Eighteen world-famous chefs are joining forces
in the most extreme team competition ever devised.
Uh... What am I looking at? This is insane.
But here's the catch.
Only one chef will know what the challenge is,
and the teammates can't cook together
-or even talk to one another. -What!
I'm going to leave hints on top of the cast iron
-for gameplay words. -Not bad.
Creamy and spicy.
I have to use one of these adjectives in my dish.
And I'm thinking, well, show to use them all.
[screaming]
[Guy] Will teamwork make the dream work?
[indistinct]
-We love that. -[Guy] Or will it turn into a nightmare?
In the third and final qualifying heat of Triple Gs
All-Star Relay Rumble.
This is brutal, by the way.
[laughing]
In this round, we have an exciting match-up
between our most esteemed Triple G judges
and the next generation All-Stars.
Now, first up are the esteemed Triple G judges.
Food Network star with multiple competition wins
to her name,
and one and only, Damaris Phillips.
There she is, ladies and gentlemen.
-Hello there. -That was quite the introduction.
-Thank you. -And weird.
Brilliant Tournament of Champions commentator,
and the ramen chef extraordinaire,
Justin "The Wild Card" Warner.
Give it up for mullet mania.
-Come on, eastbound and down. -Thank you.
Look at that thing.
And wildly successful restaurateur
and critically acclaimed chef, it's Shenanigans.
[growling]
[Guy] The one and only, Brian Malarkey.
-Don't hurt me. -[laughing]
[growls]
We have judged over 125 episodes,
reaching every different game
that they can imagine throwing at us.
-Who's house? -[growls] It's our house.
Who's house...
-Oh, our house. -[laughing]
Let's meet the team Next Gen.
We have Chopped Next Gen champ named Best Chef San Diego.
Call me by my two first names.
Chef Carlos Anthony.
-Hold your applause. -[Justin] Ooh.
-Get 'em big guy. -[Carlos] Good to see you.
Call me by my first two names.
Top Chef runner up and semi-finalist for James Beard Rising Star Chef,
three years, three years in a row.
The one and only ninja, Shota Nakajima.
[Shota] Let's go.
Chopped champion and wild card kitchen winner,
the Duke of Spice, Chef Martel Stone.
Look at that big smile. Go get him, big man.
Go get 'em!
Bang, we're Next Gen.
-Hey. -We are the future.
We're not close to the best by date.
[chuckles]
I don't know if we should have
you standing next to your boss, Carlos.
He just got fired.
[all laugh]
What we have here tonight is the Triple G OGs
versus the Young and Hungry.
-[Damaris] Ugh. -Wah-wah.
This is a way of saying you guys are a little bit old.
Now, we've invited six powerhouse teams
to compete in three qualifying heats.
Now, our Tournament of Champion winners,
they came in in the first heat,
rocked the house with a score of 93.
-What! -[all laugh]
Then we had the Top Chef All-Stars came in
and won the second heat, and they got a score of 87.
[whistles]
Now, the team that wins this final round
will be the third finalist going for the championship
and a shot at the $60,000.
-Right? $60,000. -$60,000?
The team that receives the highest score
in these opening three rounds will move directly
to the finals and skip the semifinals.
So right now, the TOC champs are going to be in the finals.
Now, none of you will be working at the same time as your teammates.
What's going to happen is you are going to be flying solo
in a 10-minute shift.
Now, the first chef is going to shop
and prep the ingredients.
The second chef will continue to cook,
and the third chef will have to plate and present
the dish to the judges.
Now, only the first chefs that will be doing the shopping
will be told the challenge details.
-Oh, my God. -Ah.
All right.
And they will be able to talk to the next chef
or the chef after that,
because you'll be in these fantastic isolation chambers
that we like to call Flavortown Icebox.
First thing we're going to do is we're going to have
a little huddle, and you're going to discuss
who's the shopper, who's the second cook, and who's the final cook.
-[Damaris] Okay. -All right, guys.
If I shop, I'll buy everything in the grocery store,
-so that's not too good. -That's not good.
I can confirm this, so you're out of shopping.
You seem responsible. I think you can do this.
-Really? -You make the outline,
we'll color it in.
We need a good salesman, three.
I've presented a dish or two in my life.
So I'm the horse? I'm the horse.
-I'll just prep, cook-- -You work...
You have to think like Damaris.
-Oh, God. -Think like Damaris.
I can't even think like me.
I would like to go first.
I'm pretty confident on organizing, shopping,
-getting it cleaned up. -For sure.
I think you also have the most experience here,
and I think you can finish this up.
Yeah, I'll finish up. I'll finesse the dishes out.
Let's talk about this.
Who are our shopping chefs?
Shota doing the shopping for Next Gen.
Against Damaris.
Who's going to be the prep cook?
Who's in the middle position?
-[laughing] -[both] Oh!
You and me, pal.
So to finish things up, we've got Next Gen Martel
against the Triple G wild card.
All right, shoppers, stay where you're at.
The other two of you... [whistles]
-I'm going to do my best for you, guys. -Out through the double doors.
[Guy] And we will call you when your shift starts.
[indistinct chatter]
[sighs] What do we want to do now?
Because you're dear friends, really easy one.
I want you to make the judges...
Winner winner chicken dinner.
The great thing is Hunter has some awesome international ingredients
that I want him to bring out. Come on.
-You're going to take these international-- -I... Dad, Dad.
