Often on cooking shows like this, contestants will do something creative and different in order to stand out, so it makes sense that they'd wait and see what he's cooking up.

Honestly I think they took the best possible approach, they let the creative create, and when it was revealed that there was in fact a communication breakdown, they handled it fairly and made sure to not penalize the contestant for the host's failure to effectively communicate. This is especially important with such an exceptionally regional dish with many different ways to prepare it. People who haven't spent time in the region that its regularly served in may entirely misunderstand how its supposed to be prepared and served, and that causes there to be incredible variation between recipes and approaches