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15x05 - This Is Not Glamping

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "Top Chef". Aired: March 8, 2006 – present.*
Watch/Buy Amazon  Merchandise


Show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.

15x05 - This Is Not Glamping

Post by bunniefuu »

[dramatic music]

Holy [bleep].

Last week we had to cook, uh,

dinner based on our heritage

for a bunch of culinary

influencers in Denver.

-Oh.

-[Bruce] Oh, my God.

I gotta do better.

[Joseph] It was

a rough challenge for me.

I was on the bottom

with two of my buddies

from the house.

Tyler, please pack

your knives and go.

Can't believe

we lost Bear Papa.

I'm gonna miss him so much.

The Bear Den is feeling

a little, uh, empty.

Ugh!

[Bruce] It's just

me and Joe now.

Part of me feels like,

you know,

I've got all of these

young chefs that know

all these interesting techniques

and ingredients



I've never heard of

and I think it's psyching me out

a little bit.

You seem to be surprised

to be standing here.

I was really happy

with all the flavors.

The lamb was just not...

not cooked right at all.

You take polenta

and put meatballs on it.

-I mean, come on.

-Right.

[Bruce] I realize

what a dumbass I've been.

I just need to do what I do.

This competition

is eating me alive.

-Hey, you know what that is?

Emotional terrorism.

-Oh, right.

[Joseph] I'm on edge right now.

That's exactly what it is.

[Padma] Ten chefs remain

to compete in the ultimate



culinary showdown.

At stake for the winner,

a feature in

Food & Wine magazine,

an appearance at the

Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,

$, furnished

by San Pellegrino,

and the coveted title

of Top Chef.

[contemplative music]

Quiet in the Bear Den, huh?

Yeah, pretty quiet

now that it's just me

and Uncle Bruce.

[laughs]

[Bruce] I made myself

a page of the things

that I'm gonna

tell myself every day.

"Don't chef it up."

Biggest one.

I like to wake up

and look in the mirror

and just be like,

"You have pride!

You have power!"

[laughter]

-That woke me up

the other day, actually.

-[laughter]

The last challenge was tough

because I really cooked

more form me

than for the judges

and it was risky,

but it really

satisfied my soul.

Top Chef is pushing me

to cook from different levels

of experience and inspiration.

Brother Luck style,



it's changing.

"You have pride!"

[laughter]

Let's get the bears

on top this time, huh?

[Bruce] Yeah. No more

of this bottom [bleep].

No. Bears don't bottom.

[both laugh]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

What's going on?

-Oh, my!

-Holy [bleep].

-What is going on?

-Whoa, army of cooks.

-Hey.

-Oh, look at these guys.

-Hey.

-Chefs in the kitchen.

What?

I wanna know

what's going on here.

I see my man Kwame there.

I see Lee Anne there,

who's a Top Chef legend.

And Claudette, who's a beast.



I'm like, what the hell?

-This is weird.

-Dude, what's going on?

Sixteen minutes.

I'm so confused.

I'm ready to cook,

but they're cooking already.

-What's this mean?

-Welcome to

Last Chance Kitchen.

[cheering]

Whoever wins this competition,

is going back

into the competition right now.

-What?

-[all exclaim]

[bleep]

It's absolutely nuts.

I'm pooping my pants.

Did not expect

to walk into this.

Emotional terrorism.

-Frightening.

-Yeah.

We've brought some

previous contestants in.

I forgot how hard this is.

[laughs]

[Thomas] Crazy, crazy.

That was great.

It's like you never

left the show.

[Kwame] After seeing

two people come back

from Last Chance Kitchen

and win,

I wanna do



the same exact thing.

These are the three

that are left.

So Lee Anne's left,

Kwame's left.

-I was just figuring it out.

Then I was like,

the next challenge,

I was gone.

[Fatima] I am so scared

of veterans

gonna come into

this competition

and wipe us all out.

Claudette came in

and made a big mark.

She won two in a row.

You talked about these flavors

and now we're seeing them.

-Well-- [sighs]

that changes everything.

-Right.

Claudette's

a serious competitor.

She's driven.



She's really fighting it out



to get back in.

-g*dd*mn it.

-[bleep] about to get weird.

So right now,

the challenge is about

using your intuition

and your guts.

And so they have

livers and kidneys

and all kinds of stuff.

-Whoo!

-[Thomas] And I have to say,

I mean, you guys

are doing well,

but some of the best food

I've had all season so far

has been right here in LCK.

[both] Oh, man!

You guys should be worried

about whoever

comes back to the house.

I think Lee Anne's

from one.

-She's old school.

-Yeah.

Back when we shot

the first season of Top Chef,

I was .

I made it to number four.

Filet up, Chef.

-Damn. She banging them out.

-Ooh.

-That's the vet, right there.

-[Fatima groans]

[Brother] Somebody needs to get

Lee Anne a little whiskey

just to give her

some super powers.

I can't, I'm preggo. Sorry.

[all] Oh!

Congratulations!

Cooking for two.

She's just running through

those dumplings.

Oh, my God.

Pregnant women are the worst.

She's got so much



crazy pregnant focus



right now.

Mommies are no joke.

-I see you, Kwame.

-My man, Kwame.

[Tu] I see you, Kwame.

[Kwame] All these chefs

are just a distraction.

And I know a handful of them,

so it's even more intimidating.

Good to see you too, man.

I last competed

on Top Chef: California,

two years ago.

I finished in the top six.

Of course, there can only

be one winner.

-Kwame.

-Oh, my God.

-Kwame's really strong.

-Kwame's really strong.

[Christopher]

Good to see you, brother.

Kwame and I are friends.

