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S11.E08: Finale the End!


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The final two recruits face the ultimate challenge of cooking a restaurant quality meal for a panel of culinary experts. Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray coach their recruits, as all the skills the celebs have learned are put to the test.

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I wish they hadn't changed the format.  I always prefer blind judging.  And could do without the Chopped-style running commentary.  The finale where Anne and Tyler were practically at each other's throats...ah, good times.

Is this the first time they said what the charities were? 

So, Scott Conant tears apart actual chefs who do their best with suddenly being handed four hideously disparate ingredients to meld in an insanely short time frame, but tongue bathes D-listers with pre-planned menus and personal coaches. 

They totally faked me out on the outcome.  They had criticisms for Perez all the way through, and I didn't hear any criticism of Melissa, so I was sure she was the winner.  Plus, Anne always wins.  Not this time.  Good.

  • Love 2
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It's hard to win with a restaurant style dish when your opponent made dishes from his heritage.  That's just an uneven playing field.  Glad that Anne didn't get to win this time, even though I loathe Perez as a human being.  When did Rachael start dressing like a little old Italian grandmother?

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Ugh.  Because a non-blind tasting is fair when one person is Perez Hilton (who will post about your infidelity if you if you so much as touch a production assistant's hand in a photo after judging against him) and the other is Hooker #2 from Fargo.

  • Love 7
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I'm always glad when Anne loses. Agree with the post upthread that a random chicken and zucchini dish to which the cook has no connection will never win over someone cooking from their culture.

  • Love 1
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Rachael was very shrewd in planning Perez's menu around his culture. That always seems to be a hot button on FNS and that strategy also netted her a win last season.

I didn't like the new format of the finale and I think that if it had been a blind tasting/judging that Melissa would have won. Other than frying the churros, Perez's dishes required fewer technical skills on which to base Rachael's cooking/coaching aptitude. THB, I don't think the other FN chefs are huge fans of Anne, mainly because she is always such a sore loser, so maybe it wasn't so much as a vote for Perez as a vote against Anne.

I also thought the excessive praise/fawning was phony. Either the judges had the bar set very very low or yeah, they were star-struck ???? (I don't see how, but again ... low standards/expectation.)

Maybe next year, Anne won't go with another blonde comedienne. I didn't really care who won. I like Anne better than Rachael but I wasn't shedding any tears over Anne's stunned expression and nearly crying in disappointment when she lost (again.)

  • Love 3
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Ugh. This was a bad season and it's kind of a relief not to have to watch weekly anymore.

After they cooked for the husband and Mom I FF'd through most of the rest once I saw it wasn't going to be a blind taste test. I didn't really care who won that's not to say that seeing Anne loose wasn't fun. The show still gets ratings for FN so I doubt they'll retire it like they should. 

Edited by Jaded
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On 10/12/2017 at 2:29 AM, meowmommy said:

I wish they hadn't changed the format.  I always prefer blind judging.  And could do without the Chopped-style running commentary.  The finale where Anne and Tyler were practically at each other's throats...ah, good times.

Is this the first time they said what the charities were? 

So, Scott Conant tears apart actual chefs who do their best with suddenly being handed four hideously disparate ingredients to meld in an insanely short time frame, but tongue bathes D-listers with pre-planned menus and personal coaches. 

They totally faked me out on the outcome.  They had criticisms for Perez all the way through, and I didn't hear any criticism of Melissa, so I was sure she was the winner.  Plus, Anne always wins.  Not this time.  Good.

After watching this show over several seasons, I have found that this is their pattern. The winner is always the one who seemed to have more criticism. They probably hold back some of the footage of the criticism that the loser had gotten. 

  • Love 2
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Well, I enjoyed the season and most of the finale.  I loved it when they were cooking for family members as they both seemed to want to do well and were thrilled when their family members said good things.

For the final dishes, I felt that Anne went for technique while Rachel went for flavor.  The whole season it had been stated that the two finalists would prepare a restaurant quality meal for the judges, and it seemed like Rachel skirted around that a bit.  However, Rachel has two wins in a row and so has figured out how to beat Anne.  Rachel doesn't follow the exact cooking for restaurant quality (which implies technique to me) but instead with what will make a more emotional connection with the judges.  I really hope that both Melissa and Perez doe actually cook for their families and use their new skills.

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