[Michael] Last time, the six remaining chefs took big risks...
-It is getting very real now. -Might as well bet it all.
-Oh! -Whoa!
...to win the Golden Knife.
You have to win some of these Golden Knife challenges.
Viet, you're still the Golden Knife holder.
Yes.
[Michael] Then, after 17 grueling hours, a mystery guest arrived
to shake up the whole competition.
The chef you will be cooking against is not currently
in this kitchen. -What?
The reigning champion of "24 in 24,"
Chef Jonathon Sawyer.
-[chef] Whoo! -[chefs applaud]
[Michael] With a spot in the finals at stake...
Gosh, man.
...Viet had to choose one chef to put everything on the line.
Alex...
you're going against Sawyer.
[music builds]
[Michael] This is "24 in 24 -- Last Chef Standing."
So, Alex versus Sawyer.
-Strategy. -[Michael] I need to be clear.
Alex, if you win, you go straight to the finale.
If you don't win, you go home.
This game has just been brought to a new level.
You better pray he beats me.
Ooh.
Why did you pick Alex?
He is a formidable chef, and he is my biggest threat.
Alex is cold as ice.
If he wins, he's coming after me.
That scares me the most.
That is the last time the Golden Knife is gonna play
until we get to the finale. Viet, bring me the knife.
[Avishar] Keeper of the knife.
Choosing Alex was a big risk.
But I'll throw whatever wrench I can to win this competition.
[Michael] Thank you, Chef.
Everybody but Alex and Jonathon
back to the break room.
[Christina] That was a good strategy.
♪♪
-I would love to watch that. -Jonathon's a really good cook.
[Christina] Johnny's amazing.
[Joe] If anyone's gonna give Alex a run for their money,
that's gonna be the battle right there.
Yeah, yeah.
[Michael] All right, chefs.
So in this challenge, you're gonna be cooking
an upscale seafood dish.
[Alex] Chef Sawyer has a lot more experience competing.
This is not going to be easy.
It's not about just getting through.
I have to win.
[Jonathon] Alex Stupak is a fantastic chef,
but there's a reason why I'm the champion still.
Chefs, are you ready?
[daring, ominous chord plays]
Yes, Chef.
Alex, you ready?
I'm ready.
All right, this heavyweight 30-minute battle
starts right now.
♪♪
[Jonathon] Is it natural for me to be the villain?
Most certainly not.
But in this arena, I'll embrace it.
Alex, you're not gonna win.
This is pretty epic.
[Michael] I'm happy I'm gonna have a ringside seat for this one.
This is gonna be interesting because Alex is exhausted.
[Alex] So how's this gonna go?
I've been cooking for hours. I'm fading.
Here comes Chef Jon, strolling in, well-rested,
hair perfectly coiffed just a beast ready to tear
me apart. So I have to go bold.
I'm making halibut seasoned with za'atar.
The dish needs a vegetable. I pick cauliflower,
and baste it in brown butter.
I'm using a Mexican-style hot sauce as a base,
and I'm enriching the flavor with cumin,
caraway, and cardamom.
Those flavor profiles are something I'm very comfortable with,
and I know they're not ones that Chef Sawyer
typically uses.
Dude, if I'm going out, this is the one.
Come on!
[Jonathon] So I'm gonna make a spicy shellfish stew.
I'm gonna build this broth first.
Langoustines, clams, mussels.
Go rich, umami, deep, deep flavor.
Come on, you [bleep].
[groans]
So now I'm gonna build the base for this dish --
calamari bodies, garlic, and onions.
I'm gonna run 'em all through the meat grinder.
Thirty minutes is not a lot of time.
Tick, tick, tick, tick.
You're very comfortable cooking seafood.
Absolutely.
So you still feel battle tested?
-You're ready? -Yeah.
I feel like this is a good arena.
[Michael] All right. Good luck, Chef.
Thank you, Chef.
Viet picked me, and I actually took that as a compliment.
Would you guys have done the same thing?
-Yeah. -Hundred percent.
I think Viet and all the other contestants
think I'm gonna beat them.
I mean, have you been watching me?
[Michael] All right, Alex, how are you feeling?
