MasterChef (U.S. season 3)

Season 3 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef had a two-night premiere on Fox on June 4 and 5, 2012.^[1] By the third episode, which aired on June 11, 2012, the judges had tasted all 100 dishes and given white MasterChef aprons to 36 contestants. In the same episode, the judges cut that number down to 18 contestants.^[2] The season concluded on September 10, 2012 with the first blind contestant Christine Ha winning the MasterChef title.^[3] Runner-up Josh Marks committed suicide on October 12, 2013, at the age of 26.^[4] He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia the day before his death, and had already been suffering from bipolar disorder.^[5] He was also arrested for police battery prior to his death.^[6] 2nd Runner-up Becky Reams also holds the record of most top three finishes in a Mystery Box Challenge, five times in total.

Top 18

† means that a contestant died after fliming.

Elimination table

     (WINNER) This cook won the competition.

     (RUNNER-UP) This cook finished in second place.

     (WIN) The cook won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Elimination Test).

     (WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and was directly advanced to the next round.

     (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge, but did not win.

     (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in an individual challenge.

     (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in a team challenge.

     (IMM) The cook did not have to compete in that round of the competition.

     (PT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, competed in the Pressure Test, and advanced.

     (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, but was exempted from the Pressure Test and automatically advanced.

     (RET) The cook was eliminated but came back to compete to return to the competition.

     (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.

     (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance.

     (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in the Team Challenge, and they were the only person from their team to advance.

     (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from MasterChef.

Episodes

Episode 1

• Original airdate: Monday June 4, 2012
• Audition 1: The people that earned a white apron today include Michael, Monti, Scott, Tali, Ryan, Josh, Samantha, Becky, Helene, and Christine.

Episode 2

• Original airdate: Tuesday June 5, 2012
• Audition 2: The people that earned a white apron today include Felix, Tanya, Mike, Anna, and Frank. Anna and her husband AJ are the first husband and wife pair to move on.

Episode 3

• Original airdate: Monday June 11, 2012
• Audition 3 and Top 36 Boot Camp: The episode began with the final auditions for the home cooks, with Stacey and David gaining the aprons. Afterward, the top 36 contestants were each tasked with cooking a ground beef dish. When time was up and all the dishes were inspected, the contestants were divided into three groups of twelve; two of the groups were called forward, with the third group remaining at their stations. Of the two groups called forward, one was eliminated, while the other, consisting of Becky, Felix, Frank, Helene, Josh, Michael, Mike, Ryan, Samantha, Scott, Stacey, and Tali, was advanced straight to the MasterChef Kitchen. The judges then called upon the remaining twelve contestants: Anna, AJ, Bubba, Christine, Courtney, Dave Mack, David, Monti, Nandini, Rami, Sheri and Tanya, who they were not sure about and needed to taste their final dishes. The first group to be tastes consisted of Anna, AJ, Dave Mack and Tanya. They call Dave Mack up first, who made Italian Beef Taco with Eggplant and Bolognese Sauce. Joe said the flavors are good, not a bad idea. Chef Ramsay said he could have done something more exciting. Next up is Anna, who made Beef Stuffed Onions with Raisins, Toasted Walnuts and Horseradish Crème. Joe said it is interesting. Chef Ramsay said it does work, but he wants more color. A.J. is next and he made Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Fennel Meatballs. Graham said there is a nice little spice and he did a good job. Joe said it was a nice idea, but kind of bland. Tanya is the last of the group to come up and she made a Persian Kebab with Red Onion Pickle Salad and Fried Eggplant. Chef Ramsay said it is bold and very you and asked if she can step out of that comfort zone of Persian food. After some discussion, the judges sent Tanya to advance into the MasterChef Kitchen, which leaves , Anna, A.J., and Dave Mack The judges then decided to also advance Anna to the next stage of the competition, and thereby eliminating AJ and Dave Mack.The second group consisted of Christine, Bubba, Monti and Nandini. Christine made a Thai Basil Beef with Rice. Graham says the flavors are very complex, but the beef is almost dried. Joe said the beef and the basil have enough flavor for the rice. Next up is Bubba, who makes Ranch Stew with Corn Bread Topping. Chef Ramsay said the corn bread is quite nice. Joe says flavorful, but simple. Nandini is next and she makes Beef & Spinach Curry with Israeli Couscous and Potatoes. Graham says everything is cooked properly, but doesn't scream out with flavor. Chef Ramsay says the flavors are good. Last up for this group is Monti, who makes a Beef Roll with Greens and Almonds and she is hoping they don't vomit. Graham says the beef is delicious. Chef Ramsay says it's very brave and loves the technique but needed more more flavor on the beef. The judges advanced Monti, then eliminated Bubba and Nandini, leaving Christine who also managed to advance to the Masterchef kitchen. The last group consisting of Courtney, Rami, David and Sheri was called forward. Courtney made Spaghetti Bolognese, which Gordon said was brave. Graham said the pasta is done well, but the sauce is too sweet. Rami is next and made Grape Leaf Patty with Cucumber Yogurt and Pickled Vegetables. Chef Ramsay says the beef is gray and gone off color. Joe says it is bold and confident, but conceptually it's a little bit stretched. Next up is David and he makes Faux Bone Marrow made from Beef and Potatoes with Roasted Vegetables. Chef Ramsay says smart idea, but vegetables undercooked. Graham said the beef and the potatoes work well together. Last up for this group is Sheri, who makes Roasted Eggplant stuffed with Garlic mash and Beef with a Tomato Butter Sauce. Joe asked if she tasted the raw eggplant. Graham said his favorite part of the dish is the tomato sauce. After the judges discussed, they eliminated Courtney and Sheri, leaving Rami and David as the final two. The judges then gave David the last spot in the Top 18, thereby sending Rami home.

