S20.E13: Champions In Paris

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

The final four land in Paris, the culinary capital of the world and home of the 2024 Olympics, where they compete in the infamous Wall Challenge; their partners are U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

Original air date: June 1, 2023

[Souris]

I really wanted to see Ali in the finale. Sara or Buddha for the win! Gabri has almost gone home so many times, I don’t think he should win.

The editors certainly poured on the emotional cues and backstory in this ep to support rooting for Gabri to make it to the finale. It really felt like emotional manipulation to me more than I can remember.

Good for Sara for identifying an element that wasn’t working, ditching it and coming up with a Plan B.

[Bastet]

Other than during the rain, I was constantly wishing I was in Paris.  I haven’t been there in many years.  As I said in the Live Chat thread, there are cities I like more, but I never more frequently thought "I can't believe where I am" than in Paris.  So I enjoyed seeing the cheftestants' excitement.

I want to go into that mushroom cave.  But not on that boat.  My motion sickness is so severe on water that I need to be on a moving boat; even the slight bobbing while docked affects me, and being down below would outright nauseate me.

What a collection of chefs at the dining table!  I love mushrooms, so wanted ALL the food.  I was thrilled with how much they loved Sara’s dish, after she had to ditch a component that didn’t come out the way she wanted.  What a time to get your first EC win at this level of competition!  Hers was also the dish I most wanted to eat.  I love her showing a soup can be the winning dish on a Michelin starred table.

Gabri left several of his components off the plate!  (And Sara had to warn him the thing she'd cautioned about was about to ruin another of them -- as I said in the LC thread, that was sporting of her; even though I'd expect nothing less from any of them, it's always nice to see.)  But what he put out they clearly liked more than Ali’s, so despite Ali’s being more mushroom focused and a good dish in its own right, I thought it clear who wasn’t advancing to the finale.  I’m bummed, as I quite like both of them, but Gabri was on the bottom so many times along the way I was pulling more for Ali to advance at this point.

I’m rooting for Sara to win the whole thing.  If not her, Gabri.  But however it goes down, this will surely be a great finale.

I enjoyed the QF challenge, and was pleased my hope that winning it resulted in a personal prize, not any sort of advantage in the EC, came true; otherwise, it would have been inappropriate at this stage of competition.

[Spicysweet]

I don't even want to watch next week. I wish the judges would take into consideration ALL the season's challenges, not just one. If they did, they would've remembered that Ali won most of them till very recently. Buddha was in the bottom three two different times, one for under-seasoned salmon (and he whined about being in the bottom) and one for overcooked rice. How many times was Gabri there??? C'mon! I'm fine with Sarah, I guess, so I hope she wins.

In addition to being a great chef, Ali seemed to be one of the most polite and kindest cheftestants I've ever seen on this show. I feel really bad for him. But nice guys finish last, right?

 

[Madding crowd]

As a vegetarian I always appreciated Ali for cooking great dishes without meat, and he seems like a sweet person. It is ok to sometimes skirt challenges if your dish is great but here they were specifically told to make the mushrooms the highlight of the dish which Gabi did not do in addition to telling the judges he left things off his dish. 

[blixie]

Oh look the followed the brief again! Good food will always trump meeting the brief. 

Extremely manipulative ep to get us to root for the guy they let slide through  too many times to count. And.....it worked, at the very least I wanted both to go through, but Ali making squish croquette with hard little seeds inside makes him hard to reward over a pretty amazing dish from Gabri, it was the first plate of food from him I wanted to eat.

But with Ali out I am more convinced than every Sara is wining this bitch. 

[Thumper]

In the Quickfire Challenge, I was pleased to see two Olympians from Minnesota — gymnast  Suni Lee (with Gabri), and Para-Olympic swimmer Mallory Weggeman (with Ali).  Mallory and Ali won!   I’ve been following Mallory on FB.  She and her husband recently had a baby after trying for many years.  Such an inspiring story.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Thumper

[Jodithgrace]

I just knew, as soon as they weren’t thrilled with Ali’s use of pomegranate in the croquettes that he was a goner. Sigh. I’ve been rooting for him all season. My son in law is Jordanian, but more than that, I just liked him. He seems like a really nice person.