-This one's a doozy. -This one's a doozy.
-It's a good one. -If I'm gonna go out.
It's -- yeah, no, it's a good one.
What's at stake is way more than the money.
I wanna make my family proud. It's very important to me.
All right, chefs, ten minutes left.
That delicious broth is where it's supposed to be.
There we go!
But the most important thing for this langoustine stew is
not to overcook those langoustines.
I wanna just barely cook them through.
Going against someone like Alex is no joke.
Winning "24 in 24" was the greatest victory
of my career.
Jonathon Sawyer, you're our winner.
[Michael] You are the last chef standing.
-[chefs cheering] -Whoo!
[Jonathon] With the winnings of last season, I started
the Sawyer Foundation that helps people deal with addiction.
And I'm 40 months into my sobriety,
and I'm happier every day.
[Michael] Seven minutes, chefs.
[Michael & Jonathon] Seven minutes.
Halibut is very easy to dry out, so I'm keeping a very
close eye on this fish.
I need to make sure it's really juicy in the middle.
Anything higher than 140 degrees,
and it's gonna be bone-dry.
And that would mean I'm going home.
Got two and a half minutes left, buddy.
-Let's get to the plate. -I see the clock.
[tense music playing]
[Alex] Now it's time to plate my dish.
The first thing that I'm putting down
is a yogurt-based white sauce with a heavy dose of garlic.
And I actually spread it with a paintbrush.
Splashing that red sauce Jackson Pollock-style.
Chefs, 30 seconds.
[Alex] The cauliflower goes down, and then down goes the halibut.
Ah!
Mussels and clams go right in.
Over top, I pour that shellfish broth
and slices of fingerling potatoes that I fried crispy.
-[Esther] Five... -[Michael and Esther] Four,
three, two, one. -[Michael] Hands up, chefs!
-[heavy exhale] -Nice job, chefs.
[Michael] All right, chefs, before the judge comes out,
please head back to the break room.
[Jonathon] Thirty minutes is so fast!
-Oh, hey. -[Lee Anne] Whoa!
-Dude. -[Jonathon] How are you, man?
-Good, man. -Great to see you.
[Viet] So any tips you could give us?
It's too late. You guys are here.
You made it. Yeah, you made it.
You're here.
All right, chefs, let's bring back season one champ, Marcel.
-Wow! -[Michael] Welcome back, Chef.
Hello.
How apropos that season one is judging season two,
maybe against the champion of season three.
Who knows?
One of the chefs got to put one of the competing chefs
in a one-on-one, head-to-head battle.
If they win, they get to skip the seventh shift,
go straight to the finale. If they lose, they go home.
I love what you guys have done with the show.
-I know. -[all laugh]
So we have two beautiful dishes here.
The challenge was upscale seafood.
Should we dive in?
[Michael] This is za'atar roasted halibut with
white sauce, red sauce, herb salad, and cauliflower.
[Alex] This is everything.
If it's not moist, I think I lost.
Oftentimes, halibut can dry out so easily.
But you can see how moist and juicy and perfect it is.
It takes a very skilled chef to nail halibut like that.
The za'atar gives a nice herbaceous element
and a lot of flavor.
Then just, like, party with all the herbs.
But, I mean, the cauliflower is like overcooked, right?
A little bit of, like, baby food action.
-All right, dish number two. -Great.
[Esther] Shellfish stew with gochujang, sake, herb salad,
and fingerling potato.
Such a sucker for shellfish broth.
-How much time do they have? -[both] Thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes? Wow!
A lot of flavor in there.
Oh, man.
I want that seafood stew right now.
[Marcel] I love that spicy shellfish soup.
But, you know, these langoustines can be,
like, a little bit, like, [clicks mouth] a little mealy. -Mealy.
[suspenseful music playing]
All right, chefs, with that, we are gonna cut the feed.
Hmm.
It's tough 'cause like, this just has
so much more flavor.
But this one is just so clean and well-balanced.
Ugh, they make it so hard.
-Chef, we need an answer. -Yeah.
You ready to see who cooked the dishes?
-Yeah. -[Michael] All right.
Oh, he's back.
