After airing extended 2-hour episodes for the first few weeks of the season, Food Network shook things up in week 3 bringing fans a pair of new episodes of The Great Food Truck Race rather than one extended episode!
In the first episode of the night, the teams headed to Myrtle Beach, where the leaderboard was shaken up with a new leader being crowned with Good Fortune taking the top spot, as G's Cheesesteaks went home by a margin of just $34! The action continued from there with episode 4 as the five remaining teams head out to Wilmington, and Tyler wasted no time in bringing some drama with the first challenge of the leg, as well as a major warning to the teams.
As Tyler welcomes the teams to Wilmington, Good Fortune’s good luck continues as Tyler reveals they’ll get to sit out the first challenge of the leg. The other four teams will face off in a duel in which the teams will each pick their top dish and face off in a head-to-head battle. Whichever team makes the most money will not only win the challenge, but they’ll steal the money their rivals made on their sales for their till!
Not only does Good Fortune not have to compete in the challenge, but they get to pick which teams will face off against one another in the challenge! After some quick thinking, Good Fortune chooses to pit Nishaan against Stop Drop N Roll, which means Fat Kid Food Co. will be facing off against Cooking with Que – giving Que a chance to get revenge on Fat Kid Food Co. after they choose to shut them down for an hour in the previous leg.
Before the teams head off, Tyler reveals that the teams will not be able to prep on their trucks and instead have to do their prep at a commissary kitchen. He also warns them that the city is known for its strict health inspectors and that they will be dropping in at some point, potentially shutting down a truck at any time.
The teams battle it out in a rivalry challenge that leads to some surprise results
In the challenge of their signature dishes, Nishaan chooses to pit their Dubai chocolate paratha against Stop Drop N Roll’s pork rice noodle bowl. It’s a tight battle, but in the end, Nishaan picks up their first challenge win of the season, beating Stop Drop N Roll by $2 to win the challenge. In the process, they steal the $210 Stop Drop N Roll made in sales of their dish during the challenge.
Then we have Fat Kid Food Co. putting their Flamin' Hot smash burger against Cooking with Que’s loaded mac. While the first battle was extremely close, Que blew Fat Kid Food Co. out of the water with over $400 in sales! In addition to taking the win, they also stole the $275 Fat Kid Food Co. made from selling their dish.
Shortly after the challenge, Day 1 of sales ended with the teams seeming pretty even heading into Day 2 after a relatively smooth day of sales for the teams.
Teams race to make a $15,000 worthy breakfast as Day 2 begins
As Day 2 begins, the teams roll up in front of a local Best Western, where Tyler reveals that the teams will start the day by making breakfast… and this isn’t any normal breakfast challenge. In this challenge, the teams will have 30 minutes to make a comforting and elevated breakfast dish. Judging the dishes is James Beard-nominated chef Lauren Krall Ivey, and whoever wins the challenge will walk away with $15,000 from Best Western, not for their till but as a special one-time prize.
Good Fortune chooses to make huevos fortunados for the challenge. Chef Lauren likes the crunchiness of the dish, but feels the egg component was lacking a punch. Next up is Nishaan, who makes a southern squared breakfast that Chef Lauren finds interesting and unique. She loves the seasoning of the dish as well as the flavor, but wonders whether there was a little too much sauce.
Cooking with Que serves up some blackened catfish and grits, which impress Chef Lauren; however, their grits leave her wanting more salt. We then move on to Stop Drop N Roll, whose Vietnamese country fried steak leaves Chef Lauren confused on how to eat the dish and build the best bite. Finally, we have Fat Kid Food Co., who serves up a beignet stuffed chicken dish that Chef Lauren enjoys but finds hard to eat.
After careful consideration, Chef Lauren gives the win to Cooking with Que. While Que walks away with the $15,000, Tyler reminds them that the money does not count toward their till, so it’s still possible they could be eliminated at the end of the leg.
We then move into the second day of selling, and the day begins with health inspectors dropping in on each team to check their trucks. The health inspectors give each truck a thorough review to make sure that everything is above board. Things go smoothly for most of the teams, but unfortunately, there is one team that ends up failing their inspection: Nishaan!
When the inspector comes on the truck, they discover that Nishaan’s water has run out, meaning there is no water in their handwashing station. With no water, they have to head to the commissary to refill their water tank before they can begin selling. Things then go from bad to worse for the team as they lose a key portion of their menu when the fridge opens during transit, causing the chaat to fall to the floor. Fortunately, when they get back, they’re able to begin selling and quickly seem to make up some ground.
Who went home on The Great Food Truck Race this week?
In the first of the night’s two-part episode, we bid farewell to G’s Cheesesteaks and by the end of the night another team would be joining them. So, who was the second team to be eliminated from The Great Food Truck Race in episode 4?
For the second straight leg of the race, Good Fortune took the top spot with a commanding $4,801 in sales, putting them more than $1,000 ahead of the second-place team. Second place went to Cooking with Que, with Nishaan coming in third despite having been shut down by the health inspector.
This left Fat Kid Food Co. and Stop Drop N Roll in the bottom two and in danger of being eliminated. With a difference of just $54, it was Fat Kid Food Co. that was eliminated from the race in Wilmington, meaning Stop Drop N Roll would be moving on to the next round. It was another tight week with the leaderboard shaking out as follows:
- Good Fortune - $4,801
- Cooking with Que - $3,573
- Nishaan - $2,984
- Stop Drop N Roll - $2,840
- Fat Kid Food Co. - $2,786 - Eliminated
Needless to say, episodes 3 and 4 proved that you never really know who could be in danger. G's and Fat Kid Food Co. were both strong competitors in the race, but each team was eliminated from the race with just small differences between the bottom two teams. It goes to show that every last sale matters and just a few dishes can make or break a team.
With just four teams left, there is no telling who might go home next or what the next leg of the competition will bring. We'll find out when episode 5 drops on Sunday, Aug. 24 at 9/8c on Food Network.