Masterchef (2010) s03e06 Episode Script
Top 15 Compete
Previously on Masterchef, it was one of the biggest challenges in Masterchef history Here come the troops.
As the home cooks fed over 200 marines.
I need pork chops.
Two, now! When the battle lines were finally drawn Go blue! Frank failed to commandeer his team to victory And 19-year-old Michael became the third casualty of the season.
Take your apron off and keep that head up high.
Tonight ugh! It's a mystery box that'll take some brains And balls to pull off.
This is one of the most difficult mystery box challenges ever in the history of Masterchef.
With the results taking the competition to another level.
What kind of a gives a live crab to the blind chick? It pierced me.
As one more Masterchef hopeful is eliminated.
Holy.
I'm in the top 15.
Bananas.
Hello.
Come in.
I'm not gonna be happy until I have the title of Masterchef on the mantle, and I don't even have a mantle.
I'm gonna build a mantle just so I can put my trophy on it.
Just 15 of you remain.
And today you face your second mystery box challenge.
The person with the best dish will get a huge advantage in the next challenge.
The test right after this one is an elimination challenge.
Someone's going home, and going home soon.
As with every mystery box challenge, the contestants have to prepare, cook, and present one incredible dish, using all or some of the ingredients inside the box.
and hopefully, nothing's gonna jump out.
I'm thinking, lobster? Crab? I don't know.
One I'm hoping for chicken in this mystery box.
Two There's some delicious, yummy chocolate under this box.
I know it.
Three.
God! - What the? - My God.
It's not chocolate.
I hear everybody else gasping and gagging and making awful, disgusting noises.
I think not being able to see at this point is an advantage for me.
Ew.
There's balls, and there's a brain and there's this massive tongue.
I just zero in on the hugest set I have ever seen.
God.
That's right, it's offal! Excited? Veal brains, lamb hearts, bull's testicles, pig's kidney, chicken livers, cow's tongue, and a delicious lamb's head.
Even though these cuts are not the most expensive, in recent years, they've become gourmet ingredients.
Turn them into something stunning.
You've got 90 minutes.
Your time starts Now.
With this mystery box, the home cooks will have use of a limited pantry to help them in creating one magnificent dish.
I am just staring at that cutting board, thinking, not this, not this, not this.
The only thing that Chinese people don't eat with legs are chairs.
This is just a perfect opportunity for me.
Right away, I see the sweetbreads, which is the thymus gland.
What part of the animal is it? It's a sweetbread.
You don't want to say it's a thymus gland.
This, for me, is one of the most difficult mystery box challenges ever in the history of Masterchef.
What would you do, Graham? I think that I would do something with the tripe, get it really thin, finish it all in the pan.
Really rustic dish.
You know what? A great breakfast sandwich when I was a kid was calf brain with scrambled eggs and toasted butter.
Yeah? Very simple, and quite delicious.
What I wouldn't do here is touch the head.
You know, that is a sort of monster in the box.
Yeah.
I am making braised beef tongue.
But I braise my beef tongue for six hours when I make it at home, so I'm gonna have to bust out the pressure cooker and see how that works for me.
I'm gonna experiment here a little bit, 'cause I'm not really familiar with organ meats.
Ryan, how are you feeling? I've never cooked with offal before, to be honest.
So what are you cooking? I'm gonna do sweetbreads today.
going in this competition? I'm gonna win the whole competition.
Top ten? I'm gonna win the whole thing.
Top five? I'm taking home the title, chef.
Top three? I'm gonna go home with the check, the cookbook, and the title.
Who do you think goes next? Monti.
Monti? Yeah.
Good luck.
What do you got, Monti.
What are you doing? What I'm making, or I'm trying to make, is, uh, fried testicles.
When I'm cutting into the testicles, the only thing I'm thinking about right now is my ex-husband.
Does that make me sound so bobbitt? So testicles are probably one of the more challenging things.
Why didn't you go for something easier, like chicken livers, or, uh Why do something easy? That's not gonna impress people like you.
How are you feeling? Pretty good, chef.
I'm gonna do some pork heart sliders.
A slider.
Yeah.
It doesn't sound the most appetizing.
I'm gonna have some delicious balsamic onion Jam to go along with it, so it tastes a lot of fun.
It sounds inventive.
Good luck.
Thank you.
65 minutes gone.
Hi, Christine.
Hi.
Panko breadcrumb fried sweetbreads? Yes, that's what I'm hoping to do.
Deep frying.
You are unflappable and brave, because I'm getting splashed over here.
It's already splattered in my face.
Good luck.
Yes, thank you.
Becky, how are you feeling? I'm feeling really good right now.
Thank you, chef.
So, are you using sweetbreads? Yeah.
You seem to be doing a little I know, I have so much stuff going on, I don't know which one I like more.
Are you looking at a little sampling or what? Yeah, I think so.
I'm gonna do a fried sweetbread, a grilled sweetbread, and then a pate, so it's gonna be "of ally" good.
I love the idea.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Thank you, chef.
I'm quite intrigued by Stacey's braised heart sliders.
That's some awesome! Ryan's just amazing.
I mean, he's very comfble cooking a really nice, crispy sweetbread.
Now it's about tting it together, but really cool techniques.
Christine's gonna do a breaded sweetbread, so some great ideas are coming out, and it smells It smells really good.
Just under five minutes to go.
Taste everything.
Holy, that's good.
Hurry up, put it on the plates.
Your last 60 seconds.
Remember, we're looking for one stunning dish.
Last ten seconds.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and stop.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and stop.
Well done.
Throughout the mystery box challenge, the judges tastes elements of all the home cooks' dishes as they came together.
They now take one last look to choose the top three standouts, and the winner of this challenge will receive a major advantage in the next round.
My heart's racing and almost pumping out of my body, and you know that feeling you get when you just know.
You just know you're gonna win.
You know you did this.
The first dish that we were blown away by was intricate.
It almost looked like one of the dishes that we would stick in our restaurants.
That dish belongs to Becky.
Really good job.
So what is the dish? I have a chicken liver pate on buttered toast, and then grilled sweetbread with balsamic onion and shitake mushroom, and then, on the other side, I have a flash-fried sweetbread.
You know, it's a bold move, but it worked beautifully.
Great job.
Well done.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Delicious.
Any one of these, on their own, could have brought you up here.
Really good.
Good job.
You used three different techniques, three different styles, three different textures, so I'm thinking, as a menu item, I could probably serve this as an appetizer at a restaurant.
Thanks.
Well executed.
Good job.
Thank you so much.
The next dish utilized the sweetbreads, cooked them perfectly, and the plating was beautiful as well.
The next dish belongs to Ryan.
I'm disappointed that Ryan's in the top three.
Grrr, you know? He's kind of like the dark cloud of the group.
All right, walk me through it.
I cooked the sweetbreads in bacon fat, and I also, uh, drizzled around the outside of a plate a shallot curry oil.
Sweet, sour, salty.
So balanced.
It's a great dish.
I don't know if you could have done this better.
Great job.
