MasterChef Canada (season 2)
MasterChef Canada (season 2) | |
---|---|
Country of origin | Canada |
No. of episodes | 15 |
Release | |
Original network | CTV |
Original release | February 1 – May 24, 2015 |
Season 2 of the Canadian competitive reality television series MasterChef Canada premiered on CTV on February 1, 2015. David Jorge is announced as the winner of Masterchef Canada on the Season Finale, and holds the record for having the most appearances in the top 3/4 in a Mystery Box challenge (Five times, winning twice).
Top 16
Contestant | Age | Hometown | Occupation | Status | Winnings |
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David Jorge | 38 | Surrey, British Columbia | Concrete Contractor | Winner, May 24 | 8 |
Linda "Line" Pelletier | 45 | Moncton, New Brunswick | Computer Specialist | Runner-Up, May 24 | 4 |
Sabrina Poirier | 26 | Montréal, Quebec | Office Manager | Eliminated May 17 | 3 |
Cody Karey | 23 | Vancouver, British Columbia | Recording Artist | Eliminated May 17 Returned April 19 Eliminated April 5 |
4 |
Christopher Siu | 24 | Markham, Ontario | Pharmacy Student | Eliminated May 10 | 5 |
Michael Motamedi | 28 | Toronto, Ontario | Fashion Entrepreneur | Eliminated May 3 | 3 |
Jennifer Innis | 33 | Vernon, British Columbia | Dental Hygienist | Eliminated April 26 | 3 |
Jonathan "Jon" Hameister-Ries | 29 | Vancouver, British Columbia | Former Pro Football Player | Eliminated April 19 | 2 |
Tamara "Tammy" Wood | 41 | Agassiz, British Columbia | Retail Clerk | Eliminated April 12 | 2 |
Andrew Al-Khouri | 33 | Halifax, Nova Scotia | Tax Officer | Eliminated April 5 | 3 |
Kristen Dwyer | 30 | Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador | Early Childhood Educator | Eliminated March 29 | 2 |
Kwasi Douglas | 35 | Whitby, Ontario | Community Facilitator | Eliminated March 22 | 1 |
Kevin Gregory | 44 | Fredericton, New Brunswick | Applications Engineer | Eliminated March 8 | 1 |
Deborah "Debra" Pangestu | 33 | Richmond, British Columbia | Public Relations Officer | Eliminated March 1 | 0 |
Kyle McKenna | 30 | Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador | Bartender | Eliminated February 15 | 0 |
Deborah "Debbie" MacDonald | 54 | Port Hood, Nova Scotia | Special Needs Teacher | Eliminated February 15 | 0 |
Elimination table
Place | Contestant | Episode | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | David | IN | IMM | WIN | HIGH | WIN | LOW | WIN | IMM | PT | WIN | IMM | IMM | IMM | HIGH | LOW | WIN | HIGH | WIN | WIN | IMM | WINNER | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | Line | HIGH | WIN | NPT | IN | IN | WIN | IN | IN | PT | IN | IN | IMM | IN | HIGH | WIN | PT | WIN | IMM | IN | PT | RUNNER-UP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Sabrina | IN | IN | PT | IN | WIN | PT | IN | IN | WIN | HIGH | IN | IMM | IN | WIN | IMM | LOW | IN | HIGH | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | Cody | IN | IN | WIN | WIN | LOW | PT | IN | IN | ELIM | RET | LOW | IN | WIN | WIN | HIGH | LOW | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Christopher | IN | IN | PT | IN | IN | PT | WIN | IMM | WIN | IN | WIN | IMM | WIN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | Michael | IN | IN | PT | IN | LOW | NPT | HIGH | WIN | WIN | IN | WIN | IMM | LOW | IN | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Jennifer | IN | IMM | NPT | HIGH | IN | WIN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOW | IMM | WIN | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | Jon | WIN | IMM | WIN | IN | IN | NPT | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | IN | IMM | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Tammy | IN | IN | LOW | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOW | WIN | HIGH | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | Andrew | IN | WIN | WIN | IN | IN | PT | HIGH | WIN | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 | Kristen | IN | IN | WIN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
12 | Kwasi | IN | LOW | WIN | IN | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13 | Kevin | HIGH | IN | WIN | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | Debra | IN | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | Kyle | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | Debbie | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This cook won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This cook finished in second place.
- (WIN) The cook won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Elimination Test).