Do I wanna see him

in the competition with me?

Hell no.

-[Thomas] Five minutes, chefs.

Five minutes.

-Thank you.

-Where are my cheerleaders?

-[cheering]

-Go Claudette!

-Let's go, Claudette!

-There you go, there you go.

-Tortilla press over there.

Mexico in the house.

I was eliminated

the second challenge 'cause

I didn't just cook my food.

You have to make sure

that your inspiration shows.

Claudette, please pack

your knives and go.

I left with my head

way [bleep] down.

But I'm back with a vengeance.

-Claudette, k*lling it!

-Come on, Claudette!

Whatever it takes, I'll do it.

I can [bleep] throw down.

Who's the most

dangerous up here?

They're all a threat

in their own right.

They're all so different,

you know what I mean?

I'd rather have Claudette

back at this point.

I would at least



know her style.

I don't want

any of these veterans

that have done this before

back in the game.

-I'm getting hungry.

-How much longer?

-One forty.

-Oh, [bleep].

Oh, I'm shaking.

I never shake.

[Kwame] Chicken hearts

are pretty easy to overcook,

but I'm just trying to develop



a nice Caribbean flavor.

A lot of tomato notes, chili.

I feel really good

about this dish.

I feel like I have



a great chance



of getting that chef coat back.

I want it so bad.

-[Thomas] Thirty seconds.

-Kwame has his little plates.

-The covered dishes.

-Let's get a countdown, huh?

[all] Five, four, three,

two, one.

[cheers and applause]

[whistles]

-Hey, Claudette.

-Hey, Chef, how are you?

-Good. No sweat, huh?

-No sweat.

So we have a picadillo tetela,

apple salad

and the chintextle sauce.

-[Thomas] What's in the sauce?

[Claudette] Chile morita,

onions, garlic

and I used anchovies this time.

-Mm-hm. It's good, thanks.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Kwame.

-Chef.

So here we have



a beat chicken heart sofrito



with crispy shallots,



crispy confit potatoes,

chicken heart gremolata.

-[Thomas] A lot of different

textures.

Potatoes, the shallots, sauce.

-Mm-hm.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Hi, Tom.

-Hi, Anne. So--

So we got beef liver

dumplings.

Make sure you drag it



through the chili oil



and the vinegar,



the black vinegar.



A little bit of acidity.

-[Thomas] What's in

the liver sauce?

-[Lee] Garlic, shallots,

uh, ginger, Shaoxing.

Thanks. Wow.

♪ ♪

We've got a really diverse

group of contestants here.

And I gotta say,

eating all these dishes,

they're so different.

And what I liked

about the dishes

is they were all awful forward.

Which was good

because you don't wanna

shy away from it.

You know, Lee Anne's dumplings

were perfect.

They were cooked nicely,

developed a lot of flavor.

Only negative, I thought

the liver sauce

was on the thick side,

'cause it was hard

to dip in and actually get it,

but good flavor.

Kwame, I liked it.

A lot of little

different things.

I thought the hearts

had great flavor.

You wanted to cook

the hearts rare,

they were rare.

Good dish of textures

and flavors.

[sighs] You know,

you have a tendency

of putting these things

in small bowls.

Sometimes you wanna

let that breathe a little bit.

It's easier to see everything,

easier to eat everything.

Claudette, boy, that sauce

was just--

there's so much going on.

The filling was really,

really great.

And I think

the apples did work.

May have been slightly

anchovy-forward.

On my first bite,

it was salty.

But then, as I started

digging through it,

it just started to just grow

and grow and grow.

Chefs, this is a tough one.

Before I make my decision,

I think I need to bring

somebody else in here

to check this out.

-Hi.

-Hi, Padma.

-I see you have

a chef's coat, there.

-I do.

[dramatic music]

Chefs, all the food,

I thought,

was really delicious.

Tiny little things

here and there

that I can nitpick on.

♪ ♪

Kwame...

you're out.

But thanks.

Your food was fantastic.

You can join everybody else

over here.

-Good job, Chef.

-Thank you.

[applause]

[Kwame] It's almost worst

being cut now.

You're literally moments away

from getting that

Top Chef coat back.

Sorry, Kwame. I was

looking forward to having

some more of your food.

You just gotta come to D.C.

Er, I've been doing this

for seasons now

and this is probably

one of the tougher decisions.

Mostly because there's

a lot at stake here.

But because the dishes

were so good,

I'm gonna have to go

with my gut instinct here.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[Thomas] Er,

I've been doing this

for seasons now

and this is probably

one of the tougher decisions.

Judge, jury, executioner.

I'm gonna have to go with

my gut instinct here.

[intense percussive music]

-It's a tie.

-What?

You're both back in.

-Shut up!

-[all exclaiming]

-[bleep]

-[laughter]

[Carrie] A tie?

Like, two more?

Not just one?

Surprise.

Always surprises.

[laughs]

-[applause]

-Oh, my God!

[Padma] Well,

I only brought back

one jacket,

so I'm gonna give it

to one of you.

But I promise you

I'll get you another one.

Yeah, yeah,

this wasn't planned.

This was an

on-the-fly decision.

[Claudette] This is what

I came here to do.

I cooked my food.

I showed Tom exactly who I am.

And all those chefs

in that peanut gallery

are gonna get their a*s

handed to them by me.

Welcome back.

-Hi.

-Fatima, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-You too.

Holy [bleep].

I'm back on the show.

-Brother Luck!

-Good to see you.

[Lee] Every season gets crazier.

I'm hoping that I have

the physical stamina

and the mental stamina

to keep up with Top Chef.

Good job, girl.