[Michael] I don't think these two need an introduction, but we have
Alex and Jonathon Sawyer. -You won season two.
-Chef. -Oh, that's cool.
-What a twist! -[Michael] Yeah.
Alex, you have more on the line.
Win, go straight to the finale.
If you don't win, you go home.
That being said, the chef that cooked the winning dish is...
[tense music playing]
Congratulations, chef...
-[clock ticking] -[heart thumping]
Congratulations, chef...
Alex.
-[chef] Whoo. -[chef #2] Whoo.
[Marcel] The halibut was moist and juicy and perfectly cooked.
[Alex] It would have been an honor to lose to you.
[Michael] [indistinct]
Crap, I am screwed.
This is the absolute worst.
The fact that Alex Stupak is still here is disappointing.
He's in the finale. Thanks, Viet.
-Congratulations, Alex, yeah. -Thank you.
Winning this challenge against Chef Sawyer,
I'm feeling really proud of myself.
You are the first chef that has made it to the finale.
Mm.
So go chill out in the break room.
[Alex] Thanks.
And I get to take a much-needed break.
I love you both.
Couldn't be more proud of both of you.
But your shift is done.
[all laugh]
Bye, guys.
Good luck, Chefs.
Good luck, good luck, good luck.
[sighs]
[phone line ringing]
-Hi. -Hello.
Oh my God, I miss you guys so much.
How are you doing? You're -- we're over here dying.
[Alex] Um, I'm still in it. That's all I can say.
[Lauren] We are so proud of you.
I'm very tired, but I'm gonna make it to the end.
It was so great to see them.
And again, it's only been a day and a half,
but this competition is so intense that it feels like
I haven't seen them for a month.
And, you know, they all told me how proud they were of me.
-Love you. -Love you.
-I'll call you soon. -Love you.
[Esther] Chefs, I know you're beyond exhausted.
I know your eyes are a little blurry.
Hands may be a touch shaky.
Lee Anne, pay attention to me.
Thank you.
You have been at it for over 18 hours.
[exhales] Yep.
[groans softly]
[Viet] I'm feeling physically, emotionally,
and mentally spent. What's keeping me going?
I -- I don't know.
There are six of you left, but five of you in this arena.
Of course, Alex is not participating in this shift,
and you have two shifts left.
And then one of you will walk away with $100,000.
-[whistles] -[chefs applaud]
It is time for shift seven, which is all about precision.
I am exhausted. I am on fumes at this point.
And we're doing precision. What, are you kidding me?
[Esther] In this shift, you'll demonstrate your ability
to execute with perfect accuracy.
-Holy cow. -[exhales]
So your next challenge is all about making dishes
that require precision.
Or should I say, "Your next challenges,"
'cause these are two challenges in one.
[ominous chord plays]
So challenge 18 is gonna be to make your best risotto.
[Christina] This is sickening.
Risotto is known for sending people home in competitions.
And challenge 19 is to make your best crème brûlée.
Crème brûlée? Oh, God.
Risotto, I got. I'm Italian.
I know how to make risotto,
but crème brûlée? Come on.
[Lee Anne] I'll be honest,
I haven't made a crème brûlée in over ten years.
Chefs, you're gonna have 50 minutes to pull off
both of these dishes.
The top three chefs will earn a spot in the finale.
[Viet exhales]
This is not an elimination challenge,
but the next one will be.
Time starts now.
This is chefs cooking classic dishes that need to be perfect
to seal a victory. -[Avishar] Shallot, shallot, shallot.
Brain, work.
Eighteen hours into the competition,
so we're gonna have to dig deep.
-[cans clank] -[Christina] Aye-yi-yi.
[Lee Anne] This is a joke.
A perfect risotto and crème brûlée in 50 minutes.
I am tired.
[Lee Anne groans]
My body is telling me that I should not be continuing on.
So, I'm gonna keep the dishes really simple.
Asparagus and Parmesan cheese risotto
with a honey crème brûlée.
But, I think my mental health is falling apart.
[pans clank]
[pans continue clanking]
[exhales softly]
I think Lee Anne is starting to get a little tired.
