[curious music playing]
-Morning. How are you?
-Morning.
There's still time to step up my game
and do things the way I should be doing.
I don't wanna
take anything away from Juan,
he did a lot of work
and it… it was beautiful,
he delivered what he wanted to,
but I don't like being in the middle.
Another day, another slay.
If I had to say who was at the top,
I'd say Juan right now.
Um, I don't really wanna say who I think
is at the bottom, 'cause that's not cool.
But if I had to, it would be Tyricia,
only because her rolling pin didn't have
handles, so it kinda looks like a tube.
But better for me. Sorry, Tyricia.
Um…
-I know, right? Exciting.
-Ready to learn more.
Absolutely.
Both Juan and I have the skill set
and the knowledge for chocolate.
At the end of the day,
this is a competition. Eye on the prize.
I really would love to win.
Now, Daniel has the best hair.
Danny has the best hair.
His hair is, like, so flawless and nice.
It moves with him. [laughs]
-Good morning, everyone.
-[class] Good morning, Chef.
Morning burger.
-[students laugh]
-[Mellisa] Oh my God.
-[Juan] Insane.
-[Thiago] Can we eat it?
Maybe.
He brought out a little bitty burger.
[laughing]
Pickles and cheese. It's the works.
Would you like to try it, guys?
-[Cedrick] Of course.
-Yeah!
[R&B music playing]
Bottoms up.
-[Thiago laughing]
-Mmm.
[Mellisa] Wow.
-[Tyricia] So good.
-Oh my God.
[Amaury] It's like when you eat a burger.
It's a little bit messy.
-[Stephanie] Mm-hm.
-[Amanda] It should be.
-[Tyricia] Finger-licking.
-[Amaury] The buns are actually macarons.
In between, we have a passion fruit paste
who look like lettuce.
Then we have a little bit of ketchup
which is made
with strawberry and cranberry.
Fake tomatoes who are a slow-cook
of slices of fresh mango
in vanilla-cranberry juice.
The patty is actually
an exotic mango-pineapple compote
with Tahitian vanilla,
surrounded by a coconut mousse.
And the mango-passion-fruit layer
of cheese.
And on top,
you have my little kiwi pickles
with an extra layer of ketchup.
I like mine a little more rare,
but it's all right.
-[class laughs]
-[Cedrick] Oh my God, it was so good.
You're seeing something
and you're expecting something,
but when you bite into it,
it's a completely different world.
Today, we're going to play with
natural additives.
Agar-agar, pectin,
gelatin, etc.
Each of those additives can create
a very flexible and elastic component
or something very soft.
Agar-agar starts to activate
about 70 degrees Celsius,
so you need to bring
your mix up to this point
for it to start the jellification agents.
You have to be cautious. Too much
will be plastic taste. It's not good.
So you have to find
the right balance for it.
We're going to take our liquid puree,
pour it into our mats,
and make sure we obtain a thin layer.
It's gonna stabilize very quickly
and become firm.
I'm going to cut my squares.
As you can see,
we're getting a very good reaction
and a very good flexibility.
-[Amanda] Oh my.
-[Thiago] Look at that.
Shiny, transparent,
just like a cheddar cheese.
-[Juan] Wow.
-[Tyricia] Mind-blowing.
I've never seen anyone do that.
Well, I--
No, I've never seen anybody do it.
Like, how does this man's mind work?
Today's pastry exercise will be creating
a photo-realistic food item
using various natural additives.
Everything you add to your dessert
must have a specific taste purpose.
Really think about flavor,
and how we can still create
an illusion with that.
It's pastry skills. I really want
to see the pastry chef within you.
You have four and a half hours.
I'm so excited
to see what you come up with.
Are you ready?
You should run.
-Oh God.
-[Daniel] After you.
[student] I was like…
[Amaury] Oh, I like this.
People are running.
I like to see them push themselves.
[Amanda] This challenge is so much fun.
There's so many ways you can go,
and using these cake components,
it creates tons of options,
so I'm really excited.
[Amaury] Well, you have four hours.
-[laughs]
-[Amaury laughs]
[Thiago] I am self-taught.
I… I've learned by watching.
It pushes me to be more curious.
I've had pastry cooks come work for me,
and they have these blinders
that school put on them
that you have to do this a certain way.
I've been the guy
to take that out and try things.
If it doesn't work,
it doesn't work. At least I tried.
I know you got inspired
by an American thing.
-I did.
-I got inspired by a French thing.
-Okay.
-[Thiago] I wanna do a croque madame.
-[Amaury] Okay.
-[Thiago] Something we love at home.
And I'm actually gonna do a egg,
um, over easy versus sunny-side up.
[Amaury] Okay.
Which is my wife's favorite,
and you still have the impact of the egg.
Still the oozing-out type of egg.
-Good luck.
-Thank you.
I really thought, "Let me make
the egg out of the agar sheet,
encase the yolk inside of that sheet."
I mean, it's a big risk,
but as long as I can get the flavors,
I know I have a…
a good shot on being on top.
[blowtorch whooshing]
[hand blender whirring]
-Hello, Mellisa.
-Morning.
Do you have a little sketch
of what you're doing?
[Mellisa] I do.
I'm going to do a lobster roll.
-A lobster roll…
-[Mellisa] Mm-hmm.
So, I'm not familiar with it.
It's a, um…
It's a bun with buttered lobster,
and I'll have the mayonnaise,
and the celery, and the Tabasco.
