Episode Report Card Mr. Sobell: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Go Fish
By Mr. Sobell | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 08.25.2010
But there can be only winner in Challenge Cupcake -- who will it be? I will not make you wait through a commercial break to tell you that it is Sharone -- an impressive victory, given that this is allegedly the first cupcake he's ever baked. We cut to Slim saying that she respects Sharone's cooking skills: "But as a person, I don't like the dude." If you're the type of person who keeps track of these things, this is the second Mystery Box challenge in a row where Slim has sniffed and pooh-poohed the eventual winner. But she's not the only one -- Jake mutters that Sharone is a bit of a "kiss-ass" who thinks that sort of thing will get him far in the competition, "but I think he's sadly mistaken." Sounds like the secret ingredient in this competition is sour grapes, if you ask me. You didn't ask me? Well.
Sharone is ushered off to the pantry with the judges "where a surprise is about to be revealed," the narrator promises us. Oh God, the three judges aren't wearing pants! No, wait -- that's not it. Instead, it's three covered plates featuring three dishes. And the chef -- "one of the best chefs in America today," Gordon says in his typically understated way -- who made those dishes is here today to tell Sharone all about them. And that chef is... Cat Cora. of Iron Chef America fame. Sharone is excited: "I've been watching her cook since I was a young teenager." He has her rookie card and everything. Anyhow, to the dishes -- the first is a truffle halibut with a sweet corn sabayon and a fava bean salsa. Dish No. 2 is a Basque beef tenderloin, complete with its own Spanish rub and a spicy chimichurri sauce; there is also couscous. Finally, there's lamb -- a marinated lamb chop to be precisely, with a feta salsa verde and some fried squash blossoms. Sharone's mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to pick the dish that everybody else will be cooking. Who's the kiss-ass now, Jake?
Anyhow, Sharone's choice -- which sounds much more delicious than Sophie's choice -- is the halibut. Why? Just for the halibut. Jake seems confident now that it's seafood on the table. He had better be, because Gordon reminds everyone that the contestant who fails to cook a pleasing version of the halibut dish will be booted off the show. Anyhow, Cat Cora is ushered out to the hoots and hollers and general fawning of the contestants to tell them all how it's done. But first, there's another bit of business -- everyone else will be cooking to avoid elimination, but Sharone will be cooking against Cat Cora. If his version tastes better than her dish, he gets that spot in the final four that nice narrator lady told us about earlier. "My question to you," Gordon asks, "is can you beat Cat Cora?" It looks like Sharone will have an entire commercial break to think about that.