Pressure Cooker (2023) s01e05 Episode Script

1
[dramatic music playing]
[Sergei] We're reading all the comments
that all our significant others
and family members
wrote about each of our dishes.
"Nice fresh dish,
needed butter or more fat."
"This flavor combination
was not a favorite."
- [exhales]
- "It was a little much." Okay.
Looking through the book.
People are not
really saying pleasant things
about the dishes,
and I'm kind of concerned.
It could be anybody's win at this point.
"Purée was nice. Not enough flavor."
- [Renee] Wow!
- [Ed] That stings.
I think we all have,
like, a gut-wrenching feeling
that there's a possibility
of us being in the bottom.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [printer whirring]
- We didn't finish reading!
[suspenseful music playing]
[Jeana] All right.
[sighs] "The results
for the Seasonal Specials challenge
are in."
"The guests from the friends and family
dinner party gave eight
of their 11 votes to
Chef Robbie, Chef Ed,
Chef Renee and Chef Mike."
"The Blue Team's menu."
- Damn.
- [Lana] Damn.
- Good job.
- [Sergei] For winning?
[Lana] Yeah.
You guys won. Good job.
[Robbie] It feels
really great knowing that
we had a couple people on the team choose
to jump ship on us a little bit.
Some conversations were had,
and promises were made
and then not delivered.
So I feel damn good knowing
that we beat them eight to three.
[Ed] No. Really dope. That was a must.
[Mike] Yeah. Really wanted to win.
- We did that.
- We did that.
Uh, definitely really wanted to win today.
And I think it was a big win.
In the course of this season,
that might be, like,
one of the biggest wins that mattered.
- Way to go, guys.
- [Renee] Way to go.
I didn't expect to lose,
and I didn't expect to lose by that much.
And I don't think anyone of my team did.
At the end of the day, it's very
frustrating to see us on the bottom.
It's really unfortunate 'cause I worked
with, you know, three very strong people,
and I think our team's stronger
based on just flavor profiles alone.
But we're the losing team.
[Mike] I didn't know who the judges were.
[Jeana] Congrats.
- [Sergei] You did well.
- [Lana] Good job.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [printer whirring]
- [Caroline] Oh, okay.
- [Sergei] Let me read this.
- [chattering]
- [Robbie] We didn't read ours yet.
- [Renee] Okay.
"Green Team,
because you lost the challenge,
you have to vote
to eliminate one member of your team."
"You have one hour to cast your vote."
- [Jeana gasps]
- Whoo! And here we go again.
Being on the losing team sucks
and then it's a double whammy.
Because not only are you the least
favorite of all the blind tasters,
but then on top of it,
we have to vote one of us out.
It's gonna be a hard choice,
'cause there's not,
like, a clear-cut loser.
[Renee] Brah.
I don't know.
I feel like I know what y'all about to do.
[Sergei] What are we don't know about
I don't know what "y'all" means. What?
[Renee] Y'all about to vote Jeana.
[Sergei] Why? Why Jeana?
- [Renee] Dude.
- I haven't had that thought in my mind.
They're asking,
"Oh, you're gonna vote Jeana off."
"Why would I vote Jeana off?"
In my mind, um,
I really don't wanna vote Jeana off
just because of, you know,
her helping hand in all of my dishes.
I feel like that
that would be unfair to her.
I don't know why they're all saying you.
I don't either. I felt like
I held my own in that competition.
- I helped your dish. I helped
- I think I had the I think
In my opinion, I feel like
I either had the first or strongest dish.
I think you had the stronger dish,
and I feel like I had a hand in that.
And yes! And you had a hand in that.
- That's what I'm saying.
- Exactly. And if you're
I say gnocchi was a problem.
Garlic was a problem.
Gnocchi was a problem,
and third course was a problem.
And that's what I'm seeing, yeah.
And it's like, but am I gonna be the
Is it gonna be the person to be like,
"Oh, we're gonna, you know,
vote off the strongest person?"
[Jeana sighs] I'm hearing whispers
through the house
that I'm the easy vote
and that I'm gonna be the one going home.
And to me, it's just like
It just surprises me,
and it's upsetting to me.
- Ay ay ay.
- [Sergei] Who are you gonna vote?
- I don't know.
- [Sergei] Your thoughts?
I feel that when it comes to this team,
you know, Sergeline, you know,
they definitely have
a tight alliance. They're roommates.
I think this might be something
where the weakest link is out,
or they get the strongest person
that they find
to be an issue in the team outta there.
You and I are in a team,
and, like, I I would never vote for you.
- I would never vote for you.
- [Sergei] Not at this time.
- I'll vote for you tomorrow.
- [laughing]
Oh, Jesus, I hate you.
We're literally on the same wavelength.
