List of MasterChef Canada episodes

The following is a list of episodes of the Canadian cooking show MasterChef Canada. The series premiered on January 20, 2014, on the CTV network.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired (Canadian dates)
			Season premiere	Season finale
	1	15	January 20, 2014	April 28, 2014
	2	15	February 1, 2015	May 24, 2015
	3	~15	February 14, 2016	TBD

Season 1 (2014)

The episodes started airing on CTV on January 20, 2014.

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Production code
1	1	"White Is the New Black"	January 20, 2014	101
The 50 cooks selected from among thousands of applicants from across Canada prepare their signature dishes for presentation to the judges (Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung and Claudio Aprile). 26 contestants are presented with MasterChef aprons and advance to the next round.[1]
2	2	"Chicken Little"	January 27, 2014	102
The judging continues. The 26 cooks with MasterChef aprons move on to the next round. The cooks must prepare a dish using any part of a chicken with only one pan and burner. The cooks were also supplied with a limited pantry of produce. Then the chefs taste the dishes to see who goes home and who goes in. Out of 26 hopefuls, only 16 contestants keep their aprons, and therefore make it in to the Masterchef Kitchen. The Top 16 are: Dale, Carly, Danny, Brooke, Eric, Danielle, Dora, Josh, Julie, Kaila, Marida, Meghan, Mike, Pino, Tammara, and Ben.[2]
3	3	"First Kick at the Box"	February 2, 2014	103
Mystery Box 1: this first challenge features peanut butter, pork loin, peppers, scallion, ginger, strawberries, among other ingredients. The top 3 dishes are made by Eric, who made a chocolate fruit tart, Carly, who made a peanut soup, and Marida, who made a pork and noodle stir-fry. Marida won the first mystery box. Elimination Challenge 1: Marida is granted immunity and has a choice of ingredients from Canadian land, air, or sea for the other cooks in the challenge to use: venison, duck, and smelt. She chooses the smelt. The judges also allow her to choose one other to be safe from elimination and she chooses Brooke. The two best dishes are Dale's seared smelts in gougères, which was noted for its delicacy, and Pino's deep-fried smelts with vegetable soup, with its brilliant presentation and ambition. Some other good dishes include Eric's braised and deep-fried smelts in smelt broth, and Tammara's Vietnamese smelt spring rolls (although the judges warned her that she is cooking asian cuisine too frequently). The four worst dishes are Meghan's "unpleasantly fishy" quiche, Kaila's over-spiced Thai red curry, Danny's croquettes, and Ben fish cakes. Danny and Ben both pureéd the smelts in their dishes, which the judges consider a major mistake when working with such a delicate fish and sending Alvin Leung into a rage at one point. In the end, Ben is eliminated, but Meghan follows soon after in a surprise double elimination.
4	4	"The Puck Drops Here"	February 10, 2014	104
Team Challenge 1: the competitors have to cook for the Toronto Maple Leafs. For doing well at the last Elimination Challenge, Pino and Dale are the team captains. Pino, with the best dish in the last challenge, was the Blue Team Captain, and Dale, who was the runner-up, was the White Team. The teams had to make one pasta dish and one fish dish for the challenge. Pino chose Marida, Julie, Carly, Tammara, Dora, and Danielle. Dale chose Eric, Brooke, Mike, Josh, and Kaila. Danny could not cook because he was sick with the flu, but he had to compete in the pressure test. The Blue Team decided to make a halibut dish with sweet potatoes and green beans, and for their pasta dish they cooked a Pasta e fagioli. The White team had more time deciding on their menu, when Dale, to the contempt of his teammates, chose trout over pickerel (Dale believed that the pickerel would have too many bones, when in actuality the fish was already filleted), with carrots and asparagus. For their pasta dish, they cooked a penne with a herb puree. After making a very salty herb puree (causing Dale to yell at her), Kaila cut herself in the challenge, which caused some dysfunction in the kitchen. When it was time to plate Kaila didn't know what to do, which Dale blamed on her for not being when he assigned plating roles. After the 52 Leafs, alumni and family members voted, the Blue team won with 26 to 11, on the White Team. Pressure Test 1: the cooks had to cook a Raviolo all'uovo, which is a ravioli with a liquid egg yolk inside and a fried sage leaf at the top. First, Dale decided to save himself and Danny, disappointing a few of the cooks, including Mike and Eric. Though initially confident, Eric had trouble separating his egg, and almost lost his last egg yolk. Most cooks had a bit of trouble, with Brooke and Mike having too thick pasta. In the end, Kaila's pasta was considered the best of the five, and she, Eric and Josh were saved. Finally, Mike was saved, and Brooke was eliminated from the competition.
5	5	"Where's the Beef"	February 17, 2014	105
