HOLLYWOOD—This is perhaps the craziest competition series on The Food Network. “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” literally witnesses chefs cooking for 24 hours, with twists and surprises along the way that I never expected. The first season stunned me; the second season left me aghast with the ending and season three has raised the stakes. Yes, I’m happy to see Michael Symon and Esther Choi back as hosts. I truly wish I could see Symon back in the culinary world as a competitor because the guy is a beast in the kitchen.
Season 2 had a ton of chefs that I knew about, season 3, not so much. I know Molly Yeh from “Girl Meets Farm,” and I know Zac Young as a pastry chef, but I don’t know if he has the savory chops. I know Brian Malarkey because the guy is a massive ball of energy. I know Viet Pham and Michelle Ragussis because both competed in previous seasons and they’re looking for redemption.
Three of the bigger names included chefs Lee Ann Wong, Alex Stupak and Shota Nakajima, as they are cooks that have technical skills unlike any other. I expected a similar challenge from what we’ve seen the first 2 seasons, but season 3 kicked off with the lights going out. I just hate the idea of losing nearly half the chefs after the first episode. it just feels like a cheat for me.
Change the TITLE of the series if that is the case. We have a Cautious Challenge or Bold Challenge. Cautious means you have a 75 percent chance of survival, while Bold Challenge gives you a 50 percent chance of survival, but you get a major advantage.
Symon made it clear season 3 will more strategy involved than previous seasons. Shift 1 is ‘Strategy’ which involves Cautious competitors creating a one-bite dish with survival; 9 will continue 3 will clock out. Bold competitors, one-bite dish with difficult proteins, and they only have 24 minutes to cook, as 6 of them will get booted.
We’re losing 9 people after the first challenge. Those who survive Bold, will not have to cook the rest of the chef, and the best dish gets the ‘Golden Knife’ that provides advantages, including $12k for the first challenge.
The food looks bold and tasty to say the least. So, all the tastings are BLIND! Game-changer, about damn time. That needs to happen with any cooking competition. You shouldn’t know who cooked what. It makes it more even especially when competitors know the judges. So once again we see judge/chef Jet Tila. I don’t like that one judge gets to send people home. That is not fun to me to witness as a viewer because everyone’s palate is different.
After all that tasting, the safe chefs were Christina, Shota, Joe, Lex, Avishar, Molly, Dawn, Zac and Michelle. Losing so many chefs this early sucks because you don’t get to know these chefs to care. That was the Cautious bunch, but on the Bold bunch, our safe chefs were Lee Ann, Brian, Alex, Trammell, Robyn and Viet. We spent 90 minutes on a single cook; and then less than 20 mins for another cook to send 1 more person home. The top 2 dishes were Brian and Alex with the Golden Knife and $12k going to Alex.
With great power comes great reward, as Alex learned that he has to pick 2 chefs to go into a head-to-head battle. You’re about to make enemies, and with no hesitation Alex went in for the kill putting Zac and Shota against one another; noting he is scared of them. The two chefs have to utilize 3 ingredients to cook from which included red ghost peppers, white chocolate chips, taleggio, mint champagne, durian and liquid smoke.
Zac is proving not to be just a pastry chef, but one capable of savory dishes. His ice cream and ghost pepper caramel looked fantastic. Shota proved improvisation is a skill he has because durian is funky, and he found a way to make it work.
Both chefs Shota and Zac came up with incredible dishes, but once again Jet Tila holds the fate of one of the chefs. I don’t like that. That is the one problem I’m having with “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing,” the judging just feels stilted and not in a great way. When it was said and done, it was Shota who was booted from the competition, and Zac is moving on. Gotta see Zac get his revenge on Alex because it will be fun to witness. New episodes of “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on The Food Network.