Let the adventure begin.

[Thomas] Yeah, thanks, guys.

You can exit the kitchen.

All right, all right,

all right, all right.

-Good luck.

-How's it going?

Good. Nice to see you.

-Good seeing you guys.

-Congratulations.

Congratulations.

-Good job.

♪ ♪

[Padma] Welcome back,

Claudette and Lee Anne.

Lucky for you,

there's no Quickfire today.

-Thank you.

-[laughter]

I think it's time

for a little kumbaya.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

You can't visit Colorado

and not spend time

in the great outdoors.

For your Elimination Challenge,

you're going...

camping!

-[laughter, clapping]

[softly] I hate camping.

[Tanya] I mean,

I was a Girl Scout.

But I've already been sleeping

in a bunk bed for weeks,

and now I gotta go sleep

on the ground?

[clears throat]

This is not how I roll.

For this challenge,

you'll go camping

in the beautiful mountains

of Estes Park.

-Nice.

-[Padma] We really wanna see

what you can do

with just fire,

camping equipment

and limited ingredients.

We're looking for

a five-star meal

in the woods.

[Padma] Since we're sending you

into the wild,

what's more appropriate

than giving you guys

a pantry full of ingredients

native to Colorado?

Make sure you grab everything



you'll need from the pantry,



because that will be



all you'll have



to cook with in the woods.



It'll be up to you guys



to determine



who gets what ingredients.

You'll each be responsible

for one dish.

You'll be exposed

to the elements, so please,

be prepared for anything.

♪ ♪

Your BMW Xs are loaded up

with camping gear,

and you'll be able to stop

to pick up

additional cooking equipment.

Stay warm,

because it's looking like

it's gonna snow.

-Ah.

-Good luck.

We'll see you in the woods.

[laughter]

-Thank you, Padma.

-Bye.

-Bye, guys.

-Bye!

♪ ♪

Go, go, go!

[Fatima] Mad dash towards

the pantry.

-[glass shatters]

-Oh, [bleep]!

Wow.

Brother goes flying.

-Oh, my God.

-That was awesome.

It's like a [bleep] airplane

hitting a chicken's coop.

What a terrible [bleep] idea.

-What's that?

-To run around

and [bleep] tackle each other.

-Yeah, no doubt.

-You miss this?

-Not really. [laughs] No.

[Lee] It's exciting.

I'm three months pregnant

and it's my first child

and I just got engaged

last week.

[Lee] Guys, I got

this goose, yeah?

I haven't competed

on Top Chef in years,

but I'm in it to win it

just like everybody else here.

-How much time left?

-Fourteen.

-Who's got

all the blueberries?

-I have 'em.

-Can we have some?

-[Carrie] Uh-huh.

I grew up in Idaho,

and we were

a pretty outdoorsy family.

We did a lot of river tripping



and camping.

So cooking at a campsite

is not unfamiliar to me.

[laughing] Is there

any more butter?

It might be crazy

but I've decided

to make a cake.

It's something that



I've seen my dad do



in a large Dutch oven.

And nobody else

is gonna do that.

It's gonna set me apart.

[Bruce] Eggs everywhere. Jesus.

Like a whole-- [groans].

What's left?

I see the wild boar.

Right away, my mind goes

to making pasta.

Let's just grab all the spices

and share 'em.

You know what I mean?

A wild boar ragu,

it's % in my wheelhouse

as a chef.

I'll take whatever

you don't need.

Was there vinegar?

Did anybody find vinegar?

[Joseph] It's gonna be like

a real camping trip.

If you don't bring it,

you don't have it.

You know, if you wanted acid,

you should've brought lemons.

If you wanted oil,

you better bring it

'cause there's no g*dd*mn

oil trees in the forest.

-Ooh.

-Sorry.

[laughs] We destroyed this.

Okay, ready.

-Let's go camping!

-[cheering]

-Let's do this.

-Let's go, Brother, let's go!

♪ ♪

-Come on.

-Let's go camping.

[Lee] Awfully convenient

for a pregnant mom.

-So spacious.

-Here we come, mountains.

What are you thinking



with the rabbit?

I'm gonna smoke it

over a bunch of herbs.

Like, mainly rosemary.

-What about you, Chris?

What you thinking, baby?

-A buffalo campfire chili.

You're going true

to the mission, bro.

I'm gonna try to see

if I can get some smoke

into the meat.

Only thing we didn't consider

is that it sounds like

a lot of people

are probably gonna smoke.

Mm-hm.

So I'm thinking

if I should smoke it.

[Tu] My original plan

was to smoke the rabbit

over aromatics and herbs.

But now I'm starting



to second guess myself.

I don't wanna do what

everyone else is doing,

because it shows from

the past challenges

that the judges always liked



the dish that was different.

So I think I'm wanna go

a different route.

I don't want their palates

to be tired

after, like, everything

that's been smoked.

♪ ♪

It's so pretty up here, now.

-There's elk, you guys.

-[gasps] Oh, my God.

-This is a little late

for so much snow.

-Yeah.

Wait, where?

But it's all snow.

[laughs]

-What if I need you

to buy me a pot?

-Let's camp.

-Bargain basement,

bargain basement.

-[laughter]

-Go, go, go, go.

-Four's cool.

-That's the propane?

-Hundred bucks, [bleep].

Yo, I'm gonna grab

a bunch of propane.

How much?

[Fatima] I'm not

looking forward

to going camping.

-[sighs]

-Right?

-I guess.

-I don't know.

I don't know, man.

Camping is so not a thing

in Pakistan.

No. I mean,

I'm sure people do it.

I haven't done it.

I don't like the snow.

