01x13 - The Showdown

[bunniefuu]

(upbeat music)

(bright upbeat music)

- [Lady] Welcome to Sparklers,

part cooking competition and travel show,

featuring some of the

world's best sparkling wines.

Each week, the contestants

have specific ingredients

they must pair with a sparkling wine.

With each challenge,

three points are on the

table for the winners.

- [Man] At stake,

is an all expense trip

paid to Limoux, France,

the birthplace of sparkling wine,

to visit Faire La Fete

sparkling wine house.

- The dish that I chose for

the head-to-head challenge

to decide who wins this whole thing is,

dish number two.

- Wow.

I was nervous.

(wine glasses clinking)

That's seem nice.

- She got her way from the

bottom all the way to the top.

- I really thought I was

gonna be traveling tomorrow.

- Nope, you get to cook. Not so tough.

- Oh my goodness.

- Well, I think you two

need to get out of here now

so we can decide how to make it harder.

- Oh, okay.

- Oh, sh*t (laughing).

- Oh, now we're screwed.

- Get out of here.

- Get out of here-

- Winners.

(bright upbeat music)

- [Matthew] So in all the scenarios

that could have come through on the show,

a sudden death, winner take all scenario,

never came to our mind.

- [George] Meg is definitely

a strong contestant,

as is Claire.

It'd be interesting

to see them pinned up against each other.

- I was out of practice

when it comes to cooking.

So I came into it really

feeling like the underdog.

I don't love competing against

people that I really like.

Like when I was in the NFL,

it was really easy to compete

against teams we don't like.

- [Claire] Now I know who I'm up against,

and it's Meghan (chuckling).

She did a k*ller dish.

So she's someone to be

worried about legitimately

because she just came

from last place to first,

very rapidly.

- You know, I've been

underestimated before.

And I think, again, it

goes back to being nice.

I used to kick people's asses

when I negotiated contracts

'cause they thought I was a secretary,

and I was like, "Oh honey,

you're dealing with me."

(Meghan laughing)

I mean, Claire has a lot of

experience in restaurants,

so it'll be really interesting.

She sees a lot coming out of the kitchen.

She has a lot of references

in the culinary world.

Just goes to show you

that you shouldn't underestimate anyone.

- Throughout the entirety of season one.

I did not win a single

"Perfect bite challenge."

I have not been a judge yet.

George is in the same position as I am.

Where we go from competitor now to judge.

It's not an easy flip

of a switch, you know.

It's something that you

really have to be mindful of

so many components.

One person goes to France,

and other person does not.

- [Meghan] I try to go

on feeling visual appeal.

I like to think outside of the box,

I like to be creative.

So I don't think I don't

have a chance to win,

but you know, Claire's a

strong competitor as well.

It's gonna be interesting.

- [Claire] I know that we

couldn't trash talk each other

a good amount, and we'll still

have a lot of fun with it.

And at the end of the day,

whoever wins, I'll be happy for her,

especially if it's me (chuckling).

(bright upbeat music)

- How do you tie it all together?

How do you be fair to the people cooking,

and Faire La Fete was chosen because

sparkling wine originates in Limoux.

So it only makes sense to end the episode,

and end our series with their wine.

And ultimately the person

who wins going to the winery,

all expenses paid to France.

(bright upbeat music)

- [Meghan] The most

brutal is we have no idea

what the ingredients are.

I love to contemplate,

and think about things for a long time.

It's going to be a complete surprise.

So I'm gonna be going off the cuff.

It's gonna be crazy.

- [George] I think collectively,

it just made most sense to be

able to use the ingredients

that were in season right now.

So being able to use things

that are like peaches, cherries.

- [Maryam] When we're all

kind of like brainstorming,

what is it that we think that

could work for Faire La Fete,

I remember picturing a sweet green

and what better than fennel?

Not only to like compliment the wine,

but to treat people up.

Fennel is not something

that you use every day,

you're gonna have to use some technique.

You're gonna have to take some

risks and get comfortable.

- [George] think stone

fruit would be kind of easy.

And I don't think you can

mess that up too too much.

But I think fennel

can definitely throw you off a little bit,

just because of that really

like strong, pungent,

licorice type anise flavor.

