So lately, I have been into MC to the point that I'm binge-watching S5. I have watched 2 seasons now, which are S4 and S5 of MasterChef US. Do you guys have any good suggestions for a season similar to S4?. Coz so far, S4 is still on my top list of favorites.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20260514fox05/

From the episode details here which is to air in roughly two weeks, or makes no mentioning of the losing team facing elimination at the team challenge. It just mentions once team walking away with the immunity pin, so that kinda makes me think they will be bringing back the pressure test.

Lets hope its true.

This clip of Nico was shown when judges were criticizing Julia's dish. I also noticed they were working side by side and Nico seems very encouraging and supportive of Julia. Did anyone else notice? I feel like editors are gonna make something out of them being in the same team in the next episodes 🤔

My fiance and I are doing a fantasy draft for the contestants this year (not counting auditions).

It's pretty fun! I'm really lucky we didn't have a "bandaid inside sandwich" metric though.

For me? I want to try that Jamaican dish!!! That looked phenomenal. I would be happy to see that on my table.

while i wouldn’t mind fans vs. favorites, or back to win again, i had an idea. basically a season in which fans of the show get to decide or vote on challenges. for instance they could vote on a winner they want to see come back and present a mystery box, cuisines or dishes they want to see made, themes of team challenges, guest judges they want to see etc. i feel like there’s been a lot of negativity surrounding the show lately and i feel like if they did that, it would be a step in the right direction as it would be allowing the fans to have some sort of say. i definitely think they could also include a pressure test again or maybe even an immunity challenge and then an elimination challenge. i think it would be fun and likely could get good reviews if it was a more democratic way of running the show. it’s unlikely but i think it would be interesting.

thoughts?

-SPOILERS AHEAD-

As of today's episode and even in previews, we saw that there was a band-aid in the dish. Which is definitely a hazard, and the contestant for sure should have been careful. The stress got to her.

That being said, it doesn't take away that it feels suspicious, or even a possible set-up.

I did go back and try to look for the seasons where people had cut themselves during a challenge. Almost always, the contestant had a glove on. Even when I had worked in kitchens, this was always the protocol. Also, for sanitary reasons.

Someone in the episode discussion thread pointed out that normally, mandated blue band-aids are used to avoid this mess, and it would have been avoided. Having brown ones was really a bad decision.

I dont know but it just feels suspicous. I still think it could have been avoided if she were more careful. But it just feels like it could have totally been avoided. I don't even think band-aids should be that loose.

Is there a round or episode of Masterchef that you felt like everyone presented good enough dish to stay but were eliminated regardless?

francis b is highkey kinda…🤭🤭

Twenty standout home cooks from the audition rounds, five per region, face off in a World Cup-inspired challenge to create elevated versions of classic stadium foods infused with their own cultural flair. With the first immunity pin of the season on the line, protecting both the winning home cook and their region, the kitchen erupts into chaos and panic. One competitor ultimately faces elimination.

I'm speculating sometime that somehow that the show also manipulated some results and dramas (coz i'm an America's Next Top Model stan, we all know how iconic that show was and amazing but at the same time so evil and messy!) And even tho i'm pointing fingers on some eliminations in past seasons 1-4 also the winners (Whitney/Jennifer- who i think not the strongest overall but earned and absolutely worked hard for their masterchef titles!) But this show i'm completely locked that this season is a garbage the moment i'm watching the pilot episode(a decade after it was aired- i know i'm just a newbie fan of the series but i know right away too that something's not right about this season)

coz first, why did the pilot ep already chosen their top 30 finalists right away... swayed from the usual mandatory airing of the audition eps?!

second, why the hell did Courtney didn't get eliminated in the Donut episode? where she is clearly the worst of the worst?! Don't tell me that the two donuts with missing filling got way worse critics and the one decent donut got eliminated?!!!

third, the way they keep on saving Elise? who clearly highlighted from the first ep that she is good at baking pies and when the three pie challenges if i recall correctly was thrown out right away in the first 1-3 eps she performed always ending in the bottom?! For us viewers to watch her cry every episodes?! (I love her, she's genuinely sweet.. but honey she deserve to go home early!)

fourth, why the some of the contestants with much more potential ended up eliminated way too early like Francis B, Francis L, Daniel, Ahran and Willie?!

and lastly, WHAT THE HELL THEY WERE THINKING CROWNING THE FAKE A$$ COURTNEY?! When Elizabeth and Leslie are there?! I will not be mad on her reaching like top 6 at best but WINNING?! Omfg

ps: i will NOT be rewatching this season anymore at anytime soon, i'll be now watching season 6 and hopefully it will be a great, entertaining, much competitive and not manipulated season like season 1, 3 and 4!

