Original subtitles

Gerald, Shaticka, you did it!

Thank you, God!

You two are going to the finale!

And one of you will be winning $50,000 and be the Barbecue Showdown Champion.

- Yes! - Ooh, Lord!

For your final challenge...

We're splitting these pits into two dueling barbecue joints,

owned, operated...

-Okay -...and fully originated by you.

You'll come up with a full menu, the flavors,

the stories you wanna tell.

This is your baby.

This is crazy.

We're giving each of you the chance to show us your vision

for your very own barbecue joint.

Yes!

It's surreal. I honestly never thought I'd get the opportunity to do this.

Everything that I want to accomplish, I feel is, like, right here.

And I just wanna be able to maximize it.

To achieve the status of top two in this competition

and to fight through what I fought through,

to succeed and fail,

and eventually end up where I'm at right now,

it shows that big things can come from little cities.

A win for me is a win for my hometown.

Winning this would definitely put St. Rose on the map.

And I'm focused on taking home the title and the championship.

I think you need a double after what you just went through.

I've won all these battles. I have one last battle to go.

We started with nine cooks,

watching this whole thing unfold,

and here I am in the finals.

This is so amazing

to be able to accomplish something this grand.

I had some struggles in my life. I have four kids.

I was a single mom for a while,

going through things that you experience in life,

and you're just fighting to make it to the next day.

It taught me that I'm a fighter, to never give up.

This is what I was born for, right here. I want it so bad, I can taste it.

So what would be your dream barbecue joint?

The name of it is Coley's Jook Junt.

-My maiden name is Coley. -All right. Okay.

Everyone called my dad Coley.

-"Jook junt" is because he's from Georgia. -Okay.

And what do you find back in the woods is a juke joint.

Juke joint, yeah.

Gerald, what's your dream barbecue joint?

Big Papi's Blues and Barbecue.

It's a very homey place where people could get off from work and come in,

and they still got their work uniform on.

- So tomorrow... - Mm-hmm.

The heart. The fight.

- Mm-hmm. - The urgency.

Fall back on your father's dreams,

your dream. You're gonna need that tomorrow.

I am. I'm ready for that fight. This is my dream. This is my passion.

My advice for you tomorrow is keep bringing the flavor,

and I think you're gonna do great.

For sure.

I can't believe we made it.

We are here.

-Oh my God! -What?

Damn!

Dope!

I can't believe this.

It's Big Papi's Blues and Barbecue.

It's so real, baby! Look at this!

Coley's Jook Junt!

Yes!

This is amazing.

If I wasn't ready before, I'm damn sure ready now.

-I am more than ready! -Yeah.

Good morning, everyone.

-Good morning. -Good morning! What's happening?

Shaticka, Gerald, you've out-cooked some of the best barbecuers in America

to be here right now.

And you have both earned your spot here in the finale.

Today, we're giving you the freedom to show us everything you got.

You need to show us

what your lasting impact on the barbecue community is gonna be.

Today's menu is entirely up to you.

But each of your barbecue joints

must feature at least one protein that you know that you'll be famous for.

Give us something worth talking about.

We also wanna see a second protein option,

three signature sides,

a sauce,

and a dessert.

And you'll have six hours to do it.

You'll be judged not only on taste, technique, and execution,

but also your overall concept and menu cohesion.

Putting together a full menu

for a barbecue joint like this ain't no joke.

Trust me. Melissa and I have done it many times.

But we're not asking you to do it alone.

We called in some backups. Come on in, guys.

No!

My dawg!

Go!

Come on!

Good to see you! Were you surprised?

- Yes! - Yes!

- That's awesome. Okay. - All right.

Today, one of your former competitors here is going to become your sous-chef.

Gerald, you won the last challenge, so you get the first pick.

I choose Kareem.

Let's get this.

I'll let the ladies have their girl day,

but me and the Egyptian Cowboy,

oh, we gonna cut up today.

Okay. That means, Shaticka, you'll be paired with Sloan.