I expect that they use it very sparingly

so that it doesn't overpower the wine

because it can very

easily overtake the dish.

- [Maryam] As judges we had

the luxury of choosing what

two ingredients we were gonna

make them play with tomorrow.

But we also won't know

who's dish we're judging

at the time of judgment.

So there's no possible chance

that one of us can lean towards someone

who we think should win.

We only have the option of

what's right in front of us.

And this dish is amazing,

and the wine sings.

And that at the end of the day,

what this whole season has been about.

(bright instrumental music)

- Sup

(both chuckling).

- Oh, this is so nuts.

- Not as friendly this time around, is it?

- Not so much, not so much.

- Now I'm just ready to do it, you know.

- This is-

- Crazy.

It's us two at the end

though. Pretty neat.

- I was not expecting to be

on this side of the table

at the end.

(Claire laughing)

If I'm being honest.

- Not mad at it.

- Not mad at it.

- Just shows you how

crazy this competition is,

and how much room there is

to just grow and improve

and how we all push each other so much.

So-

- Yeah.

- It's pretty cool.

What are you gonna do?

- I was just gonna ask you the same thing.

(Claire laughing)

I am planning on doing a hamachi crudo.

- Oh, fun.

- I haven't completely decided

all of the flavors yet,

which is why I brought so many options.

- Yeah.

- So I'm gonna taste as I go

and see how it comes together.

- [Claire] Yeah, of course it makes sense.

- [Meghan] How about you?

- So I'm gonna do a

sesame crusted ahi filet.

So I love that we're both doing fish.

And that's gonna be on a fennel puree

with a peach mango salsa on top.

- [Meghan] Wow.

- So-

- Awesome.

- Yeah. I'm putting my hair back.

If we have to throw bows,

we're throwing bows.

- We have to.

Throwing bows, you better take

your hoops out (chuckling).

- Leaving them in.

- All right.

I fight dirty. I fight dirty.

(Meghan chuckling)

- Nice to have Faire La Fete again.

It's sparkling wine, yes.

That was one of my worst

challenges actually

for the small bite, the snail eggs.

- The snail, you had to do a cassoulet

- Cassoulet, yes that's right.

Did you judge that one?

- I did judge that one.

Cause I won the snail eggs.

- Could you use only one of Faire La Fete?

- I have. I won the

Faire La Fete challenge,

and I plan to do the same again.

- Oh, do you?

- Oh, huh, hmm.

- Very nice time to win.

- What do you think I'm here for girl?

(Meghan chuckling)

I'm here to take lives.

(glasses clinking)

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- But not good luck.

- I don't need luck.

- Oh really?

You're just gonna take

all the room. Are you?

- Move your fennel, girl.

I'm not here to hold your

hand, I'm here to win.

- Oh, don't touch my hand.

- You wanna hold hands while we do this?

It's like a one handed challenge.

- Skip, we can hold our hands afterwards.

I don't need anything right now.

- Yeah afterwards we'll hold hands,

right now we are not friends.

Don't look at me. Don't talk to me.

- Sorry, I'm getting into the zone.

- Get into the zone.

I'm just here to talk and distract you.

- I'm really good at ignoring people.

- Well, you have to be

really good at that today.

But how did you feel though

when we found out the ingredients?

- No talking.

- Seriously, none at all?

(Meghan chuckling)

Damn, okay.

- I'm kind of serious.

- Yeah, fennel and stone fruit.

- Interesting.

- Right.

- [Meghan] How did you feel?

- [Claire] Oh not too bad about it.

I like all these ingredients.

I think they play well together.

You have to come visit me in Napa.

- Oh, I would love that

See what I mean this is,

Like oh my god, lets hang out.

That is the nice thing.

Like oh, you know, it's happiness inside,

but like we did make some-

- Really great friends.

- Some good friends up here.

I know.

- Aww.

- Ooh. So cute.

- So cute.

Not that you can't like kick

your friend's asses, you know?

- Absolutely.

- It's healthy.

- I'm gonna feel really, really bad

when I'm getting on that plane to France.

- I know. Shut up.

You know, my pan has been

ridiculously hot this whole time

and now it's just being all hot here.

- I'm sure it's a little

challenging to control out here.

- And this is, yeah, this is really hard.

