TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS II: Final Four becomes Final Five

This show has become one of my all-time favorites and this week’s conclusion of the Elite Eight did not disappoint.

The Tournament of Champions II attempted to fill out the Final Four, and between The Randomizer pitching some nasty stuff and a statistical anomaly it was riveting to the end.

Last week West #1 seed and defending champion Brooke Williamson took her place in the Final Four. This week would see the remaining six chefs face off for the other three spots:

• East #4 Darnell Ferguson vs #8 Tiffani Faison
• East #2 Maneet Chauhan vs #3 Christian Petroni
• West #2 Antonia Lofaso vs #3 Jet Tila

Up first were Ferguson and Faison, and The “Global” Randomizer wasted no time setting the bar at nutbag crazy...

Based on that, the chefs offered the following preparations:

My lovely wife was quite vocal during our viewing and immediately opined that Ferguson was taking a big chance by ONLY using the legs, as The Randomizer has asked for the “whole chicken.” The chef and his commentary chef concurred, but then Faison immediately handed back that advantage by only using one part of the coconut opener, which she also acknowledged was risky.

The judges were tough on these two, and the comments were very specific:

• “I don’t taste The Randomizer in the dish.”
• “It lacked in ‘Greekyness’.”

In the end Ferguson won handily on taste and presentation to take his place in the East Bracket Finals:

Next up was an Elite Eight rematch from last season between #2 Maneet Chauhan and #3 Chris Petroni, and the wife handed out the key observation of the night:

The Randomizer then proceeded to warn us that this episode was going to be a bit different:

The chefs put forth the following plates:

Both dishes were about decadence with all the cream and butter, however both chefs were a bit out of their depth with the requirements.

While the judges enjoyed the offerings, DiSpirito wanted to take Chauhan’s stroganoff home:

The best was obviously saved for last with #2 Antonia Lofaso vs #3 Jet Tila, who seem to know each other well and are quite friendly.

The Randomizer went full tilt and the wife provided us with the “Randomizer Reaction of the Night:”

As I’ve mentioned before, it seems that when The Randomizer gets crazy you see some of the chefs’ best work. These two would not disappoint.

Watching this was mesmerizing. The imagination, creativity, and pure artistry involved is just astonishing given the time limits and complexity of the preparations.

The judges were blown away by both plates:

• “Did this chef come in at 8am this morning to start this dish?”
• “Both of these chefs should be in the finals.”
• One of the judges commented that the cooking in this competition (overall) is “the best she has ever experienced.”

The highest scores of the night by far would produce the unanticipated anomaly...a dead even tie across the board:

The normal tiebreaker works from top to bottom, but in this case the chefs were tied in every category, so both come back next week for another round to decide who moves into the Final Four.

See you next week!!