Jessica Mari

I thought the concept of the show was great. It's definitely something new. The genuinity of the contestant's reactions (and without exaggerated drama) reminded me of how things are in the kitchen when I was a chef. Unlike a lot of cooking competition shows nowadays, this wasn't about he drama. It was mainly about diversity if food across the world, technique, execution, skill and hardwork. I believe these are the ingredients that make a really great recipe for a cooking show. However, for the finale, I just thought it would've been better if the judging criteria was a bit more transparent. They obvious had a phenomenal selection of chefs to judge and they are all very competent. But having a judging criteria beforehand like boldness, diversity, creativity, taste, plating etc. removes the bias that all of us human beings tend to have. Yes the winner is a great chef and even if I wasn't here to taste it, the judges are more than capable than I am to judge in taste. But was that the main criteria for the plate? I guess that makes sense, but if that was the case, then maybe that would have been elaborated a bit more to the contestants so they all picked a dish that they KNOW FOR SURE they can execute well. Just feels like it was a shame for the chefs who were pushed the boundaries and weren't rewarded for it.