- My hair is also challenging to control.

(Claire chuckling)

My face.

- [Claire] Girl I need you to boil.

What's your strategy with these three?

- [Meghan] I don't really have a strategy

'cause honestly there's three judges.

And so it's just like-

- Just make something delicious

that you would eat yourself.

- Yeah, so I'm just trying

to make the best dish

I possibly can.

- Yeah. I agree.

- Do you have a strategy?

- I'm very similar.

- Yeah.

- It's just like keep your head down

and do what you think works

and what you would want to enjoy.

- Yep.

(bright instrumental music)

- Shh, it's hot out here.

- Sorry, can you not speak to me please.

(Meghan chuckling)

Don't think the contestants are allowed

to speak to each other.

- Touche. Touche.

- You know what?

- It's probably a good thing

we don't live in the same city.

- Because we'd have too much fun?

- Yeah.

- We'd destroy it?

- Yeah, exactly.

(bright instrumental music)

Hopefully I don't start a-

- Grease fire?

- Oil fire, yep.

- And then all of Sonoma burns down?

- Oh my God.

- Knock on wood

- I'm just gonna watch this (chuckling).

- Yeah please do

- I'm gonna go immersion

blending. Is that okay?

- Yep.

(Claire chuckling)

- I got to use it after you.

- Cool, cool, cool.

I shouldn't be, I won't

be too long sweetie.

Don't you worry.

- Better not be

(Claire laughing)

I like how you laugh,

but I'm very serious.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- I know you're gonna try it.

(bright instrumental music)

I'm blending up the

fennel with some yogurts,

a Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper oil.

This'll be the bed that

my ahi filet sits on.

- We don't have any water out here,

so I wanna make sure that Meg has a clean,

immersion bottle.

- That's nice of you.

- I know.

- So if you will, which

you won't, but if you do,

you're taking me to France with you.

- Oh, I see. I see the strategy.

- You can't take your other

friends, your paramour

- Does that mean you'll

take me to Malibu with you?

- I live right there. I'll take

you to Malibu anytime girl.

Oh God.

- Oh, thanks.

- As my good friend George

would say, it's not dressed.

- So I have a little bit

of the pickling juice

from the cherries that I'm pickling.

I've got orange zest.

I have cucumber.

- Sounds very fresh.

Smoking. Everybody calm down.

Take it easy. Take it easy.

Okay.

- I think I'm gonna put just

a tiny bit of mezcal in it

to add a level of interest to the sauce.

- And you add a little mezcal to me

to make me a little extra (chuckling).

- Would you like a shot?

I actually brought a shot glass out.

- I think we should just

pull straight out of

the g*dd*mn thing.

(bright instrumental music)

- This is a beautiful hamachi

crudo. Oh my goodness.

I mean hamachi, not crudo yet.

- It will be a beautiful hamachi crudo

I don't know if I'm doing

to this perfectly or not.

I mean, with ahi, with the

fish this f*cking beautiful,

you just wanna sear the outside.

You want the inside to

stay that beautiful,

bright ruby color.

I feel like I cooked

it like slightly longer

than I wanted to.

- Shocker.

(Claire coughing)

- Not mad at that, at all.

Not mad at that at all.

And yes, we're gonna eat this.

- Okay lady who works

in a sushi restaurant.

- I don't make it.

(Claire and Meghan laughing)

I just eat the damn thing.

- [Meghan] Of course we

both decided on fish.

- [Claire] I know. I love that.

- [Meghan] Makes it harder for the judges.

- Good. Now the question

is, this is my whole thing,

is like how am I gonna plate this?

Am I going to do the nice little slices?

- You're on your own girlfriend.

- Yeah, I know.

- I'm in the zone,

- But I'm just gonna let that rest there

for a little bit while I get plating.

(blowing) Oh my God,

don't put that on there.

(bright instrumental music)

- [Lady] Three minutes.

- Three minutes, f*ck.

(bright instrumental music)

- I know, I know, I know.

(bright instrumental music)

(groaning) I feel like

we are in a TV show.

(bright instrumental music)

- Oh my God, it's over.

- We'll say that's it (chuckling).

- Alrighty Meg.

It all comes down to

these last two dishes.

- I f*cking forgot.