Episode 4

• Original airdate: Tuesday June 12, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 1: The top eighteen contestants had to test their creativity when they found a duck breast, among other ingredients, in their Mystery Boxes. When time was up, Ryan, Samantha, and Scott were called forward for having cooked dishes that "stood out". However, the contestants got an unpleasant surprise when they learned that their dishes had actually been deemed the worst three of the group. The judges then announced that they had revised the rules and now anyone could be eliminated at any time during the competition, much to the shock of all the contestants. Ryan's seared duck breast with bananas and sweet potato puree was deemed poor by the judges for his awful plating, dry duck and his strange combination of duck with bananas. Samantha's seared duck breast with sweet potato rhubarb puree was deemed to be poorly thought out and her duck was also raw. Lastly, Scott's duck profiterole and mashed sweet potatoes was deemed to have too little duck and was criticized for its bizarre concept.
• Eliminated: Samantha
• Scott was the first to be sent to safety, leaving Ryan and Samantha to face elimination. Before the judges announced their decision, Ryan rudely interrupted and said that Samantha's dish was much worse than his for serving raw duck, to which Joe scolded him and said he should "have some respect for [his] fellow contestants". However, Samantha was eliminated making her the first person to be sent home after mystery box challenge, much to the other contestants' dismay. After Samantha left, Felix was declared as the winner of the Mystery Box Challenge, where she did a Chinese five spice seared duck breast with eggplant and sweet potato chips. The judges called it "restaurant quality", saying Felix was now the frontrunner of the competition.
• Elimination Test 1: The judges led Felix into the MasterChef pantry where she got to choose the subject for the first Elimination Test, the theme being the dishes that intimidate the judges the most. The three choices were Joe's Italian risotto, Graham's New England Clam Chowder, or Gordon's Beef Wellington. Felix chose the risotto. The judges surprised Felix when they revealed that, as the winner of the Mystery Box Challenge, she was safe from elimination and therefore did not have to compete in the Elimination Test. Of the 16 cooks competing in this elimination challenge, only eight of them were featured in this episode. Frank's risotto of clam, artichoke, blood orange, pancetta and basil, and David's veal stock risotto with portobellos, oyster mushrooms, gooseberry, roasted poblano and scallops were deemed to be the best two dishes in this elimination challenge, making team captains for the upcoming first team challenge. Ryan and Scott both bounced back from the Mystery Box Challenge as Ryan's mushroom risotto with portobellos, morel and shiitake, and Scott's risotto with fennel and onion both received favorable reviews from the judges. However, some of the other contestants did not fare so well. Having only made risotto once before (which, according to her, was a poor attempt), Monti was nervous about the challenge. She was told that her chicken stock risotto cooked with pancetta, pine nuts, sun dried tomato and white asparagus didn't look like a risotto and the inappropriately large garnish tasted better than the body of the dish. Helene's saffron risotto with scallops wrapped in burdock root was deemed to be undercooked and the judges chastised her for her strange cutesy scallop baskets, which Joe hated so much that he threw it away. Christine's risotto with scallops, mushrooms, garlic and onions were deemed to be "subpar" by Gordon and he pointed out she was frazzled by the challenge. Tali's risotto with pistachio, cranberry, cherry and gooseberry was deemed to be "garbage" and "disgusting" by Joe for adding ingredients that made no sense in risotto, making the judges question whether he even knew what a risotto was supposed to be. Dave's risotto with morel and portobello mushrooms was panned for his unclean mushrooms and the resulting dirt that was in his risotto. Josh, Becky, Stacey, Tanya, Mike, Anna, and Michael did not have their dish featured in this episode.
• Bottom 3: Dave, Helene, and Tali
• Eliminated: Dave
• Helene was declared safe as the judges revealed that her risotto was deemed to be the best of the worst, leaving Dave and Tali facing elimination. The judges ultimately decided that Dave had the worst dish and he was eliminated.

Episode 5

• Original airdate: Monday June 18, 2012
• Team Challenge 1: For the first Team Challenge, the remaining sixteen contestants were tasked with feeding an army of two hundred and one Marines. David and Frank, having been appointed as captains for cooking the two best dishes in the previous challenge, divided the group into two teams: in order, David chose Becky, Josh, Mike, Helene, Ryan, Anna, and Monti for the Red Team, and Frank chose Felix, Scott, Stacey, Tali, Tanya, Michael, and Christine for the Blue Team. David decided to serve barbecue pork chops with coleslaw and potatoes, while Frank settled on grilled chicken and pasta salad, despite Felix's misgivings. She wanted to serve barbecue chicken with macaroni and cheese instead. Each Marine would vote for the entrée that he or she preferred, and the team with the most votes would win the challenge. Both teams ran into problems, with the Red Team undercooking pork chops and running out of potatoes, and Michael grilling unseasoned mushrooms for the Blue Team. In the end, the Red Team managed to eke out a victory, with just sixteen more Marines preferring their barbecue pork chops over the Blue Team's grilled chicken and pasta.
• Pressure Test 1: For winning the Team Challenge, all the members of the Red Team were safe from elimination and therefore did not have to compete in the Pressure Test. As the leader of the Blue Team, Frank was given the option of exempting one member of his team from the Pressure Test. Taking responsibility for his team's loss due to his menu choices, Frank refused to save himself. Feeling that Felix's idea to serve barbecue instead of pasta to the Marines would have worked better for his team, Frank offered the exemption to her, but she turned it down. Frank then moved on to Scott, who declined it as well. Finally, Stacey emotionally took the exemption when Frank offered it to her next. The remaining members of the Blue Team were then each tasked with baking an apple pie. Christine in particular was worried, as she felt diffident in her baking abilities. Once time was up, every home cook's pie was tasted and judged. Despite never making an apple pie before, Frank's pie was judged to have an excellent crust and filling. Tanya's pie was judged to have a pasty crust with undercooked and over-seasoned apples and nuts with absolutely no purpose inside the pie. Tali's pie was judged to be properly cooked, but the crust was somewhat thick, and there was not enough filling. Felix's pie was judged to be aesthetically pleasing, but was lacking in sweetness. Michael's pie was deemed unconventional, due to him having used cheese for the top crust, not to mention raw apples and with no bottom crust. Scott's pie was judged to have an excellent filling, but the pie had a completely destroyed and burnt top crust with no bottom, having not been able to have his dough properly set. Because of her blindness, Christine was extremely nervous because she had no idea how her pie looked like. When Ramsay questioned her as to what she thought the pie looked like, she replied that she thought it looked like a "pile of rubbish." Ramsay said it looked "stunning" and encouraged Christine, telling her that she needed to believe in herself more, bringing Christine and some other contestants to tears. The pie was deemed perfectly cooked with a perfect filling. After tasting the contestants' pies, all the home cooks were called down the front. Frank, Felix, Tali, and Christine had cooked apple pies that were good enough to take them to the next phase of the competition.
• Bottom 3: Tanya, Michael, and Scott
• Eliminated: Michael
• Tanya was the next home cook to be sent to safety, as her pie was deemed the best of the worst, leaving Scott and Michael as the bottom two. In the end, Michael was eliminated, much to his and the other contestants' disappointment, but Ramsay stated that he, at only 19 years of age, had a bright future in cooking ahead of him. Scott had narrowly dodged a bullet for a second time, and was warned by Gordon that there would be no margin for error moving forward.

Episode 6

• Original airdate: Tuesday June 19, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 2: For the second Mystery Box Challenge, the remaining fifteen contestants each had to create a dish using unappetizing-looking offal. When time was up, the top three dishes were Becky's chicken liver pate on buttered toast with a sweetbread duo of grilled sweetbread with balsamic onion and shiitake mushroom and flash fried sweetbread, Ryan's bacon fat sweetbreads with potatoes and shallot curry oil, and Christine's panko fried sweetbreads with bok choy. The judges stated that each of the three dishes were worthy of being served in any of their restaurants. After sampling each of the top three dishes, the judges declared Ryan the winner, describing his sweetbreads as "perfectly cooked with beautiful plating" much to the majority of the contestants' dismay (specifically Becky, Stacey, Monti and David who disliked him).
• Elimination Test 2: Along with immunity from the upcoming Elimination Test, Ryan was rewarded with two other advantages. First, he was able to determine which item the home cooks had to cook: ahi tuna, ham, or Dungeness crab, of which he chose the crab. The judges then surprised Ryan by telling him that he would also get to decide on who would be cooking with live crab and who would be using canned crab. Targeting Christine, Becky and Monti for elimination, Ryan chose to give the live crab to Christine, David, Helene, Mike, Scott, Tali, and Tanya, while Anna, Becky, Felix, Frank, Josh, Monti, and Stacey received the canned crab. As he had planned, Ryan's choices flustered many of the contestants – Christine and Monti in particular. During the cooking, Christine had initial difficulty boiling her live crab and then extracting the crab meat from the shell (as she is blind), which resulted in her receiving a cut on her hand and requiring medical attention. After sampling all the dishes, the judges deemed Christine's crab ceviche cocktail with tomato juice and Josh's Thai crab trio of curry and rice, crab salad and crab cake as the best two dishes of the challenge, and the two were selected as team captains for the next Team Challenge. Gordon even forced Ryan to taste Christine's dish, as she had been one of the contestants that Ryan had purposely set up to fail. Other high praises from the judges included Tanya's Thai crab green curry with rice, and Monti's Scotch egg with a crab shell (despite the fact Ryan attempted to sabotage her, much to his dismay). In spite of Ryan's attempt to ensure his friend Tali's safety by assigning him live crab, Tali's paprika buttered crab with saffron and watercress sauce was said to look like a "horror movie" by Graham for its bizarre presentation as he only served the claws and legs and left the whole backfin meat out, with Gordon even telling Tali to pack his bag now and be ready to leave based on the performance. (Despite the heavy criticism, Tali was ignorant and believed his dish was beautiful, saying that because his dish was so good that even the judges couldn't see his potential.) Mike admitted he had never worked with live crab and his crab bisque was criticized by Gordon for processing his live crab and making it taste like it came out of a can as the flavor of the crab was masked by huge amounts of flour. Despite being seen as the frontrunner of the competition, Frank's orecchiette puttanesca with homemade pasta was deemed to be underwhelming and had too much crab inside, moreover the judges criticized him for staying in his comfort zone and making another pasta dish, to which Frank promised he would step up. Helene's Dungeness crab soup with cornbread was deemed to be poor as it took her live crab and made it taste exactly like canned crab.
• Bottom 4: Frank, Tali, Helene, and Mike
• Eliminated: Helene
• Frank and Mike were first to be sent to safety, leaving Helene and Tali to face elimination. In the end, Helene was deemed to have the worst dish and she was eliminated. Tali therefore survived, but Gordon warned him to get a grip. Before Helene left, she predicted that Frank would become the next Masterchef.