Thank you so much.
Delicious.
That works, you work.
We're happy.
Good job.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Good job.
And the last of the three top dishes, a very, very simple and smart dish that looked perfectly suitable for any of our restaurants.
That person's dish is Christine.
Well done.
Christine's the most amazing woman I think I've ever seen in my entire life.
She just amazes me at what she can do.
I just basically deep-fried some sweetbreads that I had battered in panko, and then served it with some bok choy.
Really terrific.
A great accomplishment.
Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you.
Congratulations.
It's delicious.
And it's got that soft, creamy texture on the side, which is very rarely fit, and we all spotted it straightaway.
They are cooked to perfection.
Great job.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Well done.
Really well done.
Yeah! Christine! Just incredible.
I mean, I'm so proud of these guys.
Ryan If he had replated that, I mean, it could have been in any of our restaurants.
Well done, all three of you.
I mean, you've just made our jobs so much more difficult.
Becky, a trio brilliantly executed.
Ryan, a dish that could have been picked up and dropped into any of our restaurants.
Delicious.
Christine, it's very rare you cook a sweetbread from raw and get it that crispy after dipping it.
That's quite an accomplishment, let me tell you.
But there is one winner.
There is one dish that did stand out inches in front of its competition.
I haven't won a single competition yet.
I want to win this challenge so badly.
The dish of the day I definitely want to win a mystery box.
Everyone's pretty much competing for their lives at this point, so I would do anything to catch that break.
In a very awkward challenge Say it.
Say it, Gordon.
I want to hear my name.
Belongs to You just made our jobs so much more difficult.
In the mystery box challenge, our home cooks had to master the art of cooking offal.
All three stand-out dishes were made with sweetbreads.
There was one dish that stood out.
That individual has a huge advantage in the next stage of this competition.
Congratulations Ryan.
Great job.
Ryan and I rock, and together, we're going to, you know, set this place on fire.
Really good job.
What can I say? Are you ready to see your advantage? Yes, chef.
This is huge.
Let's go.
Dude Top three is nothing to be upset about, okay? Congrats.
It doesn't matter, though.
Second place is just first loser, you know? As the winner of the mystery box challenge, Ryan is in control of the elimination test, where at least one person will leave the competition.
Welcome to the master pantry.
But the one thing he can't control is the theme of the challenge.
As always, that is in the hands of the judges.
The theme of today's elimination is fresh versus convenience.
Given the choice, any chef would use only the freshest ingredients, but sometimes you have no choice but to cook with convenient ingredients Food that's frozen, canned, or dried.
This first ingredient comes from the sea.
That ingredient is ahi tuna.
I love cooking ahi tuna.
A whole ahi tuna can sell for upwards of $5,000, but this right here is available at any supermarket for under two bucks.
And the second ingredient is immediately enjoyed by people in almost every country around the world.
It is the most amazing ham.
A stunning, bone-in, ham, joints, gorgeous.
And then, of course, there's this.
Canned ham.
Millions and millions of these cans are sold in houses across the country every year.
The third and final ingredient is cooked in kitchens from Baltimore to Bangkok.
We're talking about crabs.
These babies can sell for up to $60 per crab.
Or you can get six ounces of canned crab for about ten bucks.
You are in a unique position.
You don't just have one major advantage right now in this competition.
You have three advantages.
Yes! First, you'll get to choose which of these three ingredients everyone will cook with today.
Your second advantage, you will not be cooking.
Yes! You are safe from elimination.
Awesome! So, what protein do you want your competitors to cook with today? I'm gonna choose the crab, chef.
That little guy's going to send home some of my competition, I think.
Right.
Now, for your third and final advantage, you, Ryan, will get to decide which seven of your competitors will be cooking with fresh crab and which seven will be cooking with canned crab.
Time to throw some people under the bus here, right? Bus driver, coming through.
You are now in control of this competition.
This is, like, the best information ever.
I'm feeling amazing right now.
I'm feeling like I'm in the driver's seat of this competition, and I'm thinking that everybody else should be really worried right now.
First competitor is Becky.
Canned or fresh? She's getting canned.
Why canned? Because it's definitely not as pretty of an ingredient that she could make look nice on the place.
Smart.
Next one is Christine.
Are you worried about how good she is? She has definitely got an amazing palate, and that dish that she had in the top three earlier today was quite impressive, and so, she's definitely a dangerous cook.
I think she might be a little bit thrown by working with the fresh crab, and I think that might be a little bit of a tougher ingredient for her, so I'm gonna give her fresh crab in this test.
You're clever, Ryan, I have to tell you.
No more Mr.
nice guy.
This is the biggest advantage in the history of Masterchef.
I get to choose which cooks get to cook with fresh crab I don't think he knows what to do with it.
She's definitely not a threat.
He's on his way out.
And who's gonna have to cook that crummy canned crab.
Let's give it to her.
Yeah, I can beat him.
She's weak.
And I'm gonna play this game as strategically as I can.
She's, like, very easily flustered.
Tali from Phoenix.
Tali's my partner in crime.
He's the other half of the dream team.
Giving him the fresh crab will insure he at least sticks around a little bit longer.
Let's give Felix the can crabbed and Tali the fresh crab.
Interesting.
There you have it.
Psychological warfare is now in full effect.
Okay, Ryan, you can go straight up to the balcony.
Thank you very much.
Off you go.
I said to you, there's always a huge advantage when you win a mystery box challenge.
So, Ryan gets to skedaddle upstairs and look down everyone's shirt, which I'm sure he's enjoying, 'cause he's a perv.
That's right, Ryan will not be competing in this elimination test.
The ingredient Ryan chose for all of you to be cooking today is the most amazing Crab.
But there's a twist.
Today, half of you will be cooking with live dungeness crabs, straight off the boat.
The other half of you have to use some culinary magic on the variety of crab that comes in the can.
I think I'm the only one in the Masterchef kitchen that's hoping for the canned crab.
So, how did we decide which half got the fresh and which half got the canned? Ryan, how did we choose it? I got to choose.
I know immediately that Ryan is gonna give me the canned crab.
I hate his face.
He's one of my closest friends here.
I just know Ryan has given me a real crab.
I don't know if Ryan knows that I dislike him.
I made it pretty apparent.
So, we'll see what happens.
Rest assured, you've got sufficient time delicious crab dish.
Your 60 minutes starts from now.
Good luck.
Once they discover what Ryan has chosen for them, the contestants have only five minutes in the pantry to grab all the ingredients they'll need to create a dish worthy of remaining in the competition.
I hope Ryan gets crabs.
Come here, little guy.
Ryan totally hooks me up.
He gives me the biggest, freshest crab on the table.
I am so stoked right now.
You don't like me much.
Sorry, buddy.
It's alive! How do you touch it? My God.
Pick it up from behind so that the claws can't get you.
Ryan's wrong.
I definitely know crabs.
I know how to cook a crab, I know how to pick a crab, and I know how to season a crab.
Christine, you got alive.
I knew it.
