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This group of chefs, more than in any season prior, seemed to be thinking about how to win the game, and at this early stage, seemed to be saying to themselves, “Hey! Just don’t go home! Stay in the middle of the pack until the end. Then step it up.” Like pacing oneself in a marathon. And with a dinner for 200, yes, they could say, “That’s a lot of people -- let’s play it safe.”  But they could have been far more creative than they were. 

This points to  aproblem inherent in a group challenge like this: When creating dishes by committee, no one puts themselves out there and says “I want to go out on a limb with this, and I don’t care if the group doesn’t want me to.” So nothing soars. Furthermore, the food lacks a point of view -- any chance of one has been eradicated by the process. 

This is why restaurant kitchens are not run by committee. There is a chef and there are sous-chefs. The chef oversees everything and makes sure the dishes cohere, that there is that point of view. It’s important to have that point of view. That’s the problem with these group challenges: the point of view gets lost. Further, there’s no one to whom everyone else must answer, to ensure that a plan of action runs smoothly. There is no one chef to whom all need to listen.