No, but okay, but regardless
of whether I'd vote for you or not,
you would vote for me or not,
but, like, in this very moment,
we both did our own dishes,
plus the dessert.
- Plus the dessert.
- And Lana made the gnocchi.
And that if her dish was just fine,
and she made the gnocchi in mind
that she was insistent about making it.
I kept saying I could make it,
but she wanted to make it,
and that was meh!
And that she didn't do anything
for the dessert.
So we're gonna vote Lana?
Oh, my yeah.
That is where I'm headed, yeah.
Serge and I spoke that obviously
we weren't gonna get rid of each other,
and he's thinking Lana.
I think so she's extremely talented,
but I don't think
she brought enough to the table.
- Jeana's the swing vote.
- Yeah.
- [Sergei] We both have to vote for Lana.
- [Caroline] That's fine.
You and Jeana need
to come together with an answer.
- What do you mean an answer?
- You need to come together with a vote.
- [Lana] Me and her?
- You and Jeana do.
It needs to be one of the other two.
Even though she chose to go
with the other team,
I absolutely adore Lana.
I think that she's fantastic.
And to watch one of my best friends
in the house be in the bottom
is, like, kind of, heartbreaking.
Read these.
What do you think which one it should be?
So
I'll tell you without reading it.
He did a raw fish dish
for the second time in this competition.
He phoned it in,
knowing that the rest of what was
gonna go on fell on the rest of you.
[suspenseful music playing]
He literally did raw hamachi
for the second time.
I think that's an interesting perspective
and one I hadn't thought of before.
[Robbie] And I know that you are averse
to playing the game.
- But in order to stay here
- I have to.
You need to go have
a conversation with Jeana.
I'm now starting to realize that
I might have chosen the wrong teammates,
because, um, if there's already two that
are gonna do whatever the other one wants,
then it really doesn't leave a lot of room
for the others
to have any kind of voice or say.
Listen to me though.
You go have a conversation with Jeana,
because I will tell you
that Jeana is the easy vote.
[Lana] Have a conversation with Jeana,
so we can maybe make a unified decision
on what we want to do.
- [Caroline] Where's Lana?
- Lana's good. She's by the book.
- [Caroline] Oh.
- Gonna meet her there in a second.
[Caroline] All right, here's my opinion.
- That
- [Jeana] Yeah.
There's negatives and pluses
with everybody's.
Mine had too much sauce.
- His was whatever. Yours was whatever.
- Yeah.
But, like, I did mine. I did the dessert.
He did the dessert. You did the dessert,
and you did your dish.
- That's kind of where I'm at.
- I'm not gonna vote you.
- I'm not voting you.
- And I'm not voting you.
Okay.
- And that's how I feel.
- [Sergei] Nice.
I'm just upset about it,
but I agree just based on the challenge.
I'm thinking it's Jeana or Sergei.
One of the two.
[Renee] Or Jeana finds a way
to manipulate,
or Lana finds a way to manipulate
and, uh, you know, push
I don't know. It's gonna get ugly.
Listen, I just had
an interesting conversation with Robbie.
[Jeana] About what?
Robbie thinks
that you might be the easy vote.
[Jeana] There's only if it's not you,
and it's not me, there's only one person
that didn't that had comments, and it was
- I mean [sighs]
- [Lana] You think Caroline?
I don't think it's
I think it's gonna be split.
- I don't know, honestly.
- Not if you and I decide.
- They're just voting right now.
- I know.
- Robbie does think that if
- But listen, if they both vote you.
And you and I split on who we wanna vote,
then you're gonna go home.
So if you wanna avoid that,
maybe we should come to a consensus.
I'm telling you this
'cause I don't wanna see you go.
- [Jeana] I know.
- [Lana] You're my friend.
I don't wanna see you leave.
You wanna come
to some kind of consensus here?
He made a good point for,
you know, serving raw fish dishes twice.
Yeah.
[Caroline] You think
Jeana's gonna change her mind?
- [Sergei] Probably.
- [Caroline] And vote who?
- Clearly one of us. Kind of obvious.
- [laughs]
My brain is hurting. My heart is hurting.
Lana, from day one, has had my back.
But Sergeline,
they're a force to be reckoned with,
and I'm losing it at this point.
It's really hard to be the person
who, you know,
makes this big, big decision.
[tense music playing]
If it's at deadlock
and we make the decision, I got you.
I know. I know.
I could tell you, that's
that's the worst-case scenario for
-I know
-For one of the people on your team.
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [whirring]
- I got it. I got it. I'll swallow one.
- Are you kidding me? That was quick.
Jeana, Caroline!
- Jeana and Caroline!
- [Renee] Jeana and Caroline!
- [Jeana] I hope it's not a ticket.
- [Caroline] Of course it is.
[Ed] Okay.