How is it wrapped up? It's not wrapped? It's not wrapped? No, it's just in a bowl? It's no, it's not in a bowl.
It's in your shopping cart.
So it's just moving around? Yeah, it's just moving around.
Can I beat it with my cane? What kind of a gives a live crab to the blind chick? God.
I'm pretty scared and nervous.
I do fear.
I don't know where the crab's pinchers are, so I I'm a little afraid that it could turn around and just get me on my hand.
Tough one, this one.
MmFresh crab, what would you do? I'd make a stock right away, poach off my crab, get the meat out of the shell.
God, that's hot.
And then, the last 15 minutes, do a Risotto, fold in the crabmeat.
With the canned crab, I think that you've got to really play into adding flavor.
I'd go to a salad, maybe some boiled eggs, some frisee, lardons, and some sort of highly-acidic acid.
Everyone who's using the canned, uh, to put that with the chili, the lime.
'Cause that canned needs help.
Ryan's strategy, how do you think he did? Yeah, I mean, he's dealt some dysfunctional cards.
I mean, Christine is seriously pissed off with for the fresh crab.
Got it, got it, got it.
It's going in.
She has spent literally half the time in the challenge just getting the thing prepped.
Then, what kind of a dish do you make in 20 minutes? Sure.
That was a very tough blow to her.
Ryan's a tough competitor.
Maybe he really wants her out, and if that's what he was intending, he might get it.
This is a little daunting for me.
Man, I need to figure this out.
Got it.
It pierced me.
In this elimination challenge, Ryan chose which contestants were given crab from a can and which worked with a live dungeness crab.
God, that's hot.
Ryan's strategy is already paying off.
While he's safe from elimination, everyone struggles with his choices Especially Christine.
It pierced me.
Medic.
It's not too deep? No.
There you go.
Thank you.
Monti, what did you get? Canned crab.
How do you feel about that? Ryan has a problem with me 'cause I called him out because he asked me to show my nipples to the troops because our pork was all up, and I'm thinking, have some respect, man.
You don't do that.
You know what? Him, dude.
Haters are my motivators.
I gave her the canned crab 'cause I don't like her.
I want her to cook a crappy dish.
So, what are you gonna be doing with this canned crab? A scotch egg made with crab instead of sausage.
W o w.
Monti has been riding my last nerves lately.
I want her in the bottom three so that nobody thinks that she can cook, which she can't.
I think Ryan dealt me a very dirty hand today by giving me this pretty disgusting looking meat.
I'm probably gonna take Ryan down after this.
He's gotta go after giving me this bad crabmeat.
All right, Frank.
Chef.
So I look back and I see Frank making pasta, and I'm like, damn, is this the only thing this kid knows how to make? What the hell? Every time you're in this kind of situation, you go to your comfort zone and you stick to it tight.
Are you a one-trick pony? Do you have anything else up your sleeves? I don't think I'm a one-trick pony.
I'm gonna show you some more stuff I can do.
Let's hope you're here long enough to do that.
Yeah.
Tali, what's up, brother? Ryan gave me the live crab because, uh, we're buddies, and he knows that live crab is definitely much better than, uh, the canned stuff.
What are you worried about? I was worried, uh, you know, I'm not in the bottom three anymore.
That's pretty much my biggest fear.
Okay.
Good luck.
Taste everything.
Start thinking about the final stages of putting that dish together.
I'm actually, for the first time in this competition, fairly relaxed, so, uh, I think I'm in fairly decent shape.
I've never worked with a crab before like this.
There's a first time for everything.
Ten minutes left.
All right, Helene.
Yes.
Look at the ingredients, from there, all the way to here.
What in the hell are you doing? How many dishes are you doing? Just one.
Just one.
What is it? Crab soup.
A crab soup.
A tomato-based crab soup.
Okay, so it's one portion, not ten portions.
Correct.
I haven't seen you win anything yet.
I've been struggling.
You've been struggling.
Why? I've been struggling because I don't work well under pressure and I need to I know where my weakness is.
I need to find Don't work well under pressure? Have you any idea what's coming next? It's just gonna keep getting harder and more vigorous.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Jeez.
Guys, five minutes to go.
It's so interesting when you look at the strategy that Ryan took in terms of trying to protect his mate.
Totally.
I think he's shot himself in the foot, because he doesn't know if it's a paella.
He doesn't know if it's a baked crab.
Lack of vision, lack of priority.
Yeah, it's like an a.
D.
D.
Cook.
Helene also, same thing.
I think that she has no idea what she's doing.
And she's from the eastern shore of Maryland.
That's like crabville, u know? She should be able to do this blindfolded.
MmChristine is, uh, working through that crab.
I thought it would be more of an issue, but look at her.
She's getting all the meat out and cracking it up, going with her sense of feel.
Amazing.
Here we go.
60 seconds to go.
Come on.
Last minute.
Make this count.
Tidy those plates.
Get them looking stunning.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, Well done.
You, down to your station, please.
Must have been lonely up there.
Okay, let's start off.
Tali.
Tali got a live crab to work with.
Shocker.
Tali's my partner in crime.
I can't afford to have Tali go home.
Jeez, it looks like a horror movie.
Can you see that? Where's the crab? Where's the whole All the all the? I put it in the The backfin crabmeat in the middle? I put it in the sauce.
Wait, so we give you a $60 crab, and you took the backfin meat and did what with it? Well, I put it I put a little bit in the sauce.
I made, like, a stock out of it.
I mean, this, especially with the rice in the middle, what am I supposed to do, you know? Am I supposed to pull it out and eat this as I, like, scoop in and and hopefully You know what I mean? It's just stupid.
I'm sorry.
Ry, what'd you do to this guy? Did you want to send him home? No, I Ucch! I give Tali a beautiful crab, plucked from the sea, and he totally screws it up.
What is that? If Tali goes home, I'm on my own.
Based on that performance, I'd start packing my knives if I was you.
Tonight's elimination challenge was to create a gorgeous crab dish, and while Ryan got to decide who used fresh crab and who used canned, the choice he made for his friend Tali didn't quite work out as he had planned.
Based on that performance, I'd start packing my knives if I was you.
They're not seeing the art behind the plate here.
It's, like, mind-boggling.
Honestly, I feel like my stuff is so good that they can't even see the potential here.
Next, it's Joshua.
What is it? This is a Thai crab trio.
Canned or fresh? Canned.
All right, let's see if it's a slam dunk.
What do you got? I initially made with Thai crab curry.
At the last second, I tossed in some jasmine rice.
I was thinking the whole time, I was, like, I need to make whoa! Spicy? Yeah.
Spicy good.
Okay, great.
Very bold, very spicy.
This dish rises to the top.
It's good.
Thank you.
Good job.
Okay, Mike.
All right, what is it? It's my attempt at a crab bisque.
I've never worked with a live crab before.
You've taken fresh crab and you've processed it so it's like canned.
Damn.
Okay, Tanya.
It's, Thai Green curry with crab.
I wanted to do a very authentic Thai curry, and I wanted there to be heat, but not an overbearing amount of heat.
