S20.E05: Holiday Vacation

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

The chefs are tasked with creating a celebratory dish featuring honey and mead; then, they must create a festive family meal featuring their favorite holiday dishes for the judges, along with "Top Chef Mexico" judge Martha Ortiz.

Original air date: April 6, 2023

[Bastet]

As I said in the Live Chat thread, I would watch a documentary about Victoire.

It was nice to see the chefs yell out that the crepes needed to be flipped.  Tom agreeing to make dessert since he has immunity was sporting, too.  Like Nicole stirring Gabri’s mole and alerting him it was sticking. And while it was the usual mess to have to share a home kitchen, even one that large, they handled it well, just like they cooperated at the grocery store.  I like when competitors interact that way, and love that it’s become the norm for this show. 

I want to be at that EC table – what a meal!  The only dish I didn’t want to devour based on its execution was Tom’s cake.  The other two I wasn’t into were simply based on personal taste – I don’t like beans (Victoire’s) or greens that have been cooked a long time (Sara’s).

Gail getting choked up at having to criticize Gabri’s dish, knowing what it meant to him, was sweet.

It was obviously Begoña who’d be getting the axe based on their comments, so I didn't bother hoping it would be one of the others instead.  Sad to see her go.

There were some funny moments:  Padma and the guest judge’s reactions to Amar’s sweet bomb in the QF.  Padma laughing at her own “bee-ing” joke.  Tom’s deadpan “Luckily, London is not expensive at all” about the £1k budget. My favorite is "You're a really good eater" to Padma and her "Thank you, I'm uniquely qualified to do my job” response.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Bastet

[rhofmovalley]

I never bought into the "Buddha is arrogant" viewpoint but tonight it looked to me like he couldn't believe the judges dared to put him on the bottom three. And when Sara (I think) said his salmon was under seasoned, the look he gave her!

I thought Victoire's bean stew looked delicious. I make a bean stew so maybe I'm partial. 

[FormerMod-a1]

I wanted to eat all that food!

Also, I'm half Polish and do cook Polish food, but haven't been doing so recently.  (I haven't been cooking as much, in general, recently).  I think I need to pull out some old family recipes and make some white borscht. 

[blixie]

TOM IS SAFE. But shorter and dumber than his brother.

[Ms Blue Jay]

14 minutes ago, Bastet said:

There were some funny moments:  Padma and the guest judge’s reactions to Amar’s sweet bomb in the QF.  

Sometimes my favourite dish is the judges' favourite dish.  This time, the dish I wanted the most was Amar's 😄😄😄  Honey fried chicken and orange pancakes!  That looked good to me!

Buddha and Begonia were really affronted but I also don't blame them.  But yeah.  Buddha was Not Having It.  LOL

I didn't think Begonia was the obvious boot. I thought it would be Gabri (?).  I don't know who has been in the bottom more between the two though.  I assumed Gabri because I think he was in trouble episode 1.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Ms Blue Jay

[tljgator]

2 minutes ago, rhofmovalley said:

I thought Victoire's bean stew looked delicious. I make a bean stew so maybe I'm partial. 

I loved that Sara told her that it was like her food (from Kentucky), since it also reminded me of the fanciest Hoppin' John ever, lol (which, of course, we make in the South for good luck every new year, just as Victoire explained she does as well).

This entire episode made me smile (until the post-judging chat which got snippy, even being outside the stew room).

[virginia blue]

Top Chef really should introduce blind judging. I think the outcomes would be much different. There is a fairly obvious bias against female chefs.

[BlackberryJam]

I was really disappointed with Buddha in the pre boot chat. His dish looked a bit like a mess and underseasoned is underseasoned. At the same time, when you stand there with your peers and get criticized, it’s an emotional blow. I just thought he could have handled it with more class.

I thought Gabri was a goner. 

Tom knew his cakes were way too dense, but didn’t he have trouble getting oven time? Doing dessert in a shared kitchen was taking one for the team.

I wanted Amar’s winning dish.

[Bastet]

24 minutes ago, virginia blue said:

Top Chef really should introduce blind judging. I think the outcomes would be much different. There is a fairly obvious bias against female chefs.

