- Welcome to the world's toughest
culinary competition, "Next Level Chef."
[dramatic music]
Go! Let's go! Come on!
In an epic three-story kitchen,
the only way to move to the top
is to cook your way up.
- Look at this kitchen, huh?
- Pigs ears?
What the hell?
- This is what we get to work with in the basement.
- We are just going crazy for the scraps.
- Each week, professional chefs,
home chefs, and social media chefs
have seconds to grab...
- The platform is here!
- Minutes to cook...
Focus.
And just moments to deliver their dishes.
- Three, two, one.
- Who will rise to the challenge?
- ♪ Rise up and face the demon ♪
- This is gonna be the toughest...
- First come, first serve,
so sucks to be you.
- The most competitive...
- Go, go, go, go!
- And the most grueling season of "Next Level Chef" yet.
- ♪ You better run and hide ♪
- And starting tonight, for the first time ever,
each chef will need to cook
on all three levels in a brutal audition...
- Imagine the NFL Combine of cooking.
- Just to make it onto one of our teams.
And he's done our favorites.
- It might be this guy right here.
- [laughs]
- Opa!
- The competition is definitely leveling up.
This is crazy, man.
- Opa!
Opa!
- ♪ Rise up and face the demon ♪
- With an amazing one-year mentorship...
- People like me don't get this kind of opportunity.
- And $250,000 on the line...
- It means so much to me.
- I've dreamed about this since I was a child.
- Only one can climb their way to the top,
and it all starts right now.
[knives shinging]
[dramatic rock music]
[elevator dings]
♪ ♪
[timer ringing]
♪ ♪
[intense music]
♪ ♪
- Come on in, guys.
- Wow.
Three of the greatest to ever put on an apron.
I have to pinch myself to really believe I'm here.
Like, it's me, Mada, a home cook.
I'm used to cooking in front of my kids.
♪ ♪
- Good morning.
Now, I hope you've all got your game faces on,
because this is going to be the most grueling season
of "Next Level Chef" yet.
Only the best will survive.
- This year, we had thousands of submissions
from chefs around the country,
all wanting their shot at making it to the next level.
So this season, unlike any other,
you'll have to earn your place on one of our teams.
And your audition starts now.
- Oh, man.
Auditions are crazy.
But I've always had to earn my spot playing football.
I've been preparing for this moment all my life.
I'm ready to show the competition, hey,
Zay-Dolla got what it takes to be the next level chef.
- Eight of you will start in the basement.
And after each cook, one of you will
be eliminated until only five are left standing on the top.
- Today, we are starting with...
the eight social media chefs.
[cheers and applause]
- Come on, guys.
- We'll start where every great chef has started--
at the bottom.
You'll have to prove yourself in that ridiculous basement
where the conditions are scary,
but the ingredients are even more scarce.
- Social media chefs, all of you can head to the elevator
and I will meet you down in the basement.
Richard and Gordon will be watching
your every move from the lounge.
- Let's go, brother. Let's go, baby.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- Let's cook. - I'm excited.
- One shot, one kill. Let's get it.
- Let's go.
[elevator dings]
- Whoa. - Oh.
- Let's go, Tim. - Holy!
- Ooh!
- Welcome to the basement.
- Here we go. Let's go. - Let's go.
- Scouting for a first pick here, potentially.
- What we mashing?
- That almost looks like it was made for you.
- This is my size.
This is what we like right here.
- Someone left their oil cans here.
I've cooked in some basement kitchens in Brooklyn before.
- Look at that.
- But I'm shocked by how bad some of the tools are.
Wow, it's a far way to the top.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- What's up, guys?
- What's up?
- Let's go.
Let's fricking go.
How are you feeling? - I'm feeling good.
- Wonderful. How are you doing?
All right, guys, line up.
This challenge is inspired
by one of TikTok's hottest trends.
- Oh. - Any guesses?
- There's so many.
- I can't keep up.
- People have been making phenomenal dishes
out of canned meat.
- Yes. - Come on.
- We must be on different sides of TikTok,
'cause I have never seen canned meat
on my For You Page.
- 20 minutes to make a dish out of canned meat.
For one of you, the audition will end down here, right?
Don't let that be. - Yes, Chef.
- Yes, Chef.
- Please line up. - Let's go.
- Hands on the railing. - Whoo!
Let's go, Matt. - Let's get it, baby.
- Wow.
- I could feel everyone's heart beating against my own
because we're so close together.
- Let's go, y'all. Come on, turn up.
Let's go. - Let's go.
- We are like sardines in a can--smushed.
- Let's go.
[suspenseful music]
- Whoo.
- It's coming. It's coming. Here it is.
- Here it is, baby.
[hydraulics whirring]
- Go.
Let's go, guys. Let's go. Let's go.
- Okay. My little legs, we got to go.
[bleep]
I hone in on shrimp in a can.
Meat in a can--it's gross.
But I'm in the basement.
- Everybody needs to grab a protein.
- Man, it's crazy.
The platform is nothing like I practiced for.
If you don't grab, and you're just looking around,
you're going to be stuck
with the worst possible ingredients.
First thing I see is canned clams.
I see pasta right under it, so I grab that as well.
Ah!
- Oh! - Oh, my God.
- I see this onion, and I go ahead and grab it.
But when Izahya grabbed it at the same time,
I thought it's either him or me.
Not today, Izahya.
I love you, but not today.
- Five seconds, guys. Five seconds.
- Get out the way, bro.
- Let's go, baby.
Let's go, baby.
- Let's go!
- Your 20 minutes starts right now.
Let's go.
Day one, fighting into the draft.
This is a first look.
- Oh, we working, baby. We working.