I don't like bugs.

I've never slept

in a sleeping bag.

Can I back out?

Is it too late?

♪ ♪

[Carrie] When we get to

the camping store,

you know,

I really wanna find



the Dutch oven.

Excuse me.

A Dutch oven

is not actually an oven,

but a pot.

They don't have a Dutch oven.

Why would they

have a Dutch oven?

So I have to go to plan B.

-What'd you find?

-[Carrie] I got these

little cups

to make my cake in.

I'll just cook



individual cakes.

And I can fit a pile

on that? Come on.

, .

I'm making stuffed quail

with mustard greens.

I'm grabbing spits

because I want to

give them

some smoky flavor

over the fire.

I need someone

to go in with me.

-Sixty.

-I have this for .

I'll go in with you.

-Yeah.

-We're in this together.

[barcode scanner beeping]

♪ ♪

-Yeah.



-So me, Bruce and Joe



are sleeping in a tent.



-Oh, yeah. I'll stay warm.



I want the middle.

-[laughs]

[wind gusting]

Man, this is wild, bros.



We are out in it.

We pull up

and there's so much snow.

This has to be a joke.

This is a lot worse

than I envisioned.

♪ I don't know

What I've been told ♪

♪ Colorado is too cold ♪

We're supposed to



camp here tonight.

Thanks, Top Chef.

This is crazy!

Yo, this [bleep] is mad deep.

This is, like, at least

three feet deep.

[Fatima] Oh, [bleep],

I'm gonna get so much snow

in my damn boots.

[laughter]

I'm getting behind you

and we work back-to-back,

yeah?

I am from Southeast Asia.

I like heat, not cold.

-I found ground.

-[Tu] My version of camping

is hunting boar

out in the jungle,

start a fire,

eat and drink all day.

This tent is very easy

to set up.

[laughter]

[woman] Have you ever set up

a tent before?

What do you think?

[Tanya] Here the rods are.

It's like one big--

-Oh, it's like a-- yeah.

What goes on the bottom?

The orange part?

The orange part

goes on the bottom.

The tent situation

is-- is nuts.

Looks like a parachute



and there's, like,



poles everywhere.



Everyone is a boss.

We're all chefs.

So everyone's like--

-That doesn't work, though.

-This way, yeah, we can.

-But at the same time...

-Now the other two go,

like, at a -degree angle

on the side to hold it open.

Carrie's setting up their tent

like it's nothing.

I mean, she's like,



Miss Wilderness.

We camping, dude.

[Claudette] I'm pretty sure

that if she wasn't here

we'd be sleeping outside

on the ground.

[cheering]

Hey, a tent!

We should keep a pot

and a hammer in the tent

in case they come.

We are a bit concerned

that we're gonna

come across real bears.

Joe could probably

just talk to them,

ask them to leave nicely.

And I don't think

they're gonna necessarily

recognize us

as, you know, family.

-Come on, guys. [laughs]

-Come on, guys.

Don't be jag bags.

Get out of here.

Let's unpack,

let's start prepping.

Let's get this [bleep] going.

-Yeah.

-Primitive cooking.

Who's grilling hot dogs?

Oh, boiling water's gonna

be impossible.

It ain't gonna be able

to do much, man.

My worst nightmare.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Made fire. [laughs]

Butchering pheasants

in the woods in the snow.

What'd you pick up?

-Buffalo.

I wanna smoke it,

but I don't have no perf.

It's mad cold, so I'm making

a campfire buffalo chili.

Just know the sun's coming

down quick, y'all.

Yeah, I don't mind

working in the dark.

And bears don't scare me, man.

I'm from New York. Come on.

To bulk it up into

a five-star thing,

I'm adding an onion agrodolce,

honey-glazed carrots

and smoked buffalo.

-Do you not have a hat?

-It's in the bag.

I'm just too busy

to get dressed right now.

It's my first time

working with buffalo,

so I'm just going for the best.

Too busy? We have

the whole day tomorrow.

We should be sipping

delicious beers.

Ugh, my a*s is freezing.

Are you gonna make a sauce

for your bones?

[exhales deeply]

We need to fix that fire.

It's dying out, bro.

-All right.

-What are you doing?

I'm gonna render

some goose fat tonight.

And, uh, make cracklings.

I'm having a hard time

breathing just because

of the elevation.

I've just made it back

onto the competition,

so I wanna show these guys

that I have game.

-Gizzards! Sweet.

-What are you gonna

do with them?

I might actually

throw 'em into the sauce.

Might be nice.

But my body's working overtime

to make a human being.

[indistinct chatter]

Whose stuff

is this stuff, guys?

-How's it going?

-[all exclaim]

-This looks outstanding.

-Chef.

-You guys know Naomi Pomeroy?

-[all] Hi.

This looks like fun.

How's the flames?

Flames are good?

You got three fire pits?

-Yeah, actually.

-Oh, good.

I used to do a lot

of camping and fishing.

Always springtime,

so there was always

morels and ramps.

-Oh, nice.

-Yeah. And if we didn't

catch fish,

we were kinda screwed.

-[laughter]

Tanya, what are you doing

over there?

Marinating my lamb rib chops.

And I've got some garlic

and some beets roasting.

-You having fun?

-No.

[laughter]

What kind of ingredients

do you have over there?

Confit, sunchoke

and a venison link.

-You got venison, great.

-Yeah.

-What's she doing?

-I'm breaking down goose.

Well, you know,

the cool thing about up here

is you don't have to worry

about refrigeration.

Yeah, right?

-[Thomas] Hey, chefs,

how's it going?

-Hey, Chef.

What are you guys doing?

A campfire chili with buffalo.