One of the reasons I love Tournament of Champions - which has the same caliber of cheftestants as this show; in fact, many of them also appeared on this show - despite the presence of Guy Fieri as host is that it employs blind judging, and, as a result, for all four seasons thus far, women have constituted almost all the finalists (and all the winners), which is a departure from most cooking competitions.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Bastet

[Ms Blue Jay]

21 minutes ago, virginia blue said:

Top Chef really should introduce blind judging. I think the outcomes would be much different. There is a fairly obvious bias against female chefs.

I feel like that about all competition shows like this - fashion ones too.  I know Chopped a lot better than this show and on Chopped I definitely notice a bias.  There are certain judges on there who will lecture and yell at chefs, flirt with chefs, comment on their looks etc. which is ridiculous.  Anyway, blind judging would help eliminate some of this petty bullshit.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Ms Blue Jay

[blixie]

Quote

Tom knew his cakes were way too dense, but didn’t he have trouble getting oven time? Doing dessert in a shared kitchen was taking one for the team.

Yeah ordinarily I wouldn't like that someone w/immunity made a bad dish and got away with it, but in this case they all knew he sucked at baking so tough shit. I'm really surprised Buddha didn't just do dessert since he's won I think every time he's made a dessert. And Tom's quickfire was truly amazing so he earned that immunity.

It's horrible to see Begona go when Gabri has been in the bottom more often, but I feel like now that she is in LCK she has to be the top contender for a mid season return.

[rhofmovalley]

Also, I thought for sure Gabri was a goner when they showed his clip calling the guest judge "bitch!" Gabri, I love you, but no. Stop it. It's not cute or sassy. 

[buttersister]

Hello, there's the Buddha I didn't care for during his season. An under-seasoned more-isn't-better mess that he was in total denial about--maybe he realizes he's not going to this final. 

[The Solution]

Now I can vouch for Victoire's Italian skills, even though mine are second-generation Jersey-Italian skills!

Quickfire was much better this week. If the judge didn't have anything positive to say, he didn't say anything and almost always offered positive reinforcement. The dishes looked good even if they didn't sound good at first.

I think it's great that all the chefs get along so well and I wanted to try all of their dishes this week. Except for Buddha's Middle-Eastern fish thing which even Ali gave the side-eye. I have nothing against Buddha, but that was too fussy. It will be hard to see anyone leave from this point on.

Loved Tom's Blue-Green striped sweater. James Harden (Philly Sixers) wore a blue-pink one kinda like it a little while ago when he was on the bench that I could not afford (I Googled it).

 

1 hour ago, rhofmovalley said:

I thought Victoire's bean stew looked delicious. I make a bean stew so maybe I'm partial. 

It looked like my pasta e fagioli but I bet it's way better. Even though my pasta fazhool is pretty damn good.

[CSunshine76]

1 hour ago, tljgator said:

I loved that Sara told her that it was like her food (from Kentucky), since it also reminded me of the fanciest Hoppin' John ever, lol (which, of course, we make in the South for good luck every new year, just as Victoire explained she does 

Yes! I texted my friend that I loved finding out the Congolese also cook black eyed peas for prosperity! And that dish looked damn good, give me that bowl and a slice of cornbread!

[Souris]

Amazing looking spread! The dish I most wanted to eat was Charbel's fetteh. It's a dish I make and love -- though of course not as fancy as his. Ali made a lot of components with the mezze and pita. I like his and Amar's bromance.

Buddha didn't really show himself well about being in bottom three.

I really enjoy this group.

[HappyDancex2]

In the first 3 minutes I thought the obvious boot was Victoire since she was making the phone call home and she’s gotten so much airtime.  Turns out she is the most interesting person in a room full of interesting people.  
 

I would love for her to stop using nuts though…I mean you still have a bruise from an epi in your leg….victoire my love…please stop with the nuts!  I am begging you.

[HappyDancex2]

I LOVE the blind judging on TOC.  And TOC this season is rivaling TC for drama and food yums.  If you are a fan of cooking competitions but generally dismiss food network offerings I highly suggest this season!

That being said the TC disclaimer at the end of each episode basically says this competition isn’t all about the food but the producers (Tom and Padma and whomever else) can/need to consider….watchability of the cast for lack of a better description because the audience can’t taste the food.  Especially since these aren’t well known chefs.