"The elimination results are in."
[suspenseful music playing]
"The chef that has the most votes
on the Green Team will be going home."
"Chef Sergei, one vote."
"Chef Lana."
- "Three votes."
- Bye.
[bleeps]
- Whoa!
- [bleeps]
- Whoa!
- [Lana chuckles]
- [Renee] Wow.
- [Lana chuckles] I guess he's mad.
[Jeana sobbing] I'm so sorry.
- Are you?
- [Jeana] Yes.
[Lana chuckles]
It happens.
[Robbie] Let me tell you what, that vote,
there's a ton of fear in that vote
and a ton of game play.
It was not based on what was in the book.
She should still be here.
There should be somebody else going home.
I wholeheartedly believe
that I did not deserve to go home based
on the dish that I cooked.
Really believe that I put my trust
in the wrong people.
I should have gone with Robbie,
because he would have
never done me dirty like that.
What happened, ladies?
I didn't know what anyone else was voting.
I just voted on
- [Lana] All right, give me a minute.
- [Caroline] Yeah.
We'll come back.
[Jeana sighs]
[Lana] No matter what,
I played this game with honor.
- I stayed true to myself.
- [sniffles]
And I put out good food.
So because of that, I can walk out
of this house with my head held high.
I'm not sure
that everyone else can say the same.
I'm sorry. [chuckles]
Don't be sorry to me.
[Lana chuckles]
- I'm sorry that they were so scared.
- [laughs]
All three of them have plotted
to vote against me, turns out.
I've been in the top this entire time,
and this is the first opportunity
I've given anyone
to take me out as a competitor.
When people do terrible things to us,
it has nothing to do with us
and everything to do
with their inability to cope with reality.
Yeah. [sniffles]
And you know what?
Now I'm here to make 'em pay.
[chuckles] Why don't
you do that for me, yeah?
I'm gonna try.
I'm gonna try like hell. I know Ed is too.
End of the day, it's a competition,
but I refuse to play dirty.
And I feel like
what my team did to me was very dirty.
They were gonna vote me out anyway.
I wish they at least said it to my face
instead of crocodile tearing afterwards.
It's been an honor to meet all of y'all,
to work with you guys, all right?
Do me a favor going forward.
Do your hardest and play clean.
Most definitely, Chef.
- Thank you.
- [Caroline] No, thank you.
[Lana] All right.
- [Renee] Libra love all day, baby!
- [Lana] Good luck, guys.
[sniffles]
Bye, my friend. I'll see you soon.
- [Robbie] See you soon. Love you.
- [Lana] Love you too.
[pensive music playing]
I wanted to tell Lana
that I was gonna vote for her.
I was just
too emotional to think straight.
And this decision, really, 150%,
it was because of the challenge.
I feel like she really did do the weakest.
I just hope next competition,
he decides to cook something.
That'd be nice. Haven't seen it yet.
She should still be here. And she's not.
And so I have a problem with that.
And at the end of the day, like,
you know, it had nothing
to do with anything personal
or anything of lack of talent.
It was never personal.
That was my whole thing.
It was never personal.
It's just, like, in this
particular instance, it was just like,
if we're a team, you know, it's just like,
who did the least amount
of stuff, basically.
[clicks tongue] Something about that
was a little fuddy-duddy,
but you know, uh, apparently,
her head wasn't in the game,
so I have no choice
but to respect the team's decision.
Obviously, it wasn't my decision to make.
I am a little bit on the fence though
with the Sergeline
alliance.
They got a bond.
It's tight. They're tight. Um
[clicks tongue]
Might have to watch that a little bit,
or I might have to find
a way to break that up.
That purée, you were like, "I got it!"
I was like, "We could probably mash that."
- [Jeana] How's your dinner?
- It's delicious.
- [Ed] Come have some.
- [Jeana] I'm definitely not hungry.
[chuckles]
- You gotta eat.
- [Jeana] Mm.
Well, I know that you guys all thought
I was the easy vote.
We didn't have a vote.
- [Jeana] I'm getting it from both sides.
- [Ed] I'm not I never said
[Jeana] I just had to send my friend home.
And the other side, everyone's like,
"She should've been the one."
- Who said that?
- [Jeana] Felt like your team said that.
You know what? I will say it right here.
He hasn't cooked
for two goddamn team challenges!
He's done raw food two team challenges,
and he's still here.
And she went home.
[Ed] That's the problem.
That is my issue.
It is not that you were weak.
It is that he chose not to cook twice.
[Jeana] There's nothing
I can do about that.
[Robbie] Regardless of what happened
between Jeana and I,
I'm genuinely sorry
that anything that I ever said
would've made her feel, like, less than.
[Jeana] It's really, really,
really, really, really, tough.