- What are you going to wow us with
to make us pick you to be on our team?
This is their opportunity, their chance to show us
that they can stand up to these pro chefs,
you can stand up to the home cooks.
How are we feeling, Gabi?
- Good, Chef. - Awesome.
So talk to me about your ingredients.
- I got some canned chicken.
And I think what I'm going to do is
maybe make a little Asian play on chicken and dumplings.
- Love that. - Yeah.
- And you do have a little bit of restaurant experience.
- I'm kind of more known for my role on Epicurious.
So I work on a series called "Pro vs Novice,"
where I'm the novice.
But I'm really excited to hopefully
go back and be the pro.
[upbeat music]
I live in Brooklyn, in a cute little brownstone apartment
with this adorable garden that I completely renovated,
and it's my little spot of nature in Brooklyn.
In the morning when I go out and I say hello to my plants,
I just greet them and I tell them how good they're doing.
I'm just like, oh, you're doing so good.
I am who I am. [laughs]
On the way to Fort Greene farmers market
to see what's in season.
Things I love showcasing on my social media
are fresh produce.
What can I find at my farmers' market?
I love just teaching people
you can be creative with plant-based ingredients.
I want to inspire other people,
to show them something new and beautiful
and will connect them more with their food and with the Earth.
♪ ♪
- You got this, Gabi.
- Thank you, Chef.
- How are we doing, Tim? - Coming along, Chef.
- Making progress? - Yes.
- What'd you grab?
- I got canned salmon.
I'm going to make a salmon patty croquette
with some crunchy corn and some bananas--
- Oh, we love that. - To add a little sweetness
and depth of flavor to the corn.
- And you yourself have a lot of depth, right?
You're one of the more seasoned chefs around here,
if you will. - Yes, Chef.
- And those five beautiful kids are
waiting for you to get back home with that win, right?
- Absolutely.
They're looking forward to seeing pop.
Give me a minute.
My kitchen's going to smell amazing.
2 1/2 years ago, my kids inspired me
to get on social media.
Don't be stingy.
Now we're 2 million followers and subscribers
on all my social channels.
That's fantastic.
My kids would describe me-- "Dad's a total goofball."
Fresh garlic.
I repeat some of their cool phrases
and they're like, "Dad, don't do that."
That's a little sus.
- You got it.
15 minutes, guys. Right?
You want to be drafted.
- Whoo! How are we feeling?
- For one of you, the audition will end down here.
Talk to me about what you grabbed, Nicole.
- I grabbed some pressed ham.
I'm going to get the pasta on there.
- How often do you work with canned meat?
- Not very often. I like fresh meats.
- [laughing] - Brittnee.
- Hi. - How are we feeling?
- I feel really good.
I picked up the canned beef.
So I'm doing eggs Benedict,
like a cheeseburger eggs Benedict.
But I'm going to need something buttery and saucy
and creamy, right?
And so, I was like, okay, I can do hollandaise.
- I wouldn't do a Benedict in 20 minutes with canned meat.
- No. - No chance.
- Let's go, guys. Let's go, Izahya.
These auditions are chaotic.
It feels like you're Michael Jordan
with three seconds left on the clock,
and you got to hit the game-winning shot.
- What do you got here, chef? - Some canned clams.
I'm going to make a nice little pasta.
And I feel like I got a pretty good grab.
But I'm feeling a little nervous.
I want to get a spot so badly in the middle kitchen.
- And what ingredient is on your apron?
- Oh, man, the clams got me.
I have to turn up the gas 'cause this competition is
not built for the weak at all.
- Make sure these flavors are cohesive.
- Yes, Chef.
- 10 minutes down.
- I thought you was about to say like, two minutes left.
I was like, oh, no.
- I can take two minutes away if you'd like.
- Please don't.
- Chef Matt, how tall are you?
- I am 6' 7". - 6' 7"?
- Can I tell you a secret, chef?
- Please, please.
- I'm 6' 6" and 5/8.
Don't tell anybody.
- You just round up, right? Smart.
- Let's make some Tuscan shrimp pasta.
I'm a pretty big guy, and at school,
I definitely did get picked on a lot.
I got into fights a lot as a kid.
I barely graduated high school.
And for a little bit there,
I really had no idea what I was going to do.
So it all started on Snapchat.
I got people joining and just watching me cook,
swiping up saying, "I love watching these.
Please don't stop."
Thank God that I found food,
because it was kind of like therapy for me.
Without it, I have no idea where I'd be today.
- What do you have in the pan here?
- Canned corned beef. - Love that.
Man with a plan.
- If we're trapped in a football team,
I got my offensive line.
- Yeah, definitely, yeah.
- Figured out right there.
I'm going with Matt. - Brittany.
- Hey. - Tell me about your dish.
What'd you grab? - I grabbed canned shrimp.
We're going to do, like, butter garlic noodles.
- Butter garlic noodles shrimp? - Yes.
- My son is 1 1/2.
He calls them noo-noos. - Oh, my God.
So this dish is inspired by your son?
- Yes.
- I have some Louisiana flair in my family.
Are you going to bring that bayou flavor in this dish?
- That is my plan.
I'm Brittany.
I'm from Kinder, Louisiana, and I'm a social media chef.
- Mommy.
- I live with my husband and my little son, John.
My son, when he was, like, seven months old,
he slept with a whisk.
Like, that was-- instead of a Teddy bear,
he had a whisk, and he would carry it everywhere.
Tonight for supper, y'all,
we're making alligator sauce piquante.
There's this running joke in Louisiana that
most people are going to see roadkill and be like, ew.
But in Louisiana, we're like, what's that taste like?
I've cooked snake and turtle and deer
and rabbit and squirrel and possum.
