For those who were
left hanging:
The competion on June 25, 2000 was interesting, to say the least. As Jinmyo mentioned, the show is not aired in Canada, and only by virtue of being in the USA for work reasons did I see this. I caught it about halfway through the show, both Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto were cooking up a storm. It was billed as the "Rock Crab Challenge", and most of the dishes were crab, Flay prepared some noodle thing though with squid ink that I don't recall having any crab in it...
The event was taped in New York, and one of the exciting things was watching everyone get hyped about cooking... Lots of Morimoto fans in the crowd, there was constant cheering and bad voice over dubbing of the Japanese commentators. It's a good thing that the crowd was on Morimoto's side though, because as the time began to wind down and the competition started to get fierce, things started to go wrong for Bobby Flay.
First, he cut himself with his knife - that was bound up pretty quick and didn't seem to set him back a whole lot, but then between the soaking wet floor and the electric cooking utensils, Flay kept getting shocked. There wasn't a whole lot they could do about it, but after a couple minutes of the camera following a swearing Flay around (commentator audio only at this point :), the organizers seemed to have that problem cleared up, and Flay went back to finish all his dishes with time to spare.
Morimoto was not so fortunate, however - though he seemed to have the majority of what he intended to prepare complete, he was working until the preparation time limit, and appeared rushed at the end.
After the prep time elapsed, Flay decided to pump up the crowd, jumping up onto his cutting board, and yelling at the crowd to "Raise the roof!". He was blasted by Morimoto for it, as Morimoto said after this display "The cutting board and knives are sacred to us and are to be respected. He is not a chef!"
With tensions high, the taste tests began, with Flay's dishes served up first. The judges response was very favorable, as it was with Morimoto's dishes that followed. There was a brief commercial break and when they returned -
MORIMOTO WAS VICTORIOUS! Huzzah! Caloo calay!
By the end of it all, Flay congratulated Morimoto, and all problems seemed smoothed over...
I highly recommend this show... Knowing japanese culture, they'll be on video shortly, and I intend to rent them.