A restaurant takeover, a sweet tooth pressure test, an emotional mystery box, and a non-elimination full of heart. Let’s see how the rest rank in this home stretch period. Semi-finals baby.
5. Samantha Daily- Gerron dominated that pressure test, Bowen dominated the mystery box, Ashley and Cesar knocked their hearts out of the park. But Sam didn’t get any spotlight this week. She had her ups and her downs this week. Her restaurant performance and baking pressure test were utter disasters. Not as bad as Farhan’s, but ROUGH. Then, her mystery box pasta was awesome! And aside from plating, her heart dish wasn’t shabby. That’s the thing with Sam is inconsistency, and I really worry that she may be coming up just short of the finale.
4. Bowen Li- I was low on Bowen (and he didn’t do a great job in the restaurant challenge), but his mystery box challenge was actually pretty good. I fear that he could make the finale by just being one of the highly edited people this season. Though I’d argue Bowen is one of the weakest of the five we have left. His artichoke dish showed that he may be playing it too safe, so Bowen will really have to knock it out of the park to go any further than fourth place.
3. Gerron Hunt- Gerron rocked it in that pressure test. He was not the best baker, but he used what he learned and applied it. I think Gerron struggled on plating his final dish, but the flavor was all there (as it also was for his mystery box). Gerron is by far the most improved, but why I love Gerron is because he never gives up and doesn’t let the same mistake happen twice. He is learning and growing with every dish he cooks, and if the very likely Aaron-Gordon-Joe finale happens, Gerron will get a slot. He may come up just short, but I am giving him a slight edge to make it into the final three.
2. Ashley Mincey- Ashley isn’t getting the top spot, but she’s damn close. She has been consistent as consistent can be. Gordon’s team is inevitably not going to have all three members in the finale, but Ashley is the most likely of Gordon’s three to make it there.
1. Cesar Cano- Cesar is at the top…again. I mean, he made TUNA HEARTS taste good. It’s hard to do. I am not the biggest Cesar fan, but people have targeted him left and right and still can’t knock him down. Right now, he’s the most deserving of the ones left, and while anyone can win, it’s his to lose.
If we have the Gordon-Joe-Aaron split finale happens, we’ll obviously see Cesar and Gerron in the finals. Gerron is a bit more vulnerable since he has been on the bottom a handful of times, but I seriously think he’ll get there. Between Gordon’s three, I think Sam is almost definitely going home and I think Ashley has just proven more consistency over Bowen. Anything can happen, but I think we’ll see Gerron, Ashley, and Cesar in the end.
A restaurant takeover, a sweet tooth pressure test, an emotional mystery box, and a non-elimination full of heart. Let’s see how the rest rank in this home stretch period. Semi-finals baby.