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Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef had a premiere on Fox on May 22, 2013. Luca Manfè was the winner of this season, making him the first male contestant and previous season returnee to win MasterChef. Contestant Age Hometown Occupation Status Winnings Luca Manfè 31 Astoria, New York Restaurant Manager Winner September 11 10 Natasha Crnjac 26 San Diego, California Stay-at-Home Mom Runner-Up September 11 13 Jessica "Jessie" Lysiak 27 Social Circle, Georgia Yacht Stewardess Eliminated September 4 10 Krissi Biasiello 34 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Paralegal 3 James Nelson 26 Victoria, Texas Retail Sales Eliminated August 28 4 Brianna "Bri" Kozior 22 Doylestown, Pennsylvania Theater Assistant Eliminated August 21 Returned August 7 Eliminated July 24 5 Jordan Roots 29 Minneapolis, Minnesota Delivery Driver Eliminated August 14 2 Eddie Jackson 32 Americus, Georgia Personal Trainer/Former Pro Football Player Eliminated July 31 7 Bethy Rossos 28 Estacada, Oregon High School P.E. Teacher Eliminated July 17 5 Savannah Sturges 27 San Diego, California Middle School Special Ed. Teacher Eliminated July 10 3 Lynn Chyi 27 San Diego, California Systems Administrator 4 Jonathan "Jonny" Blanchard 28 Marlboro, Massachusetts Carpenter Eliminated June 26 1 Elizabeth "Beth" Kirby 29 Chattanooga, Tennessee Writer, Photographer 3 Albaya "Bime" Cruz 35 Taunton, Massachusetts Boxing Coach Eliminated June 19 2 Howard Simpson 26 San Diego, California Barback 1 Kathleen "Kathy" Prieto 29 Bronx, New York Office Assistant Eliminated June 12 0 Malcolm Green 27 Cambridge, Massachusetts Unemployed Eliminated June 5 1 Adriana Guillen 26 New York, New York College Admissions Rep. 0 Sasha Foxx 42 Tuscaloosa, Alabama Singer Eliminated May 29 0 Original airdate: Wednesday May 22, 2013 Day 1 of Auditions: The people who earn white aprons today include Natasha, with her empanadas and chimmichuri skirt steak, Brian, with his beaver tail and frog chips, Jordan, with his Ancho Chile Tostada, Adriana, with her Mexican cactus soup, and Krissi, with her meatloaf florentine. Natasha, Bethy, Lynn, Jordan, and Krissi get all 3 yes's. Adriana and Brian got only 2 yes's. Adriana very nearly gets a no from Joe. George got mediacored on his Greek wedding soup and failed to get a white apron so he did a marriage proposal to his girlfriend instead. Original airdate: Wednesday May 22, 2013 Day 2 of Auditions: People who earn white aprons today include Jessie, with her seabass encroute, Sasha, with her fried chicken and crepes, Bime, with his shrimp and plantains, James, with his crispy pork belly and lentil hash, Eddie, with his jerk meatloaf, and returning chef Luca, with his broccoli rabe ravioli. Sasha receives 3 yes's. Bime, James, Eddie and Luca only get 2. Jessie couldn't convince Gordon that her dish was good enough, but she got an apron after winning the fish-filleting challenge proposed by him. Original airdate: Wednesday May 29, 2013 Audition 3 and Boot Camp: In the beginning of the episode, Howard, with his peach cobbler, and Jonny, with his lobster crackerjack, gain the white apron. The remaining contestants are asked to prepare a meal in an hour using various cuts of lamb at their choice. Once there are fifteen minutes left, Joe starts to take off some aprons due to many mistakes. At the end of time, all but 8 contestants are divided into 2 groups. One group is eliminated while the other group consisting of Adriana, Bethy, Bime, Eddie, Howard, James, Jessie, Jordan, Kathy, Krissi, Lynn, Natasha, Sasha and Savannah advances straight to the MasterChef kitchen. After that, the remaining 8 contestants have their dishes tasted in order to decide. Malcolm, Jonny, Bri (a claimed vegetarian) and Beth have the best ones and go on in the competition. After a while, even Luca is admitted, bringing the total of competitors to nineteen. The total number of contestants near the end of episode 3 is actually twenty; there's a clean shot of all twenty contestants, which occurs when Luca joins the rest of the contestants. However, at the beginning of episode 4, there are clearly only nineteen. Original airdate: Wednesday May 29, 2013 Mystery Box Challenge: The mystery box for this episode challenges the contestants to create a high-quality meal using simple ingredients - chocolate, a potato, bacon and a tomato. The top three consist of Bime, who creates a poached egg over potato hash with a tomato basil salsa; Natasha, who makes lemon-chocolate tart with bacon fat ganache and meringue; and Krissi, who makes a potato-bacon frittata served with a tomato-basil salad. Between the 3, Natasha emerges as the winner, with the judges raving over her dessert. This is the first time in MasterChef history that a dessert wins a mystery box challenge when the mystery box was not dessert focused (season 1 cupcake challenge). Elimination Challenge: Contrasting with the mystery box challenge, the elimination challenge for this week was to test how the contestants treat some of the world's most expensive, high-end ingredients. Since Natasha won the mystery box challenge and thus given immunity from elimination, she's given the advantage of picking the difficult ingredient with which her fellow competitors will have to cook: Joe's langoustine, Graham's veal chops and Gordon's Stilton blue cheese, picking the first. Additionally, her third advantage is that she can pick one other contestant to be safe from elimination. Natasha picks Savannah, who she thinks can be taken out later. Some meals that shine are Krissi's langoustine mac n' cheese, Jordan's langoustine bisque, Lynn's poached langoustine with lime beurre blanc, and Jessie's tempura fried langoustine, despite never having worked with the ingredient before. On the other side, there were some disappointments like Luca's langoustine and fettuccine, Sasha's langoustine cheese grits, Kathy's langoustine rice and Malcolm's stuffed-langoustine pasta. The huge disappointment of the night is Howard's poached langoustine citrus salad, which is so underwhelming that Gordon refuses to taste it, and Joe tells Howard he'd stuck his neck out for him. Gordon then announces that both Jordan and Jessie had the best dishes, and would become team captains in the first team challenge. The 3 worst meals belong to Sasha, Malcolm and Howard. Ultimately, Sasha is the first cook to leave the MasterChef Kitchen. Sasha also predicted that Krissi will be winning the competition. Original airdate: Wednesday June 5, 2013 Team Challenge: For this team challenge, the contestants find themselves having to work together to feed more than three hundred students at Emperor Elementary School. As Jessie and Jordan produced the 2 best meals in the last invention test, they become Team Captains for this challenge. On her Red Team, Jessie picks Lynn, Bethy, Beth, Bime, Natasha, Bri, Luca and Malcolm. For the Blue Team, Jordan picks Savannah, James, Eddie, Jonny, Krissi, Adriana, Howard and Kathy. Each team is assigned to create a two-dish healthy meal: an entree with a protein, starch and veggie, and a dessert with fruit, The blue team swiftly decides on their menu of pasta with turkey meatballs, string bean salad and apple crisp for dessert. The red team, on the other hand, takes their time coming up with the menu, eventually agreeing on a chicken teriyaki with rice and corn, and strawberry crumble for dessert. Despite their initial quick decisions, the blue team realized they'd have to make six hundred meatballs and changed their menu halfway through prep time, instead making a meat sauce to go with the pasta. The red team also comes across difficulties during prep due to their overly salty teriyaki sauce. Fortunately, they manage to salvage the sauce by sweetening it up. In the end, the Red Team scores 58% of the votes, making them the winners of the season's first team challenge. Pressure Test: As the blue team lost the challenge, they have to face the dreaded pressure test. This week, the judges test the contestants' baking abilities by having them create a delicious cheesecake in 1½ hours. Gordon reveals to Jordan, the Team Captain, that he could excuse any three of his team members, including himself, from the pressure test, ensuring their safety from elimination. Jordan saves Howard, James and himself, much to Krissi's dismay. As for the final products, Krissi creates a cheesecake with a raspberry compote and raspberry bombs. Kathy makes a cheesecake with a blueberry-blackberry compote. Eddie, despite his lack of baking experience, manages to create a vanilla cheesecake with a mixed berry compote. While the judges criticize him for not draining the berries, resulting in the berries tainting the color of the cake, they commend him for his great effort. Krissi, Kathy and Eddie all manage to produce cheesecakes that grant them immediate safety from elimination. The other 3 contestants aren't as lucky. Jonny makes a pineapple foster cheesecake with coconut and raspberry-blood orange whipped cream. The judges find the flavor of the cheesecake pleasant but chastise his choice of fibrous pineapple, adding that the cake's crust was too thick. However, the judges declare Jonny's cheesecake the best of the worst, and he's declared safe. Despite her confidence in her baking abilities, Savannah produces a salted caramel cheesecake with a hazelnut-almond brittle and honey