Pressure Cooker (2023) s01e07 Episode Script

1
[dramatic music playing]
[Robbie] With so much on the line,
I'm not willing to just say,
"Hey, you be the blind taste tester."
[chuckles] It's a standoff
between Robbie and I.
It's so hard. We both wanna say, like,
"No, it's me. I wanna do it."
- All right, Caroline and I will cook then.
- Oh my gosh.
I, you know, wanna do what's fair.
If neither of us can figure it out,
then leave it up to someone else.
Is that the decision?
I mean, I guess. [groans]
Sure.
[pensive music playing]
[alarm blaring]
So the delivery zone light is going off.
We know that
there's gonna be another delivery,
which is gonna be a part
of our next challenge.
- "Morocco. Lebanon."
- [Renee] "Jamaica."
[Caroline] "Portugal. Philippines."
- [Renee] Oxtails. We got goats.
- [Caroline] Conch.
[Renee] We got codfish.
- We gotta pick a country?
- [Sergei] Pick a part of the world.
Renee and I
are gonna choose the Morocco box.
I like the proteins.
We have rack of lamb or branzino.
[Caroline] Well, Philippines is nice.
Let's do that one.
Sergei and I ended up grabbing
the Philippines box.
We have pork belly and snapper,
fish sauce and shrimp paste.
- [Sergei] Splinters.
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
- [printer whirring]
- We have a
- Oh, nice.
- Aw, see? I knew it, knew it, knew it.
[suspenseful music playing]
Oh, that's a big ticket. Big, long ticket.
"Chefs, it's time for
the Flavors of the World challenge."
"You will have 60 minutes to make a dish
using only the ingredients
from the box you chose as a pair,
but you won't be cooking as a team."
"You will be cooking against the person
you paired up with."
- [Sergei] Wow.
- Wow.
- Okay.
- Dang.
[Caroline] "You will have to share
the ingredients from your chosen box."
"Chef Robbie will be your blind taster."
"Your challenge starts now."
[clock beeping]
[Sergei] Instantly, I'm pretty nervous.
I was like, "Oh, well."
[inhales] You know, Caroline
being a very strong chef, you know,
I was like, "Oh, well,
she's gonna be a tough one to beat."
[Caroline] Just like the real world,
there are always outside factors
that can throw you a twist.
Going against Sergei means
potentially one of us will be going home.
[Renee] The intention behind
getting together with Mike is
so we can team up and beat Sergeline.
Now, realizing that we have to go
against each other,
that changes the scope of things.
[Mike] It's definitely a plot twist.
And at this point, I'm kind of bummed
I didn't get to work with Renee on a team
but hey, you know, I've been competing
against her the whole game,
so might as well keep it rolling,
you know.
- You want branzino as well?
- I want fish.
So we'll each take one branzino.
- No big deal.
- I'll take this baby here.
I'm making a pan-seared branzino,
couscous, fortified fish sauce
and a vegetable succotash.
Whatever we do,
let's just put our hearts on the plate.
This'll be a little bit different,
because everyone's so accustomed
to me going with island flavors.
If I do something different,
this shows people my versatility,
and that's what this game
is entirely about.
- I'm gonna take a bit of this for myself.
- Take it. Take it.
I am making a seared branzino
with some saffron cavatelli,
a carrot and preserved lemon butter sauce,
just garnished with a little bit
of cilantro oil and poached carrots.
For this dish, I've made, like,
different pieces in previous dishes.
I never put them all together
'cause I'm kind of forced to
because I have to cook out
of this Moroccan box.
I think I'm taking a little bit of a risk
making homemade pasta in an hour,
which, you know,
can be a little bit of a challenge,
but I think I can get it done.
I'm gonna take some snapper.
I am making a banana leaf poached snapper
with a smoked fish broth
and fried eggplant
and of course some rice.
I'm happy that the box of ingredients
that we chose was from the Philippines,
and I have plenty of experience cooking
with these types of ingredients.
- What are you doing?
- [Sergei] Wanna do a seafood broth.
I'm gonna do a grilled pork belly
with a piece of seared snapper,
roasted red pepper and shrimp broth
and then crispy, sweet, purple potatoes
on top.
I'm very nervous.
You know, not really having cooked
much Asian food,
I am taking a lot of risks
even attempting this.
[clock beeping]
[Renee] I wanna make this fillet
beautiful like myself.
I don't know who the stronger chef is
between myself and Mike.
Renee, you know what sucks?
The one time we get to work together
as a team,
it ends up being against each other.
- We're the Dream Team.
- [Mike] I know.
I'll give him innovation.
I'll give myself creativity. I know how
the flavors are supposed to come through.
- Whoo, this thing is hot!
- [sizzling]
I've gotta think creatively and make sure
that this simplistic dish shines bright.
Oh, this a beautiful piece.
Beautiful, beautiful.
- [sizzling]
- [whirring]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Sergei] The charred citrus just brings
out all that fish sauce umami flavor.
- You love charred citrus, huh?
- [Sergei] Uh-huh.
I'm feeling really confident
about my dish.
I love the flavor of my broth.
Oh, yeah, real different.
There's probably things technically
that he can do better than I,
but as far as flavors,
I know when I hit my flavors.
I know they're delicious.
And I know sometimes he can be,
like, on the border
of something being too bitter
or too salty.
I see that she decides to make rice,
which I think is a really bold move
in any sort of competition setting.
What if it's under?
What if it's over? What if it dries out?
But I kind of kept that
reserved to myself.
She's a really badass chef
in this house right now.
And even though
we're kind of just both BFFs,
we gotta cook against each other.
- What do you got going on over there?
- I got a nice little brothy situation.
- [Sergei] What's in your brothy situation?
- I got some fish.
I've got a little bit of onion,
garlic, peppers, cinnamon, you know.
- I love a brothy situation.
- [Renee] A brothy situation.
I'm feeling pretty confident.
I know these flavors are gonna hit.
I wanna make sure that
that fortified fish sauce
is very pungent and a nice kick.
I wanna make sure
that my couscous is nice and mellow.
The vegetable succotash
is gonna be subtle and mild.
My branzino has all the fresh lime zest
on there
and fresh lime juice
that really brightens up any kind of dish.
And I think Robbie
is going to really love it.
There's a lot riding on this,
and we all wanna make it to the top four.
And my fate's in someone else's hands.
It's in Robbie's hands.
He's gonna be tasting the food. Yum.
I pushed myself in this dish
to do a lot of different techniques
and a lot of different components.
