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24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2 aired its two-part season finale on Sunday, May 25, 2025, on the Food Network. The first episode started with Kevin Lee being announced as the last person to be one of the final five. However, somewhere between that and the winner being announced, he was eliminated just short of winning the reality show.
Jonathan Sawyer was declared the winner of the show but if you ask me, Kevin Lee deserved to win the show, just as much, if not more. During his journey on the show, he was the first contestant to win the newly introduced Golden Knife, which gave the wielding contestant some sort of an advantage.
His journey had a full circle moment as he won the knife again in the season finale, however, was eliminated soon after. In my opinion, Kevin Lee deserved to win just as much as Bryan as he has showcased his skills and hard work multiple times in the past. Not only that, he has also survived elimination tasks which makes me believe that he had the determination and will to win.
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What happened in the season finale of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2?
In the season finale of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2, Kevin Lee defeated Kelsey Murphy and Kathleen O'Brien Price and became the last one in the final five. For the first part of their shift, the top 5 competed in a time-based challenge with the theme, Elevation.
Kevin Lee emerged victorious and won himself a Golden Knife. As part of the reward, his advantage was that he had the power to assign a protein for each meal to the other chefs, which could have been a big advantage.
He kept shellfish for himself while giving 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2 cast member Jonathan Sawyer beef, while assigning lamb to Nini. He gave Steph pork and asked Bryan to cook with chicken.
As his next advantage, he had to pick cooking styles and for breakfast, Kevin picked "classic." Unfortunately, Kevin's decisions landed him in the bottom along with Nini.
His lobster eggs benedict with herb bernaise sauce and avocado failed to impress the judges and the last of a split English muffin left his dish dry. This resulted in his elimination from the Food Network show while Bryan won the Golden Knife.
As the holder of the knife, the 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2 contestant could reshuffle the names of proteins the contestants had to cook with in the next round but he chose not to use the power.
Jonathan Sawyer tested his fate but used wagnu beef for lunch in an attempt to win the last Golden Knife of the show and succeeded. He successfully avoided the double elimination while Nini and Stephanie were sent home.
This meant Bryan and Sawyer competed went head-to-head to become the winner of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2. Since Jonathan had the golden knife, he picked the rack of lamb to cook with made lamb chops and served it with uni and chanterelle mushrooms.
Bryan's dish was a Roasted Blue Foot chicken with mushrooms and parsnips. Jonathan's dish and his performance throughout the season won him the trophy and a grand prize of $75,000.
Although Jonathan Sawyer deserved to take home the prize, I believe Kevin Lee was just as worthy of winning 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2 on the Food Network.
Episodes of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing season 2 can be streamed on the Food Network.
