Rules: 20 contestants with white spoons automatically advance to Round 2. 80 contestants with black spoons compete to showcase their signature dishes within a 100-minute time limit. Only 20 will survive, while 60 will be eliminated.

Contestants are judged by either Baek Jong-won or Ahn Sung-jae. The competition ends when 20 contestants are seated at the survival table; any remaining participants are eliminated.

Results: Various contestants prepared different dishes, with many being eliminated after the judges' evaluations. Notable dishes included seafood, Korean cuisine, and fusion dishes. A significant number of contestants, including those with promising backgrounds, did not make it through, emphasizing the competitive nature of the show.

In episodes 1-3, the contestants who survived include Seongjae Ahn with dishes like Cooking Stone, Hidden Genius (Aglio Olio), Side Dish Chef, Meal Cost, Iron Bag Chef, Flame Man (Seafood Fresh Pasta), and Naples Matpia.

Baek Jong-won also had a strong showing, with survivors such as Chinese Goddess (Dongpa Snow Flower Dumplings), Chief Investigator (Tongyeong-style Bibimbap), Rooster (Chicken Dishes), Liver (Golden Ratio Mapo Tofu), Triple Star (Lobster Dishes), Imokase No. 1 (Home-Cooked Meals), Meat Gangster (Garvinon), and Yakitori King (Grilled Skewers).

Rules: The competition features a 1 vs 1 format between chefs from the Black Spoon and White Spoon teams. Each contestant uses ingredients from designated refrigerators, with 20 different main ingredients available. Chefs must compete in silence while the judges taste the dishes blindfolded, focusing solely on taste. If both judges vote for the same contestant, that contestant survives; a 1:1 vote leads to a re-evaluation. After all matches, one contestant from each eliminated group may be saved.

Results: The White Spoon team won 11 matches while the Black Spoon team won 9, making it a close battle. Notable winners included Edward Lee, who used aged kimchi, and chefs like Jo Eun-joo and Seonkyung Longguest, who impressed with their dishes. The Black Spoon team faced significant competition, with many dishes focusing solely on taste due to the blind judging format.

Digressions:

Chefs were given a week to prepare their recipes, leading to some unexpected matchups. The blind judging format was a significant departure from traditional competitions, emphasizing taste over presentation. Some contestants faced difficulties as their visual elements were not considered in the blind tasting, which affected their overall performance. Baek Jong-won showcased his expertise by accurately identifying cooking techniques based solely on taste.

Notable Matchups:

Several chefs, including Hidden Genius and Oh Se-deuk, competed against each other, with Hidden Genius defeating their teacher in a notable showdown. Many chefs expressed disappointment at the lack of detailed coverage of the cooking process, leading to a desire for more insights into their culinary skills. Overall, the round highlighted the importance of taste in culinary competitions while showcasing the chefs' abilities under pressure.

Rules: This round involves a team match between 11 chefs from the White Spoon team and 11 from the Black Spoon team. The teams are divided into two sections: the meat room and the fish room. Each team must prepare 100 servings of food for 100 mystery judges within a 200-minute time limit. Only dishes completed within this time can be judged, and only ingredients prepared in the main kitchen can be used. The team receiving the most votes for each ingredient will survive and advance to the Top 8, while the losing team will go to the losers' bracket.

Results:

Meat Room: Team Jo Eun-joo: They struggled with communication and role assignments, leading to confusion and disagreement over cooking methods. Despite attempts to coordinate, the lack of clarity resulted in a loss. Their final vote count was 45. Team Triple Star: With strong leadership and effective collaboration, they prepared dishes efficiently, ultimately securing a survival vote count of 55.

Fish Room: Team Choi Hyun-seok: This team prioritized consensus and displayed effective leadership, leading to a survival vote count of 54. Team Fire Man: Despite some initial disarray, they managed to create a risotto that was well-prepared, but ultimately they faced a revival match with a vote count of 46.

Digressions: In the meat room, Chef Jo Eun-joo's team faced significant challenges due to poor communication and conflicting opinions on cooking methods. This led to a breakdown in teamwork, impacting their final dish quality. Conversely, the Triple Star team demonstrated effective leadership, with timely decisions and a cohesive cooking strategy, allowing them to execute their menu flawlessly. In the fish room, Choi Hyun-seok's team learned from the mistakes of the meat room, focusing on collaboration and clear communication. Even with some disagreements, they managed to coordinate effectively, showcasing their individual strengths.

