Original subtitles

Previously on "MasterChef"...

This is "MasterChef: Dynamic Duos."

This season, we'll be joined by a new judge.

- Ooh! - Please give a warm welcome

to the amazing Tiffany Derry!

Oh, yes!

We began our search for America's best home cook duo...

You are now fighting for a spot in the MasterChef kitchen.

As the first pairs battled it out for a white apron.

Here we go. This is all happening right now.

That's it. Yeah!

Get in there. Pour it on there, come on.

Oh, my God. I'm getting nervous.

Lamb's cooked beautifully. That is a marriage made in heaven.

Tasting this dish is like coming to your house for dinner. Good job.

When Gordon was cutting into the chicken,

there was a moment where my mouth watered.

I said, "Ooh, that chicken look juicy!"

- These aprons go to... - Tina and Aivan!

- Timothy and Athena. - Zach and Michelle.

- Tonight... - Welcome, welcome, welcome.

- The audition battles continue... - Whoo! Let's go.

As more home cook duos go head-to-head...

- Come on, Ash. Let's do it. - We want that white apron.

- Nice flambe. - We're here to win.

- Taking 'em down. - To try and secure a pair

- of coveted white aprons. - You guys know how to make a fire, right?

- You're about to get extinguished. - Ooh, rawr!

I really see the dynamic duo in the dish.

- And you're going to give us an apron for it. - It's a little messy.

- You really shot for the stars. - Here we go.

- And you just missed. - Oh, boy.

Oh, my God.

- I'm just still trying to take in the fact that we're... - We're here.

- Two is better than one. - Two is better than one.

But you got to be twice as good.

I can't wait to cook. Just get in there.

It's so fun to see these duos cook together.

I think it brings a completely different dynamic

- to the competition. - I agree.

Right, the next duo to battle

is Darce and Courtney...

versus Kayla and Ryan Kate.

Standing between us and the MasterChef white apron is two adorable badass babes,

but we got to take them down.

- Aah! - Oh, my God. I'm stoked to be here.

We have some big culinary dreams, and this is not just

"Let's go have fun on 'MasterChef.'"

- We want to change our lives. - Welcome. Welcome.

- Hello! - How are you?

Let's start off with you both. Give us an insight.

- Tell us your name. - My name is Darce.

This is my work bestie Courtney.

We work together in emergency veterinary hospital.

- Wow. - And we are your resident vet nurses.

We work in a very, very intense emergency room.

- Sometimes it's big dogs. Sometimes we've had a wolf. Wolves.

- A wolf? - A couple of snakes.

Seriously? Wow. What about bears?

- Have you ever sort of rescued bears? - This one has seen all of it.

How did this bond with food come together?

It's kind of our escape from the difficulties of the emergency room.

We kind of looked at ourselves and said it kind of feels weird to eat my patients.

So we bonded over turning our favorite dishes vegan.

- Wow. Vegan. - I'm vegan curious.

- You're vegan curious? - Yes!

- I'm so happy for that. - Okay, let's go!

- Ladies, welcome. - Thank you.

Your names and where are you from?

- I'm Ryan Kate. - And I'm Kayla.

- And I'm from... - Wait, wait.

Do we look a little familiar?

- Yes. - Yes, you do.

- Do you see? - Oh, my God.

- Let me see that. - Stop it.

- Y'all were babies! - Season 3. "MCJ"!

- Wow! - A little bit taller.

A little bit prettier, you know.

But you're still wearing the same colors!

- Wait, are we actually? Oh, my gosh, we are! - You are!

- Oh, my God. That's adorable. - Amazing.

- Top five? - Top six.

Top six, and then I got top seven.

- Ryan Kate paired with Kayla. - What are we doing?

We are making pork venison sausage with sautéed vegetables and polenta.

Wow, this dish is amazing.

It is like a classic Italian trattoria dish.

What happened after that competition?

Even though Kayla lives in New York and I live in Texas,

- we stayed in touch and we just kinda kept cooking together. - Love that.

- And we're here to win it this time. - Amazing.

- Great to see you both. Welcome back. - Thank you.

- Thank you so much. We're excited to be here. - Right.

Tonight, you've got 30 minutes to put yourselves on a plate.