Episode 7

• Original airdate: Monday June 25, 2012
• Team Challenge 2: For the second Team Challenge, the remaining fourteen contestants had to get up very early and cook breakfast room service for an entire hotel. For cooking the top two dishes in the previous challenge, Christine and Josh were appointed Team Captains. They divided the remaining contestants into the Red Team and the Blue Team. Christine chose the following to be on the Red Team: Felix, Scott, Tanya, Mike, Stacey, and Ryan. Josh chose the following to be on the Blue Team: Becky, Frank, Anna, Monti, David, and Tali. When Christine had to choose between the last two remaining contestants, she expressed that she didn't want Ryan or Tali on her team. The judges surprised Christine by announcing that as the winner of the previous challenge, she could swap out one member of her team with one from the Blue Team. Christine relinquished Ryan, whom she disliked, exchanging him for Becky, whom Christine perceived as the Blue Team's strongest cook. The judges then announced that each team had to choose an expeditor to oversee the food carts. Christine chose Felix as the Red Team's expeditor while Josh selected Monti as the Blue Team's. Josh immediately took charge of the Blue Team and started assigning roles while the Red Team worked it out democratically and decided who should do what. The teams each had ninety minutes for prep and ninety minutes to serve. Both teams had a rough start, with the Blue Team scorching their bacon and not cooking their spinach, while the Red Team didn't portion the hollandaise sauce correctly. Meanwhile, both expeditors had their own troubles; Monti struggled with keeping the Blue Team on track while Felix didn't communicate at all with the rest of the Red Team and got behind on orders. Christine took charge and made sure her team did everything that needed to be done, which was praised by the judges and the hotel guests. The Blue Team's quality of food was slipping with inadequate amounts of fruit on plates, undercooked eggs, and a customer complaint about a hair in their food. The Red Team continued rising to the occasion with Felix putting orders out at a steady pace and communicating, while the Blue Team became locked in a power struggle between Josh and Monti. When time was up, Felix didn't hear the announcement and continued trying to send food out, which caused Gordon to misunderstand that she was trying to cheat and threatening to disqualify her. In the end, the judges announced that, with 60% of the guest preference vote, the Red Team had won the challenge.
• Pressure Test 2: For winning the Team Challenge, all of the members on the Red Team were safe from elimination. The judges also rewarded David, Frank, and Monti for their standout performances in the Team Challenge by exempting them from the Pressure Test, much to Ryan's dismay. The remaining four members of the Blue Team were then each tasked with baking a molten lava cake, only having four chances to get it right. Tali presented his final product first, followed by Anna and Josh. With only forty-five seconds remaining in the competition, Ryan hurriedly took his cake out of the oven and attempted to plate it. When he did, the entire cake collapsed.
• Bottom 2: Ryan and Tali
• Eliminated: Ryan
• "Partners in crime" Ryan and Tali were left facing elimination. The judges said that Tali's cake tasted bland and floury, but it was structurally sound, while Ryan's cake was tasty but had completely fallen apart. Gordon then commented that the person who had baked the worst cake "knew it" and asked for that individual to step down with integrity. Eventually, Ryan conceded that he had done the worst, having produced a disintegrated cake, and accepted his elimination, much to Tali's devastation and the other contestants' joy, especially Monti, Becky, Stacey, David, and Christine.

Episode 8

• Original airdate: Tuesday June 26, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 3: For the third Mystery Box challenge, the remaining thirteen contestants found a T-bone steak among other ingredients inside their mystery boxes. When time was up, the best three dishes were Frank's grilled T-bone strip and tenderloin with corn, slaw and cream sauce, Tanya's tarragon T-bone steak with braised cabbage and corn puree, and (despite her decision to not use the T-bone steak and make a dessert instead) Becky's caramelized peach with cream puree and tarragon leaf. After tasting each dish, the judges declared Tanya the winner, much to Becky's dismay that she lost out on another Mystery Box.
• Elimination Test 3: The theme for this Elimination Test was "the judges' favorite desserts": Joe's tiramisu, Graham's strawberry shortcake, and Gordon's British trifle. The judges surprised Tanya with a huge advantage; along with immunity from elimination, she got to choose who was to make which dessert. The judges announced that they would select the worst dessert from each category to be up for elimination. Tanya gave the trifle to Becky, Josh, Monti, and Stacey; the strawberry shortcake to Christine, Mike, Scott, and Tali; and the tiramisu to Anna, David, Felix, and Frank. David and Monti had problems from the beginning with David turning his mascarpone into "tasting like cream cheese" and Monti forgetting elements in her trifle and later lighting her cream on fire. The tiramisu group was the first to be judged. Felix's freeform tiramisu was deemed to have dreadful presentation by the judges, who stated that it was mushy and tasted poor, and Joe scolded her for putting macadamia nuts in her tiramisu. David's tiramisu also received heavy criticism as he sprinkled hazelnuts on his tiramisu and it was watery as he over-soaked his ladyfingers, with Joe saying he wished he could send both him and Felix home. On the other hand, Anna's tiramisu was judged to have nice layering and tasted delicious, while Frank's tiramisu was also deemed to have a beautiful presentation and the flavors were nicely balanced. For the trifle group, Josh's trifle was deemed to taste like a banana split with too much cream and uneven layers. Despite her troubles during the challenge, Monti's trifle was deemed to be delicious by Gordon with the only criticism being it needed more sponge. Stacey made a brave move of putting balsamic vinegar in her trifle, which the judges greatly liked and said it was an excellent balance of flavors. However, despite the judges' expectation, Becky's trifle was deemed to have too many dissonant flavors, with Gordon describing it as tasting like "mouthwash" and Joe calling it "inedible" and spitting her trifle out, scolding her for trying to show off with the flavors but making a mess of it. As for the strawberry shortcake group, Mike's strawberry shortcake was excessively decorated, with Graham saying it looked like "it had been shot" due to the large amount of strawberry sauce on the plate. Christine inexplicably ignored the brief and presented a mixed berry shortcake instead of strawberry, which Gordon thought tasted good, but wasn't what they had asked for. Much to the other contestants surprise, Tali's strawberry shortcake was deemed to be delicious by Graham, who greatly liked his strawberry foam and his beautiful plating. Lastly, Scott's strawberry shortcake had a doughy texture and was too dense as he overworked his dough, and the dish tasted bland overall, much to the judges' frustration due to his consistently below par performances. The descion for the best dish was between Anna, Frank, Stacey, and Tali. In the end, the judges decided Stacey's trifle to be the best dessert of the night.
• Bottom 3: Felix, Becky, and Scott
• Eliminated: Scott
• Becky was the first to be sent to safety, leaving Felix and Scott to face elimination as the bottom 2. After being in the bottom three for the third time, Scott was finally eliminated, leading to his teary-eyed exit.