I can’t believe “bad luck Gabri” made it to the finale! I swear…every single challenge, he burns something or runs out of time, or something, but always squeaks through. I actually like him, but it just amuses me that he seems to have his own personal bad luck cloud over his head.

I know the song goes, “ I love Paris when it drizzles,” but that was more of a deluge!  Still I wish I were there. It’s been quite a few years since the last time I saw Paris. 
 

All three finalists are perfectly acceptable, but I don’t really have a dog in this race now that Ali is gone. I admit, I would get a big chuckle out of Gabri winning it all. 

[buttersister]

I hate mushrooms and I'd still eat Sara's soup! Win, girl. 

Since last week's ep was titled, Goodbye, London, maybe this needs to be Hello, Paris. Or Bonjour, Paris! 

Alain Ducasse--nice. But wasn't it a little goofy that he kept stopping by and had to go and go and go. The boat by the Tour Eiffel is lovely. And that judges table must have gone on for awhile, it kept getting darker and darker (stays light until almost 10 pm this time of year). Glad they were still there when the lights came on--made for good TV, as did the champagne showers. LOL.

No Ali in the finale, but I hope he's proud of everything he did.

Editing monkeys making me like Gabri. I'm happy for he and his family. But I still am interested in his food the least.

Wondering where that last meal will be made. Heh, no wonder they got 400 euros--Gallerie Layfaette? LOL!

 

 

[Bastet]

25 minutes ago, buttersister said:

No Ali in the finale,

"It's not a finale without Ali".  I love all the puns with his name he came up with.  They're all terrible, but they all crack me up.

[HappyDancex2]

What a beautifully shot episode highlighting the Eiffel Tower and b roll shots of such a gorgeous city!  Really well done.

”oh hey are those pizza rolls?”

[violet and green]

2 hours ago, Spicysweet said:

I wish the judges would take into consideration ALL the season's challenges, not just one. If they did, they would've remembered that Ali won most of them till very recently.

He won one elimination challenge; and was in the winning team as one as a group of four (with Buddha, Sara, and Amar) for Restaurant Wars (which Buddha actually won, as I recall).

Buddha has won four elimination challenges, as well as at least three quickfires.

[FinnishViewer]

16 minutes ago, violet and green said:

I wish the judges would take into consideration ALL the season's challenges, not just one. If they did, they would've remembered that Ali won most of them till very recently.

It's like in sports. You're only as good as the latest performance.

[HappyDancex2]

Imagine this season with Gabri and Dawn paired up for every challenge.  Frenetic energy of non finishers each round!  His pure emotion has me on his side now…they kept him in for so long my annoyance has turned to admiration.  He is easy to watch now because he’s so true to himself.  For him the difference of his food being showcased and winning and his actual cooking which is scattered and time hindered…is basically having a chef above him like Buddha keeping him on task.  At least in this format.

I can’t see a situation where Buddha doesn’t win but I’d be thrilled to see Sara take it.

Would have loved to see Ali make it to the finale so he could have the chance to have Amar as his sous lol.  The comments by the guest judge really seemed to resonate about the mushroom steak and croquette just not being amazing enough for the semifinal.  Sure did meet the brief though.

[Mellowyellow]

I'm so sad that Ali left. Can't say that I'm going to be mad nomatter who wins. Buddha is just in a league of his own. Sara I absolutely love and she's a great chef. Gabri is a hot mess but he's so endearing from a human perspective, I can't say that I'd be disappointed if he pulled it out of a hat and won.

I'm pretty ok with things other than being sad that we're without Ali and Amar. One of the curses of a season with talented and likeable people.

[violet and green]

6 minutes ago, FinnishViewer said:

It's like in sports. You're only as good as the latest performance.

Yes. But I didn't write the post you're quoting.

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, violet and green said:

Yes. But I didn't write the post you're quoting.

