Pressure Cooker (2023) s01e08 Episode Script
Start Together, End Together
1
[dramatic music playing]
[Mike sighs] Since I won
the last challenge,
I get to pick who's gonna be in the finale
with me, and it's not gonna be easy.
But at this point,
$100,000 is on the line,
and that's all that matters to me.
- Who do you think he's gonna choose?
- That's tough. I don't know.
Hey, Renee, can I talk to you?
I wanna talk to you too.
Okay.
[Mike] I don't know who I'm gonna choose.
Renee especially is a super good chef.
She's been a private chef for a long time.
She's been cooking for a long time,
and, you know, I respect Renee a lot.
Let's just hear it out.
Why do you think
you should be in the final?
Any reason, whatever you think it is.
Why? Why?
- Like
- Okay.
I have a strong desire
to be in the finals.
Um, I love a good competition.
I love to see it all the way out
to the end.
Um, I think for namesake to say,
I've pushed myself as far as I have
and have done an exemplary job.
And you voted for me to keep me here.
You're helping me stay here, you know.
I'm staying for one more round, which
- I gave you what you gave me.
- Mm-hmm.
You know,
I kept my word, and it is what it is.
Renee's great. You know, she, uh,
has just given me a lot of great advice
on being a private chef
and just all that kind of stuff.
So that's something to weigh,
you know, that she's helped me out.
- Hey, appreciate it. Thanks.
- Of course.
I'm trying to weigh everything,
This is a big decision.
Got you. Got you.
Serg, you know,
he's just such a strong competitor
and really competitive, just like myself.
So I think it would be a pretty great
finale if it was me against him.
Why do you think
you should be in the final?
You know, obviously, like,
my whole relationship and my family.
Buy a ring
and get a house for me and my girlfriend.
And that's part of it, you know.
Maybe even take some money and kick-start,
like you and I were talking about.
Maybe my chef small business
can take off. You know what I mean?
But, you know, as far as
campaigning for myself, I think, like
If it was you and me in the finale,
it would be a battle.
- [laughs]
- It would be a battle. Know what I mean?
And obviously, you clearly deserve it.
You did great, man.
- Whatever happens.
- Hey, appreciate it, man.
- Yep.
- You're, uh, one badass chef, man.
- You too, man.
- For real. For real!
[Robbie] To get this far
and never be in the bottom,
it's tough.
You know, I have so much
to to fight for in that final,
I have so much to to give.
It's hard to know that after all this,
it comes down to his decision.
[pensive music playing]
Um
It's hard for me to
- It's hard for me to lobby for myself.
- No, I understand.
I'm gonna be honest,
if I were in your position,
I wouldn't wanna do it either.
I'd be like,
"Dude, you just choose what's best."
It doesn't matter who it was.
[Robbie] And I want you to do that,
and I know that you will.
But ever since the first team challenge,
I voted for you every way that I could.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm.
- Um
- I know. I'm thinking about that for sure.
- [Robbie] You know that I'm not
I'm not here just for me.
Uh, and I'm fighting for other people,
and that's the God-honest truth.
- I mean, I can't fake this.
- No, I know. I see it.
I see. I can tell. I can tell.
[Robbie] I've never been in the bottom.
I've never been in danger of going home.
I think I would give you
a run for your money,
which I think, at the core of you,
is what you want.
[Mike] I think Robbie's a good chef.
He really knows his stuff, and he has
things that you can't teach, you know.
He just has a set of ethics, you know.
He's always talking about
how he's really caring for his employees
and how he's really caring for his fiancée
and all these people around him
and really trying
to do the best he can do.
You're a good man.
You're [exhales]
You're a guy that I, like, I aspire to be.
- [laughs] Dude, that's so nice.
- A little bit.
- Thank you.
- [Robbie] Thank you.
That was the closest I got
to crying this whole time.
- [Robbie] I saw it. I saw it.
- [laughing]
[exhales]
[Mike groans]
I think this is the hardest decision
I've had to make.
I really don't wanna hurt
anybody's feelings
or rub anybody the wrong way.
But at the end of the day,
I'm gonna piss off two people.
Obviously, this is a hard choice.
Like, you have to choose one.
I wish I could just have
a four-person finale, but I can't.
- You know? Um
- Right. Right.
And you guys made a pretty hard,
uh, you know, a hard choice.
Like, Renee, you've had my back
pretty much most of this game, you know.
So that makes it hard.
Serg, you're probably the fiercest
competitor here in my opinion, right?
That definitely weighs
like, if I wanted the glory of it,
that would make me wanna verse you, right?
And then, Robbie,
just on a real-world note, you seem like
one of the most ethical business owners
and entrepreneurs I've ever met.
So for different reasons,
uh, it makes it a pretty hard choice.
There's different reasons
why I would want each
of these chefs in the finale with me.
But at this point, I have to choose one.
Just because of given the circumstances
and what's going on,
I think I'm gonna compete against,
um
[tense music playing]
I'm gonna compete against Robbie.
[sobs]
And like I said,
it's it's a hard choice,
but for different reasons, you know.
So, um, Robbie is really just a great guy.
He's a great competitor.
I just think that he deserves it.
Understood.
- Gimme a hug.
- [Robbie] I appreciate it.
- Come on.
- Come on.
- For sure, brother.
- Come on.
- For sure.
- [exhales, chuckles]
For once I'm at a loss for words,
because I really thought I was going home.
- I'm packing my bags and bye!
- If anyone wants to help me pack my shoes?
[Mike] Let me grab a drink real quick.
One sec.
All the beautiful food
that I put up all competition long,
I feel like I was a force
to be reckoned with since day one,
but I think I didn't play the game enough.
Well, what a ride!
I haven't had those ties
and those alliances with Mike.
You know, whereas Robbie
kind of said all the right things
and said all the right words to convince
him to get him into this finale.
Once upon a time,
I would say I feel inferior
to those who have gone
to school for cooking,
but being in this house,
I've realized I've got
just the right amount
of oomph and gusto as everyone else.
My food speaks to me and who I am.
I'm cool, calm, collected,
and my food is just that.
- [Sergei] Nice job.
- [Renee] Mikey, come on.
- Don't let me down. Do good tomorrow.
- Thank you.
- Thank you for everything. Seriously.
- Of course. Of course.
- Kick his ass.
- [laughing]
Hey.
I'm feeling a little bit bummed
that I'm not making it to the finale,
but I do respect his decision.
I know Robbie's gonna do us all justice
and give a good show.
And I'm looking forward
to seeing how the finale plays out.
- [Sergei] I'll see y'all later.
- [Mike] Ciao, guys. Thanks.
[energetic music playing]
- [sighs, inhales]
- Wow, man.
Thank you.
- Oh, my pleasure.
- Thank you.
At this point, um, in my life,
I'm here at this cooking competition,
and the $100,000 would be great,
but winning would show everybody
that the sacrifices
I put in for my career are all worth it.
[ominous music playing]
It's weird.
It's gonna be the last day
in the Pressure Cooker house,
and I'm getting ready for the big finale,
could not sleep last night.
I, uh, did not foresee myself
being this nervous today.
Um, I think once I start cooking,
I'll get back in the groove of things.
Still feels unreal to be in the final two
in the Pressure Cooker.
Morning.
I'm gonna go into this finale,
whatever the challenge might be,
and I'm gonna make my food my way.
I am here to win this thing.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
This is it.
[Mike] This might be our last ticket.
"Chefs, for your final challenge,
you'll host the ultimate dinner party."
"You will have to craft
a progressive four-course menu
that tells your personal story
through food."
"To help execute your vision,
you will choose one former housemate
- Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo!
- to be your sous-chef."
"Once your sous-chef arrives,
your one-hour prep can begin."
Well, I feel like
we need to pick our sous-chefs soon.
We each have nine people to choose from.
[Robbie] Lana and I have such a special,
heartfelt relationship.
Lana also has an incredible amount
of experience and pedigree.
And we've worked together before,
so I know she will work super hard for me.
My personal want would be Lana.
I wanna choose Lana because
she has a lot of great technical skill,
a background that's similar to mine.
I don't think for how good she was,
she got enough time
to cook here in the Pressure Cooker.
Even though I want her,
since you gave me this opportunity,
you can take Lana.
Awesome.
But I will choose Ed.
Mike choosing Lana
means that's an easy choice for me.
The choice is Ed.
He's like a brother at this point.
I know
that he will fight like hell for me,
and he's got the years of experience
to back up, uh,
anything I might throw at him.
- We're home.
- Oh, shoot!
Bet you thought
you saw the last of us, huh?
[upbeat music playing]
- [groans] Oh!
- [Mike] What is going on?
- [Ed] What's up, man?
- What is going on? Lana!
- [Lana] What up?
- How's it going?
[Lana] It's going well.
- [Ed] Good to see you, bro.
- Good to have you.
So a lot's happened.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah. I'm super proud of you guys.
- You guys excited to be back in cooking?
- Oh, absolutely.
- I'm honored and ready to do this.
- Absolutely.
Are we both skinny enough?
Yes, we are! Beautiful!
I'm back!
I'm stoked to be here.
- Honestly.
- I'm stoked to have you.
It is my focus and my goal here now
is just to execute your vision.
Whatever we gotta do
to push you across the line.
Uh, like I told you before, a win
for you is a win for me. I meant that.
With your background,
I think it's more similar
to my background
than probably anybody else in the house.
So what's you guys' challenge?
What's you guys' challenge?
[Robbie] So we've got four courses
and one hour to prep.
- [tense music playing]
- [clock beeping]
The name of my menu is
"Finding Home, a Lifelong Journey."
I'm making langoustine
with crispy pork belly,
Mom's Pasta Bolognese,
bison tenderloin and vanilla bean
and crème fraîche panna cotta.
I'm 150% confident that Ed will be able
to help me execute this menu.
[Mike] My menu concept for this finale is
the fine-dining dishes
that I fell in love with as a child.
Scallops, lamb, truffles and caviar.
And I'm gonna kind of repurpose them
in a new way.
[chuckles] This is the most nervous
I've been in this kitchen, actually.
[Mike] Don't be nervous.
[Lana] I think Mike's menu sounds
really good. It sounds just like him.
Asparagus is one
of my favorite vegetables that exists.
He's definitely one of those people
that likes to push the envelope
when it comes to food.
I know that Mike
is gonna pull out all the stops.
Mike has all of this technique.
He is a perfectionist in all things
cooking, but specifically in presentation.
Robbie, he's a heart on his sleeve
type of guy. His food is the same way.
[Mike] I tasted a few of Robbie's recipes,
and they taste pretty freaking good.
It's gonna be
a steep competition for sure.
[whirring]
This is gonna take
a decent amount of time.
[Mike] I'm aware.
Quart and a half of duxelles minced.
I know.
So I'm not really super confident
with how the langoustine is coming out.
This is the finale.
Everything has to be perfect.
Um, so we're gonna pivot.
So the langoustines,
not happy with the consistency.
They're falling apart a little.
Not willing to risk it.
This is a huge problem,
considering it's the finale.
[inhales] What do you think,
spot prawns or lobsters?
[Ed] Uh, they look good?
The spot prawns are still alive.
This guy just jumped at me.
- Ow! Ow! Mother♪♪♪♪♪♪.