It's a thing in New England.
My flavors are gonna be a twist
on a gin rickey. You know what that is?
No.
[Mellisa] Chef doesn't know that either.
So, I didn't make the smartest choice.
That is… That is very me. [laughs]
I chose the lobster roll as a nod
to the last five years of my life.
My husband and I, we opened a restaurant
together called The Hairy Lobster,
which was a dream of ours together.
We shut down because of COVID,
and the governor just never let us reopen.
Basically, your baby
that you have devoted your entire life to,
and then to just have to essentially
leave everything in the building
and walk away…
It was heartbreaking.
It was really hard, honestly.
I'm such at a crossroads with my career.
Winning this would open up opportunities
that I don't even…
Can't even fathom right now.
[gentle piano music playing]
[curious music playing]
I'm going to do a piece of sushi.
Using some passion fruit,
some mango, some coconut.
Are you gonna do your caviar
with agar and oil?
-Is that the plan?
-Yes.
It's almost like being back
in basic training.
Sitting in a bunker in Afghanistan,
I decided to change careers,
and that's when I decided
to go to pastry school.
[Amaury] What are
the little pieces inside?
-Uh, butter.
-[Amaury] Is it what you wanted?
Not technically what I wanted,
but it's a little cold for the butter
to be, like, smooth out as I want.
-This is gonna be your illusion, right?
-[Amanda] Yes.
-[Amaury] In your shoes, I'd scrape that.
-[Amanda] Okay.
[Amaury] Warm it with a heat g*n,
mix it, till you get it perfect, right?
Yes, Chef.
Sometimes it's better
to just scratch it and restart.
I want to see you in the chocolate round.
[Amanda] I felt confident
going into the last exercise,
but I knew what mistakes I made.
Him telling me, you know,
that my flavors weren't great
was like, taking a b*llet, right?
I want it to be so much better
the second time around.
[upbeat music playing]
I am going to create a s'mores of sorts.
-[Amaury] That will look like what?
-But, um…
A s'mores.
-[Amaury] It will look like a s'mores?
-Yes.
But the flavor components are gonna be
different. So I'm gonna create a sablé,
and I'm gonna sandwich
in between that, um, caramelized apples.
And I'm gonna make a green apple mousse.
Um, I still need to figure out
how to make it white,
because it's gonna be green.
So you're doing, uh,
a sweet food illusion,
but substitute every component
for it to be something different, right?
Yes.
This is the first time I've done a, um…
a photo-realistic illusion.
It's gonna be a challenge for me
to push myself out of that comfort zone
to do something new,
um, innovative, and creative.
He's taking a risk with the s'mores.
-[Carolyn] Is he the only one doing sweet?
-[Amaury] Yeah.
And when I was younger,
and I wanted to compete,
I was always thinking, "What could be
something that no one was thinking of?"
and I think he went in that direction.
It could help him score a lot of points,
but it's gonna be very hard.
Oh, I know what I'm gonna do.
But I'm not gonna say it.
As a young person, I think
one of the best ways to earn respect
is to prove the fact that you are capable.
Having won the first exercise
as an individual,
and having, uh, won the second exercise
as a team, as the leader of that team,
these seasoned professionals
might be like, "All right, he might…
He might have more to bring
than we thought he did."
-I like to see you run, Daniel.
-[Daniel] Yes, Chef.
I'm actually gonna make
a Vietnamese spring roll.
So you have shrimp,
lettuce, more vegetables,
wrapped in a very thin spring roll paper.
I'm gonna try to do that, uh, in pastry.
Daniel is going to also do it
the same way, uh, I did it,
make all the elements
and roll it last minute.
So, I… I like that.
[Daniel] Here we go.
-[Carolyn] What's your illusion gonna be?
-Oh, my illusion is a taco.
Oh, awesome. Oh, look at that! Okay.
[Stephanie] Street tacos,
or tacos in general,
are just something that's always,
like, my comfort food.
My taco shell is a Hippen Masse
I added freeze-dried corn to.
Okay.
[Stephanie] I'm doing the caramel popcorn,
put it in chocolate, um, yummy glaze
for, like, the meat portion.
Okay.
[Stephanie] The cheese part,
I roasted some sweet potatoes,
and I'm, um, gonna blend it
and thicken it with a little agar.
[Carolyn] Yep.
[Stephanie] The most difficult part
was figuring out the components
and how I'm gonna reuse each component,
'cause I've never, um,
used this much, like, agar in my recipes.
I'm really confident in it.
I feel like it's got
the perfect balance of sweetness.
Going in for the k*ll
with the flavors is my strong point.
No one else is gonna do corn,
so I think that's gonna make me stand out,
and I'm excited for it. [chuckles]
[hand blender whirring]
Okay, chefs, we are at two hours.
How's everybody feeling?
-[Juan] Good, Chef.
-[Carolyn] Yes?
[upbeat music playing]
[blowtorch whooshing]
Tyricia, are the scallop coming together?
[Tyricia] Gonna get them in the blaster,
then I can start my details.
Of course, first week I started
on the bottom, so that was really, really…
It was really sucky.
What do you think?
My-- I was gonna, um…
'Cause I want the shininess, like,
the scallop's shiny,
but I also need the caramelization.
The safe bet would be
airbrushing just the top.
-[Tyricia] Mm-hmm.
-[Amaury] Or you can even try to burn it.
That's more tricky, you know, but…
Go with the safe bet.
-[laughs]
-It's okay. Just this part.
