"It's carnage, it's panic!": at "Top Chef" 2025, the competition finally comes to life

Better late than never... It took until the 6th episode for the candidates of this 16th season to cook as a team. Not too soon! A little late, even, Philippine, the last survivor of Hélène Darroze 's Reds, is alone at her worktop. What a shame! As if this part of the show where we get to know them as a group had been sacrificed on the altar of the Michelin partner, its inspectors taking up a lot of space until now...

So here's the " Top Chef " we love again, with candidates working together, complementary or conflicting, brigade leaders who guide and reframe. A sixth evening that's also fun, with the "Who can beat?" challenge entrusted to Yoann Conte , a good customer for the exercise that we see coming, knife on his belt like a musketeer.

It's up to them to sublimate a food that children hate. Children who must first be convinced if they hope to be tasted by Gilles Goujon, Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) and three stars. Without the kids' approval, no Gilles Goujon. Which is what happens to Esteban and Charlie. For them, it will be pork liver. They imagine it as a mousse lollipop with black garlic, redcurrant, and buckwheat. Unconvinced, Paul Pairet warns them. They mess up...

Their leader finally gets angry. "It's carnage, it's panic (...) You say OK to get rid of me, for the moment you're in deep shit!" In fact, the children block their dish. They let the others go through, even if one spits out Quentin and Grégoire's Roquefort and pear millefeuille in disgust. But their croquette with Mornay sauce is to die for, it goes down well.

"Don't overdo it, if you mess up, I'll quit Top Chef!" Etchebest says to Charles and Claudio, who add a granita and a lollipop to their oyster, carrot and samphire tempura. This disappoints the children who were expecting dessert. "I thought it was going to be really good, but we got a bit of a rip-off," whistles a little girl.

Philippine has picked the Brussels sprouts, which she combines with a parsnip and Comté cream, bacon, and leaf chips. A little bitter, but a nice balance for the Michelin-starred chef... "Wait," "Not necessarily." Each time Margaux suggests improving the presentation of their croquette, Sean cuts it short. "I find it messy, sloppy, not even bistro-style," she worries. And wants to add herbs. "No, it pisses me off!" Sean says. Ouch.

"A rather crude presentation," observed Goujon, nodding his head at the French team's proposal. "The lollipop is questionable," he thought. "Sometimes too much is the enemy of good, the main dish is absolutely incredible." And Yoann Conte? He nabbed the snails, which he imagines as a carbonara in a spaghetti timbale, a MOF technique.

Twins are tasting. "It's very good," says the first, the second pulls a face of disgust... It goes down well nonetheless. "What a job!" greets Goujon in turn. "Oh damn, it's good!" While he finds the stuffing a little thick and the spaghetti a little undercooked, he blindly places the 2-star in first place. Just behind, Charles and Claudio can blame themselves. Without their lollipop, they would have won. Etchebest had warned them...

No one could beat Conte, and everyone heads to the second round in tribute to Michel Guérard, who passed away last summer. In memory of the 3-star chef who served as a champion of lean cuisine for 48 years, they will have to do without butter, oil, or cream. To decide between them, four chefs each have eleven stars, all formerly with Michel Guérard: Gérald Passédat, Christopher Coutanceau, Arnaud Lallement, and Sébastien Bras.

Many opt for salmon and its natural fat. Claudio and Charles cook it in its skin and present it with a butternut squash and Buddha's hand rosette. Philippine imagines a salmon aioli with a kind of mayonnaise made from vegetable broth jelly. It will be butternut squash poached with seaweed and mussels for Charlie and Esteban. "The goal is for Paul Pairet to give us a hug..." After the spanking, they want to make it up to each other.

Margaux has the brilliant idea of ​​a butter made with hazelnuts, cashews, and fennel seeds. However, the first test has left its mark; Sean and she aren't talking to each other. "It's inedible, go try it!" Le Quellec tells her. "You need to pull yourself together, guys! By working so hard on your own, you'll fail the test." Boldly, Quentin and Grégoire melt their salmon into the sauce served in a hollowed-out celery stalk. But it's raw. It's a problem.

"What do we do with that afterward?" Lallement asks immediately. "We throw it away afterward when we could have worked on it, we can't afford that anymore," Coutanceau insists. The Violets pass without a hitch, and the Oranges bluff the star-studded jury and win the competition. "Monsieur Guérard would be very proud; it's a dish he would have loved," Coutanceau sighs. ... Next come the Blues, and Philippine.

In the elimination round, with duck breast, Quentin shines with his radical raw cooking, tied with Charlie, who smokes his duck breast in a rosette on the barbecue. "I'm sous chef at a three-star restaurant, I haven't shown anything yet on Top Chef," grumbles Grégoire while preparing his duck breast and red fruit combination. Conventional. With its full-bodied porcini mushroom broth, Esteban takes his duck into the woods. Blindfolded, the chefs follow him. Grégoire doesn't qualify.