Mystery Box 2: the cooks had to create burgers (and name them) with the help of a meat grinder, using many different meats, from wild boar to kangaroo to lamb. Near the end of the challenge, Eric severely cut his hand and was forced to sit out, disqualifying him from the Mystery Box challenge. The judges decided to choose four good dishes instead of the ordinary three. The best dishes were Dale's Hopping Sour Pork Pouch, Kaila's Oinking Duck Burger, Josh's "Umami Bomb" Burger, and Mike's Black Sheep Burger. After some deliberation, Kaila won the challenge, much to the disappointment of Eric. Elimination Challenge 2: Kaila was able to choose a Canadian ingredient, apples, maple syrup, or bacon, which was each paired with a bottle of Alexander Keith's Hop Ale. Kaila chose the apples, in an attempt to eliminate Josh, and then received immunity. She was also allowed to force two home cooks to create desserts, and due to Eric rudely commenting on her victory, she chose him and Josh. Most home cooks decided to cook their apples with pork, which was considered a safe route. Some of the dishes that shined were Josh's profiteroles, Dora's pork chops with crab apple jelly, and Danielle's pork chops. Dora's dish was declared the best, followed by Danielle, making them team captains in the next challenge. However, several cooks had trouble including Carly, who left the pressure get to her and ended up with a disappointing salad and pork chop, Eric, who had an undercooked pie, Julie, whose dish was deemed "dull" and up creative, Pino, whose dish was borderline on prison food, and Danny, whose dish was not very creative, nor was it appealing in taste or presentation. At the end, the bottom three were Pino, Eric and Danny. Danny's dish was deemed the worst and he was eliminated from the competition.
6	6	"Edible Art"	February 21, 2014	106
Team Challenge 2: the cooks went to Toronto's distillery district for their next team challenge, in order to serve many famous artists. The judges were allowed to decide the winning team. Dora chose Carly, Mike, Marida, Julie, and Tammara, while Danielle chose Dale, Josh, Eric, Kaila, and Pino. The cooks had to prepare three canapés (one cold, one hot, and one sweet) for an art gallery. The blue team efficiently decided on tuna tartare for their cold canapé, scallops in a prosciutto cup, and a chocolate raspberry petite fours. The red team chooses creme fraîche and caviar on endive, inside out samosas, and an orange petite fours. Though having several good cooks, the blue team had to swap their prosciutto cup for a purple potato chip, and the tuna tartare was, in comparison to the endive, less appealing. However, the red team also has problems, when the samosa filling is too strong at first and the team has trouble presenting on time. But at the end the red team comes out on top, and the blue team must face a pressure test. Pressure Test 2: the Red team was given the power to choose two contestants to give immunity from the Pressure Test. They chose Pino and Eric, whom they deem the weakest contestants on the team. For the Pressure Test, the four home cooks are assigned to prepare a cheesecake, with the best cheesecake being placed in a magazine. Danielle's limoncello cheesecake is deemed the best of the four. Kaila's chocolate and pecan cheesecake was deemed a misinterpretation of what the cheesecake was meant to be, but is good enough to get her second place. The bottom two are Dale, whose cheesecake sank a bit and had a cliché topping, and Josh's passion fruit cheesecake, which stuck to the bottom of the cooking tray and had a large part of the crust torn off. In the end, Josh's cheesecake is deemed worse than Dale's, and he leaves the competition.
7	7	"Brains Before Beauty"	March 3, 2014	107
Mystery Box 3: the 11 finalists faced an emotional Mystery Box challenge that takes them back to their roots, with full access to the MasterChef pantry. The top three were Pino's veal cutlet and gnocchi, Marida's shrimp curry, and Eric's Char siu Tong Mein. Eric won the Mystery Box challenge, granting him immunity and a spot in the top 10 of MasterChef Canada. Elimination Challenge 3: the judges presented Eric with ten different cuts of beef from an Alberta cow, ranging from premium steaks to offal. For his advantage, Eric got to decide which home cook would cook which cut of meat. The top two dishes were Pino's Jamaican oxtail stew and Kaila's fried cow brains. Some of the other chefs got mixed results for their dishes: Marida's kidney masala was good but too much like her other dishes; Julie's flank steak is under-seasoned and only partially cut, although it is cooked properly and has good sides; Danielle was intimidated by her beef tongue and struggled to create an integrated dish, although the tongue was done well. The bottom three are Mike, who cut his liver after cooking it, which caused it to oxidize, and serving a watery cauliflower purée, Dora, whose beef cheek stew was ugly and underseasoned, and Dale, who talked back to the judges and severely undercooked his tomahawk steak. Mike's dish was deemed the best of the worst and he gained immunity. In the end, Dora's dish was deemed the worst, and she was left out of the top 10.
8	8	"Major Steaks"	March 10, 2014	108
Team Challenge 3: the remaining home cooks head to CFB Trenton for the team challenge of cooking a rib-eye steak with two sides for 151 members of the Canadian Forces. Since Kaila won the last elimination challenge, she becomes captain of the red team. She selects Danielle, Dale, Julie, and Marida. Pino, as the winner of the second-best dish, becomes captain of the blue team and he selects Eric, Mike, Tammara, and Carly. The red team makes Brussels sprouts and bacon hash, roasted potatoes, and steak with a whiskey BBQ sauce, while the blue team creates Brussels sprouts with bacon and balsamic reduction, couscous with grilled vegetables and steak with a BBQ sauce. During prep, both teams struggle with their sauce. While preparing the sprouts, the Blue Team accidentally shock half of theirs in a vat of soapy water, and are forced to mix in beans to compensate. During the service, the red team makes the fatal error of not having enough of their sides, and