[Thomas] All right. Tu,

what are you making, man?

[Tu] I'm doing rabbit

three ways, Chef.

Rabbit three way, okay.

[Tu] I'm gonna poach

the hind legs in soy.

I'm gonna smoke the loins.

-Uh-huh.

Then I'm gonna pan-fry

the forelegs.

I know that doing

rabbit three ways is risky,

but I definitely

wanna stand out.

-[Naomi] Smells good.

-I feel like digging in.

-I know, right?

-Gnawing on

the carcass right now.

♪ ♪

We brought you a surprise.

We got you some s'mores.

-[all exclaim]

-[Thomas] Have fun.

-Thank you!

-[Thomas] Looking forward

to a great meal tomorrow.

Get a little bit of sleep

if you can.

We'll see you tomorrow.

-Bye, guys! Thank you!

-Take care, good night.

Guys, everything needs to be

in a cooler in minutes.

I put this in your cooler.

Pack it all up.

[Joseph] Like, it's nice

to just sit outside

by a campfire

in one of the most

beautiful places on Earth

and, like, drink a beer

and eat a s'more.

-To the great outdoors!

-To the great outdoors.

To think, a week ago,

I was on a beach.

[laughs]

[Brother] I was excited to see

Lee Anne in the competition.

Lee Anne was instrumental

in setting up a scholarship

that sent me to Japan,

giving me an opportunity

that I never thought

I would get to experience.

I spent the first week

up at Sakota.

-Yeah.

-And then I spent

the rest of my time at Kinjoro.

-Nice.

[acoustic guitar plays]

♪ It was back in February ♪

♪ When a lady gave me a call ♪

♪ She said, "Hey,

I'm from Top Chef ♪

♪ You wanna go have a ball?" ♪

[laughter]

♪ I said, "Oh, damn,

I could be on TV ♪

♪ And all the ladies gonna love

Little old me" ♪

[laughter]

-Whoo-hoo!

-[laughter]

-[sighs]

-Good night, y'alls.

-Good night.

-Fire's good.

-Good night, Bruce.

-Good night, Joey.

You got a ghost story,

brother?

I don't [bleep] with ghosts.

This is unglamorous.

This is not glamping.

g*dd*mn it, why didn't you

just outright beat me?

[laughter]

♪ ♪

Oh, yeah. They're ice cold.

My back feels great

this morning.

Waking up in the morning

is like waking up from a crypt.

-Morning, sunshine.

-No.

Some coffee?

-Yes.

-[laughs]

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

-Thank you.

-This is bubbling.

♪ ♪

-Joey, what are you doing?

-I'm getting the sauce going

for the squab breasts.

Check me out.

Maybe that with poached rabbit?

-Mm-hm.

-Some carrot duxelle.

-Can I slide in here?

-Yeah.

It's kinda crazy.

We're fighting for heat space.

There's the wood fire,



a couple stovetops.



It's hard to cook.



I'm trying to pace my cooking



so nothing becomes overcooked.

It's a big challenge.

[groans]

So I'm making an oven

'cause the test batch

is too hot in our oven.

-Okay. So what are you doing?

So what I did is I cleaned

the snow down to the dirt.

And then I put a base down.

And then I'll bake my cakes.

-Oh, cool.

-Wow.

[Brother] Carrie is MacGyvering

this dish.

At first, I thought



she was making a snowman.

I mean, 'cause that's what

I would've done.

She's legit.

[Carrie] Hopefully

it just doesn't

taste like smoke.

-What you got?

-Tell me what you think.

I fear there's a lot

of pressure on me,

being the first dish

since I'm back

in the competition.

-What is that?

The sunchokes

and guajillo confit.

-Mm, those are nice.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, good texture, too.

-I hope the judges

like my little touches

here and there

with the guajillo

and the confit

of the sunchokes.

I can't feel my fingers

when I cook in the snow.

We'll make the slide.

There you go.

-Whoo!

-Yeah!

[laughter]

[grunts] Holy [bleep]!

Holy [bleep]! [laughs]

Trying to do this

with gloves on

was even worse.

Oh, I just got a cool idea.

A really dangerous

but cool idea. [laughs]

That's [bleep] dope,

dude.

-Look at this.

-[laughs]

I don't have my

cavatelli board with me.

I see the ridges



on the mandolin,



I'm thinking,



I should try this.

I roll one out on there,

and it was exceptional.

These ridges are gonna be

great to hold the sauce.

Let's see where

we're at here.

-Oh, [bleep], it burned.

-Yeah, I smell it, it's burnt.

-Do you have extra butter?

-Yeah.

-Okay.

-If you wanna refill

the ones that are,

like, messed up,

I'll help dig these for you.

-Too hot, too fast.

Tin is not



conducting heat nicely.

My dad made it look

so much easier.

[Brother] What you feeling

nervous about?

Yeah, I'm really confident

about the dish, absolutely.

But is it really more

than just a bowl of chili?

-[Brother] Yeah.

-[Christopher] I'm worried that

these extra components

won't make this chili

the five-star dish

that the judges want.

The things that I'm bringing

to it might not be enough.

I'm gonna have

to explain to 'em.

This is certainly not

my happiest cook.

♪ ♪

[Christopher] Dude, my Black a*s

does not like cold weather.

[Brother] Just cooking

and camping.

Oil's not hot enough.

Everything is not working out.

It's freezing cold out.

I'm not able to manage the fire

to get my foreleg rabbits

to fry properly.

[sucks teeth] [bleep].

The elements are definitely



at play.

[gentle music]

-This is nice.

-It's gorgeous, isn't it?

Zenda, thank you

for having us here.