(Claire and Meghan laughing)

Ah, I was gonna do

orange sauce and anchovy.

(Claire laughing)

Fine.

- [Claire] Where's your

glass? Where's your glass?

- Ah, fill it up. Please, fill it up.

- Whoo.

- That looks beautiful.

Geez yours look so pretty.

Damn, I didn't get to do the-

- Oh yours is so good looking.

- Oh, I didn't get to do

the orange zest at the end.

- The zest.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

The judges are on their way.

- I know.

- It's all in the fate of, fate of hands?

Yeah, the mezcal's kicking in.

- I hope it's good. I hope it's good.

- I can guarantee you your dish is good.

- Yours looks incredible.

- It looks incredible. But

does it taste incredible?

- I know. I just wanna know

if it pairs with the wine.

- I know. Let's get them out here.

Let's get this done.

- Yeah.

- Let's go.

(bright instrumental music)

- [Claire] Hi friend.

- Oh wow.

- Oh my goodness.

- Oh my goodness,

looks like you guys

are skipping off to us.

- This looks gorgeous.

- Yes.

- It's almost like you're

going for a trip for France.

- [Claire] (laughing) Yeah.

- [Meghan] We're not nervous at all.

- They both look so amazing, oh my god.

- It's beautiful.

- You might remember Faire La Fete.

- [Matthew] Strongly.

- [Maryam] Welcome back.

Congratulations to you two.

- Well cheers, no matter what

happens to both of you all.

- [Maryam] Do you guys have

any idea who's is who's? -

- No, no. I have no idea.

- No, I have no idea.

- [Maryam] I can't tell.

- There's not a style

that came across at all.

- But of course there's flowers.

- They are like similar stylistically.

And obviously we both chose fish,

which I think is hilarious.

- All right, so we got-

- Here are all the components, thinking-

- So this is how it ends?

- This is how it all ends.

- [Matthew] This is all about the pairing.

This is all about how the

dish works with the wine.

- This crudo looks amazing.

- Let's try the crudo.

- Caper.

- It looks like cherry.

- Wow.

- Some micro greens.

(bright instrumental music)

- There's a lot of different texture.

- Hmm.

- Those capers were fried.

- [George] It's really fresh.

- And it is very fresh.

- Very clean.

- The cherry plays really

nicely with the fennel.

- Yeah, honestly.

The fennel isn't like overpowering at all.

You still tastes a

little bit of that fish.

What kind of fish is this?

- Oh yeah. I think frying

the capers was a good call.

'Cause it could have been really fishy.

- Could be amberjack?

- Could be really fishy otherwise.

- Yeah.

- I like the fronds on top too as well.

- I like it.

- Okay.

- It's really good.

- You ready for the next one?

- Yeah.

(bright instrumental music)

- So colorful.

- Hmm.

- Oh wow. Get that zest

like straight away,

which I think is really nice.

- And that puree, yeah?

- Yeah.

I lean more towards bigger

portions (chuckling).

'Cause I think a lot of

people really skimp on things.

- I like the flavor balance.

My only critique on this one,

like audibly is that the crust

is like overly powerfully flavorful.

The white sesame seeds-

- But how does it pair with wine?

(bright instrumental music)

- I don't think it overpowers the wine.

I like the sweetness.

- Yeah, the fruit is amazing.

- The fruit is really nice.

- It plays really nicely with the wine.

- Yeah, it does.

- I think a little sweetness

makes this wine's acid

shine brighter.

- Exactly.

- All right, we got some

hard work to deliberate here.

You guys go inside.

Get away so we can

actually have some privacy

and then we're going to figure out

which of y'all gets on a plane to France.

- Okay.

- No worries. No worries.

- No pressure.

- Without knowing?

- Thank you.

- Yeah of course, cheers.

(bright instrumental music)

- There's three of us here.

So there's gotta be a majority.

- There has to be.

- We have to make a decision.

So let's talk through

where everybody's leaning.

- Of course.

(bright instrumental music)

- [Maryam] George.

- I really appreciate

this one. I love crudos.

There was an amazing

balance between the capers

that had that really nice saltiness

that I think complements the wine.

- [Matthew] Totally.

- But also the cherries,

I think added this really

nice balance of sweetness.