- (WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and was directly advanced to the next round.
- (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge, but did not win, or received considerable praise during an Elimination Challenge.
- (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in an individual challenge.
- (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in a team challenge.
- (IMM) The cook did not have to compete in that round of the competition and was safe from elimination.
- (IMM) The cook was selected by Mystery Box Challenge winner and did not have to compete in the Elimination Test.
- (PT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, competed in the Pressure Test, and advanced.
- (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, but was exempted from the Pressure Test
- (RET) The cook was eliminated but come back to compete to return to the competition.
- (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.
- (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance.
- (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in the Team Challenge, and they were the only person from their team to advance.
- (WDR) The cook withdrew from the competition due to illness or personal reasons.
- (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from MasterChef.
Reinstation Challenge
In episode 10, Andrew, Cody, and Kevin were invited back to attempt to cook their way back into the competition. Cody won, narrowly defeating Andrew.
Place | Contestant | ||||
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1 | Cody | WINNER/RET | |||
2 | Andrew | ELIM | |||
3 | Kevin | ELIM |
- (WINNER/RET) This cook won the Reinstation Challenge and was brought back into the main competition.
- (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in an individual challenge.
- (ELIM) The cook was eliminated and lost their chance to get back in the competition.
Episodes
Season 2 of MasterChef Canada started airing on January 30, 2015.
No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | Production code |
---|---|---|---|---|
16 | 1 | "Fit to Be Tied" | February 1, 2015 | 201 |
The top 50 home cooks in Canada must impress Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung and Claudio Aprile in a series of auditions to advance into the next round of the competition. | ||||
17 | 2 | "Patriotic Pantry" | February 8, 2015 | 202 |
After the completion of all the auditions, the top 25 home cooks are called forward into the Masterchef kitchen to fight for a spot in the Top 16. Of the 25 home cooks, 9 of them: Christopher, David, Debbie, Debra, Jennifer, Kevin, Kristen, Kwasi and Tammy are advanced straight into the Masterchef kitchen for their outstanding audition dishes, meaning the remaining 16 needs to cook again for remaining 7 spots in the Top 16. The theme of this challenge is "red and white" ingredients reminiscent of the Canadian flag. After cooking, two groups of home cooks are called forward, one group consisting of Andrew, Cody, Kyle and Sabrina is advanced into the Top 16, and the other group consisting of Gav, Nikita, Robert, Nathan and Mina is eliminated. This leaves 6 home cooks- Deanna, Inder, Jon, Lauren, Line and Michael fighting for the final three spots in the next stage of the competition, to which the judges will be tasting their dishes to decide. Michael's beef tenderloin with white asparagus and red pepper sauce is praised for the cook on his beef, but was criticized for the clashing flavors of the red pepper sauce and the red pepper bits. Deanna's savoury cherry and berry shortcake with chorizo sausage is criticized for not being savoury and taste like a sweet dish. Inder's chicken tikka masala tastes delicious but his spices is still coarse and not grind down well. Lauren's pan-seared halibut with roasted garlic couscous is praised for her cook on the fish but lacks salt. Line's lobster veloute is deemed to taste delicious but was criticized for her potato nest, which Chef Bonacini tells her sometimes less is more. After setting his steak on fire during cooking, Jon's grilled rib-eye steak with potato salad and white asparagus was praised for the perfect cook on his steak, but his potato salad is deemed dry. In the end, Deanna and Inder are eliminated, while Line and Michael are advanced into the Top 16. This leaves Lauren and Jon for the last spot in the Top 16. In the end, Jon becomes the last person to advance, while Lauren is eliminated for forgetting salt in her dish. | ||||
18 | 3 | "Constant Cravings" | February 15, 2015 | 203 |
