Top Chef Texas Episode 15: The Finale Part 1

Buh-bye, Bev; Image via Bravo

By Kelly Dobkin

It's almost over folks! The final four cheftestants arrived at a decidedly colder locale - Whistler, BC - for the first part of the finale proceedings. Natch, the first challenge required the chefs to pick up items on the ski slope and then prepare them inside ski gondolas as they ascend up the mountain. Yup - crazytown. The resulting dishes were all liked by the judges - Lindsay took first even though she "felt like a wreck" while plating her salmon dish. Winning the quickfire secured her $10G's and a spot in the finale.

The next challenge (there were three on this episode) forced the chefs to prepare food that was encased in blocks of ice. They had one hour to dig out their grub with an ice pick, thaw it and prepare it for the judges as well as guest judge Canadian Gold medalist, Jon Montgomery. Some of the food still tastes a bit frozen (obvs) and the judges decide that Paul's dish is the tastiest and most thawed out. Paul secures his spot in the finale and it's down to Bev and Sarah.

Sarah's obvious dislike of Bev plus the requirements of the challenge itself made it one of the most comical moments of the season. The two chefs had to compete in a culinary biathalon which involved first cross-country skiing, then shooting at targets for their dish ingredients. Sarah, never one to hold back on her feeling about Bev immediately noted: "If Bev moves forward, instead of me I will never forgive myself." Ouch. Watching Bev and Sarah try to ski was pretty hilarious, as both of them clearly had no idea what they were doing and took a few dozen nasty spills before making it to the end. Bev gets into the kitchen first and gets working on a smoked Char dish while Sarah prepares rabbit a few different ways. At judges' table, Tom loves Bev's celery root sauce but notes that the fish itself is overcooked (a mistake she has made before). The judges like what Sarah does with rabbit but find it a too chewy. In the end, Sarah is declared the winner and Bev gets sent home. Womp womp. Stay tuned for coverage of the big finale next week.