- I would use those.
[laughing]
I decide to switch
from langoustine to shrimp.
It's certainly a risk to switch proteins
after they've been prepped
because now I've just done
the same work twice.
I am worried about
the amount of prep time that we have,
but as long as we divide and conquer,
I think we got this.
[Lana] That time just melted away, huh?
[Mike] Meal prep's going great.
It looks like we're getting
most everything I wanted,
but I think we might run out
of a little bit of time.
[Robbie] I really feel like
I spent a lot of time adjusting,
and now the poached prawns look good.
[tense music playing]
[Lana] Christ. All that work,
and it's like nothing.
You're not gonna get
as much as you wanted.
Yeah. How much? Oh.
I'm a little disappointed
that we couldn't get
a little more mushroom duxelles done.
[sighs] Yeah, sorry that didn't
produce much, but I hope
Let's see, so that's, like, 22.
So I need at least 24 ounces.
- [Robbie] How you feeling?
- [Mike] Good, wish I had a more time.
I'm still am confident going up
against Robbie from a culinary standpoint.
[Robbie] I have focus.
I just have to take it one more step.
Three, two and one.
- [Mike] Cool. Whoo!
- Cool. Yeah.
[Mike] So I am pretty nervous
because going into the competition,
Gotta make more duxelles.
We didn't get enough.
I hope you do a great job,
'cause this menu looks great.
- I'm excited for you.
- Thank you very much.
- I appreciate it.
- My pleasure, seriously. It was fun.
- Nice to be back in this kitchen again.
- [Mike] For sure.
That was probably the most elaborate,
speedy prep work I've ever done.
Ed was great.
Had to pivot a little bit,
but that happens in real life.
But I'm feeling pretty good.
I heard Lana and Mike
talking about some stuff.
Uh, he wishes
he had a little bit more time.
So you know, maybe there's a few things
that don't get finished.
Maybe that plays in my favor.
Maybe it doesn't.
- Bye, guys.
- Have fun. [kisses]
[laughing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Robbie] I have a beautiful menu.
I feel really good about it,
and I know that it is worthy
of a $100,000 win.
Throughout this competition,
I've been pretty consistent with my food,
and I think my menu that I have
is really a finale-worthy menu.
A lot of complicated foods and sauces,
a lot of great presentations
that I have planned [sighs]
I'm feeling pretty confident
that I can, uh, win.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[printer whirring]
Here we go.
[Robbie] "Chefs, it's time
for your final challenge,
the Ultimate Dinner Party."
"You'll each have 90 minutes to cook
before your first course is due."
"You will then have 15 minutes
for each following dish."
"Your final meal will be judged
by all of the eliminated chefs."
"This time,
it will not be a blind tasting."
Dang it. [laughs]
"Winning the competition will come down
to more than just tonight's dishes."
"Your challenge starts now."
[Mike] I'm feeling nervous,
but also excited.
This is a really important cook.
There's a lot on the line, and I've worked
really hard to get to this spot here,
so I'm getting ready to go.
[Robbie] We're putting
on our chef jackets,
and I really do feel like
I'm putting on my armor
and getting ready to go to battle.
It's the most important
four plates of my life.
[tense music playing]
[keypad beeping]
[whirring]
Fellas!
- What's up?
- [Renee] What's going on?
[Robbie] What's cooking, good-looking?
Renee's looking fresh right now.
What do we got? What do we got?
- We got lots of delicious coming your way.
- [Renee] Okay.
Mike running, as usual.
[Mike] As usual!
- [Sergei] Aww.
- Sergei!
- Looking sharp as a chef knife.
- Hey!
- [Sergei] How you feeling?
- [whirring]
- A little nervous. Yeah.
- [Sergei] The little nerves?
- [Robbie] All the nerves. All the nerves.
- For sure, yeah.
So much at stake.
- [Sergei] Oh!
- Hello!
- Look who it is!
- [Mike] Caroline.
- Wow!
- Hi, guys!
Sweet Caroline!
Come on, baby.
Bring it in. Bring it in. Bring it in.
[Caroline] Ooh, I missed you.
Mm!
- Come here, you.
- [Sergei] Hi.
[Caroline] Hi. I missed you.
[Sergei] I look over at Caroline,
and it was really good to see her.
You know, like, an exciting time.
It felt like I literally had never left.
Robbie, what's the highlight
of the menu tonight?
- Everything.
- Everything. Okay.
There's a little homage to everything
I've learned from you guys in each dish.
- [both] Oh!
- [Robbie] So you'll see that.
Love that.
- 'Sup, bitches?
- [Mike] Is that Jeana?
- [chefs shouting]
- What is up?
- [Renee] Okay, I am feeling this dress!
- Pretty in pink!
- [Renee] You look beautiful.
- Oh-ho-ho!
Jeana looks like
she's going to prom right now. Shoot.
I am surprised!
[Sergei] What?
I'm just surprised by
who's there, who's here.
Yo, yo!
- [Sergei] Hey!
- [Robbie] There he is!
[Caroline] Brian!
- [Sergei] How are you?
- Good, man.
- How are you?
- Yo, Brian!
- What is up, fellas?
- I love the shirt, my man.
[Brian] Thank you.
- Congratulations, guys.
- [Robbie] Making something for you.
- Got some panna cotta coming out.
- Yeah, right.
I do.
[tense music playing]
Hi!
[all] Hey!
- [Renee] You look awesome!
- Oh, my God.
It's exciting to see everyone again,
but it's a little distracting
to have everyone else walking in
while you're trying to cook,
and I'm literally fighting
for my life over here.
- [chefs chattering]
- Hello!
Hey!
[Liv] Hi, Mike!
There's someone
we haven't seen in a while.
- How's it going?
- Good!
- Chefs, you have one hour! One hour!
- [clock beeping]
- Hey, hey, hey!
- All right, the party's here.
[cheering]
There they are. They're back.
- Hey!
- Coming in to party.
Uncle Ed in the house!
[Sergei] What do you guys think of the two
that are in the finale?
I think it was so smart
for Mike to pick Robbie.
Mike chose somebody I feel like that
he has a very good chance of beating.
[Jeana] I agree.
I also think
underestimating Robbie is a big flaw.
- Because he's talented.
- [Jeana] Yes. Resilient.
- And he has tenure. He has tenure.
- He has experience. He has experience.
- End of the day, we're the ones voting.
- Absolutely.
I love this. [chuckles]
I'm a little nervous to see Lana.
I really hope that
she doesn't hold any hard feelings.
[pensive music playing]
- [Lana] Madam.
- Lana.
Thank you very much. How are you?
- I'm so excited. I have a gift for you.
- Oh, boy!
I found this Polaroid from the family day.
And it was of her and her mom and her dad,
and I didn't want her to lose it.
To me, giving her this Polaroid
is kind of, like, a peace offering.
- [Lana] I appreciate that.
- Despite whatever happened,
I respect you,
and you are a wonderful woman.
[Lana] Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
I can tell
that she feels bad about what happened,
and I am receptive to that.
But even though there's
no lingering hard feelings,
she has to live with herself.
I don't have to live with that. She does.
- Twenty-five minutes!
- Twenty-five minutes, heard.
- [Caroline] Let's do a cheers.
- [Ed] Let's do a toast.
All right, so first and foremost,
it has been an honor and a pleasure
to meet each and every one of you.
I am a better person,
a better chef for it.
Um, love you all dearly.
This has been
an awesome experience. Cheers to that!
- Yeah!
- Cheers!
- [Sergei] Salud!
- [Renee] Who didn't I get?
[Sergei] Let's give it up
for the two chefs!
- [Ed] Absolutely!
- [all cheering]
[Lana] Yes!
[Robbie] My first course is a prawn lejon
with crispy pork belly glazed
with maple mustard,
horseradish crema
and some fines herbes garnish.
[Mike] I'm gonna start off
with just a classic spring dish.
It's gonna be a cold-poached scallop
with a ramp vinaigrette,
fava beans,
English peas, a lot of spring flavors,
and that's gonna be topped
with some ossetra caviar.
[sizzling]
- [Renee] Excited for dinner.
- [Sergei] Wow!
- [Brian] Whoa, look at this.
- [Liv] That looks so pretty.
[Lana] Well, whatever you wanna do.
There you go. Thank you.
- [Sergei] Wow. Cold!
- [Liv] Very choreographed.
[Sergei] Sheesh!
- [Lana chuckles] I guess it's finale.
- Sheesh!
I cannot mess up anything
'cause it's only four courses,
and it's, you know,
a lot of pride on the line for me.
[chefs chattering, laughing]
[Robbie] Four, three, two and one.
My first course is plated.
And I'm thinking
that it certainly looks a lot simpler
than what Mike's got going on.
Service!
[tense music playing]
[Renee] I'm excited.
[Brian] I'm super excited.
[Liv] Thank you.
- [Lana] Wow. Thank you.
- [Sergei] Nice, nice, nice. Wow!
For the service of this,
you pour water onto the rocks.
And what that does,
is it makes the dry ice smoke,
which not only looks cool,
but helps keep your scallop really cold.
- [Sergei] What a show! Wow!
- [chefs cheering]
[Robbie] I got Smoking Joe over here,
but my flavors
are gonna speak for themselves.
I feel like I have delicious food
prepared well,
and I think that that is what matters.
Being here has knocked loose
some memories for me that I forgot about.
And one was my first
really fancy meal with my father.
This is my homage to that.
So your first dish,
you have some crispy pork belly.
That would be the bacon in this.
We quick-cured it.
We cooked it in the pressure cooker.
Gently poached spot prawns.
We have a horseradish crema on the bottom,
maple, rye whiskey, Dijon,
honey on top of the pork belly.
Then the micro cucumbers.
They've been lightly dressed
with a little bit of rice wine vinaigrette
and French herbs.
- Awesome.
- We love you.
So, uh, I'm Chef Mike,
and this is about fine dining.
We have a four-course
tasting menu for you this evening.
Uh, this menu was inspired
by my fine-dining memories.
So this right here is a spring pea salad
with some pickled ramps,
a ramp vinaigrette
atop lightly poached sea scallops
and some ossetra caviar.
- Enjoy!
- [Caroline] Thank you, guys.
Wow, talk about elevating it
to the next level.
You know, looking at Mike's dish,
you know,
the dry ice really making a showpiece,
um, and then Robbie's dish,
it looks, you know, also very beautiful
and well-composed, you know.
Very homey feeling.
[pensive music playing]
[Christan] Mm!
[Renee] Mm-hmm.
- [Jeana hums]
- [Lana laughs]
The crispy pork belly
steals the show here.
And this sauce is,
um, really well-seasoned.
This is muted in the right ways.
All the flavors aren't overwhelming.
It's not, like, stealing the show.
Like, if this was my first dish,
I'd be like,
"Ho-ho! We're starting. I'm so excited!"
I would disagree though and say that,
to your point,
I wouldn't want my meal to start muted.
- You wanna awaken
- I agree.
You wanna awaken your taste buds
with citrus and salt.
Mike's way of cooking
is very clean and to the T.
And I like that freshness.
Texturally, it's nice.
It's a nice, vibrant, like, early start
to the beginning of a tasting menu
that's supposed to tell a story.
It's the first chapter,
as opposed to maybe the fourth chapter.