But you know, here,

you really got that fennel flavor

and I'm a really big

fan of sesame, honestly.

So I dunno where I'm leaning actually.

- You're willing to hear us out.

- [George] Yeah.

- [Matthew] We've got

bold flavors on both.

The capers we're a great call.

You get saltiness,

you get something that

actually plays on the wine.

And this top dish here,

we've got, the fruit is something

that gives it sweetness,

but I don't really taste the fruit.

I just wish I tasted more of the fennel

and more of the stone fruit

than I tasted the sesame.

For me, it'll come down to

does the fish and the caper

work best with the wine?

Or does the fish and the sesame

work best with the wine?

- I love to weigh in here

since y'all are not deciding.

What I think is like pulling

from my heart strings

is the risks that were taken.

I think I would have done

the tuna differently.

I agree with you, it's a lot of sesame.

It's a lot of surface area.

That's the problem.

If I'm going for a perfect

bite, like you compose,

I actually think that the puree, the zest,

the multiple stone fruits

actually balances the sesame.

If I'm having a bite,

I agree that they're both great pairings.

But I would be leaning

more toward the tuna dish,

creating leniency for that portion size.

- Hmm, hmm.

- Let's say I'm on a wine list.

I'm looking at Faire La Fete,

I know I wanna start there.

Which is more likely addition

I'm gonna order with this.

- [George] Hmm.

- [Matthew] Thinking through a dish

that has all the components

and it's more of a comprised dish,

I lean toward this one

as a more comprised dish

that works with the wine.

- Oh we've gotta go, make sure we agree.

- Let's do it.

- There's three of us-

- Yeah.

- We need a majority.

- All right, grab your glasses.

- Cheers guys.

- Cheers.

- It's not easy.

- We're gonna party no matter what.

- It's gonna be a party anyway.

- We'll do the right thing.

- Faire La Fete.

- Let's do it.

- Faire La Fete.

(bright instrumental music)

- Your dish was so gorgeous, and I'm just-

- Ah, I forgot so many things.

- It's a good thing we drank

mezcal while we were doing it.

- (laughing) I'm not sure

if that helped or hurt.

(Claire and Meghan laughing)

- It's helping now.

- Yes.

- Speaking of which-

- Yeah, let's get some liquid courage.

- I love being competitive.

But I'm really happy to be here

at the end of this with you.

- Oh, thank you.

- I just wanna know,

because it's done and they've decided

it's all like, it's just, it's done

and we just need to, here.

(glasses clinking)

- No regrets.

- No regrets.

At the end of the day like,

I think we both brought it.

- Oh, hey.

- Hi friends.

- Relax.

- How are you friends?

- It's very intimidating to

see three people judging us.

You guys need sparkling wine.

- Yes please.

- We do.

- Give them this alcohol, please.

- Thank you.

- Give my friend.

- Yeah, first of all,

our first amazing few

episodes were filmed at,

At the Joy in Oregon.

And then how lucky,

especially for us to be

in our backyard here,

in the Sonoma Valley at DeLoach Vineyards.

So-

- Amazing.

- Incredibly loud.

Absolutely all brought the rain.

- Yeah. You guys did the-

- We actually can't

agree on who's is who's.

We have guesses but we don't know.

- Interesting.

- We tried, but we don't agree.

- I feel like we do have

kind of similar style.

- I know.

- I mean it's fitting.

- That you're the ones competing.

- We can't even figure it out.

So it makes sense.

- All right, well, let's jump into this.

- Okay.

- Oh, gosh.

- So, we thought both

dishes were so well done,

ex*cuted with the two

ingredients that were necessary,

but also the time

constraint, outdoor kitchen,

it's a challenge.

And we really appreciate what

y'all brought to the table.

So the hamachi crudo.

We loved the caper.

The caper really was a beautiful thing

that works so well with the wine.

The biggest critique that

I had and it was echoed

was just, we wanted a little more acid.

We wanted someone to

really allow for this wine,

which is apple fruit, clean, fresh,

we wanted a little bit more power,

let's say out of that dish.

- With the tuna, to kind of counter that

what we wanted was we

wanted smaller portions.

We really thought that the tuna,

if it were a little bit smaller,

you could have done a little bit better

and showed a little bit

better with the wine.