[pans clank]
She's a bit rattled.
I'm a little bit on edge and delirious.
Is there aluminum foil anywhere?
Do we have aluminum foil?
Hotel pan lids?
Do we have a chinois?
I feel like Lee Anne's starting,
like, almost, like, hallucinate.
[Lee Anne] Crème brûlée dishes?
Can I have a candy thermometer, please?
There's a part of me telling me to give up,
and I'm thinking about it.
[Joe] We don't have a lot of time to make risotto and crème brûlée,
so I can't get fussy with it. No left- or right-hand turns.
So I'm gonna make a sausage risotto with Parmigiano Reggiano,
and I'm gonna make a almond hazelnut crème brûlée.
Crème brûlée is a ratio dish that has to be cooked
to precision in a water bath for a specific set of time.
You go over, under, too many eggs, not enough eggs,
dish is ruined.
[Joe] Been a long time since I've made a crème brûlée.
It's harder when you're this tired.
Absolutely.
I spike it with almond extract and a shot of hazelnut liqueur.
Whisk, whisk, whisk, and kind of bring the eggs
and the cream together.
Whoo!
I get the crème brûlée in the oven.
I believe the oven was at, like, 320 degrees or so,
but I don't know what it's supposed to be.
I don't think I've made a crème brûlée
since culinary school.
[softly] OK.
[normally] Thank God I'm on my risotto.
My risotto's gonna have lots of sausage to give it
lots of flavor.
You can't have too much sausage.
It's something a little bit more punchier,
a little bit more saltier.
It's gonna be absolutely delicious.
I grew up with my grandmother making risotto all the time.
I used to love when she used to make it for me as a kid.
A great comfort food.
-How you feeling, Joe? -Good.
Uh, I'm feeling good about one dish.
-Feeling good about risotto. -Yeah.
I know I'm gonna put up one good dish.
-Good luck, Chef. -[Joe] Thanks, Chef.
[Viet] Honestly, I have not made risotto in a long time,
almost two decades.
I've made a lot of rice porridge, which is, I guess,
nah, it's not similar to risotto.
My God, this could be, like, really, really bad.
But I wanna do something a little bit different
from, you know, everybody else.
So my plan is to make a seafood risotto by using cockles
and a Vietnamese crème brûlée.
I started my risotto.
I add some shallots and some truffle peelings.
Some lemon zest, uh, some garlic.
And then I'm gonna slowly add in some shellfish stock.
This is a move that I'm hoping is going to pay off,
but yet I'm literally in uncharted territory.
I need to get as much help as I can.
Hey, Chef Joe. What's up?
You wanna give me any tips on making a good risotto?
Stir, stir, stir.
[Viet] Every time that I stir that pot is more and more energy
that I've saved up that is going down the drain.
[Viet exhales]
[coughs] Ooh, that's acid reflux.
[continues coughing] Excuse me.
I have less than 15 percent of the energy
that I had initially.
So I'm gonna try to keep it simple and safe
with a bacon risotto and a chai crème brûlée.
I'm not sure I can get both done to the best ability,
so I'm gonna try to focus on one and then focus on the other.
For the first time in all these hours,
I think my body is giving me signals.
My stomach doesn't feel great. My brain is acting weird.
[softly] Bowls, where are my bowls?
[normally] But I'm gonna dig deep and try to keep it together.
I hope the audience realizes
how insanely hard this is on these chefs.
It's about stretching your limits.
You think of a show like "Top Chef."
They might do this many competitions, but they're doing
it over five or six weeks of shooting.
This is happening in a 24-hour period.
So your creativity, your precision,
your -- all those things are compressed into 24 hours -Mm-hmm.
and 24 competitions.
[Avishar softly] Make the crème brûlée first.
[normally] Gotta get it going right away.
Chai is an excellent flavor.
That goes very, very well, with a generally rich dessert.
So I'm going to try to use my Bengali inspirations.
Cinnamon, bay leaf, clove, green cardamom.
[Avishar coughs]
[Avishar] I'm having a hard time with dexterity.
Why is my heart beating through my head?
That's weird.
I am holding it together, but it's taking me twice
as long as normal.