- [suspenseful music playing]
- [clock beeping]
[Sergei] I pull the pork out the oven
after grilling it,
and I slice into it, and I see
that the pork is still pretty much raw.
You know, the time's just flying by.
This is a worst-case scenario, you know.
The most important element
on my dish is this pork belly.
In this stage in the competition,
that bite has to be perfect.
So I decide to slice it into strips
and get it back onto the grill
to make sure it's nice and tender.
[tense music playing]
Check in. How you guys feelin'?
I'm a little worried though.
I got everything done too quick.
I don't know if I used my time
as efficiently
as somebody else, potentially.
Okay, heard that.
[Mike] Maybe I could've done
something more complicated.
More complicated?
Just makes me nervous,
because if you guys are using all the time
and I didn't use all the time
[Caroline] He won't know that.
Mike has made pasta before
in our very first challenge,
and it was under.
So I think
he'll just have to wait and see.
[Mike] Did not think I was gonna have
this much time in this challenge.
I don't know what to do with myself.
I am a little worried about things,
like, sitting for a while or whatever,
so I think I'm just gonna
just cook 'em under just in case.
I don't want them to overcook
'cause nobody wants overcooked pasta
or anything like that.
[Renee] Three minutes.
[clock beeping]
[Sergei] The pork belly's charred.
It's cooked perfectly.
I'm stoked. I'm feeling so good.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Renee] It's beautiful.
- How much time?
- [Renee] One minute!
- You wanna borrow this?
- Yep. Go.
[suspenseful music continues]
[clock beeping]
Don't let me forget my crispy ube.
A little bit more sauce.
- [Mike] Look at that!
- Skills. Skills.
Nice work, nice work, nice work.
Nice work, beautiful, beautiful.
I'm the only one that didn't go
for a seared fish,
which I think is kind of a riskier choice,
because a seared fish is
maybe more visually appealing,
but a nicely poached fish is,
you know, is tender.
And using the banana leaf, I think,
will impart a nice flavor, and I had it
marinating, so I'm happy with my dish.
My pasta, I can tell it's a little bit
more tough than I would like.
Maybe I should have left it in that water
for 30 more seconds,
but I think I might be okay here.
[pensive music playing]
[Renee exhales]
- Cool. I like that plate.
- [Sergei sighs] Gorgeous.
Looking down at my finished dish,
I think Robbie's gonna love it, you know.
It's got a beautiful bright orange broth
and a nice, you know,
beautiful salad on top.
Fish is cooked perfectly.
The pork belly's charred.
There's all these different nuances
happening on the plate.
[Mike] Shoot. Here he comes.
[Caroline] Nice shirt. Nice.
- [Sergei] Loving. Loving it.
- Thanks. How you guys feeling?
- We feel good.
- [Robbie] Smiles on your faces.
- We're all smiling.
- That's good. I like it.
- You're gonna eat some good food today.
- Yes!
Enjoy, brother.
I'm just relieved to be the blind taster.
For me to not have to go up today
and know that I'm gonna make it
till tomorrow is a great feeling.
I am going to be fair as a judge
because that's true to me.
Gonna be starting off
with some food from the Philippines.
We have a banana leaf poached snapper,
cilantro rice, eggplant
and smoked fish broth.
Just from looking at the dish,
I can tell that there's some small issues.
So it looks to me like
the rice might be undercooked.
Surprisingly, tasting the rice,
it it feels like it's not, uh,
it's not undercooked
like I originally thought.
Uh, but and I pull out this big strand of
At first I thought maybe it was,
like, a stem from a banana leaf,
but, uh, it's lemongrass,
and that's definitely
not something you wanna eat.
I am turned off by it. It's not appealing.
And at this stage in the game,
you have to make sure
that all of your I's are dotted
and your T's are crossed.
Second dish.
Roasted pepper and shrimp broth,
grilled pork belly, snapper,
crispy purple potatoes
with cilantro and orange.
Probably the sexiest plate on the table.
It could be Mike's. It could be Sergei's.
I'm not exactly sure which one it is,
but what I do know is that the pork belly
is absolutely cooked perfectly.
Tastes delicious.
The colors are vibrant.
The presentation is gorgeous.
I like salty food,
but to me,
the broth is borderline over-salted,
and for me, that's saying a lot.
[pensive music playing]
loup de mer, carrot
and preserved lemon cream sauce,
saffron cavatelli and cilantro oil.
The pasta
is well-made.
A hair undercooked.
Sauce is delicious.
Taste the carrot
and it's undercooked as well.
At this point in the competition
and our lives as chefs,
we should be able to fully cook pasta
and fully cook vegetables.
Pan-seared branzino
with vegetable succotash,
fortified spiced fish sauce,
dates and citrus herb couscous.
It's definitely a simple presentation.
It's not the prettiest plate on the table,
but pretty doesn't necessarily mean things
are gonna taste good,
as we've learned.
Start to taste through this dish,
it's delicious.
The couscous has nice citrus notes to it.
It's seasoned well.
Vegetable succotash, I'm a little confused
by the the succotash portion of this,
but it tastes good.
I would call it more of a chowchow.
After tasting the dish,
I definitely enjoy it
more than when I first looked at it.
[tense music playing]
These aren't four perfect plates.
I've tasted all four dishes,
and I have a pretty good idea
of what was the better dish
for each country.
- [chefs] Hey!
- [Robbie] What's up, guys? How are you?
- Robbie!
- [Sergei] What's up, dude?
- Damn! You look good.
- We missed you.
- We missed you.
- [Robbie] I missed you.
Deliciously lonely
when you're out there by yourself.
You eat some good food though?
- I did eat good food. Beautiful plates.
- [Renee] Nice.
- [Caroline] All right, well.
- Yep. So let's go. Let's go read the book.
We're gonna make your life easy.
We're gonna leave you.
[Caroline] Come on, Mikey.
I'm gonna follow you.
I'm tired of being alone.
- [both chuckle]
- Yeah, I know. I know. I feel you.
[suspenseful music playing]
"Overall, delicious and gorgeous."
- What's that say?
- "Skin a bit flappy."
Okay. I mean, this is great
You're on par with, like,
with the way I write comments
and the way you write comments too,
I feel like.
[Mike] He said my pasta and carrots
were a little under, which, you know,
that makes me
pretty darn nervous at this point.
Like, one little thing
could make you lose 100K,
which is, uh,
definitely a little nerve-racking.
- That looks like it is tight, tight.
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
- [Mike] Here we go. There it is.
- Oh, my gosh.
- [Robbie] Ugh! This makes me sick.
