In the black jacket we have Stefan Richter giving us that classic Stefan charm. The only thing that matches his cockiness is his amazing skill in the kitchen.
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Chris 'CJ' Jacboson, or "The Big Ceej" and he is known, recently opened his first restaurant, Girasol, to rave reivews -- it's gonna be a tall order to take him down!
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It's Stefan's retirement, so there's a lot on the line for this battle! Will this be a fond farewell, or will he be packing his bags with one more defeat?
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CJ won the knife draw and decided Stefan would go first -- will his strategy pay off?
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Stefan decides to use his mother for inspiration for this challenge -- creating a smoking dish. In only 30 minutes? No one said 'Duels' would be easy!
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Curtis points out that you don't necessarily have to smoke the dish -- just highlight smoke. Good call Curtis! No wonder you're a judge!
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Stefan dedicates this dish to his mom, who was a chef for 40 years, and apparently ate chefs like CJ for breakfast.
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CJ wasn't exactly sure what he was cooking, but landed on pike-perch hoping to start off with basic deliciousness and infuse the smokiness into the dish.
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Stefan feels like he has this challenge in the bag -- he should, it is his challenge after all!
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Getting smokey flavor in a short time can be difficult, but Stefan has some tricks up his chef's coat. . .
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After the judges taste this smokey challenge, it's CJ's creativity that beats out Stefan's classic dish. But this is only round one!
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CJ's challenge is all about butts -- but Stefan swears he's not an ass, just confident! Just look at that pose, oozing confidence! But unfortunately, tenacity wasn't enough, and CJ took the win.
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Shailene Woodley stopped by for the final foraging challenge and shared her love of nature with our contestants -- who knew that in addition to making movies, this stylish lady loved wandering the wilderness for herbs?
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This might be CJ's dream challenge, but that means it has a lot more to lose. When you don't win at your own specialty, it's kinda a bummer. . .
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Stefan is ready to get back to the basics and Shailene agrees -- you really understand the simplicity of cooking when you forage.
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Next Shailene and Curtis stop by to see what the Big Ceej is cooking up -- will there be a fault in his dish?
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Joining our judges for dinner is Los Angeles food editor Lesley Suter -- a perfect person to judge these two California chefs!
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The first course of this final challenge seemed to go to Stefan -- between judges saying it felt like a hug and Lesley feeling seduced by the Finnish chef, it seemed he definitely had risen to the top.
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In the end, The Big Ceej pulled out a big win, sweeping the entire Duel. Mazel CJ and see you at the finale!
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But after two more courses, the judges had a tough decision on their hands. Gail thinks it's the closest match-up in Top Chef history!
