MasterChef Junior (U.S. season 4)

MasterChef Junior (U.S. season 4)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	November 6, 2015 – January 29, 2016

Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef Junior premiered on Fox on November 6, 2015.

The winner was Addison Osta Smith, a 9-year-old from River Forest, Illinois, with Avery Kyle from Baton Rouge, Louisiana being the runner-up.

Top 24

Contestant	Age	Hometown	Status	Winnings
Addison Osta Smith	9	River Forest, Illinois	Winner January 29	7
Avery Kyle	9	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Runner-Up January 29	4
Zac Kara	12	Orlando, Florida	Eliminated January 22	6
Amaya Baéz	10	Bergenfield, New Jersey		5
JJ O'Day	12	Santa Fe, Texas	Eliminated January 15	3
Kya Lau	8	San Marino, California		4
Sam Sy	10	Charleston, South Carolina	Eliminated January 8	4
Kamilly Serrano	10	Santa Ana, California		4
Kaitlyn Tomeny	11	Yorktown Heights, New York		4
Corey Gifft	12	Surprise, Arizona		1
Jesse Gunn	11	New York, New York	Eliminated December 18	3
Ian Marcel Sanders	8	Beverly Shores, Indiana		2
Tae-Ho Ahn	12	Chula Vista, California	Eliminated December 11	2
Mia Wistwostika	11	Leander, Texas		2
Nate Murwaski	10	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Eliminated December 4	2
Derek Quinn	11	Yardley, Pennsylvania		0
Adam Adam	11	Brooklyn, New York	Eliminated November 27	0
Jaeclyn Clark	9	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		0
Kyndall Latson	9	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Eliminated November 20	0
Vivian Stich	11	Avondale, Arizona		0
Chad Gibbs	9	Poughkeepsie, New York	Eliminated November 13	0
Annabelle Nolan	10	Cookeville, Tennessee		0
Alexander Cochran	10	Phoenix, Arizona	Eliminated November 6	0
Kade Dugas	9	Morgan City, Louisiana		0

Elimination Table

Place	Contestant	Episode
		1		2		3		4		5	6		7		8		9		10	11		12
1	Addison	IN	WIN	IN	IN	HIGH	IMM	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	LOW	HIGH	WIN	LOW	WIN	IN	WINNER
2	Avery	HIGH	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	PT	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	IMM	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	RUNNER-UP
3	Zac	HIGH	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	WIN	LOW	WIN	IN	ELIM
4	Amaya	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	LOW	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	ELIM
5	JJ	IN	IN	IMM	IN	HIGH	IN	WIN	IMM	PT	WIN	IMM	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	ELIM
6	Kya	WIN	IMM	IMM	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	WIN	LOW	IN	IN	IN	LOW	ELIM
7	Sam	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	IN	WPT	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	IMM	IN	HIGH	ELIM
8	Kamilly	IN	IN	IMM	LOW	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	IN	ELIM
9	Kaitlyn	IN	IN	IMM	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	HIGH	WIN	IMM	ELIM
10	Corey	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	LOW	HIGH	LOW	IMM	ELIM
11	Jesse	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	PT	WIN	IMM	IN	ELIM
12	Ian	IN	LOW	IMM	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	LOW	WIN	IMM	HIGH	ELIM
13	Tae-Ho	IN	IN	IMM	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	ELIM
14	Mia	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	WIN	IN	ELIM
15	Nate	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	ELIM
16	Derek	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	ELIM
17	Adam	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	IN	IN	ELIM
18	Jaeclyn	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	LOW	IN	ELIM
19	Kyndall	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	ELIM
20	Vivian	IN	IMM	IMM	LOW	IN	ELIM
21	Chad	IN	IN	IMM	ELIM
22	Annabelle	IN	IN	IMM	ELIM
23	Alexander	IN	ELIM
24	Kade	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 or Elimination Test).

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

     (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in an individual challenge and did not win, though they still received an advantage in the next challenge.

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

     (WPT) The cook had the best dish in the Pressure Test, and advanced.

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

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

     (IN) The cook was not selected as a top 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 the Mystery Box Challenge winner and did not have to compete in the Elimination Test.

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

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

     (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in a Team Challenge, and their team was last to advance.

     (LOW) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, and the only person from their team to advance.

     (ELIM) The cook was eliminated.