[Lana] Robbie's dish felt very homey.
And this felt like
I'm in a fine-dining setting.
I think, honestly, they both speak
to the chefs that made them, honestly.
Mike, 15 minutes, bro.
[Mike] 15 minutes, heard.
My second course is Mom's Pasta Bolognese
and a little piece of bread,
some compound butter
and then different textures of garlic,
so that my diners can kind of make
their own little garlic bread.
I got a little garlic confit.
I got some garlic chips.
- They use that any way they want.
- [flame roars]
[sizzling]
My next course is going to be something
that's near and dear to my heart.
I'm gonna make a mushroom truffle crêpe,
some sautéed morel mushrooms
with a little bit of veal gloss,
topped with a Gruyère crisp
and Gruyère Mornay on the bottom.
So with cheese, mushroom, truffle,
can't go wrong there.
So I feel really, really, really good.
Pasta and sauce is something
I've made dozens of times One minute!
[Mike] I'm ready to plate.
I got my Gruyère crisp.
I cut them in perfect circles,
stacked right in the middle of that bowl,
a classic move from Thomas Keller.
He just puts everything in a tower,
and it always looks so cool.
[Robbie] Time's up.
Runner, runner, runner.
Looking down at my dish,
I feel great about it.
This pasta is not as good as Mom's,
but it's pretty close.
[Liv] Make a little space, I guess.
Thank you.
- [Christan] Thank you.
- [Liv] Ooh!
This is Mom's Pasta Bolognese,
or as Mom would call it, meat sauce.
So it is hand-rolled cavatelli
with a little bit of black pepper spice,
beef and pork Bolognese sauce,
and then you have some buttered toast
on the side.
There is garlic chips
and roasted garlic there as well,
so you can make your garlic bread
as garlicky as you would like.
- [laughing]
- I love that.
[Mike] We have a mushroom
and truffle chive crêpe.
On the bottom is a classic Gruyère Mornay
topped with roasted maitake
and morel mushrooms
with some black Périgord truffle
and a little bit of veal demi-glace
topped with a Gruyère crisp there.
- [Liv] Wow.
- Thank you, chef.
- [Lana] They're not here to play.
- [Christan] Both of them!
There are so many different ways
to eat this. You know what I mean?
Are we gonna crack it? Are we gonna scoop?
Are we gonna go in half?
I look at Chef Robbie's dish,
and I see a sleeper.
This looks very home and comforting.
But it's homemade pasta that's made
to be a vehicle for this Bolognese.
[Liv chuckles] Yes, Christan!
When you look at the dish,
it tastes exactly how you wanted it
to taste up here.
Very homey,
but you know, also very rustic.
This sauce tastes
like the sauce my mom made.
I took one bite and I was like,
[exhales] I'm, like, back
in my apartment in the Bronx,
and I'm seven years old,
and my mom's cooking pasta for dinner.
You know,
a lot of this was memory-focused,
but also, like, we can't
just, like, sneeze on the fact
that the cavatelli was made really,
really well and cooked really well.
I think that this dish is like,
you said, like a sleeper.
You know, it seems very simple,
but there's a lot
of technique hiding here.
[Brian] I gotta give it to Robbie.
Because I've never seen anybody
elevate a garlic bread.
And the toast did not look browned at all.
It didn't even look toasted.
- [laughing]
- But it was.
Stealing that. I'm calling it
Robbie's garlic bread at my restaurant.
- I'm not even kidding.
- [laughing]
I'm doing it the same exact way.
Duxelles.
- I'm really enjoying the flavors here.
- Yeah.
The morels are really talking to me.
Crisp at the top.
[Caroline] I agree.
I think it's a great dish.
Duxelles is one of my favorite things
on the planet to eat.
And so, like, immediately,
this dish, like, speaks to me.
I think this is gorgeous.
The duxelles is perfect.
I mean, me coming from making a duxelles
at the beginning,
this is exactly
what you want it to look like.
This is what I wanted it to look like.
I cannot find a flaw in this dish.
The crêpe is perfect.
The duxelles is perfect.
The Mornay is gorgeous and velvety.
Everything is so perfect.
I do feel like I've had this dish before.
- We've all tasted truffle and mushroom.
- Totally. But we also all had Bolognese.
[Sergei] We've all tasted this one too.
I also think that
this is a rich, rich dish.
[Caroline] The first dish was very light.
So we are in a progression.
We go light to heavy,
and we'll see what the third one is.
But it would have to be heavier
and more rich than this.
And this, I would not be able
to eat this whole thing.
I would never be able
to eat this whole thing.
[suspenseful music playing]
My third course is going to be
a jaggery-crusted bison tenderloin
pomme frite,
grilled mushrooms and haricot verts.
So I'm cooking the bison,
and it's thicker than I remember,
and now I'm feeling like
I don't have enough time
to cook the bison and get it rested.
This is a huge problem,
considering it's the finale.
The one thing that I can't do
is put out raw bison.
For my third course,
I'm gonna do a hazelnut-crusted
rack of lamb with some rosemary,
some white asparagus purée,
some green garlic
and a sherry lamb jus.
We got truffle coming out.
But I think that third course is
an appropriate place for a truffle.
I'm looking forward to this.
It's like all of my favorite things
from everybody.
[Mike] The lamb was cooked proper.
I just gotta crust
with the hazelnut crust,
put it in the broiler,
get it nice and crispy.
And now I'm ready to plate.
[Robbie] I go to plate my bison.
About half the portions are cooked
the way that I want them to be.
The other half
of the portions are a little under.
But as far as the plate as a whole,
I think it's beautiful.
[Mike] Service.
[suspenseful music playing]
- [Ed] Okay, okay.
- [Renee] Wow!
- Thank you.
- Ooh!
[Sergei] Beautiful. Wow!
I was introduced to an old-school item
called filet mignon with toast points.
The toast points would come underneath,
soak up that juice,
then you would eat that toast point.
So this is my play on that.
So we have a little bit of jaggery,
salt-and-pepper crusted bison tenderloin
on top of a toast point.
pomme frite
with some white truffle salt,
grilled mushrooms,
haricot verts just warmed gently
beurre monté
and then a béarnaise aioli.
One thing I fell in love with
pretty quick was just rack of lamb.
My graduation dinner,
we went to a nice restaurant.
I still remember the rack of lamb dish
I ordered to this day.
So this is a hazelnut-crusted rack of lamb
with some rosemary
that is going with spring flavors.
We had white asparagus salad
with a hazelnut vinaigrette,
some white asparagus purée
and a sherry lamb jus.
[Brian] Thank you. Very nice.
Very good. Perfect.
- [Ed] Awesome. Awesome.
- Whoo! Thank you, guys.
[chefs] Wow!
On, uh, Robbie's dish,
I can't wait to have this potato.
The crisp on it,
and I know that the center's creamy.
[Sergei] Mike's dish has an amazing smell
of that hazelnut,
just visually just hitting
all the right notes.
[pensive music playing]
So for me, I feel like the bison
is, um, cooked perfect for me.
I love the salt crust that's around it.
My bison was cooked perfectly.
My toast was cooked perfectly.
If I just had mushroom, bison and toast,
I would've loved it.
I thought that the green beans
didn't do too much,
and if you're gonna do a potato
that visually is that promising,
it promised so much,
and it didn't deliver.
- That fluffy interior did not take place.
- No, sir, it did not.
- My meat is definitely still walking.
- [Sergei] Still breathing?
- [Renee] Right? They're still walking.
- [Sergei] Mine's still breathing.
I do feel like the entire dish
needs a lot of salt.
- It needs so much salt.
- You know, the sauce definitely got lost.
[Caroline] I agree.
I was hoping to kind of do the swipe like
we all love to do and really collect that.
- [Caroline] And it just didn't get it.
- And it just didn't. Yeah.
I feel like for Robbie,
like, I was expecting him
to just give me that progression
that we were expecting him to do,
and it kind of stopped for me.
[Renee] I love rack of lamb
so I am curious to I'm curious.
[Lana] Mm. But the asparagus are lovely.
[chuckles]
- [Sergei] And the purée. Hmm.
- Wow.
- [chuckling]
- [chattering]
- The demi is a bit bitter.
- [Sergei] Hmm.
- There's something in the demi that
- Yeah, it's not jiving.
It's a real burnt flavor.
[Ed] If the demi didn't have that
burnt aftertaste, the hazelnut would sing.
That is killing the dish.
No, this is still a clear vision
of who he is, 100%.
It just doesn't hit the marks.
I feel like this is a well-rehearsed dish
he's done a hundred times.
He should've nailed it.
I do still think there was one clear dish
that is just, like,
by a hair, slightly better.
Considering both of the first two courses,
I'm a little disappointed with these.
[Sergei] End of the day,
we all have to understand that these
two guys are battling out for $100,000.
- This is to push yourself
- This is a big bank right here.
This is big bank.
[Caroline] We do have one course left.
The last course is
the last taste you have, so
[Brian] I'll be honest with everybody.
I think dessert is gonna make or break.
I gotta say,
it's pretty even right now for me.
For the, uh, dessert course, I'm gonna do
something that I've always really liked.
I've been running it for my business,
and it is a chocolate caviar tasting.
Spherified chocolate instead
of the caviar.
Instead of crème fraîche,
a chocolate pastry cream.
Then instead of blinis,
I'm gonna do chocolate pancakes.
I'm making my grandma's pancake batter,
just with a little bit of cocoa powder
and a little bit of extra sugar.
Finally, for my dessert is a vanilla bean
and crème fraîche panna cotta
with strawberry rhubarb gel,
brownie brittle and white chocolate
buttered popcorn frozen pearls.
Robbie's dish sounds
I mean, everything on it.
Strawberry rhubarb gel, I know that
was a cross between the two of us there.
[Mike] I'm gonna take my frozen pearls,
put them
in the base of one of these little bowls,
and do a rocher
of coffee ice cream on top of that.
I mean, mocha caviar tasting,
please tell me I get espresso with it.
Oh, I hope so.
The panna cotta's set
more than I wanted to.
It's a little bit thicker than I want.
But as far as the fluid gel,
it's delicious.
All of my components are coming out great.
The panna cotta's just a hair
on the thick side.
[Mike] I cannot believe this is
the last challenge in the Pressure Cooker.
[Robbie] I'm happy. I'm sad.
I'm calm, and I'm nervous.
[Mike] Service.
Good food, man.
[Robbie] But now it's
in the judges' hands.
And there's
really nothing else I can do about it.
- [Brian] Whew!
- [Lana] Oh, my God, boys.
- Heard that.
- Wow, look at this though.
[chattering]
- [Liv] Thank you.
- [Sergei] Wow!
- Oh, I was not expecting this!
- [Liv] Yeah!
- Wow!
- Return of the panna cotta!
This is looking fire.
[Robbie] So you have
vanilla crème fraîche panna cotta
with a rhubarb and strawberry fluid gel.
Strawberries have been tossed in
a little bit of vanilla bean rose sugar,
a little bit of brownie brittle,
white chocolate
buttered popcorn frozen pearls.
- Awesome.
- [Liv] Thank you.
So, uh, this is a special dish
for me here.
It is a chocolate "caviar" tasting.
So it's all the fun of a caviar tasting,
but dessert.
