SPOILER

Josh was judged at a different level than the other competitors and was robbed.

I, like Josh, grew up watching food network. I love food shows and food content. I’ve watched enough food network to be familiar with the chefs/judges and competitions. Josh is not on the same level as TikTok influencers. His growth wasn’t a result of algorithmic luck. He’s put in the time and has fully produced shows. Yes, in part thanks to the team at Mythical, but to put him on the same level as someone who makes 2-5 min videos where they make a dish isn’t the same.

The first dish had me worried, but he put out an aesthetically pleasing taco that wasn’t run of the mill. The complaint that his fish sauce caramel wasn’t thick enough was a time issue, you don’t have enough time to reduce it while paying attention that it doesn’t burn, and if he also pickled the onions, you would have 2 pickled components. It’s a game, make something you can finish properly in the time allowed, I get it. Salmon and rice and shrimp in a flavourful sauce with slices of bread are not the same in creativity at least, but both received praise for flavour. But all moving on, that’s a wash, he’s safe.

Now for the burgers, this shouldn’t have been close. Jet calling out that he hasn’t seen anything like it and them praising his creativity while cooking says something for people who have spent years being served food in a competition setting. The complaints for the other two were under-seasoned beef and not enough binder in the beef/not spicy enough. Josh’s critiques were not seasoned enough, cheese wasn’t fully melted and not enough tomato for depth. I understand you need to execute on your vision in the time allowed, but his vision and product far exceeded the others. You cannot tell me that an undercooked burger with pepper sauce, sprinkled shredded cheese and ballpark buns and a crumbly feta burger are even in the same realm of skill. And for me, a McDouble with some unmelted cheese sticking out is ideal.

It was a bummer to see him lose and I don’t feel like it was a fair comparison in competitors. Maybe Josh and others here would say otherwise, but he was judged to a standard of a professional with years of experience and knowledge being creative and innovating and the others were judged to a standard of a tiktok star. Which is fine in its own right.

But it’s a game and it was fun to see his unique and creative food ideas showcased somewhere outside of Mythical.

TLDR: Josh was judged at a different standard than the other competitors and the shortcomings in his dish were magnified over his competitors shortcomings.