Here is the back of a giant blade smacked against a coconut, the squeeze of pulp in a fist, the snowy cream running down into a bowl. Contestants from Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa and, in Season 3, Papua New Guinea work mostly in makeshift kitchens open to the air. In the middle of a challenge, one runs into the surrounding trees to pluck wild berries she says she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl. A team tucks hot volcanic rocks into a dish and laments that their coconuts are uto — sprouted — so they have less meat. When Princess Salote Mafile‘o Pilolevu Tuita of Tonga makes an appearance, there is a ripple of awe. “We’re jittery,” a contestant confides. Another, speaking in Tongan, says quietly, “To cook for the princess — it is a joyous occasion for my life.”