The Final Table
{{Short description|Cooking competition Netflix show}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox television
| image = The Final Table show poster.jpeg
| genre = Cooking show
| director = Russell Norman
| presenter = Andrew Knowlton
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 1
| num_episodes = 10
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer = Robin Ashbrook and Yasmin Shackleton
| cinematography = Ramy Romany
| runtime = 53–59 minutes
| network = Netflix
| released = {{Start date|2018|11|20}}
}}
The Final Table is an American cooking competition and reality television series hosted by food writer and critic Andrew Knowlton, and filmed in Los Angeles, California for Netflix. The first season was released on November 20, 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/netflix-the-final-table-show-cooking-competition-clare-smyth-programme-a8635256.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/netflix-the-final-table-show-cooking-competition-clare-smyth-programme-a8635256.html |archive-date=June 18, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Final Table: Has Netflix reinvented the recipe for food programmes?|date=November 16, 2018|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-12-03|language=en}} It features twelve international teams of two professional chefs each competing to create elevated dishes based on the country chosen for each episode.{{cite web |title='The Final Table' Is a TV Spectacle That Shows Room for Improvement |website=Eater| url=https://www.eater.com/2018/12/1/18120026/the-final-table-netflix |date=December 1, 2018}} The first round is judged by a three-person panel—a food critic, and two culturally significant citizens, all representing the episode's country—assessing each team's interpretation of their chosen nationally significant dish. Interspersed among the cooking activities are video packages featuring the culinary biographies of the contestants.
The second round of each episode is The Final Plate Challenge. A chef, who already has an honorary seat at The Final Table, picks an ingredient representing their country's cooking culture, and then judges each team's dish highlighting that ingredient, eliminating one or two teams.{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/quartzy/1464756/final-table-netflixs-food-competition-show-is-a-mess/|title=Seven cringe-worthy moments in Netflix's awful food competition show, "Final Table"|last=Griffin|first=Annaliese|date=November 28, 2018|website=Quartzy|access-date=2019-02-03}} In the first seven episodes, the bottom three teams are up for elimination in the second round, in the eighth and ninth episodes, only one team is not up for elimination.
For the finale, the nine chef judges from each episode return, and are featured at The Final Table along with signature dishes they had each created that changed the food world. The final two competing chef teams break up and compete as individuals. Each of the four contestants must prepare a signature dish that defines them as a chef, and will “cause ripples around the culinary world”.
Chefs
Each chef was paired with a fellow chef that they knew from their personal or professional life before the event. The 12 teams were:
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%" | |||
| {{flagicon|FRA}} Benjamin Bensoussan {{flagicon|ESP}} Manuel Berganza | {{flagicon|AUS}} Mark Best {{flagicon|AUS}} Shane Osborn | {{flagicon|USA}} Aaron Bludorn {{flagicon|UK}} Graham Campbell | {{flagicon|JAM}} Collin Brown {{flagicon|MEX}} Colibri Jimenez |
| {{flagicon|NZ}} Monique Fiso {{flagicon|IND}} Amninder Sandhu | {{flagicon|BRA}} Rafa Gil {{flagicon|MEX}} Esdras Ochoa | {{flagicon|AUS}} Alex Haupt {{flagicon|RSA}} Ash Heeger | {{flagicon|USA}} Timothy Hollingsworth {{flagicon|CAN}} Darren MacLean |
| {{flagicon|USA}} Ronald Hsu {{flagicon|JPN}} Shin Takagi | {{flagicon|UK}} James Knappett {{flagicon|MEX}} Angel Vazquez | {{flagicon|USA}} Jessica Lorigo {{flagicon|USA}} Johnny Spero | {{flagicon|FRA}} Charles Michel {{flagicon|Ecuador}} Rodrigo Pacheco |
Episodes
=Season 1=
{{Episode table |total_width= |overall= |title= |aux1= |aux2= |aux3= |aux4= |aux1T=First Round Judges |aux2T=The Final Plate Judge |aux3T=National Dish |aux4T=Final Plate Ingredient
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=1
|Title=Mexico
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Julio César Chávez, Martha Higareda, Mariana Camacho}}
|Aux2=Enrique Olvera
|Aux3=Taco
|Aux4=Opuntia
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=2
|Title=Spain
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Ana Polvorosa, Miguel Bosé, Borja Beneyto}}
|Aux2=Andoni Aduriz
|Aux3=Paella
|Aux4=Octopus
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=3
|Title=United Kingdom
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Cat Deeley, Gary Lineker, Jay Rayner}}
|Aux2=Clare Smyth
|Aux3=English breakfast
|Aux4=English pea
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=4
|Title=Brazil
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Alessandra Ambrosio, Bebel Gilberto, Josimar Melo}}
|Aux2=Helena Rizzo
|Aux3=Feijoada
|Aux4=Cassava
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=5
|Title=India
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Hasan Minhaj, R. Madhavan, Rashmi Uday Singh}}
|Aux2=Vineet Bhatia
|Aux3=Vegetarian murgh makhani (butter chicken)
|Aux4=Coconut
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=6
|Title=USA
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Dax Shepard, Colin Hanks, Sam Sifton}}
|Aux2=Grant Achatz
|Aux3=Thanksgiving dinner
|Aux4=Pumpkin
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=7
|Title=Italy
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Andrea Petrini, Alessandro Del Piero, Eleonora Cozzella}}
|Aux2=Carlo Cracco
|Aux3=Pasta
|Aux4=Artichoke
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=8
|Title=Japan
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|Hikari Mori, Yuji Ayabe, Akiko Katayama}}
|Aux2=Yoshihiro Narisawa
|Aux3=Kaiseki
|Aux4=Sea urchin
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=9
|Title=France
|Aux1={{Unbulleted list|François-Régis Gaudry, Estérelle Payany}}
|Aux2=Anne-Sophie Pic
|Aux3=Hare à la royale
|Aux4=Egg
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=10
|Title=The Finale
|Aux1=N/A
|Aux2=All the Final Table chefs
|Aux3=N/A
|Aux4=N/A
}}
}}
Contestants' progress
