S01.E09: Fusion Confusion

[DanaK]

Quote

Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais challenge their teams to create a fusion dish! Based on their past performance, each contestant is assigned to a kitchen where they will need to prove that they can create magic in any environment, even when the odds are stacked against them. The best dishes will keep contestants safe from elimination, while one contestant will be sent home with their dreams up in flames in the all-new "Fusion Confusion" episode of NEXT LEVEL CHEF airing Wednesday, Feb. 16 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. 

So I guess continuing to make fires happen is a reason to get you booted. Make sense

Edited February 17, 2022 by DanaK

[grandmabegum]

Nyesha, maybe next time just throw it in the trash. Same result except it's a] not dangerous and b] some poor PA doesn't have more shit to clean up at the end of cooking.

[12catcrazy]

57 minutes ago, grandmabegum said:

Nyesha, maybe next time just throw it in the trash. Same result except it's a] not dangerous and b] some poor PA doesn't have more shit to clean up at the end of cooking.

I haven't been under the impression that Nyesha is a Gordon Ramsay type of hothead.  Methinks this was all staged for "drama".   And did anybody else notice how Trisha smiled an awful lot?  Like she'd be racing to grab food and have this big smile on her face, and be taken to task by Nyesha and still have a smile on her face.  It was weird.   Anyway, I'm glad that we've finally seen the end of her, and I think that as stated on the last episode thread the winner is probably going to be Pyet, with Mariah and Ruel as the runners up.  The way this show is being edited is leaning towards that.  But who knows?  We may have a big spoiler where one of the other ladies makes the top three, but I think the winner is going to be Pyet.  

[grandmabegum]

34 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

And did anybody else notice how Trisha smiled an awful lot?  Like she'd be racing to grab food and have this big smile on her face, and be taken to task by Nyesha and still have a smile on her face.  It was weird. 

I don't think I do it anymore, but I can remember getting in trouble in high school and could not keep a straight face. I attribute it to nervousness so maybe she has the same deal.

[KeithJ]

At first I really liked Tricia but her "no confidence" schtick, or whatever it was, got very annoying.  Of the remaining contestants:

Reuel - Seems to be a bit too full of himself.

Pyet - We get it, you're from Indian heritage. Please stop bringing it up.

Kenny - I can't believe he's still in this.

Mariah - Also a bit too full of herself.

Courtney - Not much to say.

Angie - Not much to say.

I guess for a final three I'd like to see Pyet, Courtney, and Angie.  However, I think it's going to be Reuel, Mariah, Angie with Reuel winning.

[milkyaqua]

Oh fusion.  That can be a land mine (I still have bad memories of a place called Oritalia that was Asian and Italian.  Worst meal I ever had!).  I guess French and Vietnamese would have been too obvious?

Glad Tricia and her whine and her shiny make up are gone.  As soon as the raw chicken came up I knew we were still going to be stuck with Kenny.

4 hours ago, KeithJ said:

I guess for a final three I'd like to see Pyet, Courtney, and Angie.  However, I think it's going to be Reuel, Mariah, Angie with Reuel winning.

I don't know if I could stand the swollen head that is Reuel winning this.

[Ms Blue Jay]

8 hours ago, grandmabegum said:

Nyesha, maybe next time just throw it in the trash. Same result except it's a] not dangerous and b] some poor PA doesn't have more shit to clean up at the end of cooking.

Do you guys think it was faked for the show?  Nyesha was so over the top.  It was so theatrical and ridiculous.

7 hours ago, grandmabegum said:

I don't think I do it anymore, but I can remember getting in trouble in high school and could not keep a straight face. I attribute it to nervousness so maybe she has the same deal.

I think so.  I thought that Tricia was faking her anxiety, but after this episode and her Instagram post, I think it was real!

1 hour ago, milkyaqua said:

Oh fusion.  That can be a land mine (I still have bad memories of a place called Oritalia that was Asian and Italian.  Worst meal I ever had!).  I guess French and Vietnamese would have been too obvious?

I feel like all of these chefs were set up to fail except for the two at the top.  Couldn't they have loaded way more countries/baskets onto the platform?  

[grandmabegum]

8 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Do you guys think it was faked for the show?  Nyesha was so over the top.  It was so theatrical and ridiculous.

Yes. I still think it was a dumb move and Nyesha doesn't normally act like that so it was just a bad color for her.