Oh, I forgot to say frogs.
I love frogs.
- We're cranking this thing, boy.
Let's go.
- Kitchen's really tough to work in, right?
You got to learn it along the way.
This is day one for you all.
- Love that. Love that.
Love when everything falls over.
- I just have to get my [bleep] together.
And relax.
Just relax.
Oh, my God.
I kept messing my poached eggs up.
And it was because of the freaking pan.
And I had a plastic spoon.
Why are there big plastic serving spoons?
And so my eggs are falling apart because of the spoon.
Oh, my [bleep] God.
How much time do we have left?
- Three minutes, guys.
You got something to prove. You're social media chefs.
[dramatic music]
- So I've got the tuna fish and I'm like, all right,
I gotta make a fritter.
Yeah, that didn't work.
But I need to put a sauce on this plate.
Bro, how am I supposed to puree this?
I got two minutes to plate this thing.
- Fire, fire, fire.
- Holy [bleep].
All of a sudden, my pan burst into flames.
- Let's go. Come on.
- I feel like I'm in a prison kitchen.
I might be going home, bro.
- Guys, 45 seconds left.
Tim, don't forget about your fritters.
- Yes, Chef.
[tense music]
- What's burning? - Oh, shoot.
- Do you want to get to the middle level?
all: Yes, Chef.
- And then where?
- And then win!
- Five, four, three,
two, one.
Hands up, guys.
♪ ♪
- Wow.
- Intense. You guys were watching.
What'd you guys think?
- 20 minutes-- I mean, you guys spend
that amount of time in makeup
and looking for your ring lights, right?
[laughter]
- Shall we start? - Please.
- Okay, excellent.
So, first up, we have a chicken and dumpling.
This dish was cooked by Gabi.
She had the canned chicken.
[suspenseful music]
- That's good.
- What a beautiful-looking dish, yeah?
- Yeah, if I didn't know, I wouldn't have guessed
it was canned meat.
It's smart to use that in a broth.
So next up, Izahya grabbed canned clams,
and he made a pasta.
♪ ♪
- Very acidic. - Absolutely, yeah.
It's almost doing a little too much, right?
- Totally. Keep it simple.
- And this one?
- We have a canned tuna fritter from Jordan.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Delicious fritter.
It needs a sauce. - Yeah.
- Needs more.
- No immersion blender in sight, Chef.
- And so you see a lot of dishes here with sauces.
- Absolutely.
- You look a little frazzled at the end there, Jordan.
- I definitely have a huge respect for this basement.
- I [bleep] hate the basement.
- It's tough.
- Stay out of the basement if you're here long enough.
- Yes, chef. - Yeah, absolutely.
- Next? - Next up from Matt,
we have a crispy corned beef
finished with a little bit of honey.
- Good heat in there.
- I like the idea of the sweet versus the salty canned meat.
- If I'm honest, it's very sweet.
- Next up, we have Nicole.
She had the canned ham.
Made a beautiful pasta.
- It's giving me, like, stroganoff vibes.
It's a smart idea. - I like it.
I think the sauce is delicious.
Super creative. - Thank you.
- Here, we have a canned salmon fritter.
It's coming from Tim.
- You've sort of created something unique
with the canned salmon in the fritter.
The fritter's delicious.
- Okay.
Next up, Brittany used ramen noodles
with canned shrimp inspired by her 1 1/2-year-old at home.
What does he call the dish? - Noo-noos.
- Whenever I get off work in the afternoons,
he'll go like to the pantry and he'll,
"Mama, cook. Mama, cook."
And he'll grab noo-noos.
- Listen, I think the idea is there.
It needs a broth. Noodles need to absorb.
Those shrimp are already cooked,
so they go like really super hard when you cook them again.
- Okay.
- Yeah, I like the bounce of the noodles.
That's what ramen noodles provide.
I'm not quite as enthusiastic
about the bounce of the shrimp being overcooked.
- Okay, yeah.
- This, we have a play on a burger-inspired Benedict
from Brittnee.
Poached egg with a hollandaise.
- Did you make hollandaise in 20 minutes?
- I did.
It was risky.
- It takes a professional chef 20 minutes
to make a proper hollandaise.
- Yeah.
I have absolutely done eggs Benedict
several times in 20 minutes.
I brag about it being 20 minutes.
- Is it a hollandaise?
[tense music]
♪ ♪
It's actually quite good.
- Thank you.
- Give us a moment.
We have some decisions to make and talk about
amongst ourselves. Thank you.
- Thank you, chef. - Thank you, chef.
- That's tough, though. - Yeah.
- Isn't it? Some great dishes there.
The Benedict burger.
I've got one kid saying that there's no sauce, no time,
and somebody else making a hollandaise sauce.
- Good job. - Thanks.
- Those prawns are so rubbery.
- I mean, they're already cooked.
- I am so scared.
- There's something wrong with that ingredient, clams.
There was something tainted.
- A missed opportunity. - Absolutely.
We agree? - Yeah.
- I think so. Yeah.
[suspenseful music]
- Okay.
So we've come to a decision.
The first three chefs heading up to the middle level
are going to be...
Nicole...
Gabi...
and Tim.
- Well done. [applause]
Well done. - Congratulations.
Please head to the elevator.
- Whoo! Oh, my God.
Oh.
Such a relief.
[laughs]
- The next three people who are making it to the next level
are Jordan...
Brittnee Gaines... - Thanks.
- And Matt. - Well done.
- Please head to the elevator to join the others.
- Good job. - Thank you, Chef.
- Thank you. - Good job.
- 20 minutes in the basement-- it's tough.
You might have to chef more.
But me, a tuna fritter just took me to the next floor.
