Last week, 23-year-old Peter went home and had a mental melt-down that led to a broken hand.  At the top of this week’s episode there are six chefs left.  Martha Stewart took notice that each chef was only five chefs away from the $250,000 grand prize.  But, not for long!!  

They’re BACK! — Then, the knife twist in the gut came when Martha welcomed back five previous chefs returning to the kitchen and competition.  Martha explained that she and Jose like to give people second chances.  

Katsuji is M.I.A. Still… Also last week, we got the abrupt relief from egotistical Chef Katsuji Tanabe whose mysterious departure from the competition show was just acknowledged by producers as a “withdraw.”  Nothing else has been mentioned not last week, nor in this week’s episode.  Katsuji was notoriously known for hiding the eggs from Michelle and the rest of the Chefs in an earlier episode. 

Pictured: (l-r) Peter Richardson, Katsuji Tanabe — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

NEW RULES:

“Sweet Revenge”

All the chefs had to make sweet dishes.  The two groups – the current chefs vs. the returning chefs were judged separately.  The top two returning chefs would have to choose which of the bottom two current chefs they wanted to go head-to-head in a cook-off.  The returning group of Chefs are: Michelle, Chef T, Peter, Petrina, and Julia.

Pictured: (l-r) Petrina Peart, Torrece “Chef T” Gregoire, Michelle Francis, Julia Chebotar, Peter Richardson — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

The Kicker!

If the returning chef wins the cook-off, they take the place of their current Chef opponent, thereby “replacing” them in the rest of the “Yes, Chef” competition.  Before the chefs started battle, Chef Jose had a private heart-to-heart talk with Peter, who was previously struggling with controlling his temper in the kitchen.  In last week’s episode, Peter revealed that Chef Jose is his idol.  

The returning chefs started their dishes first, then after the first 20 minutes, the current cooks got on the clock-in with the cooking of their dishes.  Judges Martha and Jose were presented with the dishes by each group and they did a blind taste test, not knowing which dishes were cooked by which Chefs. 

The judges noticed how the current Chefs dishes were more elevated than those who had been eliminated in episodes past.   Jose exclaimed that “the chefs in the competition are in the competition for a reason.”  Ironically, although Jake was so sad to see his friend Peter go home last episode, this episode he said he didn’t want to see any of them come back!

Pictured: (l-r) Lee Frank, Jake Lawler, Ronny Miranda — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

The Bad News: 

It was time for the bad news.  Judges Martha and Jose announced which current Chefs were the bottom two and up for the elimination cook-off.  Those Chefs were Emily, Ronny and Christopher.  Emily mistakenly made an over dry brownie.  Ronnie had a “kitschy” honey glazed caramel popcorn that the judges said was too sweet, and Christopher created a dish that had a much more flavorful sauce than the dish itself.  Before that,  he was so confident that he’d be in the top!  It was actually Jake as the one with the favorite dish of a sweet and spicy glazed pork 

More Bad News!  Peter was in the bottom in his group, which meant he wouldn’t get a shot to compete to come back.  Those spots were given to Petrina, who created a “Whimsical” pastry tarte, and Julia who made a crepe which Martha said was one of her favorites.

Chef T sabotaged Michelle’s ricotta cheesecake dish by not allowing her to have a flat dish to place it in, thus her crust cracked.  The judges pointed this out and didn’t have her in the top two.  Chef T also did not have a shot at returning due to her wonky dish that had a syringe loaded with flavored syrup placed into a dish of ice alongside a fig and blue cheese hand pie.

Let the Cook-Off Begin!

Pictured: (l-r) Julia Chebotar, Michelle Francis, Petrina Peart — Photo by: Pief Weyman/NBC

After the Chefs from the past cleared-out, it was time for the elimination cook-off.  The returning chefs had to choose when current chefs in the bottom they wanted to challenge.  Petrina was originally eliminated in the first week and didn’t know anything about any of the other Chefs.  She wanted to prove herself by choosing the best chef to go up against and that was Chef Christopher.

Julia chose to challenge Ronny for a second time. Ronny was very well-acquainted with cook-offs by this time.  The cook-off required them to use one of three fire techniques- grill, flambe, or torch.  Christopher chose grill, and Ronny chose flambe.  That meant their returning opponents had to also use those fire techniques.  

Julia only knew how to flambé a crepe, thus repeating another crepe dish.  The judges were very curious about this!  Ronny flambéed his ribeye and his macha sauce.  Julia made another crepe, this time a blood orange crepe because a crepe is the only thing she knows how to flambé.

Things Just Got Wacky!!

Patrina made a grilled curry chicken dish, from her childhood.  Christopher grilled a steak and vegetable with a side of risotta.  During the voting reveals, this is where this episode got wacky because returning chefs Juila and Petrina won their cook-offs.  That meant they replaced current chefs Christopher and Ronny!  This was not received well by the remaining Chefs who (now four left) were dead-set on being the final four, edging out the two chefs previously eliminated!

“Yes, Chef” airs on Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT on NBC and streaming on Peacock.