Top Chef Recap: Seven Fishes

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So, to those who dislike Sieger, now’s your chance to speak up! He’s consistently delivered dishes that are okay, but not great, and once again he’s moved forward in the competition only because someone else performed much worse. This week, unfortunately, that person was a strong contender who seemed destined to make it to the finale. Sieger, seriously, how long can you keep succeeding with these mediocre performances?

I watched last week’s episode again, and I’m even more sure Rhoda succeeded too. I admired her standing up to her parents about having grandkids, but I’m still upset about the ‘soft meringue’ challenge and Oscar being eliminated.

It’s time for the mise-en-place race! The promo made it seem like the chefs would be fishing for their ingredients, but that wasn’t quite right. Instead, they’re prepping ingredients on the docks at Legendary Green Pond Landing in Anderson, South Carolina. Kristen, Tom, and Gail are at Lake Hartwell to explain the challenge: two teams will go head-to-head in five rounds, and the first team to win three rounds gets to cook a dish using those prepped ingredients for a $10,000 prize. The losing team will have to watch from the sidelines. Luckily for him, Laurence won last week, so he automatically moves on to the Quickfire challenge and doesn’t have to compete in this race!

The chefs divided into two teams: Jonathan, Sherry, and Anthony formed one, while Sieger, Rhoda, and Duyen made up the other. This season, teams can use the same chef in multiple rounds, letting them strategically rely on their strongest member. While the commentators called it a new strategy, it mostly just makes the numbers work with five rounds and three chefs per team. I personally preferred past seasons where each chef took ownership of a single round, creating a more chaotic and even competition. This time, all the challenges featured ingredients from the Carolinas, and honestly, they seemed fairly simple. The first round involved seeding and hulling Scuppernong grapes, North Carolina’s state fruit. Jonathan copied Sieger’s technique of deep-frying, shocking, and peeling the grapes, allowing him to win. Duyen playfully taunted Jonathan by offering to call Brandon, which was a surprisingly cutting remark! However, that was the only round the Blue Team won. The Red Team then took the lead by winning challenges involving peeling and deveining shrimp, cracking pecans (Jonathan impressed with his hand-cracking skills, but should have asked for a check sooner), and shucking corn. Finally, the Red Team, along with Laurence, faced off against each other in a 20-minute cook-off using those same ingredients – a very tight timeframe! Here’s what they created:

  • Rhoda: Warm corn, pecan, and shrimp salad with Scuppernong and tamarind vinaigrette.
  • Laurence: Corn, pecan, and shrimp chow mein with Scuppernong pickles.
  • Duyen: Butter-poached shrimp with pecan romesco and charred corn.
  • Sieger: Ajo blanco (white gazpacho) with shrimp, corn, Scuppernongs, and toasted pecans.

Sieger’s dish once again resembled bland spa food, and unfortunately, it was served warm—ajo blanco is meant to be cold—and overpowered by garlic, masking the flavors of the Carolina ingredients. Laurence also struggled, with his chow mein being too sweet. Rhoda and Duyen received positive feedback for their well-balanced and flavorful dishes, and Rhoda ultimately won, earning her first prize money of the competition, which seemed to boost her confidence. After the quickfire challenge, the show took a dramatic turn, evoking the style of Miami Vice with a fleet of boats speeding towards the dock. As previewed, the chefs will be paired with professional fishermen for a fishing challenge.

The chefs faced a simple challenge: fish in Lake Hartwell – which is full of bass, catfish, crappie, and walleye – and create their best fish dish. They also competed for bonus advantages based on who caught the smallest, largest, and most fish. After an hour of fishing – with Kristen, Gail, and Tom enthusiastically cheering from their boat – Duyen clearly excelled, living up to her competitive nature and playfully teasing Laurence. Anthony, Jonathan, Sieger, and Sherry also had success, but Rhoda and Laurence didn’t catch anything. Duyen won prizes for both the smallest and most fish caught, earning an extra $55 for Whole Foods. Jonathan won for the largest fish, gaining 30 extra minutes to cook. Luckily, Rhoda and Laurence received three spotted bass each, ensuring they had something to work with in the Elimination challenge. I’m curious about who created the fun signs Gail and Kristen used to support the chefs – did Gail make them herself?

The chefs faced a challenge at Abyss after a quick trip to Whole Foods where Sieger playfully asked Sherry what his tagline for Real Housewives of Greenville should be (Sherry’s suggestion, “Dirtier than a dirty martini,” was a hit!). “Mama Dwayne” generously used leftover funds to buy ingredients for Rhoda and Sherry. With only 90 minutes to cook, everyone struggled with the fish – it was full of tiny bones and required a lot of painstaking work. The time pressure, combined with the chefs’ ambitious plans, made things difficult. Laurence aimed to recreate a special Cantonese steamed fish he made for his wife during their student days in China, while Sherry wanted to revisit the green curry that first introduced her to Thai food in the U.S. Jonathan, surprisingly, decided to make a single fried-fish taco! Despite the audacity, it’s hard not to love him. Duyen, overconfident in her abilities, added her fish to her Vietnamese sweet and sour soup too late, resulting in skin that wouldn’t easily separate – a worrying sign. The chefs then presented their dishes to the judges, including actress Danielle Brooks and chef James London, both hailing from South Carolina.