Some mocha ice cream
and then mocha frozen pearls.
We have chocolate pastry cream
instead of crème fraîche.
We have little piles
of freshly chopped chocolate
and some cookie brittle.
You know, like, you have a caviar tasting,
the different accoutrements
you would typically have?
- It's all the fun of that, but in dessert.
- Awesome.
- Wow!
- Thank you so much.
- Good job, guys.
- [Jeana] Thank you.
[Lana] Oh, man.
- [chefs] Wow.
- This is so much work.
- This is beautiful.
- [Lana] Yeah.
[Sergei] These are stunners.
I never had brownie with panna cotta
before, so I'm excited to try that.
[Sergei] I love the strawberry,
and I love the fluid gel.
- Wonder where he got that idea.
- [laughing]
[Sergei chuckles] You know, um
- You know, I'm excited to taste it though.
- [Lana] Yeah.
Who knew Chef Sergei was the first one
ever to do a fluid gel, ever?
Bon appétit.
Oh, it's, like, super set.
I have to say
that this panna cotta is set.
- [laughing]
- [Sergei] It's yeah.
- [Jeana] My goodness, it is
- S-E-T.
For me personally,
I have a personal beef with panna cotta.
- [laughing]
- Do you? Tell us more.
[laughing]
I really love those strawberries,
the way they were kind of tossed.
For me, um,
the creamy and the tart elements
of the rhubarb and strawberry was great.
I personally love how this looks.
I think we've been
on, like, a fun little journey with Mike,
as far as seeing glimpses
of his personality,
but still staying true
to who he is as a technical chef.
And I love that it's clear that this is,
like, a play on a caviar tasting.
I'd say this is
a pretty cool little home run.
This is my favorite way to eat.
Choose Your Own Adventure
style of cooking.
And the fact he's brought fine dining
and this, like, cheeky,
like, "do what you want."
And that does feel like Mike stepped out
of his comfort zone,
and so I very much appreciate it.
- And I'm excited to eat it.
- [Christan] Yeah.
[pensive music playing]
[Liv] Yum.
- Wow.
- Wow. I was not expecting that.
- [Brian] Mm. Okay.
- [chuckles]
First of all,
this is the coolest dessert I've ever had.
[chefs laugh]
Um, the caviar is just like
It's insane. I was not expecting it
to feel like that in my mouth.
- It's pretty much flawless.
- Yeah.
The flavor of everything's really good.
For me, at the core of it all,
we're talking about
chocolate and coffee, right?
Which are wonderful pairings.
How this is expressed is masterful.
It's whimsical.
- But technically driven, obviously.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- And delicious.
- And very delicious. Very delicious.
- [Lana] The flavor is there.
- You just need a black espresso martini.
- Oh, that would be great. Yes!
- [laughing]
If he would've dropped that
with this, man, oh, my, game over.
That is the most stressful cooking
I've ever had in my life.
[Mike] One of 'em. For sure.
That was a great meal.
- That was really good.
- [Renee] I'm full. I'm stuffed.
- [Sergei] You're stuffed? It was a lot.
- [Lana] Yeah.
Dude, we trashed this kitchen
for two people, bro.
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Mike!
- Oh!
- [Lana] Think they're getting something?
- [Sergei] Wow.
- That's a long one too.
Yeah, that's a long one.
[Mike] How was dinner, guys?
[cheering]
- We wanna read this ticket?
- [chefs] Yeah!
Final ticket, huh?
"The experience in the Pressure Cooker
has always been
about more than just food."
"The true secret ingredient
in any successful kitchen
are great leadership,
integrity and respect."
"Now with $100,000 on the line,
the choice is simple.
Who deserves to win?"
"For this final decision,
it's about culinary achievement,
but it's also about how
these two chefs have handled the pressure
of this unprecedented journey."
"Chef Mike and Chef Robbie will now
get a chance to explain
why they deserve to win."
"Then the rest of the chefs
will decide who gets their vote."
Let's go, politicians. [laughs]
So I, uh
You know, I'm young,
but I've spent so much of my life cooking.
I've missed out
on so much stuff for cooking.
I spent countless hours in the kitchen,
so I think, you know,
it would just mean a lot to win,
to have something to show to people,
just like, "Hey, it was all worth it."
Every time I canceled on my friends,
it was worth it.
Then just on a personal level
as well, you know,
I try to live my life in such a way
where I have integrity,
to where I don't have to convince people.
I don't have to tell people.
I just let them see
who I am and what I do.
My goal is no one should ever be able
to say anything bad about me,
ever, wherever I go.
And if I were to win the money,
it would really
put a jump start on my business.
I'd be able to rent a kitchen,
whatever I gotta do.
Uh, just push me to the next level.
So that's all I got.
You know, the choice is yours.
As most of you know,
like, me leaving to come here was hard.
It was hard for me.
It's hard for my family,
and it's hard for my team.
The $100,000 is for me
and would be for me,
but also so that I can build up my team
and give them more opportunities.
What I've learned
is I am truly passionate human being.
I haven't been perfect in this house.
I haven't cooked perfectly in this house.
But I am better every day
in this house than I was before,
and I have you guys to thank for that.
I would not have been able
to do this without you.
I wouldn't. So thank you very much.
That's it for me. I love you guys.
But thank you.
[pensive music playing]
My decision comes down to
what I think is important in a chef.
And I think that food is just a very s
It is a big part of that,
but it is not all of it.
I think that being a chef
is about accepting people,
giving people knowledge
and also, uh,
letting room for yourself to grow.
And for that reason
I chose Chef Robbie.
- Thank you.
- [Christan sighs]
Wow. Um, Robbie,
you stay true to who you are
and where you're from,
and it shows that on the plate.
Mike, when you said that
you've missed out on friends, family,
I've also been in that position.
But when it comes to food,
your originality speaks volumes.
- Mike, I'm choosing you.
- Congratulations.
First and foremost, to both you guys,
seeing how both you gentlemen, um, are,
and who you are
and what you represent is awe-inspiring.
Uh, never stop that.
For me, the person
that showed the most growth
is deserving of
this Pressure Cooker, uh, win to me.
And that person to me is
Robbie.
Thank you.
[chuckling]
Robbie, you wear your heart
on your sleeve,
and you show your emotions
deeply and wholeheartedly.
And, Mike, you do the same
in a very different manner.
[Brian] Very true.
You do it in the kitchen,
and that is your place
where you have your feelings
and your emotions
and your vulnerabilities.
The menus today
were both beautiful in their own ways.
One of you had me at hello and at goodbye.
And so for that reason, I choose Mike.
Thank you.
You guys are both phenomenal.
Looking at the menu, I automatically
gravitated towards Robbie's.
But then the food came
and Mike came out smoking, literally.
- [laughing]
- [Brian] So
At the end of it, for me to figure it out,
I just imagine being at a restaurant
and not knowing who the chefs were,
and saying to myself,
"Which menu and which dish
would I order again?"
And based on that
Dish for dish, I have to choose Robbie.
Thank you.
Um, you know, what an incredible, like,
honestly, journey it's been, you know.
Robbie, I totally saw you grow and climb
out of this shell that you were in
and really start to,
like, really kind of take all
of your experiences
that you learn day by day into account
and then you saw it in your food.
And then, Chef Mike,
I really love your wizardry and
[chuckles]
- [laughing]
- I wanted I wanted to
I was like, obviously your wizardry
and just, like,
kind of how your brain works,
you know, I feel like
you're always thinking about food,
and like you said, it's something
you've been doing since you were so young.
You guys did an incredible job.
The chef I choose is Chef Mike.
Thank you.
I'm more nervous for them than I am
when I was on the chopping block,
you know.
[Ed] More for them than for myself.
I really feel as if all three of us
have connected while here.
Robbie, I share the same passion
that you have for people
and taking care of your team
and making sure everyone feels
that you love and support them.
Mike, I love the fact
that you're so dedicated.
You know, I really admire you,
you know, uh, very innovative.
[chuckles] I mean, come on, let's think
about our Monochromatic, uh, challenge.
For that reason,
Michael, I choose you.
[Mike] Thank you.
[Liv] This was actually
pretty tough for me,
because I had
the shortest amount of time with you guys.
And I think, you know,
presentation is important,
and skill is important,
but you can't necessarily learn how
to cook with soul.
For that reason, I picked Robbie.
Thank you.
- [Brian blows raspberries]
- [laughing]
That would be
four for Chef Robbie
and four votes for Chef Mike.
- Oh, it's gonna be a nail-biter.
- [chuckles] Yeah.
I am so nervous. [chuckles]
There's nine of us.
The deciding vote is
none other than Chef Lana.
Like, my heart's beating harder now
than it has this entire competition.
[sighs] Okay, um,
just want you guys to know
this is probably one
of the hardest decisions
I've ever had to make as a person.
And especially because
I love you both so much.
You really, like, don't understand.
Um
You're both fantastic chefs.
Um, Mike, from the beginning,
you've been a force to be reckoned with.
That scallop dish, I think,
could have been on any fine-dining menu.
Anywhere, truly.
And you're so young, you're gonna
you're gonna really do big things.
I have no doubt in my mind, honestly.
Robbie [sighs]
You're just a fantastic human being,
fantastic chef.
You wear your heart on your sleeve.
It's a beautiful thing.
I think that's a very strong thing.
The final decision was
just a course of growth.
Also, over the course
of the competition, what I saw.
To see where you guys started
and where you are now, and
[sighs] All of those factors, um
I
Um, I decided to go with Chef Robbie.
[triumphant music playing]
- [Liv] Yay! All right!
- [laughing]
[Liv] Glitter rain!
[chefs laughing]
[Mike] Congratulations. Congratulations.
All of the emotion, all of the gratitude,
all of the moments and the friendships,
it just, like, it just comes over me.
I don't think the person I was
walking through the door on day one
could have done what I did today.
[Lana] Thank you.
- [Brian] I appreciate it, bro.
- [Lana] You're gonna do great things.
- [Robbie sobbing]
- [Ed] Good job.
This competition has humbled me
because it made me realize
that at the end of the day,
technical skill
doesn't necessarily matter.
Like, when people are eating your food,
they don't necessarily care
how hard it was to make, right?
They just care,
is it good or is it not good?
I think I made, um,
some friends here in the Pressure Cooker.
I probably never would've hung out
with almost any of these people,
so it's pretty neat
to meet all these people
from vastly different backgrounds.
It's a pretty cool experience.
- [cork pops]
- [cheering]
- [laughing]
- [Caroline] Oh, my God!
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Last ticket of the season, chefs.
[chuckles]
"And the winner of the $100,000
is Chef Robbie."
- Yeah!
- Whoo!
This, my friend, is yours.
[triumphant music playing]
- Put that right there.
- [Christan laughs] Scary. Don't lose that!
This competition has changed me forever.
This experience is the absolute
hardest thing that I've ever done
and the most rewarding thing
that I've ever done.
I can't wait to share it with my community
and my team and my family.
And it
It's just taught me
that I have so much more to give,
and it's my duty to to do so.
[cheering]
- So the winner of $100,000 is Chef Robbie.
- He's got the receipt!
[cheering]
- To Robbie!
- Robbie!
- [shouting]
- Thank you all. Thank you all.