I don't have them just yet.
[Guy] Where are they?
In the carts around the store. I was...
I was in the middle of getting them.
[Guy] Okay, so you have the international ingredients
in carts around the store?
Yeah, I can go grab them really quick right now.
-That's fine. That's all right. -We need to go find them?
That's... you know what? Let's do that.
International Cart Search on the name of Damaris.
[Damaris] Oh, I hate it.
Why did I say that?
-How did you come up with that? -I hate that idea.
As an added bonus, there's more.
-But wait-- -You get a food adjective.
-No. Absolutely not. -[Guy] Okay?
You have to pick a cart
that has your international ingredient
that you like and your food adjective.
And then you can go around and shop
for whatever else you want.
You have 10 minutes to shop and prep
and do whatever you want.
But you need to make a winner winner chicken dinner
with that global ingredient
and also employing that food adjective
-throughout your dish. -This is going to be easy, right?
This young gun over here
-is trying to get in my head right now. -[laughs]
You guys want to sit here and chit-chat for a while?
Or would you like... Three, two, one, go.
[Damaris] Get out of my way.
Shota, get out of my way.
[Guy] Get out of my way.
So you get stuck with a cart.
You got sauerkraut and smoky.
[Hunter] Oh, that's bad.
Chicharron and smothered.
We have kefir, which is like a yogurt, and spicy.
Nori and creamy.
This is brutal.
I see chicharron in my cart, and I go, "That's great."
The first cart I run to has sauerkraut and smoky,
which is pretty good with a chicken dinner.
Can I pick this until I go another one?
So I'm grabbing that little angel,
and I'm just going to see what the other guys are.
Shota's is better.
Shota got smothered, and I'm a little aggravated,
because I love smothered chicken.
But I also am very confident in my shopping ability.
-I've judged on 58 Guy's Grocery Games. -[Guy] Damaris Phillips.
The one and only Damaris Phillips.
-Damaris Phillips. -Hi!
Let's get some chicken.
The king of the chicken dinners is a fried chicken dinner.
So fried chicken, mashed potatoes, slaw.
Hey, girl.
I come up on another buggy, and it's nori and creamy.
It's going to be tough to make fried chicken creamy.
So that's out.
I come to the third buggy,
and it's kefir yogurt and spicy.
Oh, yeah!
Hello, spicy.
Spicy fried chicken dinner, and then kefir yogurt
to go with my mashed potatoes to marinate my fried chicken.
And it could not be better.
-What are you thinking? -I'm thinking fried chicken, mashed potatoes.
[Guy] Spicy mashed potatoes?
I'm going to get some heat in the mashed potatoes.
Don't make it lame spicy.
No, it'll be hot spicy.
I mean, like, yow!
[Damaris] Let's just do this.
We are going up against Team Next Gen,
which stands for next generation in the youngster's feet.
We have way more experience
in flavor town than Team Next Gen.
That is just undeniable.
[Guy] Chicharonnes.
I found the one with the chicharonnes,
and that's a great one for texture.
And then I realized that the adjectives
is on the bottom of the cart, and it says smothered.
So I'm going with smothered.
We got to make a winner winner chicken dinner.
We got to keep it simple.
I'm going to go with chicken wings.
I've been nominated for the James Beard Award three times.
I got 30 under 30 for Zagat.
I think that makes me the perfect next gen competitor.
The hard part about shopping is
we can't communicate with each other.
So if we buy too many ingredients,
and I have it all laid out,
my teammates aren't going to know
what they need to utilize to make the dish.
We got to make this dish smothered.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to make sure
that we have enough sauce so the chicken wings
can get tossed and sauced.
A winner winner chicken dinner is a dinner.
To make it a dinner, I'm going to grab some tater tots,
and I'm going to grab some zucchini.
Some grilled zucchini on there.
And on this station.
Hey.
[Guy] We got six minutes, guys!
High time to get cooking.
[Damaris] Yeah, exactly.
Time to meet the esteemed chefs
who will be judging these two teams.
First, we have the James Beard Award-winning chef
with acclaimed restaurants around the world,
Chef Marcus Samuelsson.
Renowned restauranteur, the one and only Iron Chef,
Stephanie Izard.
And rock star restauranteur, culinary Triple Threat,
Chef Michael Voltaggio.
Okay, Triple G judges know the market.
They've judged combined over 125 competitions. That's incredible.
Next Gen chefs, most of them coming off of the line
currently working day in, day out.
Who's got the advantage?
The judges probably have the advantage here
because they know how the games play.
And I think that the adjective is the wild card here.
You have to lay out and communicate that adjective
and set your team up knowing what that's supposed to be.
Why only three trays?
Uh, each of my elements.
So we're doing fried chicken on this one.
We can't speak with words.
But we can speak with our clues.
I put each of the dishes on a sheet tray.
So anything that went into the fried chicken
was on that sheet tray.
Anything that went into the mashed potatoes
was on that sheet tray.
Anything that went into the coleslaw
was on that sheet tray.
Okay.
So Damaris knows that
-Malarkey is coming in next. -[Marcus] Mmm-hmm.
He can come in, and within 10 minutes,
-prep what would take an average person over an hour. -Yeah.
So she's not worried about all the prep getting done.
She just wants to make sure that
when he starts going crazy in the kitchen,
that tornado hits, that it's hitting the spicy--
-Yeah. -The chicken dinner.
