Why did Kaleena Bliss leave Top Chef during Last Chance Kitchen?

Why did Kaleena Bliss leave Top Chef during this week’s Last Chance Kitchen episode? At the start of the installment on Peacock, you may have been shocked by her departure to leave.

However, the more that we heard her talk about it, the more it also made sense. To call her journey on the show stressful is putting it mildly. She was first eliminated weeks ago before working her way back (alongside Soo) thanks to Last Chance Kitchen. From there, she managed to be executive chef during Restaurant Wars, but ended up getting sent out again after that.

As Kaleena explained it, she felt a sense of peace upon exiting the show the second time, feeling like she did everything she set out to do. She did not have the feeling that some big mistakes sent her out the door, and she informed Tom Colicchio that she would not be competing this time around. That seemed to legitimately floor him (our guess is producers wanted a legitimate reaction from him and did not tell him in advance), and also caused a major rethinking of what do this week. The show had to go on, right?

Well, it did. Rasika Venkatesa got another chance to compete after being eliminated last time, albeit with a twist: Rather than beat Kévin D’Andrea once, she would have to do it twice. First and foremost, she would have to defeat him in a small version of Restaurant Wars, where they each came up with a concept and have to make some dishes to represent that.

Rasika is a talented chef — there is no denying it. However, she was up against someone in Kévin who has some international experience in the franchise. That was a major advantage for him, and he clearly knows a lot about the sort of food that he wants to make. He advanced, and Rasika was eliminated again.

Where you surprised about Kaleena’s exit before this week’s Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen?

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