[kisses] Thank you.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
[dramatic music playing]
[dramatic music playing]
[Mike sighs] Since I won
the last challenge,
I get to pick who's gonna be in the finale
with me, and it's not gonna be easy.
But at this point,
$100,000 is on the line,
and that's all that matters to me.
- Who do you think he's gonna choose?
- That's tough. I don't know.
Hey, Renee, can I talk to you?
I wanna talk to you too.
Okay.
[Mike] I don't know who I'm gonna choose.
Renee especially is a super good chef.
She's been a private chef for a long time.
She's been cooking for a long time,
and, you know, I respect Renee a lot.
Let's just hear it out.
Why do you think
you should be in the final?
Any reason, whatever you think it is.
Why? Why?
- Like
- Okay.
I have a strong desire
to be in the finals.
Um, I love a good competition.
I love to see it all the way out
to the end.
Um, I think for namesake to say,
I've pushed myself as far as I have
and have done an exemplary job.
And you voted for me to keep me here.
You're helping me stay here, you know.
I'm staying for one more round, which
- I gave you what you gave me.
- Mm-hmm.
You know,
I kept my word, and it is what it is.
Renee's great. You know, she, uh,
has just given me a lot of great advice
on being a private chef
and just all that kind of stuff.
So that's something to weigh,
you know, that she's helped me out.
- Hey, appreciate it. Thanks.
- Of course.
I'm trying to weigh everything,
This is a big decision.
Got you. Got you.
Serg, you know,
he's just such a strong competitor
and really competitive, just like myself.
So I think it would be a pretty great
finale if it was me against him.
Why do you think
you should be in the final?
You know, obviously, like,
my whole relationship and my family.
Buy a ring
and get a house for me and my girlfriend.
And that's part of it, you know.
Maybe even take some money and kick-start,
like you and I were talking about.
Maybe my chef small business
can take off. You know what I mean?
But, you know, as far as
campaigning for myself, I think, like
If it was you and me in the finale,
it would be a battle.
- [laughs]
- It would be a battle. Know what I mean?
And obviously, you clearly deserve it.
You did great, man.
- Whatever happens.
- Hey, appreciate it, man.
- Yep.
- You're, uh, one badass chef, man.
- You too, man.
- For real. For real!
[Robbie] To get this far
and never be in the bottom,
it's tough.
You know, I have so much
to to fight for in that final,
I have so much to to give.
It's hard to know that after all this,
it comes down to his decision.
[pensive music playing]
Um
It's hard for me to
- It's hard for me to lobby for myself.
- No, I understand.
I'm gonna be honest,
if I were in your position,
I wouldn't wanna do it either.
I'd be like,
"Dude, you just choose what's best."
It doesn't matter who it was.
[Robbie] And I want you to do that,
and I know that you will.
But ever since the first team challenge,
I voted for you every way that I could.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm.
- Um
- I know. I'm thinking about that for sure.
- [Robbie] You know that I'm not
I'm not here just for me.
Uh, and I'm fighting for other people,
and that's the God-honest truth.
- I mean, I can't fake this.
- No, I know. I see it.
I see. I can tell. I can tell.
[Robbie] I've never been in the bottom.
I've never been in danger of going home.
I think I would give you
a run for your money,
which I think, at the core of you,
is what you want.
[Mike] I think Robbie's a good chef.
He really knows his stuff, and he has
things that you can't teach, you know.
He just has a set of ethics, you know.
He's always talking about
how he's really caring for his employees
and how he's really caring for his fiancée
and all these people around him
and really trying
to do the best he can do.
You're a good man.
You're [exhales]
You're a guy that I, like, I aspire to be.
- [laughs] Dude, that's so nice.
- A little bit.
- Thank you.
- [Robbie] Thank you.
That was the closest I got
to crying this whole time.
- [Robbie] I saw it. I saw it.
- [laughing]
[exhales]
[Mike groans]
I think this is the hardest decision
I've had to make.
I really don't wanna hurt
anybody's feelings
or rub anybody the wrong way.
But at the end of the day,
I'm gonna piss off two people.
Obviously, this is a hard choice.
Like, you have to choose one.
I wish I could just have
a four-person finale, but I can't.
- You know? Um
- Right. Right.
And you guys made a pretty hard,
uh, you know, a hard choice.
Like, Renee, you've had my back
pretty much most of this game, you know.
So that makes it hard.
Serg, you're probably the fiercest
competitor here in my opinion, right?
That definitely weighs
like, if I wanted the glory of it,
that would make me wanna verse you, right?
And then, Robbie,
just on a real-world note, you seem like
one of the most ethical business owners
and entrepreneurs I've ever met.
So for different reasons,
uh, it makes it a pretty hard choice.
There's different reasons
why I would want each
of these chefs in the finale with me.
But at this point, I have to choose one.
Just because of given the circumstances
and what's going on,
I think I'm gonna compete against,
um
[tense music playing]
I'm gonna compete against Robbie.
[sobs]
And like I said,
it's it's a hard choice,
but for different reasons, you know.
So, um, Robbie is really just a great guy.
He's a great competitor.
I just think that he deserves it.
Understood.
- Gimme a hug.
- [Robbie] I appreciate it.
- Come on.
- Come on.
- For sure, brother.
- Come on.
- For sure.
- [exhales, chuckles]
For once I'm at a loss for words,
because I really thought I was going home.
- I'm packing my bags and bye!
- If anyone wants to help me pack my shoes?
[Mike] Let me grab a drink real quick.
One sec.
All the beautiful food
that I put up all competition long,
I feel like I was a force
to be reckoned with since day one,
but I think I didn't play the game enough.
Well, what a ride!
I haven't had those ties
and those alliances with Mike.
You know, whereas Robbie
kind of said all the right things
and said all the right words to convince
him to get him into this finale.
Once upon a time,
I would say I feel inferior
to those who have gone
to school for cooking,
but being in this house,
I've realized I've got
just the right amount
of oomph and gusto as everyone else.
My food speaks to me and who I am.
I'm cool, calm, collected,
and my food is just that.
- [Sergei] Nice job.
- [Renee] Mikey, come on.
- Don't let me down. Do good tomorrow.
- Thank you.
- Thank you for everything. Seriously.
- Of course. Of course.
- Kick his ass.
- [laughing]
Hey.
I'm feeling a little bit bummed
that I'm not making it to the finale,
but I do respect his decision.
I know Robbie's gonna do us all justice
and give a good show.
And I'm looking forward
to seeing how the finale plays out.
- [Sergei] I'll see y'all later.
- [Mike] Ciao, guys. Thanks.
[energetic music playing]
- [sighs, inhales]
- Wow, man.
Thank you.
- Oh, my pleasure.
- Thank you.
At this point, um, in my life,
I'm here at this cooking competition,
and the $100,000 would be great,
but winning would show everybody
that the sacrifices
I put in for my career are all worth it.
[ominous music playing]
It's weird.
It's gonna be the last day
in the Pressure Cooker house,
and I'm getting ready for the big finale,
could not sleep last night.
I, uh, did not foresee myself
being this nervous today.
Um, I think once I start cooking,
I'll get back in the groove of things.
Still feels unreal to be in the final two
in the Pressure Cooker.
Morning.
I'm gonna go into this finale,
whatever the challenge might be,
and I'm gonna make my food my way.
I am here to win this thing.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
This is it.
[Mike] This might be our last ticket.
"Chefs, for your final challenge,
you'll host the ultimate dinner party."
"You will have to craft
a progressive four-course menu
that tells your personal story
through food."
"To help execute your vision,
you will choose one former housemate
- Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo!
- to be your sous-chef."
"Once your sous-chef arrives,
your one-hour prep can begin."
Well, I feel like
we need to pick our sous-chefs soon.
We each have nine people to choose from.
[Robbie] Lana and I have such a special,
heartfelt relationship.
Lana also has an incredible amount
of experience and pedigree.
And we've worked together before,
so I know she will work super hard for me.
My personal want would be Lana.
I wanna choose Lana because
she has a lot of great technical skill,
a background that's similar to mine.
I don't think for how good she was,
she got enough time
to cook here in the Pressure Cooker.
Even though I want her,
since you gave me this opportunity,
you can take Lana.
Awesome.
But I will choose Ed.
Mike choosing Lana
means that's an easy choice for me.
The choice is Ed.
He's like a brother at this point.
I know
that he will fight like hell for me,
and he's got the years of experience
to back up, uh,
anything I might throw at him.
- We're home.
- Oh, shoot!
Bet you thought
you saw the last of us, huh?
[upbeat music playing]
- [groans] Oh!
- [Mike] What is going on?
- [Ed] What's up, man?
- What is going on? Lana!
- [Lana] What up?
- How's it going?
[Lana] It's going well.
- [Ed] Good to see you, bro.
- Good to have you.
So a lot's happened.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah. I'm super proud of you guys.
- You guys excited to be back in cooking?
- Oh, absolutely.
- I'm honored and ready to do this.
- Absolutely.
Are we both skinny enough?
Yes, we are! Beautiful!
I'm back!
I'm stoked to be here.
- Honestly.
- I'm stoked to have you.
It is my focus and my goal here now
is just to execute your vision.
Whatever we gotta do
to push you across the line.
Uh, like I told you before, a win
for you is a win for me. I meant that.
With your background,
I think it's more similar
to my background
than probably anybody else in the house.
So what's you guys' challenge?
What's you guys' challenge?
[Robbie] So we've got four courses
and one hour to prep.
- [tense music playing]
- [clock beeping]
The name of my menu is
"Finding Home, a Lifelong Journey."
I'm making langoustine
with crispy pork belly,
Mom's Pasta Bolognese,
bison tenderloin and vanilla bean
and crème fraîche panna cotta.
I'm 150% confident that Ed will be able
to help me execute this menu.
[Mike] My menu concept for this finale is
the fine-dining dishes
that I fell in love with as a child.
Scallops, lamb, truffles and caviar.
And I'm gonna kind of repurpose them
in a new way.
[chuckles] This is the most nervous
I've been in this kitchen, actually.
[Mike] Don't be nervous.
[Lana] I think Mike's menu sounds
really good. It sounds just like him.
Asparagus is one
of my favorite vegetables that exists.
He's definitely one of those people
that likes to push the envelope
when it comes to food.
I know that Mike
is gonna pull out all the stops.
Mike has all of this technique.
He is a perfectionist in all things
cooking, but specifically in presentation.
Robbie, he's a heart on his sleeve
type of guy. His food is the same way.
[Mike] I tasted a few of Robbie's recipes,
and they taste pretty freaking good.
It's gonna be
a steep competition for sure.
[whirring]
This is gonna take
a decent amount of time.
[Mike] I'm aware.
Quart and a half of duxelles minced.
I know.
So I'm not really super confident
with how the langoustine is coming out.
This is the finale.
Everything has to be perfect.
Um, so we're gonna pivot.
So the langoustines,
not happy with the consistency.
They're falling apart a little.
Not willing to risk it.
This is a huge problem,
considering it's the finale.
[inhales] What do you think,
spot prawns or lobsters?
[Ed] Uh, they look good?
The spot prawns are still alive.
This guy just jumped at me.
- Ow! Ow! Mother♪♪♪♪♪♪.
- I would use those.