Episodes

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Original air date	U.S. viewers(millions)
23	1	"New Kids on the Chopping Block"	November 6, 2015	4.16
Mystery Box Challenge: For the mystery box challenge, the contestants must cook their signature burger. They have access to a limited pantry, with some proteins like chicken, beef, pork, etc. The top 3 dishes were Avery's pork and venison "Sportman's Paradise Burger" with coleslaw, a creole spread and sweet potato chips, Zac's chuck and sirloin cheese burger with panko crusted onion rings, and Kya's Wagyu beef burger topped with provolone cheese and served with apple fries and homemade balsamic ketchup. In the end, Kya wins the first Mystery Box challenge of this season. Elimination Challenge: For winning the mystery box challenge, Kya is safe from elimination and gets to enjoy a cake made by Christina. For her second advantage, Kya can select a second contestant to be immune from elimination. She picks Vivian, saying she is a strong cook and has the passion to be in this kitchen. After being bombarded with marshmallows, the cooks learn this will be the star ingredient in their next dishes. When time is up, Addison is the first to be called up .Her chocolate marshmallow cupcake with cereal and ganache and topped with a edible flower is deemed to be delicious by Gordon, saying she is now a front-runner in the competition. He also says that he thought Christina was the best baker, but she is competing for her title. Sam's whoopie pie stuffed with raspberry marshmallow cream and chocolate cookie batter is also deemed delicious and well presented. On the other hand, Alexander's marshmallow pie with bananas and Graham cracker crust had such a horrible presentation that he burst into tears. His pie hasn't set and is still in the ring mould. Christina encourages him and says that it tastes good and it's not always all about the presentation, but agrees that his dish just didn't work at all. Kade's banana split with a sweet potato biscuit and marshmallow sauce had a bad presentation and his concept was deemed bizarre. His marshmallows and chocolate were severely burnt and tasted bitter, and Gordon questioned why he didn't start making the dish all over again when he still had plenty of time, but he didn't answer. Jesse wowed the judges with his marshmallow churros with toasted marshmallow whipped cream, with Christina calling them perfect and amazing. Mia's marshmallow biscuit with marshmallow butter and raspberry gastrique sauce, and Corey's peach and banana cake topped with candied rasberries and a side of toasted marshmallows and strawberry sauce also received great reviews, with only minor flaws in the dishes. Last up was Ian, his apple crostata served with toasted marshmallow received some criticism over his presentation, and his marshmallows were crispy and burnt, and the crust of his crostata was deemed too thick and he appeared to struggle with time during the challenge. The judges call up Addison, Ian, Kade, Sam, Jesse, and Alexander. Sam, Jesse, and Addison are deemed to have the best dishes of the night, leaving Alexander, Kade, and Ian as the bottom three. In the end the judges send Ian to safety due to his dish being the best of the 3, leading to the elimination of a teary-eyed Alexander and Kade.
24	2	"A Sweet Surprise"	November 13, 2015	3.85
Individual Challenge: For the first challenge of the night, the judges call last week’s top three chefs — Sam, Jesse, and Addison — up to the front of the kitchen. They’ll be competing against one another in a cupcake-frosting race. The kids have 10 minutes to frost as many cupcakes as perfectly as Christina demonstrates. The winner will get immunity from elimination and the losers will have to press a giant button that unleashes an insane amount of frosting on whichever judge the kid is paired with. Addison gets Gordon (even though she’s half tempted to throw the competition in order to see the judge covered in vanilla frosting), Sam’s with Graham, and Jesse is tasked with protecting Christina’s lovely dress from a pink frosting disaster. Since the judges are obviously biased, as giant piping bags of delicious frosting hang over their heads, they invite a special guest, MasterChef Junior season 2 winner, the Cupcake King himself, Logan Guleff to officiate this round. There’s some flirting between Logan and Addison, with an assist from master chef and master matchmaker Gordon Ramsay, and then the kids are off. Sam and his 29 perfectly frosted cupcakes beat Jesse's 11 cupcakes and Addison's 10 that means Sam wins immunity and gets to eat a giant cupcake and Graham will get no frosting on him. That also means Gordon and Christina get their frosting shower. Kyndall, sees Christina’s beautiful shoes about to get doused in frosting and is horrified. Then the contestants have a frosting food fight, sending everyone in hysterics. Elimination Challenge: Since the cupcake challenge was all about outer beauty, Gordon wants to use the elimination challenge to focus on a food that is all about inner beauty. The kids have one hour to come up with a scallop dish that wows the judges. But there’s a twist: the contestants will have to shuck the scallops themselves. Gordon gives a quick shucking lesson and then sends the kids off to the MasterChef pantry to create a dish that highlights tonight’s featured ingredient. While cooking, Amaya impressed the judges with how fast she shucked the scallops, however some of the other contestants struggled, particularly Ian, who cannot get any of his scallops out of their shells and begins to melt down. Kya told Ian all he had to do was believe in himself. Gordon then comes over, calms Ian down with small talk, and gives him a one-on-one shucking tutorial. Ian just barely gets his food on his plate. At the end of cooking, Tae-Ho is first to be called down. His pan seared scallops over lemon risotto with a beetroot and Brussel sprout leaf garnish received rave reviews from Gordon as his scallops are perfectly seared (a nice, even brown on both sides), moreover he can’t believe Tae-Ho can make such an impressive risotto. Nate's pan seared scallops sitting on a bed of spinach and Brussel sprout leaves with a side of cauliflower mash also impressed Christina, who can see his love for scallops in his dish as they’re cooked well and are the stars of the plate. His cauliflower mash, however, could use some more flavor. Despite his confidence, unfortunately, Chad's Italian surf and turf (scallops with spaghetti and meatballs)has a heavy tomato sauce. Graham said his concept just didn't make sense, as the meatballs completely overshadowed his tiny, overcooked scallops, which should be the star of his dish, causing them to be lost entirely. Graham says that if this were a meatball contest, Chad would win, much to his embarrassment. Ian bounced back and his pan seared scallops with zucchini cakes topped with microgreens look visually stunning, and the scallops are perfectly cooked, much to Gordon's awe. Vivian lacked confidence due to never cooking a scallop before, and she’s never even tasted one. Her Parmesan crusted scallops with a lemon-lime couscous and a bacon and corn relish didn't deliver as her scallops are not properly cooked and seared. On the other hand, Derek's pan seared scallops over Israeli couscous and carrot puree with an herb pesto good feedback from Gordon. The combination of the rich, sweet scallop with the herb pesto is delicious. Gordon’s only note is that the dish could’ve used a little more salt. Kamilly’s California scallops on a bed of spinach with an avocado-lime sauce and quinoa looks pretty, but Christina isn’t impressed. She finds the ingredients to be a strange mix and the scallops are not evenly cooked. Amaya's pan seared