like that?
- Did you run?
[Sergei] I voted for Jeana.
She is probably,
like, the one standing out
or, like, my biggest competition.
So I kind of want her to be eliminated
because I think it's gonna get serious,
and and people will start,
you know, coming to play.
[Jeana] I'm so upset right now.
It's like, if I don't,
I'm gonna have a hard time.
[Lana] Just breathe. It's gonna be okay.
Yeah, I'm sure it will be.
I think that, mentally,
I'm just a little tired.
I'm certainly not ready to say goodbye
to anyone just yet.
I don't blame you.
- [chuckles] I'm
- Yeah.
I'm like,
I don't even know what's going on.
I have to vote. I haven't voted yet.
I really kind of just wanna put it off
till the last possible moment
and make a game-time decision.
I wanna make sure
I'm weighing all of my options.
And you know,
we all worked so hard to get here,
and nobody wants
to be the first one to go home.
[Christan] Good night.
[Renee] Where's my melatonin?
Good luck. Oh!
[Liv] It was really hard to fall asleep.
Just with a lot of feelings
and anxiety and nerves
about this morning
and results and everything.
[Brian] I didn't sleep last night.
You're on the chopping block,
so it's an anxious feeling.
You start asking yourself these questions.
Why'd I even come here
if I'm going home the first day?
You know, I miss my wife. I miss my son.
I miss my family, bro.
Like, not talking to them
is driving me nuts.
I can't imagine
being a new dad around this time.
It's gotta be rough, man.
I think I'm handling it really well.
But I didn't think, um
I'd miss miss them as much as I do.
[Jeana] Last night, everybody's
telling me, "Oh, you're safe."
"You're good."
I feel like if they didn't say that,
then maybe
I would be a little more confident,
but that's probably, like, exactly what
I would say to somebody who's going home.
[sighs] Only thing I can think about is
I'm on the bottom,
which I don't wanna talk about anymore.
- Nah.
- Nah.
[computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
- [Jeana] Hey! Renee!
- [Ed] Whoa! Whoa!
- Is there a ticket?
- We got a ticket.
All right.
The elimination results are in.
Brian.
Three votes.
Liv
Four votes.
Jeana, one vote.
I'm going home.
[Renee] Come here, girlfriend.
Come here.
[Liv exhales]
No matter what, I hope you do know,
I can make better food than that.
- I'mma give you a hug, Liv.
- [all] Yeah!
- [Liv] I need a hug.
- Yeah, come here.
Thank you.
- [Lana] I'm sorry to see you go.
- It's okay.
It's obviously sad.
No one wants to go home first.
It was a lot of nerves.
I [voice breaks]
I'm a person.
I get stage fright. I get nervous.
- I'm gonna come to your restaurant.
- Please do.
- I swear, I make good food. [chuckles]
- I promise.
I had to look myself in the mirror
and be like, "Damn."
"You're not doing as good
as you thought you were gonna do."
And then I just had to hope
that I could do it again later,
but that's not the case, so
I gotta be okay
with everything that happened.
- Bye.
- [Lana] Bye.
That was the only thing
that would've saved me was raw chicken.
You know what? I wanted Jeana to go home.
Between the three,
she's gonna be a tough one to beat.
I voted for Liv, but it's awful
to see somebody go home so soon.
I was confident Liv was going home.
You can't come back from raw chicken.
Undercooked chicken.
Unseasoned rice. I don't know.
[Ed] Very taken aback that this is
where we're at in a matter of hours,
but it's part of the game.
So for right now
warfare.
[pensive music playing]
What are you guys chatting about?
We were just chatting about
who we thought was on top.
I mean, who do you think was on top?
- Probably, uh, Caroline with the lamb.
- [Robbie] Okay. With the lamb?
Yeah, I was gonna say myself too.
- But that sounds cocky, so
- [both laugh]
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
- [Sergei] Yo, guys!
- To be continued.
[Jeana] There's a ticket
if you wanna see it.
All right, guys,
we got an order fire ticket.
The rankings from yesterday.
- Oh.
- Okay.
Let's hear it.
So, number one, first place
was Renee.
- Whoo!
- [all cheering]
[Renee] Number one!
Numero uno! Means number one.
I am the shit! And that's a good feeling.
Number two was Lana with the duck.
- [all cheering]
- [laughs]
[Mike] I thought Renee probably
should've got one or two for certain,
but then I thought, Lana,
I think I rated her dish a five.
Yeah, so,
I don't think she deserved the number two.
Man, I should've been higher.
I think I deserved at least a two.
Number three was Ed.
- My favorite number.
- [all cheering]
- [Robbie] Everything's in threes.
- Everything's in threes.