-I mean, I have extra this time for sure.
-So give it a try.
[Tyricia] Today, I'm thinking faster.
I guess my creative juices are going.
Just been trying
to keep growing and keep striving
to be the best Tyricia I can be.
[clicks tongue then laughs]
[Amaury] I think she's going to succeed.
No? Is it working? She's going blowtorch.
-[scratches throat]
-[Amaury] How is it, Tyricia? It works?
-[Tyricia] It does it.
-Amazing. Bold move.
-[Carolyn chuckling] Look at that smile.
-[Amaury and Devin laughing]
I'm about to start building my ravioli.
The first one I did, paste was too thick.
So I wanna make sure that it's super…
-You need to have it thin.
-[Juan] Exactly. Super thin.
Because the marzipan
steals a lot of flavor,
and I don't want that
to take away from everything else.
Being best in class last time,
it really put a lot of pressure on me
because I have everybody's eyes on me.
I don't wanna go, like,
win and the next day be on the bottom.
Definitely don't wanna do that.
-[Amaury] Guys, you have 30 minutes left.
-[Tyricia] Yes, Chef.
-[Amanda] Thank you.
-[Mellisa laughs]
[Daniel] The idea was
to build it like a normal spring roll.
And I was trying
to wrap it like a spring roll,
but they just kept cracking.
I'm beating myself up.
[groans]
[Thiago] I'm a little behind.
I didn't have time to taste everything,
and I jeopardized the flavor
of the composition of what I was doing.
Just tried to do too much.
[Thiago] Oh no.
Everybody should be putting food
on plates now, okay?
-[student 1] Perfect.
-[students] Yes, Chef.
[Thiago] How long? Time?
-[Devin] Five minutes.
-[Thiago] Is anybody free right now?
-Anything I can help you with?
-[Thiago] Can you give me a plate wipe?
-[Amanda] Plate wipe?
-[Thiago] Yeah.
[dramatic music playing]
Thiago, one minute.
-One minute left.
-[Thiago] Oui, Chef.
[Tyricia and Juan] Yes, Chef.
-[Thiago] I do too much.
-[Juan] What do you need?
-Top it up with some onions on the salad?
-[Juan] Yeah.
[Amaury] Three, two,
one.
Done.
Chefs, please bring me your creations
so we can have a little rap session.
[curious music playing]
I want to start
by saying it's visually impressive.
Now, you know
what matters the most in a dessert?
It's the flavor, the texture.
Let's see
if I'm gonna become a loyal customer.
-Stephanie, let's start with you.
-Yeah. Please.
[Amaury] Visually,
you did a very good job.
It does look like a taco.
[Stephanie] I used traditional
Hippen Masse tuile as the taco shell,
and I added a little bit
of freeze-dried corn to it.
Some caramel popcorn
for the ground beef portion,
a lemon-scented white chocolate paste
for the lettuce.
The cheese portion
is actually roasted sweet potato
set with a bit of agar.
Seven completely different flavors.
It's surprisingly not a bad blend.
You can also feel the corn.
It's bold, and I think
it was well incorporated.
It's good.
Cool. Thank you, Chef.
-I want to do the croque madame.
-[students chuckle]
-Oui, Chef.
-[Amaury] Thiago.
No pressure.
Little cracked black pepper for your egg.
-Please. Demonstrate.
-[Thiago] Um, yeah. Sure.
-So this is just cacao nibs.
-Stop. [chuckles]
[students laugh]
[Amaury] Some of your elements
are so realistic, it's mind-blowing.
-Is it gonna be runny when I cut through?
-[Thiago] Yeah.
[suspenseful music playing]
Oh God.
-Just how I like them.
-[Thiago] My wife likes over-medium.
[students chuckle]
It's a coconut cake.
Uh, the mango yuzu for the yolk.
There's a little rum custard.
The ham is a strawberry chocolate.
What overwhelms me is the coconut.
I don't think
you miscrafted any of your items,
but I think maybe the ratio is not right.
I just ran out of time.
Sometimes more is less.
Yep.
-Or less is more?
-[Carolyn] Yes.
-Sometimes less is more.
-Story of my life. [chuckles]
Amanda. What is it?
-[Amanda] It is ikura sushi.
-[students chuckles]
Never seen that before.
-I'm kidding, Amanda.
-[chucking] Yeah.
[Amaury] It's very photo-realistic to me.
The colors are very accurate.
The caviar is good.
[Amanda] Ribbon sponge around the outside,
a white chocolate-coconut mousse,
coconut rice pudding,
passion fruit pearls caviar on the top.
-Look, he's crying, it's so good.
-[all laughing]
You nailed the… the little caviar.
Sometimes they're a bit too plasticky.
Those were actually melting,
which is good.
-Perfect cooking on the rice pudding.
-[Amanda] Thank you.
-Nervous about that one. [chuckles]
-[Amaury] No, you did good.
Overall, all the elements
were nicely ex*cuted,
and you did it on time.
On time.
And you help, uh, Thiago too,
which was very nice of you.
[Amanda] Yes.
Never leave a fallen soldier.
[Amaury] Tyricia. Let's see.
[curious music playing]
The caramelization around is well done.
I know you've had fun with the…
the blowtorch,
which was again a bold move.
Why did you choose that shape?
I was too afraid to try and do
my own mold again. [chuckles]
-So I went with the molds that we had.
-Okay.
-I was too traumatized from it.
