The chefs have to muscle through to come up with a terrific mussels appetizer in just 20 minutes. Then in the entrée Round, a humble breakfast food must be combined with a high-brow delicacy. And with a favorite childhood treat in the final mystery basket, the judges are expecting whimsical desserts, but will the chefs deliver?
The competitors get fired up when they discover this competition is all about grilling! They find some strange basket fellows in the Appetizer Round: striped bass and strawberries. In a smok'n entrée Round the chefs try to glean ideas from one another on how to handle a tricky ingredient. And in the last course, a classic American food – perfect for the grill but peculiar in dessert – complicates the judges' final decision.
When time runs out on a frantic appetizer round, two of the chefs are unhappy with what did not make it on to their plates in the final moments, while one chef is upset that a little something extra accidentally did. Then in the entrée round, it's up to the judges to determine who fell short whose dish was a cut above the rest. And the two finalists devise ambitious plans for using a salty condiment and a sweet fruit in their desserts.
When panic sets in at the end of the appetizer round, the judges cheer on a competitor who appears to be giving up. Then in the rush to get a tantalizing entrée finished, one chef makes a dangerous mistake. And even though they find peanuts in the dessert basket, the finalists know that they are competing for so much more and bump the intensity level up a notch as they face off for $10,000.