thus, the blue team wins with an overwhelming 107/151 votes. Pressure Test 3: The losing Red Team is given the task of selecting one of their own to save, which becomes Marida. In the pressure test, the home cooks are challenged to make salmon wellington. Danielle cuts herself and leaves for 10 minutes to get stitched up by the medic, while Dale and Kaila struggle in getting their wellingtons into the oven. In the end, Danielle creates the best Salmon Wellington, winning the Pressure Test for the second time in a row. Although Julie's is too big, it is mostly well-executed and earns her immunity. Kaila and Dale are left in the bottom two: Kaila for her sloppy presentation and raw pastry, and Dale for undercooking the pastry and putting Swiss chard stems in his Wellington mixture. In the end, Dale's mistake deems his dish as the worst, and sends him home.
9	9	"Great Canadian Bake-Off"	March 17, 2014	109
Mystery Box 4: The top 9 finalists were given a Mystery Box that contained ingredients that the judges enjoyed working with, which included: pork belly, monkfish, squab, cippolini onions, quinoa, mostarda, chanterelles, shiso, miso paste, durian, taro root, and kimchi. There were four top dishes rather than three: Tammara's squab broth with noodles, Danielle's basted monkfish with sea urchin velouté and taro crisps, Marida's monkfish and pork belly with kimchi slaw, and Kaila's whole roasted squab. Danielle's dish was deemed the best, making her the winner of the Mystery Box challenge. Elimination Test 4: For winning the Mystery Box, Danielle was given immunity. Then presented with three classic regional Canadian desserts, one of which she would choose for the other eight home cooks as base to recreate a new one: butter tarts from Ontario, blueberry grunt from the Maritimes, and Nanaimo bars from the Pacific Northwest. Hoping to eliminate either Kaila or Marida, Danielle selected the Nanaimo bars. The top dish was Tammara's fried Nanaimo pierogi, followed by Eric's chocolate mousse Nanaimo tart, making them team captains in the next challenge. Another strong dish was Mike's blueberry Nanaimo bar. The majority of the home cooks struggled: Julie's raspberry and chocolate Nanaimo bar tasted good but was not a reinvented dessert; Kaila made coconut, chocolate, and vanilla panna cotta, with only the coconut panna cotta setting properly; Pino, whose plate looked sloppy and tasted disappointing; Marida, who made Nanaimo truffles which ended up very dry, and Carly, who attempted making Nanaimo bar cups that severely suffered in execution. The bottom three where Pino, Marida, and Carly. In the end, Carly's dessert was deemed the worst and she left the MasterChef Canada kitchen.
10	10	"Meals on Wheels"	March 24, 2014	110
Team Challenge 4: at the Nathan Phillip Square in Toronto, the eight home cooks are asked to run a food truck, either Mexicana or Italiano. Tammara, which had the top dish in the previous challenge, chose the first one, leaving the other to Eric. In picking team, at first Tammara, Marida, Mike and Julie were the Blue Team while Eric, Pino, Danielle, and Kaila formed the Red Team. But the judges gave Tammara the advantage of trading a member. She exchanged Julie with Pino. They had two hours to cook and serve a dish with the assigned style. The Red Team served an Italian Meatballs Submarine sandwich, and the Blue Team opted for a Steak Taco with Pico de Gallo. Both team had some struggle in this challenge, the Blue had some problems in serving, but quickly recovered, while the Red had to cook again some meatballs which resulted raw. In the end of the challenge, the Blue Team won by a narrow margin of only 15 dollars. Pressure Test 4: Kaila, Julie, Eric and Danielle all had to take part in this Pressure Test. The competitors had 80 minutes to recreate an incredibly difficult dessert: a Baked Alaska. This test prove to be very troublesome for all competitors, especially Danielle and Kaila. Eric's baked Alaska was very good, and he was safe. Danielle, Julie and Kaila all had flaws: Danielle's had a very weak sponge, leading her to ice cream to melt; Julie's sponge had bits of raw flour in it; while Kaila, despite being praised for a three-layers presentation, had a mushy and brownie-like sponge that was unpleasant. Julie's Baked Alaska was deemed the second best, although she was warned to start paying attention to the judges' comments. In the end, Danielle was the home cook whose journey ended in MasterChef Canada.
11	11	"Claws Out"	March 31, 2014	111
Mystery Box 5: The contestants had to cook from two mystery boxes. The first was empty, meaning they could use any ingredient plus the ingredient from the second mystery box, lobster. They were allowed to cook the lobster any way with three contestants cooking a risotto. They were given 45 minutes, giving many contestants many struggles. In the end, Mike had the stand out dish. He was given a free pass into the next round and chose the teams for the elimination test. Elimination Test 5 The contestants had to recreate a Chinese Dim sum platter identical to a modeled five dish platter consisting of Har gow (shrimp dumpings), Cha siu bao (steamed pork buns), fried spring rolls, Shumai, and Jiaozi (pan-fried pot stickers).[3] The teams Mike chose were Tamara-Pino, Julie-Marida, and Kaila-Eric. This was a tag team challenge: one chef at a time could cook while one gave orders with each member switching in a while. Tammara and Pino had the best recreation and won the challenge. While Kaila and Eric had great presentation, their flavors were very bland, but they were safe because Julie and Marida failing to finish the shrimp dumpling. In the end Julie was eliminated.