That's a glitch of the site, not the poster. 

Topic: It's so hard to lose anyone now, but I loved Ali. In the preview, they showed him near some liquid nitrogen. That's Buddha's game. 

[HappyDancex2]

What did surprise me was during the wall challenge that Gabri reacted with such frustration and Buddha actually took it in stride and was laughing.  Buddha had the bruh kid so I was thrilled at how little he knew about food in general.  And why was Buddha using words like “lardons” when the kid doesn’t know a leek is?!

gabri “pine nuts.  Put in pie nuts!”

suni “what??”

gabri “oh just put in whatever you want”

😂😂😂

wish we could see the unedited full footage of that one!

[Daisychain]

So, one more fun fact . . . I mentioned in last week's thread that the Pack Your Knives guys, Kevin and Tom, got to go to a sort-of anniversary dinner for Top Chef at year 20.  It was hosted by Tom C. at his LA Craft restaurant.  And the menu was the Restaurant Wars winners from this season - all of whose dishes were received with extreme happiness/rapture.  That was Buddha, Sara, Ali, and Amar, so 3 of 4 in the finale.  (Don't get me wrong, they loved Amar's dish too.)  And at the dinner Ali mentioned that he was an alternate and found out he was on the show 12 hours before filming.  

Anyhoo my point is this:  When Sara said to Ali, where are you going with your flight prize, Ali said "Maybe I'll come to see you."  That is apparently happening - Ali and Sara are planning a dinner together at Sara's restaurant in Paducah, Freight House.  Presumably he gets to use his miles for something more exotic, but I am looking forward to hearing about that menu.  

I was so impressed with that cooking.  I love mushrooms and spent many years with my family where I had to chop up mushrooms into tiny pieces and hide them in recipes.  I could not believe how lovely Paris could look even in the pouring rain.  

That Alain Ducasse kept popping up was cute and I could listen to him speak English with his accent all the day long (or French, but I would only understand 1/6).  I am (obvs.) a superfan of Top Chef, and I did love the end of the All-Star season that took place in Italy.  (Bryan Votaggio, Kevin Gillespie, Melissa King, and underdog superachiever Stephanie Cmar.)  They were in Parma and they got to visit a cave in which Prosciutto de Parma was being hanged? hung?  and one of the most prominent legs of prosciutto was earmarked "Alain Ducasse."  It was a great reminder.  I thought he was helpful and of course, charming.

[marybennet]

Oh I am so sad for Ali!  The truth is, though, I like them all so much and admire them. It would have been painful to see any of them go before the finale. 
 

Tonight, the two dishes I wanted to try were Sara’s (I would love that recipe!) and Gabri’s. I can’t think of many times when I’ve had mushrooms in the context of major spice. I’d love to have tasted it. 
 

When Partnermarybennet and I were in Paris several years ago, we got caught in the rain and had to run to our hotel. It’s one of my favorite memories. Paris makes the rain beautiful. 

[violet and green]

It is so sad to see Ali go, but am glad he won that quickfire with the flights prize.

I was really excited to see all the Michelin-starred chefs enjoying Gabri's plate so much - especially after hearing that when he was five he wanted to own a restaurant in France! I really hope he takes up that 3-Michelin-stars chef's offer up of taking his number and coming to work for him, after the competition at some point, and one day does own his own restaurant in France.

Can't bear Sara, but I guess that must have been a tasty soup...

[violet and green]

2 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

That's a glitch of the site, not the poster. 

Is it? Many's the time I've wrestled with the quote box, getting further and further away from what I want to quote or not quote at all... With me, it's usually been operator error.

[Ellee]

Well … ok … blame me for Ali going home. I said previously that I wanted Ali with sous Amar, Buddha with sous, Gabri and Sara with Charbel  regardless of which one came back from LCK.  I know 3 finalists and not sure if all could be there as sous chefs but I would have enjoyed the finale immensely and wouldn’t know until it was over if I had a front runner. 