And convince us three that you deserve that incredible MasterChef apron,

and put your friendship bond to the test.

- Oh, yeah. - The very best of luck.

Your 30 minutes starts now. Let's go.

- Let's go, baby. Let's go, baby. - Let's go, baby!

- Let's go! - Here we go, Ryan Kate. We freaking got this.

I got your onion here. Thank you.

I'm gonna get the sauce started for the beurre blanc.

Okay, you keep setting up. I'll keep getting the mushrooms rolling.

- You feel good with that? Okay. - Yeah.

Right, Darce and Courtney, give us an insight to the dish.

We are making a vegan lomo saltado with lionsmane.

Typically this dish would be made with a little bit of strip sirloin,

but we're gonna sub out that sirloin

for a lionsmane mushroom.

Wow, so a beautiful stir fry.

- Yup. - Love that.

Kayla and Ryan Kate, what are you cooking?

So we're making a pan-seared sea bass over a bed of lemon garlic spinach.

Wow, When you guys finished the competition first time round,

- what was it like going back to school? - Oh, I was a celebrity.

- I was the, honestly. - I felt like I was the... on the playground.

- It was so much fun. - Later on in life, the hype died down.

So this is to get it back up. You know what I mean?

Rekindle the fire.

We had a lot of fun as kids on "MasterChef Junior,"

but it means a lot more to us this time.

Cooking is something that we want to pursue in the long run.

All right, heavy cream is going in to reduce.

- You're gonna get rice on ASAP. - Yup.

- Rice and water. - Or as we like to say, stat.

- Stat. So 15 minutes gone. 15 minutes remaining.

- Okay? So let's go. Right, Courtney, Darce. - Thank you.

- What are you doing there? Pressing them down? - Yeah, I'm grill-pressing

them down because lionsmanes, they're big and fluffy.

Yeah, so it needs a real firm sear.

- We need to get all that liquid out. - And a nice seasoning as well.

Yes? Now you two clearly can handle pressure,

bringing these incredible animals back to life.

- Oh, yeah. - This is what we do in the E.R.

We talk about food in between seeing cases.

We use this as therapy. Like, still go to therapy, but this is therapy.

Gotcha. Love that. Keep it going. Season everything.

- Thank you, Gordon. - I'm sorry. What is it seasoned with?

- Magic. - Magic, baby.

- Kayla and Ryan Kate. - Hello, Joe.

Let's think about it. Season three, you were little girls.

- I know. - And now you're women

still pursuing this dream of cooking.

- I wouldn't change anything. - Has it intensified over the years?

- It's definitely intensified. - Oh, for sure. Definitely.

- All right, let's talk about the dish. - Yes.

- So pan-seared sea bass. - Sea bass.

- Beurre blanc? - Yes, white wine beurre blanc with some shallots.

- Did you taste that? - Not yet.

- Taste it. - Yeah.

- What does that need? - It needs salt.

Bingo! Taste everything before you put it on the plate. Good luck, ladies.

- Thank you so much. - Ready? Open.

- Sorry. - I think a little more salt. A little more oil.

I have to keep whisking.

There's a clump in it.

- Perfect. Yeah. - It's good now?

You girls are doing amazing.

- You guys got it. - Yeah? Girl power!

Now that there's a female judge back in the MasterChef arena.

- Yeah! Let's go. - We needed a female baddie up in here.

- A baddie, she says. - Duos, five minutes left on the clock.

- Darce, look at these. Yeah. - Mm-mmm!

Honestly, the color on those mushrooms from Courtney and Darcy is exceptional.

- It's gonna be good. - Whoo!

They cooked those mushrooms for 25 minutes.

I hope it's not like eating leather.

- It's the texture of meat. - How's it looking over there?

- It's looking good. Ooh! - Ryan Kate and Kayla.

Very mature cooking. It's a really grown-up dish.

- Should I add just a splash of water? - I don't think so.

- No? - I wouldn't, but whatever you feel comfortable with.

But my worry is the beurre blanc.

They can't get that beurre blanc too thick,

otherwise, it'd be way too rich for that bass.

One minute remaining. Come on!

- We got one minute. - Ooh, it's a heavy boy.

