There's only THREE left!
After last week's stressful episode when Chef Patricia Yeo, who trash-talked Chef Lorena Garcia during the entire fourth season of Top Chef: Masters, was kicked off to leave just the final three cheftestants: Chef Lorena (who has won $27,500 for her charity), Chef Chris Consentino (who has won $36,000 for his charity) and Chef Kerry Heffernan (who has won $7,500 for his charity) were up to the challenge in the semifinale episode titled "Old School, New School."
So did the Venezuelan chef beat out one of her male contenders to make it into the finale next week?
Read more ¿Qué más? 'Top Chef Masters': Does Lorena Garcia make it into the final three?
The episode started out with a scary Quickfire challenge: the three remaining chefs had to cook a dish while teaching someone on the other side of a screen how to make the exact same dish! Lorena struggled a bit and, although her pasta sauce dish was much loved by host Curtis Stone, it eventually lost to Chef Chris because her pasta didn't cook in time to plate.
For the Elimination challenge, the chefs had to do some teaching once again–this time with two culinary students from a local Las Vegas cooking school. Chef Lorena was tasked with elevating the lasagna dish that her students had prepared and, before they shopped, she shared some encouraging words with them and letting them know that the money will come if they're passionate about what they're doing. Isn't that the sweetest?
Read more ¿Qué más? 'Top Chef Masters': Lorena Garcia fights for the win with Latin dishes!
And then it was time to cook! Although she admitted that this was her favorite challenge so far, the nervousness of her students certainly did not help in the kitchen. As they cooked, though, Lorena found out that one of her students has Type 2 diabetes and it inspired her to work harder, since teaching kids how to cook healthy is exactly what she does with her charity, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
Chef Lorena, Jojo and Jhane served up their family-style "elevated" lasagna (made with three kinds of meat, goat cheese, arugula and a raspberry vinaigrette) that was praised by everyone, including an Italian-American mom at the table. When it came time for the judging, though, I can honestly tell you that I was biting my nails with nervousness for Lorena.
Well, Chef Kerry won the challenge–so it was down to Lorena vs. Chris. And Lorena lost! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Seriously, I am SO bummed right now! But I guess these things happen and she still raised plenty of money for her charity, so there's still a bit of a win. I would have loved to see her in the finale but I'm glad that she left on a high note after completing her favorite challenge.
Image via NBC
