Food Fighters 'Jim Stark' Recap, Stark vs. Falkner, S1 E8

On tonight's season finale of NBC's 'Food Fighters' home cook Jim Stark competed in head-to-head culinary challenges against five professional chefs for a chance to win the grand prize of $100,000.

Host Adam Richman introduced Jim Stark, a retired grandfather from Mississippi with no culinary school experience, who said he would "outsmart then outcook" his competition. He put his signature meals against celebrity chefs Josh Stone, Yaku Moton-Spruill, Deborah Benaim, and Marcel Vigneron, with his final challenge against chef Elizabeth Falkner.

The chefs' meals were judged by a dinner party of five regular Americans and each time Stark won he added more more money into his overall winnings.

In the first challenge Stark was pitted against sandwich and deli expert Josh Stone, who has opened more than a dozen delis and restaurants. Stark chose to cook his meal of fried catfish, hoping Stone wouldn't be able to adjust it to a deli style meal.

While Stone decided to make fried catfish sliders, Stark made an original fried catfish filet with the famous southern "comeback" sauce. In the fried catfish showdown Stark won in a 3-2 decision, kicking off the show with a $5,000 start.

The second chef in line was the "Southern Comfort Caterer" Yaku Moton-Spruill. For this challenge Stark strategically went with his chocolate cake recipe he got from his grandmother, the woman who taught him how to cook.

Stark went with a traditional sweet chocolate cake with a raspberry sauce, while Moton-Spruill decided to go with a spiced chocolate lava cake with raspberry coulis.

In a 4-1 decision Stark defeated the professional chef and added $10,000 to his winnings, giving him a total of $15,000.

Standing in the way of an additional $15,000 was Deborah Benaim, who specializes in Latin cuisine. For this showdown Stark challenged her with his steak and mushroom sauce recipe.

Benaim decided to make a bone-in, pepper crusted rib-eye steak with mushrooms, and Stark made steak fillets with his special mushroom sauce and fresh sweet potato chips.

The stakes were high in this challenge, and winning in a 3-2 vote was Chef Benaim; Stark was not able to add to his total winnings, leaving him at $15,000.

In the $20,000 challenge and fourth cook-off the night Stark chose to put his baby-back ribs against the "Mad Scientist," Chef Marcel Vigneron, who is a modern style chef and was the runner up on he second season of "Top Chef." Both chefs used high-tech devices to make their ribs; Stark decided to make Asian themed barbecue ribs with a pressure cooker and Vigneron used liquid nitrogen for his special garnish for his fried baby-back ribs.

Again it was a 3-2 decision as Stark added $20,000 to his winnings, giving him a $35,000 total.

The final challenge, where Stark was given a chance to double his earnings, came against celebrity chef Elizabeth Falkner, who is known as triple threat chef and is known for her pastry and Italian skills. The recipe that Stark brought with him was cheesy polenta.

Falkner decided to make cheesy white grits while Stark stuck with the traditional polenta recipe. In a 4-1 decision Stark beat Falkner and doubled his overall winnings.

Jim Stark outcooked four out of the five professional chefs, winning a total of $70,000.

He helps deliver food to the elderly and said he will use his winnings to improve their living conditions. For more information and content of the show visit nbc.com