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Popular reality competition series Next Level Chef season 2 aired its season finale episode on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 8 pm ET on Fox. It documented the Top 5 and then the final round of Top 3 contestants battling it out for one last time to create interesting dishes. They participated in a variety of challenges to impress their mentors and earn the coveted title and the $250,000 grand cash prize.
On this week's episode of Next Level Chef, Tucker Ricchio was crowned the champion after she impressed the mentors throughout a variety of challenges in the finale. Apart from the title and the cash prize, she received a one-year mentorship from the show's mentors - chef Gordon Ramsay, chef Nyesha Arrington and chef Richard Blais.
Tucker Ricchio wins Next Level Chef season 2
Tonight's episode of Next Level Chef saw the Top 5 contestants - Nuri. Pilar, Omi, Tucker and Chris battling it out to create incredible dishes and win the title. The first half of the episode saw them fuse two different states and their local ingredients. While all did their best, only three chefs would advance forward.
After the cook, the chefs presented their dishes to the mentors. After much deliberation, Gordon, Nyesha and Richard chose to advance Pilar and Tucker straight to the finals. Nuri, Chris and Omi had to fight their way to the grand finale by cooking their best.
While all three did their best to cook under 30 minutes and give it their all for one last chance to compete for the win, the mentors chose Chris over Nuri and Omi. He accompanied Pilar and Tucker in the Next Level Chef finale, making the Top 3 one step closer to winning the title and the grand cash prize.
For the finale round of Next Level Chef, the Top 3 chefs - Pilar, Tucker and Chris were tasked with the challenge of cooking one dish on each level. They had to cook an appetizer, a seafood course and a meat dish on the basement, middle and top floor respectively in under 90 minutes, which was the most difficult tasks to accomplish this season.
The finalists received a pep talk by their respective mentors - Richard spoke to Chris, Gordon spoke to Tucker and Nyesha spoke to Pilar. The chefs were also received by their family members as well as season 1 winner Pyet, who talked about how her career shot off after appearing on the show and being mentored by the legendary chefs.
The Next Level Chef contestants grabbed ingredients from the platform for their appetizer and began cooking. Pilar finished her crab dish first, followed by Tucker and then Chris. The mentors tasted each floor's dish as the contestants finished cooking. The finalists then took to the middle floor to cook their seafood course.
The mentors felt Tucker's mussels were simple and delicious. They complimented Pilar crab dish, while Chris' duck was left undercooked. Meanwhile, the finalists cooked their seafood dish. Chris finished first with his halibut, followed by Pilar's salmon dish and lastly Tucker's sea bass.
This time around, the mentors were impressed with all three chefs' flavor profiles and visuals of their seafood dishes. For the final round, the Top 3 finalists had to cook their meat dishes at the top floor. Chris cooked with a tomahawk, which was shocking to the mentors, Pilar chose filet mignon and Tucker went with pork chop.
After 90 minutes, the Next Level Chef finalists presented their dishes to the judges. All three chefs impressed the mentors with their dishes cooked almost to perfection, except that Gordon, Nyesha and Richard gave their specific preferences. After some deliberation, it was time to announce the results.
The mentors ultimately crowned Tucker the winner. Not only does she win the coveted title and the cash prize of $250,000, she also earns a mentorships under the three legendary chefs. After her much-deserved win, she said:
“This means everything to me. I hope I let girls know you can throw down in the kitchen.”
Season 2 of Next Level Chef provided viewers with a fair share of drama, cuisines, laughter, emotions and inspiring stories from the contestants. The series began with 18 chefs competing in the series. They created some of their best dishes inspired by their life and through learnings from challenges.
Next Level Chef aired every Thursday at 8 pm ET on Fox.