scallops with grilled asparagus and Bechamel sauce received mostly good reviews. Graham thinks her scallops are perfect but, she hid them under too much sauce, and she also needs to work on her presentation. Last up is Annabelle, who like Ian, struggled to shuck a scallop during cooking. Unfortunately, Annabelle also completely burns the few scallops she has. She tracks down a few leftovers before time’s up, but things are not looking good. Her scallop two ways consisting of a scallop ceviche with lemon and cilantro and pan seared scallops with zucchini sauce received quite negative reviews. Gordon explains that a ceviche is never made with water, and doing so rendered her dish virtually tasteless. Her pan-seared scallops also fail, as they’re completely overcooked. Gordon wishes she had focused on cooking her scallops one way perfectly, rather than over-complicating things. In the end, Tae-Ho is declared the winner of this elimination test. Kamilly, Chad, Annabelle, and Vivian are announced as the bottom 4. Kamilly and Vivian just did enough to be sent to safety, thus eliminating a crying Chad and a sobbing Annabelle. As the kids all hug the departing chefs, Tae-Ho encouragely says to Chad, "You're wearing a MasterChef apron. Hold your head up high."
25	3	"One Small Step"	November 20, 2015	3.81
Mystery Box Challenge: For the mystery box challenge, the contestants are visited by real life astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and were shown various space foods. For the space-themed Mystery Box challenge, the contestants are required to create a stunning dish using various types of cheese including Brie, Gouda, Gorgonzola and Ricotta. By the end of the challenge, the top three dishes were Addison's three cheese ravioli with ricotta, mozzarella, asiago cheese and basil pesto sauce, Kaitlyn's lemon ricotta cookies with ricotta buttercream and lemon glaze, and JJ's cheese enchilada with smoked Gouda, cheddar cheese and Parmesan crisp. After some judges' deliberations, Kaitlyn was announced to be the winner of the Mystery Box. Elimination Challenge: The elimination test tonight consisted of fish from the sea. For winning the mystery box challenge, Kaitlyn is safe from elimination. The rest of the contestants are required to create a delicious fish dish using various types of fish including Halibut, Branzino, Snapper, Yellowtail, Salmon, and Sea bass. After shown how to filet a giant moonfish by Graham, the cooks have to pick which fish to be used for their dishes (with Kaitlyn acting as the fishmonger). For her second advantage, Kaitlyn can select a second contestant to be immune from elimination. She picks Addison, and she, along with Kaitlyn, gets to enjoy a moonfish dish cooked by Graham as the other cooks fight for survival. Among the contestants, Avery picked Halibut, Jesse picked Mackerel, Nate picked Yellowtail, while Vivian, Jaeclyn and Sam all picked Tai Snapper, and lastly Kya picked Salmon. During cooking, Ian once again struggled and still haven't cooked his fish and have a hot pan with just over 10 minutes left in the challenge. After some encouragement from Graham, Ian appeared to pull back on track. At the end of the elimination test, Avery was the first to be called up. Her Pecan crusted Halibut with sweet potato mash and sour sauce earned high praises from Gordon for having a perfect cook on her fish. Derek's Dover sole with potatoes, sunchokes and aioli, and Kya's salmon confit with Daikon puree and cucumber sunomono also both earned very high praises from the judges for explosive flavors. However, the best fish dish of the night belonged to Nate, whose seared yellowfin tuna with green beans and cucumber noodles earned rave reviews from the judges, with Christina in awe of how refined his Asian-style influenced dish was and said "it was the best fish dish [she] had ever had in the MasterChef kitchen". Ian also managed to pull back, and his seared yellowfin tuna with mashed potatoes and asparagus also earned good feedback from Gordon, saying his fish is nicely cooked and seasoned well with sesame oil, but just thought that his sides didn't go quite well with his tuna. As for the cooks who didn't perform so well, Jaeclyn's Tai Snapper tacos with coleslaw and lime sauce was deemed bland and her fish did not shine in her dish, along with Jaeclyn admitting that she didn't taste her fish, as she dislikes fish. Vivian's Tai snapper with ratatouille and lemon sauce also disappointed the judges, as her fish was soggy and her ratatouille was mostly raw and tasted bitter. Kyndall's Branzino with parsnip puree and roasted vegetables also received poor reviews, as the skin of the fish was soggy as she plated her fish skin down, and also her vegetables were not cooked. The aforementioned three, Vivian, Kyndall and Jacelyn, were called down to the front for having the worst three fish dishes of the night. Jacelyn did just enough to be sent to safety, resulting in the elimination of a crying Vivian and a teary-eyed Kyndall.
26	4	"The Good, the Bad and the Smelly"	November 27, 2015	3.20
Team Challenge: For the first ever MasterChef Junior relay challenge, the home cooks were split into three teams and they must compete to see which team can create a seven layer dip, with the winning team getting to dunk that judge's head in the dip. Ian's team has Zac, Amaya, JJ, Jesse, and Mia. Avery's team has Kaitlyn, Tae-Ho, Derek, Adam,and Jaeclyn. While Kya's team has Addison, Sam, Kamilly, Corey, and Nate. In the end, Ian's team just barely wins. Elimination Challenge: For this elimination challenge, Ian and his team (Amaya, Jesse, JJ, Mia and Zac) are immune from elimination and safe in the Top 16. They also get to select which selection of ingredients they remaining contestants must cook in the upcoming challenge. The choices are Christina's "spicy" ingredients, Graham's "smelly" ingredients or Gordon's "wrinkly" ingredients. The team selected Graham's "smelly" ingredients including stinky cheese, pickled eggs, truffle oil, rosewater, garlic, fish sauce, liver and corn fungus. The choice flustered a lot of the cooks, particularly Jaeclyn, Adam and Addison. During cooking, Adam made a fundamental mistake of forgetting to let his pasta dough rest before rolling and it fell apart. Amaya tried to give Adam advice from up the balcony, but he rebuked her. In the end, despite her initial concern of taking a big risk by using ingredients that she was not familiar with, Addison's Tom Kha Gai soup with garlic chicken meatballs and rosewater rice wowed the judges, saying she is a force to be reckoned with in the competition. Derek's rib eye steak with couscous and acorn squash and Kya's poached chicken with white truffle cream sauce and boiled veggies also impressed the judges with only minor flaws in their dishes. Nate once again impressed the judges with his rib eye steak with potatoes and blue cheese with a perfect cook on his steak. Avery's seared lamb chops with a garlic potato cake and red wine garlic sauce was deemed a little underwhelming by the judges as the dish lacked color and Christina said she should embrace the "smelly" theme more. Jacelyn's shrimp and pineapple kabob with lime rice and corn salad suffered from a lot of glaring errors. As the judges predicted, she failed to step out of her comfort zone as she only used garlic from all the smelly ingredients available. She served the hard pineapple core and cut them too big, as a result the shrimps didn't touch the heat when cooking and were still raw. Corey's farfalle pasta with turkey sausage and pickled eggs marinara sauce also disappointed the judges as they found the pickled eggs in the sauce to be a strange mix. Lastly, Adam's hand cut pasta with anchovy sauce was far too salty and reeked and his pasta was too thick and undercooked. Moreover, he made a fatal mistake of frying his truffle oil. The judges declared that Addison had the best dish, followed by Nate. The worst three dishes belonged to Corey, Jaeclyn and Adam. In the end, Adam and a sobbing Jaeclyn were eliminated from the competition.