Both rounds highlighted the importance of strong leadership and teamwork in high-pressure cooking situations. In both instances, teams that exhibited decisive leadership and clear roles tended to perform better.

Additionally, there were discussions about the competition rules, especially regarding ingredient selection. The White Spoon team’s early acquisition of fish and shellfish limited the Black Spoon team's options, leading to debates about fairness and strategy in team dynamics.

Overall Insight: This round underscored the critical role of effective communication and leadership in culinary competitions, as teams that struggled with coordination faced significant challenges in executing their dishes.

Rules: Only chefs who lost in the third round participated. They had to create creative and delicious dishes using ingredients exclusively from a convenience store set. Judging occurred in the order the dishes were completed, with only three contestants allowed to survive.

Results:

Hwang Jin-seon: Pork Feet Cabbage Wrap (eliminated)

Kang Rok Choi: Red Pepper Saury (eliminated)

Cooking Stone: Ramen Pad Thai (3rd place, additional survival)

Yupo-myeon: (2nd place, additional survival)

Chinese Goddess: Gungbo Chicken Chomyeon (eliminated)

Seonkyung Longest: American Style Chow Mein (eliminated)

Naples Matfia: Chestnut Tiramisu (1st place, additional survival)

Cho Eun-joo: Chicken Breast with Pineapple (eliminated)

Hidden Genius: Tuna Mayo Toast with Grilled Cabbage and Crabmeat (eliminated)

Flame Man: Convenience Store Carrocha (eliminated)

Digressions: Sponsored by CU Convenience Store, the event showcased instant and processed products from a replica store. Many chefs creatively utilized limited ingredients, with several opting for noodle dishes, while Naples Matfia's dessert, Chestnut Tiramisu, gained significant acclaim. This dish is set for potential release at CU. The round was notably brief, lasting only 28 minutes. Hwang Jin-seon later expressed a desire to finish quickly during the match, impacting his dish's quality.

Rules: Participants form mixed teams regardless of previous rankings. Each team creates three menus and sets prices, with a budget of 3 million won for operations. Preparation lasts 24 hours, followed by a 2.5-hour business period. Teams must eliminate one member deemed least helpful through a secret vote. Survivor selection is based on a combination of sales and judges' scores.

Results:

[Eoksur Driver’s Restaurant]

Leader: Choi Hyun-seok

Menu: Truffle Gold Cutlet, Caviar Albap Heaven, Lobster Mara Cream Jjamppong

Sales: 4,774,000 won (1st place, survives)

[Triple Spot]

Leader: Triple Star

Menu: Mara Cream Dim Sum, Crispy Bulgogi Bao, Gochujang Butter Gnocchi

Sales: 2,220,000 won (2nd place, survives)

[Uncle Jang’s Restaurant]

Leader: Edward Lee

Menu: Ssamjang Pasta, Gochujang Butter Steak, Caviar Pancake

Sales: 1,498,100 won (3rd place, survives)

[restaurant where even broadcasting stations line up]

Leader: Ahn Yu-seong

Menu: Tendon, Old Dongpo Pork, Mapo Tofu

Sales: 1,348,000 won (eliminated)

Digressions: 20 mukbang creators participated as guests. Team leaders were chosen based on their previous performance, leading to mixed dynamics. The elimination process was criticized for its emotional impact and perceived unfairness. Choi Hyun-seok's high-priced menu strategy succeeded despite mixed reviews about the round’s rules. The fairness of ingredient supply and the evaluation process were questioned. Teams struggled with balancing high-quality offerings and pricing. Several chefs expressed disappointment in the editing and focus on team dynamics over individual skills. The production team faced backlash for potentially manipulating dynamics, especially around member elimination.

Overall Assessment: While the round aimed to evaluate business and management skills among chefs, it raised numerous concerns about fairness, emotional impact on participants, and clarity of the rules. Choi Hyun-seok’s successful strategy of high-priced gourmet offerings won the day, overshadowing the challenges faced by other teams. The round ended with critiques regarding the treatment of eliminated participants and the execution of the competition format.

Rules: Each contestant must create a single dish that represents their "life" within a 70-minute time limit.

The judges' scores for each dish are totaled, with the highest-scoring contestant advancing directly to the finals. The remaining seven contestants will move on to the second mission.