whipped cream that she admits is too sweet and has a crust that's too thick. Lastly, Adriana makes a mango guava cheesecake with coconut. While the judges appreciate her effort to be creative, the canned guava paste she used added an unpleasant flavor to the cake. Ultimately, Adriana is eliminated for her choice to use guava paste. Original airdate: Wednesday June 5, 2013 Mystery Box Challenge: Before the contestants lift the boxes to reveal the Mystery Box ingredients, the judges reveal that they'd be cooking alongside a famous professional chef, who turns out to be none other than Gordon Ramsay himself. The Mystery Box includes such typical Japanese ingredients as black cod, black and white sesame seeds, shiitake mushrooms, baby beets, snap peas, ginger, cauliflower, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, rice and miso paste. As the hour starts, the contestants start their prep and cooking, while Ramsay doesn't immediately start cooking, saying that an hour is "too much time". Instead, he observes the other contestants and starts cooking half an hour in. Even though he started cooking thirty minutes after all the other contestants, he whips up two beautifully presented and delicious plates of sesame-seed-crusted black cod over fragrant rice with caramelized cauliflower and a roasted peanut-miso sauce, which blew the contestants away, especially with the time he used. Before the top three are announced, the judges single out Howard, calling his meal of black cod and shiitake mushrooms "appalling", as he plated raw fish, leading to Joe throwing it away. The top three cooks are James, who makes a pan-seared crispy black cod with a toasted sesame and cauliflower puree, and shiitake mushroom salad with a miso vinaigrette; Beth, who made a meal similar to Gordon's: sesame crusted black cod with caramelized beets and cauliflower with a miso vinaigrette; and Luca, who creates a dish of pan-seared black cod with butter-braised shiitake mushrooms and snap peas with a miso glaze. The judges decided that Luca's meal excelled, notably his sauce, and he's determined as the winner of this week's mystery box. Elimination Challenge: For winning the Mystery Box challenge, Luca became safe from elimination and was given the option of choosing a classic American dessert for his competitors to make: 24 cookies, 12 cupcakes, or a 3-layer cake. Luca chose the cupcakes, and after returning to the kitchen, he received another advantage: he was allowed to take away the mixer of one contestant, forcing that person to mix all ingredients by hand. He ultimately removed Jordan's mixer (mainly due to his decision last week to save himself from the Pressure Test). The contestants were given 90 minutes to produce a box of 12 cupcakes. Some contestants were able to produce fantastic cupcakes in the time allotted. Bime, with his vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and milk chocolate whipped cream frosting, and Bethy, with her trio of cupcakes - bananas foster with banana cream, homemade caramel and mascarpone cream-cheese frosting, raspberry lime with lime buttercream, and almond chocolate with hazelnut liqueur - were deemed to have the best batches and became team captains in the next challenge. Howard also stepped up to the mark with his Tahitian vanilla bean cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream, thus redeeming himself after his failure in in previous challenge, and Jordan also impressed the judges (and Luca) with his vanilla cupcakes with mascarpone cheese frosting, basil infusion and a chocolate truffle with cayenne. Some batches of cupcakes, though, did not receive such praise. Malcolm's buttermilk cupcakes with a mascarpone-cream cheese frosting and a rum banana cream filling were found to be extremely dense and tasted unpleasant, Kathy's vanilla cupcakes were deemed bizarre due to her decision to make cookie and peanut bases to her cupcakes, and Jessie's cupcakes were very small and deemed very dry. The aforementioned 3 contestants became the bottom entries of the night. In the end, Malcolm was sent home. Original airdate: Wednesday June 12, 2013 Team Challenge: Having won the previous elimination test, Bethy and Bime are chosen to be team captains of this week's team challenge. This week's challenge for the 2 teams is to prepare 101 New York Strip steaks with a sauce and 2 sides of fresh produce for some of California's finest firemen. Bethy's Blue Team originally consists of Lynn, Jessie, James, Howard, Jonny, Savannah and Krissi; while Bime's Red Team has Jordan, Eddie, Luca, Natasha, Bri, Beth and Kathy. However, since Bethy had the best meal from the last invention test, she's given the opportunity to steal one of Bime's team members and give him one of her original picks. She steals Eddie because she feels his experience on the grill will benefit her team. Along with this, she relinquishes Krissi to Bime. As for the menus, the Red Team quickly decides on a New York strip steak with a red wine reduction sauce, sauteed mushrooms and a cauliflower puree. The Blue Team creates a New York strip steak with a chimichurri sauce served with grilled asparagus, potatoes and diced red peppers. In the end, the Blue Team manages to gain nearly 70% of the votes, ensuring them safety from the pressure test. After the red team loses the challenge, Beth thought the reason why they lost was because the cauliflower purée was "disgusting," resulting in Natasha screaming at her because she was in charge of the cauliflower. This led to Beth breaking down into tears and Krissi being aggravated at the contestants complaining about the Pressure Test, especially being that she's already competed in one and she's not "falling into pieces." Pressure Test: As the Red Team lost the team challenge, they're made to compete against one another in the pressure test. This week, the judges test their ability to pull off a classic but technically difficult breakfast meal - eggs benedict (featured since the first edition of MasterChef). Of the eight members, only six competed. First, since Bime was the team captain, the judges excuse him from participation, much to his team members' disappointment, who criticize his lack of leadership. Bime is also allowed to excuse another team member who he feels is the biggest help in the challenge. He picks Jordan, even though he considers him a big threat in the competition. Left to compete in the pressure test are Krissi, Luca, Natasha, Kathy, Beth and Bri. Only 2 of the 6 competitors manage to produce worthy meals. The judges love Krissi's eggs benedict despite having made her hollandaise sauce with a single egg as her first batch broke. Even though Bri had never made this meal prior to this challenge, she pulls off the best eggs benedict. Both Krissi and Bri are deemed safe from elimination. As for the other 4, all of them produced unpleasant meals. Beth and Natasha were originally confident due to being familiar with the dish, but in the end they had disappointing results: Beth broke her hollandaise and slightly undercooked her eggs, while Natasha ended up making mayonnaise since she put too much vinegar in her hollandaise, and broke one of her yolks. Kathy and Luca presented well-looking dishes, but Kathy's broke one of her eggs, since she took it out of the pot with a spatula instead of a slotted spoon, and it was also lacking the hollandaise sauce, while Luca served undercooked eggs. For the first time in MasterChef history, the judges can't pick the worst meal (second time overall where no elimination was decided) and all 4 remaining competitors are asked to leave the kitchen as they're to participate in another pressure test to determine which one of them won't be returning to the MasterChef Kitchen. Original airdate: Wednesday June 12, 2013 Continued Pressure Test: Las Vegas Round: As they failed to make Eggs Benedict in the last pressure test, Luca, Natasha, Kathy and Beth are brought to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in yet another pressure test to decide which of them will be sent home. For this pressure test, the judges reveal that they'll be working in Gordon Ramsay's Vegas restaurant, BurGR. The 2 teams are required to create a gourmet burger recipe and prep and cook them for dinner service. Each diner will receive a burger from each team. The judges also reveal that V.I.P. guests will be visiting the restaurant and judging the teams, which consist of Beth and Natasha on the Blue Team, and Luca and Kathy on the Red Team. The Blue Team chooses a "Hangover"-style burger with crispy prosciutto, gruyere and aioli, topped with a fried egg. The Red Team opts for a simpler burger with caramelized onions, arugula, a sauce, and no cheese, which surprised everyone. Throughout prep, the Blue Team struggles with the cook on the fried eggs, realizing it might take too long. They eventually decide to scrap the fried eggs and top their burger with goat cheese, crispy prosciutto, aioli and arugula. Both teams come across difficulties during service, with the Blue Team burning buns and the Red Team serving raw burgers. The V.I.P. guests are actually their fellow MasterChef contestants. With the Red Team working in advance, they manage to sabotage the Blue Team as Luca noticed the Red Team falling behind. His strategy pays off as the Blue Team fails to produce their last 4 burgers on time, leaving four judging contestants to only receive a burger