You got it. You got it. You've lifted wolves.

- I know! With two hands though. - You can lift a freaking pan. My God. Come on.

- Spinach in the middle. - This fish is nice.

- I'm going in with rice here, okay? - We got this.

Bring it home. Let's go. - Yes, Chef.

- You want me to go? - Yeah, go.

Salt. You need this. Here. Get it get it on.

- Do you like the sauce like this? - Yeah. I think it's good.

- Five, four... - You got it. You got it.

- Three, two, one. - Yeah!

And stop! Hands in the air! Hands up.

Let's go!

- Well done. - Yes!

- Well done. - Yeah!

- That looks great. - Beautiful.

- Darce, Courtney, how you feeling? - Oh, my God.

- I'm feeling stoked. I can go run a mile right now. - I'm, like, high.

Pressure higher in MasterChef kitchen or E.R.?

I mean, they're pretty comparable.

I don't want to steal this from you, Gordon, but...

- Kayla, Ryan Kate, happy with the dish? - Very happy.

- I think all the components come together cohesively. - All the flavors are on point.

- Good. - It's a slay.

Now for the exciting part of tonight, the taste.

First up, Darce and Courtney, bring your dish forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Today we made for you a vegan lomo saltado

with lionsmane mushrooms, a side of rice,

and a beautiful aji amarillo paste.

I've never had anything like it. So I can't wait to taste it.

- Thank you. - Shall we?

- Yes, please. - Please.

And is that the texture you wanted?

Yeah. We wanted it to be nice and meaty inside.

I'm, like, living for this right now.

- This dish is delicious. - Thank you.

It's got the warmth. It's got the rustic charm. It's very good.

- Thank you so much. - I like a lot of what you have going on.

And honestly the mushroom, I was concerned

that it may be a little dry, but it doesn't read dry at all.

I do need more salt or more soy, or something that's giving some salt,

but the flavor overall, it's really nice.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I love the dish because it's unapologetically vegan.

It's simple. The technique is good, and I say it's the cat's meow.

Ooh, rawr! Thank you.

- I love that. Rawr! - Thank you, ladies.

- Thank you, ladies. - Thank you so much.

It's such a shame we didn't get that balance with the seasoning because that's what it misses.

- You guys did awesome. It looked awesome. - Thank you. You guys did, too.

- Good job. It looked amazing. - Kayla and Ryan Kate, please.

Oh, that plate is stunning. Stunning.

Today for you, we have a pan-seared sea bass

over a bed of lemon garlic spinach with sautéed cherry tomatoes,

a white wine beurre blanc, and toasted panko breadcrumbs.

- Visually it looks beautiful. I love the finesse. - Thank you.

- I can't wait to dig in. Good job. - Thank you.

How did you cook the fish?

I coated the fish in a little bit of flour, salt, and pepper,

just to get a nice crisp on it.

- Yeah, it's glistening. - Awesome.

- Ladies, fish is cooked beautifully. - Thank you.

It's soft. It's moist. However, when you cook fish,

don't cover it with the tomatoes.

- Otherwise it gets soggy, okay? - Okay.

You've got crisp fish. Show it off.

- Okay. - The spinach itself is bright.

There's enough lemon zest in there,

and I like that the beurre blanc has enough butter.

We're not shy with the butter over here, so don't worry.

- She's not shy about anything. - No.

I'm a fan of the seasoned breadcrumbs.

I think they really add a crunch and another aspect of flavor to the dish,

and it makes me very proud and happy to see two contestants after ten years,

come back, present such a mature and well-executed dish.

- Gives me a lot of personal satisfaction, so thank you. - Thank you so much.

- The fish is just gorgeous. - That's why I wanted them to show it off.

- That was good. - Good job.

Ladies, right now we need a moment. Thank you.

Darce and Courtney, yeah, exceptional dish.

Did the mushrooms work? Yes, they did.

- They did! - I'm nervous.

I'm gonna, like, start crying and throwing up.

Ryan Kate and Kayla's sea bass, that was cooked beautifully.

- It was really good. - Yeah.

- We did everything we could. - Right.

Oh, my God.

- Here we go. - Wow, what a battle.

Honestly, for Joe, Tiffany and myself,

it was a really tough call.