-Oh, this is fantastic.

-Thank God we're not under

one of those trees

where the snow

is starting to--

[Padma] That's why I was

walking around

with an umbrella.

I felt so silly.

-Snow bombs.

♪ ♪

-How many minutes?

-Nine minutes.

How you doing, Carrie,

you doing all right, bud?

I'm okay.

This is some rustico [bleep].

Carrie baking these cakes

in the woods today,

it's an all-or-nothing shot.

-[Thomas] One minute!

-Whoo, that's five star, baby.

That might be ten star.

-Ready?

-We're ?

-Ugh.

[Joseph] Carrie's either gonna

be on top today

or she's gonna be going home

because she couldn't

bake cakes in a hole

in the woods.

-All right.

-Wow. Beautiful. Mmm.

Look at the squab.

Oh, baby.

-Hi, guys.

-Hi.

-Tell us what you made.

-I did a squab underneath

farro,

mushrooms, asparagus,

some ramps.

-Smells good.

-I made you a cacao

and spice-rubbed duck breast

with sunchoke and pine nut mash

and a blackberry-chili jam.

Fatima, you've never

been camping, right?

So what was it like for you?

-It-- it was rough.

[Thomas] I have

a better question.

Will you ever go camping again?

-No. I won't. I'm sorry.

-[laughter]

[Thomas] I have to say,

whatever happened last night,

it certainly didn't

affect your cooking.

[Fatima] Thank you very much.

And I prepared for you today

egg yolk cavatelli

with wild boar sugo,

fall roasted ramps

and carrots, fresh ricotta.

I wanted to get back

to cooking how I cook

and making pasta.

But I couldn't get my board,

so I started rolling it

on my mandolin

to get the ridges

to hold onto the ragu.

-Nice.

-And down at the end there,

I made an upside down cake.

On the bottom is strawberry,

rhubarb, raspberry

and blueberry

and then it has

a honey oat finished with

a pine nut and maple cake.

-How did you bake your cake?

-I dug a hole.

-[Naomi] Nice.

And I put coal in it.

And I just kind of

buried 'em in there.

-[Naomi] Wow.

-Thank you so much, guys.

-Thank you.

-Damn good. Wow.

-Well done.

We're gonna go

get some sleep.

[chuckling] Yeah.

This has turned out

pretty good.

They're finally seasoning food.

Carrie's dessert

is absolutely amazing.

I just can't stop eating it.

-This is the perfect way

to serve Carrie's

upside down cake.

-Right side up's the best way

to serve upside down cake?

-[laughter]

-So how'd it go?

-Fine.

-Good, good.

-I have to say,

Joe's squab

was really delicious,

it's just-- mine was

slightly overcooked.

[both] Mine was, too.

-Yep.

Dude, you [bleep]

nailed that.

Squab's tough.

[Padma] Fatima's duck

is delicious.

I was so impressed

with the cook on the duck.

Really, really good.

I like that she used

sunchoke

two different ways.

-Thank you.

[Padma] What about

Bruce's pasta?

-It was fabulous.

-[all] Cinghiale.

-I love the cinghiale.

-It's sauced so beautifully,

the richness of that sauce.

And I mean, the fact that

he cooked it here

in the middle

of the wilderness.

I felt really good

about my dish

until I saw your three's.

Thirty seconds, guys.

♪ ♪

-[sighs]

-Gorgeous.

Ten seconds, Joe.

♪ ♪

Oh, my goodness.

Lee Anne Wong.

-What?

-[cheering]

-[Lee] Hello.

-Welcome back.

-Thank you.

-Ooh.

[Padma] Adrienne,

what did you make?

It looks beautiful

-Uh, so here we have

quail stuffed

with mustard greens,

purple corn grits, peaches

and peach juniper quail jus.

-[Padma] Lee Anne?

-I call this mother goose.

Goose confit, goose cracklings,

a sauce with black garlic,

blackberries, peaches,

fiddlehead ferns

and crushed purple potatoes,

cooked all in goose fat.

-It's rich.

-[laughter]

-Looks rich.

-What did you make, Joe?

So I did trout here,

roasted lightly

and then I took the bones

and made a broth with that.

And then added that

with a bunch of wild,

kinda foraged things.

I'm actually totally freaking

out about the fumet.

Like, I want to drink

fish fumet now

at all my campsites.

-[Padma] Claudette.

-So what I have for you guys

is a guajillo spiced elk

with confit sunchokes

and it also has

a strawberry rhubarb

guajillo sauce.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you guys.

-I'm gonna eat this, like--

-Yeah you are.

-Please do, it's delicious.

-Yeah.

[Leif] Lee Anne's goose

is the only dish

that is gone.

Mm-hm. Lee Anne's goose

is fantastic.

I love all the flavors,

the richness.

[Thomas] The sauce

is really delicious.

And I like the crackling.

Nice and crispy.

It's just really, really good.

-[Lee] You know what?

-The trout looked delicious.

Amazing, anyway.

Right. They were scraping

Lee Anne's plate

to get seconds.

-Mm-hm.

I think Joe did a nice job.

Sort of simple and focused.

But again, this delicious broth

was my favorite part.

It's very smoky.

-What about Adrienne's quail?

Did you like that?

-I loved it.

I was impressed

with the seasoning

on the quail.

-The breast is a little

overcooked for me.

-Yeah.

I love how perfectly tender

Claudette's elk was.

Medium rare was right

for that meat

because sometimes wild food

can actually get very tough.

-Yeah.

-How'd we do?

They said they loved everything.

[Thomas] One minute!

Let's bring this [bleep]

home, yo.

-How you looking, Tanya?