[Damaris] I'm going to marinate the chicken in the kefir
and the sriracha.
It's so much flavor.
It doesn't need to marinate for a long time.
And that satisfies spicy and my international ingredient.
[puckers lips]
Good job, Damaris.
Plus, if I can get these potatoes cooking,
I will have done my job.
So the big thing is now is how to leave your clues
of what you're supposed to do.
Because to them, they know what it is.
So everything's commonplace.
They know exactly what they're putting,
where they're putting it, how they're...
But how are they leaving that for the next chef?
You got three and a half minutes, chef.
Three and a half minutes left. Heard that.
[Guy] So what do you think, chef?
[Shota] So I'm going to leave hints on top of the cast iron
for gameplay words.
Not bad.
In my mind, the dish that I have
is delicious chicken wings,
the yogurt sauce dunked on top of it.
Just smothered.
So in the cast iron, I built this
so there's two pieces of chicken.
I'm going to put all this different sauce on. Smothered.
Smothered all of that yogurt right on top
so my teammates can get the idea
of what I'm trying to do.
Spending a lot of time leaving clues,
not a lot of time doing any prep.
Carlos is fast.
If I set him up properly, I'm confident he's going to be able
to figure out what I'm trying to do.
Twenty seconds.
[sighs]
Shota's got some nervous energy going over there.
[Michael] You have to lay smothered out.
You have to lay that out.
Smothered.
I really hope he understands the smothered part.
Five, four, three, two, one,
-icebox! -[whistle blows]
[Guy] Let's go, icebox!
[groans]
Go, guys, go, guys! Go guys, go!
I am feeling good.
-[Guy] Shenanigans! Carlos! -Okay, breathe, breathe, breathe!
-[whistle blows] -[Brian yelling]
[chuckles]
Fry... yes.
Uh, hot chili.
Nervously talking to himself through all of the ingredients,
to try to figure it out.
-Green beans. -Brian, what are you making?
Uh, we're working on that right now.
Why don't you tell me? You've been out here for the whole thing.
We're not sure either.
[laughs]
[Brian] All right, all right, yes.
Yes, flour, fry. Yes, fried...
skin.
We're doing "winner, winner, chicken dinner."
The best chicken dinner is fried chicken.
[Aarti] If it's "winner, winner, chicken dinner,"
I know all these chefs can make
perfectly cooked chicken.
They need to somehow convey an adjective,
and that they need to use that main ingredient.
What's up, everyone? Nice to see you, how are we doing?
[Damaris] I have three trays set up.
On the first tray, is the fried chicken.
On the second tray, I've put the potatoes
and then the kefir.
On the cabbage, I've put this, like, Chili Crunch,
which is delicious and spicy.
[Guy] What do you think it is?
[Brian] Uh, looks like kind of a mix.
Chili and hot.
Yes, buttermilk, flour, fry...
[in sing-song voice] Get some heat in it!
What am I looking at? This is insane!
I have some chicken in some sort of a brine in a bag.
I've got flour, and kefir over here.
Check for the potatoes. Check for the potatoes.
[Brian] I have to take a deep breath, kind of focus,
see what's going on, she what crumbs have been left for me.
Come on. Come on, come on, come on.
[Aarti] Damaris did a great job,
but someone else's brain absorbs information
in a completely different way.
And, obviously, Malarkey's brain is completely different
than anyone else's on the planet.
So, whatever he's interpreting is so different.
And then, I see that there's some potatoes on the stove in water,
so I'm thinking I'm making kind of a mashed potato,
"smashed potatoes" we'll call it.
You found the potatoes.
Good job, Brian.
And, of course, the chicken has all the elements of fry.
A lot of cornstarch.
So, I'm gonna make fried chicken
on smashed potatoes with a slaw.
You better work. You better work, Brian!
[Brain] So I have four pieces of this chicken thigh that's been marinated
in what I believe is that kefir,
and I'm gonna use that as kind of, like, buttermilk flour fry idea.
But I have all of there spices,
so I'm gonna put the dry spices in the flour also,
so I'm picking up those elements.
-Four. -Oh, Brian's doing it, man!
Get some heat in there! Get some heat in it!
[Brian] My team is legends.
You know, we have seen and been in so many more competitions
than these Next Gen kids.
I'm up against Carlos,
we're both in the second position here.
Okay.
[Brian] Carlos has been working with me
since he was just a small, young little whippersnapper,
and he's still a very young, small whippersnapper.
I'm coming for you, Carlos Anthony.
I'm gonna crush, man. Crush you down!
Carlito, how are you doing?
[whines loudly]
I'm having fun, but I don't know exactly
what I'm making?
So, on gameplay, I put down the chicken.
And I smothered some sauce all over it,
so hopefully he can understand.
On the plate itself, I put two pieces of chicken,
so he understands that it's a chicken competition,
as well as the chicharrones, which are the ingredients that I had to use.
The zucchinis, so it's like a full dish of some sort.
What are you thinking this is, buddy?
-[Carlos] I have chicken wings already marinated. -[Guy] Okay.
And I've got tater tots. It's reading like game-day feast,
with creamy and crunchy textures.
It's clear as day.
We got a game-day lunch here. I'm excited!
You know? I'm gonna fry these tater tots,
I'm gonna give you crispy, crispy wings,
and you're gonna have a delicious yogurt sauce
to go with them.