Growing up, uh, with my father,
I had Dad the Chef, and I had Dad the Dad.
And he was great at separating the two.
I, however,
was not great at separating the two.
Dad the Chef was a hard-ass.
He was a screamer, pot thrower.
He was on you constantly.
The way I walk through the kitchen.
The way I talk sometimes, my mannerisms.
There's a piece of him in all that,
and I can't help
but wear that emotion on my sleeve.
I'm sorry that the last few hours
was so hurtful.
That wasn't the intention.
[tense music playing]
It's made.
I'm gonna be honest,
I don't know what's next.
Uh, seven now.
We're back down to an odd number.
Could it be like the last time
when we had nine,
when it's choose teams amongst each other,
the odd person out is a judge?
Or does that mean that
the odd person out this time is out?
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [Ed] Soon as I stepped out.
- [Caroline chuckles]
All right. "Chefs,
this morning you will vote to decide
who becomes the next blind taster."
- [Caroline] Oh, fun stuff! I like that.
- [all] Oh!
- That's fun.
- Sheesh!
[Ed] "The chosen Chef
will be safe from elimination."
- Okay.
- [Renee] Oh!
"Chef Renee, of course"
Cannot?
"is not eligible since she already had
immunity in the Surf and Turf challenge."
- [Sergei] Wow!
- Okay.
[Caroline] This is fun. I like that.
All right, who wants to be a judge?
- Me! [laughing]
- [Caroline] All of us?
- Everybody? All of us?
- [laughing]
Hey, guys. I'm just being
don't vote for me.
- Yeah, Mike wants to cook.
- I was the same too. I wanna
- [Mike] I wanna cook.
- as much as possible
- [Ed] I would do it now.
- I would definitely do it too.
Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't wanna do it?
The judge is an integral part
of how this whole thing could shake out.
I'm not doing it only
because I want the immunity.
Yeah, I want the immunity,
but I wanna make sure
that it's gonna be played fairly.
I'm okay with either of you being a judge.
[Robbie] Mm-hmm.
Um, I would rather,
because we need to break that up.
Emotions in the house are running high.
We need to be very, very careful
about our selection
because that person
actually gets immunity.
Kind of scared about this
because of course,
we've got the Sergeline-Jeana situation,
and you know I'm on edge about them.
Oh, if it's teams, it's you and me, huh?
[Caroline] Yeah,
unless one of us is a judge.
I feel like if you don't wanna cook,
you should probably be the one to cook.
Guys, guys, really quick.
I'm telling you we should all vote Mike.
Renee wants to be a team with Mike.
Everyone wants to hide behind Mike.
None of us are going.
They're gonna all vote for each other.
- They outnumber us four.
- Yeah.
So I say all three of us vote Mike.
Everybody's hiding behind him.
If it's a team challenge,
they're gonna do that.
- All gonna want to, just like yesterday.
- Yep.
- [Sergei] Hmm.
- Interesting.
- All three of us should vote for Mike.
- Wow, Jeana with a strategy!
I like Jeana with a strategy.
Jeana noticed during the last challenge
that Mike was the team.
He was really the success of that team.
So Jeana had the idea, you know what?
Why don't we get rid
of that safety blanket?
Why don't we put him
as the impartial, unbiased judge
who's probably gonna be
the most fair out of all of us
and also the most critical
and see where the other team really lies.
See who can actually,
you know, do something on their own.
[suspenseful music playing]
I bet the guy in the kitchen's
already voted though.
[laughs] Yeah, how about that?
[laughs] But he won't lie,
so I'll go ask him.
He will tell you.
Mike.
- [Robbie] Mike.
- Got a question for you. Wait, wait.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Did you vote already?
- Yeah.
- [Renee] Okay.
So I voted for Serg.
Because if it's a Team Challenge,
I wanna break up him and Caroline.
Because they would be a little frazzled
if, like, one of them couldn't
You know what I'm saying?
Like, they'd be a little frazzled, so
That was a smart tactic.
Okay. So
We gotta put Ed.
Done.
At this point,
the divide feels very obvious.
You have me, Renee, Ed.
You have Jeana, Caroline and Sergei.
And now Mike is a wild card in that.
So it feels like the house
is definitely divided.
- I hope he votes for himself.
- I pray he does too.
[clears throat]
I was not expecting Mike to say that.
I wasn't either.
[Renee sighs]
- Tell you right now. I voted for Serg.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Interesting.
My only strategy was, if it's teams,
to break up him and Caroline.
- They work too well together, right?
- I agree.
The goal is just to break that up.
Yeah.
It's not like he doesn't deserve it.
Not like picking the weak person. [laughs]
- [Caroline] No, show what they got.
- And he's a great judge.
- [Caroline] Yeah.
- I really think that's the smartest thing.
[Caroline] Yeah, I'm down.
