24 in 24: Last Chef Standing - General Discussion

[DEL901]

I can’t remember her name, but the female chef that was in the bottom 2 with Damaris grinned happily when Damaris got cut.  I hope she goes soon.

[lavenderblue]

I thought Damaris was kind of hosed last night with the art challenge. She makes a plate that closely resembles the painting about as well as it could, with the parameters of the challenge being to replicate the painting in terms of color, composition, and spirit. If these qualities don't excite the judge then sorry, maybe paintings relying on black, beige, and blue should have been excluded from contention here, especially when Kathleen's colorful concentric circle-based art -- which several presented a version of in the visual-only round! -- was such a gimme that her failure to recreate it was even more glaring. Elia also completely bombed the visual aspect of her Monet, but she went home eventually so it's whatever.

And Brooke's presence reminded me of why I didn't love her as a judge here last year, either. The buddy-buddy moment with Bryan during judging was so awkward and unnecessary, and I say this liking Bryan. But she did the same thing last year, talking about her familiarity with one contestant and comparing them against themselves, while admitting she didn't know someone else (and judging them quite differently). She's not great at feigning objectivity in non-blind settings.

Edited Tuesday at 12:15 AM by lavenderblue

[BrainyBlonde]

7 hours ago, tv echo said:

I'm also happy about Bryan's win and Elia's elimination. Bryan was smart to pick at least one strong chef (Sawyer) for the breakroom in anticipation of some twist.

I have always liked Stephanie, but her sulking after Bryan did not choose her for the breakroom was not a good look. She came across as entitled. I get that she was tired, but so were the rest of the chefs. If she had won the golden knife, I bet that she would have done the same thing (made strategic picks).

It slays me that these chefs who've been competing on cooking shows for DECADES get bent out of shape when a fellow chef employs a strategy that doesn't work in their favor. It's a game/competition, and there can be only one winner at the end. Friendships need to be checked at the door. Stephanie got to sit out at least one shift earlier, so she was no more fatigued or deserving of that time in the break room than anyone else. Get. Over. Yourself.

I don't know if I'm more easily irritated this season or what, but it seems like there is a lot more whining and complaining and even outright anger from the chefs this go-round. They knew what the show would demand of them before they signed up (no sleep for 24 hours, difficult challenges with unexpected twists), so shut up and cook!

I hope my beloved Bryan V. takes the prize home this season. I really appreciate that he's doing his best to roll with the punches and not bellyache about everything. (Marcel had a similar demeanor last season, which worked well for him.)

[Colorado David]

bryan v has such a pleasant demeanor, he is competitive but not obnoxious about it. his brother eh can get a little aggressive, he impresses with his talent but he can rub the wrong way. same stephanie i, you have much talent but you seem to get attitudy at times. i have had enuff of brooke w, we know you luv yourself so just stop already. sorry jmo

Edited Monday at 07:59 PM by Colorado David
jmo

[Harry24]

I think it really says something about combined stress and extreme fatigue when perpetually cheerful and camera experienced Stephanie is unable to control her emotions.  I certainly haven’t seen every appearance she’s made, but the worst I can remember seeing from her in the past is sad.  

IOW, I think it says less about Stephanie and more about what fatigue like that can do to a person.

Was DEEE-lighted that Elia took a hike.  Glad that beautiful Gabe got some positive feedback.  Relieved that Kevin (he’s my favorite) is still in it.

I adore Demaris from Guy’s Grocery Games.  But I wonder, as wonderful a cook as she is, whether chefs who haven’t spent a lot of time working in restaurants aren’t at an inherent disadvantage in competitions like these.  I thought she wasn’t able to display her distinctive charm as much as I was hoping in these particular circumstances.  She had some good results, though.  I hope she feels good about it once she’s had a shower and slept for a few days.

Edited Monday at 08:14 PM by Harry24

[SHERMDOG]

9 hours ago, BrainyBlonde said:

It slays me that these chefs who've been competing on cooking shows for DECADES get bent out of shape when a fellow chef employs a strategy that doesn't work in their favor. It's a game/competition, and there can be only one winner at the end. Friendships need to be checked at the door. Stephanie got to sit out at least one shift earlier, so she was no more fatigued or deserving of that time in the break room than anyone else. Get. Over. Yourself.

I don't know if I'm more easily irritated this season or what, but it seems like there is a lot more whining and complaining and even outright anger from the chefs this go-round. They knew what the show would demand of them before they signed up (no sleep for 24 hours, difficult challenges with unexpected twists), so shut up and cook!

I hope my beloved Bryan V. takes the prize home this season. I really appreciate that he's doing his best to roll with the punches and not bellyache about everything. (Marcel had a similar demeanor last season, which worked well for him.)

