Original subtitles

I'm happy you and Grubbs are here.

-Wouldn't be the same. - Happy to be here.

-Mornin', everybody! - Mornin'!

Come on in the barn. Join us!

- All right. - Okay.

- What you think we gotta do? - I have no idea.

I've been in the bottom two twice in this competition already

and it's quite humbling for me.

- Good morning, guys. - How you doin'?

- How's everybody? - Morning!

The more I go, the more I learn, the better my chances are of winning this.

If I can just keep from goin' home…

It's-- Because I wanna win. I'm here to win this competition.

You got somethin' for us today?

-Oh, we got somethin' for you. -I think so.

Today, we are celebrating

American smoking traditions.

At each of your stations,

there are two very wild animals

connected to American barbecue history

that we randomly selected for you.

Long before barbecue focused on chicken, beef, and pork,

these animals were smoked and grilled

in backyards and in the backwoods

all across the American South for generations.

When I hear "wild game,"

I'm excited to do the challenge.

Oh, we're gonna do some interesting things

that just grow out there

that we normally eat, but just… are natural. They're not farmed.

Who has experience workin' with wild animals?

Grubbs.

-This could be your day, my friend. -Could be.

Wild game.

I'd believe if you put salt and sugar on a crow, it'll taste good, so…

you know, if you're hungry enough, you will eat it.

I stay optimistic, but I don't rule out.

I'm workin' with a great bunch of good cooks here.

I don't cook a lot of wild meat at home.

I haven't had much of it in my life.

This is, uh… It's gonna be tough.

You okay, Tina?

-Yeah.

-See? I'm smilin'.

I don't like the flavors…

or, at least, I don't think I like the flavors of wild game.

If you smell the animal, you can tell if it's gamier.

Leave wild stuff for the buzzards, or…

Grub.

For today's challenge,

each of you will be cooking two wild proteins,

one of which must be smoked, and the other included in a stew.

You need to pay careful attention to which protein you smoke

and which you put in a stew,

because the gaminess of some of these wild animals

is much higher than the other.

Choose very carefully.

We've also filled your pantries with some American ingredients

that aren't as common as they used to be.

Y'all know these are ingredients

that you cain't go to the local grocery store and get.

Such things like chayote,

cactus paddles and gooseberries.

And you have to include them in two side dishes.

Myself, I bring a lot of knowledge of barbecue.

That's my thing.

Um, the whole side dishes and things like that,

that's a little bit out of my wheelhouse.

This is real-deal, old-old-school backyard barbecue.

Me and Melissa designed this challenge

to see how you guys work with tougher, gamier, unfamiliar meats

and totally wild ingredients.

All right. So, cookers, your wild meats are at your stations.

You've got six and a half hours.

Don't forget, you're makin' one stew, one smoked meat, two sides.

-All right. -Okay.

-Get smokin'! Let's go! -Git! Get after it!

Scatter like the little critters you gon' be cookin', okay?

Oh, my God.

Oh, raccoon! Aieee!

I've got raccoon and elk.

Raccoon?

Tina, what you got?

Venison and… What the…

Iguana. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

I get venison.

I'm not greatly fond of it, but I've had it.

And then I've got iguana,

a giant lizard.

And it doesn't…

smell good.

What is that?

Phew.

That's a… That's a gator.

That is definitely a gator, or the longest tailed pig I've ever seen.

I'm not that disappointed that I've got hare.

Uh, hare is basically rabbit.

I've experienced rabbit before.

Alligator scares me to death. I have no idea how to cook this.

The texture of the meat…

is just like nothin' I've ever done before.

I don't know where to start.

This is gonna be a challenge!

-What'd you get, Rasheed? -I got beaver.

And… squirrel.

I've never thought of cooking any of these things.

Who makes beaver?

Like, where do you get a beaver?

Look at that bison.

Oh, that's beautiful. I like that.

This is all just new for, I think, all of us, except Grubbs.

He's always hunting. He traps these things.

He has experience cooking all of this.

Grubbs is gonna be the guy to beat for this competition.

Oh, my goodness!