- [Sergei] All right, read it. Read it.
- Ready? Everyone present?
- Yes. Go!
- Read it fast. Boom!
"The results from
Flavors of the World challenge are in."
"In the Morocco battle, the top-ranked
dish was Chef Renee's branzino."
"In the Philippines battle, the top-ranked
dish was Chef Sergei's pork belly."
- All right, all right, all right.
- [Renee] Okay.
Okay.
- Nice work. Nice work. Nice work.
- Good job, guys. Good job. Good job.
Your girl is in the top.
I beat big Mike.
You had the cavatelli?
- Yeah.
- [Robbie] Um
- Were the carrots supposed to be cooked?
- Yeah, but it was just, like, you know.
They were my knock on that.
They were pretty raw.
Oh, okay.
I would say it's good
to hear constructive criticism,
but I would have liked him
to say something
about, like, the level of execution
that I did on the plate, you know.
Making homemade pasta
in an hour is a pretty hardy task.
But, you know, um, I respect his judgment.
- And then you had the banana leaf.
- Yeah, yeah.
I think it was a piece of lemongrass.
That's what I think it was.
At the end of the day, it was
which one do I wanna eat again right now?
Lemongrass stuck on my fish.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Whatever will be, will be.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Oh, shoot. What does it say?
All right.
We got everybody? Okay. Uh
"Chef Mike and Chef Caroline,
since you both had
the lowest-ranked dishes in the battle,
you're up for elimination."
"The house will have one hour to vote
which one of you is leaving."
Whoo!
- And then it got real again. Yeah.
- [Sergei] And then it got real again.
I'm feeling really guilty
that I chose her to be my partner.
There is a possibility
that she will go home today.
So I'm gonna convince
Renee and Robbie to vote Mike off.
Well, what are your thoughts?
I wanna make it a strategic point.
He's the strongest chef
in the house right now.
Do you wanna go up
against him in the finale?
Honestly, I could go
either way with the plates.
I think one person took
took many more risks
and didn't succeed on
- Execution?
- Execution.
You said you loved loved the sauce,
but even I tasted his pasta
at the end of the day,
and I know that's undercooked too.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
Also, not to be the asshole,
but someone's gotta say it.
Think about who you wanna go up against.
- In a competition setting.
- Oh, I'm thinking about it.
- So, so, just saying
- [laughing]
But I also
don't wanna underestimate anybody either.
[Sergei] I think Mike
probably has a better chance
of, you know, hitting that $100,000
than Caroline does,
in my opinion, you know.
When you're this close
to the finale in the competition,
like, you're feeling, you know,
who would you rather cook against?
And I think a smart decision
at this point would be hopefully,
you know, we keep Caroline around,
you know, and we keep moving on.
[Caroline] I've never been in the bottom
before, and now it's me or Mike.
I know I have Sergei's vote,
and Robbie, I think,
is pretty certain going to go for Mike.
And I think Renee is probably a toss-up.
I know we get along well,
but her and Mike,
they have a thing in the kitchen.
[chuckles] I'm a little, like, peeved
that I'm not the blind taster
because then I wouldn't be
in this situation, but
Can't go back in time.
Let's go talk. Let's go talk.
- I'm not good at chats.
- [sighs] Um
- Don't make this emotional. I'm gonna cry.
- No, no.
I just wanna let you know.
- I just talked to Robbie here.
- [Caroline] Mm-hmm.
And he doesn't know
who he's gonna vote for right now.
'Cause he said the same thing I did.
He's like, "Do I vote for the person
who kind of had some execution flaws,
or overall the one that, like,
tasted better, whatever, blah blah,
or do I make this about the competition
and who I wanna cook against?"
- And I reiterated that to him.
- [Caroline] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
- I'm not, like
- Yeah, it's fine. Dark horses are great.
[chuckles]
[Sergei] Stop.
I'm just saying, you know, like
I mean, I am looking at it
from the perspective of Robbie too.
Like, you know
- The specific dish, the overall.
- [Sergei] Yeah.
Or, you know
If I'm going overall, then it's like
Undercooked pasta would
Undercooked pasta's,
like, gummy and weird.
- Undercooked fish is cooked fish.
- [Renee] Was it undercooked?
- Oh, his pasta? It was undercooked.
- Like, really, really undercooked?
- I told him. I was right there.
- You did mention that.
It wasn't al dente.
It was just undercooked.
[Sergei] The hours are ticking.
Just so you know, Serg is
basically lobbying for you to go home.
'Cause he would rather cook against her.
Is that what he said?
He didn't say it word for word,
but that's like
I think they think I'm a threat,
which actually makes me
a little bit more nervous.
Don't have to tell me
if you don't want. Do I got your vote?
[Robbie] We are all great chefs here
for a reason,
but at this point,
I feel like any one of us could win,
so it is an incredibly difficult decision.
I'm gonna vote for you to stay.
Thank you, Robbie. I appreciate that.
So the decision for me is super clear on
who is going to stay
and who's gonna go home.
As far as my vote is concerned,
I'm gonna vote to keep Mike safe.
You know, he's been on my team
since we were
on teams together the first time
and super talented, so I would
certainly hate for Mike to go home.
- Did you both vote?
- [Sergei] No, we're walking over there.
We gotta eliminate Mike.
He's a very strong opponent.
And I know that now with,
you know, less and less
people left in this competition,
it's gonna be a tough deciding factor.
And I hope Renee and Robbie think about
who you really wanna compete
in the final four
and vote Mike off.
[Renee] All right.
This is a tough one right here.
It all comes down to
who do you wanna go up against
[chuckles] in the final four?
You guys all vote already? So we're
just waiting for a ticket at this point?
[sighs]
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
[Sergei] And there it is.
[Caroline] Ay ay ay.
- Well, let's go, Mikey.
- Let's go.
Tell me my fate.
"The elimination results are in."
[exhales]
[suspenseful music playing]
"Chef Caroline, two votes."
"Chef Mike, one vote."
- Okey-dokey.
- You've been eliminated.
Good job. [sighs]
- I'm gonna miss you.
- Yes, you too.
[Renee groans]
- I appreciate the vote my way. [laughs]
- [Sergei] Nice work.
- Nice work.
- Yeah, you too.
You know, I knew it was coming.
All right.
Let's go pack.
- You want company or no?
- [Caroline] Yeah, come.
I could sense it in the house.
You can read a room
and know when someone's
not making eye contact with you.
Yeah, I mean, it's a bummer.
Should have been the taster.
- Alrighty, guys.
- Oh, lord.