Why are my muscles not working?
I feel like I've actually left my body and I'm observing
myself from the outside.
You're not only battling against the other chefs,
you're battling against yourself.
-A hundred percent. -[Avishar groans]
[Avishar] I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
-[clock ticking] -[heart thumping]
[Avishar] Things are vibrating inside of me and my head
is also vibrating.
It's a new sensation.
I have to muster every last bit of energy that I have.
Giving up is never an option for me.
I get my crème brûlée to the combi oven.
I feel cautiously optimistic.
-[Avishar exhales] -[Michael] 37 minutes, chefs.
Two classics and traditional dishes, but they're exhausted.
[Christina] I'm so tired.
My mind is moving much slower.
All right.
Where is the rice? The rice.
Where are you?
Like, it's a slow motion scene in a movie.
Where did I put that?
I want this beautiful, bright spring theme,
so I'm going to be making a spring pea risotto
and a blood orange crème brûlée.
Start that first.
Luckily for me, crème brûlée is actually one of the recipes
that I hold in my back pocket.
Christina was a cooking instructor.
Oh, right.
So these kind of dishes she probably taught a lot.
[Christina] In my recipe, I have cardamom pods,
star anise, blood orange, and the...
what is it? What was it?
Do you know where vanilla beans are?
Oh, yeah. Vanilla beans.
[sighs]
[whisking]
[Christina] I pour my custard into my ramekins.
I put my ramekins in the fridge so that they can cool down,
and I can work on my risotto now for the rest of the time.
I feel really good about my crème brûlée,
but unfortunately, it could be too eggy, it can be runny.
The littlest mistake can send you home at this point.
I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it.
I'm tired.
[Lee Anne] The first thing I need to start on is crème brûlée,
and I'm trying to remember the recipe,
but I can't.
Wait, how much milk? How much cream?
How much sugar?
I'm struggling with the most basic of tasks,
so I decide on going a half cup of sugar.
Oh, it wasn't a half cup of sugar.
It was a quarter cup of sug --
well, it was maybe, like, a third cup of sugar.
After that, there is...
stuff.
Blend it on low, low speed, and I wanna fall asleep.
I get the mixture into ramekins.
I put them in the oven.
Hopefully, they get done in the next 40 minutes.
[Viet] I realize I'm behind now.
I need to start on my Vietnamese crème brûlée.
♪♪
[sighs softly] Man.
[normally] I add some cardamom, cinnamon, and some ginger,
things that really kind of, like, scream who I am
and where I'm from.
Normally, the way that you would do this is that
you would heat up the cream, and then you would add it
slowly into the egg yolks, and then you would stir it.
But in this case, I don't have a lot of time, so I figured
I'm just gonna blend this all together as fast as I can
and hope and pray that it works.
Ah!
[Lee Anne] I used to make risotto as a special
in my restaurant in Maui. It was asparagus risotto.
I'm doing classic. I can't --
I can't be --
I -- I need to get it right versus trying to be super
creative at this point.
But it's a lot of work.
I am juicing my asparagus stems.
I am cutting and sautéing my asparagus tops and tips.
And then I am mincing my herbs, grating my cheese.
And all the while I'm doing this,
I am whipping cream for the crème brûlée.
This whole circus is going on at once.
In the meantime,
I have a problem. The crème brûlée has to bake.
The crème brûlée cannot be liquid.
-How are you? -Extremely worried.
Extremely worried? What are you worried about?
-My crème brûlée. -What's going on with it?
Not setting up. I think my oven was too low.
If I don't have a dish, I don't have a crème brûlée, I lose.
Ow!
I am so close to the finale.
Winning this could help me buy a home for my -- my son
and my husband. The crème brûlée has to set.
[whispering] Come on.
Chefs, you have about 19 minutes left.
[Avishar] I think bacon is an excellent flavor that
represents the Midwest, so we're gonna try to make
a bacon risotto.
But I don't have a lot of experience.
Do you wash rice for risotto?
-No, I toast it. -[Avishar] OK, excellent, excellent.
I'm gonna get the rice toasted.
I wanna make sure the technique is there.