Edited June 2, 2023 by Ellee

[Leeds]

I usually like the wall challenge because it's a funny hot mess - but not at this stage of the competition. And so much for fulfilling the brief of World All Stars - they could only drag up 4 relatively unknown American athletes?  Which also meant an inherent disadvantage for the non-native English speakers.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Leeds

[CrazyInAlabama]

Gabri needs to stop saying what he screwed up.   Announcing you left some components out because you ran out of time isn't a good idea. 

I really enjoyed the quickfire, and the athletes.   

I loved the boat. 

[jackjill89]

Gabri as a person on the show makes me smile. Gabri as a contestant makes me anxious. He has shown some brilliance, but most of the time it seems he's been the best of the worst. He's like the silent TC assassin picking off contestants one by one. So now, at this point, I kinda want him to absolutely crush it and take the whole darn thing. Ha!

However, this is Buddha's to lose.  I'd like an upset. Not because I don't think Buddha is deserving, but it is so predictable.

I really wanted Ali to win. 

One question -- Buddha got to bring all his molds. What can chefs bring with them?

[seacliffsal]

I have had dinner on Alain's boat (it was a birthday present from my sister) and it was amazing!!!

I did not like the elimination challenge-especially as the "guest" partners had no stake in the outcome.  At least when they use family members, they really want to help their chef to win so are invested in doing their best.  Also, at this point in the competition, I want to see amazing food, not a dish that they think an inexperienced partner could do.  I laughed when the "guests" came out as I figured the remaining contestants would not have known who they were even if they had seen them come in (except Sara who seemed to know who her partner was).

I get tired of contestants moving on or even winning when they don't fulfill the requirements of the challenge.  If Gabri's dish was chicken forward and not mushroom forward, then I think he should have been eliminated (and it's not that I don't like him, it's that I would like the 'brief' and the elimination to line up).  I was really hoping to see Ali and his sous chef Papi in the finale...

Loved seeing all of the Michelin Star chefs and hearing their comments.

[potatoradio]

One can (and apparently should) peel mushrooms? Hokay, guess I have my youtube search project for the day. Learn something new every day.

A croquette and a mushroom steak are not "wow" enough for the challenge, but a soup that has been whizzed with pear and topped with sliced pear is? *sideeye*

Very cool of Sara to use proceeds from online cooking classes to pay her staff during the pandemic.

Did Ali say he used saffron or sumac on one of his mushroom dishes? That sounded really interesting. 

 I might watch a Buddha and Gabri spin off show. They crack me up together - Buddha's deadpan expression as Gabri flies around like a maniac. Plus, they cook great dishes together, as seen in a past challenge.

 

[Heathrowe]

This has been such a great season. It is going to be hard to go back to chefs of varying degrees of talent next season, after everyone on this show starting at the top. And I have also liked every single chef, and been sad to see them PYKAG.

Dubious decision on production's part to continue filming in the pouring rain. That looked super unpleasant.

Sara's soup looked delicious. I was worried it wouldn't be enough but her little meat jam/pear thing made it special and interesting.

Buddha...too soon for another wellington, as far as I am concerned. He is very talented, but just doesn't do it for me. He seems to be the frontrunner to win. 

Gabri - the thing is, his food seems to be delicious. He makes the food I want to eat! Sometimes Sara, too, but really always Gabri. And I do like his talking heads. I think he's very creative and without being able to taste his food, he sounds like a sauce genius. His videochat with his mom made me tear up. He does have time issues and seems to over extend himself. I thought Sara's comment that maybe it was GOOD that some things were left off his plate was very astute. But maybe the mushroom cookie would have pushed him more mushroom forward.

Ali - I knew he was handsome but for some reason, he was VERY handsome this episode. I tend to agree with the guest judge though, that the mushroom steak was just not very interesting in the end. But that said, I don't think Buddha's mushroom en croute was very interesting either. Anyway, he is lovely and I guess he'll be back as someone's sous.