I got a fresh cut up possum over here,

and didn't have to get it off the side of the road.

Half the ribs.

Got a possum. This is gonna be quite a challenge.

I'm a North Georgia grillbilly.

This is wild game day. This is my ball game.

Yeah. Now all we need's a head on it.

This may be my chance to pull out a win in a challenge.

I put it together, that's actually a possum minus the head

-right here.

But it's pretty.

Might have a little advantage of cooking wild game

over some of these other competitors.

Y'all are mean. I mean, this was…

I know y'all came up with somethin' different, but this is far out.

They probably won't be speakin' to us after this.

-We have given them

some unusual things.

-However, this is a competition. -Mm-hm.

And at some point, you have to test their mettle.

So they've been given wild animals

and they've gotta smoke one and use the second in a stew.

Tell us about the meats.

Iguana's so weird.

Smells like fish, feels like chicken, but tastes like beef.

If that's your first time handlin' it, what you gonna do with it?

-Not handle it would be my choice. -Not.

I'm all right, long as I don't have to kill it.

That beaver tail's a delicacy in some places, believe it or not.

That is a fatty piece of meat.

And then you got possum and raccoon.

Very, very gamey.

I'm gettin' ready to touch the raccoon,

trim all this fat off of it.

It's meat. It's just meat.

So, the key to success in this challenge

is… not to get overwhelmed

by the unusual proteins that you have.

They should look at iguana like chicken,

bison like beef,

and use those cooking methods.

The cookers who approach it like that are gonna have an edge.

The cookers who get overwhelmed are gonna struggle.

It kinda looks like chicken. I don't know.

I have no idea what I'm doin'.

I am going to look so stupid durin' this challenge.

It's gonna be ridiculous.

This is kind of like tellin' a pizza chef to make a sushi roll.

Already my anxiety is through the roof on this challenge.

This was the last basket that I wanted to get.

The only thing I can do is just start usin' some of these ingredients.

Grub, which side do you think's the head?

That came off your neck, what's in your right hand.

-This right here? Okay. Good! -Yeah.

I'm trying to figure out what part might be the tenderest,

'cause it doesn't seem to have fat in it.

I'm gonna cook a little piece

of each one and taste it.

I've got venison, big old pieces,

and then I've got iguana.

All right, at least it's not gross.

I decided to do the venison first, because I wanna smoke that.

I'm pokin' all these holes in here…

because I'mma shove these garlic cloves in here.

From the venison I have ate, it's kind of a strong taste.

Get it all seasoned up and get it in the smoker

while I'm thinking…

…what I'm gonna do with the iguana.

So, this is chewy.

I'm gonna have to, uh… stew that.

Hah! Okay.

Gosh, there's just not a ton, man.

It's so oily.

It's dark, rich, oily meat.

I feel like the oils alone will catch fire,

and this squirrel is too small to really do much with in a stew.

All those bones.

This is gamey, real gamey.

I'm really focused on the flavor of everything.

That's my plan of attack, is getting the flavor in there.

To take the gaminess out of any of the wild game,

it's kind of like body odor.

You don't put perfume on that, you kind of take a bath.

Seasoning is very important.

You wanna remove that gaminess,

because if something is not treated properly,

it won't be edible.

Five hours left, everybody.

All this is gonna cook down.

I'm gonna make a…

stew with my raccoon.

My goal in cooking this raccoon

is to disguise it as much as possible,

so that I don't know that it's there,

and then maybe I'll taste it.

Just lookin' at it now, it's like… It's still sayin' raccoon to me.

Raccoon is real greasy,

naturally greasy with game.

Oh, man! Get you some celery, some peppers and onions goin'…

I mean, anything, really,

to get you a flavor profile started

-to pull out some of that gaminess. -Yeah.

Are you makin' a brine, Sylvie?

It's a mari-- More of a marinade.

I've got some rosemary, garlic, thyme.

Which one are you gonna use that on?

Uh, the elk.

I'm putting the trimmed elk…

into that mixture.

I'm gonna marinate it for a while.

This is gonna go on the smoker,

and my plan is to make a type of…

Brunswick stew with the raccoon.