That is a shining example of balance.
Good job.
Thank you.
Frank.
That's homemade oreganata pasta with semolina flour and water.
And some puttanesca sauce with canned crab.
All right, what's wrong with this dish? You tell me, 'cause you know.
It's not balanced, really.
There's way too much crab in there.
Exactly.
This is like hamburger helper.
I'm gonna have to step outside the box and make some different kind of food or else I'm gonna get eliminated.
I'm not gonna be making pasta anytime soon.
I'm gonna show you guys I can do some other things.
You might not be here to show us, Frank.
Christine, let's go, please.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Tinned or fresh? I got the live crab.
Visually stunning.
Are you really blind? Yes, chef, I am.
What color eyes have I got? I have no idea, chef.
I've been asking people here, actually, to describe all of you to me so I can figure out what you all look like.
I'm tall and thin.
Joe's short and fat.
All right, I'll make a mental note.
Thank you.
Okay.
What is that there? I was thinking about ceviche.
I kind of went for something that was, like, more of a cocktail with tomato juice.
It's delicious.
Thank you, chef.
It's fresh, it's fragrant.
You cook every frickin' time like an angel.
Good job.
Thank you, chef.
Seriously.
Ryan, you that one up big-time, let me tell you, because there's no disadvantage here.
Really good job.
Stay on that, I'm telling you.
Great job.
Thank you.
Ryan, come here.
A taste.
A special treat for you.
Yeah, it's really awesome.
You knocked it out of the Park, Christine.
Thanks.
I wanted to prove to Ryan that you did try to screw me by giving me live crab, but I turned around and made it into something awesome.
Helene, let's go, please.
What kind of crab did you get? A fresh dungeness crab.
What did you do? It's a Maryland crab soup.
It's a little bit thicker than I had anticipated, but it has the flavors and the essence of what I was looking to create.
You've done a great job of, taking a beautiful $60 dungeness crab and making it taste exactly like canned crab.
Sorry.
It's almost more like a jambalaya or something.
You know, when you put that on on a fork, it looks like shredded wheat, you know, like like cereal.
A waste of a great product.
Is that salt on top of the, uh, cornbread? I did add salt to the, uh Added it or dipped it in it? If you asked me to pay $25 for that, uh, I wouldn't pay you I'm surprised.
I'm really surprised.
Shocked, embarrassed.
It was a disaster, and I feel terrible.
Last up.
Monti.
I'm pretty sure I'm in the bottom three.
I'm looking at my soft-boiled eggs that are covered in canned crab, and Ryan gave it to me, but I'm not gonna give Ryan the pleasure of seeing me sweat.
What were you smoking when you came up with the idea of a crab scotch egg? I'll be happy to have the last laugh when Monti is walking herself out of the Masterchef kitchen.
What were you smoking when you came up with the idea of a crab scotch egg? In this elimination challenge, Ryan chose canned crab for Monti, hoping it will bump her right out of the competition.
You see It's delicious.
My God.
You're a freak, because it works.
There are chefs in this town that would love to have that on their menu tonight.
It's bloody delicious.
You are not a fluke, my darling.
Well done.
This is a great dish.
It's delicious.
It's a great idea.
Thank you.
I really like it a lot.
Thank you.
So why can't you bring that confidence to your presentation? What's stopping you? I don't know.
There's a sadness that I think I see in your dishes sometimes.
You know, I just got divorced, so I think it's still, like, messing with me.
Well, he's missing some great cooking.
Thank you.
Bloody good job.
Smile, Monti, smile.
Smile.
How does that taste, Ryan? You've got some serious thinking to do.
I mean, I thought the offal challenge was testing.
We did not expect to see so many highs with canned crab.
Great job, guys.
Great job.
You did awesome.
Good job.
I haven't seen any crab scotch egg anywhere.
I haven't seen that.
That was such a cool idea.
Christine, that was a sexy dish.
Man.
Thanks, man.
I wish you could taste it.
Josh is incredible.
I don't see myself seeing eye-to-eye ever with these judges at this point.
They just don't like anything I put out.
So, who do you think's going home? Going home? Tali.
Tali? Me too.
He's been down there too many times.
His bromance friend put him there.
You okay? I'm not trusting myself.
I'm not doing what is to my heart.
I've been doing what I think they want, and that's not okay.
Okay, guys, back to your stations, please.
Thank you.
Two of the dishes were absolutely spectacular, head and shoulders above the competition.
The first spectacular dish that we all agreed showed a brilliant use and understanding of exotic spices That dish Belongs to Josh.
Well done.
That was a great dish, but it wasn't the winning dish.
The home cook that clawed their way to the very top Christine.
Well done.
I'm pretty much on cloud nine at this point.
Everyone is starting to recognize what I'm doing.
I am a force to be reckoned with.
Really well done, Christine.
Josh, both of you are now team captains for our next challenge.
This elimination challenge comes with a departure.
We normally just bring three of you up, but today, we're spoiled for choice.
There's four of you coming down.
The first dish, I think we all agree that it showed this individual had a limited range.
That dish belongs to Frank.
Come down, please.
That wasn't a good one.
You know it.
The second dish, please step forward Tali.
The third dish Cowboy Mike.
The fourth person Helene.
Let's go.
Three out of the four got fresh crabs.
How the hell do you get in the bottom four and you got a fresh crab? It's frickin' ridiculous.
There's no excuse at this level.
Frank, Mike, both of you step forward, please.
Frank, everybody here thinks you're a contender.
We don't feel the same, not after that dish.
Mike, you had a fresh crab, one of the most delicious ingredients anywhere in the country, and you masked the flavor with flour.
Two very different home cooks.
Both of you have one thing in common.
Both your dishes Were not the worst two.
Back to your stations, please.
Bottom two again.
I'm just waiting for my death sentence.
That's what it is.
It's like you're waiting to die.
Tali, Helene, this is becoming a familiar sight.
I know that my dish, uh, was not up to par.
I feel humiliated.
I just feel really embarrassed, and and, quite frankly, scared.
Tali, you're more confused than anybody in this room right now, because your food hasn't found its identity.
Before brilliance comes madness, chef.
"Before brilliance comes madness.
" Helene, if it is a light, healthy style that you're going down, you've got to deliver that.
Of course.
Okay, the person with the worst dish tonight That is leaving the Masterchef kitchen Tali Back to your station, and wake up.
Helene, your time in Masterchef is done.
Thank you.
Please put your apron on your station.
Thank you, gentlemen.
And continue the dream.
Leaving here is admitting failure, and that's That's always hard.
It's a big blow to your ego.
I came to this competition because I wanted to To share my food philosophy with America, but perhaps my mission is not here, but elsewhere.
I'm gonna pursue my My dream, and I'm gonna pursue cooking with the same, if not more enthusiasm as I ever have.
Helene, who's gonna win Masterchef? Frankie.
Thanks, Helene.
We are going on an amazing journey tomorrow.
Get a great night's sleep.
You're gonna need it.
Good night.