Gabri is giving good drama because he’s just an emotional heart driven chef…he gives us something to watch.  Begonia was very stoic for most of the episodes.  At the end of the day they are keeping emotional Gabri or fiery Tom or jovial Amar because they give the editors some storyline to edit each week.  Unless they make the most egregious error of the week it’s better to be slightly memorable as well.  This is American TV LOL

[Daisychain]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

One of the reasons I love Tournament of Champions - which has the same caliber of cheftestants as this show; in fact, many of them also appeared on this show - despite the presence of Guy Fieri as host is that it employs blind judging, and, as a result, for all four seasons thus far, women have constituted almost all the finalists (and all the winners), which is a departure from most cooking competitions.

Such a great episode and so many thoughts, but first it must be said:  I quoted @Bastet but @virginia blue and @Ms Blue Jaysaid the same.  The only two competition shows I watch now (in addition to Tournament of Champions) is Survivor, which I believe has the same problem if only more starkly.  This season is just as bad -- I think the first 4 elims on Survivor were women.  Tournament of Champions (like Guy, yes, I call it TOC) has had all women winners for 3 seasons, and they include Brooke (season 1) and Tiffani Faison, whom I love now, in season 3.  Season 2 was Maneet Chauhan.  

Anyhoo happier news:  Like many others I'd love to eat any dish of those on the table except for dense cake since I'm not a sweets person like many Top Chef winners.  Including the bottom dishes.  I loved Padma's embracing the notion that she has multiple stomachs enabling her to be a great judge, believe it.  I read her post-season cleanse, she deserves all the food.  I loved the stories espesh Victoire's and Ali's.  Loved a southern lady like Sara's finding common ground with Victoire's cooking.

HOWEVER, and this is very specific to me:  my daughter and SIL had a mead toast at their wedding.  It's because we all like mead (we go to the Ren Faire on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin, which makes us all nerds), and my SIL actually makes mead by fermenting honey.  And my daughter and SIL had so much in common when they met, including the wonderful if slightly campy movie 13th Warrior, loosely based on the epic poem Beowulf.  In which mead is heavily featured.  And then to find out it's actually a wedding drink that led to the term "honeymoon?"  Mind blown.  :-)

[MerBearHou]

I would have been sorry to see any of the bottom 3 go home.  

I got a kick out of the chefs groaning a bit when Gabri announced he was making a mole again.  And Gabri owning that he spent all of his money + some of May’s on his last mole.  

Amar — I was so happy he won.  His friendship with Ali is terrific to observe.

The only dish I would not have wanted to try is Victoire’s — nothing about it looked appetizing to me, but that’s just my dislike for beans made in that kind of way.

Tom was so funny tonight — eye-rolling in his talking head, kidding around while shopping, and making the cake in a teeny, tiny back room.  I loved his story about growing up on a farm and winery and how the cake flavor was traditionally chosen — very charming backstory.

Gabri made me tear up when he was talking about his dad, the phone call, his dad being proud of him when he won Top Chef (that day).  heartbreaking, you could really feel.  

Begoña was a favorite of mine so I’m sorry (but not surprised) that tonight was her night to PHKAG.  

I thought I’d share that I had lunch this week with a friend who was at last year’s taping of Top Chef-Houston.  My friend had so many interesting BTS stories — said that Gail and Tom were great and so friendly; the food was absolutely delicious; Dawn was so warm but frazzled; Buddha was very friendly and interesting to talk to; last but not least, Padma is stunning in person but my friend said that all of us would be as well if we had 12 handlers at our sides at all times!!  The handlers were tending to Padma every few minutes to make sure she looked perfect and tend to her every need.  Gail and Tom had zero handlers.  Thought y’all would find that interesting to know.  

[WaffleQueen]

2 hours ago, virginia blue said:

Top Chef really should introduce blind judging. I think the outcomes would be much different. There is a fairly obvious bias against female chefs.

Where did you see the bias in this episode? (Not disagreeing with you, just curious.)

[kirklandia]

I loved that the judges and all the chefs sat down at one big table and shared this meal.
It reminded me of the short-lived show The Julia Child Challenge. Each of the episodes ended with contestants and judges tasting everyone's dishes in a family meal setting.  It gave the show a lovely collegial feeling.

[Fukui San]

All hail Sylwia, the George Washington Carver of potatoes!

Funnily, Buddha won last season's near identical VRBO branded vacation home challenge with his most simple dish of the season.

I wonder if they could've brought a slow cooker. I'd be tempted to do something that can sit alone all night to cook/cure/set, etc. If you brought your own appliance you might be able to steer clear of the kitchen traffic.