from the Red Team. Despite losing votes, the Blue Team (Natasha and Beth) manage to receive most of the votes, winning the second pressure test of the week and earning their places back in the competition. Luca and Kathy are left to compete in the last pressure test, a MasterChef cook-off. Pressure Test: Cook-off: For the last pressure test in Las Vegas, the judges bring Luca and Kathy to the top of Caesars Palace, which has been transformed into the MasterChef kitchen, to produce an extremely intricate, expensive dish: butter-poached lobster with a shaved fennel salad. Before cooking, they both tasted the lobster, saying it was delicious and it was one of the best things they've eaten in their life. Both Luca and Kathy came across difficulties during the hour, with Luca butchering the lobster wrong and Kathy managing her time insufficiently. In the end, Luca's butter poached lobster is deemed better and a teary-eyed Kathy is sent home. However, before she leaves, Gordon invites her to visit one of his restaurants in New York to aid her in continuing her culinary career. Original airdate: Wednesday June 19, 2013 Mystery Box Challenge: This week, the contestants are treated to a mystery box featuring various ethnic foods from Russia, Spain, China and several others. In addition, the judges also refrain from telling the home chefs what exactly the ingredients of the mystery box are, which include elk, fat choy (Chinese Black Moss), canned baby eels, Mojama, cod's liver and Japanese sweet potatoes. Since the contestants have no idea what the ingredients are, the judges test their creativity and palates. The top three meals consist of Eddie's seared elk flank with Japanese sweet potato puree and sautéed greens; Jordan's stacked salad with Chinese moss, sweet potato chips and crispy baby eels; and Bime's Surf and turf-inspired elk with sweet potato-purée and eels. Ramsay also said to Lynn that, despite its finesse, his dish was underseasoned. Eddie's meal is deemed the best and he's given a series of advantages in the next challenge. Elimination Challenge: The theme of this week's elimination challenge is pasta with a filling. The 3 pasta options are Joe's agnolotti, Graham's mezzelune and Gordon's caramelle. Eddie's first advantage is that he's not required to cook and thus safe from elimination. His second advantage is to pick which of the 3 stuffed pastas his fellow competitors would have to make. Eddie chooses for the home chefs to make the judges a meal of agnolotti. To help the contestants with their pasta making, the judges invite Joe's mom, Lidia Bastianich, restaurateur, author and TV host, to provide a live demonstration of making the perfect agnolotti, much to Krissi's excitement, because Lidia is her culinary idol. Eddie's third advantage is that he can pick 2 contestants who'd be forbidden to watch Lidia's demonstration. He picks Lynn and James for this, with whom Lidia begins the tastes. As usual in the first tests, only some meals are featured. Despite his disadvantage, James managed to produce an acceptable meal of ricotta-Parmesan agnolotti with a tomato-vodka sauce. Unlike James, Lynn heavily struggled as a result of his disadvantage, producing a short rib-ricotta agnolotti with charred leek brown butter sauce, which is once again underseasoned. The judges agreed that the filling in his pasta suffered as he pureed it rather than grinding it, giving it the texture of baby food. In addition, he folded the pasta incorrectly. Jonny turned in a spin on a classic Italian meal by making a butternut squash-ricotta agnolotti with smoked maple Alfredo sauce. Lidia decides that the dish is too sweet and it's deemed unsuitable as a pasta meal. The judges loved Jessie's oxtail-short rib agnolotti with a basil oil reduction. Krissi also managed to impress the judges with her Swiss chard-pancetta agnolotti with a simple butter sauce. Beth produced ricotta-herb agnolotti with mushroom butter sauce, which is underwhelming due to the degree that she undercooked her pasta. Howard's chicken-pepper-jalapeño pepper agnolotti with cumin is deemed too unconventional. Joe criticized him for not respecting Italian traditional cooking. Howard then questioned the point of the challenge if every contestant is expected to cook the same meal, triggering a barrage of criticism and insults from Joe, who accused him of being arrogant, as well as having little talent and no future in the culinary world, and being a narcissist, ending with "Thank you for nothing." After all the meals are tasted, the judges awarded Krissi and Jessie with having the best meals, making them team captains in the next team challenge. The judges picked 4 contestants to be up for elimination: Lynn, Beth, Howard and Jonny. Beth and Jonny are both told they're safe from elimination, and asked to return to their stations, leaving Lynn and Howard in the bottom 2. Instead of picking one for elimination, Gordon asked Lynn and Howard that the one between them who produced the worst meal humbly remove his apron and leave the MasterChef kitchen with dignity. Eventually, Howard, realizing his continual mistakes in the competition and Lynn having far more potential, removes his apron and leaves the competition. Original airdate: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Team Challenge: For this week's team challenge, the contestants received the opportunity to cook for the cast and crew of Glee at Paramount Studios with Krissi as the Blue Team captain and Jessie as the Red Team captain. Jane Lynch, one of the stars of the hit television program, picked the teams based on "beauty" (Jessie) and the "beast" (Krissi), with 2 switches in the end. Jessie's "beauty" Red Team contains Savannah, Bri, Lynn, Beth, Luca and Eddie. Krissi's "beast" Blue Team is made up of James, Bime, Natasha, Jonny, Bethy and Jordan. They had to make three entrees that consist of fried chicken with fries and coleslaw, vegan lasagna with a mixed salad, and grilled salmon with scalloped potatoes and asparagus. Whenever a cast member decided which of the 3 entrees they wanted, they'll receive one from each team, thus letting them vote for their favorite. The Red Team's final menu is southern buttermilk fried chicken, soy-ginger-glazed salmon and pesto vegan lasagna. The Blue Team's final menu is spicy Latin fried chicken with jalapeño ranch sauce, balsamic-glazed salmon and vegan lasagna with spicy tomato sauce. During prep, Jessie severely cut her finger on a mandoline and required medical service. However, she's able to resume working after sitting out a few minutes. The red team struggled with their salmon, because the marinade was put on the salmon during the grilling, leading to the salmon skin to stick to the grill. During service, both teams ran out of chicken, and the Blue Team also serves raw chicken. In the end, the Red Team, led by Jessie, won by a long shot with 90 of the 127 votes, sending the Blue Team, with 37 votes, to the pressure test, much to Krissi's dismay. Note: This was Cory Monteith's last television appearance before his death in July 2013. Pressure Test: Krissi, as team captain, had the choice to decide which of her teammates she'll save, saving at least one person and no more than 5 people. She ultimately saved Jonny, Natasha and herself, leaving Bethy, Bime, James and Jordan to face the pressure test. Jordan called her hypocritical because she lambasted him for pulling the same move earlier in the competition. Bime was also disappointed with Krissi's choice of leaving him in the Pressure Test, because he got 30 out of the 56 chicken votes for his team. The challenge had the contestants make a lemonless version of lemon meringue pie. While making the pie, Bime mistook the cream of tartar for the corn starch in his curd, and he ended up using way too much of the cream of tartar, which gave the thin curd a bad taste. James' pie crust was undercooked and the egg whites were underdone, but the curd was deemed delicious. Bethy's curd was said to have no flavor, and the pastry was raw and limp. Jordan's pie was near perfect. Bime's pie had no pastry base, soupy curd, and a horrible taste due to the cream of tartar in his curd, as well as a noticeable lack of meringue. Jordan, for being the only one to hit the expected level, is immediately deemed safe, while James is saved due to the intriguing taste of his curd, leaving Bethy and Bime, who'd previously shined in the cupcake elimination test, as the bottom two. In the end, with his pie suffering too many fundamental flaws, despite having been a front-runner, a teary-eyed Bime is sent home, much to Krissi's delight and all the other cooks' disappointment. Original airdate: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 Mystery Box Challenge: For this week, the contestants lift their boxes to reveal a pig head for their mystery box challenge. The judges test their ability to work with all aspects of an animal commonly used in cooking. The top three meals belong to Lynn who produced a Braised Pork Tongue and Cheek with a Parsnip Puree, Jessie, who cooked a Tex-Mex influenced dish of Braised Pork Cheek and Ear with Black Eyed Peas and Roasted Corn, and Jonny, who made Pork Tongue and Cheek Tacos with Sweet-and-Spicy Tomato Jam and Guacamole. After much deliberation, the judges decided that Lynn would be the winner of this week's Mystery Box. Elimination Challenge: For winning the mystery box challenge, Lynn