My master plan to get Monti and Christine out of here didn't work out, and now I have to start taking out the rest of these douchebags.
As the home cooks fed over 200 marines.
I need pork chops.
Two, now! When the battle lines were finally drawn Go blue! Frank failed to commandeer his team to victory And 19-year-old Michael became the third casualty of the season.
Take your apron off and keep that head up high.
Tonight ugh! It's a mystery box that'll take some brains And balls to pull off.
This is one of the most difficult mystery box challenges ever in the history of Masterchef.
With the results taking the competition to another level.
What kind of a gives a live crab to the blind chick? It pierced me.
As one more Masterchef hopeful is eliminated.
Holy.
I'm in the top 15.
Bananas.
Hello.
Come in.
I'm not gonna be happy until I have the title of Masterchef on the mantle, and I don't even have a mantle.
I'm gonna build a mantle just so I can put my trophy on it.
Just 15 of you remain.
And today you face your second mystery box challenge.
The person with the best dish will get a huge advantage in the next challenge.
The test right after this one is an elimination challenge.
Someone's going home, and going home soon.
As with every mystery box challenge, the contestants have to prepare, cook, and present one incredible dish, using all or some of the ingredients inside the box.
and hopefully, nothing's gonna jump out.
I'm thinking, lobster? Crab? I don't know.
One I'm hoping for chicken in this mystery box.
Two There's some delicious, yummy chocolate under this box.
I know it.
Three.
God! - What the? - My God.
It's not chocolate.
I hear everybody else gasping and gagging and making awful, disgusting noises.
I think not being able to see at this point is an advantage for me.
Ew.
There's balls, and there's a brain and there's this massive tongue.
I just zero in on the hugest set I have ever seen.
God.
That's right, it's offal! Excited? Veal brains, lamb hearts, bull's testicles, pig's kidney, chicken livers, cow's tongue, and a delicious lamb's head.
Even though these cuts are not the most expensive, in recent years, they've become gourmet ingredients.
Turn them into something stunning.
You've got 90 minutes.
Your time starts Now.
With this mystery box, the home cooks will have use of a limited pantry to help them in creating one magnificent dish.
I am just staring at that cutting board, thinking, not this, not this, not this.
The only thing that Chinese people don't eat with legs are chairs.
This is just a perfect opportunity for me.
Right away, I see the sweetbreads, which is the thymus gland.
What part of the animal is it? It's a sweetbread.
You don't want to say it's a thymus gland.
This, for me, is one of the most difficult mystery box challenges ever in the history of Masterchef.
What would you do, Graham? I think that I would do something with the tripe, get it really thin, finish it all in the pan.
Really rustic dish.
You know what? A great breakfast sandwich when I was a kid was calf brain with scrambled eggs and toasted butter.
Yeah? Very simple, and quite delicious.
What I wouldn't do here is touch the head.
You know, that is a sort of monster in the box.
Yeah.
I am making braised beef tongue.
But I braise my beef tongue for six hours when I make it at home, so I'm gonna have to bust out the pressure cooker and see how that works for me.
I'm gonna experiment here a little bit, 'cause I'm not really familiar with organ meats.
Ryan, how are you feeling? I've never cooked with offal before, to be honest.
So what are you cooking? I'm gonna do sweetbreads today.
going in this competition? I'm gonna win the whole competition.
Top ten? I'm gonna win the whole thing.
Top five? I'm taking home the title, chef.
Top three? I'm gonna go home with the check, the cookbook, and the title.
Who do you think goes next? Monti.
Monti? Yeah.
Good luck.
What do you got, Monti.
What are you doing? What I'm making, or I'm trying to make, is, uh, fried testicles.
When I'm cutting into the testicles, the only thing I'm thinking about right now is my ex-husband.
Does that make me sound so bobbitt? So testicles are probably one of the more challenging things.
Why didn't you go for something easier, like chicken livers, or, uh Why do something easy? That's not gonna impress people like you.
How are you feeling? Pretty good, chef.
I'm gonna do some pork heart sliders.
A slider.
Yeah.
It doesn't sound the most appetizing.
I'm gonna have some delicious balsamic onion Jam to go along with it, so it tastes a lot of fun.
It sounds inventive.
Good luck.
Thank you.
65 minutes gone.
Hi, Christine.
Hi.
Panko breadcrumb fried sweetbreads? Yes, that's what I'm hoping to do.
Deep frying.
You are unflappable and brave, because I'm getting splashed over here.
It's already splattered in my face.
Good luck.
Yes, thank you.
Becky, how are you feeling? I'm feeling really good right now.
Thank you, chef.
So, are you using sweetbreads? Yeah.
You seem to be doing a little I know, I have so much stuff going on, I don't know which one I like more.
Are you looking at a little sampling or what? Yeah, I think so.
I'm gonna do a fried sweetbread, a grilled sweetbread, and then a pate, so it's gonna be "of ally" good.
I love the idea.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Thank you, chef.
I'm quite intrigued by Stacey's braised heart sliders.
That's some awesome! Ryan's just amazing.
I mean, he's very comfble cooking a really nice, crispy sweetbread.
Now it's about tting it together, but really cool techniques.
Christine's gonna do a breaded sweetbread, so some great ideas are coming out, and it smells It smells really good.
Just under five minutes to go.
Taste everything.
Holy, that's good.
Hurry up, put it on the plates.
Your last 60 seconds.
Remember, we're looking for one stunning dish.
Last ten seconds.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and stop.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and stop.
Well done.
Throughout the mystery box challenge, the judges tastes elements of all the home cooks' dishes as they came together.
They now take one last look to choose the top three standouts, and the winner of this challenge will receive a major advantage in the next round.
My heart's racing and almost pumping out of my body, and you know that feeling you get when you just know.
You just know you're gonna win.
You know you did this.
The first dish that we were blown away by was intricate.
It almost looked like one of the dishes that we would stick in our restaurants.
That dish belongs to Becky.
Really good job.
So what is the dish? I have a chicken liver pate on buttered toast, and then grilled sweetbread with balsamic onion and shitake mushroom, and then, on the other side, I have a flash-fried sweetbread.
You know, it's a bold move, but it worked beautifully.
Great job.
Well done.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Delicious.
Any one of these, on their own, could have brought you up here.
Really good.
Good job.
You used three different techniques, three different styles, three different textures, so I'm thinking, as a menu item, I could probably serve this as an appetizer at a restaurant.
Thanks.
Well executed.
Good job.
Thank you so much.
The next dish utilized the sweetbreads, cooked them perfectly, and the plating was beautiful as well.
The next dish belongs to Ryan.
I'm disappointed that Ryan's in the top three.
Grrr, you know? He's kind of like the dark cloud of the group.
All right, walk me through it.
I cooked the sweetbreads in bacon fat, and I also, uh, drizzled around the outside of a plate a shallot curry oil.
Sweet, sour, salty.
So balanced.
It's a great dish.
I don't know if you could have done this better.
Great job.
Thank you so much.
Delicious.
That works, you work.
We're happy.
