Cooking with Que was eliminated on season 18, episode 7 of The Great Food Truck Race, just missing out on a spot in the finale alongside Good Fortune and Nishaan.
Who Went Home on The Great Food Truck Race Season 18?
This week, Cooking with Que said their bittersweet goodbye. After a wild leg in Newport News, Virginia—one filled with sneaky surveillance, weather drama, and dish dilemmas—the team found themselves just a few hundred dollars shy of the finale.
Honestly, if you’d asked me halfway through the episode, I might have bet the outcome would lean another way; the race felt tighter than Tyler Florence’s chef jacket on challenge days.
The Newport News Twist: Surveillance and Shut Downs
Right out of the gate, Tyler Florence shook things up. Instead of starting with the usual upfront challenge, he secretly watched each team’s prep and service, judging their workflow via hidden cameras.
That’s right, real deal Big Brother vibes in a food truck. Good Fortune was all business, impressing Tyler with laser-focused teamwork and earning a tidy $300 for their till. For Cooking with Que, though, it was a rough patch—they lost the challenge and got shut down for an hour.
I mean, imagine the panic: one hour not selling when every minute counts! Tyler wasn’t just play-acting stern either; he gave a tough-love coaching session before letting them reopen, which maybe helped... maybe not enough, in hindsight.
Challenges, Judges, and Oysters
With the weather giving everyone grief, sales on Day 2 started slower than a food truck trying to park on a sandy boardwalk. But locals came out anyway, umbrellas in hand, hungry for something good.
Tyler brought in Food Network chef Aarti Sequeira to judge the next challenge, which was all about dressing up the mighty Chesapeake oyster. Now, I’ll admit, if I ever tried that at home, you’d get oysters drowned in garlic butter and probably regretful looks from my family.
The teams did way better: Nishaan’s flavors wowed but maybe overshadowed the oyster itself, Cooking with Que’s dish left Chef Aarti speechless (in a good way), and Good Fortune’s unfortunately included a bit of shell—ouch. Cooking with Que snagged $300 for their till on this one, a small triumph on a tough day.
Historic Sales... but a Narrow Elimination
It all came down to raw cash. The three trucks hustled through Newport News, setting an all-time series sales record—nearly $35,000 moved in just two days. There should be medals for that level of hustling. When Tyler dropped the numbers at elimination, viewers got whiplash:
| Team | Sales |
|---|---|
| Good Fortune | $12,290 |
| Nishaan | $11,080 |
| Cooking with Que | $10,822 |
Cooking with Que was out, and honestly, the reaction felt almost like losing a favorite neighborhood food truck. I’ve had days where my meal was $3 short and the next person in line lucked out; that’s kind of what this felt like. Their exit wasn’t a disaster, just heartbreak—that “so close!” kind of heartbreak.