But the three of us think that the best dish was cooked by...

The three of us think that the best dish was cooked by...

Kayla and Ryan Kate.

- Congratulations. - Oh, my gosh.

- We did a good job. We did a good job. - It's okay.

Come and get these aprons. Second time around. Well done.

- Congratulations. - Thank you so much.

- Continue to make us proud. - Well done.

- Thank you. - Thank you

- Congratulations. - Thank you so much.

You're welcome. You did it.

Courtney and Darce, keep your heads up.

What you delivered was delicious.

You just needed a little bit of salt

just to kind of balance everything.

- Please head on out. - Thank you guys so much.

Thank you.

- We're so excited! - We're so excited.

It just feels so crazy that we're back.

And this time, it was all the more special

to even be here with you in the first place.

Like, oh, my God.

There's a lot of tough competition here

a lot of great home cooks,

but I'm confident in our duo.

- Sorry. - Such a bummer.

It's totally a bummer to not have gotten those white aprons.

I woke up wanting it more than I ever have this morning,

- and I'm a little bit sad, but, um... - It's okay.

- We did the best. - Yeah, we did.

I just really thought we had it.

Ugh! So close.

- Good job. - Good job.

Right, next up, Javi and Luis...

- Whoa! - Oh!

Versus Trey and Kevin.

- Whoo! - Let's go, baby!

- Let's go! - This is crazy.

- I don't even know where I'm at. - This is... this is...

We do not like to lose, so there's gonna be a lot of talking.

- Whoa. - Oops.

Wow.

We're gonna kick some butt.

We don't think we can win. We know we can win.

And we're gonna go in and we're gonna get our aprons

after we execute this dish flawlessly.

- That's right. - Gentlemen, welcome.

- Gents, let's start with you. - My name is Kevin.

This is Trey. We're from North Carolina.

We started this journey 15 years ago.

Met him at a football game that I was working as a medic and he was in the band.

I was a young college student. This guy was my grandpa. He's 20 years older than me.

So he took care of me, cooked for me,

and I went under his wing and started cooking with him, and here we are.

We are an unlikely duo.

The age difference and the height difference and everything.

- Hair, no hair, uh... - It's one of those things.

It works. It works well, you know?

Amazing. Gentlemen, welcome. Good to see you both.

- What's the connect? - This is this is Luis. I'm Javi.

We're crazy Cuban firefighters representing Miami.

- We met 20 years ago when I was in fire school... - Wow.

- And it's a been a brotherhood ever since then. - I love that.

Now some of the best food I've ever had in Miami is from some of those fire stations.

- Thank you. - Thanks.

I think Luis and I are definitely

one of the best home cooks out there

because we cook in the kitchen

together at the fire house constantly.

- He uses every pot and pan... - It's called flavor.

Dish. Drives me nuts. But the food is delicious.

Honestly, I can tell right now, there's a lot of brotherly love in this kitchen.

- Yeah, for sure. - That's right.

- Yep. - Right. You guys ready?

- Ready. - Yes.

Your 30 minutes starts now.

- Whoo-whoo! - Let's go, guys.

- Let's go, brother. - All right, I'm gonna get

these steaks seasoned first, brother.

- Yep. - All right. You guys know how to make a fire, right?

You're about to get extinguished.

How those carrot's looking, man? You like them?

Oh, yeah, I like them.

Hey, Kev, you bring a stepstool?

No, I think I'll just use my foot and give him a boost.

Height doesn't make a man. I'll show you with my dish. Don't worry.

Right, Trey, Kevin, give us an insight into the dish. What are you doing?

We are doing a lovely filet mignon, some creamy mashed potatoes,

roasted heirloom carrots, and a brandy peppercorn sauce.

- It's gonna be delicious. - Give us an insight to some

of the food you guys cook together.

We're self-certified grill masters.

We love anything that's got open flames.

So we'll get outside and we'll smoke a bunch of meats.

We'll cook big family meals. Put it all on one big plate.

- Let everybody go at it. - Nice.

- You have your own smokers? - Oh, quite a few.

- How many smokers you got, Kevin? - I have a total 20 now.

I've only got five, but, I mean, still.

All right, about a minute on these.