Good job.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Good job.
And the last of the three top dishes, a very, very simple and smart dish that looked perfectly suitable for any of our restaurants.
That person's dish is Christine.
Well done.
Christine's the most amazing woman I think I've ever seen in my entire life.
She just amazes me at what she can do.
I just basically deep-fried some sweetbreads that I had battered in panko, and then served it with some bok choy.
Really terrific.
A great accomplishment.
Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you.
Congratulations.
It's delicious.
And it's got that soft, creamy texture on the side, which is very rarely fit, and we all spotted it straightaway.
They are cooked to perfection.
Great job.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Well done.
Really well done.
Yeah! Christine! Just incredible.
I mean, I'm so proud of these guys.
Ryan If he had replated that, I mean, it could have been in any of our restaurants.
Well done, all three of you.
I mean, you've just made our jobs so much more difficult.
Becky, a trio brilliantly executed.
Ryan, a dish that could have been picked up and dropped into any of our restaurants.
Delicious.
Christine, it's very rare you cook a sweetbread from raw and get it that crispy after dipping it.
That's quite an accomplishment, let me tell you.
But there is one winner.
There is one dish that did stand out inches in front of its competition.
I haven't won a single competition yet.
I want to win this challenge so badly.
The dish of the day I definitely want to win a mystery box.
Everyone's pretty much competing for their lives at this point, so I would do anything to catch that break.
In a very awkward challenge Say it.
Say it, Gordon.
I want to hear my name.
Belongs to You just made our jobs so much more difficult.
In the mystery box challenge, our home cooks had to master the art of cooking offal.
All three stand-out dishes were made with sweetbreads.
There was one dish that stood out.
That individual has a huge advantage in the next stage of this competition.
Congratulations Ryan.
Great job.
Ryan and I rock, and together, we're going to, you know, set this place on fire.
Really good job.
What can I say? Are you ready to see your advantage? Yes, chef.
This is huge.
Let's go.
Dude Top three is nothing to be upset about, okay? Congrats.
It doesn't matter, though.
Second place is just first loser, you know? As the winner of the mystery box challenge, Ryan is in control of the elimination test, where at least one person will leave the competition.
Welcome to the master pantry.
But the one thing he can't control is the theme of the challenge.
As always, that is in the hands of the judges.
The theme of today's elimination is fresh versus convenience.
Given the choice, any chef would use only the freshest ingredients, but sometimes you have no choice but to cook with convenient ingredients Food that's frozen, canned, or dried.
This first ingredient comes from the sea.
That ingredient is ahi tuna.
I love cooking ahi tuna.
A whole ahi tuna can sell for upwards of $5,000, but this right here is available at any supermarket for under two bucks.
And the second ingredient is immediately enjoyed by people in almost every country around the world.
It is the most amazing ham.
A stunning, bone-in, ham, joints, gorgeous.
And then, of course, there's this.
Canned ham.
Millions and millions of these cans are sold in houses across the country every year.
The third and final ingredient is cooked in kitchens from Baltimore to Bangkok.
We're talking about crabs.
These babies can sell for up to $60 per crab.
Or you can get six ounces of canned crab for about ten bucks.
You are in a unique position.
You don't just have one major advantage right now in this competition.
You have three advantages.
Yes! First, you'll get to choose which of these three ingredients everyone will cook with today.
Your second advantage, you will not be cooking.
Yes! You are safe from elimination.
Awesome! So, what protein do you want your competitors to cook with today? I'm gonna choose the crab, chef.
That little guy's going to send home some of my competition, I think.
Right.
Now, for your third and final advantage, you, Ryan, will get to decide which seven of your competitors will be cooking with fresh crab and which seven will be cooking with canned crab.
Time to throw some people under the bus here, right? Bus driver, coming through.
You are now in control of this competition.
This is, like, the best information ever.
I'm feeling amazing right now.
I'm feeling like I'm in the driver's seat of this competition, and I'm thinking that everybody else should be really worried right now.
First competitor is Becky.
Canned or fresh? She's getting canned.
Why canned? Because it's definitely not as pretty of an ingredient that she could make look nice on the place.
Smart.
Next one is Christine.
Are you worried about how good she is? She has definitely got an amazing palate, and that dish that she had in the top three earlier today was quite impressive, and so, she's definitely a dangerous cook.
I think she might be a little bit thrown by working with the fresh crab, and I think that might be a little bit of a tougher ingredient for her, so I'm gonna give her fresh crab in this test.
You're clever, Ryan, I have to tell you.
No more Mr.
nice guy.
This is the biggest advantage in the history of Masterchef.
I get to choose which cooks get to cook with fresh crab I don't think he knows what to do with it.
She's definitely not a threat.
He's on his way out.
And who's gonna have to cook that crummy canned crab.
Let's give it to her.
Yeah, I can beat him.
She's weak.
And I'm gonna play this game as strategically as I can.
She's, like, very easily flustered.
Tali from Phoenix.
Tali's my partner in crime.
He's the other half of the dream team.
Giving him the fresh crab will insure he at least sticks around a little bit longer.
Let's give Felix the can crabbed and Tali the fresh crab.
Interesting.
There you have it.
Psychological warfare is now in full effect.
Okay, Ryan, you can go straight up to the balcony.
Thank you very much.
Off you go.
I said to you, there's always a huge advantage when you win a mystery box challenge.
So, Ryan gets to skedaddle upstairs and look down everyone's shirt, which I'm sure he's enjoying, 'cause he's a perv.
That's right, Ryan will not be competing in this elimination test.
The ingredient Ryan chose for all of you to be cooking today is the most amazing Crab.
But there's a twist.
Today, half of you will be cooking with live dungeness crabs, straight off the boat.
The other half of you have to use some culinary magic on the variety of crab that comes in the can.
I think I'm the only one in the Masterchef kitchen that's hoping for the canned crab.
So, how did we decide which half got the fresh and which half got the canned? Ryan, how did we choose it? I got to choose.
I know immediately that Ryan is gonna give me the canned crab.
I hate his face.
He's one of my closest friends here.
I just know Ryan has given me a real crab.
I don't know if Ryan knows that I dislike him.
I made it pretty apparent.
So, we'll see what happens.
Rest assured, you've got sufficient time delicious crab dish.
Your 60 minutes starts from now.
Good luck.
Once they discover what Ryan has chosen for them, the contestants have only five minutes in the pantry to grab all the ingredients they'll need to create a dish worthy of remaining in the competition.
I hope Ryan gets crabs.
Come here, little guy.
Ryan totally hooks me up.
He gives me the biggest, freshest crab on the table.
I am so stoked right now.
You don't like me much.
Sorry, buddy.
It's alive! How do you touch it? My God.
Pick it up from behind so that the claws can't get you.
Ryan's wrong.
I definitely know crabs.
I know how to cook a crab, I know how to pick a crab, and I know how to season a crab.
Christine, you got alive.
I knew it.
How is it wrapped up? It's not wrapped? It's not wrapped? No, it's just in a bowl? It's no, it's not in a bowl.