12	12	"Line of Fire"	April 7, 2014	112
Team Challenge 5: Previous elimination challenge winners Tamara and Pino are team captains of two teams in a "Restaurant Takeover" of judge Claudio Aprile's Origin North. In a surprise twist, the team captains are not allowed to choose their teams, rather, restaurant owner Aprile chooses them. The "Red Team" consists of Tamara, Kaila, and Mike, while the "Blue Team" consists of Pino, Marida, and Eric. The Red Team suffers an embarrassing "walk out" by a table during service, while the Blue Team gets so far behind that Aprile has to abandon the pass and work the line with them in order to recover. In the end, the judges determine the Blue Team to have the worst performance and subject them to the pressure test. Pressure Test 5: The Blue Team, consisting of Pino, Marida, and Eric are required to create a box of one dozen donuts, with at least three different types. Marida creates a beautiful box of donuts, even though it is not part of her background in Trinidad and Tobago cuisine, leading to a snide comment by judge Alvin Leung that her "boyfriend must be a policeman". As usual, Eric over-complicates the assignment and attempts to put eight different types in the box, with varying degrees of success. Pino mixes up his dry measures and some of his donuts are overly dense. Compounding this error is his decision to intentionally make his donuts in non-uniform sizes, which the judges find bizarre. Pino is judged to have made the worst box of donuts and is sent home.
13	13	"Family Style"	April 14, 2014	113
Team Challenge 6: The five remaining contestants are reunited with their families, and then asked to create a family style meal, consisting of an entrée and two sides, for a combined table of family members and judges. The remaining five contestants are split into two teams. As the winner of the previous pressure test, Marida is allowed to select one or two members for her team. In a somewhat surprising move, Marida selects only Tamara to create a team of two, declining the opportunity to select a third member, leaving Eric, Kaila, and Mike as members of the opposing team. Marida and Tamara are judged to have done the best with the challenge, despite being short-handed, and are safe from elimination. Pressure Test 6: Eric, Kaila, and Mike face off in the pressure test. The judges ask the three to make the perfect Steak frites, requiring a perfectly cooked medium rare New York strip steak, crispy fries, and Béarnaise sauce. All of the resulting dishes have problems with different components of the dish. Kaila delivers "pasty" fries, Eric's Béarnaise has the consistency of mayonnaise, and Mike delivers a blue steak. In the end, the judges decide that a problem with the "jewel of the crown" (the steak) is the biggest mistake and Mike is sent home.
14	14	"Not Your Average Joe"	April 21, 2014	114
Mystery Box 6: Special guest Joe Bastianich assembles the box with his favorite Italian ingredients, adding a white wine from his Friuli vineyard. The judges reveal that this is a "high-stakes" mystery box challenge where the person with the worst dish will be sent home immediately, in addition to the winner receiving an advantage in the subsequent elimination challenge. As a guest judge, Bastianich discusses all of the dishes and names the winner, Kaila, while the regular judges determine the worst dish. Tamara's dish of veal loin medallions and spätzle with tomato salad, despite being well realized, is deemed to be "two different ideas on a plate" and she is sent home. Elimination Test 6: In the final elimination challenge of the season, the remaining contestants choose from scallops, razor clams, or Dungeness crab. As the winner of the previous mystery box challenge, Kaila chooses first and selects the scallops. With the second-best dish, Marida chooses next and selects the razor clams, and Eric is visibly overjoyed to receive the crab. Kaila makes a seared scallop dish, but her scallops are slightly overcooked. Marida makes a salsa dish with the razor clams which is well received. Eric makes a mild Thai green curry with the crab that really impresses the judges. In the end, Kaila is eliminated, setting up a final between Marida and Eric.
15	15	"And Then There Were 2"	April 28, 2014	115
Eric and Marida compete for the title. They are instructed to create a three-course meal, and the best meal will win the $100,000 and the title of MasterChef Canada. They are given one hour to make each course. For her appetizer, Marida creates a pumpkin callaloo soup with coconut lime crème fraîche, crispy pig tail, and lime pepper sauce, while Eric creates a crispy pork belly with vegetable dumplings and wasabi mayonnaise. Both appetizers receive rave reviews, although Eric's it is a bit large for an appetizer and Claudio's pork belly is dry. In the entrée round, Eric makes lobster with egg noodles, and Marida composes taro-leaf steamed black cod with pidgeon pea purée, mango chutney, and cucumber. Eric's dish redeems his previous performance with lobster in the competition, and receives almost perfect reviews. Marida's dish is praised for its variety in the flavor components, with judge Aprile calling it a "destination dish", but is criticized for being too small for an entrée. In the dessert course, Marida makes an apple crumble with coconut ice cream and rum sauce, while Eric makes an Asian take on a banana split, composed of tempura-fried bananas with red bean and green tea ice cream. Eric is declared first on MasterChef Canada. In the end, Michael Bonacini calls for second season casting.