-Because… I… [chuckles]
The only thing,
if you're talking food illusion,
the conic shape for me
doesn't cut it as like a scallop.
-Shall I go ahead?
-Go in.
Lemon, berry, are my flavors.
Uh, I have a strawberry ruby ganache,
raspberry confit, and then a lemon sponge.
[Amaury] Overall, it stands,
all the components are here,
but for me,
there is no magic on the overall balance.
[dramatic music plays]
-[Amaury] Cedrick.
-I have made for you a s'mores.
-[Amaury] Remind me, what's the component?
-[Cedrick] It's a vanilla sablé.
[Amaury] And you replace a sablé
by a sablé.
So I know graham crackers is different,
but, you know…
Mm-hmm.
[Amaury] …orange, orange.
If you substitute the sablé,
I would've expected something not crunchy.
That when I try it, I'm like, "Wow."
I'm seeing a perfect s'more,
you know, like, oozing out,
and then I bite into it,
and it's tropical,
and it has nothing to do with chocolate,
with graham crackers.
So, I hope it's delicious,
but as far as the technical execution,
I think you were a little bit off-topic.
[suspenseful music playing]
So it's light, it's fresh,
but chocolate is a little bit thick.
When you have that thick
of a chocolate component with caramel,
it takes over everything.
Would you mind
giving it a little try for me?
Personally, I like it, yes.
[dramatic music plays]
It's pleasing to me.
It's just not what I asked you to do.
Yes.
Daniel.
[Daniel] The idea was
to have two spring rolls,
but as I was rolling near the end,
I kept losing a few of the, uh, jellies.
[Amaury] The problem is, when I see it,
it's not as detailed as what I'd imagine.
I wish you would've been
a little bit thicker.
Mm-hmm.
[Amaury] The inside looks like
a spring roll.
It's rare that a dessert looks better
on the inside than on the outside.
-[chuckles]
-[Amaury] Let's try this.
-The taste is all over the place.
-Okay.
-[Amaury] Flavor-wise, texture-wise.
-Mm-hmm.
[Amaury] This part
is a little bit not sufficient.
-Mellisa.
-[Mellisa] Your first lobster roll.
[Amaury] I did educate myself
on what a lobster roll is.
Love the claw.
Love the fake mayo.
It's clever and it looks very good.
As cute as the claw is,
because it's such a small item
to dip into the yummy glaze,
you can really feel the chocolate,
and I think it takes away from the taste
of the actual cream inside.
Taste-wise, you have a little bit of work.
Thank you, Mellisa.
Juan, I want to travel
to Italy for a moment.
-[students chuckling]
-Bienvenido a l'Italian. [laughs]
[students laughing]
[Amaury] Your foam, the oil,
you really took that picture in time
and gave it to me.
It's a hard thing to do,
so good job on that.
[Juan] Flavor profiles is gonna be almond,
uh, strawberry, and coconut.
The texture is great, it's light,
but the marzipan is overpowering.
It was part of the exercise.
Everything you bring to the table,
you know, must, like, balance
and bring all the other flavor,
and this one is overpowering it.
It saddens me.
[Juan] I was definitely feeling defeated,
and I was not happy,
because I definitely knew
I was a little bit disappointed on myself.
I could have done so much better
because I know I can.
I was visually pleased
by every single one of you.
On that part,
you did not let me down. Today's leaders…
are Stephanie…
Thank you, Chef.
…and Amanda.
-[inspirational music playing]
-[all applauding]
I'm super happy to have this one because,
you know,
it shows that I'm meant to be here.
After the first exercise,
I wasn't so sure,
but Chef Amaury picked me
to be here for a reason, right,
and I got to be able to prove that to him,
and nobody can take that away from me.
All right, who's ready
to taste this disaster?
-Ha, ha. Mine as well.
-[laughs]
-[Mellisa] Congrats, Stephanie and Amanda.
-[Amanda] Thank you so much.
-[Juan] Really well deserved.
-[Cedrick, in French accent] Congrats.
[Stephanie] I won a challenge
because of my flavor choices.
My flavors, he's acknowledging that,
and he's realizing that, like,
that's where my main expertise is.
Oh my God. I was so shocked.
I was… I… I, um… See?
I'm still kinda speechless about it.
-[Devin] Hey, y'all.
-[students] Hi.
-Great job today, everybody.
-[students] Thank you.
Daniel, Chef would like to speak with you.
[Daniel] Of course.
-[Amaury] Come on, Daniel. Take a seat.
-Thank you, Chef.
-[Amaury] How are you feeling?
-Again, like I said, I'm not surprised.
To be honest, and when the time ended,
seeing the product,
I… I wasn't 100%, like I said,
with… with what I came up with.
[Amaury] It's hard for me
to see you in that seat.
By now, you know the drill.
You know that if you're in the bottom two,
you're not participating
to the chocolate showpiece.
-Which I know is one of your strengths.
-[Daniel] Yeah.
[Amaury] I know you don't wanna be here.
Not at all. But going forward,
I really do need to nail flavor, texture.
Those are the two main things
I think I'm lacking in right now.
[Amaury] When I was 21,
I was exactly in that seat.
Stay humble.
I do see a lot in you
that is going to grow,
and your age is by no means a problem.
-[Devin] Hey, guys, it's me again.
-[Juan] Hi.
Cedrick,
Chef would like to speak with you.
-No.
-Okay.
-[students laugh]
-[Amanda] Okay.
