"One of you three will be able to save an eliminated cook," Ted explains to Curtis, Alex and Michael, mentors who've all lost home cooks up to this point in the competition. Using ingredients with the letters of the "magic word," SAVE, they need to cook a dish to impress guest judge Donatella Arpaia.
Return of the Prodigal Cook
"[August's] the secret ingredient in this dish," Alex explains to Donatella. "This is Alex to a tee," Donatella extols upon tasting the scallops. The mentors and home cooks soon discover Alex's dish earned a comeback for August. "I'm back, baby," August says. "You can't kick me out that soon."
Cooking to Stay
Just as soon as August returns, Ted reveals, "It's time for the elimination test." Everyone will be cooking in order to remain in the competition, and they must use ingredients beginning with the letters of the word STAY. With an advantage from last week, Bobby earns the right to use the SOS button twice.
Putting All Her Eggs in One Basket
"This is my chance, so I have to go all out," says Sharon, deciding with mentor Curtis to confit egg yolks in an immersion circulator. "What I usually do is take a saute pan and cook," criticizes Bobby. "I don't want to be just safe," says Sharon, who unfortunately breaks several eggs before getting perfect yolks.
Playing It Safe for Once
"August should lie low," says Alex, "and just try to make something super simple." Her angle is to "get him through" with a safe dish. "You cannot come back and be eliminated," Alex tells August. "Steady as she goes," she advises Sherri, her other cook. But Alex worries, "Curtis is pulling out all the stops."
Under Pressure to Perform
"There's a lot of pressure for me to perform, because if I get eliminated, so does Michael," says Vanessa, who, like Sharon on Team Curtis, is the only cook left on her team. "Being on Michael's team gives me so much confidence," she says. "I'm going to give 200 percent ... to make him proud."
Passing on a Double Advantage
"I'm only going to use it if they need me," Bobby tells Ted of his SOS-button advantage. He does end up hitting it halfway into the round, "because I want to taste everything," he says, coaching both Joseph and Angela on assembling their dishes. "They're really good," says Bobby, "so I'm not going to go down again."
The Highest Praise Possible
"Wow," exclaims Donatella upon opening the lid on Sharon's egg dish to see smoke plumes escaping. "With high risk you either have a big failure or a high reward," starts Donatella. She goes on to say, "In this case you are going to get a very high reward" for an "exceptional" dish. "I have nothing negative to say."
Smoking the Competition
"Today for me there were two dishes that really stood out, but the one that blew me away was Nonna Sharon's," announces Donatella. "My smoking gun just took out one of my competitors," says Sharon. Joseph's tuna tostadas came in second place, so he is safe. Sherri and August are also safe.
"This was a really difficult decision, because both of your dishes tasted really good," Donatella tells Vanessa and Angela, but adds that the one "with a few more flaws" is Angela's, which means she will be leaving the competition. "It feels like a punch in my gut," says Angela. With her departure, Bobby loses the first cook from his team.
More All-Star Academy
Go inside the competition with behind-the-scenes photo galleries, exclusive interviews with the mentors, battle highlights and more.
