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The next morning, while Amar, Marjorie, and Isaac head back to the Garden Arena at the MGM Grand, Jeremy preps to hang out by the pool. The working chefs will have two hours and a fully stocked pantry to create a dish that they'll serve tableside.

Getting straight to business, Marjorie begins prepping her take on a duck l'orange. It's inspired by a trip she took to France, and her “trick” will be to show how she can take an ordinary-looking plate of food and make it extraordinary. Part of her magic will come through the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze her orange sauce. Trying it out, she immediately burns her tongue on the liquid nitrogen. She can't taste anything. This is a recipe for disaster.

Isaac is gambling on a take on chicken fried steak, putting chicken skin on a steak to make it extra crispy.

As for Amar, he's playing down the pomp and show, and focusing instead on his culinary techniques. He's doing a fried potato in the form of an onion ring, using what looks like a sweet whipped meringue but incorporating savory flavors, etc. etc. Those ingredients, he believes, will incorporate an element of surprise.

It's showtime and Marjorie is up first. She brings out her dish to the judges and puts it down on their table, insisting that the judges don't touch them yet. Then, all of a sudden, Marjorie grabs the plates back and takes them up to the cooking station on the stage, saying that she's going to show how, with a little smoke and mirrors, you can take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.

She puts some orange segments in a bowl and pours over liquid nitrogen. “I've never used liquid nitrogen before and I'm a bit nervous,” she admits. “I'm nervous, too,” comments Padma. In a mixture of nerves and anxiety, Marjorie has made another misstep - she's put too many oranges in the bowl and now they're fused together. She frantically starts trying to pull apart (and then smash apart) the pieces of orange.

“Are you burning your hand?” asks guest judge Julian Serrano.

“Yes,” Marjorie admits, “but just a little.”

Marjorie serves her dish to the judges once more, plated on a mirror. The judges appreciate it but don't appear blown away. Gail finds it beautifully presented and compliments her on how well she interacted with the judges despite having to prep her dish at the same time. Julian finds the endive “wonderful.” And though Tom enjoyed the dish, he wanted more orange flavor.

Isaac comes out with his play on chicken fried steak with a yuzu hollandaise. He distracts the judges with a magic trick just long enough to set up the hollandaise in an upside down shot glass. Julian finds the dish “fantastic,” and Padma finds his use of the skin to be great. Tom and Gail, however, aren't thrilled with the texture of the purée, which is “grainy.”

Amar is last and makes no attempt at putting on a show. He cooks in near silence as the judges wait. Finally, he offers up a squab with a white chocolate ganache, whipped balsamic, a frozen mole sauce, and a potato “onion” ring. What he lacked in performance, he's made up for in cleverness on the plate. Tom finds the flavors “interesting,” with “a lot going on, but they all make sense.” Gail finds that there's tons to explore on the dish, and that despite the use of multiple techniques, they were employed in support of flavor.

At Judges Table, the judges all express gratitude at how well the dinner came out - there was not a clunker amongst them. Marjorie had a great story and a terrific dish, even though it lacked a bit in orange flavor. Amar had little to no showmanship, but the dish itself was peppered with surprising elements. Isaac brought a different set of flavors to this dish than he had earlier in the competition-a risk that paid off.

This all leaves the judges with a tough decision. As a whole, the judges agree that Marjorie did the best in terms of performance, staying engaged with the judges and telling a story while finishing off her dish. In terms of food, though, Amar was tops, with a dish that was equal parts interesting, surprising, and impressive in terms of technique.

Calling the chefs back, Tom notes that each of them is incredibly talented in their own right. They each had to dig deep, and they each delivered. That said, one dish stood out amongst the rest...

...and it's AMAR who'll be joining Jeremy in the finale. While his onstage silence was anything but golden, food speaks louder than words (or his lack thereof). Marjorie and Isaac each thank the judges for the opportunity to be on the show. Marjorie is appreciative for how much more confidence she's become as a result of the show, and Isaac is thankful for having learned how to take risks and try new things, win or lose.

But it's Amar who'll get to put his experiences and lessons to the test when he faces off against Jeremy, who's been on a tear. Stay tuned.

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