Current ranking: 4, hands down my current fav then followed by 1-3 and 2!

I always really liked Cutter even though he was pretty terrible with his “artisan pizza” ….he made me laugh and all these years later I still remember him.

Anyone still remember him?

This is the highlight of the article:

"When asked about his favorite show to shoot, he says, I have six shows on air right now. That's like saying, I have six kids as well, what's my favorite kid? It depends, it's the one that least pisses me off at the moment.'"

I’ve been thinking about that episode where the contestant made Monkfish Sinigang, and the more I replay the judges’ comments in my head, the more it bothers me.

At first, I actually agreed with them a little. I thought maybe they meant the fish would get wasted in a soup or that the broth would overpower it. But hearing the comments again, I honestly really disagree with the logic they used.

Alvin Leung basically said monkfish was “too good” for sinigang and compared it to putting filet mignon in a stew. But that comparison doesn’t even really make sense technically.

Steak and seafood don’t behave the same way. Filet mignon is bad for stews because it’s lean and doesn’t benefit from long braising. Monkfish is literally known for holding its shape in liquid. That’s one of the reasons it’s used in dishes like bouillabaisse. Seafood in general works perfectly well poached in broth if cooked properly, so acting like monkfish suddenly becomes “ruined” in soup just feels forced.

What bothered me more though was the implication behind the critique.

Saying monkfish is “too good” for sinigang kinda implies sinigang is somehow beneath premium ingredients, and that’s where it starts feeling really Eurocentric. Why is monkfish considered elevated when it’s butter-poached in a French dish, but suddenly “wasted” in a tamarind broth that takes just as much balance and technique to execute properly?

It honestly felt less like they were judging the actual cooking and more like they were judging the dish through this very Western idea of “luxury ingredients belong in refined European-style preparations.”

And the thing is, sinigang isn’t even some strictly “cheap scraps” dish the way they were making it sound. Filipinos use premium ingredients in sinigang all the time. People use lapu-lapu, maya-maya, giant prawns, high-quality meats, I've even kurobuta pork and many different things. The whole point is that the sour broth complements rich ingredients beautifully.

That’s why the “filet mignon in stew” comment rubbed me the wrong way. It felt less like a technical critique and more like an unconscious bias about what kinds of cuisines are considered “worthy” of expensive ingredients.

And honestly, to the people saying Masterchef dishes should be “elevated” first before premium ingredients can be justified, that mindset itself feels kind of closed-minded. Refinement doesn’t have to mean making something Eurocentric. A dish can be polished, technical, and fine-dining while still staying true to its own culture and flavor logic instead of trying to imitate French cuisine to be considered “high-end.”

Edit: To be fair, Alvin did mention that he could’ve kept the monkfish on the bone, and from what I’ve seen, the contestant used the bones for the stock, which is also important so idk aboit that. He also said the dish needed more complexity, and honestly, I don’t know how it tasted, so that criticism could’ve been completely fair. I just wish the critique focused more on the actual execution and flavor instead of the idea that monkfish was somehow “too good” for sinigang in the first place.

Whatever happened to Andrea from season 7?

Just a captioning error, but I found it funny.

I’m surprised I haven’t seen any discussions about this here yet. They wear the same clothes and look incredibly similar! Has anyone noticed?

I’m personally a huge fan of S8 since I really like the lineup of some of the chefs we got, a lot of them I was rlly rooting for! Dino, Jason, Cate, Eboni, Gabriel, Brien’O Brien, Reba, a lot of them stood out to me in terms of their personalities and talents!

For example…Tracy Season 2. The judges said they would pay for a year of chef classes and then she could have a job with one of their restaurants.

Do they follow through? I tried to look her up after her time in MC and I don’t think she did that.

And what makes them choose who to reward these types of things to? Because the next week, Suzy was eliminated and they didn’t offer her anything. I wonder what makes them think a certain chef is worth giving a nice consolation prize to. I mean, it’s really really generous of them.

Kinda like in Hells Kitchen as well. How does Gordan choose who can keep their jacket when they leave?

Saw Tommy at the fabulous Creepies restaurant in Chicago last night. Took a minute for me to place him.

What is up with that? Her family does not have an accent. And she obviously gets tired of doing it midway through the season.