Guys, we're 10 minutes down, 20 minutes remaining.

Got it brother. I'm here.

Ah, here we go.

Javi and Luis, give us an insight to this dish tonight.

- What is it? - So what we're doing

is a healthier option of the Cuban frita,

which is a Cuban hamburger that we make in Miami.

And it's gonna be topped with an apricot bacon jam

- to balance out the sweet and the spicy. - Love that.

- And what's the blend? - So the blend is a lean ground turkey.

But we're infusing it with chipotle adobo sauce and Spanish style chorizo.

- Nice. - Flavor bombs.

So I have to say, turkey burger,

you're taking a big risk. It's got to be really special.

We've done it for years at the fire station.

They keep asking for it. It can't be that bad.

- All right, you got a lot of work to do. - Yeah, I like it.

- Now we're cooking. - Now we're cooking.

Oh, look at that, Kevin. How you feel about that?

Yep, yep, yep. Good, good, good.

So Trey and Kevin, filet mignon. I mean, it's a big one.

It's got no fat in there, so it needs that fat in there,

otherwise it's gonna dry out on top.

- Absolutely. - We've seen so many filets over the years.

So when you say you're gonna make a filet,

you raise the bar for yourself automatically.

- Something has to be amazing about it... - Perfect.

Because we're in the MasterChef kitchen.

Steaks are in the oven. Two minutes in the oven.

- In they go. - Put that right back in.

Our firefighters from Miami, my big worry now is those turkey burgers are in the oven.

Now they may have 20% of that blend in chorizo, I get that,

but it still needs to be submerged and basted.

Have you ever had a turkey burger that's not dry?

- No, I've never... - Exactly. I'm not sure it's the best strategy.

Five minutes to go. Let's go. Come on!

Trey, don't keep on poking it. Let it rest now because it's just come out of the pan.

Every time you poke that thing, you're just gonna let that bleed out.

- Yes, Chef. - Come on, come on.

There we go, come on. Give me this right here.

- 60 seconds to go. - Whoo! Let's go.

- Let's go, baby. Let's go. Let's go. - I know.

It's the final countdown, fellas.

Make sure that mash is nice and creamy.

All right, let's plate. Let's plate.

Where's the salt? Give me the salt.

Need the salt and a little bit... no, pepper. Pepper, sorry.

- Not salt, pepper. - I'm shaking.

- We got this. We got this, bro. - Yeah, put the croutons.

- Where are they? Oh. - Five, four, three...

- Let's go. - Two...

- We got it. - One, and stop.

- Well done. - Goodness gracious, brother.

- Yeah, buddy. Love you, brother. - I love you, brother.

Well done.

Let's start off with Trey and Kevin, please.

Bring your dish forward.

For you, Chef, we have a filet mignon, creamy mashed potatoes,

roasted heirloom carrots, and a beautiful brandy peppercorn sauce.

It's elegant. It looks good.

But it's all about the temperature.

Temp, what we have gone for?

Headed for a medium rare, Chef.

Right, Kevin and Trey. Temp, what have we gone for?

Headed for a medium rare, Chef.

Yeah, it's mid-rare.

- Filet's cooked beautifully. - Thank you, Chef.

It's seasoned beautifully. Sauce is a little bit over-reduced.

It's salty. But it's a really good dish.

- Thank you. - The carrots are maybe

one of my favorite parts of the plate.

They really have great texture.

They are well-seasoned.

- It really was a really good dish. - Thank you, Chef.

You guys paid a lot of attention to the details, the technique.

You can see it all on the plate. It's spot-on.

- Thanks, gents. - Thank you.

- Good job, boys. - It was hot up there.

Javi and Luis, please step forward with the dish.

Today we present to you the Cuban frita burger,

a chipotle turkey burger with bacon jam.

And a side of baby gem Caesar salad with homemade croutons.

I got a little bit nervous when you mentioned turkey burger. Turkey, we know, is bland.

It's an absolute nightmare getting a turkey burger right because they're always dry.

So I'm desperate to get inside there.

Shall we? How long did you cook it for?

- 18 minutes. - 18 minutes?

That's a lot.

- Ooh. - It's not dry.

- Ooh. Wow. - Definitely not dry.