This makes somewhat sense to me, I think.
The zucchini is really throwing me off.
I hope that zucchini isn't confusing.
I put some tater tots and zucchini to really kind of make it a whole dish.
So, Carlos is approaching it in the way where it looks like
he's digging around a little bit,
but he's like, "I'm just gonna start cooking something,
while I try to figure out what
-I'm supposed to be cooking." -[Marcus] Yeah, but I like that.
-Because, you know what? -[Aarti] No, you have to.
At least I've got my proteins down,
-I've got some of my sides down. -[Michael] Yeah.
And I can figure it out.
But if I'm not cooking, what am I doing?
The thing is, it's a chicken challenge.
I seasoned it with koji and umami and stuff,
I saw Carlos who is putting spices and other seasonings.
I think that chicken is gonna be so yummy.
[indistinct chatter]
I'm trying to process all of these things in my cook,
and right there is my biggest mentor,
Brian Malarkey, right next to me.
I've been wanting to do this forever!
[Carlos] I have nothing but respect for him.
But I also want to beat him so bad.
Even at my young age, I've been able to
have a lot of wonderful awards and accolades.
Most notably, I was named San Diego's Chef of the Year
by San Diego Reader last year in 2023.
I am the epitome of a next generation chef.
[Guy] Five and a half minutes, chefs.
Five and a half.
-Bother? -Yeah.
As requested.
Oh, Hunter, great idea.
This is gonna help them out a bit.
So, hey, chefs, just so you know,
you're first chef did the shopping,
and you have one of these adjectives
you've got to follow.
So, creamy, smoky, smothered or spicy.
What do you think you got, Shenanigans?
What adjective are you supposed to employ?
Oh, I'm going "spicy."
Okay, you think it's "spicy" that your check picked?
What I see the most of, is all of these chilies.
I know I am supposed to be spicy.
Listen, I got all the spice.
There are chilies, there are international spices.
You know it's spicy!
Let's get this cabbage slaw going.
Looks like I'm doing a slaw and a lot of spicy.
Oh, he did good. He got my mandoline.
[Brian] The one thing I'm concerned about with the slaw,
is that it doesn't have, like, a lime or a lemon.
So I'm just gonna use some red wine vinegar,
extra-virgin olive oil,
and I'm gonna kind of toss all those things together,
so they slightly maybe pickle a little bit.
Oh, yes!
Now that I have that going, let's take a look at what's going on in the water.
There are potatoes in there that she's diced up,
which is great, because they'll cook faster that way.
So I know she's intending for me to have a nice smashed potato.
On the second sheet tray, I have some kefir,
so I'm pretty sure that's a very important element.
Brian's doubling down on one of his his ingredients being the 'fir.
[Brian] Imagine, it's like my cream gets really rich and nice.
[Damaris] Oh, my God, I'm so nervous. This is all nervous energy.
That's all this is, you all.
There's a few extra chilies, so I'm gonna throw those in the fryers also,
so that I have chilies everywhere.
Chilies.
This has got to be a spicy dish,
and so I'm going all in.
[Aarti] "Creamy, smoky, smothered, spicy."
You could look at each of those adjectives,
and almost make a case for that's your adjective.
I would just have all four adjectives in my dish.
I would just make sure-- You know what?
-I got all of them. -[Aarti] Right. Yeah, there you go.
I would say the smothered is probably the most difficult one.
[Shota] "Smothered."
Carlos!
"Smothered."
What adjective do you think you have?
"Creamy" and "spicy"?
Everything on the plate has to reflect this adjective.
-"Creamy," "smothered," "spicy." -But, hey.
One of those is what your chef already knew.
-[Carlos] okay. -[Guy] One of them. What could it be?
[Carlos] I have to use one of these adjectives in my dish.
And I'm thinking, "Well, Shota used them all!"
Because [laughing] I've got a couple elements of each of those.
Holy cow!
Really, you'd like to think Guy coming over would've made things easier.
He's made it a lot harder.
[Shota] I put down the chicken,
and I smothered some sauce all over it,
so hopefully he can understand.
Which adjective do you think it is?
I mean, I do have Chili Crunch and some yuzu kosho,
which makes me feel like we could have spicy.
But that looks like it's smothered.
What looks smothered?
This... this little chicken dish
-that he made in here. -Okay.
[Guy chuckles] Shota's losing it.
If he can understand that I was doing smothered,
I think we're gonna be good,
because it's a little harder to showcase smothered.
[Carlos] Mm, okay, that is delicious.
Big thing that I'm missing on this dish is these darn chicharrones.
I think that the chicharrones are important.
When you see an ingredient on your station that's a little bit,
maybe not something that everybody grabs when they run through the store,
-then you think to yourself, "I have to use this." -"I have to use that."
[Carlos] I'm gonna break them down and turn them into a crumble,
and I'm gonna coat those tater tots that Chef Shota left me.
-Guy-- -Hunter, I'm busy.
No, no, really quick.
-No. -We have a bunch of extra ingredients,
and I don't know what to do with them.
They didn't get picked by the chefs. I don't know...
Do I have them on special order?
Oh, just restock them.
We don't have these in stock all the time.
-Oh! Okay, hey, chefs! -What do you want--
[Guy] I'm sorry, hey!
Little mishap on the shopping.
-These were two ingredients that didn't get picked. -Yeah.