became in control of the next elimination challenge. This week, the theme of the elimination test revolved around the favorite ingredients of MasterChef Season 3 Winner, Christine Ha. Lynn's first advantage was that he did not have to compete in the challenge and thus safe from elimination. Then, the judges presented him with three of Christine's favorite ingredients: Chicken, Catfish and Dungeness Crab. For his advantages, the judges then told Lynn that he was able to pick the ingredient that one particular contestant would cook with and also choose one other ingredient that all of the other contestants would cook with. He chose to single out Krissi and have her make a Catfish dish, while the rest of contestants were given a Live Crab as their main component. They were given 60 minutes. Before they started cooking, Christine told the competitors to open their drawers and there were blindfolds in them, and they would be cooking without sight. Gordon Ramsay told them to stop cooking after a couple of minutes, stating that Christine was only kidding, and the judges let the contestants take their blindfolds off for the rest of the challenge. Before the tasting began, Gordon announced that Christine would be a guest judge in this challenge. When it came to the final dishes, Lynn's strategy of giving Krissi a Catfish seemed to pay off as the judges were highly underwhelmed with her dish of Fried Catfish with Bacon and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus. The judges, especially Joe, found her dish disrespectful and far too simple for this level in the competition. Additionally, the catfish tasted muddy and was fried with its skin on. When Krissi arrogantly spoke under her breath that her fish didn't taste muddy, Joe exploded and warned her not to talk behind his back. Next, the judges tasted Natasha's dish and raved over her Ginger Crab Cakes served with a Shredded Crab and Beet Salad. In addition, the judges appreciated the flavors in Bri's Summer Crab Stack with Pea and Avocado Mash and Corn Puree. Afterwards, the judges tasted James dish and were highly impressed with his Spicy Crab Creole with Rice and Seafood Broth. Further on, the judges criticized Beth's Mascarpone Crab Cakes with Grilled Peach and Avocado Salsa, which are pasty and undercooked, with Joe even spitting out her food. Luca's Crab Risotto is a disaster, with too much stock in it, and his huge mistake of adding fish sauce to the stock. The top two dishes belonged to James and Natasha, giving them the roles of team captains in the next team challenge. The bottom three dishes belonged to Krissi, Luca and Beth. Luca was warned that the judges were losing patience due to his irregular performances so far, but they declared him safe, leaving Krissi and Beth as the bottom two. Ultimately, Beth was eliminated for her overall bland crab dish and for not believing in herself more, much to the other contestants' dismay. However, Krissi was warned to "get it together," or she'll be sent home. Original airdate: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 Team Challenge: This week, the 2 teams are in charge of preparing a meal for a wedding. First, the competitors receive in the MasterChef kitchen a long list from the bride about her dislikes, which really annoys Krissi. The judges then reveal that Graham will be making an appetizer of spring pea essence with whipped creme fraiche, pink peppercorns and a lavender infusion, and Gordon would be preparing sticky toffee pudding with brown bread ice cream and caramel sauce for dessert, leaving the 2 teams to each produce two stunning entrees that would match the quality of the appetizer and dessert - a non-vegetarian and a vegetarian dish. Blue team captain James chooses Lynn, Jessie, Jonny, Bri and Luca to be on his team. Red team captain Natasha chooses Eddie, Jordan, Bethy, Savannah and Krissi to be on her team. Additionally, the judges tell the captains they must choose one person on their team who won't participate in the team challenge, thus ensuring this person a place in the top 11. James excuses Bri from the challenge because he feels like she's not on top like the rest even though he picked Luca last. Natasha opts to excuse Krissi, who she feels won't listen because she (Krissi) is a loudmouth, but Krissi doesn't mind a free pass. For their final entrees, the blue team decides on lamb medallions with parsnip puree for the non-vegetarian guests and grilled mushrooms over a goat cheese creme fraîche for the vegetarian guests. The red team decides on halibut beurre blanc with roasted baby carrots for the non-vegetarian guests and an eggplant-tomato stack for the vegetarian guests. The red team's cooking period is marked by disorganization and a lack of leadership from Natasha, while the blue team works better. When it comes to the service itself, however, Natasha finally brings leadership and organization, who pull together and perform flawlessly, while the blue team's service rapidly becomes a complete disaster, mostly because of Lynn completely falling apart on the plating and Jonny taking too long to get the lamb out, making it go cold. Lynn ends up making multiple mistakes and Luca has to take control after the former wipes plates with his sweaty cloth. The blue team only successfully manages to serve a single table their entrees before Graham has to step in and take control of the team. For the final results, Natasha and the red team are deemed the clear winners, leaving the blue team to face the pressure test, which made James confused about how a fillet of halibut is superior to a piece of lamb loin. Pressure Test: For this week's pressure test, the contestants are tasked with making a box of 12 perfect macarons. However, the blue team was told that only 2 of them would compete in the test, and that the judges would determine who'd be safe. Bri didn't participate in the team challenge, so she's excused from competing and is thus safe. The judges save Jessie (who was felt to have been by far the best performer on the team), Luca (who took over the plating after Lynn's repeated failures) and James (who, while being agreed to have been a poor captain, was at least felt to have avoided making any glaring mistakes) from elimination, leaving Lynn and Jonny to go head to head against each other. Lynn produces vanilla macarons with a salted caramel filling and raspberry macarons with a raspberry and white chocolate filling. Despite his impressive presentation, the judges all find the macarons a bit too sweet and chastise his unconventional choice in putting fresh fruit in the pastry. Jonny makes chocolate macarons with a peanut butter mousse and vanilla macarons with a raspberry mascarpone filling. Although the judges all think Jonny's macarons tasted better, he made a bizarre mistake by trying to jam all 12 in the box and then forcing the lid shut, fracturing all of his macarons because he thought all twelve had to fit in the box. In the end, the judges decide that despite Jonny's macarons tasting better than Lynn's, they eliminate him due to his presentation being nowhere near the beauty in the box that they were looking for. Original air date: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 Mystery Box Challenge: For this week's challenge, Eva Longoria surprised the contestants with a Mexican Themed mystery box where she handpicked all the ingredients. The box contained Pork Tenderloin, Shrimp, Avocado, Mangoes, Corn, Mexican Chocolate, Dried Pasilla Peppers, Fresh Jalapeño, Fresno Peppers, Hot Sauce, Tomatillo, Cotija Cheese, Crema Mexicana, Huitlacoche, Onions and Garlic. The top 3 dishes belonged to Bri, who made a Poached and Grilled Butter and Cilantro Shrimp topped with a Pico de Gallo over a Grilled Corn Salad, Eddie, with his Chili Seared Pork Loin over Creamed Corn and a Mango Relish, and Savannah, who produced a Spice Crusted Pork Loin over Creamed Corn and a guacamole with tomatillo. The judges and Eva decided that Bri's dish was the best of the 3 and she was decided as the winner of this challenge. Elimination Challenge: For winning the Mystery Box, Bri received safety from the Elimination Challenge and was shown two baskets of ingredients from Walmart. The first basket contained Strawberries, Bananas and a few other baking ingredients, which costed just under $5. The contestant(s) who received this basket would be given the full 60 minutes to prepare their dish. The second basket contained a variety of savory ingredients such as a Premium 14 oz. Rib-eye Steak, Sweet Potato, Cauliflower, Vintage Ripe Tomatoes, Bell peppers, Collard Greens and many more, which costed just under $25. The contestant(s) who received this basket would only be given 30 minutes to produce a dish. As her advantage, Bri was told that she would have to pick one person who would cook with one basket an the other 9 competitors would cook with the other. Knowing that Natasha is the only competitor good at baking and desserts, she decided to single Natasha out and give her the savory steak basket and gave all the other contestants the baking basket. When it came to the final results, Bri's attempt to eliminate Natasha backfired as all the judges were impressed by Natasha's Rib Eye Steak with Sweet Potato Fries, Roasted Cauliflower and a trio of sauces. Two other great dishes belonged to Luca, who redeemed himself from his mistake in the last Elimination Challenge by making a