27	5	"Happy Birthday"	December 4, 2015	3.51
Team Challenge: For their first off-site team challenge, the junior home cooks will be split into two teams where they will be serving party food consisting of fish tacos, chicken wings and burgers to a large group of young kids in a birthday lunch party, including Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot's children. With the best two dishes from the last elimination challenge, Addison and Nate will be team captains for this upcoming team challenge with Addison getting the first pick. Addison will be leading the Blue team, while Nate will be leading the Red team. For her blue team, Addison picked Kya, Mia, Kaitlyn, Corey, Zac, Kamilly and Tae-Ho, while for his red team, Nate picked Derek, Sam, JJ, Amaya, Jesse, Avery, and was left with Ian. And while Addison’s Blue team rose to the occasion under her guidance, Nate’s Red team floundered for a bit. Nate seemed to be overwhelmed by his position and had actually began yelling when the red team kept trying to talk to him all at once. Luckily, Ramsay stepped in and he talked to Nate about getting his kitchen under control, which was more than enough for Nate to get it together. But over at the blue team’s kitchen, Addison’s steady leadership began to fall apart when it was revealed her food choices all had been seasoned to be spicy. She made spicy fish, spicy chicken wings, and the burgers weren’t any better, seeing as someone mentioned sriracha sauce for one or more of those dishes. Therefore, Graham had to run interference and tell Addison that if her team’s food was too spicy, then the kids she was cooking for were just going to go over to the Red team, so Addison had her teammates quickly ease back on the spice. Kaitlyn, who was cooking the fish, stopped to wipe off the old seasoning and simply replaced it with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Plus, they turned the sriracha sauce into a side dipping option, rather than smothering any one of their dishes in it. In the end, Addison's Blue team won the challenge by the smallest amount of votes, sending Nate's Red team into the first ever MasterChef Junior pressure test. Pressure Test: For the first ever MasterChef Junior pressure test Addison, Zac, Kya, Kamilly, Kaitlyn, Corey, Mia and Tae-Ho are immune and are in the top 14 . while Nate, Avery, Amaya, JJ, Sam, Jesse, Ian, and Derek will have to create a stunning croquembouche. A number of home cooks struggled immensely. In the end, despite having never made a croquembouche before, Sam's croquembouche wowed Christina, with she even offering him a job at her baking company, to which he turned down. On the other hand, Nate's croquembouche suffered a lot of problems as there was an insufficient amount of cream puffs, his profiteroles were undercooked and the caramel was burnt. Jesse's croquembouche was good overall but his caramel was a little burnt, while JJ's croquembouche was also very good but needed some work in his construction. Avery's croquembouche had the wrong shape, but her profiteroles were deemed as the best of all the batches. Like Nate's, Derek's croquembouche suffered from the fact that his profiteroles were also quite undercooked. Amaya's croquembouche was constructed incorrectly and her profiteroles were also a little undercooked. Lastly, Ian's croquembouche was deemed a mess by Gordon as his profiteroles were all flat and inconsistent in shapes, but nonetheless tasted alright and were filled properly. With the best croquembouche, Sam was the first to be sent safety. Avery, Jesse and JJ were also judged to have done well enough to be sent to safety. As a result, Amaya, Derek, Ian and Nate were left to have the worst croquembouches of the challenge. In the end, Amaya and Ian were judged to have just done enough to be sent to safety, eliminating a sobbing Nate and a teary-eyed Derek, despite the two having been seen as strong contenders in the competition.
28	6	"When Life Gives You Lemons"	December 11, 2015	3.79
Team Challenge: The 14 remaining chefs draw straws and are split into two teams; the Red Team consists of the majority of the youngest competitors: Avery, Kya, JJ, Sam, Kamilly, Jesse, and Ian while the Blue team has a lot of tall and the older competitors: Addison, Zac, Amaya, Kaitlyn, Corey, Mia, and Tae-Ho. Each team has seven minutes to make a glass of raspberry mint lemonade and serve it to Christina for a blind tasting. Addison had been one of the kids to wish she’d join the older kids and then came to regret her choice when that’s where she landed. Though the Blue Team seemingly has an advantage with the older kids, they end up wasting an entire minute just yelling at one another about needing a plan, and who has a plan, and plans, plans, plans. They’re acting like seven individuals rather than a cohesive unit and the judges take notice. The Red Team does not have this problem. Sam takes the reins and get his teammates organized. The judges are impressed by the team’s communication skills, but Christina insists that this challenge is all about flavor. Despite all that, in the end, Christina declared the Red team as the winner of the challenge, granting them immunity from the upcoming elimination challenge. Elimination Test: For this elimination test, Ian, Jesse, Avery, Kya, Kamilly, Sam and JJ are all safe from elimination and do not need to cook. As for the remaining cooks, after being shown duck a l' orange and chicken Kiev from the sixties and seventies they are tasked to make a classic eighties dish: Surf and Turf, which also needed to be a lobster and steak dish in 60 minutes. Mia, as it turns out, does not cook or eat either steak or lobster as she is a vegetarian, and was nervous going into challenge. During cooking, Zac also burnt one of his hands in the hot pan and required medical attention. In the end, Addison once again impressed the judges with her Steak Diane and Stuffed Lobster with grilled asparagus, with Gordon calling it another "victory" for Addison. Zac also managed to pull back from his hassles during the cooking, and his Filet Mignon and Lobster with parsnip puree and fondant potatoes received great reviews from judges. On the other hand, Kaitlyn's Filet Mignon and Lobster with roasted potatoes, fried brussels sprouts, and beurre blanc received rave reviews with the judges very impressed by the way she modernized the classic dish. As for the contestants who didn't fare as well, Amaya's Filet Mignon and Lobster with green rice and her secret garlic sauce received decent reviews with a great cook in her lobster, but her steak is undercooked and her garlic sauce is deemed to taste too strong. As she herself suspected, Mia's Steak au Poivre and Lobster with brussels sprouts and butter sauce received much heavy criticisms as her lobster is completely raw (so much so that Gordon refused to eat it) and her steak is very undercooked, and her butter sauce was more like a bowl of fat. Despite his confidence, Corey's New York Strip and Lobster with asparagus and red wine sauce was, while initially visually impressive, also deemed poor for his overcooked steak and extremely salty lobster that Graham almost had to spit out. Graham said to Corey that he must taste his food during cooking. But it was Tae-Ho who left a bad taste in Gordon's mouth: his Filet Mignon and Lobster with cauliflower-spinach puree and dynamite sauce was heavily criticized for dousing his lobster and steak in a very over-powering sriracha and mayo sauce. His steak was also overcooked and his cauliflower-spinach puree was deemed to be very strange and just didn't work, and Gordon says he would have fired Tae-Ho for such a travesty. After the judges' deliberation, Kaitlyn was declared as the winner of the elimination test and was the first to be sent to safety. Amaya, Addison and Zac were all judged to have perform well enough to be sent to safety. The worst three dishes of the night belonged to Tae-Ho, Mia and Corey, but in the end Corey's dish was deemed to be the best of the worst and was also sent to safety, thereby eliminating Tae-Ho and a teary-eyed Mia . Before they left, the judges encouraged Mia and Tae-Ho to leave with their heads held high, as making it to the Top 14 is an impressive achievement.
