S21.E08: Game On!

[jewel21]

Quote

The chefs step up to compete one-on-one in an ingredient game show, where contestants who win can either choose the fate of that ingredient or sabotage the other team; chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo join Gordon in the dining room.

Airdate: 12/01/2022

[KeithJ]

Wow, almost 24 hours and no posts. Is nobody watching? lol

I think the editing was a bit off during the spelling contest.  The red team didn't seem to be doing great and then they show a clip of Ileana saying how much the red team is killing it.  Then the red team goes off on a run.

No dinner service tonight but the the chefs whose meals weren't chosen by their teams all competed for their lives.  "Truffle boy" makes another dish with truffles.  I'd really wish Gordon would call out this one trick pony and just eliminate him. It was a bit telegraphed at the beginning with Ileana saying how bad she was at challenges.  Not sure who to root for now but it seems like Alex is probably in the driver's seat.

I was thinking this was going to finish up by Christmas but with the number of people left, I guess not.  Looks like Next Level Chef is coming back in February so I guess this will finish right before that and Next Level Chef will take the time slot.

[milkyaqua]

I did watch but yes, it did seem pretty obvious who was going home (when Gordon commented on the honey, all I could think of was Ruth Reichl who said that honey was a bully).  I'm actually surprised Vlad has lasted this long though.  I'm just glad that no one served Ramsey any raw chicken.

Edited December 2, 2022 by milkyaqua

[seacliffsal]

I guess that theoretically this was set up to eliminate one of the weakest chefs as identified by their teams in that when two contestants had the same protein the team would pick the strongest one to compete.  I think it was a bit of surprise to Gordon that Alex stayed out of the first challenge.

Tara had attitude the entire episode.  It will be interesting to see who is on which team next week.

[KeithJ]

8 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Tara had attitude the entire episode.  It will be interesting to see who is on which team next week.

Yeah, the whole everyone is out to get me gets kinda old.  It was kinda funny though that Alex picked her for the punishment pass.

[NJRadioGuy]

What really surprised me was why Alex would use the punishment pass for going bowling when the actual punishment wasn't hideous. That's definitely something you use for garbage day, delivery day, or cleaning up confetti/etc, or when the reward is a trip to Vegas or something truly spectacular. Bowling? Really??

[mlp]

6 hours ago, KeithJ said:

No dinner service tonight but the the chefs whose meals weren't chosen by their teams all competed for their lives. 

I thought it was unfair of Gordon to accuse the ones whose dishes weren't chosen of not fighting for them or whatever he said.  He's the one who said they had to choose one.  He should have respected the chefs' group decisions about which dishes were stronger/weaker.

Tara is way too whiney.  I won't be sorry to see her go.  

[Such A Flirt]

I was hoping Vlad would go; he's been pretty invisible for weeks. But it was highly likely to be Ileana once they started with all the personal stuff about her brother, her mentor, etc.

Still think Alex will win, but he was pretty douchey all episode; so I can't even really root for him. But all the others suck! Maybe Cheyenne could win, I guess.

[seacliffsal]

Like an above poster I wondered why Alec chose this reward to go on and give the punishment to someone else.  What I came up with is that he knows Gordon wants those punishment passes used and Alec wants to work for Gordon so he needed to use the pass.  Also, it seemed like the least difficult "punishment" that they have had so far so it wouldn't be too much of a punishment for the person with whom he switched.  Finally, it gave him an opportunity to hang out with people with whom he hasn't yet worked so he could start building bonds/relationships with them for when they are all one team with the black jackets.  Just some thoughts about it...

[mlp]

32 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Like an above poster I wondered why Alec chose this reward to go on and give the punishment to someone else.  What I came up with is that he knows Gordon wants those punishment passes used and Alec wants to work for Gordon so he needed to use the pass.  Also, it seemed like the least difficult "punishment" that they have had so far so it wouldn't be too much of a punishment for the person with whom he switched.  Finally, it gave him an opportunity to hang out with people with whom he hasn't yet worked so he could start building bonds/relationships with them for when they are all one team with the black jackets.  Just some thoughts about it...

I think you're right.  Alex seems like a genuinely nice guy who wouldn't choose to do something mean to anyone.  I do wonder why he picked Tara.  Maybe he's seen enough of her to realize she has little chance of becoming serious competition so he didn't feel a need to pursue a relationship of any kind.  

[bluepiano]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:49 PM, mlp said:

I thought it was unfair of Gordon to accuse the ones whose dishes weren't chosen of not fighting for them or whatever he said.  He's the one who said they had to choose one.  He should have respected the chefs' group decisions about which dishes were stronger/weaker.

Tara is way too whiney.  I won't be sorry to see her go.  

I had the same thought. He said something like "you chose to step down," as if they were cowards. But they were being team players by letting a better dish go up and not standing on ego.

It was interesting when GR showed surprise that Alex's dish wasn't picked. He clearly thinks he's the best chef on the blue team, if not in the whole competition. We were then led to expect a shock elimination, with all the talking heads of Alex worrying his chicken wasn't cooked. But I was pretty sure it was fake drama. 

Tara might consider that the reason she isn't popular with her team is because she's really annoying, not because she's the only 40 plus.