[Guy] I gotta do something with them.
It wouldn't be Guy's Grocery Games
without Guy coming in
and just wrecking all of our fun.
I-- It's already hard enough!
-You want the nori or the sauerkraut? -Nori!
-There you go. You want nori also? -Okay.
-Go get him some nori. -I'll get more nori.
-Yeah, here you go. -Give me that. All right.
He wanted nori?
No, bro, you have cabbage. Go with the sauerkraut!
Must-use ingredient now I guess.
[Carlos] Being set up by Chef Shota
and having those amazing flavors
like Chili Crunch and yuzu kosho,
I know the nori will be great.
As he's giving me nori,
I'm finishing up that pork rind crumble, and it dawns on me.
These will go great together,
and will give us a sense of umami,
and that can be a really awesome coating
on those tater tots.
[mouthing]
-[yells] -[shrieks]
[gasps]
[Guy laughing]
-That was worth it. -That was not nice.
How do you think he's doing? [chuckling] He just got nori.
I don't know why he got nori instead of sauerkraut.
I think that... [groans] The nori is very stressful for me.
It's a mandatory ingredient, so he's got to employ this.
-Nice talking with you. Yeah. -You're great. He's great.
You should be the host of this show.
-I was gonna think about doing it. -[chuckles]
Well, you make sure you use the nori.
[Brian] The nori does not bother me at all,
and we do have this kind of, like, chili, garlic crisp
that goes in this dish also,
so it has a fun Asian element,
which is pure umami, and we want umami,
so we can beat back that Next Gen.
I don't want to put the nori in the slaw,
so I'm just gonna put a little bit on the side,
so he knows that it gets folded in at the last minute.
[Guy] Two minutes!
-[Brian] If Damaris was drawn a picture... -Get it, go. Go...
...I'm in here coloring,
and I'm not a great colorer,
so I'm gonna let Justin do the real fine details
around the outside.
I'm gonna pull the chicken up at the last minute,
so that it kind of rests.
I know that Justin's very proficient and a great chef.
He'll check the temperature on this,
and he'll probably drop it right before we need to serve it.
Everything is great. The one thing I need to get Justin set up with,
is these mashed potatoes.
So I put a ladle next to them,
I put just a couple potatoes in the kefir and sour cream.
And we just need to give him as much information as possible,
so it's a no-brainer.
Thirty seconds.
[Carlos] I know I need to set up Martel for success.
He needs to finish these dishes off.
Okay, nori's in, this is in.
Keep all that there.
I start clearing ingredients off the counter,
focusing him on only the things that are important.
Boom.
The yogurt sauce, those crispy, delicious tater tots,
the fried wings,
and, yes, the grilled zucchini. [chuckles]
[Guy] Five, four, three,
two, one.
-Hit the icebox, let's go! -[whistle blows]
[Carlos exclaims loudly]
[growls]
Dude, tell me something.
Chicken, chicken, winner, dinner, smothered.
-Smothered? Okay. -Smothered.
Cracklings are the required ingredients
-we must use. Yeah. -Okay, perfect! It's in there! It's in there!
You killed! You killed!
-[Guy] Justin, Martel! -[whistle blows]
[Guy] Here they come. Look at Justin running in the clogs!
Justin running in his clogs with his mullet.
Oh, Lord. Okay.
[Shota] "Smothered."
Um...
All right, okay, okay.
The last cook is the most brutal.
[Justin] I've seen the relay show. I know how it works.
It's a lot less fun in person, let me tell you.
[Guy] Now, chefs, I'm gonna let you know.
One of these four adjectives
is the adjective you have to have throughout your dish.
Which one did your chef pick for you?
[Marcus] I mean, understanding the adjective is very hard.
You know? Like, I think people can understand the chicken dinner, right?
-[Aarti] Right. -But just, like,
oh, and there's another layer to this.
Guy, we've got some fried serranos.
I'm going spicy.
-[Guy] Okay. -That's my guess.
And then what kind of dish is it?
I'm guessing
fried chicken, mashed potatoes, spicy slaw.
This is gonna be a... maybe a meat...
and two or three...
That's a down home Southern tradition where
you get a meat and three different sides.
And I've wasted a minute and a half figuring it out.
-He's got it. -He's got it, right?
It's so easy.
[Guy] Look at the stress factor
that is going on between these two discussing it right now.
That is the funniest thing.
If it tastes good, we're gonna kill.
So I have a hunch one of these ingredients is required.
The nori seaweed sheets
doesn't really seem like something Damaris would just casually shop for. Also...
I don't really know where these green beans are going.
That scares me a little bit.
[Brian] Did the green beans have anything to do with anything?
It was either gonna be green beans or coleslaw.
-I couldn't decide when I was grabbing. -Okay.
-So those are not on those... -That's why I put them off.
[Justin] Did the green beans get inserted
in the first or second shifts of this cook?
How would I know?
-You start cooking. Just go. [chuckles] -Yeah.
I mean, soon, you'll put it on a plate.
I haven't even cooked. This is a mess.
You know, it's pretty clear that they wanted me to make
fried chicken, mashed potatoes and the slaw.
These green beans could be the thing that sinks this dish.
I'm just gonna make some good green beans
that'll be of chicken skin, some spicy peanuts.
That's gonna be like that old green beans almondine thing.
But Justin Warner-ified.
Justin supports all the chefs on TOC.
