Masterchef (US) - General Discussion

[susannot]

It's my understanding that last season's inner Grant will be on the show partnered with last season contestant Wayne Lewis.  Can anyone confirm?  Wayne Lewis is kind of a big deal here in my area so I'm excited.

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

yes! 

I was disappointed that the divorced couple didn't get aprons. that could have been a juicy storyline featuring conflict!

I'd rather watch newlyweds still in the honeymoon phase than people who have been divorced for 16 years.  Too much manufactured drama already in a lot of cooking shows.  JMO.

[Trey]

I wonder if the losing team from the first competition will somehow magically secure a spot on the show.  The judges made such a big deal about hating to see them go.

Good to see Tiffany Derry replacing Aaron Sanchez.

 

 

[dmeets]

I’m shocked that FOX would let the one divorced team leave before the competition really begins. I’m convinced there will be a sudden death for a final pair of aprons, which they’ll win (probably against J-squared).

[eel2178]

23 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

I was disappointed that the divorced couple didn't get aprons. that could have been a juicy storyline featuring conflict!

Me too. I thought they would be fun to watch.

[Colorado David]

i was surprised, i thought sure that was a producer favorite couple.  the drama would have been off the chart. were they italian, i cant remember?

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

i was surprised, i thought sure that was a producer favorite couple.  the drama would have been off the chart. were they italian, i cant remember?

No, they were speaking Spanish, not Italian.

Frankly, the male ex looked kinda meanish? So I'm glad they didn't win. I don't need no extrrraaaaaz drama as it is.

[Colorado David]

ah k.  i didnt get the mean vibes but i will take your word for it. he seemed more quiet.

[oliviabenson]

19 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

ah k.  i didnt get the mean vibes but i will take your word for it. he seemed more quiet.

maybe he is a good listener and likes to follow directions. or she beat him down.

[mlp]

Here we go again.  On the positive side, I'm very happy to see Tiffany Derry replacing Aaron whom I haven't cared for since he was on Chopped.  On the negative side, I don't like the couples format.  We're going to have a whole season of hugging and kissing and eventually quarreling and other things that don't belong in a supposedly serious cooking competition.  I can see it coming.

[KeithJ]

Was there really any question that the Masterchef Jr women were going to make it through? Also, not sure why you’d choose to make a burger (let alone a turkey burger) for your Masterchef audition.

Not sure I really like the battles format as it probably pushes a few teams through that shouldn’t go through.

I also have to add, unless it’s a lighting issue, Gordon’s medium rare seems to constantly change from show to show. Tonight’s mid-rare looked closer to rare to me and sometimes I’ve see what looked like medium pass as mid-rare.

Edited May 29 by KeithJ

[GHScorpiosRule]

16 hours ago, KeithJ said:

Was there really any question that the Masterchef Jr women were going to make it through?

Nope. And now I must go back to season 3 when they were both on in the Masterchef Junior show.

I wonder about all the contestants, or would be contestants, who are pure vegetarian/vegan coming onto shows like this, considering that meats are cooked; use of dairy products as well. How far would the Animal ER women have gotten if they had made it through?

And now, I BETTER get an episode of Gordon cooking and the camera staying focused on HIM, instead of the 'ooh!' and 'aaahhh' expressions of the contestants!

Wot???

[Deskisamess]

So so glad the "Glam-Ma's" didn't get aprons. So much schtick.

[mertensia]

Like I believe Gordon wasn't told about the Junior contestants ahead of time. 🙄

Like I believe there was any question about their getting aprons.

[dmeets]

And of course next week is the second chance competition. Congrats in advance to the divorced couple.

[Diana Berry]

On 5/28/2025 at 9:18 PM, KeithJ said:

Was there really any question that the Masterchef Jr women were going to make it through? Also, not sure why you’d choose to make a burger (let alone a turkey burger) for your Masterchef audition.

Not sure I really like the battles format as it probably pushes a few teams through that shouldn’t go through.

I also have to add, unless it’s a lighting issue, Gordon’s medium rare seems to constantly change from show to show. Tonight’s mid-rare looked closer to rare to me and sometimes I’ve see what looked like medium pass as mid-rare.

It looked Raw  I tell you Raw as it’s flung across the room 

[Pietr]

Well they finally found the gimmick too far.   After years of hate watching this show, I finally deleted it from my schedule.

I'm FREEEEEEEEEEE  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited June 3 by Pietr

[joanne3482]

On 6/2/2025 at 11:32 PM, Pietr said:

Well they finally found the gimmick too far.   After years of hate watching this show, I finally deleted it from my schedule.

I'm FREEEEEEEEEEE  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm 9/10ths of the way to freedom. I haven't watched last week's episode yet. That doesn't bode well for me watching the rest of the season. 