That's a smart play by Ammar, letting something long cook. I wonder if the challenge parameters would let you set something going but keep you out of the kitchen from say midnight to 8am. They've done challenges in the past where chefs can cook all night if they want but in this case everyone got some sleep.

[ProudMary]

5 hours ago, HappyDancex2 said:

In the first 3 minutes I thought the obvious boot was Victoire since she was making the phone call home and she’s gotten so much airtime.  Turns out she is the most interesting person in a room full of interesting people.  
 

I would love for her to stop using nuts though…I mean you still have a bruise from an epi in your leg….victoire my love…please stop with the nuts!  I am begging you.

I don't think Victoire herself used any nuts in her dish. One of the other chefs asked her why she was wearing a mask and she replied that some of the other chefs had nuts in their preparations, so she was wearing a mask for protection. I think that after seeing the severity of Victoire's allergic reaction to walnuts during the challenge at the soccer stadium, the others should have considered not using nuts in their dishes, especially knowing that they were going to be cooking communally in a home kitchen. 

[blixie]

Quote

Where did you see the bias in this episode? 

I suspect the poster is referring to unconscious bias, no one thinks they are intentionally favoring men, only that unconsciously the behavior is that people judging DO favor men. But despite me stanning Tom to unreasonable levels I'd say a good example is in the quickfire where the guest judge said Victoire had the best dish with the most balance but she...lost to Tom. Tom's "skills' trumped Victoire's flavors and that is kind of well fucked. 

Back to Tom stanning, I laughed so hard when he said luckily London isn't expensive and I though it was very sweet when he was trying to calm Begona down about her critique, by saying they hadn't disparaged her skills. It was funny Buddha was so butthurt about his bottom three appearance but again I'm also not surprised because I'm sure having to compete against 10 other just as good or better than Buddha's is uncomfortable in a way he didn't have to deal with in his season. 

 

 

[catrice2]

2 hours ago, ProudMary said:

I don't think Victoire herself used any nuts in her dish. One of the other chefs asked her why she was wearing a mask and she replied that some of the other chefs had nuts in their preparations, so she was wearing a mask for protection. I think that after seeing the severity of Victoire's allergic reaction to walnuts during the challenge at the soccer stadium, the others should have considered not using nuts in their dishes, especially knowing that they were going to be cooking communally in a home kitchen. 

It was odd to me because my friend says she watched a live by 2 chefs and they said they were not allowed to use nuts for the rest of the competition After her incident which was why I was surprised last night when I heard someone say something about walnuts

[dleighg]

6 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Funnily, Buddha won last season's near identical VRBO branded vacation home challenge with his most simple dish of the season.

I remembered that as soon as they mentioned VRBO. It was a similar set-up, with a lot of family-style dishes. 

I kind of snickered when the chef who cooked duck (I'm terrible with names) said it was a traditional dish for weddings because "ducks mate for life." And you are EATING MR DUCK RIGHT NOW.

[sugarbaker design]

7 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Padma is stunning in person but my friend said that all of us would be as well if we had 12 handlers at our sides at all times!!  The handlers were tending to Padma every few minutes to make sure she looked perfect and tend to her every need.  Gail and Tom had zero handlers.  Thought y’all would find that interesting to know.  

No offense to anyone, but I find this story highly suspect.  How did they know they were handlers?  Did they wear 'Padma's Handlers' t-shirts? I could have 112 handlers and I wouldn't even come close to looking as good as Padma.

10 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

I never bought into the "Buddha is arrogant" viewpoint but tonight it looked to me like he couldn't believe the judges dared to put him on the bottom three.

How dare they?  😉  I did enjoy Amar and Tom helping Begona and Buddha deal with the judges' comments.

10 hours ago, blixie said:

It's horrible to see Begona go when Gabri has been in the bottom more often, but I feel like now that she is in LCK she has to be the top contender for a mid season return.

I hope she comes back, I love her vibe.

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

As I said in the Live Chat thread, I would watch a documentary about Victoire.

The more I see and hear, the more I want to know.  I so hope she reaches final three.

[dleighg]

@bosawks in the live episode chat said "I’ve never had white borsch and I feel my life will be incomplete until I do."

I looked it up and it is a traditional easter meal, where you take a bunch of items to church to be blessed and then you eat them. All the items have religious significance.