By myself for number four.
One clap, thank you.
[laughing]
Number five was Sergei.
[cheering]
Kind of intrigued
why I'm, like, number five, you know.
Um, I thought for sure at least
number four or number three, you know.
Very surprised.
Low-key pissed.
Like, it's like, what's what's going on?
Robbie was number six.
Okay, I'm cool with that.
When it comes to the other chefs,
it's it's a humbling experience.
There's shit going on the plate,
and shit being done to food in this house
that I can't even spell.
Number seven was Caroline.
- Yes.
- [Renee] All right.
Number eight was Christan with the bass.
Then we had, we knew,
at the bottom, it was Brian.
- And then Jeana for nine and ten.
- [Brian] So we're still here.
- We're still here. Got it.
- [Jeana] Still here. I'm surprised.
[Mike] "For the next challenge,
you'll be divided up into two teams."
"Lana, Renee,
since you got the top two dishes,
you'll be team captains
and get to choose your teammates."
- Pick a color.
- Okay, yellow.
- I'll take red.
- Obviously, you go first, 'cause you're
- One by one. Like in the schoolyard.
- [Ed] Like in the schoolyard.
[Renee] All right.
You already know where I'm going.
Sergei.
- Let's go! Thank you. Whoo!
- Come on. Come on. Come on.
Right off the bat, I already knew
I wanted Sergei on my team.
I loved his presentation.
I loved his flavors.
I'd hire him to be on my team.
- [Lana] Jeana.
- [Sergei] Oh, this is already oh, okay.
The first person I chose
to be on my team was Jeana.
I knew that she was hungry for redemption,
and I thought that that type of person
would be the perfect person
to have on my team because
they would be hungry to prove themselves.
Come on, itty-bitty.
In the first challenge,
Christan really understood the spices.
And everything
just came together really well,
and that definitely
speaks to me and how I cook.
- [Lana] Robbie.
- [Christan] Oh, this is a power team.
Robbie's open. He's thoughtful.
He knows how to cook.
But he also is a good teammate.
Ed.
- Yeah, let's go!
- Come on. Come on!
Ed is very ambitious.
I watched him in our Kitchen Challenge,
and I was very impressed with his dish.
[Lana] You
Caroline, I knew that her food was tight.
And I love her personality, and I know
that she works well with others.
Let's go.
And then of course, we've got Brian.
You talk a good game,
but here's your opportunity.
You got no choice
but to put your heart on the plate.
- [Lana] Let's go.
- Oh, shoot.
- Last.
- [Lana] Let's do it.
[Mike] I'm really bummed
that I was picked last by Lana.
[clicks tongue] Yeah, so, uh,
you know, not too excited about that.
If they're putting me
in a leadership role,
I would appreciate it if you guys
just, like, deferred to that.
Most of my settings in my life in work
have been team settings,
and I don't mind leading my team.
I know you're upset
about getting picked last,
but I want you to know
that I wanted you on my team, so
- Well, yeah, but
- I know. I'm sorry.
And I get that feeling too.
But I don't want you to feel
any type of way in this Team Challenge.
I want us all to be working
really cohesively together, so
Is that why I was last? Cohesiveness?
[Lana] I like working with others,
but respect is something
that can't be taken.
It has to be earned.
- I can tell that you're a little salty.
- I'm salty. [laughs]
I get it. And I get it.
[Mike] I didn't know
why I was picked last.
I was like, "Yo, like, what's the deal?
Like, I cook good food. What's going on?"
Understand you always have to be learning
and, like, understanding that there's
always room for error and criticism.
I would much rather have someone
with a good attitude and a bad skill set
than someone with a great skill set
and a bad attitude.
You can't teach someone
to have a good attitude,
but you can always teach someone to cook.
[laughing] Our team,
by far, is a superpower.
We're definitely the '92 Bulls
of the competition.
I don't want you to think
there's animosity or anything.
That could sour the team, you know,
if you think that we all
are against you or anything.
- Sunshine!
- [Renee] Mm-hmm.
Lana's team is all over the damn place.
You guys got something to worry about.
You gonna get demolished.
We're trying to win as a whole,
not as individuals.
Check your ego at the door.
I'm very serious about that.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
- [Brian] Yo, we got a ticket.
- [Jeana] We got a ticket?
There's a ticket. There's a ticket.
Hey, there's a ticket, y'all.
[Brian] Ticket, guys.
"This is the House Divided Challenge."
- Let's go.
- Okay.
[Lana] I'm feeling the pressure,
but the truth is,
I'm still team leader,
and I have no problem
asserting myself when I need to.
I'm not gonna let
a 26-year-old run all over me.
[dramatic music playing]