Let's go.
- Izahya, Brittany,
unfortunately, that leaves the two of you.
The road for one of you ends here.
[suspenseful music]
And the person that is moving to the next level is...
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
- The person that is moving to the next level is...
♪ ♪
Izahya.
- Yes.
- Congratulations. - Thank you, Chef.
- Please head to the elevator.
- Oh.
I'm sorry.
♪ ♪
Thank you, Chefs. Thank you.
- You should be so proud.
Your son would love this dish.
That's who you kept in your heart
and your spirit when you made this.
And you succeeded in that.
Thank you, Brittany. Good luck to you.
- Thank you. - Well done.
- Good luck. - Take care.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- I felt like I did my best.
I just wasn't ready to go home, and not so early.
[dramatic rock music]
- Good luck. - Thank you, Chef.
- Chef Richard. - Yes.
- Take it away. - Yep.
- Oh, whoa. - Look at this.
- This is a step up.
- Welcome to the next level, the middle level.
- I like it a lot.
- The middle kitchen is night and day from the basement.
And it's actually not too different
from the kitchen that I cook in.
I see that Vitamix and I'm thinking, here we are.
We've made it home.
The smoothie girl is back with her blender.
- All right, everyone. How are we doing?
- Good, man. - We're doing good?
Are we pumped up? - Good, Chef Blais.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- Let's line up, everyone, okay?
All right. You got a hand on the wall.
You have everything you need up here on the middle level.
So today, what I want you to do here is to make a viral dish.
This is your million-plus viral dish.
And I just want to remind you, Gordon and Nyesha are watching
everything that you do, and we're scouting the people
that we want on our team.
Am I clear? all: Yes, Chef.
- Okay, the platform is heading down.
When you see the green light, you can go.
Good luck. - Let's go, y'all.
Turn it up. Come on.
With this grab, I'm not playing.
I got rockets strapped to my shoes.
I am going to be the first one to that grab.
- Go.
30 seconds.
You need a bunch of ingredients.
Grab everything that you can.
Ooh. - I fell.
I freaking fell going for the platform.
- Oh, oh, are you okay?
Good? Okay.
- But there's still shrimp here.
And so I got the shrimp. - Protein.
You have to grab a protein.
- I see chicken. I'm grabbing that.
And immediately, I think fried chicken.
Who doesn't love fried chicken?
- Do I have a vegetable?
Only a couple seconds left.
If you can reach it, it's yours, as it goes.
- Got the whole thing. - Back to your stations.
Let's go. Your 20 minutes starts now.
Let's go. - Let's go, baby.
[tense music]
- Hey, Brittnee, what are you thinking about?
- I'm doing like a spicy sesame soy miso shrimp taco.
- Okay, good. - Shrimp taco.
- She kind of said it as a question.
- Yeah. - What is this?
- Tortillas. - Tortillas?
Oh. What? - Yeah.
- You're making your own tortillas?
- Yeah. - Whoo!
I like it, baby. I like it.
- I like it too.
- This may be stupid, but no risk, no reward.
♪ ♪
- Gabi.
You got the tilapia. What are you going to make?
- I'm making a little romesco-type sauce.
- Okay.
- I'm going to do this with an egg noodle
with a little bit of a breadcrumb on top.
- Okay, there's a lot going on. - Yes.
- So just keep moving, okay? - You got it.
Thank you, Chef. - Big flavors, big flavors.
- Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
- Jordan, what's up?
- All right, so we got a skirt steak.
We're going to get this nice mid-rare,
then we're going to do
a corn-chili-tomato salsa underneath.
We're going to elevate it, stack it up.
- Okay.
You got to get some flow going, right?
- Yes, sir. - I know you're a hip-hop guy.
- Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Ooh, I like that.
- So am I. So am I.
- ♪ I said it ♪
♪ Harry Potter, the way I do it is magical ♪
Growing up, I was kind of bullied and picked on,
a little insecure.
I started rapping when I was really young,
and kids just thought it was really funny.
♪ Ferrari, Ray-Bans, roll the Lambo ♪
I wanted to lift everyone up,
because that's what I needed growing up.
My culinary journey didn't really blow up
until my wife, Jacqueline, was actually like,
you should try doing this on YouTube.
And I was like, what?
Let's make cranberry sauce.
1 cup of sugar. 2 oranges.
You know, I thought it was a opportunity
to kind of document my journey
and my followers could grow with me.
And that has just now become my career
and a love language between me and my wife.
I actually have already had a run-in with Chef Ramsay.
- Dude, what the hell happened there?
- He reacted to a video of me
literally burning my fingerprints off.
Ooh.
- Each finger stuck to the pan, really?
Come on, dude, you know better than that.
- And it amassed over 200 million views
across all platforms.
My fingerprints are still in here, like, a year later.
- You can freestyle with your words.
Let's see freestyle with your food, okay?
- I love it.
- Five minutes are gone already, Izahya.
- How are you doing, Chef? - Okay, what's up, man?
How are you? - I'm good.
- All right, what's the plan?
- I'm going to be making a fried chicken thigh.
- Are these all of your ingredients?
- Yeah, these are all my ingredients.
- Okay. So this is a minimalistic dish, right?
- Yes, Chef. - All right.
All right, get going.
All right, Tim, what's going on?
- Hey, Chef. So what I'm going to do is
I'm going to make a pasta.
- You're making pasta? - Yes, sir.
- Okay, you struggled with 20 minutes last time,
and you're going to make fresh pasta right now?
- I can't play it safe. - Okay.
- Too dangerous. - Absolutely.
- Tim is on a knife edge right now.
- Totally.
- Okay, so it's a pasta dish with ground turkey.