- If it doesn't work, doesn't work. Fine.
- [Jeana] Yeah.
Mike is obviously a force
to be reckoned with,
and I don't want anyone to use him
as an advantage.
Mike is saying that he does not wanna
be voted to be a judge. He wants to cook.
But sorry, Mikey Boy,
it is not your choice.
I am pushing for you to be the judge.
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[whirring]
- Renee!
- [Robbie] There it is!
- Renee!
- [Renee] I'm coming!
[Sergei] Okay.
"The blind taster votes are in."
"Chef Ed, three votes."
"Chef Mike, three votes."
Get the heck outta here! Are you serious?
"Since there is a tie, you must re-vote
for either Chef Ed or Chef Mike."
Guys, I'm not even kidding.
Don't vote for me! Like, I [laughs]
Chef Ed or Chef Mike, so re-vote.
[Mike laughs] What the frick?
Wow, the guy who doesn't even want
to be a judge is tied with me.
- Keep the vote, make Mike the swing vote.
- Mm-hmm. Yep.
[chefs clamoring]
Renee and I will keep our vote for Ed,
and if you flip to Ed,
then that makes the vote 4-3.
The fact that there's clear division,
because people are split off
into their own little sections,
and it's awkward.
You can you can feel the tension.
It's only going to get worse.
As the numbers drop in the house,
the more game is being played,
the more people are gonna feel
they have to watch their own back.
[Caroline] All right, Mike.
Listen to me.
Of everyone here,
you'd be the most fair judge,
because you actually care
about, like, what's important.
And everyone respects you the most,
as far as techniques.
And so everyone wants to work with you.
And I think everyone
thinks you're so talented.
And so are some wanting
to hide behind you? That's not fair.
[Jeana] Yeah, I think that you'd be
the best and the most fair, realistically.
And if it is a team challenge, to have
people just riding on your coattails,
like, that's not what this is about.
This is about each person shining.
- You know?
- [Mike] Mm-hmm.
So I'm gonna keep my vote the same.
Mike's gonna vote for Ed,
and that makes it 4-3.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Oh, we got a ticket. Guys, ticket!
"The next blind taster is Chef Mike."
All right, Mike.
[suspenseful music playing]
[imitates explosion]
Now we gotta figure out what that means.
Is it singles?
Is it doubles? Is it triples?
Everyone, walk away. We'll come back,
and there'll be aprons set up.
[groans] At first,
I was just gonna automatically vote
for Ed 'cause, like, screw it.
I wanna cook.
But then, you know,
Caroline and Jeana convinced me
and just said like,
"Hey, you know, you're gonna be fair."
A lot of it was
they think I'm gonna be fair
and I care about the food,
and I'm not just gonna vote people off
'cause I want 'em off.
I was gonna be an honest judge.
And I said,
"You know what? I appreciate that."
So I voted for myself.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[printer whirring]
[exhales]
"Chef Mike, for the next challenge,
the chefs will have to make a dessert."
[clicks tongue]
"You decide who gets the most time
and the least time in the kitchen."
"Here are the times
you have to distribute."
"Thirty-five, 40, 45,
50, 55 and 60 minutes."
"This information is for your eyes only."
[clicks tongue] That's a lot of power.
[Jeana] Oh, it looks solo to me.
We don't know what the challenge is
to get excited.
- [Ed] No, we don't.
- [Caroline] No idea.
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [whirring]
[Ed] Come on, talk to me. Ticket!
- Ticket, ticket, ticket.
- It's a long ticket.
- Oh.
- Right.
- [Ed] What we got?
- Wow!
Long one.
"Chefs, it's time
for the Just Desserts challenge."
"You will have to make a dessert
that features cheeses."
[Jeana] Hmm.
"Chef Mike has determined how much time
each of you will have to cook."
[all] Ooh!
Each of us?
[Robbie] "Chef Renee, 60 minutes."
- "Chef Ed, 55 minutes."
- [laughs]
"Chef Robbie, 50 minutes."
"Chef Jeana, 45 minutes."
"Chef Caroline, 40 minutes."
"Chef Sergei, 35 minutes."
Whoo!
[Robbie] Renee, you're first up.
Okay.
"Your challenge starts now."
Big Mike!
There's a reason why I love you, man.
Sixty minutes.
Everyone else kind of dwindled down
and down in these five minute increments.
Yeah, sorry for everybody else.
The challenge is
to make a cheese-forward dessert.
And it can't be cheesecake.
Based on all the cheeses I saw,
there's only a few that
the average person would even wanna use.
Anybody ever heard
of a pecorino ice cream?
There's a reason for that.
This is gonna be a tough one.
[Robbie] I'm happy with 50 minutes.