[Devin] Right this way.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[Amaury] How are you feeling?
-I'm feeling okay.
-[Amaury] Okay?
-[Cedrick] Yes.
It's hard to crack that
very protective shell you have around you
to get to know the true Cedrick.
I'm trying to--
Not trying to, it's like I'm slowly, like,
allowing myself to get the gears turning.
Because I've done one thing for so long,
it's difficult to break that.
-Thanks for being honest.
-[Cedrick] Yes.
I know it's hard sometimes to…
to say things like that.
I just want to ask one thing from you.
Stay open-minded.
I think I'll be very grounded
by the end of this thing.
-[all laugh]
-[Daniel] No, but it's so true.
When he was grading me, and he said…
-[sighs] Like, "You were so close."
-[Juan] I know. It hurts so much.
[Thiago] He was like,
"You were right there to nailing this."
[Juan] Yeah, it hurts more
when he goes, like…
when he gets disappointed.
[Thiago] Even though
I wasn't the bottom of the barrel,
I… I wasn't happy with what I did,
with what I put out.
[introspective music playing]
[Thiago] You know,
go for your dream, go for it all.
I had a dream to go to school.
I couldn't make that happen.
But every position I've ever been in,
I've always worked my way to the top,
and people always looked
for me for leadership.
[child, on phone] Hey, Daddy.
Where are you?
[Thiago] I'm in school. Chocolate school.
-[child] I'm cheering for you.
-[wife] You're cheering for him?
[Thiago] Thank you, buddy.
I… I haven't been this far away
from them for a long time.
Now I have to start winning.
Daddy has to do better.
Daddy's been sucking. But I miss you guys.
[emotionally] I have two beautiful boys,
James and Jackson. I miss them. Well…
[gentle music playing]
[Thiago] I'm here to…
to win this for me,
but also for my family,
and to show them
that you're never really too old
or too far in your career, um,
that you can't learn new things
or go for your dream, go for it all.
I love you.
-[child] Bye, Daddy.
-Bye, bud.
So, I'm gonna try
to do my best to impress Amaury
and hopefully come away with the title.
[empowering music playing]
Oh no. [chuckling]
-Oh Lord. [chuckling]
-[chuckling] Oh!
[Juan] Ah!
Oh, I love it!
Wow!
[Amanda] Let's look at that.
Six, seven feet tall.
You felt like he was looking at you.
-[Daniel] Wow.
-[student] Sheesh.
-[Stephanie] Like a play on a cocoa tree?
-[Juan] It is a cocoa pod.
-[Stephanie] The water effect is cool.
-Super cool.
-[Stephanie] Hi!
-[Daniel] Morning.
[Amaury] You like Father Nature?
-[Thiago] Beautiful.
-[Stephanie] Yes!
[Amaury] Today's theme is nature-inspired,
and we're going to focus
on shining cocoa butter.
When you walk in,
what catches the light is the water.
Glossy shininess.
You attract the eyes
to elements you want to highlight.
Today, I'm going to demonstrate
how to get the perfect gloss
on the water drop.
We're gonna go to the spray booth,
apply the first layer of white,
and then apply a very deep blue.
In order to have the perfect shine,
we want something smooth.
How do we do it?
Well, we do something I call do-or-dye.
[laughing]
[Amaury] We're going to use the heat g*n
to blend all the cocoa butter
to create a smooth surface.
All right. Once it's set,
start the polishing process.
With my warm water,
slide onto the cocoa butter.
-It's like you shine your shoes, right?
-[Tyricia] Mm-hmm.
[Amaury] To perfect the gloss.
[Amanda] Creating that shiny piece
was really incredible.
Getting behind that,
you know, secret door that he has
and getting to learn that technique
was super, I mean, amazing.
We're now going to pick the team.
I just want to remind you that today
Daniel and Cedrick won't be involved
with the crafting
of the showpiece, unfortunately.
The winner of this chocolate showpiece
will get closer
to receiving the final award.
Amanda and Stephanie,
choose wisely your teammates.
Stephanie, you're gonna go first
and pick one person for me.
Um, my first pick would be Mellisa.
I picked Mellisa first
because I think she is very underrated,
and I know her drive and her work ethic,
and the way she works so clean
is what I wanted to bring to my team.
-Now you, Amanda.
-[inhales sharply]
I'm gonna pick my girl Tyricia.
-[chuckles]
-[Amaury] Tyricia.
We were both in the bottom
in the first exercise, you know.
We bonded,
and we both had something to prove.
-Stephanie, what is your second pick?
-For my second pick, I choose Chef Juan.
Juan.
[giggles]
Well, that means I get Thiago.
[chuckles]
-She's stuck with me.
-[Amaury] "Well, I guess… I guess Thiago."
-[class laughing]
-[chuckles] Good, uh, good choice, Amanda.
Wise.
So today you are going to craft
a nature-inspired showpiece
that must include a shiny element.
It will also have to be 50 inches tall.
-Fifty?
-Fifty inches, minimum.
-Five-zero, right?
-[Amaury] Five-zero.
I've done really heavy showpieces
that weigh over, you know, 100 pounds.
Fifty inches, though,
is… is just a whole new level.
-[Amaury] Are you excited?
-[students] Yeah.
-Go.
-[Stephanie] Cool.
[pop music playing]
Gonna make it go… ♪
-[Amanda] Go, go, come on.
-[Thiago] Hey. Over there?
-[Stephanie] How do you wanna do it?