Mystery Box 1: This first challenge features a selection of sweet and savory ingredients including pineapple, maple syrup, cream cheese, phyllo pastry, kale, bacon, pork chop among other ingredients. The top 3 dishes are Line's maple fudge pie, Jon's trio of cream cheese phyllo tarts, and Kevin's walnut crunch phyllo cigars. Kevin, however, made a mistake of leaving the packaging paper of the phyllo pastry in his dish. Jon is declared as the winner of the mystery box. Elimination Challenge 1: Jon is granted immunity and has a choice of Asian dishes for the other cooks in the challenge to use: curry and roti, stir fry with rice and Japanese ramen. He chooses the stir fry. The judges also allow Jon to choose one other to be safe from elimination and he chooses David. After cooking finishes, Jon is allowed to choose another contestant to be sent to safety. Decided to save a weaker cook from elimination, he picks Jennifer (as her stir-fry was soupy), much to her joy. In the end, the two best dishes are Andrew's crispy ginger beef with Singaporean rice and Line's crispy sesame beef with enoki mushrooms, making them team captains for the next challenge. Tammy's Thai-style seafood stir fry and Debra's orange chicken stir fry also receive great reviews from the judges (despite Debra never made a stir fry or used a wok before). On the other hand, Debbie's pork tenderloin stir fry tastes bland, has bad plating and is deemed to be unimaginative. Kyle's sesame crusted cod on top of stir fry is unusual and over-complicated, and the size of his vegetables are too big and the rice is very sticky that it becomes all clamped together, which the judges deem inedible. Michael's duck stir fry in lettuce wraps was also deemed to be unusual and not very balance in flavors and also a little dry. Kwasi's vegetarian stir fry with sticky rice balls is bland and tasteless. The worst three dishes belonged to Debbie, Kyle and Kwasi. Debbie is the first to be sent home, and then Kyle is the next home cook to be eliminated. | ||||
19 | 4 | "Juggling Act" | March 1, 2015 | 204 |
Team Challenge 1: The competitors have to cook for the cast and crew of Cirque du Soleil. For having the best dishes at the last Elimination Challenge, Andrew and Line are the team captains. Andrew, with the best dish in the last challenge, was the Red Team Captain, and Line, who was the runner-up, was the Blue Team captain. Andrew chooses David, Kevin, Jon, Cody, Kristen and Kwasi, while Line chooses Tammy, Sabrina, Debra, Christopher, Michael and Jennifer. The teams must serve a nice and healthy buffet style meal. During the challenge, Line's dictatorial approach (due to her military background) is taking tolls on her team, especially Jennifer, who ends up breaking down in tears. The red team works fairly efficiently, while the Blue team struggles through the cooking. In the end, Andrew's red team is declared as the winner, sending Line's blue team to the pressure test. Pressure Test 1: For the pressure test, the cooks are tasked to make a tourtiere. The victorious red team is allowed to choose one home cook to be excused from the pressure test, and they pick Jennifer, believing she is the weakest cook on the blue team. Line is then given by the judges an option to either save herself or one of her teammates, and she ultimately chooses to save herself, much to the annoyance of the other home cooks who voiced their disdain to her. After making it to the balcony, Line suddenly faints from exhaustion and stress from the challenge, and is sent to the hospital, much to the shock of the other contestants and Tammy's worries. Michael's bison and bacon tourtiere has nice fillings and crust, though a little too spicy with the jalapeno. Christopher's bison and apple tourtiere has excellent packed filling and crust. Sabrina's bison and nutmeg tourtiere is also deemed to be delicious and perfectly baked. However, Debra's wild boar tourtiere has a dry filling due to using only pork tenderloin - a lean meat, and leaving a bay leaf in her filling, while Tammy's vension tourtiere has a nice crust but unbalanced flavors due to the dry rosemary taking over all the other components in the dish. Christopher is deemed to have the best tourtiere and is sent to safety, as do Sabrina and Michael, leaving Debra and Tammy to face elimination. In the end, Debra is the third home cook of the season to be eliminated and predicts David to be the winner of Masterchef. | ||||
20 | 5 | "Slice of Life" | March 8, 2015 | 205 |
Mystery Box 2: For this challenge, the cooks had to create a pizza from scratch and name it. The best three dishes are David's 'Fun guy' pizza with mushrooms and arugula, Jennifer's 'Summer Fresh' pizza with peaches and pancetta, and Cody's 'Fifth Dimension' pizza with mushroom, figs and quail eggs. In the end, Cody wins the Mystery Box, though his arrogance annoys some of the other home cooks. Elimination Challenge 2: This elimination challenge sees the return of Masterchef season 1 winner Eric Chong. Cody is able to choose among ingredients that signifies Eric's success on his culinary journey for the upcoming challenge- duck, lobster or black truffles. Targeting David for elimination, he chooses black truffles. Moreover, due to his confidence that he can win this elimination challenge, Cody gives up his immunity from his mystery box win and chooses to cook in the upcoming challenge, much to the shocks and surprises of