- Thank you. - Let's go, baby.

Yes!

Why wouldn't I want the person that has won the most challenges

to be my number two?

Thank you!

Gerald, you don't know what you did, baby.

Your barbecue joints open for us in exactly six hours.

Your final challenge

starts

in three,

two,

one,

get smokin'!

Just so you'll know...

-Okay. -So look, this is what we're going with.

Oxtails, I'm gonna work on the dino ribs, and we have spare ribs, okay?

-Okay, and we're gonna do oxtails, okay? -Yeah.

Lamb chops, baby back ribs.

- And then, if I find spare ribs... - Yeah.

In this finale, we're asking them

to create a menu for their dream barbecue joint.

That's a challenge in itself,

and then we want them to cook all those different elements,

and those elements be perfect.

We let them make their menu. They have to master their menu.

When you get to pick something, and you don't knock it out the park,

that's not a good thing. So it's the pressure of a grand opening,

a pressure of working within your dream, and a pressure of $50,000.

That's challenging.

When I thought about doing lamb chops, I was like, "Dang, I wish I had Kareem."

And then you came out of nowhere.

At least somebody's doing lamb.

Exactly! Okay, yeah. All right.

Big Papi's Barbecue and Blues.

It's like real old-school hole-in-a-wall, nothing over the top, not fancy.

I like to find ways to incorporate my Creole, Cajun background

and bringing it to barbecue.

So today, I'm doing smoked ribs with a pineapple barbecue sauce,

crawfish étouffée,

and I'm also doing smoked lamb chops,

smoked mac and cheese,

jambalaya grits,

swim biscuits,

and a white chocolate bread pudding.

Both pits are going. I got wood stacked, ready for us.

All right.

And I also loaded up the fire pit on the ground, so we have coals ready.

Cool. Appreciate it.

-That's where you can help me today. -Yes.

Just doing some of my, as I'm gonna call it, the dirty work.

- Yes, ma'am. - Like, doing that trim.

And then I'm gonna want you to maintain my fires.

-You got it. -That's the one thing you are...

That's what I love. That's my favorite part.

So I'm gonna let you do that while I kind of work on my sides.

Happy to help.

My first priority is to make the seasonings

while Sloan starts prepping that meat.

That way, she can season the meat

and then get the meat on the rigs as soon as possible.

-Girl power. We understand what it takes. -That's right.

Battle of the sexes, baby. So what does Coley stand for?

Oh, Coley is my maiden name.

My dad was also in the army,

so they always just called him Coley.

It was wherever he went, "Coley."

It's good to have those memories of the people that have already passed on.

And for me, it's my dad.

My dad was really big on cooking and eating as a family.

And so I'm honoring my father today.

Coley's Jook Junt is who I am.

It is my family

and all of those traditions

and all those dishes elevated.

I just like that whole feel of, like, tying family and old traditions together.

No, I think that's beautiful. Absolutely perfect.

I am making Caribbean oxtails,

dino ribs with a blackberry whisky gastrique,

smoked spare ribs with a peach barbecue sauce,

fried cabbage,

shrimp with sweet potato grits,

bougie mac and cheese,

and for my dessert,

chess squares with a whisky whipped cream.

-Would you like any more off this? -That is beautiful.

- Okay. - Rub them things down.

- And then they can get on. - Okay. Do you put a binder on?

-No, I don't. -Okay.

We have six hours,

and I have proteins that need time

to cook and to break down,

to be able to be tender for the judges.

Shaticka, I love you, but you gotta go!

I love you, but I wanna win this, baby.

The game plan is I'm gonna get my rub straight for the ribs.

-Okay. -My rub is my special blend I figured out.

It's sweet. It's got a little bit of heat on the back end.

-We're gonna win this. -Yeah, let's go.

Right now, I work full-time, so I barbecue when I can on weekends.

But to be able to do it full-time,

I'm looking forward to making that dream come true.

And winning this competition

is exactly what's gonna springboard me to getting it.

Since I got six hours, I can probably do it a little bit lower.