Banana Cake with Pastry Cream and a Strawberry Compote, despite his lack of confidence with how cooked the cake was, and Jessie, who blew away the judges with her Shortbread Tart with Meringue and Caramelized Banana. As for the dishes that did not receive such positive feedback, the judges were shocked by Lynn's Baked Meringue with Strawberries and Banana Puree, which is an absolute disaster and Gordon even calling it the "worst dish in all four seasons of MasterChef". The judges also were disappointed Savannah's Banana Cream Pie with Italian Meringue, as the meringue broke. In addition, the judges were severely underwhelmed with James' Deep Fried Bananas with a Strawberry Puree and Custard, finding his custard strange and unpleasant. Finally, the judges found Krissi's Strawberry Muffins with Caramelized Bananas extremely dense as a result of her putting Strawberry Gelatin in the batter. The judges decided that Jessie's dish was the best and she was made the only captain of the next team challenge. The bottom 3 consisted of James, Lynn and Krissi. Between the three disastrous dishes, the judges eliminate front-runner Lynn after going from "hero to zero", much to the shock of all the other contestants. Original airdate: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 Team Challenge: The contestants were brought to Huntington Beach, California to serve 101 surfers a meal of fish tacos. The contestants were split into two teams; and Jessie, for winning the previous episode's main challenge, was given the ability to choose her entire team as well as those with whom she wouldn't be competing. She chose to have James, Eddie, Bethy, and Natasha for her team. She then chose Savannah to be the team captain for the red team consisting of her, Jordan, Krissi, Luca, and Bri. The Red Team produced a Spicy Blackened Cod Taco with Pickled Onions and Cabbage and a cilantro lime sauce, while the Blue Team served a Grilled Mahi Mahi Taco with a Chipotle Ranch Slaw and a roasted pineapple habanero sauce. The Blue Team ran into issues with plating shortly after the beginning of service, causing a backup at their station. The Red Team however faced issues towards the end of the challenge with almost not having enough fish for their tacos. The Red Team started-off strong with points, gaining the first 22, but the Blue Team quickly tied the score and won the challenge 51 to 25. The Blue Team also won tickets to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game, scheduled to take place in New York and air on Fox, much to Luca's disappointment. Pressure Test Prior to the test, the Red Team members were told that they could exempt one member, and to decide between themselves who it should be. Krissi wanted the exemption, as she had competed in so many pressure tests and felt she was the least to blame for the loss, and threatened physical violence against the other competitors (particularly Bri) when they disagreed. Eventually, the team agreed to exempt Jordan, whose sauce was agreed to have been the best part of their taco. In this test, the competitors had 40 minutes to cook Chicken Breast in three different ways: Sauteed for Gordon, Southern Fried for Graham, Stuffed with Prosciutto and Mozzarella for Joe. When Gordon checked in on Luca, he asked him who's leaving the competition. He immediately said that Krissi needed to go home because everyone is getting sick and tired of her attitude. Gordon asked all the other contestants if this is true and they all nodded yes. Savannah's sautéed chicken breast was described as bland and poached and fried chicken as raw; but the stuffed chicken was deemed properly cooked, however the sauce was a bit heavy. Krissi's sautéed breast was slightly pink, but wasn't badly prepared; her fried chicken was crispy and perfectly prepared; and her stuffed chicken was cooked properly but was somewhat understuffed. Luca's sautéed chicken was said to be dry but flavorful, his fried chicken slightly undercooked but properly spiced and crispy, and his stuffed chicken was raw. Bri's sauteed chicken was slightly undercooked but properly seasoned, her fried chicken crispy outside but raw in the middle, and her stuffed chicken cooked properly but with a slightly over-buttery sauce. Krissi was immediately deemed safe for making only minor mistakes in the test, and Luca was just barely saved thanks to his stuffed chicken being the only one of his three to go severely wrong, leaving Savannah and Bri as the bottom two. After failing to please any of the judges in the pressure test, Savannah was sent home. Original airdate: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 Mystery Box: For this week there are two boxes. A small box at the contestant's stations as well as a large box spanning the length of the front table. Under their personal boxes was a meat grinder/sausage maker and under the large box was a wide variety of proteins (mostly meat, but also including three vegetarian choices to help Bri). The top three dishes were made by Natasha, who prepared a breakfast sausage featuring chicken, bacon, and apple as well as a touch of red chili flakes and Sriracha for heat, Eddie, whose dish featured a pork sausage with braised purple cabbage and apple chutney, and Krissi, who presented a spicy Italian sausage with peppers and polenta. After much deliberation, the judges declared Eddie the winner. Elimination Challenge: For winning his second mystery box challenge, Eddie received immunity and was thus safe from elimination. He was given the opportunity to choose between three ingredients which are usually used in judges' restaurants. These included Joe's ham, Graham's mushrooms, and Gordon's shrimp. Eddie chose the mushrooms before being informed that half of the home cooks would be cooking with fresh wild mushrooms and the other half would be cooking with canned mushrooms. Eddie assigned the canned mushrooms to Natasha, Jessie, Krissi and Luca (which, interestingly, would become the top 4 of this season), and left the fresh mushrooms for James, Jordan, Bethy and Bri on purpose, since he felt his targets, James and Jordan, would try to do too much and end up forgetting that the mushrooms have to be the hero. Bethy realized while cooking that she forgot to grab sugar from the pantry. She asked around for it and Jordan allowed her to take some of his. Bethy prepared a Szechuan noodle with fresh wild mushrooms featuring ginger and pepper. The judges felt that the dish overall was ruined by way too much sesame oil. Natasha presented a canned mushroom stuffed ravioli with crispy pancetta and a creamy mushroom puree, to which the judges raved. The judges also loved Jessie's dish of canned mushroom risotto with pancetta, leeks, and an arugula oil. James made a fresh wild mushroom chowder by slow-cooking his mushrooms with arugula and other herbs, which was said to be way too heavy and salty. Luca cooked a cream of mushroom soup with canned mushroom over vegetables and croutons, which was praised by the judges, but they didn't like the truffle oil in the croutons. Krissi presented her take on a mushroom cassoulet with eggplant and pancetta which Joe was impressed. Bri prepared 'a walk through the forest' - grilled sage and wild mushrooms with a beet and goat cheese salad - which the judges felt was perfectly executed. Jordan approached a fresh mushroom ravioli with a mushroom beet cream sauce and fried mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and honey but the judges felt that the dish itself made the mushrooms taste like canned mushrooms. Bri and Natasha had the best dishes and earned the titles of team captains for the next challenge. Things went according to Eddie's plan, as Jordan, James and Bethy became the bottom three. The judges declared James's dish as the best of the worst, leaving Jordan and Bethy as the bottom two. Unfortunately for Eddie, his plan to eliminate James or Jordan ended in failure, and Bethy was eliminated for her heavy overuse of sesame oil. However before she left, Joe said he would be willing to employ her in the future; and when Gordon asks her who's going to win MasterChef, she said that Jessie will win. Original airdate: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 Team Challenge: Dropped off in the middle of nowhere, the competitors had to prepare a restaurant quality dish with essential ingredients and no kitchen tools, and also had spent the night in the hills. Bri chose James, Eddie and Luca for Red Team, and Natasha picked Jordan, Jessie and Krissi on Blue Team. Suddenly Gordon stated that "great leaders can work with anyone - even those who they don't have confidence in", so Bri and Natasha were forced to switch teams, much to Krissi's and Bri's disappointment. As the winner of the Elimination Test, Bri was also able to choose the main ingredient between rabbits and pigeons. She chose the rabbits for her team, leaving Natasha's team with the pigeons. The Red team struggled with prepping their pigeons and the Blue Team had a major struggle while preparing the dishes for the judges because Bri accidentally dropped one, but they managed to plate a new one before time ran out. The Blue Team served a Braised Rabbit Ragu with Quail Egg Pasta, while the Red Team served Roasted Pigeon, Farro Risotto and Baby Carrots. Both were appreciated by the judges, and the vote was very close. After tasting both dishes, the judges will use a colored smoke signal