- I'm going to be having ground turkey, some vegetables.
- You got to get that done. - Yes, Chef.
- I love how ambitious some of you are being right now.
Homemade pasta.
A homemade dough over here.
Okay.
All right, Nicole, what's the dish you're going to make?
Do you have it figured out yet?
- I'm going to do a pan-seared pork loin
with a broccoli onion stir fry
and a really beautiful bell pepper puree as my sauce.
- You're used to beating people on stage, right?
Now you're competing in the kitchen?
- Yes, sir.
I've been competing for as long as I can remember.
So I was a competitive dancer
all throughout high school and college.
And then I also competed in scholarship pageants
up until I competed at Miss America in 2018.
One of the big stereotypes with pageant girls
is always world peace and solve world hunger.
But I'm actually doing that.
I don't have a smoothie.
So I started a smoothie bowl series
on my YouTube channel just to see if it worked,
and it blew up almost overnight.
I'm now literally using food through social media
to feed people around the world.
- Is it the same winning mentality?
- Absolutely. - Okay.
I love how you fought downstairs, okay?
- Thank you. - Keep pushing, okay?
♪ ♪
- Whoo. - Are you all right?
- Yeah.
- All right.
I am worried about you, just because I want you
to get that pasta done. - Come on, Tim!
[tense music]
- Dude, you got to go, man. You got 19 things.
You're making a pasta dish. It's a simple cuisine.
Simplify your idea right now. You have to.
- Yes, Chef. - You have to.
- I make fresh pasta at home all the time,
but I'm never really under major time constraints.
Is it going to be done?
- We're at the halfway point.
10 minutes left. - Okay.
- Beautiful.
Feeling good, looking good, baby.
- All right, Tim, you're up against it.
So let's bear down here.
Is the pasta cooking?
- About to go in, Chef. - Dude, okay.
Yeah. - Look at that turkey.
It's raw.
What's he doing there now?
Tim, garlic powder.
Get your hands off the herbs, Tim.
Oh, my God. - This is why we watch these.
These auditions are so imperative.
- Make sure that you're tasting everything, okay?
Tortilla.
You're okay with the thickness on it?
Just make sure that the dough gets cooked
all the way through, right?
And then the shrimp, what are we thinking?
- I'm taking the shells off. And I'm thinking--
I'm thinking about not cutting myself.
- Yeah, yeah. Don't cut yourself.
So concentrate on that.
- My nerves in this knife-- not getting along.
- Five minutes left.
Keep pushing, right?
You didn't come here to go home on the middle floor.
- No, Chef. - But someone is.
Is anyone worried? - No, Chef.
- Feeling good.
- Gonna be on that top kitchen, Chef.
- Feeling good, Chef.
- [gasps] Oh.
- What happened?
- I just cut myself. - Medic!
We need a medic up here, guys.
We need a medic.
- There's a lot of blood there.
- Right over here. Right over here. Thank you.
- Who got cut?
- Oh, my God.
- Okay, how do you feel?
- Oh, my God. Whoo.
[tense music]
- Brittnee, you okay? - Yes.
I think it was a little dramatic, if you ask me.
- Come down to me when you're done.
- Okay.
I guess my body was just rolling
with the theater of it all.
How much time do we have left, Chef?
- Four minutes left.
Against the grain, right? Against the grain.
Okay.
- What is Jordan doing?
Has he rested the steak?
All those juices spilling out onto the board.
- Right. - Two minutes left.
It's time to start plating.
I know that you're all social media chefs.
You make beautiful viral videos that
get millions of followers,
but focus on making this as beautiful as you can.
30 seconds left. - Yes, Chef.
- You're cutting it close, Tim, but you got it, okay?
Now it's go time.
You got to get something on a plate now.
Now you got to go.
Five, four, three,
two, one.
Hands up. Hands up.
- Whoo! - Let's go, baby!
- Yeah!
- This group of social media chefs--they're coachable.
I want people on my team to grow with me.
- Let's go. - Give me Izahya.
Give me Matt.
Is Gordon here? Is Nyesha still here?
[whispers] Gabi is fantastic.
[suspenseful music]
- Okay. Well done, guys.
- Nyesha, Gordon, how fun was that?
- It was incredible. - Incredible.
- Leveled up, for sure.
- Should we taste and dive in?
- Absolutely.
- So this is Jordan's skirt steak
with a little herb pan sauce
and a little corn and tomato salsa.
[tense music]
- I love that you used a fresh salsa
to kind of lighten it up.
It eats really nicely.
Yeah, good job. - Thank you.
- Watching you slice that meat,
and then all the juices spewing out all over your board,
then you dress the plate--
great potential but just badly executed at the end.
- Dagger to the chest.
- All right. Let's get into this crispy chicken
with scallions, honey, vinegar.
This is Izahya's dish.
- It's so pretty. - Very crispy.
- I can hear it.
- Chicken is cooked beautifully.
♪ ♪
- I love the restraint.
- Yeah, I love it.
It's hot, it's spicy,
and it's incredibly crispy. Great job.
- Thank you, Chef.
I'm feeling like I redeemed myself.
Man, my heart is filled.
At this point, if I can be on anybody's team, I'm happy.
Let's go. - All right.
We'll get in here to Matt's dish.
And this is a trout crostini
with a apple, hazelnut, feta, and dill salad.
♪ ♪
The 27.8% Scandinavian part of me
really enjoys the trout and dill,
but the proportion is a little off here, right?
- Trout is delicious. Really good indeed.
Great potential. - Thank you, Chef.
Chef Ramsay thinks my trout is delicious.
I'm going to live with that for the rest of my life,
even if I go home right now.
- Okay. So here we go.
This is Nicole's dish.