While i agree that they signed up for this competition...I truly don't think you can truly know how grueling this would be until you do it. I didnt really think theyvwere whining as much as just stating how they feel!??? I was sad to see Damaris go. I really do like her. I'm prolly team Bryan, Kevin or Sawyer. Not a real fan of Nini...not sure why!?? Lol

[tv echo]

Michael Symon talks intense new season of Food Network’s ’24 in 24: Last Chef Standing’
By Emily Davenport   May 12, 2025
https://www.amny.com/entertainment/tv/michael-symon-food-network-24-in-24-last-chef-season/ 

Quote

Compared to other competition shows, Symon says that “24 in 24” is by far the most realistic to what chefs actually go through in the kitchen.

“Most chefs at some point in their life have opened up a restaurant whether it’s one of their own or for someone else. When a restaurant opens, you don’t sleep for 2 or 3 days, that’s just how it works,” said Symon. “I think for a lot of viewers at home, they’re like ‘Oh my God, these chefs are up for 24 straight hours.’ But the realization is, in our lives as chefs, all of us have done that at some point in our careers. After season one, I probably got 300 texts from chef friends of mine saying ‘I want in,’ because when they watch the show, they’re like, ‘This is what happens in real life, and now people can see it.’”
*  *  *
“You get so locked into what you’re doing, you sometimes forget about the simple things. The chefs that go farthest in this competition are the chefs that are very technically sound, because their technique doesn’t slide, so to speak, but a lot of times what you’ll see is when people start getting really exhausted, some of the simplest tasks in the kitchen start to go away,” said Symon. “It’s like, ‘Oh my god, I forgot to put salt in that!’ That’s the first thing you learn as a chef, but when people start getting tired, those things start to slip.”

When looking at the competitors this season and last season, Symon noted that though the younger chefs “have a bit more spring in their step,” the more seasoned chefs have an easier time pushing through the first wall of the competition.

“Marcel [Vigneron, winner of “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” season 1] was not the youngest chef on season one — he’s been around longer than a lot of the chefs — but once he was able to push in that wall, his experience and seasoning carried him to victory,” said Symon. “There is this kind of breaking point, I think, around we’ll say like 12 to 18 hour point, where if you’re not able to push yourself through that wall, it doesn’t matter how much experience you have, and some chefs are able to do it and some chefs aren’t.”
*  *  *
“The further that you get into [the competition], the more it hurts that you went home. [The competitors] wanted to be there for the long haul. You get to the point where you’re like, ‘Okay, I’ve been doing this for 15, 16, 17, 18 hours, it’s down to five or six chefs, I wanna win.’ So where it’s a little bit playful in the beginning, it gets more intense. Every episode gets more intense and more gut-wrenching than the one before it, because so much time has been put in and effort has been put in, and now they want to see it through.”

Edited Tuesday at 02:07 PM by tv echo

[MicheleinPhilly]

Bye Elia! Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya! 

The exhaustion is REALLY starting to take its toll. I've never seen a group of cooking competition show contestants just standing there staring into space with pissy looks on their faces like that. I can't recall just how many of these curveballs they threw at them last season but this bunch seems exceptionally grumpy. 

I did laugh though when Nini made a big deal out of planning to make pancakes and taking the maple syrup. And then when the shift was announced she was just like, "Good thing I grabbed a steak." Huh??? Is pancakes and steak a thing?

I'm a big Stephanie fan but I thought she was being absolutely ridiculous with how pissed she was at Brian. You should take it as a compliment, girl! And now he's stuck with a team that he doesn't know/trust/respect for next week. 

But speaking of the break room, go lie down! I don't get the whole "Let's sit in the doorway and watch what's going on." I would be taking FULL advantage of that break. Wake me when someone has gotten the boot and I'm expected back at my station. 

The only cheftestant left who really annoys me is Kelsey. I don't know her at all but something about her just bugs. 

[mlp]

6 hours ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

The only cheftestant left who really annoys me is Kelsey. I don't know her at all but something about her just bugs. 

If you had seen her on MC, you'd know why.  She has a very high opinion of herself.  Kathleen is almost as bad and now poor Bryan is stuck with both of them next week.  Good thing he also chose Jonathan.  

I usually like Damaris when she isn't acting goofy but she wasn't the best sport when she was eliminated.  Stephanie isn't acting her best either.  I hope one of Bryan, Kevin and Gabe wins in the end.

[MicheleinPhilly]

2 minutes ago, mlp said:

If you had seen her on MC, you'd know why.  She has a very high opinion of herself.  Kathleen is almost as bad and now poor Bryan is stuck with both of them next week.  Good thing he also chose Jonathan.  

I usually like Damaris when she isn't acting goofy but she wasn't the best sport when she was eliminated.  Stephanie isn't acting her best either.  I hope one of Bryan, Kevin and Gabe wins in the end.

Oh, I can already tell from this show.