to tell them who won. In the end, the Red team was victorious, sending the Blue Team to the Pressure Test. Pressure Test For the very first time in the history of MasterChef, the winning team had the option of exempting one of the members of the losing team from elimination. The Red Team decided to send Krissi to safety, as they believed she was the weakest cook and they could take her down later. Jessie, Jordan, and Bri are required to create a platter of 6 perfect chocolate éclairs. All three competitors struggled with the task; Bri's éclairs were severely undercooked, inconsistent in length and had little filling, Jordan's éclairs were deemed to be too sweet, and Jessie's éclairs had no chantilly and had a bitter chocolate coating as well as being deformed. Jordan became the first to be sent to safety, leaving Jessie and Bri as the bottom two. Ultimately, the judges decided to send Jessie to safety, eliminating Bri from the MasterChef kitchen. Original airdate: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 Mystery Box: The contestants found another huge mystery box where the judges are usually standing. Inside the box was the final 7 competitors' loved ones who were flown in by the producers for an emotional meeting. Amidst the joy and smiles of the reunion, Krissi was however left dejected as her son was unable to participate in the episode due to school examinations. Nonetheless, he made up for it as Gordon Ramsay screened a video message her son recorded. Competitors had access to the entire pantry to choose up to 15 ingredients they needed, with the theme of this episode's mystery box being a dish that is inspired by their respective loved ones. Natasha's green curry with shredded coconut, roasted corn and rice, Jessie's seared duck breast with roasted brussels sprouts and blackberry, red wine reduction, and Luca's pan seared caul fat-wrapped halibut with white asparagus risotto were chosen by the judges to be the top three dishes, with Luca's eventually being singled out to be the best. Elimination Challenge: Luca, having won his second mystery box, was safe from elimination and given the privilege of pairing up the remaining 6 competitors for the elimination challenge. The format of the challenge was a tag team, with each member of the pairing taking a 15 minute turn to work on a sushi platter comprising a California roll, live sea urchin (Uni) sushi, tuna (Ahi) sushi, shrimp (Ebi) sushi, salmon roe sushi, mackerel sushi, and shrimp and veggie tempura. Luca paired Jessie and Eddie, Jordan and James, and archrivals Natasha and Krissi hoping to take Natasha out. His plan backfired though, as Natasha and Krissi's platter was judged to be the best, with Gordon complimenting them for having made a "bloody good effort... even though it wasn't perfect". Natasha immediately said that Luca would be her number one target for trying to take her down. Jordan and James' dish came in second even though the judges remarked that the rice lacked seasoning and the sushi and tempura lacked salt. Gordon remarked that it was James' refined technique in filleting and slicing the fish into extremely thin and delicate slices that was their saving grace. Jessie and Eddie's dish did not turn out well, with the sea urchin not being cleaned thoroughly and the rice having been cooked with too much vinegar. Having got these crucial elements wrong, the pair came in at the bottom. For the very first time in this competition, Eddie was completely lost and became the twelfth chef to be eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen. Before he left, he said that Natasha would win the competition. Original airdate: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Elimination Challenge #1: For this episode, the judges invited back three previously eliminated competitors to compete for a spot back in the competition. Gordon brought back Bri, because of her strong mind and palate, Joe invited back Lynn, because he thought he went home way too soon, and Graham picked Bime, because of the amount of emotion he puts in his dishes. The three were charged with cooking as many unburnt, perfectly cooked sunny-side up eggs as they could in fifteen minutes, with the promise that the two cooks with the most perfect eggs would face off in the next challenge. Lynn plated 27 eggs, but only 8 were perfect. Bri, with 13 perfect sunny-side up eggs out of 23, passed on to the next challenge, and was then joined by Bime, who cooked 16 perfect ones out of 32 (only 9 were shown), thus eliminating Lynn, much to Jordan's delight and relief. Elimination Challenge #2: Luca, Natasha, Krissi, Jessie, James, and Jordan were told that they, along with judge Joe Bastianich, would undergo a blind taste-test to determine which home cook would rejoin their numbers. Bri and Bime were presented with two quality Alaskan king salmon, which can fetch over $500 apiece[ Luca, Natasha, Krissi, Jessie, James, and Jordan were told that they, along with judge Joe Bastianich, would undergo a blind taste-test to determine which home cook would rejoin their numbers. Bri and Bime were presented with two quality Alaskan king salmon, which can fetch over $500 apiece[citation needed]. The judges told the two cooks to serve up to seven portions of pan-seared salmon with hollandaise sauce, asparagus, and potatoes, within 60 minutes. Bri roasted and pan-cooked her potatoes with rosemary and thyme, and decided to blanch and grill her asparagus. Bime opted for roasted asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes with cheese and sour cream, to Graham's surprise. Though the votes came in at a close tie, Bri won 4 of the 7 votes, securing her spot back in the MasterChef kitchen. Original airdate: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 Mystery Box: This week, the contestants opened their mystery boxes to find a single 16 ounce choice premium T-bone steak. Instead of using the MasterChef limited pantry, the contestants were told that a truck was waiting outside for them, loaded with all different kinds of produce they could use to supplement their steak. The time limit was 45 minutes. The judges chose to taste Jordan's seared New York strip with celery root and parsley purée, compound butter, caramelized onions, and Parm-encrusted squash, Luca's grilled filet mignon served with haricot verts and roasted potatoes with a Parmesan crema and pan-seared sirloin with caramelized onions and beef sauce, and Krissi's pan-seared steak with compound butter served with pommes du Krissi (sliced potatoes arranged in the shape of a flower) and a Brussels sprout-caramelized onion salad. The judges decided that Krissi would be the winner of this week's mystery box, much to the other contestants' dismay. Elimination Challenge: The theme of the elimination challenge was poultry. For winning the Mystery Box challenge, Krissi was safe from elimination and was able to assign one bird - a quail, a pigeon, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, and a turkey - to each of the remaining competitors. Targeting Natasha, Luca and Jordan, Krissi gave the pheasant, turkey and quail to them, respectively. She also assigned the duck to James, the chicken to Jessie, and the pigeon to Bri. The contestants were given 60 minutes to produce a dish using their bird. Ultimately, Natasha's pheasant breast with mushroom risotto and white asparagus and Bri's stuffed roast pigeon with couscous and red beets were the top two dishes of the night, giving them the roles of team captains in the next team challenge. This also sets up a rematch between the two, who previously competed against each other as team captains in episode 16. Luca also impressed the judges with his pancetta-wrapped turkey with braised Swiss chard, sweet potato puree, mushrooms, and red wine cranberry sauce; and James was commended for his togarashi-rubbed duck with mushrooms, ginger scallion rice, and kimchi. Jessie highly underwhelmed the judges with her pan-seared chicken breast with a roasted garlic sauce summer vegetable succotash and mashed potatoes and Jordan presented a very poorly executed pan-seared quail with root vegetable stew. Jessie and Jordan therefore became the bottom two entries of the night. In the end, the judges decided that while Jessie had merely played it safe (which they strongly warned her against doing again) and produced an underwhelming dish, Jordan's dish was a complete failure on every level, leading to his emotional elimination. However before he left, Graham told Jordan that he had been impressed by his progress throughout the competition and extended an offer to work for him at one of his Chicago-based restaurants. Also, when asked who would win the competition, Jordan said it would be Natasha. Original airdate: Wednesday, August 21, 2013. Team Challenge: The episode began with five of the contestants on a helipad atop a tall building in the heart of Los Angeles (Krissi was noticeably absent; she refused to join the group on the rooftop due to her fear of heights). Gordon informed the group that their next challenge would involve a dinner service in WP24, a Los Angeles Asian restaurant owned by renowned chef Wolfgang Puck. The contestants were split into two teams: Red Team Captain Natasha led Luca and Jessie, while Blue Team Captain Bri led James and Krissi. The teams served a limited menu which consisted of two appetizers, steamed scallop-shrimp Sui Mai and crispy