It is a spice-seared pork chop with a vegetable stir fry.
- Yeah, I think it's smart.
It's a good play for an audition dish.
It wasn't too much. It wasn't too little.
- Really on point with the seasoning.
- This is Gabi's quick trip to Spain
with tilapia and a romesco sauce
and a little bit of anchovy gremolata.
♪ ♪
Yeah, I mean, as someone who trained in Spain, I mean,
I loved the use of oil and salt and the oceanic flavor
that I'm getting from the tilapia and the anchovy.
You know, maybe the pasta's a little bit clumpy.
- You've taken tilapia from this muddy, dense flavor
into something elegant.
But it tastes better than it looks.
Really good.
- So this is a handmade tortilla
that Brittnee made with some glazed shrimp
and a yogurt sauce.
- Really brave--trying to make a tortilla under 20 minutes.
[tense music]
- Focus on the shrimp, please.
The sauce is delicious.
- It is very thick.
Such a shame. - Yeah.
Focus on the sauce, not the tortilla, please.
- It's very doughy. It's very heavy.
It should be way thinner.
A great shame.
- Well, that really screwed the pooch a little bit.
- Tim's handmade fettuccine with bacon and vegetables.
- So fettuccine is thin.
It's thick. It's undercooked.
A lot of attention on the pasta,
but that actually weighed you down
and sandbagged you as opposed to elevating.
- Turkey tends to be leaner.
So making a delicious sauce could be where
the focus should be spent.
- Yes, Chef.
May not be the best homemade pasta,
but I think the flavors were pretty good.
If anything saves me, it's my flavors.
- All right, everyone, I think we need a second to chat,
for sure, right? - Absolutely.
- Absolutely, yeah. Excuse me.
♪ ♪
Yeah, some great dishes there, by the way.
Fried chicken, exceptional.
- I want to put it in a bag and take it home.
- Oh, God.
The noodles at the end with the fettuccine--terrible.
- Yeah.
- And then the tortilla, bright white inside
and just, like, really dry.
- Yeah. Yeah, tough.
- I mean, really dry.
- What do you think? Are we good?
- Yes. - Okay.
♪ ♪
These decisions do not come easily,
and we don't take them lightly, that's for sure.
- For sure.
- So the first three people moving up
to the top level are...
Izahya...
Gabi...
and Jordan.
- Oh, yeah.
- Congratulations, you three.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- You can head to the elevator.
You've made it to the top level.
- Thank you, Chefs.
- Thank you.
- Started from the bottom.
Now we at the top, baby.
Let's go.
[uplifting music]
- Okay, the next two people that made it
to the top level are...
Nicole and Matt.
Congratulations.
You can join your colleagues in the elevator.
- Thank you.
- Good job. Good job.
- Okay, Brittnee and Tim.
I know this isn't easy.
Unfortunately, only one of you can make it
to the top level kitchen.
- I really, really want to make it to the top kitchen.
But like the stress, the anxiety--
this is not chill.
Ugh, this is so intense.
- The person who's moving on is...
- Oh, gosh.
I'm going to go home over my al dente pasta.
- Brittnee and Tim, only one of you can
make it to the top level kitchen.
The person who's moving on is...
Brittnee.
- Thank you so much.
- Congratulations, Brittnee.
- Thank you.
- Tim, millions of people watch your stuff on social media.
And I know that you're a super talented cook
and it just wasn't one of your best days.
- No, it wasn't. - Best of luck, Tim.
- Thank you.
I'm very disappointed that I'm leaving this early.
Being a social media chef, I never really had
distinguished chefs tasting my food.
I guess the pressure just made me freeze
and try to go for the gold when I should have just simplified.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[intense music]
- Welcome to the best kitchen in the world.
[cheers and applause]
- Oh, my God.
- Yo!
- I'm used to cooking in a Brooklyn kitchen.
This is like a Vegas restaurant in here.
- Insane kitchen.
- Okay.
One cook away from entering the draft.
20 minutes is going to go fast.
So use that time wisely.
You'll be cooking one extraordinary next-level dish.
There are no excuses when we're cooking
with the kind of ingredients you're going to witness
seconds from now. Get yourself into that draft.
Line up, guys. Good luck.
- I want to be one of the five selected chefs
to move on more than anything in life.
- The platform is moving.
- I've put in all this work for all these years
trying to impress my fans, my family, my wife.
- Three, two...
- If I go down, I'm going down fighting.
- Go! Let's go.
[intense music]
Grab, grab, grab.
♪ ♪
- Oh, my God.
I'm looking around this platform,
trying to find something familiar.
I see stuff I've never even cooked with before,
but I've always wanted to,
but it was a little bit too expensive.
- Get in there, guys.
- I see that rack of lamb,
and I knew that rack of lamb was it.
There's no excuses now, all right?
You have the best ingredients in the world.
I'm going to get myself on a team.
- Both hands grab. Come on.
It's going. It's going.
Well done.
20 minutes to get yourselves in the draft.
Your time starts now. Let's go.
- Let's go, chef. - Let's go.
Let's go, baby. Let's go. Let's go.
- Auditions help to fine tune our teams,
and it's a great insight for me.
I'll spot things that Richard and Nyesha will never see.
- Oh, that's bubbly. - Brittnee, what did you grab?
- I grabbed some halibut, some bacon, green onions,
ricotta, and some bread. - Oh, love it.
No other veg?
- Just that one spring onion. - And one--
- Oh, wait, no. I have lemon.
- Okay, good for the halibut.
And one spinach leaf?
- I have a potato and some garlic.
[laughs]
My intention is to use that one leaf of spinach
and salt it with my tears,
because I don't have any other vegetables.