Kathleen doesn't bother me and I've actually liked her so far, but I was perplexed as to why she didn't do more with her dish based on the painting she got. Her "looks only" dish was really fun and playful. I just feel like she missed a big opportunity to incorporate more color. 

OH AND THAT REMINDS ME - Was anyone else really annoyed by how much beautiful food, mostly produce, that just got tossed in the trash for that stupid "looks only" challenge? 

I 100% predict that Bryan and Jonathan will completely dominate that group next week and that Jonathan might be slightly rude about it. Just a hunch. 

[paramitch]

First off, DING DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD! Bye bye, Elia! But more on that later.

First off, the "Artistry" challenge was fascinating, but the judge (Fariyal Abdullahi) was horrible! She didn't seem to have any knowledge of art at all, and barely seemed able to articulate her feelings about how the food looked OR tasted. It was all, "I love it!" or "I don't know..." (She catered for the Met Gala once, I guess, but knew nothing about art! Gah.)

Just terrible judging. So I did feel sympathy for the contestants because of how inconsistent and subjective she was. I strongly disagreed with her reactions to so many of the dishes. I hated the watermelon cake -- how was that art? I felt like the judge gave a pass to the first half before then reversing and being super-critical on the second half.

I loved Jonathan Sawyer's idea for his Rothko-inspired plate, but not how sloppily he executed it. He had huge bits of white plate showing through! Why didn't he just smooth it out? But then again, I can't stand Jonathan, so my bias isn't helping me there. (Jonathan's not a nice guy -- had a notoriously bad reputation that he now blames on his drinking, screwed over his employees and vendors in Cleveland, and now he's claiming he's going to donate his winnings to charity? Come on.)

And Elia's just seemed weird to me as well. Trying to be objective, I just thought it didn't remotely resemble a Monet and had none of the softness or colors. And meanwhile, I love Bryan V. and all, but I thought his "dock by the bay" art was terrible, like preschool art. The sticks were off-putting, and I couldn't figure out why he kept talking about the ocean when he had no blue in his "painting" at all. Then the judge loved Nini's, even though Nini's dish was just this literal stump on a plate or something.

On the actual dishes, I thought Damaris's was really smart and subtle, and I loved the way it echoed the painting with the soft colors, delicate fish, and even the "pearl" radish! I was shocked and really unhappy when she was eliminated, and I didn't blame her for being dissatisfied, because there was nothing different she could have done. It was simply up to the airhead judge's "like" or "dislike" reaction (and I was also surprised at how rude the judge was in her dismissal of Damaris at the end).

I was moved by Damaris's final TH, where she showed her husband's note for the 12th hour and then teared up. After seeing her husband team up with her on GGG, where I think they both wore cat pajamas or something equally hilarious, they are obviously perfect for each other. I think at another point he even sang with her on camera (just as badly as she does, LOL).

As far as the next challenge, I felt bad for many of the chefs because you could really see people start to break down with exhaustion. While I didn't blame Brian V for acting strategically, I didn't blame Stephanie for being frustrated and snippy because she was just visibly not herself and was quickly nearing a breakdown from exhaustion. I think she was just desperately hoping for Bryan to give her a break and was crushed not to get it.

It was great to see Gabe win, however -- I underestimated him, and he's doing really well here. I think he's an entertaining and talented chef, but I was expecting that he wouldn't last long here, as his Italian repertoire would limit him. But he did a great job here, so kudos to him. Meanwhile, I'm THRILLED to see Elia leave, and can't wait to see how the "four vs four" goes down next week.

On 5/11/2025 at 8:11 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

Bye Elia! You won't be missed. 👍

(HAPPY DANCE!) She didn't deserve to be here. I was amused to see that her attitude was as terrible as ever. She still cannot handle criticism at all. I can't imagine how people work with her -- she is one of those people who MUST be right, period.

On 5/12/2025 at 3:46 AM, tv echo said:

I have always liked Stephanie, but her sulking after Bryan did not choose her for the breakroom was not a good look. She came across as entitled. I get that she was tired, but so were the rest of the chefs. If she had won the golden knife, I bet that she would have done the same thing (made strategic picks).

I don't blame her at all. I think she was just exhausted -- she's visibly nearing the breaking point, and as it seems she and Bryan are actually friends in real life, she was disappointed (if naive) that he didn't pick her for a break. I didn't think she said or did anything unforgivable -- she was just visibly grumpy and tired.

On 5/12/2025 at 10:22 AM, lavenderblue said:

I thought Damaris was kind of hosed last night with the art challenge. She makes a plate that closely resembles the painting about as well as it could, with the parameters of the challenge being to replicate the painting in terms of color, composition, and spirit. If these qualities don't excite the judge then sorry, maybe paintings relying on black, beige, and blue should have been excluded from contention here, especially when Kathleen's colorful concentric circle-based art -- which several presented a version of in the visual-only round! -- was such a gimme that her failure to recreate it was even more glaring. Elia also completely bombed the visual aspect of her Monet, but she went home eventually so it's whatever.

