“Camp Culinaris: Celebrity Chefs Face Tough Challenges in Middle Eastern Cooking”

Tuesday was a difficult day at “Camp Culinaris”, when the celebrity participants had their assignment rejected.

The participants were tasked with serving food from the Middle East to the guests at the restaurant in Portør, under the direction of restaurant manager Trude Drevland (75).

When they did not succeed in completing the mission, Drevland had to prepare to compete in Wednesday’s cooking competition, in order to defend their place further in the competition.

– The hardest round

Before the chef competition, the participants have to go through an apprentice competition. The celebrity who loses this match meets Drevland in the nerve-wracking cooking match.

In the apprentice match, it’s about whipping chickpea syrup as stiffly as possible in the shortest possible time. In the end, it is Lydia Gieselmann (30) who loses out of the apprentice competition, and must face Drevland in a duel.

Drops the bomb: – I’m going home

Program manager and chef Kjartan Skjelde (47) spends a long time deciding which of them will be allowed to continue after the cooking competition.

– I have made many seasons of “Camp Culinaris”. This is probably the most difficult round I’ve had where I have to separate dishes from each other, says Skjelde in the programme.

The choice is so difficult that the presenter finally chooses to let them both continue in the food competition.

– It is the first time in history that you are unable to separate two dishes. So that’s only as fair as it gets.

Broke down – wanted to go home

– Would have been bad

Drevland told Dagbladet that she was prepared to go home.

– All chef competitions are nerve-wracking, I took part a record number of times. Me and Lydia were equally determined that this could be the last round. It has never happened before in history, so it didn’t occur to me for a moment.

However, she could breathe a sigh of relief when both she and Gieselmann got a second chance in “Camp Culinaris”.

– I had a very good tone with everyone, even if I yelled at them on a regular basis. I had a close relationship with Lydia because she is a nice person and she is also from the north. I was aware that it was me and not Lydia who was going to burst out. It would have been bad, because the young people have so much to live for.

Got a second chance: – Fantastic

Drevland managed to keep calm in the nerve-wracking minutes before the outcome was revealed.

– But it is clear that the champagne tasted extra good after that cooking competition. No one in the crew knew how to handle it, because it has never happened before. But that wasn’t our problem! I took Lydia in the golf cart and we threw ourselves over the champagne afterwards.

Gieselmann, for his part, tells Dagbladet that it felt like time stood still when Skjelde revealed that Drevland was not going home.

About the friend: – Live different lives

– I didn’t want to go home, but if Trude was the one I was going to lose to in a cooking competition, then she was a very worthy winner.

But then the presenter adds that Gieselmann doesn’t have to pack up and leave Portør either.

– Suddenly Kjartan says that I’m not going home either, I barely managed to hear what he said before the whole gang stood around us and cheered! It was absolutely euphoric, I think we all needed a little lift after all the hard work. We put the disappointment behind us and could celebrate ourselves a little, it was incredibly great.

Media manager at Viaplay, Fredrik Olimb, explains the choice as follows:

– In “Camp kulinaris” a participant must go home every week, but sometimes the dishes are so similar that even for a master chef like Kjartan it is difficult to tell them apart. In this particular cooking competition, Trude’s and Lydia’s dishes were so similar in both taste and appearance that Kjartan, on his own initiative, against Viaplay’s wishes, chose to keep both in the competition.

– Fortunately, this program did not affect the other participants. We are just happy to have two extra hands the following week.