I'm a little nervous because this is gonna take
some time, and risotto waits for no one.
-How's it going? -Good.
Yeah?
I'm -- I'm optimistic about this crème brûlée.
-You're optimistic about the crème brûlée, -Optimistic.
and then your risotto?
My risotto will get done, but it looks like
it's getting close. -Well, best of luck, Chef.
There's, like, dizzy things -- yeah, thank you, Chef.
All right.
You're going to continue to cook.
[Michael] You worried about anybody?
-A lot of them. -A lot of them.
Yeah.
But I'm -- what I'm really worried about is Avishar.
I mean, the risotto, I feel like,
is definitely undercooked.
The texture should be al dente.
You just have to nail it in every way.
Right. A hundred percent.
[Joe] That crème brûlée ain't gonna set.
It's not setting. And the clock is ticking.
Chefs, just under 14 minutes to go.
14 minutes.
[Joe] And even more so, I'm looking at the risotto, and I'm like,
"I still got a long ways to go on the risotto."
I'm saying to myself, I'm counting.
I'm like, "There's not enough time."
We'll see. We'll see.
And the only thing I'm thinking is keep it moving as long
as I can. But everything's hurting.
The desire to push forward is starting to go.
So I gotta stay motivated.
You know who keeps me going?
My wife. My wife.
'Cause I gotta tell you, if I go home and I don't do well,
I gotta win. She's gonna kick my butt.
And my kid, he's right next to her.
My wife and my kid are everything.
So.
It's gonna be a tight one.
[Christina] I feel pretty awful right now, I'm not gonna lie.
I'm definitely slow physically and mentally.
Just gotta push through.
Chefs, seven minutes.
[Christina] I take my crème brûlée out of the fridge.
I need to add the sugar on top.
I'm gonna put this in the sugar.
Where are you? I just put it away.
Why did I do that?
Now we're talking to ourselves, you know?
I decide to zest some blood orange into my sugar.
That's when I really messed up.
As I'm torching it, the zest is starting to burn.
I realize it will give it a bitter flavor.
I just wanna make sure this doesn't taste bad after.
So I decide to add more sugar on top.
I have no idea if it'll work.
Sometimes you just make decisions that
don't make any sense.
Aye-yi-yi, these take forever.
A really good crème brûlée just jiggles ever so gently
right in the center.
Come on, custard.
My custard is not jiggling. It's forming waves.
With the crème brûlée, I'm thinking, like,
maybe, all it needs is some time in the freezer to set.
But, you know [stammering]
I don't know, man.
Chefs, three minutes to go, and three of you are about
to make it to the finale.
[tense music playing]
So much stirring.
My crème brûlée has to have a perfect sugar top,
and I'm still nervous it's going to have a bitter flavor,
so I felt the need to make a whipped cream.
All right, come here, you little cutie.
[Lee Anne] My crème brûlée comes out of the blast chiller.
I only hope it's set.
Chefs, 90 seconds.
Is it good enough?
I have no idea. No idea.
Chefs, if you do not have a torch out, I would highly
recommend that you should be starting that right now.
[Viet] I can't tell whether or not the crème brûlée is nicely
jiggling or if it's loose, but, you know, at this moment
in time, there's no way of making another crème brûlée.
It's now or never.
♪♪
I got a crème brûlée up, but I'm worried it's not set
in the middle. So risotto has gotta be great.
Joe, you have 30 seconds. Let's get to the plate.
♪♪
[Avishar] I can't figure it out.
The crème brûlée is not properly chilled.
But I'm out of time.
[hosts] Nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
-[Esther] Hands up. -[Michael] Hands up, chefs.
Hands up.
[exhales]
♪♪
[Joe] I took it all the way down to the wire.
I used every possible bit of energy.
This is tough.
This is gonna be real tough.
[music builds]
Salty.
-[clock ticking] -[heart thumping]
-OK, what am I doing? -[Christina] Can I get a pen?
[Michael] All right, chefs, obviously bring your plates up,
drop 'em, head to the break room.
[Viet] This is crazy. I don't even know.
[Lee Anne] I made it. [chuckles]
-[Christina groans] -Oh, my God.
How's it going?