-[Mellisa] What does nature mean to us?
I just think nature, I think water.
-What you think when you think of nature?
-Water.
I just like dolphins,
but that's not necessarily the reason
we have to do it,
because it's not… [chuckling]
Right? That's just me.
How are you gonna support all the weight
if it's jumping out of the water?
[whimsical music playing]
[Amanda] Our whole structure
is gonna be the elephant.
[Thiago] Yeah.
I think the more body we do,
the easier it is for us to get the height.
[Tyricia] They're actually starting
this thing where they dye the tusk,
so that could be our shiny element.
If they're doing that,
I think that's cool.
Just so they wouldn't k*ll 'em for it.
[Thiago] I mean, if there's a legit story
from that, why not?
[Mellisa] What if we started
to think about a bird?
-Yeah, let's have something…
-So, what are really colorful birds?
Toucans.
[Stephanie] I mean, it's interesting.
What about a flamingo?
[tense music plays]
[Mellisa] You just
completely stressed me out.
No, it's not. Don't be stressed out.
-A flamingo is pretty. Flamingo is pretty.
-That's just word vomiting.
Imagine a flamingo?
[Juan] But flamingo,
his legs are really thin.
-That's a big risk. Let's…
-Okay. I'm gonna start grinding chocolate.
You guys decide
what we're gonna do, and then we'll do it.
What do you want each of us to do, Amanda?
[Amanda] I want you
to get going on the base part.
[Thiago] Okay. Building the body.
I'm gonna build some columns for support,
and then build the skeleton around that,
and we can tie it in.
Tyricia, you work on the tusks,
the trunk, and then the ears as well.
Can you handle that?
[both chuckle]
-I'll make it. If not, I'll call you.
-All right. Let's go get some chocolate.
[Thiago] We're gonna crush this, y'all.
We're gonna crush it.
[upbeat music playing]
Why not do something
that you're like, "I wanna do this."
[Mellisa] If it's a dolphin,
it can be a dolphin.
-There's no judgment.
-[laughs]
Yeah.
Like, if you really wanna do it,
if you're excited about it,
then Juan and I will jump on that train.
[Stephanie] I'm gonna need help rig…
like, sculpting that dolphin, though.
I want you guys
to wanna be on board with it.
[Mellisa] Then let's do it.
[Stephanie] Can we build a palm tree
next to the dolphin
so there's a landscape of a beach scene
somehow next to the dolphin?
-Wouldn't make sense because… [chuckles]
-[Mellisa] No. We cannot do that.
The dolphin is…
The dolphin, like, yeah,
they're not next to a palm tree.
It will be…
[Stephanie] But what other elements
are we gonna create around the dolphin?
-A sea scene under the water?
-[Juan] Yes.
So if you wanna do the dolphin,
we can create the splash.
-Like this.
-[Stephanie] Yeah.
And then what if your splash was created
all out of plastic junk in the ocean?
[Stephanie] That's really smart.
That's, like, where my head is at,
but it's, like, getting it out.
I'll work on the trash if you guys
wanna concentrate on the dolphin.
-Does that work for you?
-[Stephanie] Yeah.
-Are you excited?
-Okay. Yeah. I am.
[upbeat music playing]
Being chosen as a team leader,
I was excited about it at first,
but I know
it comes with a lot of pressure,
and it was only the second
chocolate showpiece challenge,
so I still felt a little bit new
in my element as well,
and I didn't want
to push myself to a point
where I wasn't comfortable
with what we were doing.
But that's exactly where we went.
[Thiago] Fifty inches is a lot.
[Mellisa] Yeah, I'm not gonna lie,
I'm a little nervous about our idea.
I mean, I have the two people
who didn't do it the last challenge.
How do you think I feel?
[Amanda] I do like the bouquet at the top,
like him holding a bouquet of flowers.
So, if you can add that to your task list?
[Tyricia] My strength is not in flowers.
-Just so you know. [chuckles]
-Okay.
-So, I mean, never ever. [chuckles]
-[Amanda] I got you. I got you.
Amanda leading our team
was a little confusing for me.
[Amanda] All right.
Gonna start working on the flowers, then.
[Tyricia] Her career is a teacher.
Teachers are there in culinary school
to support and let your creatives run.
It being my first chocolate exercise,
I needed her to more so,
like, manage me than to support.
[exciting music playing]
[Thiago] Trust me with the structure.
My full trust is in you.
That's why I wanted you on the team.
-[chuckles]
-[Thiago] I'll let…
-I'll let that structure be sound.
-[Amanda chuckles]
I have to keep climbing
because Juan is ahead right now,
you know, winning best in class day one,
and, um, I need to do better.
I really need to step up my game.
Right now,
it's taller than it needs to be.
-I need to cut, um, a couple inches off.
-[Amanda] Yep. Let's do that.
I don't want more than one person
working on the structure part of it.
I feel like,
if I'm responsible for the structure,
that thing collapses,
I'll take the heat for it.
I'm gonna rattle off the colors.
Tell me if I'm missing any. Pink, ivory,
white, gray, black. Should we do brown?
-Ah!
-[Amanda] Oh, these popped over here too?
I got a bad cut.
[tense music playing]
There. It's pretty bad.
-[Tyricia] Medic.
-[Thiago] I need medic.
-[Thiago] I felt faint. It is bad.
-[Carolyn] Here. Come and sit here.
Like, on a scale of one to ten…
-It probably hit the bone.
-[Carolyn] Oh.