 

 

[RoseAllDay]

I may be in the minority here, but I found the Quickfire to be BS at this stage of the game. There were obvious language barriers, especially with Gabri and Lee, and Lee obviously wasn’t taking it seriously. It’s not a joke to the cheftestants at this stage. OF COURSE they were in the bottom. Who didn’t see that coming, with how she giggled and clowned her way through it? Gabri was his very gracious self. As usual, YMMV. 

Had no idea Sydney McLaughlin got married.

At least Buddha didn’t win the Quickfire.

[Domenicholas]

The Top Chef judges have consistently picked better-tasting dishes that don't follow the challenge over good dishes that do. It makes me wonder why chefs don't just make whatever they want and bs about how it's challenge-appropriate (e.g. this lasagna is mushroom-forward because its mushroom-shaped!)

I loved how encouraging Ali was to his partner, and how Buddha described each thing for his, so I wasn't surprised that they were on the top. I was surprised that Sarah and her partner weren't higher since Sydney is Southern, so she would be familiar with Sarah's cuisine (although familiarity and ability to cook are two different things, as I can attest).

Gabri reminds me so much of Dawn in her first season: manic in the kitchen, making things up as they go, giving themselves too much to do in too little time, forgetting to plate things (although Dawn did that a lot more), staying longer than more consistent contestants due to amazing flavors and, in Gabri's case, techniques. El Gato or Le Chat indeed.

I was rooting for Ali to win, so I'm sad that he got kicked off. At this point, I'm rooting for Sarah (never thought I would type that), then Gabri (whom I've liked since the beginning). I really like Buddha too, but I don't like predetermined winners, and no one in this season has been predetermined like Buddha.

[rlc]

I’ll be fine with any of them winning next week. Buddha has been the strongest throughout the competition, and Gabri has grown on me. I unapologetically adore Sara. I used to be a professional chef- these days I’m just an enthusiastic home cook. Over the years, as my cooking style has matured, I have put a focus on using only seasonal and local food products and preparing them as simply as possible. Sara’s kitchen ethos aligns with mine. I adore her lack of tricks and the confidence it shows. She allows flavors to be the star, not manipulation of ingredients/technique. That’s a long way of saying that I’d love to see Sara win.

[Fukui San]

It occurs to me that they could have brought Dawn back as an Olympian for the Quickfire challenge, though if she were paired with Gabri they might have trouble finishing on time. 

It’s absolutely amazing that Gabri has dodged elimination until the finale given his various struggles. Always someone just did a little worse every week. He does have strengths, so we don’t resent him being there. Also a great personality. But still. 

[rhofmovalley]

43 minutes ago, RoseAllDay said:

Lee obviously wasn’t taking it seriously. It’s not a joke to the cheftestants at this stage. OF COURSE they were in the bottom. Who didn’t see that coming, with how she giggled and clowned her way through it?

That's what bothered me. I understand that Suni is a superior athlete. I won't dismiss or minimize her accomplishments. But I wonder how she would feel if someone showed up at one of her training sessions for the Olympics and was giggling and not taking it seriously while they were supposed to be helping her train?

At least the male athlete was saying basically, I have no idea what I'm doing but no worries, we'll get it done. And he was willing to be coached. Although I can understand that Gabri's frantic style could have made it more challenging for Suni than Buddha's chill approach. 

[questionfear]

43 minutes ago, Domenicholas said:

The Top Chef judges have consistently picked better-tasting dishes that don't follow the challenge over good dishes that do. It makes me wonder why chefs don't just make whatever they want and bs about how it's challenge-appropriate (e.g. this lasagna is mushroom-forward because its mushroom-shaped!)

I loved how encouraging Ali was to his partner, and how Buddha described each thing for his, so I wasn't surprised that they were on the top. I was surprised that Sarah and her partner weren't higher since Sydney is Southern, so she would be familiar with Sarah's cuisine (although familiarity and ability to cook are two different things, as I can attest).

Gabri reminds me so much of Dawn in her first season: manic in the kitchen, making things up as they go, giving themselves too much to do in too little time, forgetting to plate things (although Dawn did that a lot more), staying longer than more consistent contestants due to amazing flavors and, in Gabri's case, techniques. El Gato or Le Chat indeed.