- Yes. - And slower than I normally would.

-Low and slow is always better. -I hope I'm not under-thinking this.

I wanna be known as the best rib man around,

so I put my heart and my soul in these ribs.

Everybody likes my ribs. I want people to make sure

that when they come to Big Papi's Smokehouse,

that they get these ribs.

What do you think about Gerald's protein picks?

I mean, that's his comfort zone.

We said, "Pick your protein that you're gonna be famous for."

I mean, we... we just got wowed

with some of the most incredible ribs on the last challenge.

This rib is perfect.

But this is the finale.

And doing it again means he has to top that.

Now, he also picked the lamb. Melissa just said a menu that is cohesive.

So I really wanna see what he does with that lamb.

I'm most nervous today about overcooking that lamb.

Okay, I can definitely help you with that.

You got Kareem cutting up some garlic!

Yeah.

- You might wanna be careful, baby. - Uh-huh!

Yeah, I got him cutting it, but he ain't adding it.

Kareem is actually chopping garlic at Gerald's instruction.

He's making a marinade for the lamb.

Gerald really needs to step up and give us Gerald's menu.

I don't wanna see his helper creating menu items for him.

- I want this bad, sir. I'm coming for you. - You want it bad?

I want it badder. I want it Michael Jackson bad.

I don't think you can be any badder.

What's going on?

-Gerald, how are you? -I'm doing good. How are y'all?

-We are good. -Good, good.

Tell us about your dream barbecue joint.

Man, so I'm... I'm blues to the core.

So I love blues music. I love holes-in-the-wall.

And my barbecue joint, I really wanted to be blues.

I wanted to be very New Orleans. Just real homey.

So as far as cohesiveness, which we spoke on at the beginning,

how do you feel the lamb is gonna be cohesive with your Creole barbecue menu?

The lamb is becoming more popular in New Orleans by the day.

It's definitely a meat that's getting, um, more exposure down south.

Good luck, Gerald.

Thank y'all. Appreciate it.

He sounds confident.

I... I don't understand the lamb protein.

You know, there's no lamb served in any juke joint I've ever been in.

And, you know, when you think of bluesy, I think of Cajun and Creole flavors.

-But I don't think of lamb. -Yeah.

Five hours, everyone!

Five hours!

Hey, so what you got on your menu that you've been holding back?

Hey, oxtails.

Jamaican-style oxtails, baby.

Oxtails is my thing, baby. Everybody is like, "You making oxtails?"

"When you making some more oxtails?" So today is the day. Why not today?

Made it to finale. Now I get to show one of the best things that I'm making.

It is these delicious oxtails. It's gonna be smoked, then braised.

The Jamaican have a nice little Jamaican dark gravy with it.

Or sauce, I should say. So it's gonna be awesomeness.

I have Jamaican pimento wood that I'm adding here.

Gonna increase that flavor on those oxtails.

So I'm excited to see that wood over there.

So what do y'all think of Shaticka's protein picks?

Well, Shaticka's got oxtails,

and... and that girl knows how to cook some soul food.

So I think she'll put her heart and soul on that plate with those oxtails.

She's also doing spare ribs.

She's made some incredible ribs, and she's made some okay ribs.

I know you got better ribs than this.

You know, Shaticka has served us ribs that we were not ecstatic about.

The bark is a little bit bitter.

I am looking forward to see if she'll take advice

from a more seasoned pit master who she's working with.

I sure wish you'd let me put a binder, but if you don't do it, don't do it.

What kind of binder you gonna put on it?

On beef and pork, always put mustard. It's a natural tenderizer.

Helps to rub it here and then creates a really good bark.

You can put it on the ribs. I trust you.

It's looking good. I'm proud of her.

Lamb won't take anything but a hour to smoke.

And we got the ribs on right now.

So I'm feeling pretty good.

Just wanna make sure it gets a good coat.

This marinade, I don't wanna overpower it with anything.

We're gonna vacuum seal it

and let them get those flavors for about a hour, maybe.

