Riley Reid and Jenna Foxx kick off season three with a vengeance as they are thrown into deep water. Their task? Whipping up a dish neither have made before: crab cakes.

Riley, a former vegan, claims to have leveled-up her cooking skills when she changed her diet. Meanwhile, Jenna considers herself a well-rounded quality home cook.

Now tasked with their crab cake assignment, both Riley and Jenna’s confidence is clearly shaken.

Chef JoJo is immediately impressed with Riley’s chopping skills, though Riley admits to being a little out of practice due to her busy schedule.

On the other hand, Jenna plans to rely on her strong kitchen instincts to pull off delicious crab cakes.

As the clock ticks on, Chef JoJo is encouraged by what he’s seeing from both Riley and Jenna.

Even if he has to jump in with advice from time to time.

After a strong start, the pressure of the competition begins taking its toll on the competitors.

From Riley’s confusion around the rawness of an egg, to Jenna forgetting to prepare her coleslaw, there are plenty of mishaps to go around.

So when Chef Jojo announces that the time is up, Riley and Jenna breathe a sigh of relief.

Regardless of who wins, both contestants can be proud of the fact that they finished the challenge. But it all comes down to the tasting…

And according to Chef Jojo’s taste buds, Riley nailed the flavor and texture of her crab cakes. Her coleslaw, on the other hand, could use some work.

Biting into Jenna’s dish, Chef Jojo compliments her crab cake’s flavors, but isn’t convinced her “spicy coleslaw” is worthy of being served to his mama.

Chef JoJo reaches his decision: Riley wins.

On hearing the news, Jenna throws some choice hand gestures Chef Jojo’s way. Jokingly, of course.

The next round of competitors have arrived in Chef JoJo’s kitchen: creators Elsa Jean and Nicole Doshi, who both describe themselves as “inexperienced” chefs.

Lucky for Elsa and Nicole, Chef Jojo is challenging them to create a dish that rarely misses, regardless of skill: homemade pizzas.

But the kitchen drama starts instantly with Elsa Jean’s struggle to get rid of a hole in her crust.

Nicole opts for a proven combination of pizza ingredients: mushrooms, spicy sausage, and olives.

Elsa, on the other hand, is using her This Is Fire appearance as an opportunity to prove that pineapple belongs on pizza (along with pepperoni and peppers).

As Nicole’s nerves catch up with her, she struggles to keep her hand still while slicing mushrooms.

Meanwhile, Elsa is content to throw ingredients at her pizza until she comes up with something she likes.

As the clock runs down, Chef JoJo encourages Elsa and Nicole to get their pizzas in the oven. After all, the key to a delicious stone-fired pizza is nailing the cook time.

Unfortunately for Nicole, just getting the pizza in the oven is easier said than done. After her dough snags on the oven, she cleverly rebrands her dish as a ‘calzone’.

Elsa’s pizza makes it into the oven intact, though she worries her crust is cooked through heading into the tasting.

After the tasting, Chef Jojo is truly impressed with the quality of the sauces that Elsa and Nicole created for their pizzas. An impressive achievement, given their lack of experience.

As for Nicole’s pizza calzone, Chef Jojo has nothing but good things to say about how her spicy sausage turned out.

Ultimately, however, Elsa’s pizza wins the day. Chef Jojo gives her credit for balancing the controversial pineapple flavor with the spicy peppers and pepperoni.

It probably helped that her pizza wasn’t folded in half.

Chef Jojo welcomes Leah Gotti and Violet Myers to the kitchen for what proves to be a very competitive episode.

Leah’s cooking experience can be chalked up to learning from her grandmother, and her genuine love of comfort food.

Violet’s cooking background stems from growing up in a Mexican family. She believes her passion for rich blends of spices and flavors will shine through in the competition– whatever the dish is.

The dish? Fried chicken and waffles with foie gras.

Although neither contestant is familiar with foie gras (let alone able to pronounce it), they both bravely hunker down and jump into action.

Having recently binge-watched both previous seasons of This Is Fire, Violet knows that Chef JoJo is really into spicy food and plans to use that to her advantage.

Leah is also planning to go the spicy route, but Chef Jojo notices that she’s in danger of going overboard.

Especially when Leah breaks out the hot peppers.

Violet reveals her plans to infuse heat directly into her chicken breast. Meanwhile, Leah chooses to go with bacon.

To their credit, both chefs appear to know exactly what they’re doing even as the pressure mounts. Perhaps Leah will draw from her brief restaurant experience to finish strong.

Violet, on the other hand, does everything she can not to let down her following of anime fans.

And even when the occasional setback pops up, Chef Jojo is standing by to offer critical encouragement and advice.

Arabelle Raphael and Mick Blue enter the kitchen ready show the world they can make it all the way to the finals.

Growing up in a French/Tunisian household, Arabelle is comfortable using rare ingredients. Like chicken feet.

And apparently, Mick can whip up a delicious spaghetti bolognese or schnitzel with his eyes closed.

But Chef Jojo’s challenge falls outside both competitors’ comfort zones: shepherd’s pie.

Early on, Arabelle and Mick both come to Chef Jojo for advice quite often. That’s understandable, considering Mick had not even heard of shepherd’s pie.

To help keep Arabelle and Mick on pace to finish, Chef Jojo graciously helps them with their chopping techniques.

However, there’s not much he can do to help Arabelle’s and Mick’s time management. As Arabelle’s remaining time runs out, so does her kitchen vocabulary.

At one point, she completely forgets the word, “fork.”