Episode 9

• Original airdate: Monday July 2, 2012
• Team Challenge 3: In a first for the series, this challenge consisted of three teams - Red, Yellow, and Blue. For winning the previous Elimination Test, Stacey was given the task of forming the teams. Stacey led the Red Team herself, selecting Tali, Frank, and Becky as her brigade. Aiming to get Monti eliminated, Stacey placed her on the Yellow Team with David, knowing that the two disliked each other; Stacey's hope was that Monti and David's inability to get along would cause the Yellow Team to lose. Stacey then selected Anna and Tanya to join Monti and David on the Yellow Team, leaving Christine, Felix, Josh, and Mike as the Blue Team by default. The Yellow Team elected Anna as their leader, and Josh volunteered to lead the Blue Team. The teams' task was to each operate a food truck at Venice Beach, with the Red Team selling Mexican cuisine, the Yellow Team selling American cuisine, and the Blue Team selling Indian cuisine. All profits from the challenge would go to charity. The team that earned the least amount of money would face the Pressure Test. The Blue Team worked harmoniously throughout the challenge, producing a chicken tikka masala. Despite some initial disagreements over their menu, the Red Team also performed well, producing tacos. Stacey managed to attract more customers to the Red Team's truck by soliciting at a nearby skate park. The Yellow Team, producing beef sliders, was severely hampered by David working slowly in prep, and then undercooking multiple patties. All the while, Anna was proving to be a weak leader. In the end, the Red Team won the challenge with $798 in sales, with the Blue Team claiming second place with $756, leaving the four members of the last placed Yellow Team to face the Pressure Test after earning only $602. Afterward, the three women on the Yellow Team turned on David, blaming him for their failure, while David himself pointed the finger at Anna, citing her poor leadership.
• Pressure Test 3: The task was for each of the Yellow Team members to make their own tortellinis from scratch. Tanya nearly gave up during the course of the test, feeling overwhelmed and out of her depth, which resulted in Graham having to give her a pep talk. Anna fared even worse,making a number of serious mistakes such as using a food blender to prepare her dough, puncturing each of her tortellinis to let out their air (which only served to make the filling soggy), and then not noticing that she had forgotten to switch her stove on, resulting in her pasta being severely undercooked. Despite David's lack of confidence in working the pasta due to his "fat fingers", along with the women actively hoping he would fail, he ended up producing the best-looking tortellinis, and the taste was good enough. Monti's tortellinis were also good enough, much to Stacey's dismay while Anna served raw pasta.
• Bottom 2: Anna and Tanya
• Eliminated: Anna
• Anna was eventually eliminated for serving raw pasta. Gordon then said the next time he visited Boston he wanted to see Anna in a restaurant or a deli.

Episode 10

• Original airdate: Tuesday July 3, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 4: In this Mystery Box Challenge, the remaining eleven contestants were tasked with cooking with ingredients that included a rabbit leg and forbidden rice. Furthermore, Graham Elliot cooked alongside the contestants to show them what a true professional chef would make with the mystery box ingredients. In the end, all the contestants were called down to look at Graham's dish of rabbit five ways with a fennel panna cotta, which all the contestants were very impressed by. Afterwards, the best three dishes were Frank's rabbit two ways with vegetable medley and gooseberry reduction, Mike's leg of rabbit with forbidden rice and Brussels sprout, and Becky's braised leg of rabbit with carrots, mushrooms and ramps. After the judges tasted each of the top three dishes, they declared Becky as the winner of the Mystery Box, much to her joy and the other contestant's dismay.
• Elimination Test 4: "Tools of the trade" was the theme for this Elimination Test. Unlike the previous Mystery Box Challenge winners, Becky was not granted immunity from elimination. Instead, she was able to choose which piece of equipment she would use to cook her dish and what her competitors would work with. The choices were a deep fryer, a wok, or a pizza stone. Becky chose the deep fryer for herself and the pizza stone for the rest of the contestants. A number of the home cooks experienced problems working with the pizza stone, particularly Monti, who burnt her bread in the oven. However, ultimately, despite her and the judges' concerns, Monti's roasted carrot soup with Irish soda bread received rave reviews from the judges and she was declared as the winner of this elimination challenge. Other praises from the judges included Becky's shrimp tempura with curry sauce and yuca chips, and Christine's Indian flatbread with curried chicken and fried egg. On the other hand, Mike's oven-roasted lobster with vegetables and rice was greatly disliked by the three judges, describing it as his worst performance as his lobster was dry and overcooked and it was hard to see that the dish was created using a pizza stone. Mike reasoned he did not made a pizza because he struggled to recall a pizza dough recipe, to which Joe chastised him for, saying such was simple and basic. David's smoked lobster with oven roasted potatoes and bacon was panned by the judges for its poor concept and execution, and Joe was so appalled by David's dish that he threw it away into the garbage waste. Tali's three cheese pizza with duck breast and creme fraiche sauce was criticized by Gordon for serving it on a bed of raw flour, moreover, Gordon scolded him for leaving his workstation a mess, saying he would be fired right away if he work at any of the judges' kitchen. Lastly, Tanya's lamb cutlets with olive flatbread and roasted garlic yogurt was also heavily criticized as she served raw flatbread, raw eggplant, and raw garlic cloves with her dry lamb cutlets, which Joe told her to show some respect.
• Bottom 3: David, Mike, and Tanya
• Eliminated: Mike and Tanya
• The judges decided that Mike had the worst dish and he was eliminated. Before Mike left, he predicted Christine will become the next Masterchef. The judges then congratulated the remaining contestants for making the top ten. However, in a surprise twist, the judges made a shocking announcement that there would be a double elimination. In the end, the judges decided to send a teary-eyed Tanya home, bringing down the number of the remaining home cooks to nine.