It's in your shopping cart.
So it's just moving around? Yeah, it's just moving around.
Can I beat it with my cane? What kind of a gives a live crab to the blind chick? God.
I'm pretty scared and nervous.
I do fear.
I don't know where the crab's pinchers are, so I I'm a little afraid that it could turn around and just get me on my hand.
Tough one, this one.
MmFresh crab, what would you do? I'd make a stock right away, poach off my crab, get the meat out of the shell.
God, that's hot.
And then, the last 15 minutes, do a Risotto, fold in the crabmeat.
With the canned crab, I think that you've got to really play into adding flavor.
I'd go to a salad, maybe some boiled eggs, some frisee, lardons, and some sort of highly-acidic acid.
Everyone who's using the canned, uh, to put that with the chili, the lime.
'Cause that canned needs help.
Ryan's strategy, how do you think he did? Yeah, I mean, he's dealt some dysfunctional cards.
I mean, Christine is seriously pissed off with for the fresh crab.
Got it, got it, got it.
It's going in.
She has spent literally half the time in the challenge just getting the thing prepped.
Then, what kind of a dish do you make in 20 minutes? Sure.
That was a very tough blow to her.
Ryan's a tough competitor.
Maybe he really wants her out, and if that's what he was intending, he might get it.
This is a little daunting for me.
Man, I need to figure this out.
Got it.
It pierced me.
In this elimination challenge, Ryan chose which contestants were given crab from a can and which worked with a live dungeness crab.
God, that's hot.
Ryan's strategy is already paying off.
While he's safe from elimination, everyone struggles with his choices Especially Christine.
It pierced me.
Medic.
It's not too deep? No.
There you go.
Thank you.
Monti, what did you get? Canned crab.
How do you feel about that? Ryan has a problem with me 'cause I called him out because he asked me to show my nipples to the troops because our pork was all up, and I'm thinking, have some respect, man.
You don't do that.
You know what? Him, dude.
Haters are my motivators.
I gave her the canned crab 'cause I don't like her.
I want her to cook a crappy dish.
So, what are you gonna be doing with this canned crab? A scotch egg made with crab instead of sausage.
W o w.
Monti has been riding my last nerves lately.
I want her in the bottom three so that nobody thinks that she can cook, which she can't.
I think Ryan dealt me a very dirty hand today by giving me this pretty disgusting looking meat.
I'm probably gonna take Ryan down after this.
He's gotta go after giving me this bad crabmeat.
All right, Frank.
Chef.
So I look back and I see Frank making pasta, and I'm like, damn, is this the only thing this kid knows how to make? What the hell? Every time you're in this kind of situation, you go to your comfort zone and you stick to it tight.
Are you a one-trick pony? Do you have anything else up your sleeves? I don't think I'm a one-trick pony.
I'm gonna show you some more stuff I can do.
Let's hope you're here long enough to do that.
Yeah.
Tali, what's up, brother? Ryan gave me the live crab because, uh, we're buddies, and he knows that live crab is definitely much better than, uh, the canned stuff.
What are you worried about? I was worried, uh, you know, I'm not in the bottom three anymore.
That's pretty much my biggest fear.
Okay.
Good luck.
Taste everything.
Start thinking about the final stages of putting that dish together.
I'm actually, for the first time in this competition, fairly relaxed, so, uh, I think I'm in fairly decent shape.
I've never worked with a crab before like this.
There's a first time for everything.
Ten minutes left.
All right, Helene.
Yes.
Look at the ingredients, from there, all the way to here.
What in the hell are you doing? How many dishes are you doing? Just one.
Just one.
What is it? Crab soup.
A crab soup.
A tomato-based crab soup.
Okay, so it's one portion, not ten portions.
Correct.
I haven't seen you win anything yet.
I've been struggling.
You've been struggling.
Why? I've been struggling because I don't work well under pressure and I need to I know where my weakness is.
I need to find Don't work well under pressure? Have you any idea what's coming next? It's just gonna keep getting harder and more vigorous.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Jeez.
Guys, five minutes to go.
It's so interesting when you look at the strategy that Ryan took in terms of trying to protect his mate.
Totally.
I think he's shot himself in the foot, because he doesn't know if it's a paella.
He doesn't know if it's a baked crab.
Lack of vision, lack of priority.
Yeah, it's like an a.
D.
D.
Cook.
Helene also, same thing.
I think that she has no idea what she's doing.
And she's from the eastern shore of Maryland.
That's like crabville, u know? She should be able to do this blindfolded.
MmChristine is, uh, working through that crab.
I thought it would be more of an issue, but look at her.
She's getting all the meat out and cracking it up, going with her sense of feel.
Amazing.
Here we go.
60 seconds to go.
Come on.
Last minute.
Make this count.
Tidy those plates.
Get them looking stunning.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, Well done.
You, down to your station, please.
Must have been lonely up there.
Okay, let's start off.
Tali.
Tali got a live crab to work with.
Shocker.
Tali's my partner in crime.
I can't afford to have Tali go home.
Jeez, it looks like a horror movie.
Can you see that? Where's the crab? Where's the whole All the all the? I put it in the The backfin crabmeat in the middle? I put it in the sauce.
Wait, so we give you a $60 crab, and you took the backfin meat and did what with it? Well, I put it I put a little bit in the sauce.
I made, like, a stock out of it.
I mean, this, especially with the rice in the middle, what am I supposed to do, you know? Am I supposed to pull it out and eat this as I, like, scoop in and and hopefully You know what I mean? It's just stupid.
I'm sorry.
Ry, what'd you do to this guy? Did you want to send him home? No, I Ucch! I give Tali a beautiful crab, plucked from the sea, and he totally screws it up.
What is that? If Tali goes home, I'm on my own.
Based on that performance, I'd start packing my knives if I was you.
Tonight's elimination challenge was to create a gorgeous crab dish, and while Ryan got to decide who used fresh crab and who used canned, the choice he made for his friend Tali didn't quite work out as he had planned.
Based on that performance, I'd start packing my knives if I was you.
They're not seeing the art behind the plate here.
It's, like, mind-boggling.
Honestly, I feel like my stuff is so good that they can't even see the potential here.
Next, it's Joshua.
What is it? This is a Thai crab trio.
Canned or fresh? Canned.
All right, let's see if it's a slam dunk.
What do you got? I initially made with Thai crab curry.
At the last second, I tossed in some jasmine rice.
I was thinking the whole time, I was, like, I need to make whoa! Spicy? Yeah.
Spicy good.
Okay, great.
Very bold, very spicy.
This dish rises to the top.
It's good.
Thank you.
Good job.
Okay, Mike.
All right, what is it? It's my attempt at a crab bisque.
I've never worked with a live crab before.
You've taken fresh crab and you've processed it so it's like canned.
Damn.
Okay, Tanya.
It's, Thai Green curry with crab.
I wanted to do a very authentic Thai curry, and I wanted there to be heat, but not an overbearing amount of heat.
That is a shining example of balance.
Good job.
Thank you.
Frank.