lobster lettuce cups, and two dinner entrees, Singapore-style chili prawns and Wagyu beef stir-fry. During the appetizer round, Luca struggled with the Sui Mai and Joe angrily told him he served a raw Sui Mai. Gordon then found out that Luca put cold water at the bottom of the steamer, instead of hot water, which brought the temperature down, and therefore, didn't properly steam the dumplings. During dinner service, Krissi struggled during preparation due to her dislike of Asian cuisine and subsequent lack of experience cooking it, and produced underwhelming dishes. At the end of service, the contestants were rewarded by Gordon, Joe, and Graham with a glass of champagne and told that the winning team would be decided overnight. The next morning, the contestants were gathered in the MasterChef kitchen and the Red Team (whose members would be the Top 3 of this season) was announced as the winner, giving them immunity from the pressure test. Pressure Test: Before the Pressure Test, Bri stated that she believed Krissi had performed the weakest in the Team Challenge, much to the latter's ire. This pressure test required Bri, Krissi and James to recreate a plate of fried calamari with marinara sauce in 60 minutes. All three contestants came across difficulties during the challenge. Bri's calamari was undercooked, heavily coated in flour and her marinara was criticized for being overly acidic as a result of putting lemon juice in it. Krissi's calamari had a very spongy texture, described as being "fried like funnel cake". James' marinara had an awful aftertaste to it, but his calamari was very well prepared, so he was the first contestant to be sent to safety. In the end, the judges decided to save Krissi, sending Bri home once again, this time for good. Before leaving, Bri said that James would become the winner. Original airdate: Wednesday, August 28, 2013. Mystery Box: Gordon, Graham and Joe announced that some V.I.P. guests would choose 15 items for the mystery box. In the end, the guests were the judges' sons: Joe's two sons Miles and Ethan, Graham's middle son Conrad, and Gordon's son Jack. They assembled the box with a lot of sweets, fruit and baking items, leading to all of the competitors to creating desserts. Luca's Pineapple and white chocolate Napoleon, Jessie's Vanilla cream puffs with coconut and fruit, and James' Passion fruit and white chocolate turnover with blueberry mint purée were the best creations. Eventually, James won his first Mystery Box challenge. Elimination Test: In the pantry, the judges awarded immunity to James, and then showed him the best dishes they had ever eaten in their life: Joe's Marinated botan shrimp with sea urchin and caviar, Graham's Grandpa Franny's soft shell crab sandwich, and Gordon's Vietnamese noodle soup with slow cooked pork. After tasting them and targeting Luca as his objective, James chose Gordon's dish. The remaining competitors had to taste the dish; then grab the correct ingredients from the pantry and recreate it in 75 minutes. While cooking, Natasha realized she forgot garlic and she had to ask Luca for some. Luca and Jessie had the best two dishes, and the former won his first elimination test. Krissi was the next cook to be sent to safety, leaving Natasha in tears in belief that she would be eliminated. Ultimately, despite some minor unbalanced flavors in Natasha's soup, it was still deemed to be absolutely delicious and the judges did not eliminate anyone. (second time in this edition and third overall, the first was in the 2nd season when all judges appreciated cheese soufflés). Original airdate: Wednesday, August 28, 2013. Off-site challenge: For the second time in the history of MasterChef, the competitors faced each other for two spots in the final four and to save themselves from the Pressure Test (the first time was in the 1st season). In this challenge, they had to cook for 50 guests (with each home cook responsible for serving 10 guests each) of a special charity lunch hosted in Paula Deen's ranch an entreé composed of a protein and two sides. As he won the Elimination test, Luca was able to assign five Southern protein items chosen by the pride of Savannah: he chose pork chops for himself, alligator for Jessie, catfish for Natasha, shrimp for Krissi, and chicken for James. During the cooking, Natasha, who made Cajun buttermilk-grilled catfish, potato au gratin, and James, who made bourbon BBQ chicken breast, braised black-eyed peas and honey glazed carrots, struggled with their proteins, affecting the feedback of their dishes, which was not favorable. Moreover, James had to repeat a cook of an undercooked chicken breast. On the other side, Krissi's citrus-marinated grilled shrimp, collard greens, and fried green tomato, Luca's spiced pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts with bacon, and Jessie's Cajun alligator, Andouille Mac n' Cheese, and garlic green beans were appreciated by guests and judges. In the end, Paula Deen declared Luca and Jessie as the winners of the challenge. Pressure Test In this Pressure test, the dish to cook was not assigned by the judges. Instead, the winners of the off-site challenge, Luca and Jessie, had the advantage of giving to each cook an item to replicate among an appetizer, an entreé and a dessert. In the pantry, they assigned Gordon's Seared Scallop Salad to Natasha, Joe's Filet Rossini to Krissi, and Graham's Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta to James. They had 45 minutes to find out the ingredients and replicate them. During the cooking, James made a severe mistake by pouring the panna cotta in the fridge instead of the blast chiller. Natasha's appetizer lacked a bit of sauce and truffle but it was appreciated by the judges, and Krissi's filet received good feedback, even though it was a little overcooked. James's dessert was praised for its flavor but received strong criticism for the consistency of the panna cotta. Because of this mistake, his dish was deemed the worst and his MasterChef journey came to an end. Before James left, Gordon asked him who is gonna be MasterChef, to which he replied it would be Luca. Original airdate: Wednesday, September 4, 2013. Team Mystery Box challenge: In this particular merge of challenges, the four remaining competitors were divided into two teams and had two huge boxes with 50 ingredients (each ingredient representing one state of US) to make a classic menu with appetizer, entreé and dessert. Luca, having won more mystery box challenges than others, had the advantage of choosing his partner and the box. He opted for Natasha despite their rivalry, forming the Blue team, while Jessie and Krissi were the Red team, much to Jessie's dismay. During the cook, the Blue team struggled while making the dessert, and in the Red team emerged tension between partners. In the end, both teams composed very similar menus: appetizer with seafood, entreé with lamb, and a deconstructed tart as dessert. Luca and Natasha were declared the winners and landed in the semifinals, sending Jessie and Krissi to the season's final pressure test. Pressure Test: Chocolate was the theme of the dreaded pressure test. Jessie and Krissi had 75 minutes to create three desserts featuring chocolate: a mousse for Graham, a molten lava cake for Joe, and a soufflé (another MasterChef classic, featured the fourth time overall) for Gordon. Both competitors nailed the soufflè (won by Jessie) and mousse (won by Krissi) leading to an initial tie, but had a great struggle with the cake, as neither of them satisfied Joe due to both of them being undercooked. In the end, he picked Jessie to join Natasha and Luca in the final three since her cake had a hard top, resulting in a teary-eyed Krissi being sent home, much to the other contestants' relief. However before she left, Joe invited her to one of his restaurants in New York to have dinner with him and his mom, Lidia Bastianich, who is her culinary idol; and when she was asked who will become the next MasterChef, she said that Luca is going to win it for the Italians. Original airdate: Wednesday, September 4, 2013 Mystery Box challenge: For the season's final Mystery Box challenge, the three remaining competitors were each given a box with all the ingredients necessary to recreate - and improve - the dishes they served in their initial auditions. Natasha faced an uphill struggle, as the empanadas with skirt steak that she originally served the judges were already agreed to be near-perfect, so she kept her dish largely the same as her initial version and focused mainly on improving the plating and serving a more refined selection of sides, which the judges all enjoyed. Jessie, who had faced fierce criticism over the presentation of her seabass encroute during her initial audition, wowed the judges with a hugely improved version which used a much thinner layer of pastry and had better overall seasoning. Luca's ravioli had more flavor and a better presentation, but once again he had issues with his cheese sauce. In the end, Jessie's dish was deemed as the best, Natasha came in second, and Luca finished last. Elimination Test: All three contestants were called into the MasterChef pantry, and three ingredients "best of the best" were shown to them by the judges; Joe's ingredient was Grana Padano cheese, Graham's ingredient was Kobe beef, and Gordon's ingredient was Alaskan king crab. As the Mystery Box winner, Jessie chose the