- This excitement behind the social media,
how did it start?
- Well, I lost my cat, and I just did not
feel right eating because I'm like,
she's out there fighting for her life.
- Right. - And so I was like,
if I film it, it'll feel like work.
- Was it stolen?
- No, but I hired a--
I hired a lost cat detective.
- You hired a lost cat detect-- did you find this cat?
- According to my cat medium, she's out there.
- Your cat medium? - And she's being fed.
Yeah. - Wow.
- She's into her cat.
I love it. It's so cute.
- What's the cat's name?
- Her name is Nomi.
- If you've seen Brittnee's cat--
- Please bring her home. - Please bring Nomi home.
- Yeah.
- Don't give up. - I'm not going to give up.
- But just get yourself in that draft first,
and I'll take care of the cat, okay?
- Okay. - Good luck.
Two minutes gone.
Oh, boy.
Please tell me you haven't lost a dog.
- No, no. - Okay, good, good.
Good, good. - Not at all, chef.
- Girlfriend? - I'm married.
I'm married. - You're married. Okay, great.
And what does she think about this social media phenomenon?
- Oh, man, she's the reason I started social media, man.
She showed me how to edit, record my videos,
just be more confident.
Football was my first love.
It got me all the way to college.
And due to injury, it ended abruptly.
But it was a blessing in disguise.
- "Next Level" came out,
and when I seen it, I was like, oh, my God.
The show was, like, just such a cool idea.
I loved it.
I would do skits on my page
just acting like I'm on "Next Level Chef."
- My viewers fell in love with it.
I am a very competitive person.
I know what it is to be in the trenches.
So I'm ready. I'm ready.
- And what did you grab?
- A Wagyu New York strip.
- You got the hero.
I'll be watching you tonight once the hand's
on that strip, okay?
Guys, eight minutes gone.
Make this count.
- Oh. - Whoo.
Scared me, Gabi.
You scared me.
- Matt, how are you feeling? What do you got?
- I've got these beautiful purple potatoes,
rack of lamb, Iberico ham.
- You've got the best cut, but can you cook
a rack of lamb in 20 minutes?
I don't think you can.
- 45 minutes, I can do a whole rack.
20 minutes?
I know for a fact I have to cut it into chops.
- Coachable.
- More coachable than I thought.
I love this part because, in the auditions,
we get to scout potential team members
or throw my fellow mentors off my scent.
That's right, Gordon.
I know who I'm looking at.
- I've got to prove I am a good student.
- Gabi, what did you grab?
- I got some duck breast.
- Wow, we've gone from one extreme to the other.
Tilapia to duck breast.
- Yes.
I've never cooked duck.
And I'm so nervous.
- The secret of cooking great duck is letting it rest.
- I'm taking in every word he's saying.
- Get that skin side down and render that fat out.
- It's my key to making this dish incredible.
- Just sear it. Otherwise, it turns gray.
- Mmm.
He is the key.
I need the key.
♪ Listen to Gordon ♪
♪ Do what he says ♪
♪ Because if you don't, you'll probably go home ♪
- 6 1/2 minutes to go.
- How are we feeling, everybody?
Let's go. Keep working.
- Nicole, the secret behind that tuna is searing it
and letting it rest as well.
You've got a nice color on there like that.
That's beautifully done.
- Oh, my God.
I need one of these for my life.
- Okay, Jordan. - Yes, sir?
- Tell me about it. What are we doing?
- We're basically getting a nice color on here.
We're going to dance those vegetables
around those scallops. - Good.
- Little butter base. Beautiful.
- Good. Good luck.
- Thank you, Chef.
[tense music]
- Final two minutes. Let's go.
- All right, Chef. - Start plating.
- Right in there, Chef.
- It does need more cooking.
- Oh, my God.
I am absolutely terrified.
I need to make sure I have enough time
to cook it perfectly.
Whoo!
The pressure's on, man.
I'm sweating right now.
I'm behind. I'm behind. - Come on, y'all.
Turn up! Turn up!
- It's hard, man. They're social media chefs.
They're not used to this.
- 30 seconds to go. - Whoo!
♪ ♪
- Three, two, one,
and stop.
- Let's go, baby. - Hands in the air.
- Let's go. Let's go!
- Yeah! Let's go.
[dramatic music]
- Richard, Nyesha, welcome back.
That was insane.
- Insane.
- Even before we start tasting, just the visual impact--
it is absolutely clear that these are social media stars.
- Wow. - Thank you, Chef.
- Impressed. - Thank you.
- Let's get down to business.
Let's start off with this caramelized slow-roasted duck.
So with the coconut, gochujang, sort of almost like
a sort of fragrant curry.
This was executed by Gabi.
- Duck tends to be sort of rich and fatty.
This has a nice levity to it.
It's really bright and fun.
- I think it's the most dangerous protein
you could have cooked tonight.
And you've absolutely nailed it.
- It was my first time, so--
- What?
- I am mostly a vegetarian chef, so yeah.
- You've never cooked duck before?
- Never. - You've nailed it.
Next up is a halibut.
Brittnee, no greens, but there was a bit
of a mishap with the grab.
- Yeah, maybe a little bit under-seasoned.
Looking for a little bit of vegetables.
But again, a classic combination.
Potatoes, fish.
The bacon really, really serves the dish well.
- The potatoes are actually my favorite part of it.
There are tons of flavor in them,
but I think the fish is a little bit under-seasoned
and sort of undercooked around the edges.
- So this was cooked by Izahya.
Wagyu served with a puree.
[suspenseful music]
- I mean, prime time ingredient, for sure.
Classic interpretation.
Good stuff.
- This is Nicole. This is a seared tuna.