While my Presbyterian church will not be blessing any food on Sunday, I do have all the ingredients already, so I think I know what we'll be having for lunch on Sunday!

 

[BlackberryJam]

1 hour ago, blixie said:

Back to Tom stanning, I laughed so hard when he said luckily London isn't expensive and I though it was very sweet when he was trying to calm Begona down about her critique, by saying they hadn't disparaged her skills. It was funny Buddha was so butthurt about his bottom three appearance but again I'm also not surprised because I'm sure having to compete against 10 other just as good or better than Buddha's is uncomfortable in a way he didn't have to deal with in his season. 

My love of Tom is unreasonable. I don't think he's the best chef. I think many of the other chefs have better skills. I think this season will be much less entertaining when he's gone.

I did appreciate Tom trying to soothe Begona. And was it Sara who, when Buddha was complaining about his critique, said, "Underseasoned is underseasoned," or something. Then Buddha pouted. I knew Buddha would be in the bottom because during the dinner absolutely no one commented on his dish. 

I thought Begona's dish looked like an unappetizing mess, but scorched mole would have been a problem for me as well. I'm not a salmon fan so I wouldn't have wanted Buddha's. I think I would prefer blind judging, but then my German Chef Boyfriend Tom might get the boot and my heart would be broken. You can see the bind I'm in. 

[Rai]

In twenty seasons of Top Chef, I've finally hit a milestone: I have a total crush on Ali. (Closest before this season was with Sheldon who may be the sweetest guy ever to compete, but Ali is really attractive on top of being a sweetie. I'm shallow. It's cool.) I really don't know much about the intricacies of Middle Eastern cuisine, so both he and Charbel are great educators here. And it seems even if the dishes are ones familiar to me, their levels of technique and execution really elevate the hell out of their food.

Amar is so much jollier this season than he was on his first tour of duty. Perhaps the lack of someone like Phillip helps. I still think he might be middle of the pack, but his dish did sound fantastic. I think the biggest surprise for me was that Tom never won ANY challenge in his original season! He clearly knows how to cook (well, savory, anyway), and his personality is terrific, so I get why they'd want him on the show, but considering the level of talent on this season, it's actually wild he's part of this cast.

I was rooting for Gabri, and it was nice to see some depth behind his goofiness, painful as it was. I don't know why he keeps skating by though. Really hoping Begona stomps it hard in LCK because she was cut way too soon, IMO. I would've been very okay with chopping Buddha. It would've thrown such an upset into the competition! But Gabri is probably not long for this world. I will enjoy him while he's still here.

If anyone would like a good read that traces the relationship between the various foods of Africa and the American south, I'd like to recommend The Cooking Gene, by Michael Twitty. It's short but dense, and very fascinating as Twitty traces his ancestry through food as well as his family's history of enslavement and migration. (Not necessarily a cheery read, I grant you.) The comparison between Victoire's dish and Hoppin' John is probably pretty apt!

I love Victoire, and also I haven't heard a solid "Food saved me" story in a while. I can't really make fun of it though since she's truly lived through some stuff. I hope her hot streak sustains itself.

[MerBearHou]

2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

9 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Padma is stunning in person but my friend said that all of us would be as well if we had 12 handlers at our sides at all times!!  The handlers were tending to Padma every few minutes to make sure she looked perfect and tend to her every need.  Gail and Tom had zero handlers.  Thought y’all would find that interesting to know.  

No offense to anyone, but I find this story highly suspect.  How did they know they were handlers?  Did they wear 'Padma's Handlers' t-shirts? I could have 112 handlers and I wouldn't even come close to looking as good as Padma.

In TV production, handlers are quite obvious -- they were around Padma every few minutes to attend to her appearance (and yes, I was being facetious that we could all look as good as Padma with that many attendants).  It was just a stark difference to Gail and Tom who had no one fluttering around to take care of their appearance.  My friend who was there -- was part of the episode, spoke and was seen on camera -- is not one to exaggerate.  I shared just to inform interesting behind the scenes activity; not upset anyone.  I like Padma just fine.  