the rest of the home cooks, especially Michael, who accuses him of arrogance. Cody's choice of black truffles flustered many of the cooks, especially Kristen, who also forgets to grab the steak she needs from the pantry and needs to beg for extra proteins from the other home cooks (in the end, Jon gives her a sirloin steak.), and Line who almost breaks down, leading to some encouragement Michael Bonacini. When judging comes, David's truffled ricotta agnolotti and Sabrina's deep-fried panko-coated poached egg with asparagus and truffle shaves are deemed to be the best two dishes in the challenge. Line's filet mignon with truffle butter and Kwasi's truffle mac and cheese also receive favorable reviews. On the other hand, there are some serious disappointments. Despite his initial advantage and confidence, Cody's New York striploin with truffle sabayon, creamed corn and beef tartare is deemed a "trainwreck" by Chef Bonacini, who criticizes for having multiple components and over-complicated flavors that do not work together. Kristen's sirloin steak with truffles and bruschetta is unusual and deemed subpar. Kevin's decadent eggs with truffles, asparagus and carrot puree is bland with no traces of the taste of truffles, and also plated very lousily (with an egg sticking out of the plate). Michael's rack of lamb with carrots, asparagus and truffled mashed potatoes is criticized for being minimalist and salty lamb with a heavy use of garlic powder. The worst three dishes belong to Cody, Kevin and Michael. Michael's dish is deemed to be best of the worst, leaving Cody and Kevin as the bottom two. In the end, despite being an initial frontrunner, Kevin is eliminated. | ||||
21 | 6 | "One Potato, Two Potato" | March 22, 2015 | 206 |
Team Challenge 2: For this team challenge, this is going to be a special three-way team challenge in a university campus, serving poutine. with the last two teams going into the pressure test. With the best dishes, David and Sabrina will be team captains of the red and blue team respectively. With the best dish from the truffle challenge, David chooses Line as the third team captain, much to her dismay (due to big loss as team captain and her notorious meltdown in the previous team challenge). David chooses Andrew, Christopher, Michael, forming the red team. Sabrina chooses Jon, Cody, Kwasi, forming the blue team. Line chooses Tammy, Kristen, Jennifer, forming the green team. Each team will create a dish from different proteins selected by David, with pork for Reds, beef for Blues and chicken for Greens, much to Line's joy. Michael, Cody and Jennifer act as the sellers of their respective teams, with Jennifer's "loudmouth" approach (taking a jibe at Cody's good looks) attracting lots of customers to her team; and in contrast to the last challenge, the girls on the green team worked harmoniously together as Line let go of her dictatorial approach. During service, both blue and red teams suffer hassles with Kwasi being too slow on the fries and some dishes served by the red team lacking bacon, much to Chef Bonacini's ire. Despite all the hassles, however, both red and blue teams remain confident as they all expect Line's green team to come last. In the end, in a jaws-dropping result, Line's green team emerges victorious by a narrow margin of seven, much to the shock of the two other teams, especially captains David and Sabrina. Pressure Test 2: The red and blue teams will be facing the dreaded pressure test, where they will recreate a dish of tortellini covered in a cheese sauce. Both David and Sabrina, as team captains, are allow to exempt themselves or one members of their team from the pressure test. Having both gave Line a hard time when she saves herself in the last pressure test, David chooses to save Michael while Sabrina chooses to save Jon. Kwasi in particular struggles with his pasta dough. When judging comes, Andrew's portobello tortellini is deemed delicious, though slightly too little sauce. Christopher's pancetta and sausage tortellini receives good reviews with particular emphasis to his rich sauce. Kwasi's red pepper and anchovies tortellini was underfilled and shaped badly, with further comments on the filling's strange flavors. Despite his and the judge's confidence, David's ham and cheese tortellini is bland with not very elevated flavors due to his use of just ham and cheese in the filling that Alvin Leung relating it to taste like a mere "ham and cheese sandwich" (especially when David won the last elimination challenge with a pasta dish). Cody's pancetta and mushroom tortellini was a little small but cooked and tasted well. Sabrina's Italian sausage and broccoli tortellini is deemed to be good, but the judges feel she is playing too safe. Christopher's tortellini is deemed to be the best dish in the pressure test, while Sabrina, Cody and Andrew have also performed good enough to be sent to safety, leaving David and Kwasi to face elimination. In the end, Kwasi is eliminated for producing the worst pasta dish. | ||||