[groaning]
Sergei came to campaign
for his girl Caroline, and I respect that.
However, this is still a game,
and I gotta use his words against him.
Who do you wanna go up against
in the finale?
Caroline, unfortunately, not you.
I wanna go against
the innovative kid, Mike.
Sorry, sis.
- I'm gonna hold. Two arms. Yeah!
- [Sergei] Don't cry.
- [Mike laughs]
- No tears.
- Yes.
- [both] Ooh!
- I'm gonna miss you.
- [Caroline] Yes, I'll miss you.
It was sad to say bye to Sergei,
but you know,
he'll be fine without me. [laughs]
And I'll see him again.
It's been a really cool ride,
and I didn't win.
I didn't make it to the finale,
but I did wanna stay true to who I am,
and I wholeheartedly believe
that I did that.
You don't cry.
[Sergei] A lot of emotions
running through me, you know, and it's
[sniffles] You know,
Caroline and I were, you know,
hand-in-hand this whole competition.
You know, it's obviously tough to see,
you know, somebody
[clicks tongue]
It's obviously tough to see
somebody go at this point, you know.
[Renee] How you feeling?
You can be honest.
I'm not pissed. I'm just
- Disappointed.
- Okay.
I know you guys got attached
to each other, right?
But end goal,
remember you're here for 100K.
- [clicks tongue] Yeah.
- Right?
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [whirring]
- [Renee groans]
- We got a ticket!
- [Robbie] I'll read it.
There's a whole lot on this ticket.
- Is there?
- All right, read it up.
"Chefs,
tomorrow you'll be hosting a dinner party
for 11 influential food critics."
"In this Monochromatic challenge,
you will each have to serve
an amuse-bouche
and main dish all of the same color."
[Sergei] Oh!
- That's messed up.
- [Sergei] That's it?
Nope. "You are the head chef
for your dishes,
but your fellow chefs
will help you on the line."
"You will have
until midnight tonight to prep."
I'm feeling pretty excited
that we get to cook for some food critics,
just 'cause my food's pretty complicated,
and I think they're gonna see that
and give me extra points for it.
I think this is a safe thing to say.
Can we all agree
that if we're helping each other,
we're all gonna do
the best of our ability?
I don't know why you asked.
[Mike] I want to make sure.
I want everyone on the same page.
[Robbie] What's your favorite color, kids?
My favorite color is blue,
but I ain't in a mood to eat blue food.
No. Heck no. That's actually,
the most unappetizing color is blue.
- There's no natural food
- My favorite color is orange.
My favorite color is also blue.
- Okay.
- But I do love red.
Yeah. I like fuchsia, purplish.
- Yeah.
- [Mike] I think I gotta go green.
I wanna have as much prep done as possible
within reason.
Don't wanna cook
my scallops ahead of time.
Don't wanna cook my salmon ahead of time.
So I'm gonna try and do all
of the prep work around the items
so that we can just focus on
knocking out the proteins.
I'm gonna choose orange
because there are tons
of delicious foods that I love
that already come in that color.
I see carrots and yams
and all these things that
are all naturally orange and go together.
So yeah, the wheels are a'turning.
Mike, what do you think?
Too weird of a bite?
- For an amuse?
- Yeah, yeah.
[Mike] I would think it's a lot of fish.
We have to do an amuse,
which is kind of a small,
little appetizer,
and an entrée all the same color.
Green, I think, is the most versatile.
We're getting a lot of spring greens
and things like that.
There's lots of things I can turn green
with just a green purée or something.
Peas, fava beans, asparagus.
All this different stuff.
It's all in season,
and it's all really good.
[whirring]
[Sergei] I love red.
You know,
it's a sign of power, sign of love.
Big, bold colors.
I already see the watermelon
when I'm putting away. There's rhubarb
Um, there's so many
different applications I can do.
[Renee] I'm immediately thinking,
what colors can I gravitate towards?
What would be easy to use?
Beets, cabbage, berries.
I'm gonna do my best
to make sure that I follow the rules.
I'm hoping there's a white fish in there
that I can bleach, beets.
Something that's gonna make it purple.
[Sergei] That's a lovely color
right there.
[Robbie] Any chef will tell you
that if you were given
an amount of time
to get prepared for the next day,
you need to use
every single moment of that time,
and I use every single second
of my prep time.
[suspenseful music playing]
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Oh!
"Chefs, it's time
for the Monochromatic challenge."
"You'll each have 45 minutes
to get your dishes out
for the critics' dinner party."
"Chef Robbie, you will be up first,
followed by Chef Sergei,
then Chef Mike, then Chef Renee."
"The winner of this challenge
will gain a spot in the finale."
"Your challenge starts now."
[clock beeping]
When it comes to the competition
in the house, the final four, it's fierce.
[Sergei] Just knowing I'd have to
win this challenge
to solidify my spot in the finale,
I think it kind of lights a fire in me.
I'm gonna give everything I got
to get into the finale.
[Robbie] Everything has come down to this.
Every single dice,
every single grain of salt
needs to be perfect.
It means the world to me
to have gotten this far,
and I plan on taking it all the way.
Let's go. Let's go.
Let's go.
Tell me what to do. I'm here, so
This will be my first time ever
making a monochromatic menu.
All right, Robbie,
tell me where you want me at.
- I got you over here.
- [Renee] Okay.
For my amuse,
I'm doing a chili-rubbed grilled scallop
romesco sauce.
For my entrée, I'm taking that salmon,
searing it with some Aleppo
with coconut curry sweet potato purée
and Korean-inspired chowchow.
Sergei, you got the scallops?
- Yep, I got black truffle. It's working.
- [Robbie] Yep.
With so much experience and talent
in the house, I'm the underdog.
But leadership in the kitchen
is something I pride myself on,
so my strategy is to use my helpers
to the best of my ability.
So I want you to get the sear on 'em now.
- We can decide when they go in the oven.
- Okay.
And decide when they rest.
I put Serg in charge
of grilling my scallops.
Renee in charge of my sauces
and I made Mike in charge of my salmon.
- Black truffle sriracha, right?
- [Robbie] Correct.
In real-world, in real-life restaurants,
whether the sous-chef makes a piece of it,
the line cook makes a piece of it,
if you put it up, it's your dish.
You want salt on the salmon.
Salt, pepper and then chili flakes.
- Salt, pepper and a little Aleppo please.
- [Mike] Yep.
[Robbie] Uh, go go a little bit less.
Less? Okay.
Serg is definitely into big, bold,
aggressive flavors and seasoning.