- Yeah, that'd be good. - Then we'll put it on the smoker.

What's up, Shaticka?

- Hey! - How's it going?

It's going. I'm working.

I got Sloan with me. I feel good about myself.

Your oxtails, what's your plan on those?

So, right now, I have 'em smoking.

They have a Caribbean vibe to 'em,

so they're gonna be like a Jamaican oxtail.

I have some Jamaican pimento wood that's also in there

to bring in that flavor of Jamaica.

Once they smoke for three hours, I'll braise them till they're tender.

When you taste that pimento wood on that oxtail, what does that do for you?

Like, compared to a regular smoked oxtail, what's the difference?

So the pimento wood, all spiceberries come from it.

So that's a harder wood. It smokes longer.

So it's gonna give

a really in-depth flavor from the pimento berries,

so it's just gonna be good stuff, good stuff.

So beef ribs, you made 'em in the first challenge.

I did.

And I'll tell you, you need to work on that bark.

-Absolutely. -You need to get them seasoned perfectly.

Absolutely.

I listened to you say that the bark had a little twang,

so I did change some things, and I think that I'm gonna do a better job today.

-Good luck, Shaticka. -Thank you so much. I appreciate y'all.

Four hours, guys!

I'm losing good light, you guys! Let's go!

Doing this mac and cheese is redemption for the last one that I did.

The last one, the judges said it had a funny taste.

What is that overpowering flavor in that mac?

It's a seasoning or something that's kinda throwing it off.

It's got that funky wang.

-Gerald's making mac again. -Uh-oh.

And he wants to redeem his mac-and-cheese cooking abilities,

but some of those cheeses, they don't play well with others.

- Yeah. - They're loners.

I had to go back and investigate and found out that I put a aged cheese

as opposed to, uh, the normal one.

- Okay. - I'm using this as my redemption.

This one's for all the marbles!

I'm gonna go ahead and get the water on for the mac and cheese.

Okay, so, Ticka, you're doing something I've never heard of, right?

You're gonna put heavy cream in the water to boil the pasta, correct?

- Absolutely. - The reasoning? Does it make it creamy?

It just adds more depth into that macaroni as it's boiling.

-Uh-huh. Jeez. -And it turns out perfect.

Last train, sis.

Last train!

I'm making crawfish étouffée

because it's one of my favorite things to eat back at home.

What goes in étouffée?

-Crawfish, bell pepper, onion. -What's the base?

Celery, a small roux, chicken stock.

- Are you gonna make St. Rose happy today? - I plan on making St. Rose happy.

We're working on... my grandma called them swim biscuits

'cause they just swim in the butter that's at the bottom of the pan.

It's literally like they're swimming.

Anything that swims in butter can't go wrong.

- This is gonna be my dessert. - Okay.

A white chocolate bread pudding.

The bread pudding is a recipe that I learned from a lady at church.

She always did it after every church service, every Sunday.

When she taught me how to do it, I knew I had to bring it to the Showdown.

Bread pudding reminds me of home.

I'm a preacher's son, and a lot of the programs that we had,

bread pudding was something that we had.

Shaticka, I'm doing another bread pudding.

Oh, are you really?

You doing another ice cream?

Your ice cream was better than his bread pudding.

Oh, thank you.

- That's okay. - You can say that again!

What are we doing for dessert?

- So we have chess squares. - Okay.

It's a southern thing. It's a sweet egg-like custard, almost.

Oh, that sounds good.

But this is almost like a ooey gooey bar,

but we call 'em chess squares in Nashville.

It's going in, baby.

Two and a half hours!

I'm about to go wrap them ribs.

Put a little apple juice in there and wrap 'em.

Beautiful.

You've got a lot of color going on and better bark formation.

- Uh-huh. It's looking good. - Okay.

Oh, those look beautiful.

Oh yes, beautiful.

This is beautiful shrimp.

I am working on my grits.

This is just an elevated bougie shrimp-and-grit dish.