[KeithJ]

Four more duos.  I am guessing grandma and the divorced couple will be two of them.

[cameron]

12 hours ago, KeithJ said:

Four more duos.  I am guessing grandma and the divorced couple will be two of them.

Actually the grandma duo didn't make the cut.  Guess her overdone lip augmentation didn't do the job.

[KeithJ]

Just now, cameron said:

Actually the grandma duo didn't make the cut.  Guess her overdone lip augmentation didn't do the job.

Yeah. All the grandma team had to do was not mess up and I'm pretty sure they would have gone through. There was no way they could push them through with their broken sauce though.

[SHERMDOG]

On 6/5/2025 at 7:49 AM, KeithJ said:

Yeah. All the grandma team had to do was not mess up and I'm pretty sure they would have gone through. There was no way they could push them through with their broken sauce though.

THANK GOD they didn't get thru. I'm not sure I could of endured looking at all that crappy plastic surgery. Shechsd duck lips for Pete's sakes!!

[mlp]

Ditto on the botoxed grandma.  I would have preferred the firemen to the divorced couple because that woman is going to be shrieking and carrying on every episode.  I'm already sick of her.

[Colorado David]

i dont mind azu and her hubby they seem fun

[oliviabenson]

I haven’t watched a few seasons. I’m liking this one so far. I’m on episode 3.

[Deskisamess]

If the glam-ma's had made it, I would have deleted it from my recordings and not watched the rest of the season.

[Tango64]

Who responds to “elevated, restaurant quality dinner party” with a hamburger? Even without those instructions, who goes on Masterchef and thinks a hamburger will wow them?

And then the hamburger was terrible, too. 

[mlp]

1 hour ago, Tango64 said:

Who responds to “elevated, restaurant quality dinner party” with a hamburger?

That made no sense.  I didn't think the all corn dish did either so I thought one of those pairs would be eliminated.  I was surprised when it was the guys but, after thinking about it, I'd guess that serving an unopened mussel is what did them in.  That was bad on several levels.

I liked all of the top three and would have been happy for any of them to win.

[mertensia]

I mean, good lord. I am not elegant at all and I know a hamburger - which looked unappetizing - is not an appropriate dish.

And corn 4 ways? Boring.

[seacliffsal]

I was underwhelmed by the appearance of so many of those dishes.  But, I was overwhelmed by how many participants there were.  So, maybe it all balanced out?

I like the idea of duos but think there are way too many participants.  Hard to keep track.  I think they should have split them into two groups (similar to Crime Scene Kitchen) and then rejoin the two groups when the numbers are lower.  Nevertheless, I am glad the show is back.  On the total plus side, I felt like all 3 of the judges had very good critiques of the dishes.

As for the conspiracy theorist in me, I find it very 'coincidental' that the contestant from Masterchef Junior had the exact same cut accident that she had when previously on the show.  Ok, I'll take off my tin foil hat now...

Although I don't think they will win (or even last that long), I really like the Asian mother and daughter and especially the mom's excitement of being in the top three.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

I was underwhelmed by the appearance of so many of those dishes.

Same. I was hoping for a triple elimination, just based on all the critiques they got.

2 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

I really like the Asian mother and daughter and especially the mom's excitement of being in the top three.

I thought they were niece/aunt? Not really paying attention, so maybe they are mother/daughter.

What I am really enjoying, and maybe it's because they are two different shows, but I like how Gordon and Joe aren't trying to "one up" each other, or argue or are repeating the dynamic of Blaise the arrogant whiner from Next Level Chef, just to be contrary.

And I'm just biding my time for when Gordon demos his cooking skillz!

Wot? You know it's coming.

[Colorado David]

4 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

As for the conspiracy theorist in me, I find it very 'coincidental' that the contestant from Masterchef Junior had the exact same cut accident that she had when previously on the show.  Ok, I'll take off my tin foil hat now...

Although I don't think they will win (or even last that long), I really like the Asian mother and daughter and especially the mom's excitement of being in the top three.

I kinda disagree, i am a super klutz and have injured the same spot many times. Plus she might get nervous for the cameras and get shaky. I would. but i do get your point.

i like them too they give off good vibes.  and dinner party hamburgers? i don't even do hamburgers for a regular meal, that is quick last minute throw together when you have zero time. do our younger people consider hamburgers 'fancy'? 

[jcbrown]

I knew there was no way they were kicking off the vegans before they have a chance to gross them out by making them cook meat (which they should absolutely expect to happen).

Agreed that vegans and the burger duo got lucky when the other team served scallops cooked to rubber bands and potentially lethal mussels.

[seacliffsal]

12 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Same. I was hoping for a triple elimination, just based on all the critiques they got.