[laughing]
I decide to switch
from langoustine to shrimp.
It's certainly a risk to switch proteins
after they've been prepped
because now I've just done
the same work twice.
I am worried about
the amount of prep time that we have,
but as long as we divide and conquer,
I think we got this.
[Lana] That time just melted away, huh?
[Mike] Meal prep's going great.
It looks like we're getting
most everything I wanted,
but I think we might run out
of a little bit of time.
[Robbie] I really feel like
I spent a lot of time adjusting,
and now the poached prawns look good.
[tense music playing]
[Lana] Christ. All that work,
and it's like nothing.
You're not gonna get
as much as you wanted.
Yeah. How much? Oh.
I'm a little disappointed
that we couldn't get
a little more mushroom duxelles done.
[sighs] Yeah, sorry that didn't
produce much, but I hope
Let's see, so that's, like, 22.
So I need at least 24 ounces.
- [Robbie] How you feeling?
- [Mike] Good, wish I had a more time.
I'm still am confident going up
against Robbie from a culinary standpoint.
[Robbie] I have focus.
I just have to take it one more step.
Three, two and one.
- [Mike] Cool. Whoo!
- Cool. Yeah.
[Mike] So I am pretty nervous
because going into the competition,
Gotta make more duxelles.
We didn't get enough.
I hope you do a great job,
'cause this menu looks great.
- I'm excited for you.
- Thank you very much.
- I appreciate it.
- My pleasure, seriously. It was fun.
- Nice to be back in this kitchen again.
- [Mike] For sure.
That was probably the most elaborate,
speedy prep work I've ever done.
Ed was great.
Had to pivot a little bit,
but that happens in real life.
But I'm feeling pretty good.
I heard Lana and Mike
talking about some stuff.
Uh, he wishes
he had a little bit more time.
So you know, maybe there's a few things
that don't get finished.
Maybe that plays in my favor.
Maybe it doesn't.
- Bye, guys.
- Have fun. [kisses]
[laughing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Robbie] I have a beautiful menu.
I feel really good about it,
and I know that it is worthy
of a $100,000 win.
Throughout this competition,
I've been pretty consistent with my food,
and I think my menu that I have
is really a finale-worthy menu.
A lot of complicated foods and sauces,
a lot of great presentations
that I have planned [sighs]
I'm feeling pretty confident
that I can, uh, win.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[printer whirring]
Here we go.
[Robbie] "Chefs, it's time
for your final challenge,
the Ultimate Dinner Party."
"You'll each have 90 minutes to cook
before your first course is due."
"You will then have 15 minutes
for each following dish."
"Your final meal will be judged
by all of the eliminated chefs."
"This time,
it will not be a blind tasting."
Dang it. [laughs]
"Winning the competition will come down
to more than just tonight's dishes."
"Your challenge starts now."
[Mike] I'm feeling nervous,
but also excited.
This is a really important cook.
There's a lot on the line, and I've worked
really hard to get to this spot here,
so I'm getting ready to go.
[Robbie] We're putting
on our chef jackets,
and I really do feel like
I'm putting on my armor
and getting ready to go to battle.
It's the most important
four plates of my life.
[tense music playing]
[keypad beeping]
[whirring]
Fellas!
- What's up?
- [Renee] What's going on?
[Robbie] What's cooking, good-looking?
Renee's looking fresh right now.
What do we got? What do we got?
- We got lots of delicious coming your way.
- [Renee] Okay.
Mike running, as usual.
[Mike] As usual!
- [Sergei] Aww.
- Sergei!
- Looking sharp as a chef knife.
- Hey!
- [Sergei] How you feeling?
- [whirring]
- A little nervous. Yeah.
- [Sergei] The little nerves?
- [Robbie] All the nerves. All the nerves.
- For sure, yeah.
So much at stake.
- [Sergei] Oh!
- Hello!
- Look who it is!
- [Mike] Caroline.
- Wow!
- Hi, guys!
Sweet Caroline!
Come on, baby.
Bring it in. Bring it in. Bring it in.
[Caroline] Ooh, I missed you.
Mm!
- Come here, you.
- [Sergei] Hi.
[Caroline] Hi. I missed you.
[Sergei] I look over at Caroline,
and it was really good to see her.
You know, like, an exciting time.
It felt like I literally had never left.
Robbie, what's the highlight
of the menu tonight?
- Everything.
- Everything. Okay.
There's a little homage to everything
I've learned from you guys in each dish.
- [both] Oh!
- [Robbie] So you'll see that.
Love that.
- 'Sup, bitches?
- [Mike] Is that Jeana?
- [chefs shouting]
- What is up?
- [Renee] Okay, I am feeling this dress!
- Pretty in pink!
- [Renee] You look beautiful.
- Oh-ho-ho!
Jeana looks like
she's going to prom right now. Shoot.
I am surprised!
[Sergei] What?
I'm just surprised by
who's there, who's here.
Yo, yo!
- [Sergei] Hey!
- [Robbie] There he is!
[Caroline] Brian!
- [Sergei] How are you?
- Good, man.
- How are you?
- Yo, Brian!
- What is up, fellas?
- I love the shirt, my man.
[Brian] Thank you.
- Congratulations, guys.
- [Robbie] Making something for you.
- Got some panna cotta coming out.
- Yeah, right.
I do.
[tense music playing]
Hi!
[all] Hey!
- [Renee] You look awesome!
- Oh, my God.
It's exciting to see everyone again,
but it's a little distracting
to have everyone else walking in
while you're trying to cook,
and I'm literally fighting
for my life over here.
- [chefs chattering]
- Hello!
Hey!
[Liv] Hi, Mike!
There's someone
we haven't seen in a while.
- How's it going?
- Good!
- Chefs, you have one hour! One hour!
- [clock beeping]
- Hey, hey, hey!
- All right, the party's here.
[cheering]
There they are. They're back.
- Hey!
- Coming in to party.
Uncle Ed in the house!
[Sergei] What do you guys think of the two
that are in the finale?
I think it was so smart
for Mike to pick Robbie.
Mike chose somebody I feel like that
he has a very good chance of beating.
[Jeana] I agree.
I also think
underestimating Robbie is a big flaw.
- Because he's talented.
- [Jeana] Yes. Resilient.
- And he has tenure. He has tenure.
- He has experience. He has experience.
- End of the day, we're the ones voting.
- Absolutely.
I love this. [chuckles]
I'm a little nervous to see Lana.
I really hope that
she doesn't hold any hard feelings.
[pensive music playing]
- [Lana] Madam.
- Lana.
Thank you very much. How are you?
- I'm so excited. I have a gift for you.
- Oh, boy!
I found this Polaroid from the family day.
And it was of her and her mom and her dad,
and I didn't want her to lose it.
To me, giving her this Polaroid
is kind of, like, a peace offering.
- [Lana] I appreciate that.
- Despite whatever happened,
I respect you,
and you are a wonderful woman.
[Lana] Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
I can tell
that she feels bad about what happened,
and I am receptive to that.
But even though there's
no lingering hard feelings,
she has to live with herself.
I don't have to live with that. She does.
- Twenty-five minutes!
- Twenty-five minutes, heard.
- [Caroline] Let's do a cheers.
- [Ed] Let's do a toast.
All right, so first and foremost,
it has been an honor and a pleasure
to meet each and every one of you.
I am a better person,
a better chef for it.
Um, love you all dearly.
This has been
an awesome experience. Cheers to that!
- Yeah!
- Cheers!
- [Sergei] Salud!
- [Renee] Who didn't I get?
[Sergei] Let's give it up
for the two chefs!
- [Ed] Absolutely!
- [all cheering]
[Lana] Yes!
[Robbie] My first course is a prawn lejon
with crispy pork belly glazed
with maple mustard,
horseradish crema
and some fines herbes garnish.
[Mike] I'm gonna start off
with just a classic spring dish.
It's gonna be a cold-poached scallop
with a ramp vinaigrette,
fava beans,
English peas, a lot of spring flavors,
and that's gonna be topped
with some ossetra caviar.
[sizzling]
- [Renee] Excited for dinner.
- [Sergei] Wow!
- [Brian] Whoa, look at this.
- [Liv] That looks so pretty.
[Lana] Well, whatever you wanna do.
There you go. Thank you.
- [Sergei] Wow. Cold!
- [Liv] Very choreographed.
[Sergei] Sheesh!
- [Lana chuckles] I guess it's finale.
- Sheesh!
I cannot mess up anything
'cause it's only four courses,
and it's, you know,
a lot of pride on the line for me.
[chefs chattering, laughing]
[Robbie] Four, three, two and one.
My first course is plated.
And I'm thinking
that it certainly looks a lot simpler
than what Mike's got going on.
Service!
[tense music playing]
[Renee] I'm excited.
[Brian] I'm super excited.
[Liv] Thank you.
- [Lana] Wow. Thank you.
- [Sergei] Nice, nice, nice. Wow!
For the service of this,
you pour water onto the rocks.
And what that does,
is it makes the dry ice smoke,
which not only looks cool,
but helps keep your scallop really cold.
- [Sergei] What a show! Wow!
- [chefs cheering]
[Robbie] I got Smoking Joe over here,
but my flavors
are gonna speak for themselves.
I feel like I have delicious food
prepared well,
and I think that that is what matters.
Being here has knocked loose
some memories for me that I forgot about.
And one was my first
really fancy meal with my father.
This is my homage to that.
So your first dish,
you have some crispy pork belly.
That would be the bacon in this.
We quick-cured it.
We cooked it in the pressure cooker.
Gently poached spot prawns.
We have a horseradish crema on the bottom,
maple, rye whiskey, Dijon,
honey on top of the pork belly.
Then the micro cucumbers.
They've been lightly dressed
with a little bit of rice wine vinaigrette
and French herbs.
- Awesome.
- We love you.
So, uh, I'm Chef Mike,
and this is about fine dining.
We have a four-course
tasting menu for you this evening.
Uh, this menu was inspired
by my fine-dining memories.
So this right here is a spring pea salad
with some pickled ramps,
a ramp vinaigrette
atop lightly poached sea scallops
and some ossetra caviar.
- Enjoy!
- [Caroline] Thank you, guys.
Wow, talk about elevating it
to the next level.
You know, looking at Mike's dish,
you know,
the dry ice really making a showpiece,
um, and then Robbie's dish,
it looks, you know, also very beautiful
and well-composed, you know.
Very homey feeling.
[pensive music playing]
[Christan] Mm!
[Renee] Mm-hmm.
- [Jeana hums]
- [Lana laughs]
The crispy pork belly
steals the show here.
And this sauce is,
um, really well-seasoned.
This is muted in the right ways.
All the flavors aren't overwhelming.
It's not, like, stealing the show.
Like, if this was my first dish,
I'd be like,
"Ho-ho! We're starting. I'm so excited!"
I would disagree though and say that,
to your point,
I wouldn't want my meal to start muted.
- You wanna awaken
- I agree.
You wanna awaken your taste buds
with citrus and salt.
Mike's way of cooking
is very clean and to the T.
And I like that freshness.
Texturally, it's nice.
It's a nice, vibrant, like, early start
to the beginning of a tasting menu
that's supposed to tell a story.
It's the first chapter,
as opposed to maybe the fourth chapter.
[Lana] Robbie's dish felt very homey.