I'm doing a whole lot of planning for me,
so I make sure
once I get into that kitchen
that I go get my stuff, and I get to work.
[Jeana] It is about to be go time.
I have to start getting ready,
and my brain is blank.
I'm just glad that I was at 45 minutes,
because he could've put me so much lower.
Incorporating cheese into
a fully composed, actual dessert dish?
No, I've never done that before.
On top of it, I mean,
there's so many twists and turns already
in all these challenges.
And seeing how things go
in the Pressure Cooker,
this is only gonna get harder.
[Sergei] Thirty-five minutes
is a short amount of time,
let alone for a cheese dessert course.
But time management in the kitchen
is something I pride myself on,
and I hope I can show that here.
[clock beeping]
[suspenseful music playing]
I've decided to make
a deconstructed banana cake
with goat cheese praline mousse
as well as a salted caramel.
I'm thinking praline mousse
can somewhat mask the undertones
of the goat cheese,
but yet still highlight it.
How luxurious must 60 minutes feel?
Especially, like,
a whole kitchen to yourself.
- [Jeana] All the time in the world, huh?
- I got all the time in the world.
Everyone's just looking at me.
They wanna know what I'm making.
I kind of want them to shut the hell up,
so I can focus on what I need to do.
I just gotta power through
like any other day
when a client walks in the kitchen.
[Ed] While sitting on the sidelines
waiting to jump in,
I changed what I was gonna do four times.
I'm very proficient in making desserts,
but not cheese desserts.
- You're 55? Okay, good luck.
- Thank you.
Time moves very slow especially
when you see other people moving.
It's like watching water boil.
Seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one. [exhales]
The charge is to make
the cheese the star of the dish.
Oh, we got goodies.
I'm gonna reach deep.
Hmm
There's only a few cheeses that
I am comfortable with even trying to pair
or put in a dessert.
- [Robbie] How about you, Ed?
- Uh, Brie. French Brie.
labneh ganache.
- With a Brie mousse.
- [blender whirring]
Strawberry rhubarb caramel.
and a honeycomb dust.
I'm super confident about
making a cheese dessert.
The cheese I'm cooking with is pecorino.
I've cooked with it dozens of times,
but never made dessert.
It's gonna be a sheep's milk cheese.
It's gonna have some sour notes to it,
some salty notes to it.
I wanna have a little bit of acid,
so what someone's tasting is the acid
that I want them to taste
and not that super cheesy flavor.
[sighs] All right.
How many minutes do I get?
- You still have a minute and half.
- [Jeana] I know.
I gotta feel those minutes, man.
[Robbie] With 50 minutes on the clock,
I just gotta make sure
that I get my pudding made,
and I get it chilled fast enough.
[suspenseful music playing]
- Behind you! Hot!
- [Renee] Okay, fresh out the goddamn gate!
I know with my pastry skills
Behind, behind, behind, behind!
I can't take on anything big, you know,
me making a cake or something.
I just wouldn't know how to fix it
in that amount of time,
so I have to go with what I know,
which is sauces and garnishes.
[grunts]
Berries and cheese, delicious, easy.
I know we have those components.
I choose burrata
because I think it's delicious,
and I honestly had
to make just such a quick decision.
"Let's do burrata. I like that,
and we'll figure it out later."
What do you think
you're gonna be making there?
- Me?
- [Renee] Yeah, you.
[Jeana] I'm not exactly sure.
I think the best thing I can do
is some kind of French toast
and a lot of components.
You know,
burrata,
a Parmesan meringue, different types
of berries, like, and plate it all.
You know, Mike loves that.
Maybe that'll save me. [laughs]
Feel like I'm gonna throw up.
- Yeah. Oof.
- [laughs]
Every time I'm in that kitchen,
15 minutes goes by so fast.
But now, sitting there
waiting for 20 minutes,
it feels like four hours.
Just watching everyone get started
while I'm like, in my head, "Oh, my God.
Am I gonna have enough time?"
"I have to get this in the oven."
I can't 'cause I'm over here
watching them get it in the oven.
Everything's going nice and smooth.
I'm feeling confident.
I'm ahead of the game.
Sergeline, you're going down, down, down.
How you guys feeling?
[Caroline] So frustrating.
I just wanna get in there
and start cooking.
- Good luck out there.
- Thanks. You too.
I chose to use gjetost cheese,
which is that caramel cheddar.
Behind, you guys.
Thought it was an interesting cheese
I had never tried before.
For my dessert, I decide
on doing a Victoria sponge cake
with a gjetost pastry cream custard
and a strawberry whipped cream
and macerated strawberries.
I've never done
this sort of play on this dessert.
Usually, if I make Victoria sponge cake,
it's totally different,
but I feel like
it's a good vessel for my cheese.
This is probably
the most amount of stress I've ever had
in the Pressure Cooker kitchen so far.