Results Semi-Final 1st Mission: Cook Your Life survivors:

1. Naples Matpia (182 pts) - advanced to finals

2. Choi Hyun-seok (181 pts)

3. Triple Star (179 pts)

3. Edward Lee (179 pts)

4. Hojun Jang (178 pts)

5. Cooking Stone (177 pts)

6. Imokase No. 1 (175 pts)

7. stop line (169 pts)

Digression: The scoring reflected differing philosophies among the judges. Ahn Seong-jae expressed skepticism about the possibility of a "perfect dish," assigning a maximum score of 90 points. His critical perspective led to debates about the scores, especially regarding Choi Hyun-seok's Vongole Pasta. Choi made a significant mistake by omitting garlic from his dish, which affected the flavor. This error highlighted his nerves, especially since he had considered Vongole Pasta a signature dish. The judges didn’t initially notice the omission, but Ahn noted a greasiness in the dish, which Choi later connected to the missing ingredient. This led to a realization of the impact of such a fundamental mistake. Edward Lee received contrasting scores from the judges, reflecting a debate over his dish's classification as bibimbap. Ahn critiqued it for not staying true to traditional bibimbap identity, while Baek Jong-won praised its potential for promoting Korean cuisine globally. This tension over the dish's classification sparked broader discussions within the community about cultural identity in culinary presentation. Ultimately, Naples Matpia's dish secured the top score, allowing him to advance directly to the finals, while the others faced intense scrutiny and reflection on their culinary choices and presentations.

Conclusion: The "Cook Your Life" mission provided a dramatic platform for contestants to showcase their personal culinary stories under pressure. With high stakes and intense critiques, the episode underscored the significance of both technical skill and personal expression in cooking, setting the stage for the challenges to come in the competition.

Rules: Each contestant must create a new dish using tofu as the main ingredient every 30 minutes. If a contestant fails to complete their dish in the time limit, they are automatically eliminated. The process repeats until only one contestant remains.

Results: Semi-Final 2nd Mission: Infinite Cooking Hell

Edward Lee Survived, advanced to finals

Digression: No contestants were eliminated due to timeout, and the mission proceeded through six intense rounds.

Contestants found the task of creating dishes with tofu to be particularly challenging, as tofu, while versatile, can be bland and lacks strong flavor, making it difficult to shine as the main ingredient. Judges evaluated dishes based on creativity, usability of tofu, and completeness, resulting in tough decisions about which dishes qualified as true "tofu dishes." The competition showcased a high level of culinary creativity, with Edward Lee emerging victorious by presenting a cohesive French-Italian course featuring tofu in each dish. Triple Star performed well but was eliminated due to slight overlaps in dish concepts and flavors. This round was marked by high tension and creativity, contrasting sharply with the previous restaurant mission, leading many viewers to express that it was a more engaging and skill-focused challenge.

Conclusion: The "Infinite Cooking Hell" mission tested the contestants' creativity and time management, culminating in a dramatic showcase of their culinary skills. Edward Lee's innovative approach and cohesive presentation secured his spot in the finals, while the challenge's difficulty highlighted the chefs' abilities to adapt and create under pressure.

Rules: Contestants must create a dish that incorporates their name within an 80-minute time limit.

If both judges agree on a dish, the competition ends, and the contestant is declared the winner. If there's a disagreement, rematches continue until a consensus is reached.

Results:

Final Winner: Kwon Seong-jun (Naples Matpia)

Digression: The journey for contestants spanned about three months, completing filming around March or April.

Kwon Seong-jun and Edward Lee both represented their authentic names, with Kwon incorporating elements of Italian cuisine and Lee opting for a creative dessert. Seongjun Kwon's dish featured lamb ribs enhanced with a vintage 1995 Barolo wine, symbolizing his birth year, while Edward Lee's dessert used commercially available ingredients, showcasing a different approach. The distinct styles—Kwon's classic meat dish versus Lee's dessert—created a challenge for the judges. Ultimately, Kwon's dish was selected after considerable deliberation.

Edward Lee later expressed that his journey was about finding personal identity through cooking, emphasizing the importance of creativity over familiarity in his culinary practice.

The final match was relatively brief compared to previous rounds, leading to some critiques regarding its intensity and structure. Some viewers suggested that the finals could have benefitted from a different format, combining elements from earlier missions.

Conclusion: The final showcased a rich contrast between tradition and innovation in culinary arts. Kwon Seong-jun's victory emphasized the power of personal storytelling through food, while Edward Lee's adventurous spirit highlighted the importance of continuous growth and creativity in cooking. The episode concluded with reflections on the significance of identity and innovation within the culinary competition framework.