[Christina] Yeah, man, I'm dragging.
[Joe] I'm delirious.
Like, mentally and physically, so...
I'm done. I'm, like, so tired.
[Christina] I had to, like, really push myself.
OK, chefs, I know you're excited to see
who your judge is for this shift.
This is a judge who has a reputation for being
incredibly meticulous.
[heavy exhale]
Please welcome Andrew Zimmern.
-[Andrew] Wow. -[Esther] Hi, Chef.
-AZ. -Wow.
-Good morning.
[Michael] Good morning, I don't --
we don't even know what time -- -Good morning.
[Lee Anne] Celebrated chef,
author, TV show host,
Emmy Award winner. He has impeccable taste.
Ah.
-What? -[Esther] Where is everyone?
[Andrew] There's --
There seems to be one big thing missing.
Oh, so they are in the back. They can see and hear you.
-[Andrew] Sure, -But obviously you can't see them,
'cause then you would know who you're judging.
[Andrew] Right. What are we eating?
[Esther] So, Andrew, the chefs had 50 minutes...
-We did have 50 minutes? -Five, zero.
...to create a perfect risotto and crème brûlée.
-This round is about precision. -Mm-hmm.
So, we're looking for you to judge precision, but also,
of course, taste. -[Andrew] Mm-hmm.
Also, there are five chefs here.
You're looking for the top three chefs.
OK, first dish, we have cockle risotto,
a lemon truffle and Parm Reggiano,
and a Vietnamese cardamom ginger cinnamon crème brûlée.
Ooh.
Risotto?
♪♪
[Viet] So, he picks up the plate, looks at it, he tilts it.
He doesn't see anything running.
I'm thinking, like, maybe that's a good thing.
There should be some running.
But phenomenal flavor. The flavor here is delicious.
Uh, the lemon and the cockles balance perfectly.
There's not too much cheese.
Really nice crust.
[Viet] Oh, man.
Sadly for this chef, their custard didn't set.
Oh, my God.
But flavor is delicious, and that cardamom is --
is absolutely fantastic.
I just wish that this had set up a little better.
[sighs heavily]
-Next, we have a bacon risotto. -[Andrew] Mm-hmm.
♪♪
[Michael] And a chai crème brûlée.
[Andrew] OK, risotto.
The flavor is really, really good.
The -- the cheese and bacon balance, but wholly unimpressed
with the texture.
You can almost see with the rice itself
and the amount of
hard texture that's still here, it would have benefited
from a little more liquid of some kind.
Crème brûlée.
Good crust here. And this custard set.
Has a really lovely mouthfeel.
A really nice job with that.
The chai flavor comes shining through.
Ooh!
Our third dish, asparagus Parmesan risotto.
Whose is this?
[Esther] Honey crème brûlée with mango.
Risotto.
Wow!
Asparagus flavor shining through, really great texture
on the rice, perfectly seasoned.
Crème brûlée.
♪♪
Oh.
The texture here is absolutely delightful.
The custard itself is extremely elegant.
It's perfect.
[laughs]
[Lee Anne] Incredible. He loved both dishes.
I'm so tired, but I did not give up.
And so I'm really, really proud of myself.
Up next, Chef, we have a spring pea risotto.
Mm-hmm.
♪♪
[Michael] And we have a blood orange crème brûlée.
[cutlery clanks]
I don't know. Let's see.
This one has very good flavor.
It reminds me of my grandmother's pea soup,
which I absolutely love. It's really comforting.
It's like -- it's like a hug.
I adore it.
-Blood orange crème brûlée. -Crème brûlée.
A little too much sugar.
Custard's good.
Could have set a little bit more.
You have a little bit of that bitterness, and I will say,
too much whipped cream.
Last but not least,
you have Italian sausage risotto.
Oh, boy. Jesus.
[Esther] And almond hazelnut crème brûlée.
[Andrew] Sausage risotto.
Rice is cooked really, really well.
This one is fairly saucy as well.
There's a nice creaminess in there.
But I gotta say, this is sausage dominant,
and you really wanna taste the rice.
-And this one is a little salty. -Yeah.
