[If you don't know what I'm rambling about, please skip this entry. Thank you.]
Okay, so I didn't watch the first half hour of AFC's Next Celebrity Chef two hour finale (as Masterchef Malaysia was also trimming their own fat on Astro RIA), but I did saw the rest of it.
Last 30 minutes of Hour 1 - the final four cheftestants are supposed to cater to the very different dining needs of different groups of people scattered around the hotel: Dino got a mother and daughter pair, Diane got an old married couple, Stanley got a young dating couple and Shinith got a three top in a business meal. They were supposedly making "dinner" but it was so bright outside, I found it hard to believe. Long story short, Shinith and Stanley got the boot, leaving Diane and Dino to compete in the finale.
To be fair, I didn't really see Shinith and Stanley making it to the end, based on their screen test challenge in the previous episode - Shinith was a little ridiculous (to put it mildly), and Stanley was droning on, even though his technical skills are above par. My mother thought Stanley would win based on his skill, but it's a celebrity chef search, not a chef chef search - you need to be a bit personable on screen, and the dude didn't really have it.
Hour 2 was the final showdown between Dino and Diane, who were summoned to the kitchens of the E&O Hotel in Penang. They were told to make their signature dish. Dino makes a salmon dish with white chocolate and wasabi sauce, which looked more complicated than how I'm describing it (trust me). Diane does her own version of that classic dish, Beef Wellington. Instead of the usual judges (Saxon and Chef Bruce) tucking into the food, they're brought out of the kitchen, leaving the finalists confused. We then see 10 other chefs (with their very tall and impressive white chef hats and decorated chef jackets), who are actually Penang's big wig chefs for a blind taste test. They tasted both dishes (how do you split four dishes between 10 people?) and after giving their opinions on both dishes, proceeded to guess whether a lady or a man cooked which dish. They were eerily accurate; if bets were made, some money would be made.
Post feedback, the finalists go back to the kitchens to see that it's getting ready for a big event. They then get the bombshell from the judges (which includes the Chef in Black, who's back) that they will be making food for 300 people in a charity gala dinner for the Performing Arts Centre of Penang, where their signature dish would be the main course of the meal. I'm sure Dino might've wished he came up with something simpler had they known they were going to cater to 300 people right after that.
The drama before and during the service was nothing compared to how the winner was announced - they both got into different cars, heading off to different locations (I'm pretty sure this is done on at least one other show, but it eludes me now). Diane was dropped off at Straits Quay only to meet the Chef in Black (whom I thought should at least have someone else with him as a red herring) while Dino got dropped off at the bungalow where they did a previous challenge (methinks) to meet Saxon and Chef Bruce. At this point the home viewers are in the dark about the outcome and so are they, but one would already have that sinking feeling... Cutting back and forth between the two scenes and perhaps a split screen was necessary at this point, the judges started their "Your dream of becoming..." speech and the unnecessary dramatic pause just about killed me. I was screaming, "JUST SAY IT, ALREADY!" at the TV screen.
Dino is declared the winner of the E&O Search for AFC's Next Celebrity Chef, which I was fine with - he looked like he'll fit in nicely. Whether I'll actually watch whatever show he's in down the road is another story.
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