29	7	"Blind Ambition"	December 18, 2015	3.79
Mystery Box Challenge: In this unique Mystery Box challenge, the young home cooks discovered that a blindfold was underneath the Mystery Box and the judges announced for this challenge they will be tasting a dish made by Gordon Ramsay while blindfold, and then tasked to replicate it in one hour. The dish was a pan seared chicken breast with mushroom jous and rosemary mashed potatoes, honey glazed carrots and green beans with almonds. A number of home cooks struggled to identify the protein being chicken, and confused it with pork. Moreover, during cooking, Kya set her pan on fire, while Kaitlyn also dropped her green beans that she identified being the sides. In the end, the top four home cooks who managed to produce the closet dishes to Gordon's were Kya, Corey, Ian and Kaitlyn. Kya's dish received rave reviews from the judges, especially Gordon, who expressed awe that she managed to almost perfectly replicate the dish. At 8 years of age, Gordon said she is a "freak" with her talents. Corey's dish was praised for his good attention to details in his presentation, while Ian's dish was praised for great chicken breast and turnips but the other components are missing. Lastly, Kaitlyn's dish also received great feedbacks with great cook and seasoning on her chicken and sides, though the carrots were missing. After some deliberations, the judges declared Kya is winner of the Mystery Box, followed by Kaitlyn, and both would received advantages in the upcoming elimination challenge. Elimination Test: For this elimination test, the judges revealed in fact that this will be a team challenge, where the home cooks need to serve 31 MasterChef-quality dishes using ingredients from New England or New Mexico in 90 minutes. With the best dishes in the last Mystery Box challenge, Kya and Kaitlyn will be team captains for this challenge, with Kya getting the first choice of either selecting the ingredients or her team first. Kya chose to select the ingredients first and chose the crate from New England. For the teams, Kaitlyn picked Addison, Zac, Kamilly, JJ and Amaya, forming the Blue team, while Kya chose Avery, Sam, Corey, Jesse and was left with Ian, forming the Red team. Opening the boxes, the New England crate contained mussels, cod, clams, cheddar, bacon and parsley, while the New Mexico crate contained limes, pork, corn, tomatoes and avocados. The two home cooks from the losing team that performed the worse will be eliminated. Kya wants to do a clam back and celery salad. Kaitlyn is doing a pork dish with black bean cakes and guacamole. The kids start cooking and Christina this is a huge challenge with 31 diners to feed. Gordon says Kya is a serious foodie with an extraordinary palate, but Christina wonders if Kya can lead the team since she’s the youngest. Gordon says the VIP guests are about to arrive, and it is revealed to be a restaurant full of grandmas. They have 45 minutes left as the captains oversee the dishes. Kaitlyn tells Graham they have avocado mousse bean cakes and more, but they wonder if they need to modify the menu based on who the VIP guests are. Kya tells Gordon about the clam bake, bacon, mussels and clam. They also have cod cakes, and celery salad. Gordon calls Kya over to look at Ian’s celery and says they can’t mandolin celery like that. Ian didn’t wash the celery first and cut it wrong. Avery kicks out Ian from the salad station and Ian moves over to garlic. Gordon tells the others that Ian annihilated the celery and the kid is trying to find him another job. Gordon says Jesse isn’t stepping up, and Graham says JJ did a good job with the pork but there are strong personalities fighting over in Kaitlyn's Blue team. Addison tells Kaitlyn to stop screaming at them. Kya’s Red team is going slow on plating, while Graham tells Kaitlyn's Blue team that they don’t have enough pork and have to cut back. The servers take the dishes out to the diners. Gordon greets the grandma diners and they are told that kids from eight to 12 made the dishes. Gordon tells them they get to dine and then vote for the best dish. They like the Red team's clam bake, especially the cod cake, then some found the Blue team's pork loin was a little dry. One thinks the clam bake is too spicy and prefers the pork. In the end, in a close result, Kaitlyn's Blue team was revealed to be the winner, meaning Kaitlyn, Addison, Zac, Kamilly, JJ and Amaya are now in the Top 10, much to Kaitlyn's joy and excitement. The judges now need to decide which two members from Kya's Red team need to be sent home. They first sent Sam and Avery to safety as they thought both of them didn't deserve to be on the losing team. This leaves Kya, Corey, Jesse, and Ian to face elimination as all four of them fragmented during the team challenge. The judges send a teary-eyed Ian home for his long downward spiral, and an upset Jesse for not emerging as the leader Gordon hoped he would emerge as. However, the judges tell Corey to wake up after being in the bottom for the 3rd time.
30	8	"Hatching a Plan"	January 8, 2016	4.49[1]
Team Challenge: The chefs enter the kitchen and find only Gordon and Christina awaiting their arrival. Graham is waiting to make his big entrance – in a chicken suit. The kids correctly guess that their first challenge of the night will be egg related. Only four lucky kids will get to compete for immunity in the Elimination Test. To decide who gets a spot, each contestant grabs an egg and cracks it over Graham’s head – if the yolk is red or blue, they’re moving on to compete. Zac and Kamilly form the red team, while Kya and Amaya form the blue team. Meanwhile, Addison, Avery, JJ, Sam, Corey and Kaitlyn sit out from the challenge and watch from the balcony above. The two teams will be working to see who can make the most correctly cooked deviled eggs in 12 minutes, where the winning them will be safe from the upcoming elimination challenge. In a surprise twist, there will be a third team competing, and it’s actually Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot who are the yellow team, much to the shock of all the young home cooks. If Gordon and Graham win the challenge, all home cooks will have to compete in the upcoming elimination challenge. To keep things fair, the yellow team will only have 6 minutes to peel their eggs, blend their filling, and season their eggs to perfection. After 12 minutes, Christina inspects each team’s plates and deems Zac and Kamilly the winners with 10 perfect deviled eggs. Amaya and Kya plated 6 perfect eggs, while Gordon and Graham only managed to plate 3 perfect eggs, much to the laughter from all the kids. Zac and Kamilly are sent to the balcony and are immune from elimination, and their fellow eight competitors settle in to hear what their Elimination Test will entail. Elimination Test: The elimination is all about dreams. Graham says that his childhood dream of publishing a cookbook just came true, and the contestants were asked to begin writing their own. Tonight, they’ll