[Andrew] Almond hazelnut crème brûlée.
Come on.
[Andrew] No cracking.
And sadly, as you can see, an unset custard.
Mm.
The best flavor
of any of the custards. -Oh, interesting.
Wow.
Man, you guys really put
the screws to these guys -Yeah, yeah, it's the --
at the -- at the 19-hour mark. -This is -- I know.
-It's almost 24 hours. -[Andrew] Yeah.
Uh, we're gonna cut the feed.
[Viet] Watery crème brûlée.
We were the two, I think, with no custard setting.
You guys don't know what's gonna happen.
It's not over till it's over.
We're all so delirious right now, too, like.
-Delirious is right. -So, Chef, now the hard part.
So, you have tasted all the dishes.
Yeah.
[Michael] You need to choose your favorite three.
-God. -And you're judging
both dishes as one. -[Esther] Yeah.
[Andrew] I have to say...
[intriguing music playing]
Oh, my gosh, uh.
-[Christina] What's happening? -[Avishar] I am not tired.
I'm not tired.
[Joe] The ties on my apron hurt.
[Michael] OK, chefs, please come back out.
Hello, chefs.
What happens in this arena is we push the boundaries
on what chefs are capable of,
and what you all did was extremely impressive,
especially at the almost 20-hour mark.
I can't even believe it.
[Esther] And now, three of you will be moving on to the final shift.
The first chef who is safe and going to the finale is...
[tense music playing]
-[clock ticking] -[heart thumping]
Chef Lee Anne, you will be moving on to the final shift.
I'm gonna nap for five minutes.
I went from lots of self-doubt to feeling a tide of relief.
This is such a huge win for me. I'm almost there.
[sighs]
The next chef who is safe and in the finale...
♪♪
...is...
Christina.
-Congratulations, Chef. -Congrats, Chef.
-Great job. -Thank you, Chef.
I have my husband at home, my daughter.
They're really the reason that I'm here.
So, I can't wait to tell them I'm moving on to the finale.
Oh lordy.
And the last chef to move on to the finale...
[sighs]
...is...
-It's been a pleasure. -[Avishar] It's been fun.
Viet.
Wow!
[Avishar] Shocked, wowed, surprised.
My crème brûlée was really, really good.
[Viet] What?
I...
-I just couldn't believe it. -[Joe] You believe this?
How did Viet not make it to the bottom is beyond me.
His crème brûlée was more soupy than mine.
[Christina] I think they said Viet, I thought.
They said Viet.
Yay, Viet!
You getting emotional?
I -- I pretty much have given up.
I -- there's no way that I could have made it to the final.
I -- I just -- I didn't believe in my dish.
I just, I -- I.
It was the flavor that got you through to the final.
Are you serious?
You're in the finals. Go relax.
[Viet] I gave up. I pretty much lost all hope.
I lost sight of why I was here, who I'm here for.
I lost sight of all of that.
And then all of a sudden, winning and knowing that
I'm going to the finale.
I have another chance at this.
-[chef] Love you. -[Viet sobs]
[soft music playing]
Almost 24 hours of all of these ups and downs and self-doubt.
It's like this amazing learning experience about yourself.
You have to believe in yourself.
You can't give up on yourself because you never know.
Have faith and just continue to push.
I can't believe it.
So, Joe and Avishar, unfortunately,
you were the bottom two chefs.
Now, you two have to face off in the final challenge
of the shift... -Whoo.
Phew.
...for the opportunity to move to the final.
Live to cook again.
[tense music builds]
-[clock ticking] -[heart thumping]
[Michael] Next time,
Joe and Avishar compete in a unique challenge
with a spot in the finale on the line.
They hit it, they're in the finals.
They miss, they go home.
-[Joe] I don't know how I'm gonna do it. -[Michael] Then...
Welcome to your final shift.
...the final five square off...
We have saved the most demanding skill for last.
Aye-yi-yi.
...in one last shift with $100,000 on the line.
I can't believe that it's been already 21 hours.
This is insanely intense right now.
[Lee Anne] I've made it to the final shift.
I am not going home now.
Oh my God, I can't watch this.
I'm too stressed out watching this!