Beat Bobby Flay: Holiday Throwdown – Brooke and Claudette tag-team to take down Bobby

Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay: Holiday Throwdown, season 4, episode 6, titled Christmas Eve-rywhere, was released on December 16, 2025, in which Bobby’s daughter Sophie Flay appeared to host the Christmas installment of the culinary show. 

It saw Chefs Claudette Zepeda, Brooke Williamson, and Gabe Bertaccini participate in the show. 

The episode also saw Claudette and Brooke join forces to take down Bobby, who was assisted by Gabe in a later round of competition, in hopes of defeating the frontrunner.

However, the challenge proved to be much more difficult than anticipated, which was why the judges granted the win to Bobby and Gabe. 

More details on the challenges in the Christmas special episode of Beat Bobby Flay: Holiday Throwdown, season 4

In the first round of competition, Claudette went up against Gabe, Bobby’s former teammate. Before the challenge began, Bobby presented each of them with a “gift” ingredient.

While Claudetter got plums, Gabe was given Indian spices, including turmeric, red chillies, black mustard seeds, cardamom, and cinnamon.

Both competitors tried their hands at making meatballs. While Claudette prepared a unique version of koftas with onions, parsley, and five spices, served with a sugar plum sauce, Gabe cooked up tikka masala as well as tomato sugo, which he paired with couscous. 

As he presented his dish, he said:

“I’m not here just to be Bobby’s sous chef, I’m here to win!”

He acquitted himself with the dish he presented. 

Then came Brooke Williamson, who was determined to defeat Bobby, saying that was all she wanted for Christmas. 

She picked a mystery box of ingredients, which contained a rack of lamb, while Gabe, her opponent, got salted cod.

Gabe prepared a European dish, but fell short in terms of technicality as he overcooked the cod with potatoes and breadcrumbs. 

As a result, Brooke’s lamb chops, seasoned with Indian spices, won the round, and with that, she moved forward and would soon face Bobby. 

Brooke then picked a three-part signature dish, which included a chateaubriand, potato latkes, and a dessert soufflé, for Bobby’s next challenge.

“You’ve been so generous by giving us our own gifts, so I’m going to give you three gifts,” Brooke explained. 

Although daunting, Bobby accepted the challenge and cooked up a preparation of chateaubriand in espresso, smoked paprika, and ancho chilies.

Gabe, his sous chef, on the other hand, prepared latkes with black truffles and goat cheese sour cream. 

Brooke and Claudette joined forces and cooked chateaubriand with marsala sauce, classic latkes with sour cream, shallots, lemon zest, and caviar, as well as a chocolate soufflé with passionfruit creme anglaise. 

Brooke was impressed with her final dish, as she exclaimed:

“Oh my God, look how perfect that is!”

Bobby and Gabe’s final dish comprised a chateaubriand with smoked chile sauce and onion rings, latkes with black truffle, goat cheese sour cream, and chile verde sauce. 

Their dessert was a chocolate soufflé with cinnamon and chiles. 

Like Brooke, Gabe and Bobby were equally pleased with the final dishes. 

During the final tasting, the judges appreciated both teams’ efforts, but they felt Bobby and Gabe’s dish outshone Brooke and Claudette’s. 

“I thought they were both outstanding, but with the latke and the sour cream, the goat cheese and the green chile sauce, I think that was a standout for all of us,” Karen Akunowicz said. 

With that, Brooke and Claudette failed to beat Bobby Flay. 

Brooke remained dissatisfied with the result, as she questioned it, asking, “Was it unanimous?” to which Sophie replied that it was. 

Stay tuned for more updates.