“I hope that history repeats itself,” says Amar Santana at the start of the two-part season finale of “Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.” “Season 13 of ‘Top Chef’ I won ‘Last Chance Kitchen’ and came back and went to the finale, and this season means a lot more to me because I’m competing against the best of the best. It’s my one chance to get back into this competition.” Watch his battle against Sara Bradley and Charbel Hayek above, and then watch the second part of “LCK” below.
SEE‘Top Chef’ spoilers: Who was eliminated in season 20 of Bravo cooking competition?
Santana and Bradley were eliminated together in the team challenge in “Battle of the Wellingtons.” One of the most difficult challenges in “Top Chef” history, the episode required the chefs to pair off in teams of two to create three Wellington dishes for 30 diners. Santana and Bradley were ousted primarily for their second course of lamb Wellington, which was so undercooked that many simply couldn’t eat it. But “I’m not ready to go home,” says Bradley. “There is a competitive drive in me. I want to be back. I want to win. I want to prove I can do it, and I would really like for there to be a female in this competition until the end.”
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For their first “LCK” challenge, the chefs get another chance to make meat pies. They’ll need to include two proteins, and they’ll need to use a manual grinder to prepare their meat. The grinder momentarily trips up the 25-year-old Hayek, who looks at the device like it’s from the stone age. He’s also never made this kind of meat pie before. Despite those disadvantages, though, he and Bradley end up with the two best dishes in this first round — Santana used filo dough for his meat pie and rolled it out too thin, which cost him the competition.
SEE‘Top Chef’ 20 episode 11 recap: Brutal ‘Battle of the Wellingtons’ claims 2 casualties in a double elimination
Round two of the “LCK” finale is even more demanding — which is only fair since this is the challenge that will decide who returns to the competition. Bradley and Hayek need to make three dishes each: the first one should improve on one of their worst dishes from the competition, the second should be a spin on the best thing they ate all season, and the third should show how they’re growing as chefs. They only have 60 minutes to complete the challenge, but they’ll have help from some of the eliminated contestants, who will team up with them as sous chefs.
It turns out to be a battle of the sexes as Bradley selects Nicole Gomes and Sylwia Stachyra, while Hayek cooks with Dale MacKay and the just-eliminated Santana. Poor Victoire Gouloubi isn’t chosen by anyone, but that’s okay. She gets her revenge by being named one of the three judges for the final challenge along with Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons. And after they deliberate over who has the best trio of dishes, who is the lucky winner who gets another chance in the main competition? … Cliffhanger! We don’t actually find out at the end of part two. I guess we’ll have to wait until next week’s episode of “Top Chef” on Bravo to get the answer.
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