Antonia's menu consists of pork belly with sweet peppers, pork sausage with pigeon peas and rice, and curried pork with pumpkin and yuca. Antonia complains to Nikki that her rice is not cooking properly. She explains, "The top is like, mush, and the bottom is, like, raw." Antonia tells Nikki to toss it and start over. Nikki tries to diplomatically find a way to discuss this in an interview, and says cautiously that Antonia doesn't seem as focused and strong as usual, so Nikki is doing what she can to take up the slack. For her part, Antonia claims that she's not thinking about her restaurant that just opened, so I guess that means she's totally thinking about that, and that's her problem?

Lisa's menu includes yuca and pork rellena, citrus braised pork belly, and adobo roasted pork tostone. That's about all we get to hear from Lisa.

Stephanie and Dale discuss what in the hell they are going to do. Stephanie knows that if she only puts out two dishes when everyone else is doing three, she'll go home. Dale suggests chicharrones, which are fried pig skin. So Stephanie ends up doing chicharrones (fried pig skin), fruit, and prosciutto salad, coconut pork with plantain pancake, and pork satay on sugar cane. She admits that she's actually kind of excited about her new dish.

With thirty minutes left, the chefs chop and dice and taste and season. Antonia says that her daughter told her to not even come home if she doesn't win. Which I'm sure is meant to sound cute, but kind of creeps me out. And it seems like a lot of pressure.

The cheftestants take their food outside to their tables with thirty minutes left to prep. Stephanie is preparing some sort of blini, and she's doubting that decision as she interviews that one little error can mean the difference in terms of making it to the finals. Lisa interviews that, in the final challenge, they will get to cook their own food on their own terms, so she just has one more hurdle before reaching that goal. Richard starts plating his food and interviews that he really wants to win this challenge after his disappointing Quickfire. Everyone plates and tastes and seasons and the timer runs out.

The guests arrive. Lisa interviews that it's an honor to cook for the First Lady and all of the VIPs. Padma, Tom, Wilo, and Gail arrive at Stephanie's table and sample her wares. Wilo has questions about the plantain pancake, and Gail likes the fruit salad. Stephanie interviews that the judges were smiling while eating her food so she feels like she's okay. It's sad that Stephanie's goal probably went from winning the challenge to not getting sent home the minute Dale left the pork out overnight. The judges head to Richard's table next. He has a story for each dish, including one dish that's an homage to his mother, one that's an homage to his hometown of Atlanta, and he also explains the backstory on the Malta beverage. Richard explains something that it seems many cheftestants never learn: "The goal is to bend each challenge to your strengths, not to totally change your style to the challenge." The judges don't give him much feedback.