The pressure reached a boiling point on Pitmasters as the final four teams were thrown into one of the most demanding challenges yet — and one team ultimately paid the price for running out of time.

For the BBQ Potluck challenge, each team was given just three hours to prepare a family-style feast consisting of one main dish cooked over direct fire and two side dishes.

The stakes were high. Beyond survival in the competition, the winning team would walk away with an additional $5,000.

But the brutally short time limit quickly became the biggest enemy.

Unlike a typical barbecue competition, where pitmasters can carefully control cooking time to achieve the perfect tenderness and smoke penetration, the teams had to balance multiple dishes while working against a three-hour clock.

And for one team, those three hours simply weren’t enough.

💥 THE ELIMINATION

Ruben Santana & Hector Garate, representing the combined New York & South Carolina team, ultimately found themselves unable to overcome the time pressure.

Their biggest problem was the centerpiece of the challenge: the main meat cooked over live fire.

With the clock rapidly running down, the meat had not reached the level of tenderness and smoke absorption expected by the judges.

The team was forced to present a dish that simply wasn’t ready to compete at the level required at this stage of the competition.

The result was devastating.

Despite their efforts to keep the rest of the meal together, the underdeveloped main course became the deciding factor, sending Ruben Santana & Hector Garate home.

⏱️ THREE HOURS — TOO SHORT FOR BBQ?

The elimination has also raised questions about the challenge itself.

Three hours may sound like plenty of time in an ordinary cooking competition, but BBQ operates on a completely different timeline. Smoke, temperature and tenderness cannot always be rushed simply because the clock demands it.

That made the $5,000 BBQ Potluck challenge a particularly brutal test.

The remaining teams now know that at this stage of Pitmasters, technical skill alone isn’t enough.

They need to know exactly how much they can accomplish before the clock runs out.

And with Ruben & Hector officially out, the competition has entered an even more dangerous phase:

One bad timing decision could now be enough to send another pitmaster home.