I was rooting for Ali to win, so I'm sad that he got kicked off. At this point, I'm rooting for Sarah (never thought I would type that), then Gabri (whom I've liked since the beginning). I really like Buddha too, but I don't like predetermined winners, and no one in this season has been predetermined like Buddha.

Sydney Mclaughlin isn't southern. She went to college in KY but she grew up in Dunellen, NJ (they're extremely proud of her and there's signs up when you enter the town saying she grew up there). And if you tell someone from central NJ that they're southern that's 100% fighting words. 

[HighQueenEB]

3 hours ago, Leeds said:

I usually like the wall challenge because it's a funny hot mess - but not at this stage of the competition. And so much for fulfilling the brief of World All Stars - they could only drag up 4 relatively unknown American athletes?  Which also meant an inherent disadvantage for the non-native English speakers.

I don't follow the Paralympics much at all, but I've heard of Buddha's partner before in the run-up to Tokyo.  

Suni Lee and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, on the other hand, are extremely well-known.  WAG (Women's Artistic Gymnastics) is absolutely HUGE here in the USA and while Suni doesn't have the name recognition of Simone Biles, she's absolutely a star in her own right and an amazing gymnast.  And Sydney is already a two-time Olympic champion who has barely tapped her potential on the track.  Just because you've never heard of them doesn't mean they are unknown, not by a long stretch.

Of the Final 3, I'm Team Buddha all the way, but I have a feeling that Sara's going to take it.

[AriAu]

Quote

I don't even want to watch next week. I wish the judges would take into consideration ALL the season's challenges, not just one. If they did, they would've remembered that Ali won most of them till very recently.

I don't know how many ways I can disagree with this-if they did it based on the whole season, there would be no reason to watch next week given Buddha's dominance....Sara was only low once....and then got eliminated, albeit in a team challenge. Since I am rooting for Sara, I am THRILLED it is based on how you do THAT week, cooking the "best meal of your life" or whatever they call it.

I can not believe Gabri is still alive.....what a mess and he is really lucky Sara was watching out for him or he would have badly burned the sauce that the judges loved. If anything, Ali has Sara to blame since if Gabri had burned the sauce, Ali moves on!

While I am thrilled that Sara won, which was not a huge surprise given Alain Ducasse's reaction to her beef marmalade/sauce, history is not on her side-the winner of the penultimate challenge has only won the finale 6 times, and 3 were among the most dominant runs in TC History (Blais in All Stars, Paul Qui in Texas and Melissa King in 2nd All Stars.....and the others were Harold in Season 1, Joe Flamm in Colorado season and, yeah, it shouldnt have happened, but Nick Elmi).

Side observation-I think the cheftestants have learned to be "good sports" and to "play well with the other children", but sometimes the opinions seep out. If you watch it closely, the other cheftestant were clearly thrilled for Sara and there were big hugs all around. When Padma announced that Buddha moved on to the finale, there were polite congratulations, but clearly he is not that well liked.

Quote

Very cool of Sara to use proceeds from online cooking classes to pay her staff during the pandemic.

I follow her on Instagram and she does lots of cool things, and the personality on the show is consistent with who she appears to be. While this is admirable, a LOT of chefs did similar things to keep their staff's afloat-they really took care of their own and the PPP was a lifesaver for many places.

Edited June 4, 2023 by AriAu

[rhofmovalley]

I kind of get the feeling Buddha isn't the huggy type. More of a shoulder slap or hand shake. 

[Thumper]

I thought Suni had a hard time hearing Gabri as well as perhaps not understanding his accent.  I took her giggles as embarrassment at not understanding. But, I can see how it might appear otherwise.

[dubstepford wife]

If Gabri somehow ends up beating Buddha, I will never stop laughing.  Talk about falling upwards.  

