Pressure Cooker

Every man, every woman for themselves.

It is cutthroat.

Welcome to the cooking show that asks,

what does it take to get to the top of the culinary industry?

The most successful chefs are not necessarily the best cooks.

A chef is a leader.

Nice hustle, guys.

- A perfectionist. - They inspire.

- You have to be resourceful. - You've gotta have thick skin.

A chef is a survivor.

These 11 accomplished chefs,

each with different backgrounds and skill sets,

have arrived to compete inside

the Pressure Cooker.

On the line, $100,000 and a chance to take their career to the next level.

I sacrificed a lot to make sure that I could provide for my family.

The drive is still there, and the fire still burns.

Time to do me.

But in this house, they won't be judged by a panel of celebrity judges.

They'll be judged by each other.

When it's chefs on chefs, critique can be hard to take.

The seafood was just super overcooked.

It was not a thing that should've been on that plate.

It's a little flat.

Damn!

Just as important as the dishes they make is the respect they earn

and the relationships they form.

God, what would I do without you?

When you have this many intense personalities,

it's only a matter of time before someone does something to piss someone off.

He's done raw food twice!

Check your ego at the door. I'm very serious about that.

They'll decide who stays and who goes.

Just 'cause you can cook doesn't mean you're safe.

- Literally, the game just shifted. - It's all about the strategy.

In the end, they'll make the toughest choice of all.

Do you vote on personality? You vote on threat level? On alliances?

Vote based on the skill alone.

Who do you want to cook up against tomorrow?

Somebody just stabbed you in the back. That's a stone-cold way to go home.

Who deserves to win?

I got this in the bag.

It's time to go to battle. I'm a warrior.

Whatever's coming, I'm ready.

Welcome to the Pressure Cooker.

Holy...

Hi, I'm Robbie Jester.

I'm 36 years old from Newark, Delaware.

Currently, I am the owner of three businesses.

Chef-slash-owner, so you wear all the hats.

That's the nature of the restaurant business.

This is certainly not easy. It is not for the faint of heart.

And then this is where the magic happens, I guess.

The $100,000 prize would allow me to make some moves

and create some opportunities for my team.

It's like a chef's dream come true.

I just wanna make them proud and give it everything I got.

- Is anyone here? - Hi!

- Hey! - I'm Robbie.

- Christan. Nice to meet you. - Yeah, nice to meet you.

I think when people see me,

they're thinking, like, okay, "Her hair's cute. I love her dress."

- - It's just your height, yeah?

But what they don't know is I am a chef. I'm highly skilled.

I have 16 years in my industry.

You know, I can pull my hair back and get dirty with the rest of them.

Welcome to your house, but now I'm taking over.

Wow.

I'm Liv Bin. I am the executive chef and co-owner

of an Italian deli in Melrose Hill, Los Angeles.

- Hi! - Nice to meet you.

- Liv. - Robbie.

Most people work their way up over a really long period of time,

and I've clashed heads with chefs before that sometimes feel threatened

or, like, insecure about themselves because of my position at my age.

I'm so excited!

I wanna be the youngest female chef to earn a Michelin star.

If I win, it would make it a lot easier. That's for sure.

- Hello, hello! - Hello.

- How you guys doing? I'm Ed. - Hi.

- Robbie. - Nice to meet you.

I got a friend looks just like you, brother.

- Hello! - Oh, hello!

- Hi! - How's it going?

- I'm Ed. - Lana.

- Robbie. Nice to meet you. - Lana.

- Nice to meet you. - Where you from?

I'm from New York City.

Where in New York?

- From the Bronx. - I'm from the Bronx.

Okay, but now I live in Harlem.

I live in Minnesota, so...

- What? -

Hey! What is up?

- What's up? - Yes, the overalls!

Why do we not have drinks in our hands already?

- - What is going on?

- Rosé prosecco. - Whoo!

I run kitchens, and I help open restaurants.

- Hold up! I'll pour the next ones, guys. - No, no, no.

In my kitchen, it's really important to have a team

that will be there by your side for anything you need.