22 | 7 | "No Piece of Cake" | March 29, 2015 | 207 |
Mystery Box 3: In this special mystery box, the cooks are tasked to bake a four-layered birthday cake. The judges also announce that two cooks will be announce as the winners of the mystery box and will receive a huge advantage in the upcoming elimination challenge. The best four birthday cakes are Michael's blue suede cake with blueberries, Christopher's opera cake with coffee praline buttercream, David's chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese, and Andrew's banana split cake. Christoper and David are declared as the joint winners of this Mystery Box. Elimination Challenge 3: Both David and Christopher are safe from elimination and safety in the Top 10. The judges present David and Christopher with three different "odd" culinary combinations: chocolate and bacon, salmon and liquorice, and chorizo and grape jelly, to which David and Christopher will select three home cooks for each group of ingredients. They choose Cody, Tammy, Sabrina for bacon and chocolate, Michael, Jennifer, Jon for salmon and liquorice, and Andrew, Kristen, Line for chorizo and grape jelly. In the end, the best two dishes are Michael's pan-seared salmon with spicy liquorice slaw and Andrew's grape jelly-glazed veal roulade with chorizo, making them team captains for the next team challenge. Kristen's shredded chicken and chorizo tacos with grape jelly salsa is deemed subpar due to the taste of the grape jelly being undetectable in her salsa. Jon made a serious mistake of forgetting to plate his liquorice sauce with his pan-seared salmon with celery root and fennel puree. Cody's chocolate and bacon s'more was plated messily, but otherwise have nice flavors. Sabrina's Mexican chicken wings with chocolate bacon mole sauce receive great reviews for her sauce, and the judges commend her for finally stepping outside her comfort zone. Tammy's chocolate pecan bacon butter tarts have raw crust at the bottom but have nice balance flavors. As a result, the worst three dishes belong to Kristen, Jon and Tammy. Tammy's dish is deemed as best of the worst and is sent to safety. In the end, Kristen is eliminated with the judges citing that despite Jon forgetting his sauce, her dish just isn't strong enough in comparison. She predicts that Andrew will win Masterchef. | ||||
23 | 8 | "Wedding on the Waves" | April 5, 2015 | 208 |
Team Challenge 3: The Top 10 home cooks will be creating canapes and French-inspired dishes for a harbor cruise wedding for the next challenge. With the best dishes from the last elimination challenge, Michael and Andrew will be the captains of the red and blue team respectively. With first pick, Michael chooses Christopher, Sabrina, Tammy and Jennifer, while Andrew chooses David, Cody, Line and Jon. Many of the home cooks are surprised and puzzled by Michael's selection of team members that are considered "weaker players" in the competition (especially Jennifer who has been consistently the last pick in team challenges), but it turns out to be Michael's strategy of putting all the strong cooks together with Andrew so they clash. Michael's strategy seems to pay off when Andrew's team struggles to keep up in service from start to finish due to Andrew's complex ideas for the team's dishes, though the bride discovers a hair in Michael's red team's canapé. As service continues, Andrew gradually loses control of his team and the team starts unraveling as members become increasingly disorganized due to a lack of communications and struggle with plating with one appetizer being sent back for several missing components. In the end, everything went according to Michael's plan and his red team emerges as the winner, devastating Andrew. Pressure Test 3: In this extremely daunting pressure test, all 5 home cooks on the blue team- Andrew, David, Line, Cody and Jon will be recreating a classic French fruit tart. Moreover, the judges announced that two home cooks will be sent home by the end of the challenge. David was worried in particular due to feeling indifferent in his baking skills. During cooking, Cody struggles with timing immensely and stresses when his tart was stuck to the baking tray, only barely making it to the presenting table in time. After his loss in the team challenge, Andrew appears to be very frantic and nervous throughout the challenge (along with his teammates hoping him to fail as they all believe him to have performed the weakest in the team challenge and was an overall poor leader), while Jon also made an error of using a spatula to smear the pastry cream in the tart instead of neatly piping it in with a piping bag. Despite initial problems with his first pastry dough, David's fruit tart is deemed to be perfectly baked and well presented. Andrew's fruit tart is well presented but has a bland pastry cream with no taste of vanilla. Line's fruit tart is well executed with Chef Aprile saying her tart is faultless. Cody's fruit tart is the least well-presented of all five and lacks raspberries, and a little underfilled with pastry cream. Jon's fruit tart is also underfilled with pastry cream and not enough glazes on the fruits. In the end, David and Line are sent to safety for having the best fruit tarts, meaning Andrew, Cody and Jon are left as the bottom three. Jon is then sent to safety, meaning Andrew and Cody are eliminated despite being frontrunners. | ||||