[sugarbaker design]

6 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

In TV production, handlers are quite obvious -- they were around Padma every few minutes to attend to her appearance (and yes, I was being facetious that we could all look as good as Padma with that many attendants).  It was just a stark difference to Gail and Tom who had no one fluttering around to take care of their appearance.  My friend who was there -- was part of the episode, spoke and was seen on camera -- is not one to exaggerate.  I shared just to inform interesting behind the scenes activity; not upset anyone.  I like Padma just fine.  

Now I definitely don't believe it.

Edited April 7, 2023 by sugarbaker design

[MerBearHou]

21 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

28 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

In TV production, handlers are quite obvious -- they were around Padma every few minutes to attend to her appearance (and yes, I was being facetious that we could all look as good as Padma with that many attendants).  It was just a stark difference to Gail and Tom who had no one fluttering around to take care of their appearance.  My friend who was there -- was part of the episode, spoke and was seen on camera -- is not one to exaggerate.  I shared just to inform interesting behind the scenes activity; not upset anyone.  I like Padma just fine.  

Now I definitely don't believe it.

I don't understand -- what don't you believe?

[bosawks]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

@bosawks in the live episode chat said "I’ve never had white borsch and I feel my life will be incomplete until I do."

I looked it up and it is a traditional easter meal, where you take a bunch of items to church to be blessed and then you eat them. All the items have religious significance.

While my Presbyterian church will not be blessing any food on Sunday, I do have all the ingredients already, so I think I know what we'll be having for lunch on Sunday!

 

You have to tell us how it goes!

[Rai]

I very much believe Padma has a cadre of handlers. Actually, it's a little surprising if Tom and Gail don't have them, but then they weren't an international supermodel in a previous life, so it may be less important to them. Either way, it's TV. Most stars would have them, I'd think.

[realiteani]

I guess this clears up whether Victoire being more clear about her allergy would have changed things since they were still cooking with nuts in that small, confined kitchen after seeing her literally go into anaphylaxis a day prior.

 

I'm Moroccan and was married to a man from a Levantine Arab country for a long time so watching the 2 Arab chefs (and even Amar's dish inspired by an actual common Moroccan dish -- not the foodie "Moroccan" dish that is absolutely not Moroccan at all and uses ingredients from other cultures we dont use just because they lump everything in the MENA with Moroccan) has been so fun and relatable for me in a way it never has before. It's also funny because there were multiple times so far when they announced the challenge and I thought "I would do x dish" and then one of the Arab chefs made a twist on that dish, that's never happened before and I've watched Top Chef since season 1.

[amarante]

1 hour ago, Rai said:

I very much believe Padma has a cadre of handlers. Actually, it's a little surprising if Tom and Gail don't have them, but then they weren't an international supermodel in a previous life, so it may be less important to them. Either way, it's TV. Most stars would have them, I'd think.

I also don't understand why people wouldn't think Padma had her own glam squad as production would always have hair, makeup and stylists. Contractually the leads will often have their own people who will be exclusive to them. If you read end credits on many movies, you can see credit for an individual's glam people.

It is pretty common to have touch ups done between takes for television and movie on every production. Whether she literally had 20 "handlers" who knows because that many literally couldn't fit in order to touch up hair and makeup but I would imagine they all have production assistants all the time including during shooting which is a very long day for all of them.

Obviously Tom isn't going to have anything but the basic face makeup that ALL people appearing on television do. 

Gail probably does have hair and makeup but glamour isn't as much a part of her brand as it is for Padma. 

[catrice2]

Well now they are saying that she only disclosed peanuts. I don't know, but the info I am receiving is that whomever is talking comes across as more annoyed by it than anything and how it may have affected their cooking.  I am not sure if they feel like she could have been more clear, but it is possible she thought it was only peanuts? Or maybe she thought saying peanuts included all nuts?  She said it is Sara who is having the lives.  I am not even sure who that is. 

Also many of the other chefs would not have put Victorie in the top three...which is fair, we did not taste the food.  It also just goes to show that Chefs like Eric, Victoire, etc. who showcase flavors that are not familiar to the judges it is impossible to do well on this show.  By the same token if you are focusing on a specific flavor profile I guess that is the chance you take. I have not paid attention to what people are cooking so this is the first time I heard anything about Congo flavors and I missed the first episode that may have introduced more about the chefs. 

I just hope they are all having a good time and there are no hard feelings. Everybody doesn't have to be friends, but hopefully the respect is there. 