I should've kind of known
when I asked him to do my scallops.
- Fifteen minutes, guys. Thank you so much.
- [Renee] All right, we got 15 minutes!
[Sergei] You like?
[tense music playing]
Yes.
When the scallops come off the grill,
and I take a look at 'em,
they're beautiful.
I would wanna eat those scallops.
- Quick rough one, yeah?
- Yep, quick and rough.
[Mike] Some of them are sticking,
but they're pretty good.
I'm gonna put a little butter,
and they'll pop right off, for sure.
I'm a little worried about the salmon.
There are some pieces that came
from a different part of the salmon
that are a little thinner.
I'm worried they're gonna be dry.
We added a little bit of butter
to cook it with
and add some fat into it,
and then I can just pray.
Robbie, I tell myself I can sleep
if I mess it up for me,
but if I mess it up for you,
I won't sleep.
[Robbie] I appreciate that.
That's why we love you, brother.
- Ten minutes.
- Heard. Heard.
[suspenseful music playing]
Here we go.
Prestigious set of critics.
Having food critics
as our tasters is great.
[Sergei] I'm really hoping we got
some badass critics in the building.
A real food critic.
Yelp doesn't count.
I'm so sorry for the folks out there.
[Mike] I've had some write-ups from
food critics at different restaurants.
You know, some prominent people
who can have a huge impact on my career.
[Robbie] I've never had any bad reviews,
and I'm not trying
to let this be the first time.
- Five minute time. Five!
- [Mike] Five minutes.
[Alyse Whitney] So monochromatic menu.
I'm wondering what we're gonna see.
Is it gonna be the whole spectrum
over the rainbow?
Is it gonna be things
that occur naturally?
It's challenging 'cause if you wanna
make something taste good,
you can take any kind of
food item and ingredient
to add some tartness,
some saltiness, you know.
- Some tangerine juice right now?
- [Robbie] Little tiny bit. Yep.
But here, you gotta choose menu options
that are gonna give you the same color.
[Renee] How can I help you
on the next one?
Chowchow, just tucked in
next to the salmon.
I think it'll be visually arresting,
but I'm not sure how
it's gonna translate in terms of flavors.
Am I good on all the other plates?
Somebody wipe that for me.
[Renee] Uh, haul ass.
[Robbie] Let me look. Let me look.
Step back, please.
- [Sergei] Time.
- [Renee] Heard.
- All right, Robbie.
- [Sergei] Terrif!
[Mike] Good one.
I think my menu's solid.
I think the food critics
are gonna appreciate it.
These two dishes absolutely would
have a place on my menu in my restaurant.
- [Whitney] Oh, thank you.
- [critic] Thank you.
[Whitney] Very orange.
Very visually, like
My mouth is watering.
Like, I'm ready. [laughs]
Mm.
The amuse is it an amuse? I don't know.
I feel like it's maybe
one scallop short of an appetizer.
I thought the scallop
was perfectly cooked,
which is, you know, no small thing.
And I did like the dusting of chili.
The heat and the sweetness
from the apricot and tomato
was a good good thought.
Textures with the scallops
and the crunchy almonds,
really satisfying.
I love the heat from the sauce.
[Hillary Dixler Canavan] I'm excited.
[Dylan Ho] I do like
the playing of height.
And they used that nice chip
in the middle to divide.
[pensive music playing]
It's a beautifully cooked piece of fish.
The curry, too, to me was letter perfect.
Well, my piece of fish was unfortunately
a little bit overcooked
because it was so thin.
Flavor was great.
I just wish it wasn't overcooked.
I felt like I tasted more of the orange
Like, as I was eating it,
I was like, this tastes more orange.
I just felt like
it worked so perfectly together.
- Good to go. We're set.
- [Robbie] Thirty-seven minutes!
[Sergei] Thirty-seven.
[Robbie] I am trying to,
like, listen in a little bit
and hear what the critics are saying,
but I also have a job to do
for my teammates so I can't focus on that.
I'm here for you. What do you need?
Being in charge of these two dishes,
I feel like
I could have done everything myself.
But part of being a chef is,
you know, you have to, like, delegate.
So my first course being the amuse,
I decide to go with an ahi tuna crudo
with an heirloom tomato gazpacho,
strawberry gel and compressed watermelon.
Uh, do you purposely want this
on a bias, Serge?
[Sergei] Little more bias, nice and thin.
It's gonna be two pieces.
My strategy is that I'm gonna take,
you know, different flavors and textures.
Watermelon, strawberry and tuna.
I'm just thinking
they're gonna work well together.
My main entrée is a grilled pork belly
with a roasted tomato and harissa butter,
pickled chard
and marinated cherry tomatoes.
- Just watch the blackening.
- I'm trying to watch it now.
I'm really trying to focus in on Robbie,
who's taking my pork belly protein,
which is probably the most important part
about my entrée.
Not too crazy on grill marks.
This needs a little salt.
I'm gonna let you be
the final judge on that.
[Sergei] Mm-hmm. That's tasty.
I'm saucier for the day
when it comes to Sergei.
His managing style [sighs]
A little micromanagey.
Nice and low and slow there, Chef.
There's also butter in here.
Got you, don't worry.
I'm pulling off and putting it back on.
You want me to heat up the sauce?
All right, cool.
"Heat it up. Don't heat it up too much.
But hey, don't do that."
- Hit a bit of fresh sherry vinegar in it.
- All right.
All right, let me heat this shit up,
and let me do what I gotta do.
I'm saucier for the day.
Maybe, like, half a tablespoon,
just to brighten it up a little bit.
You know, Robbie trusts me.
I need you to trust me. Trust me.
- Yep. Okay.
- Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Hey, you know
- No, it's good.
- Sure?
[Sergei] I like yeah.
But I'm gonna just fall back
and let him do what he does.
- [Sergei] I want fresh lemon in there.
- Okay.
And I will just do whatever
he delegates me to do.
It felt really good to kind of
start telling people what to do.
My true chef self came out.
- Thank you.
- No problem.
[Robbie] Fifteen minutes!
"Crudo, gazpacho,
pork belly, harissa butter."
[Danielle Dorsey] These two courses
sound different
compared to the other two
that we just had.
The chef kind of really wants to showcase
something that you don't see every day.
[Mike] Five minutes.
All these ingredients
are something I really enjoy.
Let's just, uh, see how it comes together.
Gorgeous plates, please. Gorgeous plates.
I'm super proud of the dishes
that I put up today.