Burger's delicious, obviously.

- Thank you. - I mean, it's spicy.

And the Caesar salad dressing is delicious.

- Great job. - Thank you.

I love the chorizo. That was a very smart move.

But the Caesar salad, the way it's plated feels a little awkward.

- But I really like all those flavors together. - Thank you.

A turkey burger in my life is what I have to eat when my wife cooks.

I've never met one I liked.

But this is the best turkey burger

I've ever had in my life.

The problem is a little bit the details.

You would really never serve a head of iceberg

with a rusty knot on the bottom of it on a dish,

especially in the MasterChef kitchen.

But the flavors are on-point.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

What's atrocious is your bench.

I've never seen more of a disaster zone than that.

You guys have to clean up after yourselves in the firehouse.

- If we cook, you don't clean. - You cook and don't clean.

It's evident.

Gents, thank you.

We need to talk this one out because it is neck and neck.

Excuse us.

- Carrots were perfect. - The filet mignon,

I mean, it looked professional, didn't it?

Yeah. I mean, that whole plate...

Now, that burger kind of blew my mind.

- We're here for a reason, bro. - Yeah.

Okay, are we all in agreeance?

- Yeah. - Yup.

We've come to a decision,

and the MasterChef apron goes to...

Oh, oh!

Oh, wow. What's happening?

Kick ass, boys.

Well, we lost to one of our brothers

in the fire service.

Of course, I'm feeling a little disappointed,

but we're not sore losers.

We know we took a risk with our turkey burgers, but you know what?

We were the underdog, and we had a chance.

- We had a puncher's chance. - We got our aprons, baby.

- Let's go! Whoo! Let's do it! - Got of aprons.

- Whoo! - It feels amazing.

Like a dream come true.

I absolutely think we can win this thing.

And who better to do it with than my best friend?

- Love you, brother. Oh, man, it's so great. - I love you, brother.

Seriously, the dishes that these duos are putting up,

this is already one of the most exciting seasons ever.

I can't wait to see the next battle.

The audition rounds continue, as four dynamic duos

battle it out for a coveted white apron.

A married couple from Pennsylvania

takes on a married couple from Florida,

and the Glamorous Grandmas duel a mother-daughter team.

- Look at these pretty peas! - Milah and Lisa, the Glamorous Grandmas.

We wear ponytails and sweats during the week and pearls on the weekend.

Ah, I like that.

We're not your average grandma. We're your glam-mas.

We like to dress up and put on our fancy pearls and put on our lipstick.

We're not sitting in rocking chairs on the back porch,

- are we, Milah? - Uh-uh. Never.

We are ready to throw down

some good ol' Southern cooking.

We want to win that apron.

We're going to bust our tootsie to get there.

Tonna and Cait, what are you preparing for us this evening?

We are going to bring a little bit of South Dakota to you.

- Yes. - So we are going to prepare a bison steak

- with white sweet potato purée. - Wow.

- Nice and lean. Tricky to cook. - It is.

If you've never had bison, you're going to tonight,

and you're going to give us an apron for it.

Is that what's going to happen?

Yeah!

We are very competitive. There is no doubt about it.

- Absolutely. - We've competed together before.

We've done bodybuilding competitions together.

I think all of that gives us an edge in the kitchen.

- This is ours! - It is.

- I love you. - I love you.

Look up there. Winner, season 15?

- That's us. - That's us.

My name is Julio. This is my beautiful wife Rachel.

And we've been married for two years.

We enjoy cooking together because this is a true passion.

This is what we want to pursue in life.

And for us, those aprons are everything.

We left our jobs. We took a loan to be here.

- So this is all or nothing for us. - We got this, mi amor.

- I love you. - I love you.

Thanks for doing this with me.

- I'm Spencer. - I'm McKenna.

And we're the cozy couple

from Grass Flat, Pennsylvania,

and we've been happily married for...

Three years.

We've never really spent a day apart.

No. We don't do well separated,

which is why it's so great that we're on this season.

Our food together is comfort, cozy food.

- I've gained so much weight. - We both have.

- We've gained a lot of weight together. - We're very happy.

It shouldn't burn you. I think I cooled that.

- Oh! That's so good. Nice. - Yeah, yeah.