-[Tyricia] Oh my God.
-[medic] What were you doing?
Slicing through the chocolate,
and it sliced pretty fast, so…
[medic] You got a pretty good cut.
You need to go to the ER, get stitched up.
I mean, is there any way
to get me patched up to do this challenge?
[medic] I can't stop the bleeding here,
okay?
All right?
Don't worry about your team.
This is the priority.
-You gotta keep your finger, okay?
-[Thiago] Yeah.
[introspective music playing]
[Thiago clears throat]
Bad.
Like, you-have-to-go bad?
It's… It's, like, dangling.
[Tyricia] Oh my God.
-You guys got it.
-[Amaury] Come with me.
Someone's gonna take you
to the hospital, okay?
-[Thiago] Yeah.
-[tense music playing]
-[Tyricia] So you wanna build it together?
-[Amanda] Yes. Get as much done as we can.
The elephant was initially Thiago's idea.
He had the vision for the base.
My heart just sank.
Hey, ladies. We don't know
how long Thiago will be gone.
I'm gonna let you choose between Daniel
or Cedrick to give you a hand.
-[upbeat music playing]
-[Tyricia] I'm like, "Thank God!"
Because if it was just me and Amanda,
there would've been no showpiece.
-[Amaury] Who do you want to help you?
-Daniel.
-All righty, friends. Fill me in, please.
-[Amanda] We need to get this body up.
So we're essentially going for, like,
paneling so that it builds up the area?
Right. And then we're gonna
plop chocolate on for the body.
-And then shave and all that stuff.
-Yes. Let's do the body.
-[Daniel] Let's go. We got this.
-[Amanda] All right. Let's do this!
I was happy to get my hands on chocolate.
This is an opportunity to redeem myself
in this specific exercise.
Let me just help them as much as I can
and deliver on their vision,
'cause the clock is ticking.
[exciting music playing]
Daniel!
-Welcome back.
-Thank you.
[Juan] Right now, my biggest competition…
Definitely Daniel.
He has such a natural talent to chocolate.
He just goes to his home.
-Headed in the right direction.
-Yeah. Mm-hmm.
-For sure.
-We're good.
-[dramatic music plays]
-Mmm. It's set already.
-What?
-It's… It's…
It set so fast,
that we have to… I have to redo it.
I… [chuckles nervously]
I set up a bowl full of chocolate.
[chuckles] Like, I literally put chocolate
in a bowl and then forgot about it.
[Stephanie] Oh sh**t!
You know, I'm so sorry.
I'm just a little bit distracted today.
Like, why would I even, like, do that?
[suspenseful music playing]
Starting to sculpt on such a weak point
and adding and adding before the chocolate
has time to fully set,
it's… it's a risk.
Ah! It's falling over here.
-[dramatic music playing]
-[Mellisa] You okay?
-[Stephanie] No, we need help.
-[Mellisa] What happened?
-Yeah, you see? It broke already.
-[Mellisa] Oh no.
-[Stephanie] Yep.
-I can still build him from here.
It's actually better.
Then we can actually…
I can see while we're building,
and then later on,
we can really, uh, glue it really nicely.
-Attach it?
-Attach it.
I just feel like keep doing things
without really thinking about it.
[Stephanie] Mellisa could start working
on the water.
-If we're gonna have it all separate now.
-[Mellisa] Yes. Yeah, no problem.
[Juan] I feel like
my brain is just stressed.
Because two years ago today,
that was the day
that actually my mom passed.
[heartfelt music playing]
[Juan] My ma had cancer.
I was really close with my mom.
Every single day, we talked.
She is the reason why I work so hard.
And when you have
every single member of your family
texting you, sending you pictures,
you start getting
all of these memories back.
So, in my head,
I was just, like, devastated.
[tense music playing]
[Juan] It's cracking a little.
-Little structure issue?
-[Juan] Yes.
So, it's broken over here,
and that's pretty much
where the weight's gonna be.
[Stephanie] It cracked there too.
Did you see?
[Amaury] This is
where your strength should be,
and right now, it's broken,
so that means it's broken at core.
[sighs] I don't want
to give you the bad news…
but restarting will be the fastest option.
Basically, the first six hours
of the whole challenge,
they went all to the garbage.
I know you know what you're doing.
Sometimes you need someone to tell you,
but you already know it.
I just feel bad
because I feel like I'm failing them.
You can still make it on time.
-You should go part by part.
-Mm-hmm.
Get the perfect roundness,
put it in the fridge, let it set,
take it back, build a second layer.
You can do it.
-[Juan] Yeah, I…
-Thank you, Chef.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
That was kinda, like, my click.
You need to get out of your head,
because if you keep getting in your head,
you're not gonna get this done.
Poopers.
-It's frustrating 'cause you spent time.
-Big poopers.
How's he sitting on here?
He's gonna go this way?
[Stephanie] Um, we can cut those
out of the way if we need to cut it out.
No, I want you to tell me
where to leave it blank.
[Mellisa] The idea was not
fully fleshed out.
I personally work better
if I know exactly what's supposed to be.
Right where this one is.
With that back part. Yeah. Like that.
I took over something I would've started
in a much different way,
which would've given
a better product in the end.
-This is where the dolphin's gonna fit.
-Mm-hmm. Oh my…
[Stephanie] I know.
Sorry. I didn't break it.
That is where the frustration
was coming from.
-[chuckling] Yeah.
-I'm so short. I don't even know…
-[Juan] What is this for?