Season 2 (2015)

Season 2 premiered on CTV on February 1, 2015, following its telecast of Super Bowl XLIX. The premiere was originally meant to air on February 8, 2015, but was pushed ahead to air after the game in place of Spun Out, whose second-season premiere was pulled from the slot after cast member J. P. Manoux was charged with voyeurism.^[4]

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Production code
16	1	"Fit to Be Tied"	February 1, 2015	201
17	2	"Patriotic Pantry"	February 8, 2015	202
18	3	"Constant Cravings"	February 15, 2015	203
19	4	"Juggling Act"	March 1, 2015	204
20	5	"Slice of Life"	March 8, 2015	205
21	6	"One Potato, Two Potato"	March 22, 2015	206
22	7	"No Piece of Cake"	March 29, 2015	207
23	8	"Wedding on the Waves"	April 5, 2015	208
24	9	"Good Things in Small Packages"	April 12, 2015	209
25	10	"Walking on Eggshells"	April 19, 2015	210
26	11	"Tea for Two"	April 26, 2015	211
27	12	"Fine Dining Under Fire"	May 3, 2015	212
28	13	"From Home, With Love"	May 10, 2015	213
29	14	"The Trip to Bountiful"	May 17, 2015	214
30	15	"Ring of Fire"	May 24, 2015	215

Season 3 (2016)

Season 3 premiered on CTV on February 14, 2016.

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Production code
31	1	"Yes, No, Maybe So"	February 14, 2016	301
32	2	"A Cut Above"	February 21, 2016	302
33	3	"At Home And Abroad"	March 6, 2016	303
34	4	"Trial By Fire"	March 13, 2016	304
35	5	"Off The Hook"	March 20, 2016	305

References

1. "CTV - Masterchef Canada - Details". Bell Media. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
2. "Watch Masterchef Canada Online on CTV | Watch Full Episodes". ctv.ca. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
3. "Entertainment Entertainment RSS Feed MasterChef Canada recap: the evil genius edition". Calgary Herald. 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
4. "‘MasterChef Canada’ replaces ‘Spun Out’ after scandal". Toronto Sun (Postmedia Network). Retrieved 28 January 2016.