My girlfriend Joey being the pastry chef,
she's usually the one in charge
of all the desserts in the house.
Um, you know, it's not my forte,
let alone with the least amount of time.
[suspenseful music playing]
Okay.
Thirty-five minutes? That's a time crunch.
Here we go.
I'm right behind. Right behind.
Whoo
It's practically the Olympics out there.
I'm literally running circles
around everyone in this kitchen right now.
Ricotta, ricotta. [exhales]
Where's my ricotta? ♪
I choose the ricotta cheese.
It's a very, like, neutral cheese,
but also has a nice,
like, natural sweetness to it.
It's gonna pair well
with anything I decide to throw at it.
There's clearly not enough time to get
any sort of baked item into that oven,
so I have to resort to,
you know, a little quick fry technique.
[exhales]
So I decide to make a ricotta fritter
with a roasted strawberry
and white chocolate mousse,
roasted strawberry ice cream
with pink peppercorn and basil.
And I hope I'm able
to get it done in time.
Probably the most frantic I've ever felt.
I'm trying to, like,
work my fritter batter,
work my ice cream base,
also trying to make sure
I do those at the same time.
Musical chairs over here.
Cracking eggs simultaneously
for both components of the dish.
Like, absolutely nuts.
[Renee] Sergei, you good?
- Whoo! Sweating.
- [Renee] All right.
[Jeana] Twenty-seven.
- [Caroline] Twenty-seven heard.
- Twenty-seven, copy.
[suspenseful music playing]
[grunts]
- Beside you, guys. Beside you.
- Okay, look good. Feel good.
Stay together. Stay together.
[Robbie] Guys, I'm in the top oven.
Please don't open, top left.
My ice cream base is done Sheesh!
It's a little frothy at this point.
I used a whisk instead of a spatula
to kind of, uh,
get that anglaise emulsion happening.
I need to make sure
that this ice cream is set and frozen.
So I grab the liquid nitrogen
[Renee] You comfortable doing that?
[Sergei] It's all good.
Liquid nitrogen cools things very quickly,
but it's pillowing off the counter
and onto the floor.
I was absolutely sweating,
like like no other.
[blows]
[Renee] How y'all feeling?
- We got 15 minutes.
- [Sergei] Fifteen.
Making this mousse,
in order to cool it down fast enough,
I have to use the blast chiller.
Unfortunately, everybody else
is using the same blast chiller.
[air rushes]
But time waits for no man.
I have to get something on this plate.
So I had to abandon mousse completely
and go with a Brie cream.
Audibles. Cheese audibles.
It's almost time for us
to start plating this stuff up.
Okay. How am I gonna do this?
I'm trying to be so delicate
with my presentation,
because I know that
if I do a good presentation,
Mike's going to appreciate that.
[groans faintly]
I noticed that I've made
a small technical error.
I have an incredibly hot French toast,
and I'm plating all these,
like, creams on top of it.
So it is literally just melting.
[Sergei] Less than two minutes out, guys.
Going to re-plate and I realize
there's just not enough time, so I am, uh
[gasps] I'm really worried.
It's just a few finishing elements
on whether or not
they go on the plate or not.
I am a little bit worried that I don't
have enough of the pecorino on the plate,
because the cheese has to be the star.
And I have a delicious cheese pudding,
but I just don't know if he's gonna be
able to taste that cheese right away.
- [clock beeping]
- [Renee] One minute!
Time is wounding down.
I'm scrambling to get all
of my components on my dish.
One huge whirlwind.
- [Robbie] Thirty seconds, guys.
- [Sergei] Whoo! Jeez.
Got 15 seconds.
[Sergei] I am feeling the pressure!
Time is up. Hands up.
Wow.
Whoo!
- Oh, shit.
- [Robbie] Oh!
[Ed] So I'm looking at my plate.
The, uh, rhubarb gel never makes it.
And I did make a honeycomb crumble,
just for, you know, depths in texture.
That never made it as well.
As my plate melts right in front of me,
I can feel a hundred grand
just melt away with it.
It's actually
really heartbreaking to watch.
- That was confusing.
- [chattering]
I think Mike's gonna be so critical
as a blind taster.
I mean, he's just detail-oriented.
He's technique-driven,
and I just think that all of that
is gonna come out in his critique.
- There he is.
- What's up, dude?
- [Caroline] Oh.
- [Ed] Snazzy!
I'm so lucky that this is a blind tasting.
It obviously felt like Mike was,
like, clearly trying to gun it for me,
you know, with 35 minutes.
Your hair looks nice.
- [Ed laughs]
- Feeling your walk.
I knew I smelled donuts.
My strategy going into the tasting is
I'm just gonna taste everything,
and I'm just gonna give
honest judgment to every single plate.
