TCFL 16 // Draft Recap & Analysis

First off, thanks again to everyone who decided to be part of TCFL this season. By the time the deadline passed, we reached a whopping 30 entries which is easily the highest we've ever reached in our short history. With that said, here are the payouts for this season:

1st Place: $200.00 & ownership of the TCFL Cutting Board Trophy for one year

2nd Place: $50.00

3rd Place: $25.00

Mr./Ms. Irrelevant (Last Place): $10.00

$15.00 will be kept for Trophy shipping purposes, if needed/required (it's heavy)

Secondly, some housekeeping: If you submitted an entry, but have not yet paid, please do so ASAP. Payments can be submitted through Venmo, PayPal, or Google Wallet. If you need to arrange something different or can't remember if you paid or not, shoot me an email.

Now, on to the draft:

• Natalie was by far the most chosen this season with 25 out of 30 teams selecting the Episode 1 Elimination Challenge winner. Obviously we'll get into this more in the Episode 2 recap, but let's just say that there were a lot of angry/annoyed/sad messages being sent my way last Thursday night.
• Eric was a surprise 2nd place. He seemed a bit unremarkable to me through Episode 1.
• There are eight teams who are putting at least one of their eggs in Last Chance Kitchen, and two teams who selected two chefs from the play-in competition. There must be a lot of fancy toast fans out there because Carrie was selected the most from this group.
• Surprisingly, every Chef was chosen. It seemed for a while that Kevin wouldn't be taken but got some love late on Thursday.

• While Natalie was most picked, she wasn't nearly as popular when it came to picking a winner for our first tiebreaker. She tied with Pablo with six selections each.
• Shout-outs to Cathy, Franklin, Season 14 Champ Dan, and Neighbor Leah for picking LCK contestants to make it all the way through and win. You guys are nuts.
• Shout-outs to myself and Dave for going out on a limb by ourselves with Nini and Eddie, respectively.

• Pretty overwhelming here. You all must like your sweets.

• Shout-outs to Kelly, Emily, Greg, and Season 15 Champ Eric for already having a leg up and winning this tiebreaker after Gail made her appearance in Episode 2.

Finally, some superlatives:

Best Team Name: "Keep Calm and Carrie On" (Neighbor Leah)

Best Trash Talk via Venmo: Renato

Best Recruiters: Lisa, Katie, and Mrs. Commish -- Thanks for spreading the word!

Best "Strategery": Amilcar

Best Example of Rich already being salty:

Thanks again, everyone! Back later this week with the Episode 2 Recap