Starting the last round

The next day was finally the 6th and last round of the cooking competition. Eira had relocated the competition to a big hall so that a lot of viewers could get into it and see the competition live.

The hall could hold about six thousand seats and all of them were booked out.

In the front rows, Eira had invited some VIPs to attend. The stations for the cooks were placed opposite of each other so they would face each other. The judges sat at the front to have a good look at both of them.

For today Eira had invited two more judges to make the judging as fair as possible. The two were none other than George Ramsay and James Olivier.

[Autors note: It´s not a typo I intentionally changed the name of my two favorite cooks for copyright reasons and stuff.]

Those two were the most renowned master chefs in the world. They had heard about her competition and agreed to be the judges for the final round. With them came a horde of reporters to film every single motion that was happening in the hall today. They didn´t want to miss a single thing. Especially when two of the most well-known master chefs were present.

There were still about an hour before the competition began but the hall was already full and bustling. There were even some in the audience who had prepared some banners to cheer for either Bear or Mr. YX.

Eira was more or less forced to give an interview to all of the TV stations.

They bombarded her with questions. Everyone wanted to know how she could make competition this big. Also, everyone was sure that she knew the identity of Mr. YX which she really didn´t know.

They also wanted to know what she exactly planned to do with the winner. She answered them as good as possible.

"So Miss Morgan. Is it true that the winner of today's competition will get a share of your company?" One of the reporters asked her.

"No that is not true. The prize of this competition is to take on the position of the head developer in our company. He will get the opportunity to create new products and of course, his salary is a very good one. That´s all." She calmly answered.

"Miss Morgan, I´ve also heard that later on, you wanted to let that head developer hold a position on the board of directors like your father previously did." Another reporter asked her.

"That is also not true. I didn´t think of that yet. My father held a position on the board of directors because he is the founder of this company. Of course, he should be on the board then. But first of all, the head developer whoever that is going to be should only hold that one position. Nothing else. In the future when work is going well and when I also see leading qualities I will assign more positions to him." With that statement, Eira had hoped to clear up the misunderstanding or rather a misconception.

"Miss Morgan, then as the CEO do you plan to expand your business or maybe get someone who is going to fill into the other roles that your father took." One reporter asked.

She understood what he meant. They wanted to know if she had thought of having a marriage contract or something similar to that. They wanted to know if there was someone suitable to help her manage the company. Are they underestimating her?

"I didn´t think of that yet. I am young and can manage it together with my capable employees. There is no need to get help. And also the idea of expanding was already thought of and there already plans to make it happen. Just wait and see." She cut the reporter off and ended the interview. She had entertained them long enough and they had nothing to ask about the cooking competition itself. They just wanted some scandalous hot news. Well sorry, but they are asking the wrong person. She had always paid attention to what she showed to the public so that it wouldn´t backfire at her later on.

She walked to the judging panel to take a seat. She sat in the middle because she was the CEO and organizer of this event. Left and right beside her sat George Ramsay and James Olivier. Then besides them the Chinese and Italian chef.

The MC went on stage and started to moderate to get the audience to calm down and to introduce the two contestants and also the judging panel.

"Ladiiiiiiiiiies and gentlemen. Finally! FINALLY!!! It´s the last round of the Morgan Noodles Cooking Competition. The last two contestants will compete with each other today. On the left side is the always grumpy Bear. And on the other side is the mysterious Mr. YX. We are all excited to see them today doing their best. Please welcome them in." He gestured to a door at the side and out came Bear and Mr. YX. They walked in front of their cooking station and looked at each other.

Loud cheers erupted in the entire hall.

"Now, let me introduce to you our judges. Applause for Marvin Yan!* Genard Contado!** James Olivier! George Ramsay! And last but not least CEO of Morgan Noodles, Eira Morgan herself!" The MC introduced each one of them. The crowd once again gave thunderous applause.

The judges took place in their seats. The two contestants greeted them each with a handshake.

"Okay, I will now announce the task for this round. Drumroll please." The MC excitedly spoke.

He put out an envelope and slowly opened it dramatically. He then took the card inside of it out and read it out loud.

"Today´s task is to create an entirely new product. You can use whatever you like to make whatever you want. The ingredients are provided in the stock room right behind the stage. You can get there almost everything and from the best quality of course. The time limit is four hours. The first one who finishes is the first to serve to the judges."

After hearing the task the audience started to grumble of all the excitement and surprised whispers. Bear and Mr. YX didn´t seem to be affected at all. They calmly listened to the MC speaking.

"Now let´s get to your stations and the time starts... NOW!"

They both went to their stations grabbed a tray and then went to the stock room.

While they were looking for ingredients the judges held a light conversation with the MC. Sharing some of their experiences.

Soon Bear came back with a tray full of different ingredients and started to do his work.

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* (You may know the real person: Martin Yan. Amazing chef.)

** (The name is taken from Gennaro Contaldo. He is so funny :D)