The teams are even with three players apiece after Miss USA Alyssa Campanella was sent home. Who will rise to the occasion in tonight’s challenge?
Here’s a quick reminder on who is on each team. Representing Team Rachael are actor Lou Diamond Phillips, singer Taylor Dayne and Olympian Summer Sanders while *NSYNC star Joey Fatone, legendary comedian Cheech Marin and rapper Coolio are on Team Guy.
Tonight’s challenge will feature one-on-one cooking battles but with a twist. The contestants will be taking on the Chopped judges’ favorite dishes. First up, Coolio and Lou Diamond Phillips took on judge Marcus Samuelsson’s fried chicken. Both men had 45 minutes to create their unique twist and then they left the room so the judges could critique the dishes. The judges praised Lou Diamond Phillips (LDP) on his simplicity on the dish while Alex Guarnaschelli gave a new nickname for Coolio-“Cornstarch Coolio” because he used cornstarch while making his dipping sauce.
Round two of the competition featured Joey Fatone and Taylor Dayne taking on Scott Conant’s favorite: Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil. He also advised them to keep it simple. While cooking her offering, Taylor struggled with finding the recommended bucatini pasta Rachael advised using in the battle. When the judges ate the dishes Marcus said that he could have two bowls of Joey’s dish while Scott praised Taylor’s choice of the bucatini pasta.
The final round featured Summer Sanders taking on Cheech Marin, a competitor that she believes could be in the finale. They were tasked with making Alex Guarnaschelli’s giant porterhouse steak with compound butter. Summer continued to freak out because she was not familiar cooking a steak and struggled with cooking the dish but had mentor Rachael barking advice to her. During the Judges’ tasting, all three judges were impressed with the dish and Alex commented on how the steak was cooked to perfection. Meanwhile, Cheech’s dish received mixed reviews from the judges.
At the end of the competition, Taylor, Coolio and Summer won their respective while LDP, Joey and Cheech were declared this week’s Bottom Three and had to face the Blind Tasting Elimination challenge. This week they had to create the perfect grilled cheese. Joey Fatone decided to go with a simplistic grilled cheese while the other two went the gourmet route. Joey’s strategy worked and received immunity while two front runners faced the dreaded elimination and in the end, Cheech was sent home.
Next week, the Final Five will operate lunch trucks and have to share the cart! Who will survive? Find out next week!
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