  • Duyen: Canh chua soup with pineapple, tomatoes, and bok choy.
  • Rhoda: Pan-seared bass, fennel puree, artichoke barigoule (artichokes braised in white wine), and meunière sauce with mussels and clams.
  • Sieger: Baked spotted bass with braised lentils, pepper sofrito, dates, and cardamom vinaigrette.
  • Laurence: Cantonese steamed fish with ginger, scallions, fried leeks, rice, and bok choy.
  • Anthony: Spotted bass with poblano egusi sauce (egusi seeds are dried melon seeds, and a West African ingredient used to thicken stews and sauces) and yassa.
  • Sherry: Spotted bass with green curry and papaya salad, daikon, shiitake mushrooms, and cilantro.
  • Jonathan: Beer-battered fish taco with avocado mousse, cabbage slaw, chipotle remoulade, and fresh-made tortilla.

Most of the dishes were well-received. Rhoda’s dish was considered technically flawless and classically French. Laurence’s dish was a standout, even making Danielle dance with delight! Tom highly praised Anthony’s dish as focused and delicious, and Jonathan’s seemingly simple fried-fish taco was a big success – he spent extra time perfecting the frying time, resulting in a confident and flavorful dish. I’d love to order 15 of those tacos, please. Sherry’s curry was well-cooked, but the judges felt it had too much sauce and too many vegetables – a critique I don’t quite understand, given it was a curry! Unfortunately, two dishes didn’t fare as well. Duyen’s fish wasn’t fully cooked, and the skin was still on, despite a flavorful broth. The judges agreed that while the broth was good, the fish itself wasn’t up to par. Sieger’s dish also missed the mark. He cooked his fish under a broiler, and the filets lacked flavor, while the lentils were overpowering. The dish felt unbalanced and needed a sauce to tie everything together.

Sherry is stuck in the middle of the competition and clearly frustrated, having previously expressed confusion about what the judges are looking for. The top performers – Rhoda, Anthony, Jonathan, and Laurence – all received praise, but Laurence ultimately faltered, and his dish was heavily criticized, leading to his second consecutive elimination challenge loss. Duyen and Sieger were then called forward, and Sieger defended his dish after the judges questioned its sweetness – a critique he felt was unfair. When asked about balancing the flavors, Sieger surprisingly claimed he expected the spoon to do the work, which drew gasps and a disapproving reaction from Gail. It was a remarkably cheeky response, and viewers were left wondering how the judges, particularly Tom, truly reacted.

I honestly expected Sieger to be eliminated. His cooking has been just okay lately, and while his fish was cooked, it lacked flavor – Kristen said it was bland. However, Duyen’s mistake was too significant to overlook. Despite the judges praising her flavorful broth, her fish was seriously undercooked, according to Tom. That’s what led to her elimination, and she seemed understandably upset and frustrated when Kristen announced her name. Her repeated agreement as she left showed how she felt, and I sympathized with her. This is the second week in a row where I questioned the judges’ decision – I also think Sieger, with his consistently mediocre dishes and poor server training, should have been sent home instead of Brandon, who only messed up one dessert. Now I’m wondering who will be eliminated next.

Leftovers

I was especially craving the dishes made during the elimination round by Laurence, Sherry, and Jonathan. Seriously, someone needs to send me a mountain of those fried-fish tacos right now!

• Continuing the “Sherry might be over it” theme, in the preview for next week’s episode, it seems like one of Sherry’s dishes is critiqued, and she’s not happy about it. Her “I know it’s fucking good” is pretty declarative.

I didn’t enjoy Duyen’s teasing all the time, but I’ll definitely miss her quick wit. Her reaction when she imagined the chefs receiving machetes – she was genuinely thrilled – was a highlight of the episode.

Okay, so Kristen’s read of Tom during that Quickfire challenge was genius. He was just chilling on the boat, looking totally relaxed while fishing, and she instantly said it looked like ‘Dad’s going fishing.’ It was such a perfect observation – and that’s why she’s so good at this reality TV game. She just gets people and how they present themselves.

As a total cinema and pop culture fan, I have to say seeing Anthony and his sister both obsessed with Dragonball Z feels so perfectly representative of our generation, and I absolutely love it. I also really enjoyed the little moment between Anthony and Jonathan in the kitchen – Anthony reassuring Jonathan about Sherry naming (and then… eliminating!) her fish was sweet. It felt like they were building a nice connection after bonding a bit during last week’s dinner party, and honestly, it was a really cute dynamic.

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2026-05-12 07:56