Pan-seared Red snapper with Apple and Potato Scales and White wine Apple Sauce

Charles: "I am going to do a red snapper with fish scales, but I'm going to replicate it with these crimson gold apples with white wine apple sauce."

Joe Bastianich (judge): "Are you making reference to the famous dish where they make potato scales on the fish?"

Charles: "Right."

Joe Bastianich: "Have you ever done anything like that before?"

Charles: "No, but I'm going to give it a try today."

Joe Bastianich: "It's going to be pretty concentrated and sweet on top of fish, all that apple. What if you got a potato and have, like, 60% potato and 40% apples in the structure of scales? That would be much better, more balanced."

Charles: "Okay. That sounds more doable. Yes."

Joe Bastianich: "But you've got a lot to do. This is a complicated dish."

Judges, talking behind the scenes

"Charles was quite concerning to Joe and I. He wants to do a red snapper and using the apple as sort of a faux scale on top of the fish skin."

"That will not work."

"Yes, I know."

"And secondly, the skin on the snapper is delicious. Why try to replace that with something that won't work?"

"I told him to consider more potatoes than apples as the skin. It's a super risky dish. I'm kind of concerned about that."

Judges, talking to Charles before final judgement

"Charles, what is this?"

Charles: "This is a white wine sauce."

"Did you burn the alcohol out of the wine?"

Charles: "I blended it in there."

"Did you burn the alcohol off?"

Charles: "No."

"So you have raw alcohol in the sauce?"

Charles: "Yes."