Episode 11

• Original airdate: Monday July 9, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 5: In this Mystery Box, the remaining nine contestants were each tasked with creating a dish using the corals (gonads) of a live sea urchin, or uni. After a demonstration from Gordon on how to humanely dispatch an uni and properly remove its corals, along with taking Christine's finger so she could feel the size of the hole and where the coral is, the contestants were given sixty minutes to prepare their dishes. When time was up, the best three dishes were Felix's uni and pea risotto, Josh's handmade noodles with rock shrimp and uni cream sauce, and Stacey's rock shrimp sushi with uni aioli. Ultimately, the judges declared Felix as the winner of the Mystery Box.
• Elimination Test 5: Felix, for winning her second Mystery Box, was presented with nine different types of fish. For winning the Mystery Box Challenge, she was able to decide who was to cook which fish. With no immunity from elimination, Felix selected the California halibut for herself, wanting a challenge. She then chose the rock fish for Becky, the salmon for Christine, the yellowtail for David, the catfish for Frank, the sardines for Josh, the John Dory for Monti, the striped bass for Stacey, and the Arctic char for Tali. Ironically, Becky, Frank, and Monti, the three cooks who Felix had targeted for elimination by assigning them the most difficult fish to work with, produced the best dishes. Becky's fried rock fish with celery root puree and Chardonnay sauce received favorable reviews from the judges. While Frank's fried catfish with eggplant and coconut leek sauce, and Monti's filet of John Dory with baby asparagus and roasted almond sauce were deemed to be the best two dishes of the night, and both were selected as the team captains for the next Team Challenge. On the other hand, despite her advantage, Felix's poached halibut with bamboo rice, asparagus and lemon apple sauce was deemed to be underwhelming as her halibut was overcooked and dry. Meanwhile, the cooks who Felix wanted to protect by giving them the easiest fish to work with, ended up producing the worst dishes. David's deviled yellowtail with aioli potatoes and red cabbage slaw was heavily criticized as his fish was undercooked to the point of having a still-frozen center, with Joe describing the entire dish as being overcomplicated. Tali's Arctic char with green lentils was deemed to be downright bizarre as his fish was poorly cooked and poorly seasoned, and the lentils were overcooked and had exploded. (In this challenge, he also tried to sous vide an oily fish, which is completely unnecessary). Lastly, Christine's baked salmon with rice and vegetables greatly disappointed the judges as her salmon was overcooked with an undercooked coating of panko, with Joe calling the dish sloppy, almost felt like cooking with canned salmon. Worst of all, she still had great expectations from the judges from her Vietnamese catfish dish back in episode 1.
• Bottom 3: Tali, David, and Christine
• Eliminated: Tali
• Christine was the first to be declared safe, much to the other contestants' relief, leaving David and Tali facing elimination. In the end, fed up with his tendency to create bizarre and disgusting dishes, poor overall performance, and complete arrogance of his presence (which included talking about his "creative genius" and how the judges were too old-schooled to understand his food on multiple occasions backstage) Tali was eliminated, much to the delight of the other contestants.

Episode 12

• Original airdate: Monday July 16, 2012
• Team Challenge 4: The remaining eight contestants were tasked with feeding 101 cowboys and cowgirls. For cooking the best two dishes in the previous Elimination Test, Frank and Monti were the captains of the challenge and formed their teams. Frank, the captain of the Red Team, chose Becky, Josh, and Felix. Monti, the captain of the Blue Team, selected Stacey, David, and Christine. However, the judges then shocked the contestants with a twist: with Gordon stating that "great leaders can work with anyone - even those who they don't have confidence in", Frank and Monti were forced to switch teams, much to Monti's dismay. Monti came up with the Red Team's dish - rib eye steak with sweet potato mash and green beans - by herself, while Frank and his team came to a consensus on cooking a New York strip steak with barbecue sauce, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and garlic mashed potatoes. Each cowboy and cowgirl would vote for the "grub" that he or she preferred, and the first team to 51 votes would win the challenge. The diners raved over Stacey's barbecue sauce that even one of them asked for her recipe, while Monti severely underestimated the amount of sweet potato mash required, resulting in the Blue Team taking a huge early lead, despite Frank's error of putting Christine into the grill station for the corn, resulting in a small fire. The Red Team started making a comeback after Monti made more mash and Frank kept overcooking the Blue Team's steaks, but the Blue Team was able to hang on to their lead and secure the win, sending the Red Team into the Pressure Test, much to Frank's relief.
• Pressure Test 4: Prior to the start of the Pressure Test the judges announced that one contestant would be permitted to sit out, and asked the team to come to a consensus on who it should be. The decision effectively fell to Monti after her three teammates all voted for themselves, and she selected Felix. This Pressure Test revolved around cooking eggs four different ways at once, with the three remaining contestants required to cook a three egg omelet, a sunny-side up egg, a poached egg and a soft-boiled egg in twenty minutes. Monti's sunny-side up egg was slightly undercooked, but her other three eggs were cooked and seasoned to perfection. Becky got good comments for her omelet and poached egg, but her fried egg was overcooked and her boiled egg was mostly raw. Despite the judges' initial confidence in Josh, only his sunny-side up egg was cooked perfectly; his omelet was flat and tasteless, his poached egg was overcooked, and his boiled egg was severely undercooked.
• Bottom 2: Becky and Josh
• Eliminated: Josh (though he returned to come back to the competition after being reinstated)
• Monti was quickly deemed safe and despite the judges' dismay at Becky's elementary mistakes with regard to her soft-boiled and sunny-side up eggs, Josh was eliminated for turning in what was clearly the weakest performance of the three, much to the shock of all the other contestants. Before Josh left, Gordon implied that he would be willing to employ him in the future. He also predicted that Christine would win the competition .

Episode 13

• Original airdate: Tuesday July 17, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 6: The remaining seven contestants entered the MasterChef kitchen to find a huge mystery box, inside of which was Paula Deen, whom would serve as a guest judge. For this Mystery Box Challenge, the contestants would be working with ingredients for southern cuisine. The contestants also each received a picture and a letter from their love ones, reducing most of the competitors to tears. At the end of the usual sixty minutes of cooking, the three best dishes were Becky's oven-roasted chicken with fried green tomatoes, biscuits and gravy, Frank's chicken roulade with pepper chutney and spicy potatoes, and David's pan-roasted chicken with red pepper grits and shoestring onions. After sampling the top three dishes, the judges and Paula declared Frank as the winner of the Mystery Box.
• Elimination Test 6: Frank was shown a sampler of Japanese cuisine, consisting of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and shrimp sushi, California rolls, and vegetable tempura. After awarding Frank with immunity from elimination, the judges revealed to him that the other six contestants would be divided into three "tag teams", each tasked with replicating the sampler; one team member would cook while the other would direct, and the two would swap roles every fifteen minutes until the challenge was over. In addition to his immunity, Frank was able to form the teams. Targeting Becky for elimination, Frank paired her with David, whom Frank felt was a weak cook and would cause Becky to fail. Frank also wanted to create discord with Felix and Monti by pairing them together, believing that the two women didn't get along, though unbeknownst to Frank the two in fact now got along quite well in the wake of Monti exempting Felix from the last Pressure Test. By default, Christine and Stacey became the third team. Felix and Monti worked efficiently and harmoniously together, while the other two teams floundered, with Becky and David having severe disagreements over technique, while Christine and especially Stacey became flustered. In the end, Felix and Monti produced an excellent sampler, and were declared the clear winners of the challenge. Becky and David's sampler had uneven cuts on the salmon and tuna with sloppily portioned wasabi, poorly presented California rolls and greasy tempura. Christine and Stacey's sampler was incomplete, having failed to make any California rolls or have any tempura batter coated on their vegetables.
• Bottom 2: Christine and Stacey
• Eliminated: Stacey
• Ultimately, the judges decide Stacey's performance was worse than Christine's, and much to Christine's devastation, Stacey was therefore eliminated.