Kobe beef, but to the shock of the judges admitted she had never worked with it before and knew nothing about it. Wanting to eliminate Luca, Jessie hinted to Natasha to take the Grana Padano, thus leaving Luca with the king crab (crab being an ingredient that Luca had trouble using due to him being in the bottom three in the crab elimination test earlier in the season). Luca on the other hand tried to psyche Natasha out by saying that Grana Padano was a difficult ingredient to work with, even for Italians. Realizing Jessie's plan, Natasha selected the king crab, feeling it was the ingredient she would most impress the judges with. This left Luca with the Grana Padano, much to his delight. During the cooking stage, as Jessie forgot butter in the pantry, she asked Natasha for one tablespoon, but Natasha declined despite having three sticks she was not touching. Luca then threw a stick of butter to Jessie, much to the judges' surprise. Luca managed to prepare a delicious meal of pancetta-wrapped veal filled with sage, Grana Padano, served on braised radicchio with frico, and all three judges enjoyed the dish, but felt it was very rich and the presentation didn't do the dish justice. Natasha served a cold king crab yakisoba salad which all three judges raved over in spite of its simplicity. Jessie got positive comments for her seared Kobe beef with ponzu butter and noodles. However, after an off-handed question by Gordon, Jessie revealed that she had made a green papaya salad to serve with the beef and noodles, but decided not to at the last minute. When the judges tried it, however, they all agreed that it was the best thing she made, and would have perfectly balanced the overall flavor of the dish. The judges agreed without any hesitation that Natasha's dish was the best of the three, making her the first finalist. In their ultimate decision, the judges agreed that Jessie's dish was better than Luca's. However, they felt that she had made too many mistakes in the challenge (not thinking through her initial choice of ingredients, forgetting her butter, and not plating her salad), resulting in her elimination despite her advantage and Luca joining Natasha in the final since all the components for his dish made it onto the plate. For the second time in the show's history (the first being at the elimination of season 2 contestant Tracy Kontos) all three judges gave her an offer to work at any of their restaurants. Original airdate: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 Season Final: The finalists, Luca and Natasha, competed for their own cookbook, a quarter of a million dollars, the MasterChef trophy and the title of MasterChef. Before the life-changing cook-off began, the judges announced that all their past competitors, their families, and even Luca's dad and sister all the way from Italy were on the balcony supporting them. They were charged with creating a perfect, cohesive three-course dinner, and were given only ten minutes to collect all necessary ingredients from the pantry. While in other editions the cooks were given two hours to prepare the entire menu, in this one the competitors cook their dishes in separate time, one hour for each of them. Appetizer: Natasha prepared pan-seared scallops, seaweed salad, couscous, and a cauliflower puree, while Luca decided on pan-seared duck liver with caramelized peaches, Asian pear chutney, and a toasted French brioche. Natasha was praised for her creativity, beautifully cooked scallops, and fluffy, light couscous. Gordon praised Luca's appetizer for its fragrance, but told Luca he needed a couple minutes' more cooking to be perfectly complete. Graham cautioned Luca to be careful with how rich he makes his dishes, while Joe called the appetizer an ideal balance of sweet and savory flavors. Entree: Natasha cooked a five-spice monkfish with rendered caul fat, infused jasmine rice, and coconut curry sauce. Luca opted for tamarind and balsamic-braised beef short ribs with a Sunchoke and truffle puree and sauteed chanterelle mushrooms. Graham expressed his pleasure at Natasha's entree's elegant composure, but criticized the spiciness. Joe enjoyed the dish overall, and Gordon commended Natasha's elevation of the monkfish. The judges praised the flawless cook on Luca's short ribs; Gordon expressed his satisfaction despite, or even because of, the heaviness of Luca's entrée, but re-iterated it would be an exceptional "last supper". Dessert: Both chose to serve panna cotta. While Natasha intended to create two different kinds of it, with lime and coconut, the former did not set well so she disposed of it. Natasha ultimately served up a coconut yogurt panna cotta with passion fruit coulis, accompanied by edible flowers. Although Luca forgot to strain his first attempt at the panna cotta, he managed to pull back. He presented the judges with a very unusual dessert: basil panna cotta with sweet tomato jam, mascarpone, honey cream, and granulated basil. The judges had high praise for the balance Natasha executed, though Gordon wished for more on the plate and Joe lightly criticized the dish's simplicity. Joe criticized the structure of Luca's panna cotta; in his opinion, Luca ought to have used layers to ensure a combination of all flavors in each mouthful. Gordon, however, complimented Luca on his success in pulling off a theoretically implausible dessert. Judges' Deliberations: Ramsay felt the dishes were so closely matched that he proposed a draw, which Joe and Graham nixed due to the rules of the competition. The judges took the courses' compatibility with one another into account; Graham stated that one of the cooks' performances was a cut above the other's. Winner Revealed: The judges declared Luca Manfe the winner of season 4. In winning, he became the first male winner in the revival of the American MasterChef franchise (in effect the second season of the same-titled franchise of the PBS version was the first), as well as the first previous-season returnee to win the title, making Natasha the first female runner-up of the competition (and despite not winning, Natasha has the best competitive record in Masterchef history so far with 13 cumulative wins). As always, the season ended with a casting call for the next one by Gordon Ramsay.
MasterChef (U.S. season 4)
Jan 18, 2015.. “I'm gonna get into the kitchen and kick his ass,” said blue-haired Natasha Crnjac of her MasterChef season 4 finale rival Luca Manfe, ..
Luca Manfé is an Italian Chef who lives in NYC. He is the winner of MasterChef Season 4 on Fox. Reserve a special dinner with Luca.
May 31, 2014.. Catching up with the contestants of MasterChef US Season 4. Catching up with the MasterChef Season 4 hopefuls one year later… With the ..
“I’m gonna get into the kitchen and kick his ass,” said blue-haired Natasha Crnjac of her MasterChef season 4 finale rival Luca Manfe, a blue-eyed prince from Queens. “I wuhhhhhk. So hahhhd!” yelled Luca re: his journey from the rugged fields of his native Italy to the sparkling counters of the STUNNING! MasterChef kitchen. The two sweated out their final three-course meals for the salivating judges. And the season 4 winner…. is…. coming up! After the break. “Boom! On da mahhh-hnee!” the restaurant manager, 31, had boldly predicted in a preview of the stunning! beef short ribs on which he’d gambled during the entree round. CUE CONFETTI!!!! I’d predicted Natasha as the winner early in the season, but in the last few weeks Luca did indeed emerge as the bolder risk-taker who basically wants to give everyone a heart attack moments after they’ve completed the richest meal of their lives. What a way to go, though, right? Luca – whose teary-eyed father and sister had flown in from Italy for the occasion – was really a dream winner for MasterChef, gleefully splayed on his knees beggin’ for more as Gordon Ramsay showered everyone with champagne he’d positioned at his crotch. (And this after Gordon had complained he wouldn’t want to have sex with his wife after digesting one of Luca’s rich meals.) I don’t’ mean to be gross! I am just saying what happened. I loved the raucous cheers from the families, friends, and peppily bitter MasterChef rivals as Natasha and Luca battled it out in the circular “Thunderdome.” The risks both chefs took made it a great finale – Natasha’s cauliflower/seaweed combo (“I think she’s out of her mind,” said Joe) and decision to cook “the poor man’s lobster,” monkfish, wrapped in a cow’s stomach lining (?!?!?!?) did seem nasty, but apparently paid off – the judges loved all six plates they sampled in the fin-ah-lee. But seriously? The monkfish was “Arguably the prettiest dish I’ve seen on MasterChef”? Is Graham Elliot nuts? (I mean granted, that’s just a gross photo I took of my TV with my phone, but come on. Not so hot.) Meanwhile, Luca’s dessert looked like something out of a dystopian old-school Nintendo game. A basil panna cotta with tomato jam? What? DID NOT CARE. I WAS DYING TO EAT IT. Gordon: “Theoretically. It shouldn’t work and YET! It does. It’s. Wacky!” Honestly, that’s the best summation of MasterChef I’ve ever read. Gordon Ramsay has done it again! Your thoughts on the finale? Are you desperate for some green dessert soup now? And is anyone planning on watching MasterChef Juniors? I want to, but suspect I won’t get to it until Sunday afternoons. Why does it have to be on Fridays?! Have a stunning! rest of your night, everyone! Discuss!