24 | 9 | "Good Things in Small Packages" | April 12, 2015 | 209 |
Mystery Box 4: In a surprise twist, Chef Graham Elliot from Masterchef US appears as a guest judge for this Mystery Box. The theme of this mystery box is "small" ingredients including quail, sardines, radish, tomatoes and Swiss chard. In the end, the top four dishes are called forward. The top four dishes are Tammy's pan-fried sardine with Swiss chard and Tomato tower and pickled radishes, Sabrina's grilled sardines with pickled vegetables, Jon's grilled Sumach quail with baby vegetables and David's stuffed quail with roasted vegetables. In the end, David is declared as the winner, and wins his second mystery box in a row. Elimination Test 4: For winning the Mystery Box, David was given immunity and was presented with three types of ingredients from the sea: clams including gooey duck, crabs and sea snails. Targeting Christopher and Tammy, he chooses sea snails which he believe will give them the most troubles. After all cooks have grabbed their ingredients from the pantry, the judges announced in a surprise move that the cooks will be switching ingredients, much to their shock and devastation. After the switches, Line receives Jon's ingredients, Jon receives Jennifer's, Jennifer receives Sabrina's (calling Sabrina's selection as "pretentious"), Sabrina receives Tammy's, Tammy receives Christopher's, Christopher's receives Michael's, while Michael receives Line's basket. All home cooks were quite flustered by their new selection of ingredients. In the end, Christopher's sea snail and conch paella and Michael's sea snail and conch ceviche with deep fried mushrooms are deemed as the two winning dishes. Jon's sea snail cremini fettucine with asparagus, Line's conch 'Coquilles St-Jacques' with sea snail skewers, Sabrina's corn and conch chowder all receive good reviews with only minor flaws. On the other hand, Jennifer's sea snail cioppino suffers from her overuse of tomatoes which overshadows the sea snails. Tammy's conch ceviche with corn and pea puree is dry with no acidity and moisture, and the puree being too sweet to pair with the conch. The worst two dishes belong to Jennifer and Tammy, and Tammy is eliminated, much to other cooks' sadness, especially Line, who she is close to. Before she left, Tammy predicts that Line will be the next winner of Masterchef. | ||||
25 | 10 | "Walking on Eggshells" | April 19, 2015 | 210 |
Reinstation: Three of the eliminated cooks- Cody, Kevin and Andrew ae called back into the Masterchef kitchen for a chance to win back a spot in the competition. The three cooks are required to cook a three-egg omlette, a poached egg and a boiled egg using only 5 eggs in 8 minutes. In the end, Kevin's omlette is a little undercooked, his poached egg is splattered with no shape and broken, overcooked yolk, but his boiled egg is perfect. Cody's omlette is a slightly overcooked, his poached egg is perfectly made, but his boiled egg is close to perfection. Andrew's omlette is perfectly cooked, but both his poached egg and boiled egg are overcooked. Kevin is the first to be sent home, follow by Andrew, meaning Cody has won a spot back in the competition. Elimination Test 5: For earning back his spot in the competition, Cody is given a chance to choose one of the other home cooks to enter the pantry for the selection of what he and the rest needs to cook in the next challenge. The chosen cook will also receive immunity. Hoping to have a better shot at winning this elimination challenge, Cody ultimately chooses David to go into the pantry, much to the other cooks' ire (as this means that he is immune for three elimination challenges in a row). In the pantry, David was shown three of the judges' milestone dishes which the cooks have to recreate- Tom Yam soup for Claudio, Taro root dumplings for Alvin and sea scallop mousse for Michael. He chooses sea scallop mousse. Before the start of the challenge, Jennifer almost has a nervous breakdown when she realizes she forget to grab eggs - a crucial binding ingredient in a mousse. However, in the end, Jennifer manages to turn the table around by using butter and flour to create a roux as the binding agent, and produces the second best mousse in the challenge. Christopher's mousse was perfectly made, making him the winner of an elimination challenge for the second time in a row. Line's mousse was well executed though a little firm and her sauce was a little too dark. Sabrina's mousse was not too well set but tastes delicious. The worst three mousses belong to Jon, Cody and Michael. Jon's mousse was overwhipped and has no lobster bits inside (due to him shredding the lobster meat together in the mixer), and there was a piece of lobster shell in his dish. Cody's mousse was tough as there is a big chuck of lobster inside, and his sauce was a little thick and overpowering. Michael's mouse did not set at all due to adding too much cream, but was well-seasoned. Michael's mousse is deemed as the best of the worst, leaving Cody and Jon to face elimination. The judges decide that Jon's technical flaws are worse than Cody's, meaning Jon's sent home. Jon also predicts that Sabrina will win the competition. | ||||