It's gonna have some sweet potatoes in it.

I've never seen that before.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Oh, those grits are good.

- Dessert is done, Sloan. - Woo-hoo!

- Man, progress. - Yeah, we getting it there.

We're getting this smoker going to get the lamb chops in here.

The lamb chops are a much quicker cook.

With this, Sloan, make sure we're putting a little brown sugar,

a little butter on it as you wrap it.

You got it.

I'm taking my oxtails off. About to put 'em in a braising liquid.

I feel good.

One hour, you guys!

One hour left!

- This thing. This color is weird. - Hmm? Is it the wood?

I don't know.

I've never seen a lamb this color before.

It's looking a little darker and browner,

as opposed to, like, a redder cooked meat.

My lamb leg looked the same color, too, when I cooked it, yeah.

Oh, okay.

-What you did to change it? -I didn't do anything. I kept it going.

- That's how you gave it to 'em? - Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was fine.

I see that Gerald is telling Kareem that his lamb is looking dark.

It could be the temp of his fire or dirty smoke.

I'm not sure what's going on.

That would be horrible on the finale night,

your lamb is subpar, and you go home.

All right, let's close it.

I'm gonna temp my beef rib to see where that is

'cause that's one of my concerns.

198.

199.

I have to have at least 203, and then I'll feel comfortable taking that off.

It's at least 203 I'm good with.

I'm about to do some creamed spinach. Since I'm doing the lamb chops,

I figured creamed spinach would probably go better with that than crawfish grits.

It makes more sense for my restaurant than what I was doing before.

So, Gerald, his side dish, he pivoted from the grits

to creamed spinach because he felt like that went with lamb better.

I kind of agree with him on that.

But it could have solved a lot of problems if he didn't bring the lamb in.

How the ribs look, 'Reem?

- Done. - All right.

They feel fantastic.

You're working on the whisky peach barbecue sauce?

Some boozy peaches.

Ah, I like boozy.

Right now, I'm making my barbecue sauce.

Your barbecue joints open

in 15 minutes, everybody!

One last prayer for my dino ribs.

I started out this competition praying over dino ribs,

so I'm gonna finish this competition praying over dino ribs.

I'm not sure how the dino ribs are gonna turn out.

There's so much fat right there.

It's not quite tender enough.

The outside is beautiful, but it can be cute on the outside,

but not so cute on the inside.

I think it will probably carry over on a rest.

- I'm gonna let it carry over. - She's the boss, man.

-Good job with that sear. -Beautiful.

It was a little touch-and-go with the lamb with the color in the middle.

So I'm really praying

that it works out exactly how I want.

You guys, five minutes left!

I'm cutting the ribs now.

This is it. I mean, I can just imagine the butterflies they have right now.

- Yeah. - It's been a rough competition.

And this is the final plate for the championship.

I feel good about the braised oxtails.

They look good. They have good color on 'em.

These are the pork ribs. They look great.

They got a nice smoke ring and feel very tender,

so they should be awesome.

Forty-five seconds left!

Let's go! Finish strong!

That's done.

Trying to finish up and make sure that it's all nice-looking.

Let's go, G! Let's go, G!

Six, five,

four,

three,

two, one!

Time's up! Show me the meat!

-I love you. -Look at this spread.

-I love you, man. -Love you too, bruh.

-This was awesome. -That's a lot of food.

That's a lot of food.

- We did it, though. We did it. - No doubt.

I couldn't have did this without you. I couldn't.

-Man, I love working with you. -I couldn't have did it without you, dawg.

This is my last chance. I put everything on the plate.

I'm hoping that the judges like it.

I know for me to beat Shaticka, it has to be a perfect cook,

and I'm hoping that I did it.

Gerald, Shaticka,

here we are,

our final family dinner together.

Now it's time for us to taste the food from each of your dream barbecue joints.

- Shaticka. - Yeah.

So my dream barbecue joint is Coley's Jook Junt.

It is an upscale barbecue joint

where food and music feeds the soul.