Um, the only thing
that's running through my mind is,
you know, that maybe my, uh,
roasted tomato and harissa butter
isn't as, like, monochromatic red
as the rest of the dish.
Um, it's a little more like
a dark orange, if you will.
Mike, if you can do it,
I want them to be like
Just like your hamachi.
Just like your hamachi.
Everything has to be perfect
for these food critics.
One minute!
The team's working together.
Let me see these plates.
But you know, also as a chef,
I wanna season every plate of food.
I wanna be the one that finishes
the Aleppo oil on my amuse.
Beautiful plates, please.
Beautiful plates.
[Mike] And five, four
Wiping plates.
Wiping plates. Everything's on there.
Service!
My amuse with the watermelon and the tuna
looks absolutely stunning.
And I know it's gonna taste
just as good as it looks.
[Memo Torres] Mmm!
Red. [sighs]
I think the dish is really beautiful.
It's clever
that the watermelon looks like tuna.
I think the composition is lacking.
Maybe they could've dusted
with something red,
like, you know, chili powder
or something to make it pop.
I think it will taste great,
but it doesn't appetize
or amuse the way it should.
Mm-mm.
[suspenseful music playing]
I think it's a little sacrilegious
to call this a gazpacho.
I was not getting any notes
of a gazpacho in there.
The fish was kind of obliterated
by the flavors.
I mean, and even
to have the compressed watermelon,
which has sort of a similar texture,
it just seemed like
you could've just left the tuna out.
I love a good ahi tuna crudo,
and I just couldn't
It was buried under all that slop,
honestly. Like, it wasn't great.
I think they nailed the Monochrome
challenge on the first dish.
The second dish though,
other than the tomatoes,
I really don't see red in it at all.
The sauce is orange. Maybe they
could have mixed a beet in there,
and that would have
really given that brightness.
I mean, to me, this dish,
I think the sauce that went with it,
it was just too rich
to pair with the pork belly.
It had a lot of potential, um,
but without the red and the monochrome,
I I feel like he kind of missed
on a lot of points here.
Maybe if it was, like,
a lighter meat, like a chicken,
then you really, like, appreciate
the richness of both harissa and butter,
but here it was just, like,
together it did not work.
Robbie, you wanna get an immersion blender
set up over here, please?
Sure.
Yep, so for my menu, for my amuse,
I have a fava bean ravioli.
It's going on a fava bean purée
with some sugar snap pea froth.
For the entrée, I have poached halibut
topped with a herbed halibut mousse
cuisson.
I'm pretty excited.
Hopefully I get to prove myself
a little bit more in this challenge
than I did the last one.
Robbie, you wanna grab the colatura?
It's over by, uh, the Dijon and stuff.
My day-to-day job is doing
fine-dining tasting menus.
Food critics are the type
of people I like to cook for.
I think they understand the food I make,
and I think it's gonna help me a lot
in the judging.
So pretty much I have all my sauces ready.
I can get them in pots.
I got my halibut already on the tray,
buttered, ready to go into the oven.
So pretty much
I have almost everything done.
I have three chefs to help me do things,
but honestly,
I don't really need the help.
- [Renee] Mike, what do you need me to do?
- Okay.
To be honest, this close to the finale,
I just like to do everything myself.
Um
But I have a few things
I can get 'em to do.
Serge, can you make me a beurre monté?
Just salt, a little bit of lemon juice
and one pound of beurre monté.
[Sergei] One pound of butter.
Beurre monté is emulsified butter sauce,
which is just
on a lot of classical French dishes.
I'm gonna glaze all my vegetables,
so if you have beurre monté,
you just, like, throw that dish in there,
and then you chill.
Robbie, can you microplane me,
like, ten pieces of garlic
and put 'em in a pint?
- Yep.
- [Mike] And, Renee.
Can you wash and juice these lemons,
put 'em in a squeeze bottle for me please?
[Robbie] So you're going garlic paste?
Just to clarify.
- Just microplane it and put it in a pint.
- Like, grating it?
Yeah, grate it on the microplane. Yep.
- Just wanna make sure.
- [Sergei laughing] Jesus.
[Robbie] I think
that there are other things
that I would be better suited for
than grating garlic,
but if this is what chef needs,
then I got him.
[Renee] Mike gave me
the very important job just now.
[Robbie] Me too.
[clock beeping]
Now, wait.
Are you gonna get these hot at all, Mike?
[Mike] Everything is gonna be hot,
but stuff tastes isn't as green
once you let it sit for a while hot.
I pretty much have to
freakin' sit here and wait.
Typically, you do not want to hot-hold
anything that's green,
and you don't wanna add acid to it
until the very last minute,
'cause it's gonna make it go
more brown in color.
So we're just going to hang out,
until I have to heat sauces up,
but I'll definitely have them
help me plate.
[Renee] You got, uh, 14 minutes,
all right?
[timer beeps]
[clock beeping]
[Robbie] What's next, Chef?
Um, we're honestly at a standstill.
I just put fish in the oven.
Is it weird if I, like,
drink water while you're cooking?
- Thank you.
- No problem.
- [Robbie] Ten minutes!
- [Mike] Now it's go time.
[suspenseful music playing]
I got asparagus and green garlic here.
Pasta's going down.
Let us know. Let us know what to do.
So at this point, I really need
to just make sure everything is proper,
especially with this cuisson here.
I gotta heat up my green garlic cuisson,
which is a classical French sauce.
You can almost throw the competition away
if the main sauce isn't spot-on.
Um, hey,
can you put this in that piping bag?
The sauce is great,
super smooth, perfect consistency.
[Robbie] Raviolis are afloat.
Have you checked your fish lately?
- I got a timer on it.
- [Renee] Okay.
[Mike] My timer's got one minute
I'm feeling good.
Not super confident
'cause I lost the last challenge,
which, uh,
is still in the back of my head.
[timer beeps]
But, uh,
this is gonna be a good opportunity
for me to prove I really have
a lot of good technical skill,
and I'm, uh, ready to plate.
Yeah, pull the hot plates.
All the hot plates.
On first glance, this chef really
put their creativity into this menu,
and made sure, like,
okay, if we're gonna go green,
it's gonna be things you don't expect.
It's gonna be herbed halibut.
It's gonna be a fava bean ravioli.
So I'm really excited.
[Ho] I think after eating the red menu,
I'm very excited
to eat something light and refreshing,
so I'm very excited as well.
[clock beeping]
I'm feeling good. All right, here we go.
- All right, talk to me.
- It's you and me against the world.
[Renee] Let's go.
[suspenseful music playing]
- [Mike] See how I did that?