Shortly after the “fork” incident, Mick is running around the kitchen looking for a “potato squisher”, whatever that is.

The final minutes of cooking are a mad dash to get everything plated.

At the last moment, Mick scrambles to add peas to his pie. Unfortunately, Arabelle forgets them altogether.

Ultimately, almost everything makes it onto plates, and both competitors can breathe a sigh of relief… for now.

Heading into the tasting, Mick credits his race car driving experience for his ability to keep cool under pressure.

Arabelle, on the other hand, is nervous that her soggy presentation will tank her chances of winning.

In the end, Chef Jojo admits the competition was closer than he expected, but Mick’s pie had a better consistency and visual appeal.

And when Arabelle and Mick finally get to try each other’s dishes, Mick is confident that Chef Jojo made the right call.

Chef Jojo welcomes Riley Reid and Elsa Jean back to the kitchen to kick off the semi-finals.

And what challenge does Chef Jojo have in store for them?

One that neither contestant is familiar with. One that elite chefs still struggle to execute perfectly.

One of the most complicated dishes in This Is Fire history…

Chicken cordon bleu.

Things aren’t going much better for Riley. She worries her chicken isn’t cooked through, but knows it’s time to get it in the fryer.

To make matters worse, Riley is visibly afraid to use the deep fryer. Fortunately, she overcomes her fears and isn’t injured.

Meanwhile, Elsa has had time to rethink her cheese sauce.

Both contestants have perfectly non-toxic food on their plates when the time runs out.

Chef Jojo judges Elsa’s dish first, and is not impressed. Her chicken is a little dry, and she seems to have over-corrected her cheese sauce.

In fact, Chef Jojo can’t think of a better word to describe the sauce than “neutral”. Ouch.

Riley worries she didn’t use enough ham and cheese. But after one bite, Chef Jojo puts Riley’s fears to rest.

Not only is it cheesy and ham-my enough, but her chicken is cooked to perfection.

Riley will move on to the This Is Fire finals.

Violet Myers and Mick Blue return to cook their way into a spot in the finals against Riley Reid.

Since episode three, Violet has been busy watching past seasons of This Is Fire to brush up on her skills.

Mick also took a lesson from his first appearance: Chef Jojo’s appreciation for finishing salt.

But the nerves set in when neither Violet nor Mick can identify the protein they’ll be cooking: duck breast.

When the timer starts, both competitors put on their game faces and get to work. Mick decides to start with his mashed potato side, and Violet starts on her glaze.

This challenge is especially difficult, so it’s easy to forgive Violet’s and Mick’s momentary freak-outs. Like when an overwhelmed Violet needs help turning on the sink, or when Mick cuts his finger.

But soon they're back on their feet, and joking about having worked together professionally in the past...

With the vibes in the kitchen fully restored, Violet and Mick are able to use their remaining time effectively, troubleshooting problems like pros.

For example: with just two minutes left, Mick cuts into his duck to find it is undercooked.

Thinking quickly on his feet, Mick decides to serve his duck breast in medallions, with berry sauce and truffles.

When time is up, both dishes look worthy of being served in any fine dining restaurant.

Chef Jojo tries Mick’s duck breast medallions first, and compliments him on his creamy mashed potatoes and flavorful mushrooms.

Violet’s dish is also a hit: the mushrooms are crispy and delicious, and the duck is succulent.

In the end, it’s Violet who will be taking on Riley Reid in the finals. It turns out that while Mick's duck was salted perfectly, it was a bit overcooked.

Maybe next time, Mick.

All the high-stakes kitchen drama of This Is Fire season three comes down to this final challenge. Who will take home the $20,000 grand prize and bragging rights?

Will it be the bubbly but deadly Riley Reid, or the studious Violet Myers? To settle it once and for all, Chef Jojo has a meaty challenge for the finalists:

A tomahawk wagyu steak with twice baked potatoes.

And even though Riley and Violet will have a full 45 minutes to cook, they won’t be able to ask for Chef Jojo’s help.

Violet starts right away on her twice-baked potato side, saving the challenge of dealing with a 48oz steak for later.

Meanwhile, Riley jumps headfirst into her steak prep. She pulls together a collection of seasonings to give her steak an elevated and original flavor profile.

Perhaps Riley’s flavor profile is a bit too original, however. Chef Jojo– who is sworn to silence– can’t help but raise his eyebrow when Riley adds raw onions to the top of her steak.

Riley gets the hint and removes them.

Despite malfunctioning thermometers and a few burnt hands, Riley and Violet finish with plenty of time left on the clock.

Chef Jojo really has his work cut out for him this time, because both dishes look fantastic.

Riley’s steak, though quite rare, is prepared so beautifully that Chef Jojo doesn’t mind how pink it is.

Violet’s steak is cooked to perfection, and her use of roasted garlic makes her twice-baked potatoes a real standout.

Now, Chef JoJo faces the hardest decision he’s ever had to make in his culinary career. And he couldn’t be more thrilled.

After another comically-long deliberation, Chef Jojo is finally ready to announce the winner.

Riley was simply more aggressive with her salt, and the delicious flavors she pulled from her steak were enough to edge Violet out.

In fairness to Violet, the margin of error was miniscule. Violet is obviously a gifted home chef, and a gracious competitor.

Congratulations to Riley Reid on winning the $20,000 grand prize, and the title of This Is Fire Season Three Champion.

But can she steal the Grand Championship from Nathan Webb? We'll find out soon in the Superfinals.