When you have a plan, let me know.
-Be pulse, baby. -Be pulse, baby.
-He has to try to understand what they're working on. -[Marcus] Mm-hmm.
So he's so used to trying to interpret a chef's mind.
Martel looks a little less confident in his interpreting.
Oh, I'm so stressed out. [grunts]
[Carlos exclaims excitedly]
I think we're looking good, dude.
-I think we're really good. -Yeah, and it's--
-You did great. You did so perfect. -Thank you.
-The way you set up. -Thank you.
You know, if it wasn't for that stupid zucchini,
-I would've been perfect! -[Shota laughs]
I do. Like, I had it all figured out.
-[groans] -What were the zucchini for?
Zucchini, I just wanted to add some greens.
The cast iron was everything.
-Everything, right? -'Cause I was like, "Oh, okay, I get it.
-It all has to be here." -That's the dish.
[Martel] Right now, what's in the cast iron
is a piece of chicken.
There's some yogurt
and there's a little bit of pork rind.
I'm not sure how this fits together.
Maybe I'm putting the yogurt on the chicken?
What are the pork rinds for?
I don't know. I'm lost.
Buttermilk crackling, or a crusting...
The chicken with the cracklings.
Hopefully, he gets that that dish is supposed to be
a chicken smothered with that yogurt sauce...
-Yes, yes. -...that's seasoned heavily
with the chicharrones on top.
-Crispies. -Crispies.
And tots, because why not, right?
Make it more of a full meal. Something yummy and delicious.
-What adjective do you think you have? -[groans wearily]
Are you supposed to be making a dish
-that's creamy, smoky, smothered or spicy? -"Creamy, smothered..."
[Martel groans]
[inhales sharply]
-Let's go. -Look at some of your hints.
-Oh, no. Let's see if Martel... -Which one is it?
-He's trying to pick which one he thinks it is. -Ooh!
[Aarti] It's a pop quiz.
[Martel] It could be any of the ones.
The zucchini was grilled.
So that's smoky.
There's a lebneh sauce.
That could be creamy.
There's the teriyaki sauce.
That feels very smothered.
And, now, I have all these mixed chilies.
That's spicy, right? This dish could go anywhere.
But I see this chicken in the cast iron pan,
and it has the yogurt on top,
so it's smothered.
What kind of dish do you think it is?
A game-night thing,
but smothered wings,
teriyaki, got that, here's the dipping sauce right here.
Smothered?
[Guy] Then let's go.
-[Martel sighs] Here we go. -Seven minutes.
What I'm gonna do first is, I'm gonna get the chicken out.
Now I have to do something with this sauce.
Maybe I'm supposed to put a sauce on the wings?
-And then smother-- -And smother it with another sauce.
-Yeah, we got this, we got this. -Whoo! Come on, baby!
Yes!
What would I do if I'm Carlos Anthony? What would I do?
[Guy] Six minutes, chefs. Six minutes left.
Six minutes. Little concerned about that.
You know, the other hard part about this, Guy,
is that everything is where somebody else put it.
[Guy chuckles]
[Justin] I'm gonna make sure that this fried chicken is cooked inside.
That way I don't have to cut into it to check.
Guess what. I'm gonna use a thermometer to take its temperature.
Nobody does that on this show.
-We're cooked there. -I put the chilies in there
just 'cause if you wanted to have chilies two different ways.
[Justin] The fried serranos that are hanging out in the fryer basket,
uh, they seem kind of like a red herring.
But I just chop them up, use them to fortify the mashed potatoes.
I'm hoping that we can vibe with spicy mashed potatoes,
and that the whole dish can be spicy.
'Cause that's what we got. Spicy everything.
[Damaris] Yeah, he did!
-Yes, he did it! -[whooping triumphantly]
Are you cheering?
If we make it to the finale and happen to win,
boy, oh, boy, not only do we get $20,000 each,
a grand total of $60,000,
but we also get a sweet trophy.
I don't know whether it's that I'm getting older,
but I sure do like trophies.
Five minutes!
Five minutes, got it. Five minutes, five minutes.
I see zucchini.
Why zucchini? What is the zucchini for?
Maybe a salad.
I feel like I have to use the zucchini.
It's gonna become a beautiful salad with fresh herbs.
This salad plays perfectly into my cooking.
I love using fresh herbs
to wake up and brighten a dish.
[Shota] I guess I should've just left the zucchini off
-for anyone to add something at the end. -Yeah.
-That would've been smarter. -Yeah.
It's actually so hard out there.
[groans]
-This is the second most stressful I've ever been. -[laughing]
Three minutes, chefs. Three to go.
[Justin] My God.
I feel as good as I can.
This is the best dish I've ever made in ten minutes.
First, I put the mashed potatoes in the center of the plate.
Then come the green beans.
The green beans, I'm gonna put at a little bit of a rakish angle,
so the judges know I'm not just throwing things at this plate.
Even though it may look like that.
Next up, we've got the chicken thigh.
Beautifully seasoned, perfectly crusty.
And then, last but not least, we've got the slaw.
And I see the nori right on top.
I have a hunch that it's required.
-Oh, my God, he did the nori! He got the nori! -Nori! Nori! Nori!
[Guy] Ninety seconds.
♪♪ Ninety seconds ♪
My final dish plan is teriyaki fried wings,
tater tots tossed in a little bit of pork rind and seaweed
with a herb pepper and zucchini salad.