I thought they were niece/aunt? Not really paying attention, so maybe they are mother/daughter.

What I am really enjoying, and maybe it's because they are two different shows, but I like how Gordon and Joe aren't trying to "one up" each other, or argue or are repeating the dynamic of Blaise the arrogant whiner from Next Level Chef, just to be contrary.

And I'm just biding my time for when Gordon demos his cooking skillz!

Wot? You know it's coming.

Unsurprisingly, I agree with all of your points...

Oh, and the Asian team may be aunt/niece as I only pay half-attention until Gordon looks like he's getting ready to demonstrate his mad skills to the contestants!!!

[eel2178]

On 6/12/2025 at 1:18 AM, mertensia said:

And corn 4 ways? Boring.

Did anyone else think that looked like an (intended to be) inedible Halloween decoration?

[blackwing]

I have not watched this show in years.  I mean, years and years and years.  I think the last season I watched was when the blind lady (Christine?) won.  I remember some people here (or probably at Previously or maybe even TWoP) were saying she was faking being blind because she reacted to "seeing" the sea urchin.

That said, I guess I was looking for a cooking competition show after finishing Next Level Chef, and the promos for this one got me.  I enjoy the duos aspect of the show.

I have a dumb question since it's been so long since I've seen this show... do the teams submit their recipes and ingredients in advance?  For the episodes that have already aired, it seems like they had exactly everything they needed.  On one of the episodes, the teams ran to the back to get salt and other spices but I don't think I saw much in the way of actual ingredients.

So the teams knew exactly what they were going to cook in each of the rounds and some of them still screwed it up.  Will be interesting to see the future challenges when they get told what to cook.  Or will some of the episodes still be "make whatever you want and here are all your ingredients already".

The audition episodes were boring though.  Didn't like the 1 v. 1 aspect of it, but then I guess they brought back the 8 eliminated duos for another chance.  I would have preferred if they had just looked at 8 on one day and cut two, and then 8 on the next day and cut two.

The teams I like the best are the Vietnamese aunt/niece, the Italian brother/sister, the blond bartenders (Jess and Jesse?).

I reserve most of my irritation for the vegans.  They have two things they talk about.  1) Being vegan and their food is all vegan.  2) They are animal vet ER nurses.  Did you know that they are animal vet ER nurses?  I think I might not have known, had not every other sentence out of their mouths reference the fact that they are animal vet ER nurses!

How can a vegan team expect to survive on this show?  It's a cooking show, I want to see them be forced to cook meat.  I'm sure we are going to see them kvetch about it.  Are they going to taste it along the way?  I hope they whine about not wanting to compromise their morals or whatever and then end up serving a complete raw piece of chicken or pork to Gordon.  I want Gordon to dump that plate right into the garbage.

Loved that he slammed them for inviting him to a dinner party and then serving him just corn.  I love that they thought they were being edgy and innovative by serving "corn four ways" and then Tiffany telling them she couldn't even taste the corn in the pasta.

Not liking the gimmick of the divorced couple.  Really don't need to hear about their relationship the entire time.  I realise they have a 19 year old son and divorced when he was 4.  But the guy has remarried and yet the ex-wife is over there all the time and said that he, she, the son, and the second wife are all one big weird family?  The second wife is awfully patient and kind.

I think she said that she is Mexican and he is Spanish, so I wonder whose cuisine is going to dominate.  Probably hers.  She seems like the alpha, I would not be surprised if she was the one that insisted on getting divorced but then dictated the terms that they were still going to be a family and she would be over all the time, she just doesn't have to be in his bed.

The MasterChef Junior duo, seems kind of unfair that they already have a pre-existing relationship with Gordon.  The one that said she sliced off the top of her finger, so the nail and all is gone? 

On 6/11/2025 at 8:00 PM, Tango64 said:

Who responds to “elevated, restaurant quality dinner party” with a hamburger? Even without those instructions, who goes on Masterchef and thinks a hamburger will wow them?

And then the hamburger was terrible, too. 

I wanted to like this team so much.  Beautiful mother and daughter, from South Dakota.  Kind of gave me Ree Drummond vibes with the kind of ranchy homestyle food.  Then they got snippy with each other.  Mom told daughter to flip the burgers, then Tiffany said it wasn't cooked and the daughter blamed the mom, then the mom later said "you were too busy yelling at me".  I hope they pull it together.  I liked their dish in the auditions, I hope they can find a way to bring across the essence of South Dakota but also understand the assignment.

Edited June 17 by blackwing

[noctis87]

Seriously, twelve teams? Felt like a culinary mosh pit. Hard to keep track of who’s who, and honestly? Some of those "elevated" dishes looked… well, let’s just say Gordon’s face said it all.

