‘Next Level Chef’ Season 3 Results Tonight: Who Survived Night Eight of the Eliminations?
Eight chefs from Teams Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais began cooking tonight, but only seven made it to the next level.
Night eight of the third season of Next Level Chef found the remaining cooks on Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais’ teams challenged in a brand-new way for the cooking competition: a team challenge, which required each of the three teams to create a three-course meal—appetizer, entrée and dessert.
Team Blais had the bottom-level kitchen after Angela Pagan lost last week’s rack of lamb elimination challenge.
Team Arrington was in the middle level and Team Ramsay was in the top kitchen as Gabi Chappel won last week’s Greek entrée challenge with a pork chop marinated in a citrus marinade with okra, potatoes and peppers.
Then the eight remaining chefs got cooking for a chance to boil, bake and fry their way into $250,000.
Went Home on Night 8 of the Eliminations?
Ryan “Von” Smith, 37
Scranton, PA
Advancing contestants tonight on Next Level Chef Season 3 Night 8
Christina Miros, 35
Dumont, NJ
Gabi Chappel, 29
Brooklyn, NY
Izahya Thomas, 24
Miami, FL
Jordan Torrey, 29
Tampa, FL
Mada Abdelhamid, 36
Los Angeles, CA
Nicole Renard, 28
Kennewick, WA
Zach Laidlaw, 34
Maui, HI
What was the first challenge this episode, and who won it?
The first challenge of the night was a first for Next Level Chef: a team challenge, which required each of the three teams to create a three-course meal—appetizer, entrée, and dessert. And the dishes had to work together cohesively.
Team Blais only had two members left—Nicole and Zach—but they still had to create all three courses.
Team Ramsay consisted of Gabi (dessert), Jordan (entrée) and Izayah (appetizer), and Jordan turned out to be the weak link.
Team Arrington was comprised of Mada (appetizer), Von (entrée) and Christina (dessert).
The winning team was Team Blais, who chose Farm to Table for their dishes. Of course, since they were in the bottom kitchen, they didn’t have a big choice of proteins, so when Gordon asked about using octopus in a Farm to Table theme, the joke was that it was a Coastal Farm to Table theme.
The appetizer was Octopus with buttermilk, garlic, dill and lemon.
Nyesha said, “This is beautifully done showcasing how dairy and seafood work well together. The sauce is bright and there’s a nice levity to the crispy seafood. Great job.”
Gordon said, “What a great start to a farm-to-table themed menu. There’s something very refreshing about that sauce on the bottom.”
The entrée was roasted rabbit with butternut squash, blue cheese, cherries and hazelnuts.
Gordon said, “It’s a very bold move at this stage in the competition to start cooking rabbit. It’s so unforgiving because there’s no fat there. Cherries and rabbit, a beautiful pairing.”
Nyesha said, “The rabbit is cooked beautifully. Most of the elements work on this plate.
The dessert was a brown butter and olive oil crumble with a blueberry compote and lemon curd.
Nyesha said, “For me, the lemon curd is a little sharp and how are we elevating them saying this is Next Level Chef on a plate?
After learning that she and Zach, who has the only remaining Immunity Pin, were the winners, Nicole said, “I went from thinking I was going to elimination to we are the top of the day. That’s quite a spectrum.”
What was the elimination challenge this episode, and who won it?
The elimination challenge was an elevated take on a casual, comfort food classic: chicken and waffles.
Gordon didn’t even have to name the person going into the elimination challenge. He said, “That individual knows who they are,” and Jordan stepped forward.
Nyesha chose Von, who had over-fried his halibut dish, to go into elimination, saying, “One dish was not up to par on the cohesiveness. Von, you are a phenomenal chef and I want you to take Jordan down.”
But Von’s overconfidence did him in and the vote was unanimous in Jordan’s favor, so it was Von’s last cook in the Next Level Chef kitchen. Finally, the curse of the top-level kitchen was broken.
“I’m super proud of myself,” Von said. It’s been an awesome experience. No regrets. My mom would be super proud of me right now. Cooking is in my DNA. It’s what I do. It’s what I know. Looking forward to going back to the restaurant and killing it. This is not the last America has seen of me.”