-Oh, come on, buddy, this plate looks nice. -It looks nice.
I wonder what Guy is saying. He's getting in his head.
What was your theme again? Your adjective?
Uh, smothered? Mm-hmm.
-Where is that out in there? -Uh...
-Sauced the wings. -[Guy] You sauced or smothered?
Uh, smothered the wings with the, uh, teriyaki.
Just dump the ramekin and we can win this.
-Dump the ramekin. Dump the ramekin. -[Shota] Dump the ramekin.
[grunting]
[Guy] Here we go. Five, four,
three, two, one.
That's it!
-[grunts] -[judges applauding]
-Whoo! -Whoo-hoo!
Chef Justin, you were done first,
you will present to the judges first.
You know, maybe I should've got another cast iron
and smothered other stuff on top of it
Judges, this is it! The Third Heat of our All-Star Relay Rumble.
First up, we have the GGG Judges,
led by Justin "The Wild Card" Warner.
Please tell us what you believe the dish was.
[Justin] This is a meat and three.
First and foremost, we will address the meat.
The meat is a chicken-thigh, it has been deboned.
That accompanies the flash-fried green beans
that you'll see beneath.
And then, as a sort of counterbalance,
we have a spicy slaw.
You'll notice that there's some nori in there.
And then also, mashed potatoes, which are certainly creamy.
You might not notice the mashed potatoes right off the top,
because, uh, a lot of things have been smothered on top of them.
Which one of those adjectives that you just used,
do you want us to actually focus on?
The one that was required.
-Ah! -Which is?
-What do you think it is? -I think it's "spicy."
[Guy] Justin, there were two mandatory ingredients
that had to be incorporated into this dish.
-[Justin] Yeah. -Any idea what those might've been?
-I think the nori was, for sure. -Okay.
[Justin] Second mandatory ingredient, mm...
I'm thinking maybe cabbage.
All right, let's go ahead and bring out your other two chefs now.
This is brutal, by the way.
It is hell on wheels.
Yeah, I have a hard enough time in my own head,
let alone in Damarkey's head.
-Two other heads? -[Justin] Yeah.
-[Guy] Here they are! Shenanigans and Damaris. -Yes, yes, yes.
You did great.
-You say that to everyone. -You did great.
Chef Justin was able to pick out that he needed to have spicy.
He did realize the mandatory ingredient was the nori.
But he didn't exactly get the other mandatory ingredient...
Kefir!
-...and the name of the dish. -"Winner, winner, chicken dinner."
Okay, meat and three.
I love that you went with the meat and three idea
because that is a "winner, winner, chicken dinner,"
so that worked.
But, honestly, I would call this "winner, winner, cabbage dinner."
The star on this plate for me is this cabbage slaw.
It has so many layers of flavor. You have the nori in there.
The mashed potatoes, you did add a little bit of heat.
I could find it if I dig around,
But they're sort of missing the seasoning.
But that cabbage slaw is truly the star of the plate.
Whoever finished that and put it all together,
that is something that I will just keep going back for more.
I mixed it myself.
You did! I saw your hands in there.
-[laughs] -High-five, and high-five. Okay, okay.
Damaris set this up, right?
There's one MVP in this team.
The plate is delicious.
I do like the subtle heat in the mashed potatoes,
and I like the crunch in the chicken,
so I think you guys did a great job.
The green beans? Mm.
I don't think you needed them, because you had enough there.
But, overall,
if you guys win, there's only one person you should thank for this,
-because you really set it up. -Oh!
-Stop, you guys! Stop it! -[Marcus] Yes. Yes.
Stop it.
[Michael] It's really coming down to,
who, like, communicates the best without communicating.
And I think you did an excellent job at that.
I think, Brian, you came in
and picked up on that really quickly,
and then, you delivered that to Justin, who brought it home.
I think, as far as that gameplay situation is concerned,
you guys nailed that part.
For me, the heat could've been a little bit more present, but that kefir is great,
because you can use that as your buttermilk to make fried chicken.
It just... It works. It feels like one person made this dish.
[Guy] All right, judges, let's go ahead and score this up.
Again, 100 points available.
Forty points available in taste,
40 points available in the gameplay,
and 20 points for plating.
All right, here representing the Next Gen, Chef Martel.
Please tell us the key ingredients you must use were...
-Chicken. -Chicken and...
The grilled zucchini over there as well?
And what do you think was the actual type of dish you were supposed to make?
It might've been a dinner.
Like a evening, uh, dinner?
-A chicken dinner! Yes! -[all exclaiming]
I just went like this.
The adjective was...
smothered, I thought.
So, we did a crispy, smothered, teriyaki wings,
uh, tater tots tossed in a little bit of pork rind and nori,
and finished it off with a grilled zucchini salad
with chili, cilantro and tossed with some olive oil.
Can I ask you a question? When you hear the word "smothered..."
We were just saying that it can mean something different to every chef.
-What does it mean to you? -Coated with some type of sauce.
You know, smothered sometimes can be really, really heavy.
Like you see in dinners,
but I also think you can have, like, a nice glaze on the wings
that give it that same flavor and the same effect.
All right, let's bring out your other two chefs.
-Chef Shota, Chef Carlos. -Oh?
Two wild and crazy guys!
-Was it good? Good, Shota? Was it nice? -[Guy] All right.