Episode 14

• Original airdate: Monday July 23, 2012
• Special Mystery Box Challenge: As the episode started, the final six were surprised by being told that they wouldn't have to cook anything this episode, and that instead the previous eight eliminated contestants (Stacey, Josh, Tali, Tanya, Mike, Anna, Scott, and Ryan) would return for a one-off Mystery Box challenge, with the top two getting the opportunity to win back their place in the competition. Furthermore, the returning contestants were told to each pick an ingredient for the mystery box, starting from Ryan and ending with Stacey, leading to a rather bizarre selection of ingredients consisted of portobello mushroom, pork chop, celery, condensed milk, white wine vinegar, chocolate buttons, pomegranate and heavy cream. Ryan once again irritated everyone, particularly David and Monti, with all his talking down to the other contestants and boasting of his ability, vowing he would get back into the competition to take out the Top 6 at the balcony. In the end, Josh's chocolate mousse with pomegranate sauce and candied lemon peel was greatly liked by the judges, and was deemed absolutely delicious. Anna's pan-seared pork chop with shaved celery and pomegranate salad was deemed visually beautiful but her pork was a little overcooked and not as juicy as a result of her slicing the pork chop when it was still too hot. Tali's chocolate pot de creme with pomegranate syrup and celery foam was deemed way too dense and tasted too heavy. Scott's stuffed pork chop with pickled celery and pomegranate sauce was deemed to taste good but his pork was slightly undercooked. Tanya's grilled pork chop with crispy celery and mushroom ragu was also deemed delicious, but her crispy celery was criticized for being a bit unusual. Stacey's mushroom ravioli with celery cream and roasted pork chop was deemed to be delicious and was praised for the phenomenal effort and finesse in her dish in merely 60 minutes. Mike's chocolate flan with lemon zest and sugar glass also impressed the judges and they praised him for moving outside his comfort zone to bake a dessert. Lastly, Ryan's pan-seared pork chop with mushroom ragu and pomegranate gastrique was deemed to be absolutely delicious and earned high praises from the judges. In the end, Tali, Tanya, Anna and Scott were judged to not have perform good enough to keep them in, sending them home once again. Despite the rave reviews for their dishes, Mike was then sent home, followed by Stacey, leaving Josh and Ryan (much to Monti's dismay) to advance.
• Special Pressure Test: Josh and Ryan's task was to each create a fruit tart, which would be sampled by the six contestants still fully in the competition, though they would not be informed who had cooked which tart. Whoever had the best tart would be reinstated. This set up a dessert battle between Ryan and Josh for a second time who previously faced off in the molten lava cake pressure test that saw Ryan home in episode 7. At the start of the challenge, Ryan initially seemed more confident, cooking his pastry base well and working in an overall calmer manner, while Josh spent too long preparing his exotic selection of fruit and had to rush through preparing his pastry.
• Reinstated: Josh
• When the finished tarts were delivered to the contestants, they generally preferred Josh's, feeling that despite the rather dry and brittle pastry, he had a far better selection of fruit, while Ryan's selection was much more one-dimensional. This led to Josh scoring a clean sweep, with all six contestants voting for him to return to the competition. With Ryan gone for good, he predicted Josh will be the next MasterChef for beating him in a pressure test for a second time.

Episode 15

• Original airdate: Tuesday July 24, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 7: The final seven were asked to make a dish featuring prawns, which they would have to fish out of an aquarium they each got. Many contestants, especially Monti who splashed Gordon Ramsay, struggled with getting the live animal out of the water. The three best dishes were Becky's Grilled Prawns with Salsa Verde and Saffron Rice, Christine's Asian Spot Prawns in a Pineapple broth, and David's Spot Prawn Ceviche. David was declared the winner of the Mystery Box challenge, much to the other contestants' surprise, and would receive an advantage in the elimination challenge.
• Elimination Test 7: The theme of the elimination challenge was Dessert. However, the three possible ingredients of choice were unconventional savory options; Beets, Corn and Bacon. With consideration, David chose the corn as the ingredient that he, along with the other contestants, would have to cook with to create a dessert dish. Since he was the winner of the mystery box, he received another advantage, he was shown three examples of corn desserts in order to give him ideas. These desserts were a Corn Panna Cotta, a Corn and Strawberry Shortcake, and finally, a Corn Rice Pudding. Seeing these ideas, he immediately decided to create a rice pudding dessert and was given five minutes alone in the pantry. Despite this, he forgot the rice, and when the challenge started he ran around asking the other contestants for rice. Becky graciously gave him some of her short-grain rice she had gotten as back-up. The judges decided the two best dishes were Becky's "Classy and Trashy" Corn Panna Cotta and Popcorn, followed by Frank's Corn Budino with Chocolate Ganache, making them team captains for the next team challenge. Monti's Corn Souffle and Christine's Corn and Coconut Pudding were also praised. Despite his advantage, David's Corn and Rice Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce was panned by the judges as the strong spices took over his dish, with Joe going as far as to calling it "inedible". Felix's Corn Profiteroles greatly disappointed the judges, with Graham commenting they look bizarre like "cat poops" and her pastry was dense and raw and tasted bland. Josh's Corn Creme Brulee with Corn Caramel was visually unappetizing as it fragmented and was deemed to be too sweet by Joe.
• Bottom 3: David, Josh, and Felix
• Eliminated: Felix
• Josh was the first of the bottom three to be sent back to safety. Finally, despite being a notable contender in the competition, the judges decided to send Felix home, resulting in her emotional elimination. Before she left, Felix predicted Becky would win the competition.

Episode 16

• Original airdate: Tuesday August 14, 2012
• Team Challenge 5: The six cooks were brought to LA based restaurant Hatfield's and told that they would be running the kitchen that night, with Gordon expediting, Graham as sous chef and Joe as the head waiter. The Red Team was led by Becky with Christine and Monti, and the Blue Team was led by Frank with David and was left with Josh, setting up a "battle of the sexes". Both Gordon and Graham claimed that Christine would be the Red Team's greatest asset, although Joe was far more skeptical, even saying that he would only trust her to handle the coat room. The contestants would be taught how to make the restaurant's menu from the owners, who are also head chefs, and they would also be diners for the service. Despite being better organized in prep, and with Frank being specialized in Italian cuisine at the helm, the men had an awful start backing them up for over an hour, to the point that the women's team cannot co-ordinate sending both kitchen's meals together to the owners/head chefs of the restaurant. On the other hand, the women served all their appetizers with only a few setbacks, such as suffering from early hiccups due to communication issues from Christine and Monti. Things improved for the men as they proceeded onto entrées; the restaurant's owners preferred the men's entrées since they felt that the women overcooked theirs. The dinner service concluded successfully with both team completing their orders. After returning to the MasterChef kitchen, the judges declared the women the winners, based on the overall feedback. The judges especially praised Becky for having excellent leadership qualities and Christine for working well despite being blind; Joe even apologized to her for doubting her ability. The men lost due to their bad teamwork, and were panned by the judges, especially by Joe, who said that if the customer has to wait for food, they become frustrated and do not have a good time. That is despite the men's dishes generally scored higher by the owners.
• Pressure Test 5: Prior to the commencement of the Pressure Test, Frank was given a choice of exempting someone. Frank implied that he would exempt Josh, but chose to save himself, leaving Josh visibly agitated to face the test with David. This pressure test revolved around cooking filet mignon steaks to three different temperatures: one rare, one medium-rare, and one well done. Josh received comments for his rare steak which was cooked and seasoned perfectly, while David’s rare steak was overcooked and over-seasoned. However, the medium-rare steak was won by David who cooked a better-tasting steak, though it was noted both steaks were slightly overcooked. It all came down to the last steak; both were seasoned correctly but neither steak was well done, both ended up having medium steaks.
• Eliminated: David
• The judges concluded the test with the victory going to Josh, meaning that David was eliminated for poorly managing his steaks. Before leaving the MasterChef kitchen, David was told by Graham that he has been impressed by his progress throughout the competition and was extended an offer to work for him at one of his Chicago-based restaurants, which David accepted. Before he left, David predicted that Frank would become the next MasterChef.

