Mercury News
By Jackie Burrell
Bay Area News Group
Welcome back, Plates gang. It’s taken four weeks, but the “Around the World in 80 Plates” crew has finally ventured beyond Western Europe — a hop, skip and a plane ride to Marrakech, Morocco. It’s only a few miles away, but it’s a whole other continent and the chefs are so jazzed, Chaz actually pauses his endless whining and ranting to join Gary in kissing the ground.
But Nookie is not happy at all. He’s been here before and the streets, he says, are crammed with “mo-peds with babies driving them, 18-wheelers, camels and donkeys, and no rhyme or reason.”
Cat Cora, the usually awesome Iron Chef who is proving just as milquetoast a host as her partner in tedium, Curtis Stone, tells the teams that they’ll be dividing themselves into three teams, not two, and heading to the Medina, the Old Town marketplace, in horse-drawn carriages. The other twists? The prize for winning the racecourse includes $15,000, as well as the “exceptional ingredient,” and two teams will be vulnerable for elimination.
The Course
Nookie immediately grabs Avery and John and the Black Team hotfoots it for a carriage. The White Team consists of Nick, Gary and Whiny McWhinester, who is still seething about not winning Most Valuable Chef two weeks ago. The Red Team is an all-female trio of Jenna, Nicole and Liz.
In the Medina, everyone promptly gets lost looking for the Ben Boubker spice shop. The Black Team is the first to
