⁠"It made the dish feel a bit disconnected"— Top Chef judge Gail Simmons criticizes Massimo Piedimonte's bannock cracker

Top Chef season 22 aired episode 12 on Thursday, May 29, 2025. The episode saw the top 5 compete for the only spots in Milan, Italy, where the chefs will compete to be the next winner of the Bravo reality show.

Since the episode didn't have a quickfire challenge, the contestants directly competed in an elimination challenge and saw Massimo Piedimonte get eliminated from the show.

With Bailey and Massimo at the bottom, the judges provided feedback on their dishes. While Massimo's dish overall was good, it was his bannock cracker that sent him packing.

"It made the dish feel a bit disconnected," Gail Simmons said.

Ultimately, Massimo was sent home over Bailey while the latter made it to the competition's finale.

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"There was so much garnish on the bannock"— Gail Simmons shares her critique of Massimo's dish on Top Chef season 22

In Top Chef season 22 episode 12, the judges deliberated on who to send home after trying all five contestants' dishes.

While cooking in the wilderness, the chefs shared their ideas with the cameras and Massimo said he was butterflying the trout as he wanted to get the flesh as "fondant" as possible and add a little rosé on it.

In a confessional, he added that the trout fish was "very thin," and that it would be extremely difficult to ensure it was cooked perfectly while making sure the skin was crisp, and had the perfect smoke.

"But this isn't my first barbecue," he added.

When the Top Chef season 22 contestant presented his dish to the judges, he told them that a Buddhist monk in "saffron robes" once asked a "19-year-old David Bowie," who he was, where he was, and where he was going.

Massimo said that he hoped his dish would answer at least two of those questions.

The contestant explained the concept of his Grilled Trout with Mustard Sauce, Smoked Potato Purée, and Bannock with Wildflowers dish and said it was conceptualized by the mustard itself.

Tom said that he liked that Massimo focused on one ingredient and said he did a good job. Tracy noted that the fish was cooked perfectly, and since trout was her favorite fish, she appreciated the love he showed to the protein.

Gail said that she thought everything in the bowl was well-balanced, but the bannock threw the balance off since it was "really intense."

Kristen Kish said that Massimo left it up to the "user" to figure out how to eat the Bannock, but that once she figured out her balance, the dish as a whole worked for her.

Nicole Gomes praised the Top Chef season 22 chef's dish and said that it was "very elegant" with a big personality.

The judges' panel praised the cast as a whole, noting that the tasting felt like a collaborative effort since they were so in sync. Tom said it was a shame that one person had to be eliminated as the judges tried to find faults in everyone's dishes.

At the Judges' Table, the host asked Brenda how she thought the contestants did and the latter said she "touched" and that it was a "beautiful honor" to taste their food.

"It was exquisite," she added.

Kristen asked Massimo about his process, and he said that he wanted to cook trout on an open flame. The Top Chef cast member added that since he had extra time, he wanted to cook the bannock crackers so there would be a little bread to have something to dip in.

Tom told him that his dish was cooked beautifully and that he loved the mustard relish with the stems. Kristen praised his sauce and said it was "absolutely outstanding."

"I loved that you put a lot of bitterness and herbaceousness onto that bannock, but the way you plated it, because there was so much garnish on the bannock, I didn't think to dip it. And the flavors on the cracker were so incredibly powerful," Gail Simmons said.

Massimo was eliminated from Top Chef season 22 in the latest episode while the others got ready to fly to Italy for the season finale.