Ladies, I got you.

I've actually had my sous-chef bail me out of jail.

Thank you, Xavier.

- Oh, hey! - Yo, what up?

- Hello! - Yo.

- Get this man a drink. - What's your name?

- Mike. - Mike. Christan.

The restaurant I used to work at, everyone called me Big Mike.

I'm the smallest guy, but I act like the biggest guy in the room,

and I think that makes guys like me very competitive.

- Before you sip, what's your sign? - Yeah!

- - What's your sign?

My sign?

Gosh, like, I don't know what's going on.

I've never done this before. I'm just used to cooking food.

Way less talking, way more cooking, that'd be happy with me.

- Hey! - Hey!

- Liv. - Yo, I'm Renee!

I'm a personal chef and caterer to some of your favorite stars.

- How are you? - I'm Lana.

- I like your shirt. - Thank you. Hey.

I am extremely competitive.

I wanna know who's my enemy, what your weaknesses are,

how can I play on it.

It's a pleasure to meet everybody.

I'm here to get this money, baby. Come on!

- Where you guys from? - I'm from Atlanta.

- I love Atlanta. - It's evolved.

Legitimately, I go to their strip clubs for the wings. Legitimately.

- Hey! - Yo!

My name is Brian Nadeau.

I own an Italian restaurant, me and my wife, in Cranston, Rhode Island.

What up, man?

- Good. Eddie. - Eddie. Brian.

- You're Brian? - Hey. Brian.

She's the front of the house. I'm the back of the house.

There's a line in my restaurant that neither one of us cross.

She stays there. I stay here. I'm just kidding.

- Hey, guys. - Hi!

My name's Caroline Gutierrez, and I own a private chef business.

What's up?

- Hi, I'm good. I'm Caroline. - Jeana.

- Nice to meet you. - I'm Renee.

I was born in Miami, moved to LA when I was 20.

I was modeling and trying to figure out what I was gonna do with my life.

Didn't really feel fulfilling.

And then, you know, I found my way into food.

Cheers, guys!

- Cheers! Welcome! - Cheers. Thanks.

Certainly, when I started in the kitchen,

that came with people not taking me seriously.

A big part of me wanted to start my own business

because always feeling like I had to fight so much harder than other people.

To be even selected to something like this.

It's pretty dope.

My business is super successful,

but I am here to get the brick-and-mortar restaurant that I have always dreamed of.

- Now I'm curious... - What up?

- Whoa! - Hey!

- Last one! There we go. - What's up, brother? Sergei.

My name is Sergei Simonov.

I'm an executive chef, and I've been in this industry for ten-plus years.

- Sergei? - Sergei.

I've worked under great chefs.

I'm very confident in what I can do.

- That's it! - Oh, thank you. A lot of bubbles.

Going into this competition,

my strategy would be to make friends with everybody first

and find out their weaknesses.

I definitely wanna find out who the strongest people are.

You don't necessarily take them out, but you wanna be their friends.

- Yes! - Cheers.

- Cheers! - Whoo!

I'm gonna go check out this kitchen. Who wants to come?

Let's go check this out. Let's go, let's go!

My first reaction to Sergei was I didn't like him at all.

Ladies room.

Living in a house with a bunch of chefs.

I am way too tall for these beds.

I have no idea what to expect, but...

Three amigos, all right? There's no girls in our room.

Game on.

My clients who have Wolf and Thermador ovens, just like freakin' $20,000 ovens.

- I'm like, shoot me. - You can cook on 'em.

Yeah, yeah.

I pride myself in knowing all the different ovens,

even, like, the weird ones, you know.

Mike is a different kind of dude altogether.

- Do they have liquid nitrogen? - Yeah, this here.

He just seems like a quirky dude with tons of nervous energy.

I can't wait to see how that ends up on the plate.

- -

Ticket printing.

- Sit on the water. -

- Oh, my gosh, you guys, we got a ticket! - Oh!

- That's awesome. - We got a ticket?

- Uh-oh. - We got a ticket!

As a chef, you can recognize a ticket printer noise