- 60 seconds to go. - Whoo!

Let's hurry. Let's hurry up. We got one minute.

- Pretty one, pretty one. - I think she's pretty pretty.

- Perfect. - All right, which pieces do you want me to use?

- These? - Yup.

Bring it home. Let's go.

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Sauce, sauce, sauce.

- Got it. - Is that good?

- Yup. - Let's go. A little oil.

Five, four, three, two, one.

And stop! Well done.

Let's go. We got it.

- We did it. - Well done.

Let's start off with Spencer and McKenna, please.

We hope you enjoy.

We have fried chicken with Southern green beans,

mashed potatoes, and herb gravy.

I love the color on the chicken. Slightly nervous to get a really

good fried chicken done in half an hour.

Big risk in front of Tiffany Derry, let me tell you.

So hopefully it's cooked properly.

- It's definitely cooked. - Very nice.

I love the juiciness on the chicken.

The green beans, you can definitely tell that they've properly cooked.

I know you said herb gravy, but I'm not really tasting much flavor really.

We made gambas al ajilo over some creamy polenta

with some Spanish chorizo and Parmesan crisps.

Visually, it looks beautiful.

I'm loving the color of the shrimp.

The gambas are cooked beautifully.

- Yes. - But I think I'd get through

two or three tablespoons of that polenta

and then I'd have to stop because it's so rich.

But you've nailed the protein.

We have made you a bison steak

on top of a white sweet potato purée,

green beans, and a red wine reduction mushroom sauce.

It's very South Dakota.

- It is very South Dakota. - It is.

That bison is nice. It is nice!

The downside is the grainy mashed potatoes.

The potatoes need to be cooked more.

We're presenting Carolina sea scallops

with puréed parsnips, peas, hearts of palm, and plums.

It is definitely not an old-fashioned dish.

This is modern. This is hip.

The scallops are cooked beautifully.

However, the parsnips are sweet, the plums are sweet,

and so it does need a touch of acid.

We've come to a decision

and the MasterChef apron goes to...

Rachel and Julio...

Yeah!

And Tonna and Cait.

We got an apron! An apron.

This has never felt so good!

Let's go! Thank you.

We put our soul and heart into the dish,

and they could taste it.

Aww.

We are so gutted to not receive an apron.

But we're gonna go home and still cook for our grandchildren.

You'll never keep the glam-mas down.

I'm so disappointed.

- We practiced so long for this. - So much.

And we put it all out there.

And not to get a white apron,

it's like a knife to the soul.

And for our final battle,

Ricky and Ashley...

versus Adam and Joel.

- Hey! - Yeah!

We want that white apron.

We want to prove that we deserve to be in this kitchen together.

Y'all are going down!

Oh, my God.

Ain't nobody got nothing on brothers from the South.

We're coming here to get 250k. We left jobs on hold.

We left kids at home and our families.

There's nothing that's gonna stand in the way of us

whooping up on Ashley and Ricky,

as well as all the other competition.

We're taking them down.

Welcome, guys. How are we feeling?

- Excited. - Love that.

Let's start over here first.

I'm Ricky. I'm from New Jersey.

And this is my sister Ashley.

We come from this big Italian family,

and that's how we remember things,

with food and cooking it.

Who's the powerhouse in this sibling duo?

- I think we both are. - Yeah.

We kind of both bring something special to the table,

so we're ready to show you guys.

- We'll also argue about that. - Yeah, too.

- Gentlemen, welcome. - My name is Joel.

This is my big brother Adam. We're from Athens, Georgia,

and we're here to offer you a little bit of elevated Southern hospitality.

Love that. And this journey started when?

- 35 years ago... - Pretty much.

When we started cooking when we were about this tall.

Could barely see over the counter.

And an insight into the dynamic duo as brothers.

We have a little bit of a kind of clairvoyance and ESP between us.

We're always kind of on the same wavelength.

- You're in sync. - Absolutely.

Right. You guys ready?

- Yes, Chef. - Ready to go.

Your 30 minutes start now!

- Let's go! - Let's go! Let's do it!

- You ready, Ash? - Yep, I'm ready.

All right. Getting the chicken going.

- Come on, Ash! Let's do it. Come on! - All right.

