"I'm sooo sad": Top Chef fans are heartbroken as Nick Wallace gets eliminated in Season 19 Episode 12

Nick Wallace was eliminated from Top Chef ahead of the season finale (Image via nickwallaceculinary/Instagram)

Bravo's Top Chef saw the contestants battle it out for one last time before the season finale. Damarr Brown, Evelyn Garcia, Buddha Lo, Nick Wallace, and Sarah Welch put forward their best culinary skills to impress the judges and prove themselves worthy of being in the final round.

However, one contestant fell short of the same and was eliminated ahead of next week's episode.

It was the end of Nick Wallace's culinary journey on Top Chef. The contestant did not have his best day in the kitchen, forgetting to add items that led to him being eliminated from the show.

Fans were disappointed with his exit. One tweeted:

This week was also the contestants' last challenge in Houston as they will be traveling to another state, Tucson, Arizona, to showcase their skills in the finale. In this episode, the show bypassed the Quickfire challenge and directly focused on the main challenge to test some critical culinary skills.

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Fans react to Top Chef contestant Nick Wallace's exit

Followers were disappointed at Nick Wallace's elimination ahead of the finale and took to social media to express their feelings.

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Quick recap of what transpired in Top Chef semi-finals

As the show inches closer to the finale, the contestants have to put in all their efforts to ensure they claim a safe spot and potentially win the season. However, they are thrown massive curveballs along the way.

While some have come out successfully, others have failed to do so. This time, they went out to sea to test their culinary strength.

The official synopsis of Top Chef Episode 12, titled We're on a Boat, reads:

"After saying goodbye to their loved ones, the chefs receive an ominous gift from Tom, who tells them to get up early and meet him at the docks; for their elimination challenge, each chef must create two fresh fish dishes."

Tom Colicchio and "Top Chef" All-Star Dawn Burrell welcomed the contestants on board the boat and explained the direct elimination round rules. They had to go fishing, but it wasn't a pleasant activity. They had to cook the fish they caught and prepare two fish dishes the following day.

All they had was two and a half hours to cook and impress legendary chef Daniel Boulud.

After catching their fish, the contestants headed to the market to buy the other ingredients they deemed necessary for their cooking. With only some time to cook, they wanted to put their best foot forward.

However, ideas clashed, ingredients weren't enough, and playing against one's comfort zone didn't improve things.

The biggest misstep was made by Nick Wallace. He wanted to compliment his tacos with a redfish cake, requiring more finely ground fish as a binder to keep the whole cake together.

However, with under six minutes left, he forgot the binder and thus had to rely on flavors to save him.

Nick and Damarr were the bottom two, and the judges chose the former for a tearful goodbye. In his exit interview, the former said:

"This is not failure. Right now, I'm more grateful and appreciative than anything. This has been a journey that I needed. And I'm coming home with this bold ol' smile, and I'm so proud to be from Mississippi, but we're about to do bigger things."

Four contestants, Damarr Brown, Evelyn Garcia, Buddha Lo, and Sarah Welch, gratefully made their way into the finale of Bravo's Top Chef. The contestants have fought long and hard to stay in the competition, and it will be interesting to see what the final challenge has in store for them. Who will become this season's winner?

Next week, tune in to Top Chef on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at 8.00 pm ET on Bravo to find out.