26 | 11 | "Tea for Two" | April 26, 2015 | 211 |
Mystery Box 5: The contestants are given a mystery box containing rack of lamb, pears, sweet potatoes, goat cheese, pistachio and couscous among other ingredients. This time the contestants will also be cooking alongside Chef Claudio Aprile. A couple of home cooks had problems with getting their lambs cooked. In the end, the top three dishes are Sabrina's pistachio-crusted lamb rack with sweet potato and goat cheese mash, Line's pistachio-crusted lamb rack with vegetable couscous and poached pear, and David's lamb rack with sweet potato mash and pistachio puree. The judges declared Sabrina as the winner of the Mystery Box. Elimination Test 6 The contestants had to recreate a English afternoon tea tray containing sandwiches, raspberry tarts, profiteroles and scones in the Masterchef classic tag team challenge. As winner of the Mystery Box, Sabrina is immune from the challenge and will be choosing the teams. Targeting Line and David, she pairs Cody with Line (as Line dislikes Cody's arrogance), David with Jennifer (who she considers the weakest remaining cook), leaving Christopher with Michael by default (hoping Michael's weakness in pastry will drag Christopher down). Despite having troubles communicating at the start and Line falling hard on her knee during cooking, Cody and Line manage to put their differences aside, and produce the best English tea tray and are named as the winners of the challenge. Christoper and Michael produce a decent tea tray with nice tarts and profiteroles, but their pinwheel rolls are dry. David and Jennifer struggle immensely with timing with David cutting his hands during the last few minutes of cooking. Their profiteroles are not filled as they failed to whip up the cream, and sandwiches are a little subpar, making them the bottom team of the challenge. In the end, the judges decide to send home Jennifer as they felt David performed a little better during the challenge. Jennifer predicts that Line will win the competition. | ||||
27 | 12 | "Fine Dining Under Fire" | May 3, 2015 | 212 |
Team Challenge 4: Previous elimination challenge winners Line and Cody are team captains of two teams in a "Restaurant Takeover" in Michael Bonacini's restaurant- Canoe. Line selects Sabrina and Michael, forming the red team. Cody selects David and Christopher, forming the blue team. During cooking, Line and Sabrina had issues communicating and starts to argue, while a soup by the blue team is sent back for being cold. During entree, Line struggles with plating the presentation of the dish causing the red team to fall very behind in service, leading to Chef Michael Bonacini to step in and help them. After consulting the VIP's comments, Cody's blue team is declared as the winner, sending Line's red team to the pressure test. Pressure Test 4: The red team, consisting of Line, Sabrina and Michael are faced with a pressure test where they will need to recreate a dish of fried chicken containing mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. In the end, Line's fried chicken is perfectly cooked, her gravy delicious, but mashed potatoes a little lumpy. Sabrina's fried chicken is also perfectly cooked, but her gravy tastes a little unpleasant. Michael's fried chicken was cooked well on the breast side, but its legs are raw, and his gravy contains too much flour. Thereby, Line was sent to safety, leaving Sabrina and Michael to face elimination. In the end, Michael was eliminated for his raw chicken legs. | ||||
28 | 13 | "From Home, With Love" | May 10, 2015 | 213 |
Mystery Box 6: In this emotional and heartfelt mystery box, the Top 5 home cooks are visited by members of their families. The Mystery Box contains peanut butter, chocolate, apples, miso, jasmine rice and Sriracha sauce among other ingredients. The protein, however, is chosen by their families. The cooks are required to prepare an entree with the protein and a dessert. The top three cooks are David with his miso cod with apple papaya slaw and chocolate peanut butter tart; Cody with his New York striploin steak with miso cauliflower puree and peanut butter chocolate truffles; and Line with her maple ginger garlic salmon and chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies with vanilla milkshake. In the end, Line is declared as the winner of the mystery box. Elimination