Brunswick stew is a stew that takes

anything you have in the refrigerator, the freezer, leftovers,

and you put it together in a pot and you cook it.

By puttin' it in a stew,

hopefully that will get rid of any off taste

that this meat might have.

This is the first squirrel I'm really excited to get my hands on.

For my main dish, I'm doin' lemon-herb roasted squirrel.

In my head, I sort of envisioned

just hittin' it with a cup of olive oil, and that run off with a little salt.

Just a nice herb brush, a twist up of thyme, rosemary, sage.

This is gonna sit and marinate up until maybe the halfway point

'cause it's so small and so lean, it doesn't need a lot.

And for my stew, I'm doing beaver dumpling stew.

My grandma makes my favorite dish as a kid, stew peas.

Subbin' out the beef for beaver,

and hopin' the judges enjoy it as much as I do.

This is definitely the weirdest thing I've ever cooked,

is-is this gator and this wild hare.

So in the pan right now, I got, uh, just a few pieces of gator meat.

I just wanna test these flavors…

and see what goes with what.

Thinkin' I'm gonna smoke the gator and stew the hare.

I've never cooked gator before.

It kinda looks like chicken. It seems a little bit salty to me.

What I did is decided to go ahead and rub it down with some tomato paste

and hopefully, that'll draw some of that saltiness out of the meat.

This is, uh… somethin' a little bit outside of my wheelhouse.

But, uh…

you know, I'm gonna-- I'm gonna give it my all.

There's still some iguana skin on there.

Aah! Just grossed me out a little bit. I'm all right, though.

Right now,

I'm gonna brown some iguana for a stock,

because I've decided I'm gonna make, like, a cream-based

iguana chowder stew.

Yeah, 'cause there's not a lotta…

meat, like, that you can get to.

It smells like my pond. Like, it's kind of fishy.

Makin' tasty iguana. Mm!

Oh, God!

Aah! It's not gettin' any easier.

Okay, it's not chicken. I think it's fine. I think it's just more…

It's an iguana.

Just a thought.

I do believe I'll make a sweet Italian sausage with the bison.

The possum, I'm gonna stew. It's gonna be the bomb.

Grubbs, what you doin'?

I watched Beverly Hillbillies once. I saw Granny cook some possum

-with some sweet taters. -Yes.

That's what I'm gonna put together for you today.

You've had possum stew before?

I've had grilled possum before, never possum stew,

but I figured my other meat would hold better up to grillin'.

With the bison, I'm gonna make a sweet Italian sausage.

-Sausage is my forte. -Sausage is your forte?

I learned the first time.

Gotta have that flavor in there. The texture will be good.

I know bison will take the flavor really well.

And, uh, it's gonna bring a new flavor of sausage

that y'all haven't tried yet from me.

Now, Grub, you're a backwoods dude.

-Mm. -I got high expectations.

Can-- For once, can you get close to the top for once for us?

I know, it-- It sucks

-bein' in the bottom all the time.

It's my third time makin' sausage in the competition.

First round, the sausage wasn't so good.

The second time, the Andouille wasn't spicy enough,

so this is gonna either make it or break it for me.

If I screw it up, I'm goin' home.

If I knock it out the park, I'mma be here the next time around.

So I have to focus on what I'm doin' and get it right.

Got possum goin' on the smoker!

Dredged in flour, salt and pepper, a little fatback for oil in the bottom.

I'm makin' a possum sweet potato stew.

I gotta get it roasted, try to take some of the wildness

before I actually make a stew out of it.

I feel like a kid on Christmas mornin' right now.

The key to makin' wild game taste less gamey

is vinegar, butter, salt.

Sugar's a good one, too, to take the wildness out.

You always need a little sugar with possum.

You gotta tame it. That's how you tame it, with a little sweet.

'Cause it's wild. So you make it sweet, take the wild out.

What kind of stew are you makin', by the way?

Rabbit.

Oh.

My fire's out.

I look in my firebox, and it's totally burned out of wood.

When you're smokin' meat of any kind, you want to make sure

that the temperature stays consistent the whole time.

That's very important.