And Brooke's presence reminded me of why I didn't love her as a judge here last year, either. The buddy-buddy moment with Bryan during judging was so awkward and unnecessary, and I say this liking Bryan. But she did the same thing last year, talking about her familiarity with one contestant and comparing them against themselves, while admitting she didn't know someone else (and judging them quite differently). She's not great at feigning objectivity in non-blind settings.

I 100% agree on everything here. I like Brooke (I know not everyone does), but I was irritated at the obvious bias with Bryan here, and she did something similar last year with Carlos Anthony, telling him his style had refined, etc. As Brooke didn't know so many other chefs at all, for me it definitely crossed a line (and did again here).

On 5/12/2025 at 11:13 AM, BrainyBlonde said:

I don't know if I'm more easily irritated this season or what, but it seems like there is a lot more whining and complaining and even outright anger from the chefs this go-round. They knew what the show would demand of them before they signed up (no sleep for 24 hours, difficult challenges with unexpected twists), so shut up and cook!

They're genuinely exhausted and have been cooking for 15 hours by the end of this episode. I didn't think anyone was unforgivable here -- we just got a lot of tired, grumpy people who were already at the edge, and when the gas went out, you could just see some of them lose it for a minute. Stephanie looked near tears. 

I think it's one thing to watch the show, but I suspect it's way harder than many of them suspected.

On 5/12/2025 at 1:13 PM, Harry24 said:

I think it really says something about combined stress and extreme fatigue when perpetually cheerful and camera experienced Stephanie is unable to control her emotions.  I certainly haven’t seen every appearance she’s made, but the worst I can remember seeing from her in the past is sad.  

IOW, I think it says less about Stephanie and more about what fatigue like that can do to a person.

Was DEEE-lighted that Elia took a hike.  Glad that beautiful Gabe got some positive feedback.  Relieved that Kevin (he’s my favorite) is still in it.

I adore Demaris from Guy’s Grocery Games.  But I wonder, as wonderful a cook as she is, whether chefs who haven’t spent a lot of time working in restaurants aren’t at an inherent disadvantage in competitions like these.  I thought she wasn’t able to display her distinctive charm as much as I was hoping in these particular circumstances.  She had some good results, though.  I hope she feels good about it once she’s had a shower and slept for a few days.

I 100% agree!

From what I understand, Damaris cooks a LOT. She frequently teams up with Bobby Flay at events like the Kentucky Derby, and still caters and cooks for special events. She also does well on other cooking competitions.

I just think this one was especially grueling as a different kind of marathon, and I also think she was very much in professional mode here. While I love Damaris in goofball Theatre Kid mode, I liked that she simply wanted to prove her chops, and she reached a respectable milestone in the competition. (And I honestly didn't agree with the judge for dismissing her.)

On 5/13/2025 at 7:14 AM, MicheleinPhilly said:

Bye Elia! Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya! 

The exhaustion is REALLY starting to take its toll. I've never seen a group of cooking competition show contestants just standing there staring into space with pissy looks on their faces like that. I can't recall just how many of these curveballs they threw at them last season but this bunch seems exceptionally grumpy. 

(snip)

But speaking of the break room, go lie down! I don't get the whole "Let's sit in the doorway and watch what's going on." I would be taking FULL advantage of that break. Wake me when someone has gotten the boot and I'm expected back at my station. 

They really all look so much more tired this year. The challenges really do edge on being cruel. Last year it felt like they got more breaks? And I can't believe the "break" winners all stood and watched! I would have been snoozing for every single second I could grab.

On 5/13/2025 at 1:58 PM, mlp said:

I usually like Damaris when she isn't acting goofy but she wasn't the best sport when she was eliminated.

It's interesting because I was on Damaris's side here, because it's one thing to judge the food, but another to judge the food as an evocation of art and say it's lacking. For me, Damaris's dish was beautifully evocative of the painting, and the flavors were described as equally delicate and "subtle." For me, she met the challenge, but the judge missed that completely. While Kathleen's dish did not meet the challenge visually, and sounded like it had greater issues in taste.

I was not on Elia's side, on the other hand, for rejecting the outcome because Brooke was so precise in her judgment and was able to tell her exactly what was wrong with her dish and how it tasted. Elia came across as completely unreasonable here because she wouldn't even try to conceive that her dish was lacking seasoning in any way.

It's pretty clear that I can't stand Elia anyway, and I admit that, but I do think she was frustrating and childish. She was as openly antagonistic and rejecting of criticism as she always was. On her final Top Chef appearance, she did the same thing, rudely insulted Tom, and refused to consider that her dish was flawed. She hasn't changed or learned from her past mistakes at all.