And this felt like
I'm in a fine-dining setting.
I think, honestly, they both speak
to the chefs that made them, honestly.
Mike, 15 minutes, bro.
[Mike] 15 minutes, heard.
My second course is Mom's Pasta Bolognese
and a little piece of bread,
some compound butter
and then different textures of garlic,
so that my diners can kind of make
their own little garlic bread.
I got a little garlic confit.
I got some garlic chips.
- They use that any way they want.
- [flame roars]
[sizzling]
My next course is going to be something
that's near and dear to my heart.
I'm gonna make a mushroom truffle crêpe,
some sautéed morel mushrooms
with a little bit of veal gloss,
topped with a Gruyère crisp
and Gruyère Mornay on the bottom.
So with cheese, mushroom, truffle,
can't go wrong there.
So I feel really, really, really good.
Pasta and sauce is something
I've made dozens of times One minute!
[Mike] I'm ready to plate.
I got my Gruyère crisp.
I cut them in perfect circles,
stacked right in the middle of that bowl,
a classic move from Thomas Keller.
He just puts everything in a tower,
and it always looks so cool.
[Robbie] Time's up.
Runner, runner, runner.
Looking down at my dish,
I feel great about it.
This pasta is not as good as Mom's,
but it's pretty close.
[Liv] Make a little space, I guess.
Thank you.
- [Christan] Thank you.
- [Liv] Ooh!
This is Mom's Pasta Bolognese,
or as Mom would call it, meat sauce.
So it is hand-rolled cavatelli
with a little bit of black pepper spice,
beef and pork Bolognese sauce,
and then you have some buttered toast
on the side.
There is garlic chips
and roasted garlic there as well,
so you can make your garlic bread
as garlicky as you would like.
- [laughing]
- I love that.
[Mike] We have a mushroom
and truffle chive crêpe.
On the bottom is a classic Gruyère Mornay
topped with roasted maitake
and morel mushrooms
with some black Périgord truffle
and a little bit of veal demi-glace
topped with a Gruyère crisp there.
- [Liv] Wow.
- Thank you, chef.
- [Lana] They're not here to play.
- [Christan] Both of them!
There are so many different ways
to eat this. You know what I mean?
Are we gonna crack it? Are we gonna scoop?
Are we gonna go in half?
I look at Chef Robbie's dish,
and I see a sleeper.
This looks very home and comforting.
But it's homemade pasta that's made
to be a vehicle for this Bolognese.
[Liv chuckles] Yes, Christan!
When you look at the dish,
it tastes exactly how you wanted it
to taste up here.
Very homey,
but you know, also very rustic.
This sauce tastes
like the sauce my mom made.
I took one bite and I was like,
[exhales] I'm, like, back
in my apartment in the Bronx,
and I'm seven years old,
and my mom's cooking pasta for dinner.
You know,
a lot of this was memory-focused,
but also, like, we can't
just, like, sneeze on the fact
that the cavatelli was made really,
really well and cooked really well.
I think that this dish is like,
you said, like a sleeper.
You know, it seems very simple,
but there's a lot
of technique hiding here.
[Brian] I gotta give it to Robbie.
Because I've never seen anybody
elevate a garlic bread.
And the toast did not look browned at all.
It didn't even look toasted.
- [laughing]
- But it was.
Stealing that. I'm calling it
Robbie's garlic bread at my restaurant.
- I'm not even kidding.
- [laughing]
I'm doing it the same exact way.
Duxelles.
- I'm really enjoying the flavors here.
- Yeah.
The morels are really talking to me.
Crisp at the top.
[Caroline] I agree.
I think it's a great dish.
Duxelles is one of my favorite things
on the planet to eat.
And so, like, immediately,
this dish, like, speaks to me.
I think this is gorgeous.
The duxelles is perfect.
I mean, me coming from making a duxelles
at the beginning,
this is exactly
what you want it to look like.
This is what I wanted it to look like.
I cannot find a flaw in this dish.
The crêpe is perfect.
The duxelles is perfect.
The Mornay is gorgeous and velvety.
Everything is so perfect.
I do feel like I've had this dish before.
- We've all tasted truffle and mushroom.
- Totally. But we also all had Bolognese.
[Sergei] We've all tasted this one too.
I also think that
this is a rich, rich dish.
[Caroline] The first dish was very light.
So we are in a progression.
We go light to heavy,
and we'll see what the third one is.
But it would have to be heavier
and more rich than this.
And this, I would not be able
to eat this whole thing.
I would never be able
to eat this whole thing.
[suspenseful music playing]
My third course is going to be
a jaggery-crusted bison tenderloin
pomme frite,
grilled mushrooms and haricot verts.
So I'm cooking the bison,
and it's thicker than I remember,
and now I'm feeling like
I don't have enough time
to cook the bison and get it rested.
This is a huge problem,
considering it's the finale.
The one thing that I can't do
is put out raw bison.
For my third course,
I'm gonna do a hazelnut-crusted
rack of lamb with some rosemary,
some white asparagus purée,
some green garlic
and a sherry lamb jus.
We got truffle coming out.
But I think that third course is
an appropriate place for a truffle.
I'm looking forward to this.
It's like all of my favorite things
from everybody.
[Mike] The lamb was cooked proper.
I just gotta crust
with the hazelnut crust,
put it in the broiler,
get it nice and crispy.
And now I'm ready to plate.
[Robbie] I go to plate my bison.
About half the portions are cooked
the way that I want them to be.
The other half
of the portions are a little under.
But as far as the plate as a whole,
I think it's beautiful.
[Mike] Service.
[suspenseful music playing]
- [Ed] Okay, okay.
- [Renee] Wow!
- Thank you.
- Ooh!
[Sergei] Beautiful. Wow!
I was introduced to an old-school item
called filet mignon with toast points.
The toast points would come underneath,
soak up that juice,
then you would eat that toast point.
So this is my play on that.
So we have a little bit of jaggery,
salt-and-pepper crusted bison tenderloin
on top of a toast point.
pomme frite
with some white truffle salt,
grilled mushrooms,
haricot verts just warmed gently
beurre monté
and then a béarnaise aioli.
One thing I fell in love with
pretty quick was just rack of lamb.
My graduation dinner,
we went to a nice restaurant.
I still remember the rack of lamb dish
I ordered to this day.
So this is a hazelnut-crusted rack of lamb
with some rosemary
that is going with spring flavors.
We had white asparagus salad
with a hazelnut vinaigrette,
some white asparagus purée
and a sherry lamb jus.
[Brian] Thank you. Very nice.
Very good. Perfect.
- [Ed] Awesome. Awesome.
- Whoo! Thank you, guys.
[chefs] Wow!
On, uh, Robbie's dish,
I can't wait to have this potato.
The crisp on it,
and I know that the center's creamy.
[Sergei] Mike's dish has an amazing smell
of that hazelnut,
just visually just hitting
all the right notes.
[pensive music playing]
So for me, I feel like the bison
is, um, cooked perfect for me.
I love the salt crust that's around it.
My bison was cooked perfectly.
My toast was cooked perfectly.
If I just had mushroom, bison and toast,
I would've loved it.
I thought that the green beans
didn't do too much,
and if you're gonna do a potato
that visually is that promising,
it promised so much,
and it didn't deliver.
- That fluffy interior did not take place.
- No, sir, it did not.
- My meat is definitely still walking.
- [Sergei] Still breathing?
- [Renee] Right? They're still walking.
- [Sergei] Mine's still breathing.
I do feel like the entire dish
needs a lot of salt.
- It needs so much salt.
- You know, the sauce definitely got lost.
[Caroline] I agree.
I was hoping to kind of do the swipe like
we all love to do and really collect that.
- [Caroline] And it just didn't get it.
- And it just didn't. Yeah.
I feel like for Robbie,
like, I was expecting him
to just give me that progression
that we were expecting him to do,
and it kind of stopped for me.
[Renee] I love rack of lamb
so I am curious to I'm curious.
[Lana] Mm. But the asparagus are lovely.
[chuckles]
- [Sergei] And the purée. Hmm.
- Wow.
- [chuckling]
- [chattering]
- The demi is a bit bitter.
- [Sergei] Hmm.
- There's something in the demi that
- Yeah, it's not jiving.
It's a real burnt flavor.
[Ed] If the demi didn't have that
burnt aftertaste, the hazelnut would sing.
That is killing the dish.
No, this is still a clear vision
of who he is, 100%.
It just doesn't hit the marks.
I feel like this is a well-rehearsed dish
he's done a hundred times.
He should've nailed it.
I do still think there was one clear dish
that is just, like,
by a hair, slightly better.
Considering both of the first two courses,
I'm a little disappointed with these.
[Sergei] End of the day,
we all have to understand that these
two guys are battling out for $100,000.
- This is to push yourself
- This is a big bank right here.
This is big bank.
[Caroline] We do have one course left.
The last course is
the last taste you have, so
[Brian] I'll be honest with everybody.
I think dessert is gonna make or break.
I gotta say,
it's pretty even right now for me.
For the, uh, dessert course, I'm gonna do
something that I've always really liked.
I've been running it for my business,
and it is a chocolate caviar tasting.
Spherified chocolate instead
of the caviar.
Instead of crème fraîche,
a chocolate pastry cream.
Then instead of blinis,
I'm gonna do chocolate pancakes.
I'm making my grandma's pancake batter,
just with a little bit of cocoa powder
and a little bit of extra sugar.
Finally, for my dessert is a vanilla bean
and crème fraîche panna cotta
with strawberry rhubarb gel,
brownie brittle and white chocolate
buttered popcorn frozen pearls.
Robbie's dish sounds
I mean, everything on it.
Strawberry rhubarb gel, I know that
was a cross between the two of us there.
[Mike] I'm gonna take my frozen pearls,
put them
in the base of one of these little bowls,
and do a rocher
of coffee ice cream on top of that.
I mean, mocha caviar tasting,
please tell me I get espresso with it.
Oh, I hope so.
The panna cotta's set
more than I wanted to.
It's a little bit thicker than I want.
But as far as the fluid gel,
it's delicious.
All of my components are coming out great.
The panna cotta's just a hair
on the thick side.
[Mike] I cannot believe this is
the last challenge in the Pressure Cooker.
[Robbie] I'm happy. I'm sad.
I'm calm, and I'm nervous.
[Mike] Service.
Good food, man.
[Robbie] But now it's
in the judges' hands.
And there's
really nothing else I can do about it.
- [Brian] Whew!
- [Lana] Oh, my God, boys.
- Heard that.
- Wow, look at this though.
[chattering]
- [Liv] Thank you.
- [Sergei] Wow!
- Oh, I was not expecting this!
- [Liv] Yeah!
- Wow!
- Return of the panna cotta!
This is looking fire.
[Robbie] So you have
vanilla crème fraîche panna cotta
with a rhubarb and strawberry fluid gel.
Strawberries have been tossed in
a little bit of vanilla bean rose sugar,
a little bit of brownie brittle,
white chocolate
buttered popcorn frozen pearls.
- Awesome.
- [Liv] Thank you.
So, uh, this is a special dish
for me here.
It is a chocolate "caviar" tasting.
So it's all the fun of a caviar tasting,
but dessert.
Some mocha ice cream
and then mocha frozen pearls.