That's homemade oreganata pasta with semolina flour and water.
And some puttanesca sauce with canned crab.
All right, what's wrong with this dish? You tell me, 'cause you know.
It's not balanced, really.
There's way too much crab in there.
Exactly.
This is like hamburger helper.
I'm gonna have to step outside the box and make some different kind of food or else I'm gonna get eliminated.
I'm not gonna be making pasta anytime soon.
I'm gonna show you guys I can do some other things.
You might not be here to show us, Frank.
Christine, let's go, please.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Tinned or fresh? I got the live crab.
Visually stunning.
Are you really blind? Yes, chef, I am.
What color eyes have I got? I have no idea, chef.
I've been asking people here, actually, to describe all of you to me so I can figure out what you all look like.
I'm tall and thin.
Joe's short and fat.
All right, I'll make a mental note.
Thank you.
Okay.
What is that there? I was thinking about ceviche.
I kind of went for something that was, like, more of a cocktail with tomato juice.
It's delicious.
Thank you, chef.
It's fresh, it's fragrant.
You cook every frickin' time like an angel.
Good job.
Thank you, chef.
Seriously.
Ryan, you that one up big-time, let me tell you, because there's no disadvantage here.
Really good job.
Stay on that, I'm telling you.
Great job.
Thank you.
Ryan, come here.
A taste.
A special treat for you.
Yeah, it's really awesome.
You knocked it out of the Park, Christine.
Thanks.
I wanted to prove to Ryan that you did try to screw me by giving me live crab, but I turned around and made it into something awesome.
Helene, let's go, please.
What kind of crab did you get? A fresh dungeness crab.
What did you do? It's a Maryland crab soup.
It's a little bit thicker than I had anticipated, but it has the flavors and the essence of what I was looking to create.
You've done a great job of, taking a beautiful $60 dungeness crab and making it taste exactly like canned crab.
Sorry.
It's almost more like a jambalaya or something.
You know, when you put that on on a fork, it looks like shredded wheat, you know, like like cereal.
A waste of a great product.
Is that salt on top of the, uh, cornbread? I did add salt to the, uh Added it or dipped it in it? If you asked me to pay $25 for that, uh, I wouldn't pay you I'm surprised.
I'm really surprised.
Shocked, embarrassed.
It was a disaster, and I feel terrible.
Last up.
Monti.
I'm pretty sure I'm in the bottom three.
I'm looking at my soft-boiled eggs that are covered in canned crab, and Ryan gave it to me, but I'm not gonna give Ryan the pleasure of seeing me sweat.
What were you smoking when you came up with the idea of a crab scotch egg? I'll be happy to have the last laugh when Monti is walking herself out of the Masterchef kitchen.
What were you smoking when you came up with the idea of a crab scotch egg? In this elimination challenge, Ryan chose canned crab for Monti, hoping it will bump her right out of the competition.
You see It's delicious.
My God.
You're a freak, because it works.
There are chefs in this town that would love to have that on their menu tonight.
It's bloody delicious.
You are not a fluke, my darling.
Well done.
This is a great dish.
It's delicious.
It's a great idea.
Thank you.
I really like it a lot.
Thank you.
So why can't you bring that confidence to your presentation? What's stopping you? I don't know.
There's a sadness that I think I see in your dishes sometimes.
You know, I just got divorced, so I think it's still, like, messing with me.
Well, he's missing some great cooking.
Thank you.
Bloody good job.
Smile, Monti, smile.
Smile.
How does that taste, Ryan? You've got some serious thinking to do.
I mean, I thought the offal challenge was testing.
We did not expect to see so many highs with canned crab.
Great job, guys.
Great job.
You did awesome.
Good job.
I haven't seen any crab scotch egg anywhere.
I haven't seen that.
That was such a cool idea.
Christine, that was a sexy dish.
Man.
Thanks, man.
I wish you could taste it.
Josh is incredible.
I don't see myself seeing eye-to-eye ever with these judges at this point.
They just don't like anything I put out.
So, who do you think's going home? Going home? Tali.
Tali? Me too.
He's been down there too many times.
His bromance friend put him there.
You okay? I'm not trusting myself.
I'm not doing what is to my heart.
I've been doing what I think they want, and that's not okay.
Okay, guys, back to your stations, please.
Thank you.
Two of the dishes were absolutely spectacular, head and shoulders above the competition.
The first spectacular dish that we all agreed showed a brilliant use and understanding of exotic spices That dish Belongs to Josh.
Well done.
That was a great dish, but it wasn't the winning dish.
The home cook that clawed their way to the very top Christine.
Well done.
I'm pretty much on cloud nine at this point.
Everyone is starting to recognize what I'm doing.
I am a force to be reckoned with.
Really well done, Christine.
Josh, both of you are now team captains for our next challenge.
This elimination challenge comes with a departure.
We normally just bring three of you up, but today, we're spoiled for choice.
There's four of you coming down.
The first dish, I think we all agree that it showed this individual had a limited range.
That dish belongs to Frank.
Come down, please.
That wasn't a good one.
You know it.
The second dish, please step forward Tali.
The third dish Cowboy Mike.
The fourth person Helene.
Let's go.
Three out of the four got fresh crabs.
How the hell do you get in the bottom four and you got a fresh crab? It's frickin' ridiculous.
There's no excuse at this level.
Frank, Mike, both of you step forward, please.
Frank, everybody here thinks you're a contender.
We don't feel the same, not after that dish.
Mike, you had a fresh crab, one of the most delicious ingredients anywhere in the country, and you masked the flavor with flour.
Two very different home cooks.
Both of you have one thing in common.
Both your dishes Were not the worst two.
Back to your stations, please.
Bottom two again.
I'm just waiting for my death sentence.
That's what it is.
It's like you're waiting to die.
Tali, Helene, this is becoming a familiar sight.
I know that my dish, uh, was not up to par.
I feel humiliated.
I just feel really embarrassed, and and, quite frankly, scared.
Tali, you're more confused than anybody in this room right now, because your food hasn't found its identity.
Before brilliance comes madness, chef.
"Before brilliance comes madness.
" Helene, if it is a light, healthy style that you're going down, you've got to deliver that.
Of course.
Okay, the person with the worst dish tonight That is leaving the Masterchef kitchen Tali Back to your station, and wake up.
Helene, your time in Masterchef is done.
Thank you.
Please put your apron on your station.
Thank you, gentlemen.
And continue the dream.
Leaving here is admitting failure, and that's That's always hard.
It's a big blow to your ego.
I came to this competition because I wanted to To share my food philosophy with America, but perhaps my mission is not here, but elsewhere.
I'm gonna pursue my My dream, and I'm gonna pursue cooking with the same, if not more enthusiasm as I ever have.
Helene, who's gonna win Masterchef? Frankie.
Thanks, Helene.
We are going on an amazing journey tomorrow.
Get a great night's sleep.
You're gonna need it.
Good night.
My master plan to get Monti and Christine out of here didn't work out, and now I have to start taking out the rest of these douchebags.