What happened?

I've gotta get this fire built back up.

I've gotta get the smoker back up to temp just as quick as possible.

My fire went out.

I really don't want to go home today,

so I've gotta do somethin' to get myself together and regroup,

or I might as well start packin' my bags.

I just wanna get my hare browned up, then I'm gonna add my other ingredients.

Very important for me to be in this competition,

not only to do my part

to make Big Worm's Legacy BBQ

what it needs to be, but, uh…

I wanna win.

That would be a absolute lifelong dream of mine.

Get that pork belly in there and some smoked bacon.

I'm going to stew the beaver.

I want the judges to forget that they're having, you know, beaver.

I've got two very, very lean proteins.

We all know the fat's where all the flavor is.

-Rasheed's got some pork belly over there. -I seen that.

He could be usin' it, uh, as a starter for his stew.

With any of the wild game, the meats are so lean.

Definitely, they need to incorporate some sort of fat into that.

I brought some onion, carrots, celery.

This is real backwoods, pioneer-style cooking,

just rustic greens, rustic fresh herbs.

I got the veggies in there, getting friendly with that bacon.

This is all for my raccoon stew.

Bacon can make anything taste better.

Especially, I'm hopin' it's gonna make this raccoon flavorful.

I'm tryin' to get some coal goin' here.

I've got pecan and hickory,

which, I don't usually use hickory because it's strong,

but I thought, if you're gonna make game meat,

it can probably take it.

I'm actually smokin' venison

and I'm also gonna put it in the stew with iguana, too.

When they talk about "gamey," it is this flavor

that's just hard to get around.

The other consideration is

how are these meats gonna accept smoke?

-Because they're so lean… -Mm.

…you know, they're gonna accept smoke very quickly.

I would choose, you know, the lighter smokes,

the fruit woods, pecan, oak,

but season it well.

That elk is super lean.

There's no marbling.

So, you know you have to do a real quick cook

just to get it to a medium-rare temperature where it's safe to eat,

and that's it.

As long as it's safe to eat.

The squirrel is so small and so lean,

so I'm gonna roast the squirrel.

It won't take a lot of time, that will give me time to focus

on other elements that we have to implement.

Gettin' that sweet Italian bison sausage into the big Lang

to get some flavor in it.

I'm using pecan wood in the Lang to get my sausages…

smudged with smoke.

Sausages on.

-Our boy Grub. -Ohh.

-You think he's overconfident? -I think he is. Um…

First of all, he has one of the easier proteins,

and he's just gonna attempt to make a sausage out of it.

So here's my question.

Why would you take one of the easier meats

which you can treat just like beef

and make a huge leap of faith

that we are, this time…

going to like your sausage?

Because he said sausage is his forte.

Is his forte.

So I got this big ol' tail

that I gotta get done.

I'm not quite sure how it's gonna turn out.

But… best thing I can do is get it on the fire and see what happens.

How would you cook gator?

-It looked like he had tail meat. -Yeah.

-Is that, like, a good part? -I would say that's a good choice.

-That's a good choice. -That's about the fattiest part.

So, so far, he's doin' the right thing.

-It didn't look well seasoned, though. -Nah.

Four hours left.

This is tart. You ever tasted one?

-I tasted one. That's a gooseberry. -Yeah, yeah.

It's like a persimmon.

-Yucca? -That's the root of the yucca plant, yeah.

Hey, Rasheed, you peel the yucca, right?

Yeah, you definitely gotta peel it.

Yeah, definitely.

I have never worked with yucca before.

I know that you can make French fries out of 'em, kinda.

So, uh, that's what I'm gonna attempt to do.

So, judges, how difficult is it to work with these ingredients?

-Yucca, sunchokes, huckleberry. - Sunchokes.

Chayote, cactus paddles.

That cactus paddle, it has a okra…

-texture to it. -Uh-huh.

Use it like you use okra.

There's all kinds of things you can do with these

that they're not aware of.

If they taste it first…

-What are these things again? -Chayotes, I believe.

-Chayote. -Yeah. How'd they taste?

They're a little bitter, but they kinda got an apple texture to 'em.