Episode 17

• Original airdate: Tuesday August 21, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 8: The five home cooks were each given an empty mystery box and were allowed to fill it with up to fifteen ingredients of their choosing which represents them as a person. Before the timer began, Gordon Ramsay stated that a Mystery Box Challenge would never be that easy and asked them to give their ingredients to the cook in front of them. Thus, Christine wound up with Becky's ingredients, Monti ended up with Christine's Asian ingredients, Frank wound up with Monti's dessert box, Josh ended up with Frank's Italian ingredients, and Becky received Josh's southern-cuisine ingredients. After time was up, Becky realized she had forgotten to plate her crispy chicken skin - an essential component of her dish, meaning that she made a mistake. The three best dishes were Josh's savory bread pudding with sauteed pork, onion rings and mozzarella, Monti's Tom Kha Gai (which she admitted to creating purely by memory, even when Graham stated she had non-traditional ingredients in the dish), and Christine's pan-seared chicken and roasted beet salad with goat cheese and sauteed mushrooms. After some deliberations, Josh was declared as the winner of the Mystery Box.
• Elimination Test 8: Josh's advantage was to choose which Graham Elliot's dish he and the other contestants would have to replicate. The three dishes had been made by Chef Graham Elliot and ordered by famous individuals: Oprah Winfrey - sweet corn bisque with red pepper jam and a cilantro marshmallow, Jay-Z - Alaskan king crab with vanilla creme fraiche, pomegranate, and celery gelee, and President Barack Obama - white tuna sashimi with avocado mousse, passion fruit, and crispy plantains. Josh chose the white tuna dish and was given a basket containing all the necessary ingredients. Graham Elliot told the contestants that they may improve upon his dish if they deemed it necessary. When time was called, Christine's dish was given high praise for having been able to perfectly replicate the dish and impressed Gordon so much that he thought he was "being punked", and was at a loss for words for the first time in this competition, while Joe, having doubted her in the previous team challenge, recalled his experiences as a wine taster and finally related to having common components of Christine's processes. On the other hand, Monti's dish was criticized for her sloppy cut of the white tuna, which was too big and too thick, moreover her dish lacked seasoning and balance between flavors, and her plantains were too thick. Frank's dish got good reviews for being able to replicate almost perfectly. Becky's dish however disappointed the judges as it was visually imperfect and had too much passion fruit, with Gordon, and later Christine, even saying he felt Becky was heading down a downward spiral. Lastly, Josh's dish was panned for his inconsistent cuts of white tuna, and Gordon berated him for adding mango and accused him of arrogance for thinking he could make the dish better than Graham's original.
• Bottom 3: Josh, Becky, and Monti
• Eliminated: Monti
• Becky was the first to be sent to safety. In the end, despite having been a frontrunner, Monti's dish fell short of the mark as her performance in the kitchen led to a teary elimination. She also predicted that Christine will win the competition.

Episode 18

• Original airdate: Tuesday August 28, 2012
• Team Challenge 6: The four home cooks were asked to prepare a three course meal for Graham Elliot, Joe Bastianich, Gordon Ramsay, plus three world-renowned French chefs: Guy Savoy, Daniel Boulud, and Alain Ducasse. The home cooks will be split into teams of two. Since Christine won the challenge last week, she gets to pick her teammate. But before she makes her choice, Joe tells her if her team loses, she'll have to compete against her teammate in the pressure test. Christine chose Becky as her teammate, leaving archrivals Frank and Josh on the other team. While Frank and Josh decided on a more risky, French menu to appease the judges, Becky and Christine decided on a more cohesive Asian meal. Frank and Josh continued to argue with each other due to Josh's animosity towards Frank for not saving him in the last pressure test.
  • Appetizer: The red team (Becky and Christine) made a Thai Basil Soup with Daikon and Micro Herbs, while the blue team (Frank and Josh) made a Spring Vegetable Terrine with Spot Prawn Mousse and Pea Purée. While the broth of the red team's appetizer wasn't seasoned enough, the judges liked the idea of serving the broth on the side to prevent overcooking the seafood was smart, and that the seafood themselves were tender and delicious. The blue team's appetizer was criticized for being too small and for the use of gelatin (which Frank and Josh decided to use to quickly set the terrine in the short period of time). The judges opted for the red team's appetizer.
  • Entrée: The red team made a Duck Breast with Crispy Bamboo Rice, Chinese Broccoli, and Daikon; and the blue team made a Stuffed Lamb Saddle with Couscous and Roasted Vegetables. The red team's entrée was picked apart by the judges as the skin of the duck wasn't crispy, the rice cake wasn't flavored properly. In addition, Becky failed to get rice cakes onto all of the plates, leaving Daniel without one. The blue team's entrée was nearly flawless, and the judges voted in favor of that dish.
  • Dessert: The red team made a Coconut Verrine with Coconut Cake, Tropical Fruit, and Guava Coulis; and the blue team made a White Chocolate Mousse with Roasted Strawberries and Rhubarb. The red team's dessert earned praise for its beautiful presentation and flavorful taste. The blue team's dessert also tasted well, however, it suffered in presentation for being inconsistent, to Frank's detriment. Also, Alain didn't get any age balsamic or basil sauce on his dish. Although not said, the judges preferred the red team's dessert. This led to Becky and Christine being declared the winners.
• Pressure Test 6: With Christine and Becky safely in the top 3, Frank and Josh battled each other to find out who would join them. The men had to make White Cheddar Cheese Soufflé for Gordon, a Raspberry Soufflé for Joe, and a Dark Chocolate Soufflé for Graham in only an hour. Gordon declared the pressure test to be almost impossible to complete. Joe expressed his concern that they may have given the contestants a challenge that was just too difficult. However, both Frank and Josh managed to complete all three of their soufflés within the time limit, with Frank being far better at time management. Gordon voted for Frank with the better cheese soufflé. For the raspberry soufflé, Joe declared that Josh's was technically perfect.
• Eliminated: Frank
• Graham was left with the deciding vote and ultimately went with Josh as having the better dark chocolate soufflé, thus eliminating frontrunner Frank from the competition, much to Becky and Christine's shock. Before he left, Frank predicted that Becky would become the next MasterChef.

Episode 19

• Original airdate: Tuesday September 4, 2012
• Mystery Box Challenge 9: The final three contestants were each shown a copy of their own cookbook, which they could potentially win along with the title of MasterChef. For the final Mystery Box Challenge of the season, the home cooks were tasked to cook a signature entree they could see being included in their cookbook in 60 minutes. Christine's vermicelli stir-fry with seared scallops was named as the winning dish, with Josh's curried Cornish hen with Basmati rice also getting good reviews. On the other hand, Becky's loup de mer soup with sunchoke puree was panned by all three judges, who expressed disappointment that she had turned in yet another poor performance, for having too small a portion as an entree and dry, overcooked fish, with Gordon even (correctly) predicting that Becky would be the next person to be sent home.
• Elimination Test 9: This test revolved around cooking one of three legs of meat - chicken, lamb or frog (which is Ramsay's favorite). Christine got the first pick and took the chicken legs; the second pick went to Josh, and he chose the lamb legs, leaving Becky with frog's legs. Before the final three started cooking, they were surprised by having all the contestants from this season greet them in the MasterChef kitchen. Christine's southern fried chicken with creamed kale impressed the judges as her chicken was perfectly cooked and seasoned with a clever use of blood orange, though they felt that she used far too much cream in her kale side dish. The judges raved over Josh's lamb carimañolas with a trio of mango salsa, tomato salsa and Tomatillo salsa, which they didn't think he'd be able to cook in the amount of time he had, though they did feel that the lamb was cut too coarsely. Despite the dire predictions of the judges and herself, Becky's garlic frog legs with potatoes, mushrooms and bitter greens salad managed to impress the judges, though the judges strongly disliked the mushy, overcooked and over-flavored potatoes she served with them. The judges ultimately agreed that Josh's dish was the best and declared him the first finalist.
• Bottom 2: Christine and Becky
• Eliminated: Becky
• The judges deemed Becky's potatoes to have fatally undermined her dish, resulting in her elimination and Christine proceeding to the finale. However, Gordon was impressed enough by Becky's skill that he offered her a job if she ever wanted to work at one of his restaurants.