- [Renee] Yes. Want me to finish these?
[Mike] Yep, and green garlic
around the plate.
We're plating everything.
Everything looks great,
and then I realize that
cuisson is starting to break.
- Shoot.
- [Renee] All right, one minute.
I'm pissed this sauce is breaking.
A breaking sauce means that the fat
in the sauce
and the liquid
in the sauce are separating.
- Yeah, that's bad.
- [Sergei] It was too hot. Yeah.
[Mike] It's gonna
be a little less smooth and creamy,
and it's gonna taste
just a little bit more almost greasy,
which kind of sucks, you know.
But at this point,
I can't go back and fix it.
[tense music playing]
[Robbie] Thirty seconds!
[Renee] All right, 14.
They need asparagus.
- [Robbie] How much time we got left?
- [Renee] Seven.
[clock beeping]
Use another plate wipe?
- Yeah.
- [Sergei] You like?
Yeah, besides that sauce.
That sauce pisses me off.
It is breaking, yeah.
Yeah, at this point, there's nothing
I can do, which sucks, but
[sighs] you know.
Now I'm a little nervous
'cause if it weren't for the sauce,
I have a near-perfect dish
that I'm sending out to these critics.
So hopefully, they don't notice,
or hopefully,
they still just enjoy it anyway
or maybe mark off a few points, but still
give a good score on everything else.
[Garrett Snyder]
It's green's time to shine.
The color's beautiful
and very life-affirming.
I'm very attracted to that.
The ravioli looks delicious.
And this is, like, finally a one,
two-bite amuse.
[Stephanie Garofano laughs]
I need baby fork.
[Memo Torres] Mm. Good.
[Patricia Kelly Yeo] Wow.
Finally, this is something
I would be excited to order.
I thought this was delicious.
It was springy.
Very happy. Would eat again.
There was a savory quality.
There was sweetness.
I saw so many sides of the pea,
which was fun.
Yeah, the pasta was so tender,
and it being green is fun.
I really eat with my eyes first.
Everything about it was balanced,
like, from the texture
to the flavors and everything.
It just makes me really excited
for the next course.
[Hadley Tomicki]
I love the, uh, herbs all on top.
[Yeo] I think
everything looks really fresh.
[pensive music playing]
[smacks lips] Mm!
- This plate is chlorophyll paradise.
- [laughing]
Um, it's it's super fresh.
It makes me really happy.
I mean, all my synapses light up.
The halibut is
wonderfully tender and moist.
I would love another plate. [chuckles]
[Snyder] I think what saved
this dish was the fish,
but one of the disappointments
was definitely the sauce. That cuisson.
Yeah, um, kind of looks
a little almost slimy.
Kind of like he reduced a little too long
on the stove.
I'm gonna need a big ass pot
of boiling water.
So if you could jump on that for me.
- Like, the biggest one we got?
- Yeah.
Today, I'll be making an amuse-bouche
of lime and coconut marinated beets,
with a sheep's milk mousse dyed
with beet and cabbage juice.
For my entrée, I'm making a sea bass
and beet roulade
with herb roasted purple potatoes
and a rhubarb
and cabbage berry barbecue sauce.
So I've never had food critics
eat my food
and have to make their critique.
I want them to feel as if,
"Oh, my God, this girl's creative."
"Oh, this girl knows flavors."
I'm really feeling extreme pressure.
I know this is a big deal,
but first thing's first.
I gotta focus on my sea bass.
Definitely just wanna bring up the temp.
Then I'm gonna crack 'em, split 'em open,
so that purple is, like, nice and good.
I'm gonna drop 'em in here real quick.
I decided to put the fish in a sous vide
machine because I wanted to temper it.
I'm trying to bring it up to temperature
slowly so it has a proper consistency.
Juicy with a little bit of firmness.
- [Mike] Renee, what you want?
- Can you be my plucker?
Pluck my flowers for me.
- [Mike] Pick flowers?
- Yeah. Boom, boom.
Um, do you want small pieces here
and then just leaves off this?
- Yep. Keep 'em separate though.
- Okay.
- I will keep 'em separate.
- Appreciate it.
Mike, he's in charge of just making sure
that I've got the right amount
of accoutrements to assist on my dish.
Got those beautiful
light as a feather fingers.
I've got my guy Robbie
in charge of my potatoes.
- Put that all the way up there on the top.
- [Robbie] I got you, girl.
[Renee] You know I'm short.
And Sergei's there.
I don't think I really needed
a third person, but whatever.
You know, I'll take your help.
Here. Do me a favor? Marinate those.
- [Sergei] Marinato. Heard. Got it.
- [Renee] Marinate. Marinate.
[Mike] Hey, Renee.
- Yep?
- [Mike] Can you come here really quick?
[Renee] Coming.
I don't think this is on.
- I just turned it on. It was not on.
- Oh, Jesus Christ!
This sous vide isn't on,
and this fish is hanging out in it.
It's definitely not gonna be perfectly
cooked by the time we have to serve it.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- It just wasn't on so I just turned it on.
[Renee] This is not good.
'Cause I can't afford,
in front of a room of critics,
for the Chef Renee meal to be raw.
I'm praying to God, Jesus,
I can bring it up
to temperature before the time is up.
I wonder what the next dish is gonna be.
Um, so far we've been seeing
a lot of seafood, a lot of bright colors.
I wonder, uh, if we're gonna be hit
with something totally different next.
I hope it's something fun.
Um, yeah, I'm excited to see.
[Robbie] Ten minutes.
Coming in. Hot plates. Hot plates.
While the fish is
in the sous vide machine,
I gotta get my amuse-bouche on the plate.
Like literally, no more than that
on every single one of them.
Being in the Pressure Cooker,
no different than the real world.
So that little garnish
that I got right here
But the one thing
you really do need to have
is that gusto to push through.
- Gimme a time check also.
- [Robbie] Eight minutes left!
- Heard you. Thank you.
- [Sergei] Let us know what you need.
Okay, so that's that.
All right, let's see what's happening
with this fish.
I'm not sure if it's actually cooked
to the right temperature.
However, I have no choice.
I just have to cut the fish.
[Mike] Sea bass.
We gotta pray it comes out. All right.
[suspenseful music playing]
All right, so this is soft.
[Mike] To be honest,
it looked cooked proper.
But if this was my fish,
I would be pretty bummed.
No one wants soggy fish roulades.
Ugh. Disgusting.
Fish and beets is not
the first combo I would have gone for.
[blubbers]
[Renee] This is not the dish I envisioned.