What's on my menu is dino ribs with a blackberry whisky gastrique,

Caribbean smoked oxtails,

smoked spare ribs

with a peach whisky barbecue sauce on the side,

sweet potato shrimp and grits,

fried cabbage,

and my bougie mac and cheese.

And, of course, we have my chess squares

with a whisky whipped topping.

Shaticka.

The oxtails.

The depth of flavor that you have, it's a pro cooking oxtails.

The dino rib, for me,

slight texture issue,

but, I mean, they're dino ribs.

I expect a little chew.

The spare rib is so well cooked.

I mean, it's tender. It's nice and moist.

Love the barbecue sauce.

The mac and cheese is creamy. That's pity-party food right there.

Those chess squares, those are the epitome

of what the South tastes like in your mouth.

-Well done, Shaticka. -Thank you.

You said the oxtails are the star of your show.

And let me tell you something. You did not disappoint.

That is one of the best oxtails I ever had.

And the fact that you knew to smoke it with the pimento wood

to give it that authentic Caribbean flavor is incredible.

-Good job on that. -Thank you. Thank you.

The beef rib, sometimes we just gotta be careful when we pick a beef rib

because right here, the fat is not rendering.

But the flavor of it is on point. A perfect cook on the rib.

The rub is perfect.

I just wish it had just a little bit more glaze on it.

But the flavor and the cook on this rib,

as opposed to them two-hour ribs that you tried to cook,

I see you come a long ways with that.

- The shrimp and sweet potato grits? - Yes.

Excellent job.

Shaticka, this is my first time having chess squares.

Okay.

And after this big, hearty meal,

that just was refreshing to me. I just need a double Hennessy.

If you got a cot in the back, I'm going to bed.

But great job.

Thank you.

How would your dad feel right now?

Oh!

Take your time, T.

Before my dad passed away,

I had a housewarming.

And that was his last meal that I was able to feed him.

And it was like a big spread like this.

And he said, "I'm proud of you."

So right now,

I know my dad would say, "I'm proud of you."

Shaticka, we are very proud of you. And I'm sure he is too.

Thank you.

Gerald.

Michelle.

Please tell us about your dream barbecue joint,

and walk us through your menu.

Well, my dream barbecue joint is Big Papi's Blues and Barbecue,

where the food gonna touch your soul.

The menu that I created for this would be

pork ribs in a pineapple barbecue sauce,

smoked lamb chops, crawfish étouffée, redemption smoked mac and cheese,

cream spinach,

my grandmother's swim biscuits,

and a dessert of white chocolate bread pudding.

All right. Let's dig in, you guys.

Gerald.

This rib,

excellent cook,

excellent smoke, sauces, again, on point.

I could have used just a little bit more seasoning on it

to go through that sauce, but, bruh, I'm so cool with this.

- Mm-hmm. - I am. Look at this.

This is a work of art.

- Good job, man. - Thank you.

I was worried about this damn lamb.

- But you hit it, man. - Thank you.

That marinade that you put on this and then get the perfect char

and the perfect cook on it,

the abundance of flavor in this, man, is out of this world, man.

- Thank you, man. - Another good job.

There's not too many barbecue places you gonna get some crawfish étouffée.

This is, like, singing on Bourbon Street right now. I'm hearing every bit of it.

The creamed spinach, good seasoning on that, good choice for a side.

The mac, now, I didn't get the weird flavor in it, thank God.

Could have used a little bit more salt for my taste.

But still, you redeemed yourself on the mac.

- This biscuit, what is this? - Swim biscuit.

This is so good, man. I'm gonna put a couple of these in my pocket.

Thank you.

And this, I love bread pudding.

This is perfect texture, perfect flavor on this, bruh.

I mean, perfect dessert.

You keep cooking like this and cooking ribs like that,

if they make a Mount Rushmore, you'll be on there, brother.

-Good job, man. -Thank you. Thank you.

I can taste the blues in your ribs.

The smoke ring goes all the way to the bone in my rib.