-Good, thanks.

I'm just going for some

Earthy flavors

to go with the lamb.

The mushroom sauce

is warm and rich.

My blackberry compote



has come together.

-[Thomas] One minute!

-[Tanya] Is this a five-star

presentation?

I don't know, but I know

that everything's

gonna taste great.

[sighs]

Go, girl.

Work it, work it.

[laughs]

♪ ♪

-Ooh!

-Tanya, what do you have?

It's a grilled lamb

loin chop,

warm farro salad

with roasted beets,

roasted carrots,

wild mushroom sauce

and then blackberry compote.

-Chris, what did you make?

-My meat was buffalo.

So I wanted to make a chili,

but I also wanted to step it up

and do a little more

funk with it.

So I took

the rest of the buffalo,

grilled it

and paired it with

an onion and bacon

agrodulce.

-[Padma] Tu.

-So I did rabbit three ways.

A soy-poached rabbit



with a carrot duxelle



on the bottom.



The thing in the middle



is a rabbit loin



sliced into these medallions.

And then fried foreleg

with a Szechuan gasrtrique.

-[Padma] Brother.

-So I picked pheasant.

I was immediately inspired



by pheasant chowder.



I did a rutabaga



that's been spiced,

a little bit of caraway.

-How'd it go

when you guys were cooking?

-Awesome.

-It was great, Chef.

-I feel like I'm home.

-Far from Brooklyn.

-You are home.

[laughs]

-[Thomas] Thank you guys.

-Thank you all.

Bye-bye.

[Padma] Wow.

-I think Tu should've

just stuck to one.

-Yeah.

-[laughs] Yes.

-Flavor-wise, I think

the leg's good.

But I just think

the soy-braised leg

is really dry.

The raw colored carrots on top

did nothing for me.

-They like it?

-Um, I don't know.

They were fairly reserved.

I am so confused

by Tanya's beet,

blackberry relish thing.

I agree. There's a lot

going on with Tanya's dish.

There's almost too much.

It feels like three,

four different things

and you're not really sure

how to eat it all.

What did you think

of Brother's dish?

The flavor in the pheasant

was great,

especially on the breast,

but it was a mess.

It, to me, seemed a bit

overcooked.

It was very chewy.

I would've liked a tiny bit

more heat in Chris's chili.

I just think Chris's meat's dry.

Six o'clock last night,

it was on the grill.

-[both] Oh.

-And then it just had

that whole time to dry out.

-[Thomas] Yeah, yeah.

Who did you think were

some of your favorites today?

Lee Anne's dish

was pretty strong.

Lee Anne's goose.

Making a sauce

that had liver and blood,

that was gutsy.

My favorite dishes

were the dishes

that the chef

developed a lot of flavor.

Bruce's pasta.

-Mm-hm.

Let's just talk about

the resourcefulness

of Bruce

using the mandolin

to shape that pasta.

I would throw in there

Carrie's campfire cake.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

It was adventurous



and just so well ex*cuted.

Zenda, is Carrie

still your favorite?

Yeah, definitely.

Fatima's duck

was really delicious.

[Thomas] Claudette's elk

was perfectly cooked as well.

We had a lot of

good dishes today.

[Thomas] We had a lot

of nice dishes.

The more limits we give them,

the better they cook.

-[Thomas] Yeah.

And who were

some of our weak dishes?

These are my four least

favorite dishes, right here.

-Yeah.

-They're all right here.

Brother-- as much as I

really like

the flavor of the gravy,

the rest of the dish

just didn't really

do it for me.

Tanya's dish for me

was just too messy.

The lamb cook was perfect



but everything else,



I just can't figure out



what's going on.

I would've liked for Tu

to pay more attention

to some of his garnishes.

[Thomas] Yeah,

why are you trying

to do three things

in a camp-- I mean,

there's so much

margin for error.

Why are you doing this?

He overreached,

I think, here.

Chris made this chili

and as much as

I didn't like

the grilled buffalo,

I really liked

the buffalo chili

that he made.

Is it enough to save him

off the bottom, Gail?

Hmm.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[Thomas] The conditions

were tough last night.

It's obvious you guys

are tired, you're cold.

But in spite of all of that,

the food was really fantastic.

Bruce, Lee Anne,

and Carrie, you had

our favorite dishes of the day.

So congratulations.

-Finally.

[laughter]

Everyone else, you can step

to the side, please.

It sounds like everybody

over there is in agreement.

Like, Carrie has been

a super trooper.

Helping everyone put up

the tent-- she made an oven

out of snow!

-[laughter]

Who does that?

[laughter]

Carrie, it was delightful.

I mean, there are so many ways

that that cake could've gone

terribly wrong.

It wasn't too sweet,

it was nice and fluffy.

It kept my hands warm.

Thank you.

It was easy-- well, not easy.

It was not easy.

-That's not what I mean.

-[laughter]

I've rarely had a dessert

on this show

with such nuance

and sort of ingenious.

[Thomas] Usually,

we get lousy desserts

and so, this was beyond good.

-Wow, thank you.

Lee Anne, the goose

was beautiful

and those fiddleheads

that you added

kind of livened up

the whole thing.

We have pohole ferns

in Hawaii,

which is sort of a cousin

to the fiddleheads.

I gotta say, that sauce

was one of the most

delicious things

I've tasted in a long time.

I was like, I have to

keep this simple for Tom.

[laughter]

[Gail] Bruce, I couldn't have

imagined that sauce

with any other shape pasta.

It was perfect,

it was so beautiful.

The ridges were thick

and the sauce just got into

every crack and crevice.

It was really fantastic.