I don't know if
it's because I prepared it and cooked it,
let it rest, cooked it some more,
but it's not solidified.
Gonna have to make this work.
- Wanna flash these in the oven real quick?
- Yes, yes.
And hopefully putting it into the oven
will kind of dry up all this liquid
and kind of give it
a little bit of firmness.
Otherwise, that could be
the thing that sends me home.
- [Tomicki] Purple, guys!
- [Torres] Yeah.
This is probably the toughest color,
the toughest challenge.
I don't know if I'm gonna go easy
on this critique,
but I still expect a great menu.
I mean, you got beets. You got cabbage.
That coconut maple beet
with the sheep milk's foam.
That just sounds delicious. I can't wait.
[Renee] Waiting on that fish.
I'll put it out in,
like, a minute and change.
[Mike] A minute and change. Heard.
I'm praying that when I pull this fish out
of the oven, it solidifies,
and it gets its act right.
[Mike] Like,
this is actually nerve-racking.
Because I can't afford
for the Chef Renee meal to just be trashy.
[Mike] Want me to grab the fish?
Yes, please.
[Sergei] Fish! Fish! Fish!
- You wanna start plating?
- Let me look at the fish first.
See what disaster's happening.
Watch yourself.
Hmm.
[tense music playing]
And it's still shit.
Jiggling, laying to the side,
pieces falling off.
I got a headache at this point.
[Robbie] One minute warning.
- [Renee] Get barbecue sauce, please.
- [Sergei] Here in front?
[Robbie] Guys, let's move for her. Move.
[Renee] I'm really disappointed
with myself.
Right behind.
Right behind. Last piece of fish.
- [Sergei] Like where everything's at?
- Yeah, at this point, can't move it.
Do I stand by it? I have no choice.
[Robbie, Mike] Three, two, one.
Ugh!
- Okay.
- Yeah. It is what it is.
- [Robbie] Proud of you.
- [Renee] Thank you.
And while I appreciate the coddling
[clicks tongue]
that isn't making me feel any better.
You know, I'm so pissed right now.
This dish is literally
a catastrophe walking.
This is going out
to a prestigious set of critics.
[Ho] Purple!
- Oh, okay.
- [critic] Mm-hmm!
Okay.
[Renee] I wish my dish looked
so much better.
I'm upset with myself, because I have
no one else to blame. I prepared that.
[Whitney clicks tongue, exhales]
Interesting.
Well, I think overall, this is among
the most monochromatic we've seen.
They are very committed to the purple.
- [Eddie Lin] Smooth.
- [Dorsey] Mm. Okay.
Mm, okay.
[pensive music playing]
So I will say that
this amuse-bouche actually surprised me.
Like, I wasn't sure what to expect,
and it was a little bit
difficult trying to get it off the plate,
but I really loved the, like,
savory maple,
um, and the way that it kind of interacted
with, uh, the beets
and, like, the brightness of the beet.
Yeah, this was a very surprising amuse.
Um, I really enjoyed it.
It was very pleasant.
I think as an amuse, as a palate,
like, you know, initializer,
I think it was great.
So, um, and the purple,
very purple, so I like that.
[Canavan] I'm excited for the potato.
I'm thinking about my fish.
It needs a little bit of help [chuckles]
and a couple prayers,
but I'm hoping
that the critics are okay with everything.
[Whitney] Mm. No, thank you. Mm.
- [chuckles]
- [critic] Oops.
I'm really confused by this dish,
as much as I was before eating it.
It's somehow dry and wet at the same time.
The fish is just
the color looks like rare steak,
uh, but it eats like overcooked fish.
This ain't it for me, and purple's
my favorite color, and I'm disappointed.
- [Garofano laughing]
- Am I eating haggis?
I'm not sure because it's, like
it's, like, stuffed.
- There's something mushy in the center.
- [critic] Mm-hmm.
- It's just, you know.
- [critic 2] What was that?
- [critic 3] What is it?
- I don't even wanna taste it.
- To be honest with you.
- Oh, no!
No, it's a disservice to the color purple.
[Sergei] I feel like
we can all taste the finale.
We all know it's coming up very soon.
It makes it very difficult for me
because I know that everyone's
kind of gonna be gunning for each other,
um, because we're all that much closer
to winning this competition.
[Renee] Let's go. Let's go.
- [Mike] Oh, no book. No book.
- No book.
- Unless it's hidden.
- [chuckles]
[Mike] There's no book!
There's no book.
- What?
- There is no book.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [printer whirring]
- Oh!
[Mike] Okay, here we go. Oh, finally.
[Sergei] Oh.
- Here we go.
- [Renee] Read it.
[Sergei] "The results for
the Monochromatic challenge are in."
"The chef who impressed
the critics the most was
Chef Mike."
[Renee] Nice!
Big Mike!
"Chef Mike, you advance to the finale
for a chance to win $100,000."
- Appreciate it. Thank you.
- [Sergei] Whoo!
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
Feels really good
to make it to the finale.
You know,
it was a lot of work to get here,
not only in the Pressure Cooker,
but even before.
Guys, I already know that was steep.
- It was a steep decision.
- [Sergei] Oh, bro.
All the hours I spent cooking,
all the restaurants I worked in,
all the times I got yelled at
for messing up.
Not going to social engagements,
just working my fingers to the bone,
being exhausted,
all my sacrifice was worth it.
So, uh, it feels really good
to be able to make it to the finale.
[Sergei] So, Chef Mike,
how does it feel to have advanced?
Literally, gonna walk over here and go
I'm gonna be honest, it hasn't set in.
- It's a pretty good feeling.
- [laughing]
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [whirring]
- [Renee] Oh, yeah.
Okay, I'll go around.
Don't try to read it. Don't read it.
Damn, do I wanna be the one to read it?
- Just read it. Well, Mike's good.
- [Renee] All right.
"Chef Mike, because you were
the critics' favorite
of the four finalists,
you will vote to select
your opponent in the final challenge."
- [Sergei] Wow.
- Wow.
So it is gonna be
Damn!
This is absolutely insane.
Mike has all this power right now
to choose who he wants to take
to the finale with him.
[Mike] This is the hardest decision
I've had to make,
but I have to choose one.
I know he knows
that I really do deserve to be here.
Me and Mike, it would be
an insane competition, a battle.
[Robbie] Mike and I have grown close,
but I really don't know.
Everything is riding
on Mike's decision right now.
I'm sure it's gotta be frustrating that
there's nothing they can do at this point
to secure them in the finale.
It's pretty much up to my personal choice.
[dramatic music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]