Maybe a little crisper…

than an apple.

For my sides, I'm thinkin' I'm gonna go with a chayote apple cobbler.

I'm gonna treat 'em just like it's an apple.

I'm gonna put some honey and a little bit of sugar, stew 'em down

and just go from there and see how it tastes.

Ms. Sylvie, what you bringin' off the grill?

I got some cactus. They're restin' here, gettin' ready to go on a salad.

-Beautiful. I never, ever cooked cactus. -Yes. You and I are in the same boat.

Crunchy.

-Smoky. -Smoky.

Where I live in California,

there are prickly pear cactus

growing all up and down the highway that I live in front of.

This is quite tart,

I need to add some more salt to it.

I may even have to add a little bit of brown sugar.

It's like the raccoon swimming in my pool.

It never even crossed my mind that that should be on my dinner table.

So I'm gonna make cactus salad with fresh vegetables,

then I've got this…

…yucca.

I'm gonna go rustic on this

with a mojo-type, creole-type seasoning going on with it,

with the lemons and the garlic,

and the, uh, salt and pepper.

I'm makin' a chayote mashed potato

with parm and mild cheddar.

I've got-- I've got a few things in mind.

I've got… yucca two ways.

I got 'em in fries and delicious…

…salt and vinegar yucca chips.

Every single challenge so far has been somethin'

I know nothin' about.

I plan on making fried yucca chips and fries,

and a blueberry huckleberry vinaigrette

to go over a roasted corn salad.

I'm making sautéed sunchokes

with chopped onion and some butter in here.

Butter's good with potatoes, so it should be good with sunchokes, right?

I'm pretty good at making cobbler.

I got my mom's and my paw-paw's recipe in my head.

It's ready!

This is my paw-paw's batter, he passed it down to my mom,

for a cobbler pie.

I'm gonna make a pie. That one is a gimme.

I'm gonna use huckleberries, and some blackberries and raspberries.

Huckleberry cobbler.

I got my sunchokes cut down.

I got 'em in a little avocado oil, salt, pepper and garlic.

Get 'em in the pan, get 'em out on the cooker, get 'em roastin'.

Really focusin' on sides right now.

I'm gonna make mashed yucca with bacon, and also sautéed chayote.

These in there, sauté 'em with a bit of butter,

I'mma drizzle some fig balsamic vinegar on 'em.

That's how I eat 'em at the house.

They give you gas when you eat 'em.

It's gonna be a wild time.

I added the cactus to the salad.

Now I'm gettin' ready to add the dressing to it.

Then I'm gonna top it off with some avocado.

Mm, mm, mm!

It's good stuff.

I have a tray of beaver tail

that's been starin' at me all day.

Fried it up, puffed up lookin' like cracklin'.

So I'm making some beaver cracklin' as well.

Why not? I'mma use all the beaver…

that I can, literally.

From the nose to the tail.

- Oh, no. -What's wrong?

-It turned to mush.

-What turned to mush? -The yucca.

They've been in there the whole time?

-Thirty minutes. Is that too long? -That is… That's mashed yucca.

You got it, brother. Just-- Hey, take a breath. Take a breath.

I'm gonna stare right in your camera

if you don't go away for, like, two minutes, please.

Just give me enough time to regroup, man.

Please, God!

I-I do traditional barbecue.

This is not barbecue.

Hey, it's just nothin'. You got plenty of time.

You can have mashed yucca, that's a dish my grandma used to make.

-Try to salvage that. - All right.

Let's do this. We got it.

Three hours, team! Let's kick it up!

-Okay, who wants to taste possum stock? - No.

-Come on, now. -No, thank you.

- No, no, no. -Not even a little bit.

No takers. Oh, well.

Sweet potatoes and possum. Just like Granny Clampett used to do.

Little sweet potato on the side.

Man!

Why haven't I ever done this before?

Yep, it's good to go.

This can hang out.

-This where all the good stuff is? -Yes, sir.

This is my beaver dumpling stew.

-This is the dumpling? -Yes, ma'am.

You got the nerve to have a smoke ring on your beaver?