Right now with the exception of a couple of standouts, everyone seems pretty middle of the pack to me.  But what do I know,  Begonia was a standout to me😄

[dleighg]

8 minutes ago, catrice2 said:

She said it is Sara who is having the lives.

I don't know what you mean by "having the lives" but sara is the one who asked Victoire why she was wearing a mask, and when Victoire said because people were cooking with nuts, sara gave a rather sour look, like "you're being a prima donna," or something like that.

[KristenR]

After Victoire said that, they cut to Nicole, not Sara. 

[dleighg]

6 minutes ago, KristenR said:

After Victoire said that, they cut to Nicole, not Sara

Ah, you're right. I'm face blind, that's my excuse.

[catrice2]

4 minutes ago, KristenR said:

After Victoire said that, they cut to Nicole, not Sara. 

Well apparently the first live after the incident that I originally talked about it  was Sarah an Nicole, so that makes sense, and I think Nicole was on the team with Victoire a I recall. 

[birkenstock]

The no nuts rule may have been implemented after this challenge and Victoire wearing a mask.  Buddha used walnuts and pine nuts in his dish.  If you can rewatch on Peacock (or anywhere else), Padma critiques Buddha on having too many things and too much of it on his dish and then Gail mentions the nuts and everything else he used. The bottom three starts at about the 46:40 mark.

Edited April 7, 2023 by birkenstock

[rhofmovalley]

I'm allergic to peanuts which apparently are legumes but I'm also allergic to walnuts, cashews and pecans which apparently are tree nuts. I just choose to not even try with any tree nuts although I seem to be OK with coconut.

Fortunately I have to actually eat them or pick them up. The dust doesn't bother me. But Victoire's allergy seems to be more intense than mine. 

She's great TV, BTW. Love her. 

[blixie]

Quote

I still think he might be middle of the pack, but his dish did sound fantastic. I think the biggest surprise for me was that Tom never won ANY challenge in his original season! 

I believe he's had four top three finishes out of 8 where they had a top 3/bottom 3. And only once was he seriously in danger last week in a team challenge. And the last judge said he was VERY skilled so Im not sure why everyone is low balling his talent. There are 10 chefs left Amar>Nicole>Sylwia> Gabri> Victoire>Buddha>Charbel>Tom>Sara>Amir, like to me Tom is for sure in the top, but I also think Begona was in the top so being the at the top of the skill pile, doesn't mean you win, because of their dumb "we don't consider your overall performance except for when we do" garbage. I do think Tom likes to have a good time and goof around so he doesn't have the killer extinct for competition show so I can believe he didn't do that well in TC Germany, what is super weird is Sara stating he was a MIchelin starred pastry chef for two years, when all he has done is suck at baking, and he literally said 'I hate baking'. Like I question Sara's statement and/or research skills.

[CrazyInAlabama]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I don't know what you mean by "having the lives" but sara is the one who asked Victoire why she was wearing a mask, and when Victoire said because people were cooking with nuts, sara gave a rather sour look, like "you're being a prima donna," or something like that.

I'm wondering if the sour looks are because the chefs weren't told about the extent of Victoire's allergies, and the different types of nuts.    That would make me upset too, not to know about everything that could endanger a fellow competitor.   

[buttersister]

Yeah, my first thought about that look was, I can't believe people are still using walnuts after everyone saw how dangerous they are to Victorie.

Show may have made her wear the mask while they dithered over whether to ban them or not (and was it ever clear if her allergy was to walnuts--as she stated--or any nut, or Show just isn't taking any chances).

[Colorado David]

Ok up front have to confess I'm a sucker for the holiday meal episodes, they get to me. Even tho they were all busy and jostling for cooking space, THAT felt like a happy kitchen (minus a little bickering by Begona regarding the cooking oil she was supposed to share. I have to agree it would suck royally if you get edged out on time because you were nice enough to let the other person go first.) 

I am going to keep my eyes open and watch for Victoire's cookbook, I'd love to tackle some of those recipes.

Nicole is nice in the face interviews, but man i got the feeling she can be a little bossy-boots in the actual kitchen.

I'm not sure taste-wise, but I thought Buddha could've edited that salmon more. It had a lot of stuff going on, and I could see it being muddled. Or maybe the salmon on one side, and all the salady ingredients on the other? Its just my opinion but when I do fish i keep it very simple, a few herbs or maybe a simple sauce. And man yes he was all butthurt during the judging.