Who is Victorie Gouloubi? Private chef gets eliminated in Top Chef season 20 episode 10

Popular reality competition series Top Chef season 20 aired a brand new episode on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 9 pm ET on Bravo. It documented the remaining contestants competing against each other in challenges to create incredible dishes in hopes of impressing the judges and securing their safety. While some managed to be successful, others failed to make their mark.

On this week's episode of Top Chef, Victorie Gouloubi ended up in the bottom along with fellow competitors Buddha Lo and Gabri Rodriguez. However, she failed to bring out better elements in her cook and ended up being eliminated from the competition. She works as a private chef and was previously a finalist on Top Chef Italy season 2.

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Victorie Gouloubi started learning English just before joining Top Chef

Victorie Gouloubi was born and raised in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. The chef was only 20 years old when she left her country and traveled to Italy to study law. However, fate had different plans as she found her passion in food and decided to pursue her career in the culinary industry.

According to PEOPLE's report, Victorie only began learning the English language four months before she departed to film Top Chef season 20. The chef is well-versed in seven different languages, an added talent she can put to her bucket. In an interview with the outlet, the contestant reflected on her English training and said:

"That was scary to learn English. I think that English is the most difficult language to learn."

Victorie has established a very successful culinary career. She has worked in many well-renowned restaurants in Europe, including France, Italy and other venues. She has also worked as a Sous Chef under the Michelin-star chef Marc Farellacci at restaurant L’Assassino.

The Top Chef contestant's Bravo bio described her style. It said:

"Victoire combines her love for Italian food with African cuisine and uses an infinite range of ingredients to showcase her passion for European and Congolese flavors and traditions. She believes that food is a daily cure that can bring health and pleasure to taste."

Victorie was named as one of the 100 most influential women of 2021 by Italy's F magazine in 2021. She won Top Chef Italy season 2 the same year.

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The Top Chef contestants were tasked with a variety of challenges

Tonight's episode of Top Chef saw host Padma Lakshmi welcome the remaining contestants - Sara Bradley, Victoire Gouloubi, Buddha Lo, Tom Goetter, Gabriel Rodriguez, and Amar Santana - to this week's challenges. She revealed that no contestant would receive an immunity from now on.

However, the winner of the Quickfire challenge would receive an advantage in the elimination challenge. For the first task, they had to cook dishes using preserved fish in 30 minutes.

The official synopsis of the episode, titled Thali Time, reads:

"The chefs have to cook with preserved fish for this week's Quickfire Challenge; the chefs must use six different flavour profiles to create their own Thali platter to impress a panel of chefs from India and judges Padma, Tom and Gail."

While all Top Chef contestants did their best despite challenges, Amar earned the win and an extra 30 minutes for the elimination challenge.

For the elimination round, the chefs headed to Flora Indica, an Indian restaurant. They met chef Asma Khan who prepared individual Thalis for the contestants. A Thali is an Indian traditional meal with several flavor profiles and dishes served during an occassion.

The contestants were challenged to make a traditional Thali with six flavor profiles - salty, sweet, bitter, sour, pungent, and hot - if they wanted to avoid elimination. The chefs got to the task and began cooking, but it came with several challenges, including overcooked rice, imbalance in flavors and burnt beans, among others.

By the end of the episode, Amar earned his double win and advanced to the next round. Buddha, Gabri and Victorie ended up in the bottom. The latter was eventually eliminated by the judges as she couldn't bring the strength in her dish.

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Season 20 of Top Chef has been a very interesting watch so far. As the installment progresses, the remaining contestants will have to put their best foot to impress judges and keep moving forward in the competition. Viewers will have to wait and see who takes it all the way to the end.

Don't forget to tune in to a brand new episode next Thursday, May 18, 2023, at 9 pm ET on Bravo.