- The chefs get in touch with their inner child with the help of Sesame Street stars Cookie Monster, Telly, and Elmo. For the Quickfire challenge, the chefs must make a cookie that pleases the gang. The chefs then take over a Target store in the middle of the night and for the Elimination challenge must make a dish with whatever they can find in the aisles.—Anonymous
- After adorable Fabio goes home, Richard feels bad to see his friend leave. "I wish he would have consulted with me, I run a burger restaurant," Richard says.
There are seven competitors remaining.
They arrive at the kitchen and Padma says: "we're on our way, everything's a-OK."
Muppets pop up behind her. Telly, Cookie Moonster and Elmo are there to guest judge the quickfire, a cookie challenge. Elmo says he wants zucchini or carrots in his cookies.
The winner gets $5,000.
Mike I. admits he's never made a cookie from scratch before. They start cooking. Richard runs for the nitrogen tank.
Angelo also has no cookie experience.
Carla makes cookies all the time as a caterer. Dale is chopping potato chips in a food processor. He's not cooking anything, so Antonia thinks he's a "cookie cheater."
Antonia made a dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and caramel glaze. Carla made a chocolate chip cookie with cinnamon.
Dale made a pretzel and potato chip shortbread cookie with salted caramel chocolate ganache.
Richard tells Elmo his daughter Riley loves him and Elmo returns the sentiment. "I'm the coolest dad in the world right now," Richard says.
He made an "ice cream cookie" with chocolate chips, zucchini and mint. Cookie Monster asks if it's really a cookie and Carla thinks that it's an "ice cream disk."
Mike made almond and dried cherry cookie dusted with rose petal powdered sugar.
Tiffany made a shortbread cookie with lemon and thyme. She serves it with coconut milk.
Angelo made a chocolate chip and hazelnut cookie.
Cookie Monster tells Richard he didn't make a cookie. Angelo's was dry.
The favorites were Dale and Antonia. Elmo says her cookie looked like "cow chips" but tasted good.
The winner is: Dale.
That's the most anyone has ever giggled in a Quickfire.
Elimination Challenge
Padma tells them they're playing for more money than they've ever given away: $25,000.
They're headed to Target. They get three hours in the middle of the night to raid the store and cook for 100 employees.
They have to leave their knives behind.
At midnight they hit the empty store, with three hours to prep.
They grabs carts and race around.
Tiffany is starting to wear on Dale's nerves. He notes she hasn't won a challenge.
They have to get everything from can openers to griddles. Antonia stocks up on cooking equipment.
Mike I. and Angelo shop for food together and talk about having each other's backs in the competition.
An hour in, Carla hasn't yet shopped for her food. Richard is the first to start cooking. He's making a corn pancake with braised short ribs.
Antonia makes a soft egg with parmesean cream. Tiffany is doing a jumbalaya.
Carla is still wandering around looking for table cloths. Everyone else is cooking.
Dale is using an iron to grill cheese sandwiches.
Carla finally gets set up. She's making a curried apple soup with apple slaw.
Mike keeps asking Angelo to fetch him implements.
Mike tastes Angelo's soup and thinks it's missing something so Angelo salts. Antonia can't believe everyone is making soup.
Thomas O'Brein, the home designer for Target, sets up a judge's table.
Angelo now thinks his soup is too salty.
The employees arrive to eat. It's 3 a.m.
The judges arrive, including Anthony Bourdain, who is going straight to a parent-teacher conference after. Ming Tsai, chef and owner of Blue Ginger, is a guest judge.
Richard serves pork tenderloin with green chilies, apples, braised pork ribs and corn pancakes. Tony thinks it was ugly, but delicious.
Dale serves his rib eye grilled cheese sandwich and spicy tomato soup. Tony thinks Dale was going for stoner food. "You ever given this guy a urine test?" he asks.
Carla serves her curry apple soup. Ming thinks it was two-dimensional. They all think it lacks protein.
Antonia's worried about her egg being properly cooked. She serves parmesan eggs on garlic crostini with salad. The egg draws raves.
Mike serves coconut soup, saying it was "fresh" coconut milk. Padma busts him, saying if it didn't come from a coconut, it's not fresh. One bite is enough for her.
Tiffany serves jambalaya with chicken, sausage and shrimp. Tom says it's OK, but not great.
Angelo serves baked potato soup with bacon, sour cream and cheddar. They think it's way too salty.
They finish at 4:30 a.m.
Tiffany feels nervous. She's aware she hasn't won.
Tiffany, Carla and Antonia are a little punchy and start playing with stuffed Target dogs.
Back in the stew room Padma comes for Dale, Antonia and Richard.
The sun has come up. They perk up when Padma tells them they're in the top.
Ming liked that Richard cooked a protein two different ways. Tony tells Antonia her egg was an "audacious move" and he liked it.
The winner of $25,000 is Dale. "That's rent for a year," he says. He enjoys that he won for a grilled cheese sandwich and soup cooked with an iron.
They send out everyone but Mike I.
Carla knows everything that was wrong with her soup, mostly that the flavor didn't develop. Ming says it was thin. Tony tells Angelo his soup was way too salty and had too many scallions. Padma says it was too rich. He apologizes.
Tony thinks Tiffany using a prepared spice mix was her downfall.
Padma asks them for final thoughts. Tiffany gets choked up and mentions again that she's from Beaumont. She says it's been an honor to work with everyone.
The judges discuss. They think Angelo's soup was inedible.
Verdict time Tom recaps, saying it's hard to see any of them go.
The knife packer is: Angelo. Tiffany is stunned. "This has been a very humbling and amazing experience for me and I'm truly honored," he says.
"I think I'm just mentally fried," he says.
Mike doesn't do a good job masking his surprise that Angelo was the one sent home. Angelo gets choked up telling everyone he was honored to cook with them.
"Of course I wanted to go to the end, but it wasn't in my deck of cards. I think the other chefs really pushed me to get to know myself even more," he says.
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