And how resourceful

to use your mandolin

as your cavatelli paddle,

it worked.

[Gail] What happened today

that felt different?

How'd you get your groove back?

-I've been inside my head.

And after the last challenge

and Tom mentioning,

just make your meatballs

and polenta.

That really hit hard.

[Thomas] This is your food.

And, you know, you can see it.

It's much more confident

than everything

you've done so far.

-Thank you.

-[Thomas] Good work.

[Padma] All three of you

did so well today.

But there can only be

one winner.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Bruce's pasta was the winner.

[cheering]

Congratulations, Bruce.

[Bruce] I feel like

I have broken a bad streak.

Every day, I'm gonna come in

and I'm gonna cook the food

that I know how to cook

the way I know how to cook it.

And everybody

needs to watch out

because now

I'm gonna be on fire.

We will need to see

Tanya, Chris, and Tu.

♪ ♪

How did this challenge

go for you, Chris?

Right off the bat,

I thought that maybe

my dish would be

a little too simple.

The chili just seemed like

the perfect dish.

I knew that you needed

a little bit more.

But that's why I tried

to incorporate

the meat in two ways.

[Gail] The meat on that platter

was my issue, Chris.

I just keep thinking about

how you did two

very separate things.

This was probably

the first time all season

where I actually

did second guess.

I thought the chili was good.

But the buffalo itself

was really, really dry.

Tu, were you happy

with the dish?

No. I-- I know why

I'm here right now.

I think the big mistake

was trying to do

something three ways.

I mean, it's hard enough

to pull off in a

fully-equipped kitchen.

It's really hard to do

at a campsite.

And so you gotta pick your way,

you gotta be confident with it

and think it through

and then act.

Now that I'm rethinking it,

if I were to serve

soy-braised rabbit,

I should've just

served it in its broth.

-In the broth.

-[both] Yes!

But I just got insecure...

Tanya, your lamb

was cooked perfectly

but I think it wasn't

seasoned quite enough.

The sauces were flavorful,

but we were just confused

about what to do with them.

Well, I was thinking

the blackberry would be

more like a condiment.

And the mushroom sauce to go

a little bit more

with the farro.

-Oh.

[Thomas] I think just it was

a problem with proportion.

You couldn't find the sauce.

And the mushroom sauce,

most of it just

got absorbed by the farro.

-Got you.

That'll be all for now.

Thank you. We'll call you

back in a bit.

Good job, Bruce.

-Thank you.

-[cheering]

-Nice job, Bruce.

-[applause]

Nailed it.

And Lee Anne,

hell of a welcome back,

huh?

Yeah, thank you guys.

[Lee] I have to say,

the one thing

that I've learned the hard way

is that it's always better

to do one dish

than multiples because then

you get judged

on every little element,

versus just one thing.

It almost sounds like

if you would've

just done the chili

and your sauce,

they would've loved it.

I think so, too. Right.

You know, we had such

delicious food today

but we still have to send

somebody home.

I don't think we should

send them home. I think

we should just make them

camp out again.

What do you think?

I think they probably

prefer to go home.

-Yeah.

-Even worse, exactly.

I think Tanya's

an interesting case

because so much really

depended on

how you ate that dish.

I felt like the plating

is where she really went wrong.

The sauce was lost

and you really wanted

that sauce on the lamb.

Chris's buffalo should've gone

the way of the buffalo.

It really-- it was just



a dried-out piece of meat.

It felt like it had been

pre-sliced and left out.

There was nothing redeeming

about that meat.

Tu just lost the plot.

There was no garnish.

It was like a meat platter.

That rabbit felt so nude.

We've seen this for years.

I mean, even in season one

I remember talking about it.

Something three ways

is never gonna be

as good as one thing

beautifully done.

It's just misguided.

And a lot of his choices

are misguided.

-It sounds like

we have our answer.

-Yeah.

Let's get them out here.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[Thomas] Chefs, we came up here

to this beautiful mountain,

spent a great night--

albeit a cold night--

in the woods, but we still

had to come up here to cook.

You know,

complex meals can be great.

Simple meals can be great.

But ultimately,

the meal has to be delicious.

And we just found that

these three dishes

were overly complex

and, uh, unfortunately,

one of you is going to be

heading down that trail.

♪ ♪

Tu, please pack

your knives and go.

Thank you.

[Thomas] The dish,

obviously, three ways

was a little too much.

But really what did it

was the garnish.

It wasn't there.

You needed to spend

a little more time

on the garnish.

-Thank you

for the experience.

-Yeah.

Hey, Tu, Last Chance Kitchen

isn't over.

There's still a second chance

to come back.

Thank you, Tu.

[Tu] Am I disappointed?

Yes.

But I was expecting it.

I was over ambitious.

[Bruce] Later, dude.

Know there's a

Last Chance Kitchen, okay?

[Tu] Top Chef has been

a huge door open for me

in terms of my self discovery

as a chef.

It's definitely inspired me

in the way I cook

and that lesson has been

so valuable to me

and I'm definitely gonna

keep that close to my heart

for the rest of my life.

I'm gonna do everything I can



to evolve from this point



and better my craft.

Let's see. I'm still young.

♪ ♪

[Padma] Next, on Top Chef...

-It's not right.

-[Padma] Why aren't you cooking

our food like that?

So I had a really rough

first trimester.

I feel terrible right now.

So you may not know

the term "radler."

Where I come from,

if you order one of those,

you get kicked in the nuts.

-Whoa.

-[Thomas] Whoa!

-This is brutal.

I'm perplexed.

It loses me for German.

I'm gonna feel some kind of way

unless I speak up.

The dish was kinda

all over the place.