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;font-size:96%"
!Placement ! Contestants ! Mexico ! Spain ! UK ! Brazil ! India ! USA ! Italy ! Japan ! France ! The Finale |
| The final plate |
| 1
| Darren MacLean (Canada) and Timothy Hollingsworth (United States) | | |style="background:lightpink;"| |style="background:lightpink;"| | | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:lightpink;"| | style="background:#D4AF37" | {{efn|Only Timothy Hollingsworth won, Darren MacLean was a runner-up along with Shane Osborn and Mark Best.}} |
| 2
| Shane Osborn (Australia) and Mark Best (Australia) | | style="background:royalblue;" | | |style="background:tomato;"| | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:tomato;"| | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:#93f58e;" | |
| 3
|Charles Michel (Colombia & France) and Rodrigo Pacheco (Ecuador) | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | | | |style="background:tomato;"| |style="background:tomato;"| |style="background:lightpink;"| |style="background:lightpink;"| |style="background:red;"| | colspan="1" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 4
|Esdras Ochoa (Mexico) and Rafa Gil (Brazil) | |style="background:lightpink;"| | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | | | |style="background:tomato;"| |style="background:tomato;"| |style="background:red;"| | colspan="1" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 5
| Aaron Bludorn (United States) and Graham Campbell (Scotland, United Kingdom) |style="background:tomato;"| | |style="background:tomato;"| | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:lightpink;"| | style="background:royalblue;" | | |style="background:red;"| | colspan="2" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 6
| Manuel Berganza (Spain & Singapore) and Benjamin Bensoussan (France) | | style="background:royalblue;" | | | style="background:royalblue;" | | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:lightpink;"| |style="background:red;"| | colspan="3" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 7
| Monique Fiso (New Zealand) and Amninder Sandhu (India) | | | style="background:royalblue;" | | | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:red;"| | colspan="4" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 8
| Alex Haupt (Australia & Germany) and Ash Heeger (South Africa) |style="background:lightpink;"| |style="background:tomato;"| | | |style="background:red;"| | colspan="5" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 9
| Jessica Lorigo (Spain) and Johnny Spero (United States) | | | style="background:royalblue;" | |style="background:red;"| | colspan="6" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 10
| Shin Takagi (Japan) and Ronald Hsu (United States) | | |style="background:red;"| | colspan="7" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 11
| Collin Brown (Jamaica) and Collibri Jimenez (Mexico) | |style="background:red;"| | colspan="8" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
| 12
| James Knappett (United Kingdom) and Angel Vazquez (Mexico) |style="background:red;"| | colspan="9" bgcolor="darkgray" | |
:{{Color box|royalblue|border=darkgray}} The contestants cooked the best dishes in the challenge.
:{{Color box|lightpink|border=darkgray}} The contestants were nominated, but cooked the best dish of the final plate round.
:{{Color box|tomato|border=darkgray}} The contestants were nominated, but they weren't eliminated and they didn't cook the best dish of the final plate round.
:{{Color box|red|border=darkgray}} The contestants were eliminated in the final plate round.
:{{Color box|white|border=darkgray}} The contestants were safe.
:{{Color box|D4AF37|border=darkgray}} The winner was part of the team.
:{{Color box|93f58e|border=darkgray}} The contestants were finalists, but did not win.
:{{Color box|darkgray|border=darkgray}} The contestants were already eliminated in previous episodes.
=Notes=
{{notelist}}
Reception
=Critical response=
Upon release, the show received a mixed response from critics. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 50% approval rating based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 4.67 out of 10.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_final_table/s01|title=The Final Table: Season 1 - Rotten Tomatoes|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=February 3, 2019}}
In a review for The Guardian, critic Lucy Mangan described the show as "bombastic and barely watchable", giving the show two out of five stars.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/nov/21/the-final-table-review-netflix|title=The Final Table review – big, bombastic and barely watchable|last=Mangan|first=Lucy|date=2018-11-21|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-02-03|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} In a more positive review, David Sexton wrote in the Evening Standard that fans of MasterChef will "love this".{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/the-final-table-celebrity-chefs-go-nuclear-on-netflix-and-the-full-english-takes-a-frightful-beating-a3997466.html|title=Celebrity chefs go nuclear on Netflix' The Final Table|date=2018-11-22|website=Evening Standard|language=en|access-date=2019-02-03}} David Levesley of GQ noted the high and low points of the show, writing that it contained "the perfect blend of trash and intellect".{{Cite web|url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-final-table-netflix-review|title=Netflix's latest cooking show is the perfect blend of trash and intellect|last=Levesley|first=David|website=British GQ|date=November 28, 2018 |access-date=2019-02-03}}
=Awards and nominations=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| Year
! Award ! Category ! Recipient ! Result |
|---|
| 2019
| 71st Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directing – Reality Programs | "Japan" | {{won}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Netflix title}}
- {{IMDb title|id=7619858}}
{{Netflix original ended series (2012–2018)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Final Table}}
Category:2018 American television series debuts
Category:2018 American television series endings
Category:2010s American cooking television series
Category:American English-language television shows
Category:Netflix original programming
Category:American cooking television series
Category:Reality cooking competition television series