Yes, sir, 'cause I smoked it first.

-'Cause this is a barbecue competition.

Now, the one thing…

How much grease do you think that is sittin' on top?

That is a good amount. That's about four inches.

Yes, ma'am.

She was concerned about the amount of oil in my stew.

I knew I'd be fighting a uphill battle with these far-out ingredients

and I'm not gonna change my cooking style,

but there's a-a little bit of method to it.

But if he didn't skim that…

-all that oil and grease off the top… - Yeah.

Imagine what happens when it-- I mean…

- When it sits-- -You get a big dipper of that…

-Ugh. -It'll be two inches of…

If he don't skim it, it'll be two inches of fat sittin' there.

Ugh. I don't want that.

Oh, no.

All my liquid is-is cooked out of my stew on this open fire.

I don't know about Ashley.

I'm not sure that he's going to be able to apply his barbecue knowledge

to the proteins that we've given him.

Jesus Christ, what could go wrong next?

It's been great cookin' with y'all.

I'm about to bow out.

- Hey, hey, none of that, man. - No, Ashley.

- No, man-- -Man, my stew's burned.

-What happened to it? - My alligator sucks.

I mean, I ain't gonna win, dude. This is pointless.

- Ash! -Can any of us help you, Ashley?

I-I don't know.

- Looks like he given up. - What?

I think he just quit.

What are you doin', man?

Man, I don't even have anything I can turn in.

He's throwing in the towel.

And I know that's not Ash.

It ain't done. It ain't over. Don't-Don't… Come on, man.

No one wants to stand by and see anyone struggle.

I know he's wanting to honor his lost friend, Big Worm,

and I know Worm wouldn't have let him quit.

The stew, is it burned down? Is it dry? Is there water in it?

It's burned.

I just wanted to throw my hands up and quit.

-Let's get to work. -But…

Rasheed told me, "Don't quit, keep pushin' for Big Worm."

That meant a lot.

I start to realize I gotta channel Big Worm and push through this,

because he would have never gave up, and I'm not either.

-Yeah, we can-- We can do this. - We can save that.

Doesn't look bad. What's wrong with it?

-That's… That's gone. - You can't save it.

Everyone says you can't overcook a stew, but you can burn a stew,

and that burnt flavor is all the way through.

Yeah, so…

-But no one's givin' up. - No… Never give up.

Ash, how you doin', boy?

-I'm hangin' in there, man. - Hangin' in there?

- You got this, bro.

Never give up.

My stew, I'm gonna have to take off the fire,

add some more moisture to it,

throw some tomato paste down in it

to absorb the burnt taste

and just try to get it goin' again.

Just focus on that top, don't get the bottom.

- I'm good. Appreciate it. - All right. You're welcome.

There's just somethin' about this barbecue competition.

If you're strugglin' with somethin', your neighbor's there to help you.

Now, I'm regrouped, I'm refocused.

I've gotta make this turn in.

You just don't see this.

They're doin' things that can help him

-get them sent home. - Yeah.

We've got his gator wrapped up in some foil,

some butter, some stock, gonna bring some moisture,

just enough time to get that moisture back into the gator.

And for it to turn out perfect.

All right.

-You good? - Yeah, I'm good.

-Appreciate it. - You're welcome, bro.

We're not lettin' anybody quit. You can't quit, you already came too far

to just give up 'cause somethin' burned.

If you're barbecuing, playing with fire, and you haven't burned somethin',

you haven't been cookin' right.

I cooked this Brunswick stew with this…

raccoon in it,

and it looks good, but I cannot put that in my mouth.

Wow! That's beautiful, Ms. Sylvie.

Raccoons, they go through your trash cans,

they eat garbage.

It means, if I ate a raccoon, I'm eating…

a garbage eater?

I would never guess that was raccoon. Never.

- That's damn good. -It is.

-I tasted raccoon! -There you go.

I need to really go in there and get my iguana.

Bring that out…

I mean…

I'm behind.

I'm bringin' cream and butter

and my iguana.

Okay, my stove's off.

