Seven chefs remained on ‘Next Level Chef’ as the cooking began tonight, but only six made it to the next level.
Night nine of the third season of Next Level Chef dissolved Gordon Ramsy, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais’s teams and turned the competition into every chef cooking for themselves. In line with that, Zach Laidlaw had to turn in his Immunity Pin because, without the teams, it was no longer applicable.
Also, as part of this challenge, the top-level kitchen was closed, and the chefs were divided up into the middle level and bottom level based on their past performances. Cooking on the middle level were Gabi Chappel, Zach, Christina Miros and Izahya Thomas. That left Jordan Torrey, Mada Abdelhamid, and Nicole Renard in the basement.
Then the seven remaining chefs got cooking for a chance to boil, bake, and fry their way into $250,000.
What was the first challenge in this episode, and who won it?
The first challenge of the night was the aforementioned next-level bento box, which must include one sushi roll, one cooked protein, and one tempura item.
The winning bento boxes were from Christina and Mada.
Christina had Ahi tuna two ways. Richard said, “Visually, I love how many elements are in this bento box. This is a full meal.” Nyesha added, “The roll itself is gorgeous. Beautiful cook on the tuna. Amazing accompaniments.”
Mada had red prawns and vegetable tempura. Gordon said, “It looks good. The shrimp are delicious. Love the glaze on there.” Richard said, “What I love about this is Japanese food with salty, sweet, spicy flavor.” Nyesha said, “The highlight of this bento box is the tempura. It has a beautiful crunch and incredible texture.”
“I am in disbelief right now,” Mada said. “For the first time ever, making a sushi roll. I’ve never tempura-ed anything in my life. I’m so, so proud of myself.”
The winner of the Time Token was Mada.
“Top dish in frikin’ sushi,” Mada said. “Call me shrimp daddy. Everybody doubted me but I’m in the Top 6 holding the Time Token, so what’s up now?”
What was the elimination challenge in this episode, and who won it?
Then Gordon announced the two chefs going into the elimination challenge were Izahya and Nicole. But in yet another twist, he added a third: Gabi.
The challenge was to produce a Japanese-inspired steak dish dinner using Wagu beef, and Nicole, who made Wagu beef with tempura lost.
“I get married in about a month. This is the best training I could have asked for,” Nicole said. “Every day I woke up and I said, ‘I’m going to have fun no matter what happens.’ I put my heart and soul into every single dish that I cooked and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Next Level Chef airs Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.