Test 7: For the upcoming elimination challenge, Line is safe from elimination and joins the judges at the Masterchef pantry for the first time. The theme of the elimination challenge is "tools", and Line is shown four different kitchen equipment: a pressure cooker, an ice cream maker, a crepe pan and a meat grinder. Targeting David, she assigns ice cream maker to him (as David is a savory cook), much to his dismay. She then assigns crepe pan to Cody (believing that he will overcomplicate it), meat grinder to Christopher (as he specialises in sweet and pastry dishes), and pressure cooker to Sabrina. In the end, David's vanilla lemon thyme ice cream on blueberry cake receives rave reviews from the judges, making him the winner of this elimination challenge. Cody's trio of crepes has poor presentation and Chef Aprile calls him out for being over-ambitious for trying to create three different types of crepes but not all of them are perfect. Sabrina's braised lamb shank on mushroom tagliatelle receives favorable reviews for its delicious sauce and pasta, though Chef Bonacini wishes there will be more of the sauce. Christopher's Hawaiian Loco Moco with rice, pork patty and quail egg is well-seasoned but his patty is dry, and overall the judges feel it isn't refined enough. Thereby, the bottom two dishes belong to Cody and Christopher. The judges then sent home Christopher. | ||||
29 | 14 | "The Trip to Bountiful" | May 17, 2015 | 214 |
Elimination Test 8: In the final field challenge, the top 4 home cooks visit a farm while they will be cooking individually for 21 VIP guests. The cook with the best dish will advance straight to the finale, while the cook with the worst dish will be eliminated. With the best dish from the last elimination, David will be assigning the main proteins to the contestants including himself. David chooses venison for himself, and gives pickerel to Cody, rabbits to Sabrina and squab to Line. During cooking, David causes a small fire in his smoker, but manages to recover as his version wasn't over cooked, while Cody struggles immensely with timing, and is the last person to start service. David's smoked venison loin with red wine reduction receives close to rave reviews with particular praise to his plating and perfect cook on the venison. Line's pan-seared squab breast on a mushroom ragu also receives favorable reviews with perfect cook on her protein. Sabrina's rabbit two ways with Jerusalem artichoke puree is too very well received, but her rabbit is slightly overcooked. Cody's pan-seared pickerel with sweet potato puree and lemon vinaigrette is perfectly cooked but some of his dishes are underseasoned. In the end, David is deemed to have the best dish, thereby advancing to the finale. Despite strong efforts from him and praises from the judges, Cody's dish is deemed to be the worst of the four and is eliminated, leaving the two ladies to go head-to-head. Pressure Test 5: For the last spot in the finale, Line and Sabrina are going head-to-head in a final pressure test to decide who will be joining David in the finale. For this pressure test, the women will need to recreate three chocolate desserts: chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, white chocolate creme brulee, and milk chocolate mousse with a passion fruit center. In the end, Sabrina's creme brulee is well baked but her sugar crust was a little uneven, her brownie is a little dense, and her mousse is deemed as perfection. Line's creme brulee is close to perfection, her brownie is cut a little less precise than Sabrina's but is more moist and soft, her chocolate mousse is visually less clean on the outside but tastes absolutely delicious. In the end, the judges decide that Line just edge out Sabrina to the finale due to her perfectly moist brownie, thereby sending Sabrina home just short of the finale. | ||||
30 | 15 | "Ring of Fire" | May 24, 2015 | 215 |
The final two cooks will be creating a three-course meal for the judges in a head-to-head battle. For appetizer, Line's "surf and turf" foie gras with lobster receives great reviews with perfect execution on all her components, while David's tomatoes five ways with sweetbread is deemed innovative and very well presented, but his sweetbread is tough due to him not removing the membrane. For the entree, Line's elk tenderloin in a "potato forest" is deemed great, but her elk is a little rare, while David's wild boar belly with gooey duck clam receives rave reviews for perfect cook on his proteins and flavor combination. For dessert, Line's dessert "cheese plate" with chocolate olive bread, pistachio brittle and candied apricot is deemed intelligent but Chef Bonacini felt the brittle is a little too sweet in compared to the other components on the plate, while David's lemon curd parfait with graham sponge is raved for the different textures and flavors in the dish. David is declared as the winner of Masterchef Canada season 2. |
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