Episode 20

• Original airdate: Monday September 10, 2012
• Season Final: Before Christine and Josh faced off in a single challenge to determine who wins the title of MasterChef and $250,000, they were given some final words of encouragement from Josh's family and Christine's in-laws before joining the eliminated chefs at the balconies as spectators. They were given 2 hours to create a three-course menu of their choosing.
• Appetizer: Josh's is Butter Poached Lobster with Grits and Sweet Potato Purée; Christine's is Thai Papaya Salad with Crab and Mixed Vegetables. The judges loved Christine's appetizer, though felt it was a little simplistic, and Joe noted that turning the vegetables into a form of linguine was amazing, but Graham didn't feel there is enough crab; Josh's appetizer on the other hand was praised for being ambitious. But the judges panned the execution (Joe even going as far as to call it inedible) because the lobster was undercooked and chewy, and the fact he tried to blend the lobster shells was technically flawed move.
• Entree: Josh's is Rack of Lamb with Green Curry Sauce, Spring Peas and Carrots; Christine's is Braised Pork Belly with Rice, Crispy Kale and Maitake Mushrooms. Graham and Joe loved Josh's rack of lamb, though Gordon was more critical, feeling that the selection of vegetables didn't work because Josh put a wintery parsnip purée with spring vegetables, but Joe commended and defended Josh for capturing all four seasons in one dish ("spring lamb, summer peas, autumn carrots and winter parsnips") and even wanted to rename the dish after Antonio Vivaldi's concerto "The Four Seasons". Again, all three judges raved over Christine's entree, feeling that although she had played it a little safe, the execution was absolutely flawless, and having the meat braised in a pressure cooker also meant that she doesn't have to worry about her blindness impairing her ability to judge whether the meat is cooked to the desired temperature, which Ramsay commended for being a smart move, and also understood why Christine went for a cold appetizer, Joe thought the dish was slightly too sweet and lacked in appearance, but a great interpretation of a traditional dish.
• Dessert: Josh's is Bacon Crusted Pecan Pie with Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Ice Cream; Christine's is Coconut Lime Sorbet with a Ginger Tuile. The judges all loved the ice cream that Josh's pie was served with, but the feedback for the pie itself was generally negative, with the judges criticizing the pastry as greasy, and the bacon flavor undetectable, therefore pointless in its execution. Christine once again got near-unanimous praise for her sorbet, the only criticism being that Graham felt that the lime flavor should have been emphasized a little more.
• Judges' Deliberations: After the dessert course, Josh and Christine were sent back into the MasterChef kitchen while the judges deliberated. They ultimately agreed (while not specifically naming who they were referring to) that although Christine had stayed in her comfort zone, and with her ingredients being used are very commoner-like and budget, her three dishes were executed almost flawlessly on every count, and the menu in whole is well-thought and cohesive, and that while Josh's dishes were more ambitious and technically complex, and his entree arguably even superior to Christine's, his starter was very poorly executed and his dessert suffered a number of glaring flaws, and that Christine was clearly the victor.
• Winner: Christine
• Runner-Up: Josh
• Winner Revealed: Christine Ha was pronounced the winner of the competition, taking away $250,000 and the MasterChef title, and a cookbook deal. In addition, she became the first blind and Asian contestant to win the title. The episode ended with a casting call for the fourth season by Gordon Ramsay.^[9]
• Josh commited suicide 2 years later from this day.

Epilogue

Samantha De Silva - She opened her own food blog, Random Acts of Indulgence since 2012, but haven't been putting up any information up until now. Which is why, her current status is rather ambiguous.

David “Dave” Mack - Dave has kept up with his love for food, hosting pop-up dining events, and seems to be promoting a line of food-related products under the name “Savorhous“

Michael Chen - Active openly to support people with the same sexuality as his. In 2013, he had become executive chef at The Kessler Theater in Dallas, Texas. Since then he has been Executive Chef and Kitchen Manager at Monkey King Noodle Company in Dallas and continues to pursue a career in cooking and the food industry.

Helene Leeds - She continues to pursue her work in Health Coaching (for a hefty $1,000/month fee according to her website, Helene’s Kitchen), promoting “a heart centered approach to a healthy mind, body and spirit”.

Ryan Umane - He has turned the Flavor Elevator into a catering/dinner party business in New York.

Scott Little - Little is known of his current status, but it could be presumed that he went back to his own jobs.

Anna Rossi - She continues to pursue her passion along with her husband, AJ, and actively update her food blog, Brave Apron.

Mike Hill - His current status is unknown, though in an exit interview, he talked about wanting to start a line of “barbecue spice rubs and hopefully some more rubs."

Tanya Noble - She has since moved to Australia, says she attended culinary school for three years, and was now looking for work in the catering/private chef industry.

Tali Clavijo - He now has his own business, Dinner Party Pop-Up, and lists himself as a “Private Chef for High Profile Client” and work as chef de partie at several Chicago area establishments.

Stacey Amagrande - She does catering and is listed as executive chef at 7th Heaven Cafe in California.

Felix Fang - She was listed as being part of a Hawaiian Culinary Adventure tour at one point and apparently has a new online “show” called “Sex + Food”.

David Martinez - David launched a website, FromFireToTable.com, and seemed to be doing some pop-up dining events for a while.

Monti Carlo - She was hired to be a morning talk show host at KEXX in Phoenix, Arizona and worked there for a little over a year and a half. She also hosted a FYI Network special in the summer of 2014 called “Make My Food Famous” about home cooks getting dishes on their favorite restaurants’ menus.

Frank Mirando - It is assumed that he's still pursuing in culinary field.

Becky Reams - She was chosen as a favorite contestant of the season and make an appearance in the 100th Episode in the 6th Season. She continues to work as a food photographer. She also maintains an actively updated food blog at The Delicious View and has videos up on an online cooking site, Foodie Next Door.

Joshua Marks - He had been battling mental illness for some time, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder not long after his appearance on MasterChef. In July 2013, a year after his time on the show, he apparently suffered a “mental break” and was arrested after a scuffle with Chicago police officers. After his mother struggled get him out on bail and to find him necessary medical support, he received a new diagnosis of schizophrenia; the day after that diagnosis Josh committed suicide.

Christine Ha - Her cookbook, “Recipes From My Home Kitchen”, was released in May 2013, and she made numerous public, radio and television appearances in support of it and as winner of the season. She continues to maintain her blog, The Blind Cook, was well as write for other publications and websites. She co-hosts a program called Four Senses, available online, focusing on “topics related to eye health and provide accessibility tips and tools for independence in the kitchen.” She also become guests in Season 4 and Season 6 of the competition. In 2015, Christine became the 3rd judge of MasterChef Vietnam.

References