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Popular reality cooking series, Next Level Chef season 2 aired a brand new episode on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 8:00 pm ET on Fox. The one-hour episode saw the remaining cheftestants battle it out against each other and create incredible dishes. They gave it their all to impress the judges and viewers, presenting some of their best creations based on the theme. While some impressed the mentors, others failed to do so.
On this week's episode of Next Level Chef, Alex Morizio and Cassie Yeung were chosen to go into elimination. For the challenge, they had to include corn in their dishes. Although the judges liked both dishes, they thought Alex's corn was under-seasoned and complicated, following which he was eliminated from the competition.
What transpired on this week's episode of Next Level Chef
Tonight's episode of Next Level Chef began with the mentors welcoming the contestants to a brand new day and a new challenge. With Kamahlai's elimination last week, Richard Blais' team had to cook in the basement, Nyesha Arrington's team had to cook in the middle floor, and Gordon Ramsay's team earned the top floor with Tucker's win last week.
The Next Level Chef contestants had to cook Mexican dishes for their first challenge. The elevator bringing the ingredients only stood for 30 seconds on each floor. While the top floor chefs had a wide range of choices, the ones cooking in the basement could only pick from what was left.
Viewers were introduced to social media chef Tineke Younger (Tini), who found cooking to be a refuge to cope with a learning disability. She was part of Richard Blais' team and pulled out a cow tongue for her dish as it was the only protein left. Alex from Team Arrington is an ICU doctor and finds cooking to be relaxing after a hectic day at the hospital. He faced multiple challenges throughout, especially when he didn't know what to do with the corn husks.
Other contestants introduced in episode 2 of Next Level Chef include Preston from Team Ramsay, who dedicated his dish to his grandmother who recently passed away. From the same team, home chef Cassie struggled during the challenge as well, failing to pick up a starch element for her dish. Darryl from Team Blais didn't have the Mexican ingredients to work with.
Other contestants like Nuri, Tucker, Christopher, and others brought their best culinary skills to the table. After the challenge, the judges decided to blind-taste the dishes to choose their winner as well as two contestants who would go into the elimination round. While they were highly impressed with some dishes, others failed to reach the mark and were criticized for their lack of flavor and creativity.
By the end of the Next Level Chef challenge, the judges decided to crown Tini as the winner and save Team Blais from elimination. Chef Gordon and Nyesha had to pick one member from each of the other two teams to go into elimination. The former picked Cassie while Nyesha chose Alex.
For the elimination round, the two contestants had the chance to redeem themselves with their use of corn. Richard Blais was with the two chefs in the round alongside the other contestants. Alex dedicated the pork chop dish to his father, who loved to see corn on his plate. He seemingly thrived under pressure, while Cassie struggled throughout the challenge.
Next Level Chef mentors Gordon and Nyesha then returned to taste and decide which dish they would choose to eliminate. After the tasting, both chefs chose Alex's dish, following which he became the second contestant to be eliminated from the competition.
Next week, Nyesha will be cooking from the basement, Gordon's team will be cooking in the middle, and Richard's team will cook on the top floor.
Season 2 of Next Level Chef has been extremely well-received by the audience who have been cheering for their favorite contestants. As the season progresses, the stakes will become much higher and with eliminations looming large, the chefs will have to keep presenting their best culinary skills to be in the running for the famed title and the $250,000 cash prize.
Don't forget to tune in to a brand new episode of Next Level Chef season 2 next Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 8:00 pm ET on Fox.