-Huh?
Uh, I'm smoothing it out, because then,
when you have the shape of the dolphin,
then we can melt the curve,
and he'll fit perfectly.
[Amanda] Watch your hand.
Coming with the knife.
-[Daniel] That's fine.
-[Amanda] We need to get the body done.
[pop music playing]
Having to sculpt, having to make detail,
is not something everyone really knows.
As a pastry chef, as a chocolatier,
I'm really the one
who really has it down to a nice science.
I'm gonna put more lines,
but that's a good eye, right?
[Tyricia] Yeah.
Clearly, chocolate
is what I'm well-versed in.
Honestly, the first seven hours,
I didn't know what I did. [laughing]
[laughing] Besides question my life.
I was like, "What am I doing?"
It's tricky to do an elephant skin.
When you do this, imagine your own skin.
-When you… When you…
-Move. Right.
When you move, right here,
that's where it's gonna be lined up, so…
Yeah, this is like
the knuckle pointing out.
[Amaury] So for the knuckle,
you're doing a very good job so far.
-Yay! Finally.
-[Amaury] Yes.
[laughing]
[Juan] I got Charlie.
[Stephanie] I like Sprinkles, but…
-[Juan] Sprinkles? Sprinkle it is.
-[Stephanie] Okay.
I just hope
our dolphin doesn't become sushi.
-Three and a half hours left to go, teams.
-Thank you, Chef.
-We're gonna get it done.
-Yes, sir, we are.
Help me position this, you guys.
One, two, three. Okay, dear God.
Tyricia, is it centered
from your perspective?
Yes.
Chefs, time to push, guys.
[Mellisa] I'm on garbage duty.
[Juan] Oh my God. They look so real.
-[Mellisa] Looks like trash.
-[Juan] They look so real.
[Daniel] I think we're good, right?
-[Stephanie] This is for the dolphin.
-[Juan] That's for the dolphin color?
[Stephanie] Yeah. Do you like it?
It's silver and turquoise.
[Juan] Yeah, give me the colors
and I'll go with them.
Slow, slow.
-[Juan] Coming through.
-[Daniel] Let's push, guys.
There was no time.
So I literally spray the first time,
flip it without even letting it set,
spray the next time.
After pushing myself
for four hours to build the dolphin
and not having the dolphin ready…
I was not letting that happen.
-[Juan] Mellisa? Happy with the color?
-[Mellisa] It looks green.
[Carolyn] Fifteen minutes, guys. Fifteen.
-Fifteen.
-[Amanda] Thank you, Chef.
-Can you move? Can you…
-[Amanda] Okay. We got one more.
I can't believe we're here.
-[Daniel] Keep polishing.
-[Mellisa] Wait, Juan.
-[Mellisa] This isn't right.
-[Stephanie] This isn't…
-Is it right?
-[Juan] Is it soft?
-[Stephanie] It's soft.
-[Mellisa] Okay.
[Stephanie] We have limited time
to put the dolphin on the base.
We were so nervous
of that dolphin falling.
[Mellisa] He's going off.
-I got it.
-[Mellisa] Pick it up, Juan.
We didn't have enough time
for the chocolate to set.
-[Juan] There you go.
-[Mellisa] Wanna spray it?
-[Juan] Take the wrap off.
-[Mellisa] You okay?
-Yeah, I'm okay. I'm holding it.
-[Mellisa] It's too hard.
-You guys, it's too hard.
-No, it's coming… Yeah.
Just throwing blobs of chocolate on there
that's not the right consistency
or right temperature
is not gonna glue a dolphin.
-It's too-- Yeah.
-I said it three times. It's too hard.
-Three minutes left, chefs.
-[Daniel] Oui, three minutes.
[spray can hissing]
[Stephanie] Hold on. Wait, Juan.
We're gonna cover this with plastic.
Juan didn't have gloves on,
and he'd gotten his chocolate handprints
all over this dolphin,
and it was, like,
supposed to be our shiny object.
-[Juan] Ow, ow, ow, ow.
-One minute left.
-[Stephanie] Can you let go?
-No.
I kept asking Juan, "Do you think
it's gonna hold?" He kept saying, "No."
I'm like, "Can you let go of it at all?"
He's like, "No."
[Amaury] Three,
two,
one.
Daniel.
Hands up, Juan.
-[dramatic music plays]
-[Juan groans]
[Mellisa] It's all right. It's okay.
Congratulations, chefs.
[amusing music playing]
[Stephanie] Oh my God,
we actually created,
like, a 50-inch-tall structure,
and it looks so good.
We did it.
[tense music plays]
[Juan] Oh!
["Music Please" by Gary McFarland playing]
It ain't nothing like hip-hop music ♪
You like it 'cause you choose it ♪
Most DJs don't refuse it ♪
It ain't nothing like hip-hop music ♪
It ain't nothing like hip-hop music ♪
You like it 'cause you choose it ♪
Most DJs don't refuse it ♪
It ain't nothing like hip-hop music ♪
It ain't nothing like hip-hop music ♪
You like it 'cause you choose it
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01x02 - Dessert Deception
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Eight contestants compete against each other in a series of innovative cooking challenges, creating elaborate chocolate sculptures as they aim for the title of 'best in the class' and a prize of $50,000.00.
Eight contestants compete against each other in a series of innovative cooking challenges, creating elaborate chocolate sculptures as they aim for the title of 'best in the class' and a prize of $50,000.00.