pull one signature recipe from those adorable handmade books — and attempt to show the judges who they are as chefs and people. So it was a race to the cupboard and a race to finish. But all that racing landed a few of them in hot water. Addison over-whipped her signature whip for her dessert, and as a result, was forced to start over again with only two minutes remaining on the clock. Though her pastry did turn out to be baked just as perfect but it wasn’t plated to her best capabilities. While Kaitlyn was the one who had lent Addison her extra heavy cream to save the day for her friend, she was also in troubles from the get-go since she decided to make a single cupcake with simple frosting as her signature dish. When Gordon found out all she was presenting was one cupcake with simple frosting, he warned that she better make the best cupcake of her life. When judging begins, Avery's Crawfish Étouffée with steamed rice blew the judges away with the flavors and by how perfectly this dish sums up who Avery is. Gordon finds it visually stunning, and Christina thinks the flavors are bold and the amount of crawfish is spot on. They all agree that Avery made her papa proud. Kya's duck a l'orange with fennel and sweet potato fondant is deemed perfectly cooked, but her fennel is a little undercooked. On the other hand, as Gordon predicted, Kaitlyn's Black Forest Cupcake with raspberries is deemed underwhelming. The cupcake looks great, but the frosting is so buttery that it’s almost inedible, and Gordon once again calls her out for only making a cupcake instead of a fully realized signature dish, wishing she had chosen to cook something more connected to her Korean background instead like fried calamari.Amaya's Shrimp Asopao with fried plantains received rave reviews from the judges. She chose a Dominican stew that had been cooked by her grandmother and mother, and therefore very connected to her background. Christina is wowed by the depth and complexity of the flavors, and Graham thinks Amaya did a great job of letting the star ingredient – the shrimp – really shine. JJ's fettuccine with cream sauce and grilled chicken is deemed to be delicious, but Gordon felt it doesn't show how JJ is as a cook. Sam's bacon wrapped chicken with couscous and artichoke was also deemed to be great and nicely cooked, but again not outstanding enough. Despite the judges' confidence in her abilities, Addison's Apple and passionfruit Danish with orange and passion fruit whipped cream was deemed disappointing. It tastes fine, but the presentation is underwhelming and rather messy, much to the shock of the judges and the other contestants given Addison's past performances. But it was Corey who left a bad taste in the judges' mouth: his Dreadlock Jerk Chicken with red rice carrots, beans, and Rasta sauce was, while initially visually stunning, inedible, as all the components were very undercooked. He swears he actually baked his chicken for 35 minutes, but his completely raw meat tells a different story. Gordon was angry that Corey turned in another below-par performance and felt that his time was probably up, saying that despite the great concept, the execution was very poor. In the end, the judges declared Avery and Amaya to have the best dishes of the night. Kya, JJ and Sam also did well enough to keep themselves in the competition.The bottom three were Corey, Addison, and Kaitlyn, and Addison was deemed to have done just enough to be sent to safety, leading to the emotional elimination of Corey and a teary-eyed Kaitlyn, despite her being a notable contender in the competition.
31	9	"Tag Team Time"	January 8, 2016	4.49[1]
Mystery Box Challenge: For this Mystery Box, there is a special guest: Christina’s BFF and mom, Greta Tosi. Christina’s mom has brought along a Mystery Box full of ingredients that Christina used to eat as a child including chicken breast, broccoli, chocolate cereal, fruity rice cereal, chocolate chips, strawberries, mint, and potatoes. The kids, armed with some extra inspiration after getting time to video chat with their BFFs, will have 60 minutes to make any dish they want using these ingredients. Most of the chefs opt for desserts, but a few (Amaya, Kamilly and Zac) opt to cook a savory dish. During cooking, Sam almost burns down his station when he decides to bake his cereal but recovered in the end after helps from Gordon to clear out the smokes. By the end of the challenge, the best three dishes were Addison's Chocolate Strawberry Tart with chocolate and cereal milk (cereal milk being one of Christina's signature creations), Zac's Pan Seared Chicken with potato purée, broccoli and crispy potato noodles, and Sam's Chocolate Mousse with strawberry mint coulis and strawberry sauce. - despite Gordon's comment on its messy presentation. Zac was declared as the winner of the Mystery Box, much to his joy. Elimination Test: For this elimination test, the kids will be put into four teams of two, and only one of them can cook at a time, meaning it is the MasterChef signature tag team challenge. Every ten minutes or so, the judges will call for a switch, and the other teammate will pick up where the first left off. It’s all about communication. The teams will have to cook five different types of street food from around the world: samosas from India, mozzarella arancini and marinara sauce from Italy, shrimp spring rolls from Vietnam, beef in steamed buns from China, and lamb kofta from Greece. Zac’s big advantage is that not only does he get to select his teammate, but he also gets to pair up the other contestants. In a strategic move, he picks Kya as his teammate, and pairs Sam and Kamilly (as both are quiet and shy individuals), Addison and Amaya (thinking the two girls will clash due to their strong personalities), and JJ and Avery. As Zac and the girls themselves predicted, Amaya and Addison argue with one another the entire time. And after Christina pays them a visit and tells Amaya that they steamed the buns way too early and should be focusing on other items, Amaya loses it and cries out loud in tears. Before Amaya can have a full meltdown, Addison reins her partner back in. So the judges are skeptical when the ladies present their food, but even amongst all the yelling, they end up plating five stellar dishes. Gordon can’t believe they pulled it all together, and reminds them that pressure can be healthy. Zac and Kya immediately impress the judges with how well they’re communicating. They are organized and know which steps need to get done as soon as the clock starts. It isn’t until they present their platter that the judges realize there’s a problem: They’re completely missing the spring rolls and weren’t able to make some of the accompanying sauces in time. On top of that, some of the items that they were able to plate aren’t very good as they are under-seasoned and the beef in the steam buns is burnt. Their time management issues send them directly to the bottom. Like Amaya and Addison, JJ and Avery get a little visit from one of the judges to tell them they’re cooking completely out of order. When Gordon realizes JJ and Avery decided that it was more important to marinate their cucumbers before cooking than marinating the beef, he almost blows a gasket and he’s not happy about them making such a big basic mistake. No matter though, the kids present a platter with a few missing items, but unlike Kya and Zac, all of the items they did manage to plate are well received and perfectly cooked. Zac was right about the communication issues Sam and Kamilly would have. Gordon tells them that they’re working as two individuals and not as a cohesive team, and it shows in their cooking. Sam knows they were overwhelmed, but hopes for the best. Unfortunately, there are some major mistakes. When Gordon opens up the lamb kofta and sees it is so raw inside, he tells the chefs that the only thing missing is the wool. The samosa and spring rolls work, but the judges are disappointed in the pair’s complete lack of communication. Amaya and Addison, although not the best teammates, presented food that was well above the rest, and were therefore declared as the winners of the challenge. JJ and Avery also did enough to move on to the next round. Thereby, Zac, Kya, Sam, and Kamilly are at the bottom for turning in the worst performances. In the end, a teary-eyed Sam and Kamilly are eliminated, despite Sam being a frontrunner. Gordon encouraged them saying they have so far to go, and that neither him, Graham or Christina have such skills as them when they were their age. Christina said that if Sam ever wants to become a pastry chef, he knows where to go and find her. Before they left, Kamilly predicts that Addison will become the next MasterChef Junior, while Sam predicts that Zac will take the title.
