Taste Test by Kelly Fiore

Author:Kelly Fiore
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

The walk down to the arena tonight feels sort of eerie. On challenge nights, there are people everywhere; tonight, there are only a couple of production assistants coming in and out of the metal double doors. Once we get inside, we cross the floor and join the rest of the contestants in the seating area. Christian and Pierce are sitting right up front, so Gigi and I find seats up near the control room. I want to keep as far away from the two of them as humanly possible.

Moments later, Chef Mason stands in front of us, his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. Despite the dim lighting, I notice that Joy is still missing—surprise, surprise.

“Contestants, thank you for meeting us here. On behalf of the other judges and myself, we’d like to say congratulations for making it this far.” He claps loudly and the rest of us feel compelled to follow his lead.

Abruptly, the door behind him flies open. Joy flounces in carrying her Louis Vuitton clutch and wearing huge sunglasses, looking like a celebutante fresh out of rehab. Chef Mason waits for her to take a seat, an expression of thinly veiled disapproval on his face.

“Anyway,” he begins again, giving her a pointed look, “now that you’ve been reduced to half the original group, each and every one of you should feel proud of the strides you’ve made here. You are all great chefs, chefs who will do many grand things, I am sure.”

In the background, I watch a few tuxedoed men start wheeling in carts laden with food—a huge carved ham, trays of canapés, a tower of petits fours. I’m baffled—are we doing a surprise challenge? Are they going to make us work a cocktail party or something?

“Because you’ve been working so hard,” Mason goes on, “we’d like to invite you to kick up your heels for a bit. Relax, enjoy yourselves. Get a chance to mingle with each other and some of our invited guests.”

At that, he steps aside and Ms. Svincek, Madame Bouchon, and Prescott walk out from the shadows, accompanied by a dozen or so people. As I start to recognize them, my eyes widen. There’s Tressa Jackson and Jacob Warner, two of the past Taste Test champions. The man in a silver satin shirt is Jamie Boyle, a British chef who has a live cooking show out of Las Vegas. Two of the head bakers from Makes Cakes are wearing their signature cupcake aprons. Everyone up there is either a television star or a famous chef in their own right.

“Please.” Ms. Svincek motions for us to join them on the floor. “Come and say hello. Introduce yourselves. Have a mushroom puff.”

At first, most of us are pretty hesitant—I mean, this is the equivalent of an aspiring musician meeting their favorite band. How do you talk to your idol face-to-face? But once Jacob pops open some champagne off camera and swears the contestants to secrecy, we start to relax. About an hour in, someone turns on the sound system.

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