S08.E06: WCIA: Blast From The Past

[Drogo]

For the last Skill Drill, Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Tyler Florence challenge the final four recruits to replicate a dish. With no help from their mentors, the recruits must rely on their taste buds and newfound skills. The trials continue when the recruits must cook a revamped version of their Day 1 signature dishes for their loved ones -- but their loved ones don't know which recruit cooked what dish and could unwittingly send their own loved one packing!  (Special airtime - 10 PM ET)

[TimetoShine]

I thought this was a very cute episode. Loved the fist bumps and I think they all did well. I'm not sure I would have picked the same final 2, but it's still a good episode.

[Eliza422]

I was sure that the opposite choices would have been made!

Has there ever been an all male finale? I only remember 1 guy actually making it to the finale before.

[mlp]

I don't remember an all male finale but there were at least two male finalists - Joshie who won season 2 and a big guy a couple seasons ago who didn't win.

 

I was surprised by the people chosen but very happy that Tyler chose Lawrence because Ginny was just obnoxious.  I liked both guys on Anne's team but thought she'd choose Taylor because he seemed calmer. I'll be happy with whichever one wins.  

 

This has been the best season since season 2 IMO.  I hope they stick with real people from now on.

[Totale]

I thought Backflip Boy was destined at the beginning because backflips, but since he seemed to be greeting each week's food with "ick, I don't like that. It grosses me out" he'd kind of faded.  Tossup between him and Big Dumb Jock, anyway. They've been giving Ginny so much time that I never really noticed Urkel was there.  I guess he must have been, though.  I can't remember one thing about him from previous weeks.

 

What have we learned here?  Don't talk smack or get the vapors over the host of the opposite sex if you're on a reality show? OK.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Totale

[Nidratime]

I'm guessing Tyler chose the army guy over Ginny because Ginny showed -- especially in the skill drill -- that once she thought she immediately knew something, she never went to the trouble of investigating further & questioning if she was right. Her team mate seemed a little more open to other possibilities, maybe because he wasn't feeling 100% confident. In other words, he's still teachable. Or maybe he's just better at taking orders! ;-)

[jcbrown]

So glad that Ginny went home because 1) she was completely obnoxious, 2) she thought she was all that and a bag of chips and as Nidratime notes, had zero curiosity or true desire to learn, 3) she's a gun nut as noted upthread. Principally, though, I wanted her gone because 4) I really really did not want to have to root for Anne to win and would have had to do just that if Ginny had been Tyler's final competitor.

Edited February 9, 2016 by jcbrown

[grisgris]

I was surprised that Anne chose Nick over Taylor, but I sort of thought from the first episode that Nick would be in the finale.

 

I thought that Ginny's dish was much more difficult than Lawrence's. I think her smack talk in the first heat did her in; not slightly undercooked rice.

[chessiegal]

Ginny said in her interview with the local paper that she's made what they taught her, but hasn't tried to cook anything else. That to me shows a true lack of desire to learn.

[EyewatchTV211]

Tyler's male contestant (blanking on his name right now) cracked me up in his THs this episode. One I liked was when he was like, "The training wheels are coming off? I never knew the training wheels were on!" It fits with what many here have said - they seemed to jump to very difficult things quickly and skipped simple things.

[Gardencrown]

I would have rather seen Nick and Taylor from the red team in the finale, though I like Lawrence well enough -- he's been a bit of a sleeper this season, and I wouldn't be shocked to see him win. I just thought that Nick and Taylor did an awesome job of working together, and both of them seem somewhat more confident/competent in the kitchen than Lawrence.

 

I thought that Ginny's dish was much more difficult than Lawrence's. I think her smack talk in the first heat did her in; not slightly undercooked rice.

 

Definitely on both!! Cooking a steak well or even the chicken breast would be pretty reasonably easy, but rice can be funky. I can make 99 great pots of rice, and then I can have 1 just go to shit for whatever reason...and I think she had to cook it on the stove and then bake it? That said, I found her extremely unpleasant in the first segment. Her level of arrogance was simply silly. I am a reasonably experienced (and hopefully not awful!) cook, and I would be hard pressed to know for sure which cut of steak was used or every single herb that was used. And boy, Tyler was pissed off at her -- I could tell as soon as he started talking about her that Ginny was toast, kind of like the woman early on who threw all of her stuff on the ground.

 

This has been a better season than the last couple, as it seems to be filled with more real people and less "actor-y" types. BUT. I really wish that they would show the recruits learning more basic stuff -- like knife skills -- I mean, really, most of us are not going to cook ostrich meat, but all of us can learn a bit about how better to cut veggies. I think that this show was at its best when they focused on teaching more normal, everyday kinds of cooking skills. Plus, honestly, Tyler is as boring to me as watching paint dry.

[joanne3482]

Ginny said in her interview with the local paper that she's made what they taught her, but hasn't tried to cook anything else. That to me shows a true lack of desire to learn.

Or is it that they didn't get enough basics from the show? I do agree that by age 50 if you really wanted to learn how to cook, you probably would have figured it out - read cook books, online youtube videos, take a community class, etc. But I also agree that it doesn't seem like the recruits learn more every day cooking which is what most of them need. The egg challenge was actually good for that because many people eat eggs for meals and being able to make them a bunch of different ways is a good thing. But in reality few people are regularly going to spend 2+ hours cooking a single meal, especially if they work. 

[HyeChaps]

It would have been interesting to see the two military guys in the finale.

[statslady]

Just chiming in to say I agree this has been the best season in a while.  Liked the 'realer' people, and the back to basics approach.  Where else do you see things like knife cuts, mise en place, and how to cook eggs? Like gardencrown said, 

 

I think that this show was at its best when they focused on teaching more normal, everyday kinds of cooking skills.

BTW gardencrown, I had the same story with rice.  I love rice and cook it a lot.  One of those 1/100 bad times happened when I was cooking for my in-laws and was inspired to finally get a Zojirushi rice cooker. Highly recommend.

[jcbrown]

 

BTW gardencrown, I had the same story with rice.  I love rice and cook it a lot.  One of those 1/100 bad times happened when I was cooking for my in-laws and was inspired to finally get a Zojirushi rice cooker. Highly recommend.

Me, too. I am an accomplished home cook but rice was sometimes my nemesis until I got a Zojirushi rice cooker.

[MajorWoody]

Not a surprise finish.

It was obvious from the 1st week Manbun was staying. He is this years phony Anne mancrush. Taylors food seemed to be much better received by the guests, but obviously Anne makes the call, not the guests.

Glad to see Ginny leave. She was over the top obnoxious, talking smack on a show that involves people who are there because they can't cook would seem to most people to be a good time to keep your mouth shut. Also, it was cringworthy when she talked down to Lawrence, telling him she is the leader, and he is a subordinate. That was uncalled for, and struck me as a true example of her real personality. As others have said, thee is no way she is only 50 years old, she is closer to 60 based on the closeups.