32	10	"A Gordon Ramsay Dinner Party"	January 15, 2016	4.56[2]
Team Challenge: The top 6, Addison, Amaya, Avery, JJ, Kya, and Zac, will have to face one of the most stressful challenges yet: catering a Gordon Ramsay party, which will be the annual Restaurant Takeover. They are split into two teams, chosen by last week’s winners, Addison and Amaya, and are responsible for feeding 20 of Gordon’s friends. Addison picks Kya and JJ for her blue team, while Amaya picks Zac and Avery for her red team. They won’t be serving any old meal, either; they’re making two dishes straight out of the Gordon Ramsay stable of recipes. They then travel with Graham and Christina in convertibles to Gordon's house, and it’s spectacular. Before the chefs arrive, Gordon is relaxing with his dog, King George. Once the kids show up, it’s straight to work. The chefs head to the outdoor kitchen and get a quick demo on the menu items from Gordon. For the first course of this VIP lunch, the kids will be serving pan seared snapper with rainbow chard and shellfish broth. Each team is responsible for 13 plates, all to be served at the same time. Gordon says that timing and good team communication are everything in this challenge. When service begins, over on the Red Team, team captain Amaya splits up the work by having each chef focus on a different component of the dish. When Gordon sees this, he is not pleased. He pulls the team aside for a chat. He says having each person work on a component of the dish without solid communication is a recipe for disaster. However, the Red Team earns rave reviews from Gordon’s friends – who, by the way, have no idea their meal is being cooked by children – who commend the Red Team for the chard’s crispy skin and perfect sear. Over on the Blue Team, Addison proves to be a strong leader. Addison is skilled enough in the kitchen to realize the best way to tackle this challenge is by having each chef cook complete dishes. Despite Addison's strong leadership, Kya and JJ make a lot of mistakes: they burn fish, forget how to make simple sauces, and completely lose one portion of snapper – leaving Gordon with an empty plate to serve, much to his anger, and ends up berating the Blue Team. However, the Blue Team makes up for their kitchen misfires with taste. They earn mostly great reviews from the guests. For the second course, the chefs will serve venison loin with cabbage, gnocchi, and chanterelles. It’s an intimidating dish with lots of components and a delicate protein that has to be cooked perfectly. Over on the Red Team, Amaya is starting to stress under pressure. The sheer amount of ingredients and steps to this dish are overwhelming, and she isn’t communicating with her team at all. Christina tries her best to get Amaya’s head back in the game once she starts crying. But once Gordon notes that all of her venison is overcooked, Amaya pretty much shuts down. When Gordon pulls Zac aside to see what’s going on, he admits that their team captain is failing them, and after Gordon talks about Zac leading his tennis team, he asks Zac to take over as team captain. He easily takes command, and tells Avery to cook the meat, while he does everything else on his own. The judges are impressed with his calm leadership and multi-tasking skills. Gordon’s friends are fans of the Red Team’s entrée as well. They find the presentation to be stunning and the meat cooked well, but Gordon is critical on some under-seasoned cabbage. Over on the Blue Team, Gordon pulls Addison aside to make sure she’s ready to get her team focused. He talks to her about leading her softball team in a similar manner to Zac leading his tennis team. Addison is making sure her team has all the support it needs and attempting to keep morale up, but JJ is continuously struggling. To make matters worse, JJ pulls the pan of searing hot venison out of the oven, he fumbles and the entire pan lands on Gordon’s foot. Gordon is in pain, and JJ just injured one of the world’s best chefs. Even worse, as the time for plating looms, Gordon sees two pieces of raw venison – there to replace what was spilled. JJ was supposed to cook them, and completely forgot. Gordon berates the Blue Team [singling out JJ in particular]. In the end, they get all 13 plates finished for service. The guests are mixed on the Blue Team’s venison. Some find it completely on point and really well-seasoned, while others note that their venison is over-cooked. After the meal, Gordon reveals the chefs. His guests are so blown away to see that six kids ages 8 to 12 cooked their food, they give them a standing ovation. The next day, back at the MasterChef kitchen, the judges reveal that two members of the losing team will be going home tonight. The Red Team wins due to Avery's standout performance on meat and Zac's strong leadership, sending Amaya, Avery, and Zac to the semifinals, leaving the three Blue Team members, Addison, JJ, and Kya, to face elimination. Addison starts to have a meltdown for being at the bottom three again. The judges immediately send a teary-eyed Addison to the Top 4 for being the only standout performer in the team challenge, thus eliminating a disappointed JJ and Kya for disintegrating performances, despite Kya being a front-runner Before they leave, Kya predicts Addison will win the competition, while JJ predicted Zac will win.
33	11	"Head of the Class"	January 22, 2016	4.87[3]
Mystery Box Challenge: Addison, Avery, Amaya, and Zac enter the MasterChef kitchen, only to find a long table with four plate covers. The judges lift the plate covers, and under them were the four contestants' parents' heads. They have heartfelt words towards their son and daughters. The judges then lay out four boxes, which each parent must pick randomly for their child. After that, the parents say their last words to their children and leave. The kids now open the boxes their parents have given them. Amaya gets dark chocolate, Avery gets strawberries, Zac gets milk chocolate, and Addison gets blackberries. They must create a soufflé for the final Mystery Box Challenge, with their ingredient being the hero of the dish. Amaya and Addison have never made a soufflé before, and are completely intimidated. The real tension comes when the chefs put their soufflés into the oven. During baking, Zac’s soufflé splits in half. In the end, however, while Avery and Amaya had impressive soufflés, the judges pick Addison’s blackberry soufflé, one that looks and tastes like it came out of a professional kitchen, meaning Addison has won the final Mystery Box of the season. Elimination Test: Although Addison doesn’t win any kind of immunity for this semi-finals elimination test, she does get a great advantage, if used strategically. Gordon lets her know that each of the four