At this point the remaining chefs are so different that it feels like comparing apples and oranges.  Buddha's food will be beautiful and avant garde and showcase a lot of technique, and a dinner made by him would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Sara's food will be the perfect bridge between fancy and comforting, it would never be boring but also never pretentious.  And I feel like any restaurant owned by Gabri would be the most fun, it would be loud and lively and full of people drunk on tequila and enjoying the hell out of some elevated Mexican food.  There's a time and a place for all three of those situations.

Gail looked hot.  That coral dress with the plunging neckline?  Yowza.

 

[rhofmovalley]

23 minutes ago, Thumper said:

I thought Suni had a hard time hearing Gabri as well as perhaps not understanding his accent.  I took her giggles as embarrassment at not understanding. But, I can see how it might appear otherwise.

Definitely possible. And maybe she didn't feel comfortable saying she couldn't understand his accent. 

[MerBearHou]

9 hours ago, violet and green said:

Can't bear Sara, but I guess that must have been a tasty soup...

Glad to see I'm not the only one.  I wish she'd stop calling the men "boys".  It's fine once, but she does it a lot.  I find her to be irritating.  I do love mushroom soup and hers sounded delicious, but mostly, I am underwhelmed by her food.  

[tvfanatic13]

I have never enjoyed a season as much as this one. I am really going to miss these chefs and their camaraderie and professionalism. 

[AriAu]

On her IG, Padma says she is leaving to focus on Taste the Nation and other projects....is that why Gail said "as my friend Padma Lakshmi says...I guess we have a decision"! Nah, I dont think they knew she was leaving all those months ago!

[Heathrowe]

1 hour ago, rhofmovalley said:

Definitely possible. And maybe she didn't feel comfortable saying she couldn't understand his accent. 

Yes and also - someone mentioned he was the only one who had a language barrier to deal with. I noticed it when he told her to use Coriander and she was like - what's that?  Because we say cilantro in the US. I think the language thing has been very under-rated this series, I worked for a German company for years and even listening to them speak English with a heavy German accent exhausted me! I can't imagine how my colleagues felt speaking in another language for hours or days if we were together. (I tried to learn German and failed.) Anyway - it's tiring in the brain, and I think it definitely led to some challenge misunderstandings for Begona and Victoire, I think. So hats off to all the international chefs, and I guess Buddha is technically not American....I wish the final 3 were a little more international!

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, AriAu said:

While I am thrilled that Sara won, which was not a huge surprise given Alain Ducasse's reaction to her beef marmalade/sauce, history is not on her side-the winner of the penultimate challenge has only won the finale 6 times, and 3 were among the most dominant runs in TC History (Blais in All Stars, Paul Qui in Texas and Melissa King in 2nd All Stars.....and the others were Harold in Season 1, Joe Flamm in Colorado season and, yeah, it shouldnt have happened, but Nick Elmi).

However, the final winner of LCK has gone on to take the whole thing 😏

[Lovecat]

32 minutes ago, Heathrowe said:

I think the language thing has been very under-rated this series, I worked for a German company for years and even listening to them speak English with a heavy German accent exhausted me! I can't imagine how my colleagues felt speaking in another language for hours or days if we were together. (I tried to learn German and failed.) Anyway - it's tiring in the brain, and I think it definitely led to some challenge misunderstandings for Begona and Victoire, I think. So hats off to all the international chefs, and I guess Buddha is technically not American....I wish the final 3 were a little more international!

I was thinking about this when they were flailing around in the fancy grocery store.  Gabri and Ali already have 2 languages competing for space in their brains--their mother tongue + English--and then they were thrown into a big store full of French.  That's enough to give anyone a headache.  OTOH, Victoire would have had a big leg up had she made it this far.  

It is definitely exhausting to work in a second language, no matter how fluent you are.  My Spanish (particularly reading comprehension) is pretty good, and I can carry on a business conversation in about 60-75% Spanish, but I have to write my notes in English, which means that even if I don't have to mentally translate something that's been said in order to understand it, I do in order to write it down.  So tiring.  It fascinates me how Gabri sometimes talks to himself in Spanish (particularly when counting) and sometimes in English.