We have chocolate pastry cream
instead of crème fraîche.
We have little piles
of freshly chopped chocolate
and some cookie brittle.
You know, like, you have a caviar tasting,
the different accoutrements
you would typically have?
- It's all the fun of that, but in dessert.
- Awesome.
- Wow!
- Thank you so much.
- Good job, guys.
- [Jeana] Thank you.
[Lana] Oh, man.
- [chefs] Wow.
- This is so much work.
- This is beautiful.
- [Lana] Yeah.
[Sergei] These are stunners.
I never had brownie with panna cotta
before, so I'm excited to try that.
[Sergei] I love the strawberry,
and I love the fluid gel.
- Wonder where he got that idea.
- [laughing]
[Sergei chuckles] You know, um
- You know, I'm excited to taste it though.
- [Lana] Yeah.
Who knew Chef Sergei was the first one
ever to do a fluid gel, ever?
Bon appétit.
Oh, it's, like, super set.
I have to say
that this panna cotta is set.
- [laughing]
- [Sergei] It's yeah.
- [Jeana] My goodness, it is
- S-E-T.
For me personally,
I have a personal beef with panna cotta.
- [laughing]
- Do you? Tell us more.
[laughing]
I really love those strawberries,
the way they were kind of tossed.
For me, um,
the creamy and the tart elements
of the rhubarb and strawberry was great.
I personally love how this looks.
I think we've been
on, like, a fun little journey with Mike,
as far as seeing glimpses
of his personality,
but still staying true
to who he is as a technical chef.
And I love that it's clear that this is,
like, a play on a caviar tasting.
I'd say this is
a pretty cool little home run.
This is my favorite way to eat.
Choose Your Own Adventure
style of cooking.
And the fact he's brought fine dining
and this, like, cheeky,
like, "do what you want."
And that does feel like Mike stepped out
of his comfort zone,
and so I very much appreciate it.
- And I'm excited to eat it.
- [Christan] Yeah.
[pensive music playing]
[Liv] Yum.
- Wow.
- Wow. I was not expecting that.
- [Brian] Mm. Okay.
- [chuckles]
First of all,
this is the coolest dessert I've ever had.
[chefs laugh]
Um, the caviar is just like
It's insane. I was not expecting it
to feel like that in my mouth.
- It's pretty much flawless.
- Yeah.
The flavor of everything's really good.
For me, at the core of it all,
we're talking about
chocolate and coffee, right?
Which are wonderful pairings.
How this is expressed is masterful.
It's whimsical.
- But technically driven, obviously.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- And delicious.
- And very delicious. Very delicious.
- [Lana] The flavor is there.
- You just need a black espresso martini.
- Oh, that would be great. Yes!
- [laughing]
If he would've dropped that
with this, man, oh, my, game over.
That is the most stressful cooking
I've ever had in my life.
[Mike] One of 'em. For sure.
That was a great meal.
- That was really good.
- [Renee] I'm full. I'm stuffed.
- [Sergei] You're stuffed? It was a lot.
- [Lana] Yeah.
Dude, we trashed this kitchen
for two people, bro.
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Mike!
- Oh!
- [Lana] Think they're getting something?
- [Sergei] Wow.
- That's a long one too.
Yeah, that's a long one.
[Mike] How was dinner, guys?
[cheering]
- We wanna read this ticket?
- [chefs] Yeah!
Final ticket, huh?
"The experience in the Pressure Cooker
has always been
about more than just food."
"The true secret ingredient
in any successful kitchen
are great leadership,
integrity and respect."
"Now with $100,000 on the line,
the choice is simple.
Who deserves to win?"
"For this final decision,
it's about culinary achievement,
but it's also about how
these two chefs have handled the pressure
of this unprecedented journey."
"Chef Mike and Chef Robbie will now
get a chance to explain
why they deserve to win."
"Then the rest of the chefs
will decide who gets their vote."
Let's go, politicians. [laughs]
So I, uh
You know, I'm young,
but I've spent so much of my life cooking.
I've missed out
on so much stuff for cooking.
I spent countless hours in the kitchen,
so I think, you know,
it would just mean a lot to win,
to have something to show to people,
just like, "Hey, it was all worth it."
Every time I canceled on my friends,
it was worth it.
Then just on a personal level
as well, you know,
I try to live my life in such a way
where I have integrity,
to where I don't have to convince people.
I don't have to tell people.
I just let them see
who I am and what I do.
My goal is no one should ever be able
to say anything bad about me,
ever, wherever I go.
And if I were to win the money,
it would really
put a jump start on my business.
I'd be able to rent a kitchen,
whatever I gotta do.
Uh, just push me to the next level.
So that's all I got.
You know, the choice is yours.
As most of you know,
like, me leaving to come here was hard.
It was hard for me.
It's hard for my family,
and it's hard for my team.
The $100,000 is for me
and would be for me,
but also so that I can build up my team
and give them more opportunities.
What I've learned
is I am truly passionate human being.
I haven't been perfect in this house.
I haven't cooked perfectly in this house.
But I am better every day
in this house than I was before,
and I have you guys to thank for that.
I would not have been able
to do this without you.
I wouldn't. So thank you very much.
That's it for me. I love you guys.
But thank you.
[pensive music playing]
My decision comes down to
what I think is important in a chef.
And I think that food is just a very s
It is a big part of that,
but it is not all of it.
I think that being a chef
is about accepting people,
giving people knowledge
and also, uh,
letting room for yourself to grow.
And for that reason
I chose Chef Robbie.
- Thank you.
- [Christan sighs]
Wow. Um, Robbie,
you stay true to who you are
and where you're from,
and it shows that on the plate.
Mike, when you said that
you've missed out on friends, family,
I've also been in that position.
But when it comes to food,
your originality speaks volumes.
- Mike, I'm choosing you.
- Congratulations.
First and foremost, to both you guys,
seeing how both you gentlemen, um, are,
and who you are
and what you represent is awe-inspiring.
Uh, never stop that.
For me, the person
that showed the most growth
is deserving of
this Pressure Cooker, uh, win to me.
And that person to me is
Robbie.
Thank you.
[chuckling]
Robbie, you wear your heart
on your sleeve,
and you show your emotions
deeply and wholeheartedly.
And, Mike, you do the same
in a very different manner.
[Brian] Very true.
You do it in the kitchen,
and that is your place
where you have your feelings
and your emotions
and your vulnerabilities.
The menus today
were both beautiful in their own ways.
One of you had me at hello and at goodbye.
And so for that reason, I choose Mike.
Thank you.
You guys are both phenomenal.
Looking at the menu, I automatically
gravitated towards Robbie's.
But then the food came
and Mike came out smoking, literally.
- [laughing]
- [Brian] So
At the end of it, for me to figure it out,
I just imagine being at a restaurant
and not knowing who the chefs were,
and saying to myself,
"Which menu and which dish
would I order again?"
And based on that
Dish for dish, I have to choose Robbie.
Thank you.
Um, you know, what an incredible, like,
honestly, journey it's been, you know.
Robbie, I totally saw you grow and climb
out of this shell that you were in
and really start to,
like, really kind of take all
of your experiences
that you learn day by day into account
and then you saw it in your food.
And then, Chef Mike,
I really love your wizardry and
[chuckles]
- [laughing]
- I wanted I wanted to
I was like, obviously your wizardry
and just, like,
kind of how your brain works,
you know, I feel like
you're always thinking about food,
and like you said, it's something
you've been doing since you were so young.
You guys did an incredible job.
The chef I choose is Chef Mike.
Thank you.
I'm more nervous for them than I am
when I was on the chopping block,
you know.
[Ed] More for them than for myself.
I really feel as if all three of us
have connected while here.
Robbie, I share the same passion
that you have for people
and taking care of your team
and making sure everyone feels
that you love and support them.
Mike, I love the fact
that you're so dedicated.
You know, I really admire you,
you know, uh, very innovative.
[chuckles] I mean, come on, let's think
about our Monochromatic, uh, challenge.
For that reason,
Michael, I choose you.
[Mike] Thank you.
[Liv] This was actually
pretty tough for me,
because I had
the shortest amount of time with you guys.
And I think, you know,
presentation is important,
and skill is important,
but you can't necessarily learn how
to cook with soul.
For that reason, I picked Robbie.
Thank you.
- [Brian blows raspberries]
- [laughing]
That would be
four for Chef Robbie
and four votes for Chef Mike.
- Oh, it's gonna be a nail-biter.
- [chuckles] Yeah.
I am so nervous. [chuckles]
There's nine of us.
The deciding vote is
none other than Chef Lana.
Like, my heart's beating harder now
than it has this entire competition.
[sighs] Okay, um,
just want you guys to know
this is probably one
of the hardest decisions
I've ever had to make as a person.
And especially because
I love you both so much.
You really, like, don't understand.
Um
You're both fantastic chefs.
Um, Mike, from the beginning,
you've been a force to be reckoned with.
That scallop dish, I think,
could have been on any fine-dining menu.
Anywhere, truly.
And you're so young, you're gonna
you're gonna really do big things.
I have no doubt in my mind, honestly.
Robbie [sighs]
You're just a fantastic human being,
fantastic chef.
You wear your heart on your sleeve.
It's a beautiful thing.
I think that's a very strong thing.
The final decision was
just a course of growth.
Also, over the course
of the competition, what I saw.
To see where you guys started
and where you are now, and
[sighs] All of those factors, um
I
Um, I decided to go with Chef Robbie.
[triumphant music playing]
- [Liv] Yay! All right!
- [laughing]
[Liv] Glitter rain!
[chefs laughing]
[Mike] Congratulations. Congratulations.
All of the emotion, all of the gratitude,
all of the moments and the friendships,
it just, like, it just comes over me.
I don't think the person I was
walking through the door on day one
could have done what I did today.
[Lana] Thank you.
- [Brian] I appreciate it, bro.
- [Lana] You're gonna do great things.
- [Robbie sobbing]
- [Ed] Good job.
This competition has humbled me
because it made me realize
that at the end of the day,
technical skill
doesn't necessarily matter.
Like, when people are eating your food,
they don't necessarily care
how hard it was to make, right?
They just care,
is it good or is it not good?
I think I made, um,
some friends here in the Pressure Cooker.
I probably never would've hung out
with almost any of these people,
so it's pretty neat
to meet all these people
from vastly different backgrounds.
It's a pretty cool experience.
- [cork pops]
- [cheering]
- [laughing]
- [Caroline] Oh, my God!
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[whirring]
Last ticket of the season, chefs.
[chuckles]
"And the winner of the $100,000
is Chef Robbie."
- Yeah!
- Whoo!
This, my friend, is yours.
[triumphant music playing]
- Put that right there.
- [Christan laughs] Scary. Don't lose that!
This competition has changed me forever.
This experience is the absolute
hardest thing that I've ever done
and the most rewarding thing
that I've ever done.
I can't wait to share it with my community
and my team and my family.
And it
It's just taught me
that I have so much more to give,
and it's my duty to to do so.
[cheering]
- So the winner of $100,000 is Chef Robbie.
- He's got the receipt!
[cheering]
- To Robbie!
- Robbie!
- [shouting]
- Thank you all. Thank you all.
[kisses] Thank you.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
[dramatic music playing]