chefs will be cooking a dish with a different cut of pork – and Addison gets to decide who gets which cut. The judges lay out pork belly, ribs, pork loin, and the most difficult of the four, pig’s ears. Targeting Zac for elimination, she gives him pig’s ears, Addison wants the ribs for herself, and Avery gets the pork belly, which leaves Amaya with the loin. During cooking, Gordon spots trouble with Amaya’s dish even while she’s cooking it. He notices that Amaya begins cutting her meat without letting it properly rest, and it’s raw. She puts it back in the oven, but that’s a misstep as well. After cooking is done, Addison is called down. Her soda-braised pork ribs with strawberry salad and potato salad are cooked to perfection. The only problem Gordon really has with her dish is the plating. To him, it looks more like a plate from a backyard barbecue, but it is delicious. However, Addison's strategy of giving Zac pig’s ears pays off, as his braised pig’s ear with frisee salad and quail egg is undercooked. However, Gordon praises Zac’s use of quail egg, and Graham notes that his vegetables were outstanding. So basically, everything but the main protein was great. Avery made a braised pork belly with sweet potato mash and beetroot chips, which is heavily praised. All three of the judges are completely blown away by Avery’s refined, insanely delicious pork belly dish. Every single element on the plate is so good, it renders Christina speechless, and Graham tells her she picked the perfect time to peak. However, Amaya's Za'atar seasoned pork loin with mushroom farro and apple marmalade is raw. Christina likes the dry rub Amaya used, and Gordon is intrigued by her combination of farro and marmalade, but the glaring technical mistake on the plate isn’t easy to overlook, easily resulting in Amaya's elimination. The judges then announce Avery, with the best dish, was the first finalist. Therefore the bottom 3 is Addison, Amaya, and Zac The judges then announce a joyful Addison as the second finalist, eliminating Amaya and a teary-eyed Zac. Zac was praised for his performance and was told by Gordon that this won't be the last time they would see each other. Before they left, Zac said that Addison will become the next MasterChef Junior while Amaya predicted that Avery will win the title.
34	12	"The Finale"	January 29, 2016	4.75[4]
Season Finale: In attendance for the finale are the families and friends of Addison and Avery, and all the other contestants from this season. The judges want the finalists to prepare and present a three-course meal – appetizer, entrée, and dessert – to demonstrate not only how talented they are, but how much they’ve grown over the competition. Addison’s menu is all Asian influences she’s toyed around with in other challenges. Avery, on the other hand, is sticking to her bayou roots. She’ll be cooking three courses of classic, yet elevated, Southern cooking. The judges are excited by both menus, and accurately predict that this finale will be the closest yet. Appetizer: Addison makes a sake marinated shrimp with seaweed and sea bean salad, sour plums, and puffed rice salad which receives rave reviews. Gordon feels like he’s sitting in an upscale Japanese restaurant and is blown away by Addison’s modern take on her perfectly-cooked shrimp. Graham, too, is a fan of this appetizer and praises her use of mint to keep the dish clean and light, but still full of big flavors. It’s a balance that even the best chefs have a tough time finding, and Addison is only 9. Avery makes a cream of asparagus soup with smoked oysters, crème fraiche, and creole crouton, which earns praise. Gordon is apprehensive about it, but once he gets a mouthful of that insanely vibrant green asparagus soup, he’s no longer worried. Aside from his slightly overcooked oyster (the other judges didn’t have this problem), everything else is great; it’s rustic, but classy. Graham commends Avery for her decision to smoke the oysters; it infuses the dish with a depth of flavor, despite her unevenly cooked oysters. Entrée: Addison makes a miso black cod with bok choy, shittake mushrooms, and coconut ginger broth. Though Addison’s entree looks unbelievable, Gordon has some concerns. Mainly, he’s worried since she broiled the fish, and only cooked one piece, and that she has no idea how it turned out. Before he cuts into the cod, he tells her that the cook on this fish could be worth $100,000. It turns out the fish is cooked perfectly. Graham tells Addison her dish is “so tasty, it’s stupid". However, Christina finds the whole thing a touch too salty. Avery makes a seafood étouffée with crispy okra and white rice. Avery excelled with an étouffée earlier in the season, and even before tasting it, Gordon is impressed with the risk Avery took by cooking lobster, one of the most difficult proteins to get right. Gordon can’t stop heaping praise on the butterlike cook of the lobster. Everything around the lobster is great, too — nice sauce, perfect Creole seasoning — but the lobster is the star. When Christina comments that she wishes Avery had done just a little more, Gordon thinks she’s harping too much on aesthetics. Dessert: Addison makes a green tea panna cotta with cookie crumbles and brûléed plums. Panna cotta is a risky dessert to attempt in such a limited amount of time. The dessert needs to set, otherwise it’s soup. Addison hits a time snag when she cuts her finger and has to stop to get checked out by a medic. Luckily, Addison’s a pro and she plates a perfectly set panna cotta in time. Graham gives a thumbs-up to the texture and flavors, but thinks the proportion of plums is off. Christina thinks Addison got the green tea flavor just right, and loves the cookie crumble, but Gordon disagrees. He thinks the cookie dried out the dessert, and after two perfect dishes, this one just doesn’t make the cut. Avery makes strawberry shortcake with rhubarb and orange chantilly cream. Avery realizes that serving shortcake to Christina Tosi could be disastrous. According to Christina, the cake is buttery and flaky, and the orange cream adds some refinement. Graham likes that with only three-ish ingredients on the plate, Avery proved that less can be more. Gordon seconds that sentiment, and applauds Avery for taking a classic dish and doing it well. Judges' Deliberations: The judges are having a tough time naming a winner, since both girls accomplished what they set out to do. Addison wanted to present a modern and complex meal with bold flavors, while Avery wanted to cook what she cooks best: classic Creole dishes she’d have back at home, but elevated for the occasion. The judges know they need to pick the winner based on the overall menu, and keep in mind that this kid chef should represent the future of their industry. Winner Announced: A Joyful Addison is announced as the fourth MasterChef Junior winner, taking home the trophy and the $100,000 prize, making Avery the fourth runner-up. In addition, Addison became the first female winner, and also the youngest overall winner, while Avery became the second female runner-up (after Dara Yu from Season 1) and the youngest.

References

1. Porter, Rick (January 11, 2016). "Friday final ratings: 'Hawaii Five-0' adjusts up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
2. Porter, Rick (January 19, 2016). "Friday final ratings: 'Reign' and 'Dr. Ken' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
3. Porter, Rick (January 25, 2016). "Friday final ratings: 'Blue Bloods,' 'Reign' and 'Masterchef Junior' hold at season highs". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
4. Porter, Rick (February 1, 2016). "Friday final ratings: 'Vampire Diaries,' 'Originals' and everything else unchanged". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 1, 2016.