Loved the aunt/niece Vietnamese duo (Tina & Aivan? Yes, aunt/niece we all got that wrong). Pure joy when they made top three! Meanwhile, the vegans… oh boy.

Corn four ways? Seriously? I like corn, but an entire corn menu? Gordon looked like they handed him a cob still in the field. Tiffany couldn’t even taste corn in the corn pasta. How?! And yes, they are ER nurses for animals. Shocking, right? They mentioned it. Once or twice. Or fifty times. How did they survive? Pure luck

Random thoughts:
- Still think they should split the teams into groups. 12 is insane.  
- That Cajun pasta looked like a Halloween prop gone wrong.

[Tango64]

“I can’t believe I’m freaking cooking a chicken!”

”Oh my god, I’m freaking using chicken stock!”

I really dislike the vegan pair. (I think they’re animal ER nurses or something like that???) Live vegan if you want, but it’s ridiculous to go on Masterchef and act all amazed that you need to cook protein. 

[mertensia]

Dan and Michelle (?) - the couple who.went home - had the ugliest, messiest plate. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Huh. For some reason this didn’t record. Will check out on Hulu later today.

[seacliffsal]

Enjoyed the episode.  Really happy the aunt/niece did well with the short ribs (and ignored Gordon's advice!!!).  I thought all 3 top teams had good looking dishes.  I don't like octopus, but it did sound good.

Thought the couple who won last week and took the duck for themselves, should have gone home IMO as their dish looked really not good.

Still way too many contestants (I know there were 11 teams, but that means 22 people running around).

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 hours ago, mertensia said:

Dan and Michelle (?) - the couple who.went home - had the ugliest, messiest plate. 

It’s Zach and Michelle, but they were saved. The brother/sister team Rick and Ashley got sent home.

[Colorado David]

i would never save duck for my choice, it is a fussy protein to work with.  pick something easy for god's sake. i love that the octopus couple nailed it, that cannot be an easy thing to tackle. and kudos to the aunt and lady (cant pull the names), doing a shaved short rib was brilliant as an alternative to gordon's pressure cooker suggestion. luv me some good korean style bbq shaved beef, super tasty.

[lilysmom]

My advice would be, if you are ever on this show, avoid winning an "advantage!" It always puts a target on your back because Gordon designed it that way. Either you have to explain why you assigned a particularly difficult protein to a certain team (how about, there is one protein for each team and someone has to get it!) or you have to assign people to work with each other (again, everyone has to be matched with someone.) but you suddenly are framed as a villain. 

And, of course, Zach and Michelle were not eliminated this week. What would be the point to have them become villains and then they are gone before any revenge can be dealt to them? Just sayin!

[mertensia]

10 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

It’s Zach and Michelle, but they were saved. The brother/sister team Rick and Ashley got sent home.

Whoops.

[Deskisamess]

What they did to that steak was criminal. Yikes, what knowledgeable chef does that?

[GHScorpiosRule]

9 minutes ago, Deskisamess said:

What they did to that steak was criminal. Yikes, what knowledgeable chef does that?

I know, right? 9 times out of 10, whenever contestants say “we cook this ALL the time” they will fuck it up. The exception in this episode were Jessica and Jesse. They talked the talk and proved they could do what they did with the prawns.

I really like them and Julio and Rachel.

[blackwing]

I'm disappointed that Ricky and Ashley went home, I liked their dynamic.  Especially after the sister said this is the most she has seen him in a long time.  The rub on the filet was a poor choice and their food did look bad.

Zach and Michelle's duck was a disaster as well.  I don't know why they picked one of the hardest proteins for themselves.  It was probably arrogance, "look at us, we took one of the hardest proteins and we NAILED IT, we are clearly at the top".  Except it looked awful.

I'm tired of Azu.  I think the judges were exactly right, they were working independently and didn't really care about working as a team.  They got called out on having a plate with just venison and potatoes and scrambled to put together a "salad".  That wasn't a salad.  That was just raw mustard greens with oil dressing.  I wish they had gotten called out more on the fact that they didn't do anything besides put the greens on the plate.
 

On 6/18/2025 at 8:05 PM, Tango64 said:

“I can’t believe I’m freaking cooking a chicken!”

”Oh my god, I’m freaking using chicken stock!”

I really dislike the vegan pair. (I think they’re animal ER nurses or something like that???) Live vegan if you want, but it’s ridiculous to go on Masterchef and act all amazed that you need to cook protein. 

I can't stand them and I was expecting a disaster dish.  "This is my worst nightmare."  Why?  Because she had to touch the chicken?  I want Gordon or better yet, Nasty Joe, to tell them that they can't be on the show and expect to not have to touch meat ever.