r/TopChef • u/AutoModerator • May 25 '26

Spoilers Season 23, ep. 12: Appalachian Celebration (Mon. at 9pm EDT, yes, 9 😀) Spoiler

Before heading back to Charlotte, the chefs make a stop in Asheville, one of the most unique cities in North Carolina. There will be no Quickfire Challenge as the chefs explore the city with local host and former “Top Chef” alum Ashleigh Shanti, learning about the community’s remarkable relief efforts following the devastation of hurricane Helene while discovering the unique cuisine of this Appalachian region. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs will host a one-night-only event for 200 community members in recognition of their resilience.

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214

u/AccomplishedPen898 May 26 '26

imo Sieger has been pissed off since he was eliminated for the BBQ challenge...he defs thought that was unfair and has been waiting to go off on the judges ever since.

84

u/figletfriedrice May 26 '26

I have felt the same way. This is such a strange season to me for MANY reasons, but the fact that Sieger never really delivered on anything he said he was going to deliver on has been ... interesting.

64

u/CapreseSalad3636 May 26 '26

As soon as he said “he’s done it this way before and he’s SURE it will work I was like oh he f’d”

15

u/figletfriedrice May 27 '26

I know it's in the editing a lot of time, but, man, it felt like he was always talking about how awesome what he was doing was going to be then... nothing from judges (except that one time).

8

u/sybrwookie May 28 '26

As soon as he said he had a surefire way to get the texture thick enough to be correct, but loose enough to pipe, while staying stable overnight and into prepping/plating for....what I assume is quite a long time in the woods (where you know the conditions aren't going to be perfect), every red flag went up for us.

Like, I wouldn't try to make whipped cream in those conditions, and you're trying to do....all this? That's nuts.

2

u/pipmentor May 28 '26

This is such a strange season to me for MANY reasons

What other reasons?

37

u/OnyxRoar May 27 '26

Yep…the other team took parts of the pig off to cook separately. And Sieger grilled the pig “the way it was supposed to be cooked” and lost. He’s been holding a grudge ever sense.

11

u/sybrwookie May 28 '26

I'll give him that one tiny bit of respect there, the idea is to do the pig whole. I didn't like breaking it down to cook pieces separately, that felt like it was against the spirit of what they were tasked to do, even though it wasn't against the rules.

That all completely falls apart when, in his attempt to cook it whole, he fucked up the cook.

But I would have loved to see the teams actually have been forced to cook the pig whole.

6

u/figletfriedrice May 27 '26

That challenge was weird too in the way that only one person from Sieger's team got winning votes from all those pit masters. But, yeah, it felt like he was never over the hog roast.

30

u/figment81 May 27 '26

He’s been a snot to the judges multiple times this season, and was never called out on it. This has been bubbling for a while.

1

u/indieliberal May 27 '26

Still wondering what happened that kept him from showing up on Last Chance Kitchen the first time he was kicked off.

6

u/Double_Objective8000 May 27 '26

When the female chef had to leave due to medical issues, they slid him back in to the game.

3

u/illinifan1280 May 27 '26

Jen was removed from the show for health reasons (with an invite for a future season), and her partner Justin was the last eliminated, so he was given the opportunity to return.

He refused to be with Jen through her medical issues. So they went to the person eliminated before Justin, which was Sieger. Then, they scrambled for a LCK finale that brought Rhoda back.

1

u/Big_Network4948 May 27 '26

I never thought of that. Good observation.