When I cooked the sample piece of iguana off,

it-it cooked so quick,

I thought it would get tough in my stew,

so I put the iguana meat in the egg

just to release the flavors in a different pan.

So I'm watchin' it really close, 'cause it…

I mean, it cooked fast.

I mean, I was shocked, so…

Oh, yeah. It's only been in here a minute and it's already startin', so…

I'mma…

I guess I have to stay out here with it.

Oh, sit here and wait on the iguana.

Thirty-three minutes!

Samp-- Let's sample the smoked sausage.

Hm. I like it. I don't know how they're gonna dig the mouthfeel, but I like it.

-A little dry. -Yeah.

I tasted my sausage.

The texture's off, and these-- These judges know texture, and…

it may be my demise.

A quick barbecue sauce.

Dip them-- Dip them sausages in.

I ended up over-prickin' my sausages,

to get the smoke ring in 'em, and it dried out a bit on me.

And it's disappointin', but then I said, "I got it."

I'm gonna make an Italian barbecue sauce to serve with the sausage.

Sausage and sauce go together like biscuits and gravy.

I mean, I don't-- I don't wanna overthink it,

I'll mess up the flavor, so I have to ride with what it is.

Fifteen minutes, everybody.

Bless it!

To be a pioneer woman, you would have to be very strong.

That's my yuccas. I boiled it too long.

Now, I'm gonna try to make mashed potatoes out of 'em.

Pretty much every family dinner at home, you're gonna have mashed potatoes.

This has turned out pretty good.

Ah, it's heavy.

I cooked it to the right temp, but let's just hope that they like it.

It is what it is at this point. Regardless of what happens today,

I'm gonna put somethin' on the plate.

I made my alligator two different ways.

I shredded one of 'em and sliced gator.

It's been an emotional day for me.

More than anything, I wanna stay in this competition.

Ten, nine, eight…

seven, six, five…

four, three, two, one…

Show me the meats!

-Relief! -What a day that was.

This ain't gettin' any easier.

At this point, I'm just happy that I made everything turned in.

I know it's not gonna be the best quality of what I've done before.

I'm just hopin' that it's just good enough to squeak me by.

Hello.

- Hey, y'all. - Welcome.

- Good afternoon. - Look at this.

- All right, so, Tina. -Mm.

Why don't you tell us about your wild protein,

your stew and your sides?

So, a roasted venison,

huckleberry cobbler, sunchokes,

and some lizard stew.

Tina, what was the hardest part of puttin' all this together for you?

Probably the lizard stew.

But after I cooked a piece, and tasted it, it was a little easier.

I will tell you that the iguana stew…

-…is surprising to me.

Surprising?

The iguana stew is fantastic.

- I love it.

Your venison, the flavor is there, it's good smoke.

Could have been just, for me, a tad bit more tender.

-This is a excellent way to start. -Oh, thank you.

All right, Rasheed.

I made beaver dumpling stew, roasted squirrel,

corn and kale salad with a sunchoke mashed potato.

These little super small pieces are actually, uh, beaver cracklin'.

So that's a crack-- That's from the tail?

A nice piece of beaver cracklin'.

If you've never had a beaver tail cracklin'…

you should.

-Thank you. -The beaver dumplings are…

one of the best things I've ever had in a stew.

The dumpling…

held its shape, but has so much flavor.

Thank you very much.

I'm a hunter,

and sometimes we cook squirrel out in the field when we hunt.

It kind of tastes like that to me. Could have been a little bit better.

First time tastin' squirrel,

-and you just wanna wow, you know? -Of course.

-Sylvie. - So what I did was seared elk.

The raccoon is cooked in a Brunswick-type stew,

then I also have the chayote and grilled cactus.

The flavor, the depth of flavor that's in this stew,

I don't think it would've mattered if you had put every wild game

in the country in this stew, I think it still would have been good.

This is one of the best stews I've ever had.

-Ah, thank you. -Your salad…

I see you kept it California when you put the avocados in that cactus salad.

This is real good.

Your, uh, elk, the flavor…

as always, on point.

-Good job, Ms. Sylvie. -Thank you.

Ashley, big day.

-You made it. -I did.