Chef Shota, you were the super-shopper.
Tell them what went on.
-So, I got chicken dinner... -[Martel] Hmm.
-...with smothered. -Smothered, okay.
Uh, I also had chicharrones that I had to use.
What did you think, Carlos, about the shop
that Chef Shota did for you?
At first, I was a little thrown off.
I mean, it was very organized...
-Yes. -...everything was in front of me very clearly.
Uh, but there were a few off wires.
Like the zucchini.
-There was a grilled zucchini just sitting on the grill. -[Shota] Yeah.
Okay, it wasn't just me.
Oh, you killed them with the grilled zucchini, by the way.
-[all laughing] -I mean, everybody, they kept gravitating towards it.
Chef Marcus, what do you think?
You know when there's an NBA draft,
you got all the rookies, and they can jump higher, they can dunk,
they're so much more athletic?
There's, like, the superstars next gen, right?
You guys can cook your socks off!
You guys are incredible when it comes to bringing flavor.
These wings are crazy good.
Crazy.
I loved the togarashi on the tater tots. Amazing.
So, everything here, is so delicious.
A little heat on that grilled zucchini...
Now, why that zucchini is here, I have no idea,
-but I like everything. -[all laughing]
The meal is incredible,
uh, I missed the smothering part.
You know, maybe I'm old school
and just would liked to have seen a lot of gravy
on top of those chicken.
I am just about to start licking my fingers,
to get everything off of those wings.
The wings have so much flavor, the chicharrone and nori and the chicken
used in such great ways.
I just took one bite where I took a giant chunk of chicharrone,
and I don't usually talk to myself while I'm eating,
and it's a really good sign when I do, and I just went, "Oh, yeah."
[announcer] There is no doubt she is thoroughly enjoying that wing!
[Aarti] Oh, yeah!
I think it's like a debate of, like, can dry be a smother?
It eats like it's been smothered in love, like it's...
-Wow! -It's definitely smothered in love.
-[Guy] Wow! -We love that. We love that.
[Aarti] I've been licking the smother off of my fingers.
-It's there. -Uh, but...
this is a very tiny dinner.
"Winner, winner, chicken dinner," that's where we needed to get.
It's delicious, so this is gonna be really tough.
All right, judges, thank you very much.
Two winner, winner, chicken dinners.
The question is which team lived up to the name.
One team nailed the gameplay, one team nailed the taste.
But I don't know, smothered, like...
Can dry smother be a smother?
I don't know if it worked here. I don't know.
[Marcus] Definitely Next Gen, all day on flavor.
-It was so delicious. -[Aarti] Oh, yes.
It was craveable.
And it wasn't a classic smother,
it was good!
So the question is,
did the flavor that the Next Gen team brought to us
save them from not really hitting the mark on gameplay?
One of you will be moving one step closer to the championship,
and, well, one of you will be going home.
GGG Judges, 40 points available in gameplay.
-Thirty-five! -[Justin] Thirty-five, not bad.
[Guy] Forty points available in taste.
-[Brian] Thirty-four. -[Guy] Thirty-four.
[Damaris] What does that mean?
And, in plating, 20 for 16.
And a total of...
eighty-five!
-[judges applauding] -That's great, that's great.
It's not straight to the finale, though.
All right, Next Gen.
Forty points in gameplay...
[Carlos] Oh, that doesn't do good.
-That doesn't do good. That doesn't do good. -[Guy and Shota] Thirty-one.
-[Shota] Get high on taste. -I think "smothered" hurt you right there, folks.
-[Carlos groans] -[Shota] Man.
-[Guy] Taste. Thirty-seven! -[Shota] Thirty-seven!
[Guy] Need one point extra in the plating.
-Sixteen... -[Shota groans]
...for a total of 84.
[both whooping]
-Ooh, I was very nervous! -[Brian laughs]
I was very--
-You guys, I'm so sorry, I'm very excited right now. -[Brian] Sorry!
-Oh! -Congratulations, old folks, you did really good.
-[exhales] -My cane! Oh, my back!
[Guy] Next Gen, I'm gonna tell you this,
and this is what makes it difficult.
Look at the dynamite numbers in the taste.
The tough part about it is, if you don't get the "smothered" factor,
I think that that is where it took you down.
-Thank you much! -You guys did so good. Thank you all.
-Well done, guys. -Appreciate you guys.
Good evening, guys.
One point?
-So close. -Oh, my!
[Shota] Maybe it was the zucchini. I apologize.
-No, it was not your fault, man. It wasn't your fault. -You know? Hey...
-And 37 points on taste, that's pretty good. -[Carlos] Pretty good.
Coming in hot, man.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the winners
of the Third Heat of the All-Star Relay Rumble!
DDD Judges!
-[all cheering] -[indistinct chatter]
Now you outscored your opponent by one point,
but you did not outscore the TOC champs,
and that means that you will be competing
against the Top Chef: All-Stars.
-[whistle blows] -[yells]
I won!
This is the hardest game I've ever played.
-This is going to be a battle. -[gasps]
This is the most difficult competition format I've ever seen.
Out of the kitchens, into the icebox!
-No, man! -He's so mad at me.
-They're delicious. -Wow!
Come on, Joe!
So, you gotta join us next time
for the high-stakes semi-final battle
that will determine which team will face off and get a chance
at the $60,000 championship battle.
We'll see you then. Adios!