It's encrusted with sesame seed, blistered tomatoes,
and roasted starch.
- I think you nailed the tuna. It's delicious.
I'm getting a nice texture from the sesame.
The vegetables feel like a little bit of an afterthought.
Maybe an opportunity to see a green,
right, to brighten it up.
But overall, great progression.
- Thank you.
- Rack of lamb smartly broken down to chops
executed by Matt.
Marinated first and grilled.
So with the puree-- Iberico ham as well.
- Potatoes for me are a little salt-heavy.
Again, I'm a big fan of vegetables.
I would like to see a vegetable on a plate.
- Lamb is cooked beautifully.
And it's pink, and the fat is delicious.
- Thank you, Chef.
Thank you so much.
- Jordan grabbed the scallops, blistered tomatoes,
roasted the veg, and then made this fragrant tomato essence.
- What I love about this--
it's really hard to cook a proper scallop.
You've got a nice sear on that.
- Thank you.
- I'm really impressed with this.
The complexity and simplicity is--
it's beautiful.
- Scallops are perfection.
I mean, it's got finesse.
It's sort of magazine cover material.
But it tastes as good as it looks.
- I'm a social media chef.
I just started cooking four years ago.
What alternate universe am I living in right now?
- Right, you six, now we come down
to the most important decision of the night.
We need a very, very serious few minutes together.
- Thank you, Chefs. - Thank you so much.
- Good job.
- That's tough. - All right.
- Really tough.
- Nailed those scallops, bro. - Yeah.
- Scallops, what do you think?
- Did you cook the scallops?
- Yeah, I must say, this kid comes in
cooking like an angel.
Is that a fluke?
The fact that she'd never cooked duck before,
and that duck comes out like that?
- She seems to have this innate sensibility about proteins
and pairing them.
- Brittnee's halibut.
It needed something green.
It needed citrus.
- It was screaming for something.
- Something. - The lamb dish only had
the lamb and a starch on that plate.
- The meat was cooked perfectly, though.
- Don't be scared.
- I'm happy with the choice, and I think
I found my first pick maybe. - Wow.
- Wow, wow.
- Playing those cards already. - Wow.
- Shall we? - Let's do it.
[suspenseful music]
- Now, before we reveal our decision,
I'd like to remind all of you what's at stake.
- Oh, gosh.
Whoa.
[dramatic music]
- Oh, my goodness.
- Wow.
- Five aprons and five amazing "Next Level Chef" jackets.
That's what's at stake right there.
But you have to make it onto one of our teams.
- I'd be happy to be on any one of these amazing chef teams,
but I'd be lying if I said that Chef Ramsay apron
wouldn't look real good on me.
- All six of your performances tonight reaffirmed
you deserve to be here.
Super impressive.
- Thank you, Chef.
- The first person entering the draft--
congratulations goes to...
Jordan.
Well done. - Yes.
Let's go. - Good job.
- Thank you, Chef.
Let's get it.
- The next person into the final five--
congratulations goes to...
Gabi.
- Oh, my God. - Well done.
- Thank you. Thank you so much.
- The third person earning their spot on one of our teams
is Nicole.
Congratulations. Well done.
- You're joking.
- The fourth person who's made their way
into the draft--Izahya.
- Let's go! - Well done.
- Let's go! - Yeah!
- Let's go.
- Okay.
Matt and Brittnee, this is a difficult one.
Both young, promising, great futures,
but only one of you can make it into the top five.
The final social media chef...
- Ugh, this is so intense.
Why am I putting myself through this?
- Moving into the draft...
- But I'm so close.
- Congratulations goes to...
- Just waiting for that last name to be called,
my heart is racing.
I can't even describe how badly I want to get
on one of these chefs' teams.
- The final social media chef
moving into the draft--
congratulations goes to...
[suspenseful music]
Matt.
[applause]
- Congratulations, bro.
Congratulations.
- Let's go, baby!
Let's go!
Oh.
[laughing]
- Brittnee, I think you got a little bit
frazzled from the grab.
Because you got the protein beautifully done,
but there was nothing surrounding it.
- I'm not done here.
Y'all can find me online.
- Please say goodbye to your fellow social media chefs
and head into the elevator. - Bye, you guys.
- Get in. Come on.
- Yeah, get in here. - Come on.
- I would love to work with these mentors,
and I would love to win that much money.
- Great job, Brittnee. - Good job, Brittnee.
- Make sure you get ahold of that cat.
- But Chef Ramsay shouted my cat out,
and he complimented my hollandaise,
and I love that for me.
♪ ♪
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
- You're now the top five social media chefs
in this contest, okay?
Now you're in the competition.
Moving into the draft, I've got my eye on quite a lot of you.
It's only the beginning.
Don't make any silly mistakes.
- Yes, Chef.
- In true social media fashion, let's do a selfie.
- Let's go, baby. - Yeah!
- Come on, man. Come on.
We got to get it--keep going. Let's go.
Where are you?
One, two, three.
- Yeah! - Come on!
- Come on, baby!
Let's go! - Well done.
- Thank you, Chef. - Good night.
- Whoo! Thank you, Chefs.
Ahh!
- Whoo!
[cheering]
- Next time on "Next Level Chef"...
- Go time.
- Today we are starting with the eight home cooks.
- This is so crazy.
I'm not even on the competition yet.
I'm still just auditioning.
- Oh.
- I said get the pan hot, but don't burn
the [bleep] kitchen down.
- Everybody else was so calm.
What the hell is wrong with me?
- I'm panicking. It is a disaster.
And I have no clue where to take it from here.
♪ ♪
- Have you got any last words before you leave?
- Follow me and find my cat, please.
- [meows, purrs]