So I've got a rabbit stew,

sliced and pulled gator,

yucca potatoes,

and a chayote and apple cobbler.

I definitely didn't think I was gonna be able to do it.

I was havin' one issue after another.

I mean, you pulled it together, man.

I'm glad you took a deep breath and just reeled it in.

- Right. -I'm not sayin' if you're gonna

make it further or whatever, whatever, but I was not expectin' this.

-Thank you. - Okay.

The, um, alligator

could have used a little more flavor.

-The cobbler's really flavorful.

The potatoes and yucca

-could have used a little bit of salt. -Okay.

The stew could have been a little…

you know, had a little bit more…

…strength to it.

It's a little thin. It could have used a little bit of thickener.

So you guys think the soup could have been a "hair" thicker.

Judges taste my food…

And, believe it or not, it's not the most terrible comments

that you could receive.

Maybe it's just good enough to squeak me by to the next round.

Ashley, thank you very much.

-Thank you, guys. -Grubbs.

I made opossum stew,

I have a sweet Italian bison sausage,

sautéed chayote, mashed yucca and roasted sunchokes.

For me, I thought that your use of the barbecue sauce

might have helped, uh, your texture balance on your sausage.

I thought that it was…

um, very unique.

However, the texture

is not what I wanna see in a sausage.

The flavor of your sausage is…

is just not holdin' up.

Not enough fat.

The possum still really wasn't that bad.

But once again, you just… on the seasonin'.

I just want a little bit more oomph to mine.

Your yucca mashed potatoes and chayote…

sunchokes, I didn't taste anything in that, didn't taste no flavor.

-You guys should be really proud. - Yeah.

Goin' into it, this… My challenge to win,

but the results of my sausage could be sendin' me to the crib.

Now, judges, who do you think did the best overall today?

For us, one of your meals

really blew us away today.

Your flavors, your wild game was pretty spot on.

Today's best meal was made by…

Sylvie.

-Whoo! - Congratulations!

- Congrats, Sylvie!

Now you can say that you are the raccoon champion.

-I'm the raccoon champion! - Yeah!

-I've done it. I'm good. -Never ate or cooked it, and crushed it.

And crushed it. Mm! I don't know that I'll ever make it again.

-However, it was good.

Congratulations, Sylvie.

- Congratulations. -Thank you.

Awesome.

Unfortunately, we have to send somebody home today.

Judges, who do you feel like missed the mark?

Ashley…

and Grubbs.

Sorry to say, we think you both struggled today.

Things didn't work out quite the way you planned.

Ashley, that gator bit you in the ass.

-It did.

Competition's brought out the best of me and it's brought out the worst.

I feel like it brought the worst today.

Nobody ever said competition barbecue

-was gonna be easy. -No, ma'am.

-Suck it up, buttercup. -That's right.

My boy Grub, I've been beggin' and beggin' for seasonin' from you.

And you were almost there tonight.

If you move on, you should be ready as far as your seasonings are concerned,

'cause you should know exactly what we want by now.

It was a really tough decision for us today.

But unfortunately, somebody has to go home.

Grubbs…

you cooked our least favorite meal today, so you'll be goin' home.

-I'm sorry. -I'm-- And I'm okay with that.

I appreciate everything from all you guys, man.

I mean, this has been one of the highlights of my life,

and, uh, I can't trade it for anything.

Ashley, how you feelin' right now, buddy?

Bittersweet. It is.

But my whole motto is, "Live to fight another day," and…

by the seat of my pants, I think I just squeaked by today.

So, uh… we've said it multiple times, we've become like family,

and it's tough to see family go.

Thanks, brother.

-I'm gonna miss you. You hear me? -Yeah.

It's a little emotional, saying goodbye to all the people I met here,

but, uh, the ride itself has been amazing.

My favorite barbecue ladies right here.

Oh, you guys.

Let her rip, tater chip.

Let's go back up to the mountain to cook opossum,

'cause I learned how to do that today.

If I can get the kids to eat it, it'd be a winner.

Y'all better brush up on your history books for the next challenge.

Get to studyin'. We're gonna go back, way back.