That's how I think it should be,
and that's how I would wanna get
knocked out if I were the one to lose.
Okay, here we go.
budino.
Plate-up looks nice.
My first thought is
the budino was actually pretty good.
But there was some brûléed pecorino on it
that just made it not good.
It was just not a thing
that should've been on that plate.
Pecorino is such a savory cheese,
that's just that just doesn't fly.
If it were me, I'd definitely have to go
for a soft white cheese with high acid.
Ricotta, mascarpone. Something like that.
Something that's really soft
that makes for a good dessert.
Next dish is, uh,
chocolate labneh ganache,
strawberry rhubarb and caramel Brie cream.
First glance,
the plate-up is just not good.
There's radish greens on this.
I'm like, "What in the world are
radish greens doing on a dessert?"
And not only that,
it's labneh and chocolate.
Also another weird choice.
[Ed] Mike's gonna be uber-critical
of technical things.
That's just how Mike's brain works.
He's going to dismantle
and pick out flaws here and there.
[Mike] The ganache that it's supposed
to be is like a cake texture,
but it's not a very good cake.
So I definitely am taking points off
for that.
The sauce is okay,
but not a good consistency.
The fried Brie is not good.
All in all, a pretty bad dish.
Deconstructed banana cake
with goat cheese praline mousse
and salted cheese caramel.
At first glance,
I'm looking at this dessert,
and I really like it's kind of
got a modern plate-up to it.
As I'm digging in, the texture
on this banana cake isn't great.
I like the combination
of banana, goat cheese and caramel.
I think that was smart.
I just wish that that goat cheese was,
uh, a little bit creamier.
You can make a really good
goat cheese mousse or ice cream.
I wish that would have been on this plate.
But all in all, a pretty good dish.
Victoria sponge cake,
gjetost pastry cream,
strawberry whip
and macerated strawberries.
I do like the plate-up.
It's a little sloppy,
but still pretty composed.
[ethereal music playing]
Cake's good texture.
Strawberries are a good texture.
Nuts are good on top.
And the cream is good.
The flavors are really good.
The cake is really moist,
which was the main thing I was looking for
for this dish.
And then there is
a edible flower petal on top.
So initially I'm thinking,
this might be Renee,
because I know she likes edible flowers.
You know, all in all, a very good dish.
[Jeana] Did you use any other cheese
but the one?
Uh, just the cheese.
In the middle and on top.
burrata
with Parmesan meringue
and toasted hazelnuts.
The burrata itself,
the texture of that was really good,
but this Parmesan mousse is
just pretty grainy.
Like, the Parmesan was not melted.
It's chunks of Parmesan essentially
and some whipped cream and sweetener.
And then the berries were just too acidic,
so the flavors just aren't matching up.
I don't know if whoever made this
tasted them,
but I'm giving them a lot of points
just 'cause that burrata texture
is pretty good.
Ricotta fritter,
strawberry white chocolate foam,
roasted strawberry ice cream,
basil and pink peppercorn.
[Sergei] What's crazy is I made
the liquid nitrogen ice cream.
It got overfrozen.
It was like pebbles in a blast chiller.
Pulled it out for, like, a minute before
and went like this,
and it was ice cream.
I was like, "Oh, boom!"
[Mike] Roasted strawberry ice cream is
good.
Really good. I was surprised.
Ricotta fritter is
good.
I really did like the use
of the ricotta in this dish.
A ricotta fritter for a dessert,
perfect use of cheese in a dessert.
It's like
it's still the main star of the plate,
but it's not weird.
It's a proper cheese dessert.
And the texture on the fritter is great.
The sauce is great. The mousse is great.
The ice cream is,
like, perfect temperature.
Surprised someone was able
to make ice cream in this amount of time
and make it well.
Don't taste the pink peppercorn,
but that doesn't bug me.
Very good.
Overall with these dishes,
I'm kind of bummed
that a lot of these cheeses
didn't work in the desserts.
Some of these
seemed like someone was rushing.
So I would imagine
that those are the people
I gave the least amount of time to.
It was a pretty tough challenge.
Some of the desserts
were really good and creative.
So I'm feeling comfortable
with how I rated them.
I'm not going personal preference.
I'm just going what's good,
what's not good.
[Caroline] You think he'll know
whose is whose? I think he'll know.
- No, I doubt it.
- No, I don't think so.
- I wouldn't even think I would make that.
- No way.
Mike is a critic,
and he's a strong one at that.
[exhales]
I need him to come back in here
and tell us what's going on.
It's kind of, like, nail-biting.
You wanna know what's happening.
I'm nervous about the results.
[Jeana] My dessert was a huge disaster,
and unless somebody made
a bigger error than me,
I'm going home.
[suspenseful music playing]
[dramatic music playing]