I had to laugh at Buddha's talking head, though:  My French is pretty good...no, that's a lie, my French is rubbish.

[HurricaneVal]

I do like that Quickfire challenge, it is usually kind of fun, but I don't think it is fair for the competition.  It is good they saved it for toward last when immunity is off the table so it is more like a prize challenge rather than something that affects the rest of the competition.   I like it better when it is family members than some commercial tie-in stunt casting--though I loved seeing the Olympic athletes, because I flove the Olympics.  At least when it is family members there is a common cultural reference so when the chef says "coriander" you know what that is, and misunderstandings due to accents are minimized.

Gabri did not cover himself with glory last night, shouting chef-y terms at his partner and not following up with good descriptions.  Just shouting "Coriander....coriander....CORIANDER!!!" was not going to help Suni understand that he meant that green leafy looking stuff with flat friendly looking pale green leaves.  Though, to be fair, when he told Suni to get the poblano chile, and she held up what looked like an Anaheim and asked if it was the green pepper looking thing, and he--holding his squatty, dark, poblano pepper--said "yes" and then they both went forward thinking they were both right.  When Suni said "green pepper" she was thinking color, and when Gabri heard "green pepper" and agreed he was thinking shape. 

Did everyone get the same base ingredients?  Or did they get ingredients in their culinary wheelhouse to help with the communication?  Because if they were all the same ingredients, then production put some pitfalls in there, because I saw there was both cilantro/coriander and parsley in the final dishes, and those are two very different flavor profiles where a mistake would result in very different dishes.

Each chef had such a different approach to the comp.  I thought that was great, and very telling of their individual personalities.  Ali picked something simple to do with the potato leek soup, as a strategy for success with a non-chef partner, and his use of measurements and precise instructions helped that work well.  Sara took some time to get to know her partner to gauge ability and knowledge, and worked out something she thought the two could pull off together.  Buddha's twenty questions to figure out who was on the other side was another example of his razor sharp strategic game play.   As soon as he figured out it wasn't anybody he knew that he could take shortcuts with, he immediately pivoted to some other idea.  Gabri just jumped in with both feet without taking time to figure out his partner, and that showed.  Maybe unfamiliarity with the challenge, or nerves, or whatever, but his lack of strategy, and lack of communication was his downfall.  At least he had the grace to look embarrassed at the end when he realized he'd been yelling and thinking bad thoughts about someone he actually admired.

[Pandora]

4 hours ago, HighQueenEB said:

I don't follow the Paralympics much at all, but I've heard of Buddha's partner before in the run-up to Tokyo.  

Suni Lee and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, on the other hand, are extremely well-known.  WAG (Women's Artistic Gymnastics) is absolutely HUGE here in the USA and while Suni doesn't have the name recognition of Simone Biles, she's absolutely a star in her own right and an amazing gymnast.  And Sydney is already a two-time Olympic champion who has barely tapped her potential on the track.  Just because you've never heard of them doesn't mean they are unknown, not by a long stretch.
 

Suni Lee is the reigning Olympic individual champion, not sure how much more known you can get in Olympic circles.

The two para athletes are less of household names but I’m glad Top Chef chose them to both highlight their own talents and the Paralympics in general. It’s more of TC doing good where they can, imho.

[RoseAllDay]

4 hours ago, Thumper said:

I thought Suni had a hard time hearing Gabri as well as perhaps not understanding his accent.  I took her giggles as embarrassment at not understanding. But, I can see how it might appear otherwise.

I just watched this again and she definitely was not taking it as seriously as the rest of the athletes. Ali and his partner had a similar language deficit and she took the time to listen and ask questions to make sure she understood what he wanted. Lee didn’t do that, at least not in a meaningful way. I will say that Gabri should have described the pepper he wanted better, but again she should have asked questions. She was being cutesy, which would get on my last nerve PDQ.

No need for Gabri to apologize for “yelling” at her — she was useless and was the reason he was on the bottom. I’m just glad nothing more was at stake than a cash prize.