The Great Food Truck Race Season 18 just saw Rising Tiger, one of its competitors, inexplicably leave the show for no reason other than it was "personal." The beloved Food Network series is back, following nine food truck teams competing in various food-based challenges in hopes of winning $50,000.
Rising Tiger was one of this season's culinary competitors, led by chef Devin Keopraphay, bringing its scallion pancakes and banana-fried steaks from Longmont, Colorado, to TV screens across North America. However, the Great Food Truck Race teams mysteriously backed out of the competition in Season 18, Episode despite never getting officially eliminated.
This is by far from the first time a big-name competitor has left one of these hit reality shows, but it certainly was one of the most dramatic in recent memory, as the only reason given for the team's departure was that it was for "personal reasons."
Why Rising Tiger Had to Leave Food Truck Race In Season 18 Opener
The Great Food Truck Race's Season 18 premiere left fans dumbfounded, as one of its central trucks, Rising Tiger, removed itself from the competition.
This came at the end of the episode, as it was revealed that Vanetta Roy's team, Eat My Biscuits, was eliminated from the series, being the first name to be sent home in this batch of episodes.
However, as this was happening, Rising Tiger owner Devin Keopraphay stood up and proclaimed they, too, were going home.
"Due to personal reasons, I want to withdraw our team from the competition," Keopraphay exclaimed to close Episode 1. When prodded on what the specific reason for leaving was, he continued to go back to that "personal reasons" line:
Tyler Florence: "(to Eat My Biscuits) This breaks my heart. I hate to do this. I really do. I need your keys"
Devin Keopraphay: "Wait chef... Due to personal reasons, I want to withdraw our team from the competition."
Florence: "Hang on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on, huh?"
Keopraphay: "Due to personal reasons, I wanna withdraw our team from the competition. Sorry, but we got things to take care of back home."
Florence: "Is it personal reasons?"
Keopraphay: "Personal reasons, sir."
Keopraphay then tried to make the case that Eat My Biscuits should be allowed to stay, seeing as the Rising Tiger truck was taking themselves out of the competition. This, however, was unsuccessful, as Roy's team was eliminated anyway:
Florence: "Are you trying to tell me you wanna go home instead of Biscuits?"
Keopraphay: "Yes."
Vanetta Roy: "No, you're good. You deserve to be here."
When chased down by producers of the series about what was going on, Keopraphay posited that "I don't want to talk it out:"
Keopraphay: "Hey guys, I'm sorry. It's really hard to leave, 'cause I know we could win it. It's really hard to leave, 'cause I know we could win it and take it all the way to the top."
Producer: "Why are you leaving the race? Let's talk it out."
Keopraphay: "I don't want to talk it out."
The series did not give a specific reason for Rising Tiger leaving the show. However, after only one week of competing, the truck and its team are gone.
Some speculated that the departure could have been related to Keopraphay's daughter, as the Rising Tiger owner showed just how deep a connection he shared with his child.
Earlier in the episode, the Rising Tiger head chef described his relationship with his kids, telling the host, Tyler Florence, "She's great. That's what you do this for every single day, is for your children:"
Florence: "Family's back in Colorado. Who have you got back home?"
Keopraphay: "It's just me and my daughter."
Florence: "Oh my God, tell me about her.
Keopraphay: "Uh, she's great. Ha... Uh, she's great. That's what you do this for every single day, is for your children."
Florence: "We got to keep– That's why we gotta keep working, right?"
Making matters even more confusing, Rising Tiger posted an emotionally charged Instagram post in the wake of Episode 1's release, although it is unclear if the two events are connected.
In the post, Keopraphay wrote that the business was having trouble establishing a brick-and-mortar restaurant and had run into financial problems after some issues with an investor:
"I tried. I really f*ck*ng tried. Sometimes, you have to listen to your heart.
As most of you know, we've been in the process and planning of a brick & mortar for just shy of a year now. Surprise, surprise, establishing a restaurant is complicated, unclear, and downright costly. For perspective, it's not uncommon to put 500k to a million into a project these days. Architect plans, scans, lawyer fees, deposits, equipment, food cost, labor cost, time, you name it cause chances are you're paying for it somewhere down the line. All this growth sometimes requires jumping into the unknown head first, whether it's in the development of the building, new purveyors, or finance."
"This time around, there's just too many chefs in the kitchen," the chef remarked, announcing he would be postponing the opening of their brick-and-mortar location.
Seeing as The Great Food Truck Race was assumed to have been filmed months ago, it is unlikely that this latest development had anything to do with the team withdrawing from the hit reality series.
What most likely happened (as is often the case in these sorts of reality TV departure scenarios) was that a family emergency came up for Keopraphay and the team, forcing them to pull themselves away from the show to take care of matters back home.
