Nookie Glimpses the Promised Land on ATW in 80 Plates

Last night Fenway Park executive chef Steve "Nookie" Postal starred on the season finale of the new Bravo show Around the World in 80 Plates. Sadly for Boston, he didn't win. Or did he? That depends on whether you feel Nookie lost by some fault of his own or because he was surgically removed by the competition for fear of his skills. Here's how it went down.

Nookie was one of three final cheftestapants. Each presented a dish to hosts Cat Cora and Curtis Stone. The winner got to pick their final competitor for the next city, the loser went home. Avery, the winner, chose Liz over Nookie, claiming that she wanted to face against a chef with "integrity." This speaks to a theme that ran throughout the season: when presented with the opportunity to send a chef home, does one try to eliminate the strongest competition or do the right thing? Reward the most skilled chef and punish the weakest link for their mistakes or selfishly send a chef home who doesn't deserve to go? Looking back over the season, there's just no comparison between Nookie and Liz.

Throughout the season, Nookie often repeated his mantra "work smart, not hard." At first, it worked. He dominated. But as time went on, Nookie's choices were made to look manipulative bordering on devious. But the show wasn't about making friends; the objective of the contestants was to win. Nookie tried his best to win, and that's the only reason he lost.

· All coverage of Nookie on Eater [~EBOS~]