You've got a great cook on it.

It's nice and tender. I love this sauce too.

I think it's undeniable that you'll be famous for ribs one day.

Lamb is one of those tricky proteins. I was very concerned.

I saw you guys temping 'em, looking at 'em,

but it's really, really good.

And you've got a great cook on it, and it makes you happy when you eat it.

And I'll tell you,

you know, that's what 95% of barbecue is, making you happy when you eat it.

There you go.

For me, I could have used just a little more creamy texture

in the macaroni and cheese.

You figured the cheese out though. The flavor is great.

The pasta is cooked well.

For me, I just like a little creamier mac and cheese.

And your spinach, while I feel like it is a great cook.

I feel like it lacked a bit of seasoning.

The bread pudding, you're maybe the bread pudding king. I'm not sure.

What would your kids say to you

if they were sitting at this table?

I talked to my son the other day, and I was having a hard time

because I didn't do well the day before.

He was like, "Dad?" I was like, "What's going on, son?"

He said,

"Do they like your barbecue?"

So, with tears in my eyes, I was like, "You know what? I... I think that they do."

So if they was here, they would be in my laps right now, licking a rib,

and trying to get that bread pudding. That's Jack's favorite.

So,

they'll be happy, not gonna lie to you. They'd be real happy.

And just like that, your final tasting is done.

- Hmm. - Whoo.

All right, Gerald and Shaticka, head out to the pits.

We'll see you soon.

We just went to battle.

We both just put everything that we had into this fight.

I wish you the best, but I want this so bad.

Butterflies in my stomach.

This is probably one of the most intense moments that I had around this fire.

This will be tight, but I thought it was gonna be tight going in.

So I'm just trying to keep a steady head and know that this is wide-open,

and it could go either way.

Gerald.

Shaticka.

Your journeys have led you to this moment.

The evolution we've seen in both of you throughout this competition,

the growth, the determination, the love,

it's been an inspiration to watch.

But only one of you will be named Barbecue Showdown Champion

and take home that $50,000 prize.

Ooh, that'd be nice.

You both showed us barbecue your way,

and you put everything you had on those plates.

Gerald,

I've gotten to know your bluesy spirit,

your stories from where you come from,

and those Cajun flavors.

You have brought so much joy to us to eat your food.

Shaticka,

I mean, just short and spunky and strong and bougie.

Watching you today was like watching a ballerina.

The way you danced from the pit to the kitchen,

you are incredible.

Both of you, win or lose, both of you are incredible.

I am such a fan.

This was one of the toughest decisions

that Kevin and I have ever had to make.

The winner of this season's Barbecue Showdown

is...

Congratulations,

Shaticka.

Yeah!

Oh Lord!

God!

Oh yes!

Thank you!

I'm just so thankful to God.

He's smiling on me and saw all of...

all of what I've been through was not for nothing.

I'm a winner, baby!

Yes!

It's the best feeling to hear that you are the winner

when you know that you have fought the best fight that you can.

Mama and Daddy, I did it!

Oh my God, my kids are gonna be so proud of me!

- Congrats, my dawg. Congrats. - Okay.

Thank you.

Gerald, you are a force to be reckoned with, nephew.

Thank you.

Congratulations on an incredible run, bro.

I expect big things out of you.

Gotcha.

I'm excited for my sister. I saw how hard she worked for it.

Even though it didn't work out how I wanted it to work out for me,

the fact that it worked out for her was okay with me.

You did it.

Her Jook Joint, I'm probably gonna be the first person in,

and I know the drinks better be free for me.

I'm happy for her, and... and I'm ecstatic.

Shaticka, you are the Barbecue Showdown Champion.

You did it. Congratulations.

I won! I... I won!

It is the greatest feeling ever.

The best feeling.

-I feel like this calls for a celebration. -Yes!

We got a whole bar.

-Let's go hit it like we're mad at it. -There you go.

The first round is on Shaticka, okay? Let's go!

-All the rounds are on Shaticka. -Like, now. Please.