"Next Level Chef" - Season 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Three

Fifteen cooks of varying experiences were brought into the competition in the first episode and though all would be individually judged, they needed to determine who would be their mentor on the three levels of the Next Level Kitchen. Making one dish each from food delivered to them on a lowering platform, they were subsequently draft selected by one of the three judges with Reuel, Tricia, Roice, Devonnie, and Kenny going on Team Gordon Ramsay, Zach, Pyet, Angie, Amber, and Sergio joining Team Nyesha Arrington, and Mariah, Jonathan, Gary, Ae, and Courtney teaming up on Team Richard Blais. Going forward, they would be taking to each floor of the kitchen as their respective groups.

Answer: Chili

Heading into the first formal round of the competition, the chefs were told that they would be sent to a level of the kitchen to make their dishes, and the best dish across all fifteen would keep that person's entire team safe from elimination. Instead, the two worst dishes (one from each team, decided by their coach) would go head-to-head in one last cook-off to determine who would go home.

For the first round, the chefs cooked steaks that came down on the platform with a variety of sides. Midway through the cook, the platform lowered once again and all the chefs had to infuse their meals with heat in the form of spice or chilis. Reuel, on Gordon's team, won with his ribcap while Nyesha sent Amber and Richard sent Gary to the cook-off.

Gary, whose flatiron fell off the platform during the first round, was sent home when the pair were asked to make a wine-inspired dish; his pork tenderloin and white wine lost to Amber's chicken.

Answer: Noodles

The second round of the show was partly themed around Italian food as the chefs were sent to new levels of the Next Level Kitchen, and midway through this round, they had to incorporate mushrooms into their respective plates. This time around, Jonathan won with his spaghetti and clam dish, saving Richard Blais' team from getting involved in the head-to-head, and as such Gordon sent Roice to the cookoff due to his failed attempt at a pesto while Nyesha sent Zach because of his uncooked flatbread.

In the head-to-head, Roice and Zach had to cook noodles in distinctly non-Italian ways, providing a dish with that staple ingredient. Both went Asian, but while Zach made a pork stir-fry with noodles, Roice's Thai-inspired shrimp and chilis with wide rice noodles got him sent home.

Answer: Poultry

Sending Team Ramsay to the basement, Blais's team to the middle floor, and Nyesha's to the top level, this round of the competition presented the thirteen remaining chefs with poultry of all sorts, leading all of them to later incorporate greens of their choosing midway through the cook and giving Tricia a win for her pigeon dish.

Heading to the head-to-head to make a paired chicken and truffle dish, Sergio and Courtney went to battle for Nyesha and Richard's respective teams. Courtney was saved for her plate while Sergio, who put his potatoes through a blender to the judges' distaste, went home, leaving an even amount of four chefs on each team.

Answer: Las Vegas

Though they didn't cook in this kitchen, the twelve remaining chefs were treated to a session watching their mentors cook their own burgers at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas restaurant. This trip was meant to act as inspiration as they would return to the Next Level Kitchen to make burgers of their own (and, during the mid-round drop, a potato side). The winner of this burger round was Pyet, who infused her waygu shortrib burger with a lauded barbecue sauce.

While Nyesha's team stayed safe, Gordon sent Devonnie, whose raw burger couldn't be tasted, to face off against Jonathan (elected by Richard) in the head-to-head making an ahi tuna burger with slaw and onion rings. Unfortunately, Devonnie's dish didn't receive any votes to allow her to stay in the competition.

Answer: Mariah

The theme for round five was none other than brunch as the chefs took to their respective levels of the kitchen and created dishes that shared savoury and sweet elements (and, mid-round, some citrus/acid elements as well). In what may seem to be an inevitability, one chef (Mariah), didn't complete her dish in time, missing the platform at the end of the round.

She was automatically placed into the bottom two alongside Amber from Nyesha's team. Fortunately, in the coffee-infused head-to-head, Mariah made a better steak than her competitor and sent Amber home.

Answer: Seaweed

In round six, the remaining chefs were told that while they would still cook in teams, team immunity would no longer be in play; any of the chefs could be put into the bottom for their poor dishes. And in this round, the bottom three would head to the head-to-head(-to-head) with only one coming back.

It was with that that they headed into a seafood challenge that featured both seaweed and caviar on the mid-round drop. Courtney, from Team Richard, won with her curry and fried catfish (using crispy fried seaweed) while Zach, Jonathan, and Ae went into the final round to cook shrimp dishes. It was Ae's Lao shrimp salad that kept her in the running while the other two went home.

Answer: Top floor

Round seven saw everyone removing their aprons as the coaches announced that the team competition was over. Instead, they would all be participating in the individual stage of the competition. With the top level kitchen closed, the remaining chefs would be able to cook their way to the top; those with the top track records cooked in the middle and those with the weakest went to the bottom floor. And with that, all of them cooked a pork dish in forty minutes, building on the dish with a mid-round drop of stone fruit.

The head-to-head(-to-head) this episode was between Kenny, Pyet, and Ae, who each had thirty minutes to create bacon dishes. It was on this round that Ae was sent home on a poor drunken noodle dish.

Answer: Raw chicken

The eighth round featured a platform that lowered through the kitchen with fourteen baskets, each with regional ingredients. The seven remaining chefs needed to claim two baskets-- one at a time-- to create fusion dishes with what they could (incorporating fresh herbs midway through).

Kenny, Reuel, and Tricia were placed into the bottom for their confused fusion dishes (Chinese and Moroccan, Japanese and Spanish, and French and Greek). Interestingly, all three came from a different kitchen in this episode, but all three were originally on Gordon's team. The head-to-head(-to-head) involved Korean/American Southern fusion, and while all three cooks had strong plates, Tricia's chicken was plated uncooked and she was sent home without debate.

Answer: Three

After the semifinals, only three of the six remaining chefs would remain. For this penultimate episode they needed to make a dish-- any dish-- that would constitute a performance on a plate and showcase the skills they've learned and honed in the Next Level Kitchen. Pyet's butter-poached lobster and Mariah's smoked, spiced lamb sent them immediately into the finale while the four remaining cooks had a final head-to-head using gold leaf as an accent. With this, Reuel was made the final competitor to head into the last cook.

It meant that one chef from each coach would compete for the grand prize.

Answer: Pyet

For the final episode, the top three chefs were tasked with making a Next Level Meal starting in the basement for an appetizer, continuing with a fish course in the middle kitchen, and ending with an entree with meat as the star in the top kitchen. They would have ninety minutes across all three dishes, but the chefs would be in charge of their cook time. The more time they used on the earlier levels, the less they would have on the upper levels.

Pyet ended up winning the season with a consistent three courses that impressed the judges and took it to the next level. For her victory, she ended up claiming $250,000 USD and a year-long mentorship with all three of the judges.