- So the tuna had a

little element of heat,

which was great from some jalapeno.

The sweetness of the

fruit really came out.

The crudo, I wanted more fennel.

I wanted more fennel.

The puree with the fennel on the tuna was,

it was a lovely thing.

The sesame was really, really present.

- It was overpowering it.

- It was overpowering, but-

- You know, there was a lot of sesame

for the stone fruit balanced.

And there was risk.

- There was a lot of risk.

- With the tuna, there was

a lot of risk with the tuna.

- Yeah.

The combo of stone fruit,

the addition of pepper for the crudo,

like the cherry

combination with the fennel

made the wine really sparkle.

Like if I may, guys I

gotta get one last pun in.

(people laughing)

- But both of them honestly were amazing.

- It's important to say we were divided.

It took awhile to arrive

at our final decision.

- So really in order for

us to raise the stakes

and make this even more dramatic,

we need you guys to tell

us who made what dish.

- We couldn't agree.

- It's true. We could not agree,

but we have come to a consensus.

- So who made what?

- Mine was the hamachi crudo.

- Mine was the Ahi

- Amazing.

- Wow.

- Amazing.

- Okay, are you guys ready?

Let's just be honest here,

you're are both winners.

'Cause the second place

person gets to go to Malibu

for at least three days.

- Yo, there is a trip to France.

It is business class to Faire La Fete.

- [Matthew] The birthplace

of sparkling wine.

- It sounds terrible.

- Yes.

Have you guys heard of sparkling wine?

(George laughing)

- I mean, all I can hear is trip for two.

It's like maybe they're gonna go together.

- Maybe one of us can come.

- Depends what you pick.

- Okay. You guys ready?

- So the winner of Sparklers,

the whole shebang who's going to France,

(bright upbeat music)

is the tuna.

- It's Claire.

- Are you serious?

(bright upbeat music)

- Amazing.

- Meg is going to Malibu.

- Cheers.

- I won!

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Come on.

- What? Are you serious?

- Yes, thank you.

- Amazing.

- Thank you.

- We were totally fans for all.

I really not that (indistinct).

- Right.

- 'Cause side betting going on.

- Put this down, 'cause I'm

gonna knock it down here.

- Congratulations too.

- They can't even be sad.

- Right.

- We will be right back

during the competition.

- I know.

- They are going to France.

- Good job. Good job. That was awesome.

- Winner winner.

- Chicken Dinner

- Wow, that was so

nerve-wracking, that was crazy.

- Oh my God.

I don't even know yet.

I honestly, I haven't

processed any of this yet.

I'm not gonna lie to you.

And I still feel kind of numb.

I'm just, I dunno. I'm obviously thrilled.

I don't know.

It's just, I never win anything.

So like I'm feeling (chuckling),

it's feeling awesome, man (chuckling).

(bright upbeat music)

- I can't stop thinking about the things

I forgot to put in my dish (chuckling).

Because they included citrus and anchovy,

which I think would've really added to it.

So yes, I can't stop thinking about that.

But also I'm super stoked to go to Malibu

and I hope everyone will come with me.

When I lined myself up against

everyone that was here,

I mean, I'm a winemaker,

but I'm out of practice in the kitchen.

Why am I here with all these people,

with all this culinary experience?

And meant a lot to me to

come back in this way.

And it was really nice to be around people

that were so encouraging.

And I've got a lot of friends here.

But it really says something about

believing in yourself, I think.

And yeah,

surrounding yourself

with really good people.

- Frankly,

like I didn't know what

the hell was gonna happen.

And it was down to this.

It just worked out this way.

And I'm here at the end of the day

because I got to work with

some incredibly talented people

who taught me a lot about

cooking and about other things.

And I've made some really

awesome new friends

on this journey.

But I'm going to France by myself.

- It's like,

that means we've arrived at the end

should we cheers to that?

- Oh my God, that was so,

I didn't think I had it.

- Grab your glass.

- Cheers.

- Come on.

- Grab your glass.

(glasses clinking)

- Well done.

- Well done.

Well done. Incredible.

- Cheers, cheers.

- Oh, good job.

- Oh my God.

(bright upbeat music)

(upbeat music)