[Madding crowd]

I didn’t like how mean Nyesha was being in this episode. I watch a lot of competition shows and none of them have the judges talking down to people to this extent . I didn’t like her comment of “this isn’t taking pictures of food”. I don’t see how anyone can do their best with people yelling at them.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Madding crowd

[MyMaui]

I'm really glad Tricia is gone.  I was so tired of her because she was so exhausting to watch.  My hope for the final three is Reuel, Pyet, and Courtney.  Even though Reuel is my fav, I now hope that Courtney wins (even though she is Richard's pick).  I like the way she cooks and she was picked last.  

Since Gordon couldn't be where Tricia was they needed the mentor who was to be that way.  Nyesha was there so she had to produce that outrage.  I'm sure if Richard was there he would have been tasked to provide that outrage too.

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I didn’t like how mean Nyesha was being in this episode. I watch a lot of competition shows and none of them have the judges talking down to people to this extent . I didn’t like her comment of “this isn’t taking pictures of food”. I don’t see how anyone can do their best with people yelling at them.

Yeah, neither did I.   It was so, so so condescending.  I can't hate Tricia for making money being a social media chef/ personality.  It's obviously working for her.  She actually doesn't need the show.

 

[Ciarrai]

Couldn't stand the meek mouse that was Tricia so I'm glad she's gone.

[kirklandia]

Reuel -  "some dishes you have to pull out of your ass".  
Cameraman -  pans to Reuel's bowl of gloopy brown noodles.

[jcbrown]

Richard Blais: "We are definitely not in agreement today however we did come to consensus." I don't think that word means what you think it means, Blais.

If Tricia were an animal, she would be a tiny shaking doggo. Nothing against tiny shaking doggos.

[cameron]

SoSo glad that Tricia with her bowing and constant eye blinking is finally gone.

 

[Such A Flirt]

Is Tricia a pyromaniac or something? Bloody hell. Glad she's finally gone.

Nyesha's stunt was so stupid and careless. There is no need for that fake drama.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 2/19/2022 at 12:17 PM, jcbrown said:

Richard Blais: "We are definitely not in agreement today however we did come to consensus." I don't think that word means what you think it means, Blais.

If Tricia were an animal, she would be a tiny shaking doggo. Nothing against tiny shaking doggos.

I get what he was trying to convey. Agreement=100 percent buy-in, whereas consensus-majority. In some cases all three judges agree on the result. Here, Gordon did not. Whether that was because he legitimately thought some dish was worse than Reuel's, Kenny's and Tricia's or because he wanted to avoid the 100 percent certainty of one of his mentees getting the boot, who can say?

[blackwing]

Just caught up with this episode last night, haven't watched semifinals yet and have still managed to stay spoiler free!  

I was a bit surprised that Tricia went home because it broke the reality show preview rule.  She was shown in the preview of the episode before as the target of Nyesha's "this is NOT next level cooking" pan pitching tirade.  So logic would say "oh she's in trouble" but then reality show logic says "they would never hint to who gets eliminated in the preview".

As others have said, the pan pitching was just completely unnecessary.  I think the pan may have landed on one of the huge spotlights at the foot of the stage.  

I didn't hate Tricia like so many here did.  I would have preferred to have gotten rid of Kenny.  He is so boring and his cooking is boring and not good.  His cuisines were so easy to fuse and he was handed the idea by Richard and he still mucked it up.  Pork fried couscous, seems like a no brainer.

Tricia did do herself in with the bearnaise sauce on the duck especially after Nyesha said it wasn't a good idea.  She had France and Greece, these cuisines would have been easy to fuse in my opinion.  Maybe duck wrapped in grape leaves with an olive-based sauce.

Isn't Tricia Chinese?  Her last name is Wang.  But she cooks Japanese food and not Chinese?  If she didn't get the Japan basket she wanted, why couldn't she have at least taken China?  She seemed proficient with many types of Asian cuisine, she knew how to cook Korean, so what was wrong with the China basket?  As an aside, it is kind of funny how when I went to google "Tricia Next Level Chef" one of the google suggestions was "Tricia Next Level Chef annoying".

I do like Courtney and I think it's great she made it to the final 6 considering she was picked last.  I am tired of Angie and her repeatedly saying "I AM the Next Level Chef winner".  I would have given her more criticism for her choice of cuisines, she picked two western European countries, just seemed very "safe" and not willing to be that creative.

(Not having seen this week's episode yet) I do continue to believe the final three will be Mariah, Reuel and Pyet.  And Pyet will win because of her Native American background.  I would like Mariah to win though.