Ricky, are you already sweating over there?

Yes, sir, I am.

Ashley, you see the brother/sister duo we're going against?

- Yep. - Ha, ha, ha, ha! He's got jokes.

- Got jokes. - Once this is cut, I'm gonna turn the pot on

and then go straight from there.

Sorry, these guys are hammering over there.

That's how we keep you from communicating.

- Oh, my God! - Come on. Sibling rivalry.

I have six, so I know what that's like.

- You can push each other harder as a sibling, right? - Absolutely.

It's different even than a marriage,

- and we hope to see that genetic connection. - Sure.

Grandma, Mom, Dad, everyone's going to be proud.

Let's do this. Oops, sorry. Can't curse.

- But let's do this. - But you're seeing that right now.

They're all communicating. They're talking.

It's loud in here. I mean, they are ready.

All right, seafood's about to go in.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Keep going. Keep going.

Ricky, Ashley, what are y'all making?

We are currently gonna be making some...

Kind of takes our play on our Sunday night dinner,

and then we always do a big seafood Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve.

So this is our little take on that.

So one person's making pasta, the other person's making sauce?

- Yes, ma'am. - Yes, ma'am.

Cooking fresh pasta for Joe Bastianich in 30 minutes?

- Yes, sir. - Wow.

- Well, I like the confidence. - What do we think?

Uh, that's almost... need a little more, but it looks good.

This opportunity to get an apron is so important for us

because our biggest influence with cooking

is our grandmother and our dad.

We've learned so much, and we want to

just represent our family here on a plate.

Oh, baby, let's go. This is fun.

Adam and Joel, guys, what are you making for us?

Chef, we got a stuffed chicken thigh

with elevated green beans.

A stuffed chicken thigh? Like a roulade?

- Yes, sir. - So what kind of flavors are we looking for?

- Thanksgiving on a plate. - A lot of sage, a lot of thyme,

- some cranberry sauce. - Is that okra we see?

- Yes, ma'am. - Aww, yeah!

But the dish sounds intriguing, right?

- Right. - Halfway, guys.

15 gone, 15 minutes remaining.

- Let's go. - Yes, Chef!

Oh, we're rolling, baby.

These duos are fighting hard for those aprons.

- It's gonna be tight. - Yes, it absolutely is.

- What do we think? What do you think? - Looks good.

- Hello! - Hey! How are you?

- What's happening? I see y'all are working. - Yes, we are.

- And pasta. - Yes.

- How's it? - It's getting there.

- It's a little soft right now. - Okay.

I probably would put it in the refrigerator.

- Yes. Yes, Chef. Thank you. - All right.

Make sure... diavolo means a little bit spicy,

so make sure we get a little bit of that spice.

- Yes, ma'am. - Behind you, behind you.

I'm stressed about the dough

because we're cooking it for three judges

and it's the main component of the dish.

Without pasta, you can't have pasta.

Ashley and Ricky, the pasta's a little soft,

- like a little extra soft. - Damn.

If I don't nail it, I'm going to be letting my sister down

and our family down and I don't want to do that.

Ah.

So we're 20 minutes down. We have 10 minutes remaining.

- Last 10 minutes. - You want to check on the pasta?

We're going to let it sit in there.

- Nice flambe. - All right.

What you know about okra?

A lot about okra. It's my favorite veggie.

It is actually one of mine as well.

- I love your okra recipe. - Thank you.

- Yup. - You know, I mean, I don't care.

- I eat okra every which way. - 1,000%.

Now, Joe, I heard, on the other hand, he's not a big okra fan,

- so we got to turn him around here. - Yup.

Y'all got a lot working right now.

- Y'all going to make it? - Oh, yeah.

- Good luck, y'all. - Thank you, ma'am.

Our dish is complex. It shows technique.

It shows the love that we have for our family

and food all on one plate, but everything has to be perfect.

I think it's good. I say we slice it. Stop poking it.

We're down to our final five minutes.

- Five minutes to go. - Pasta.

Oh, man, the extra herbs did a thing!

Adam and Joel have a lot going on.

I mean, I'm not sure everything goes together, but it's like,

"These are all of the things we love,

and I'm gonna put it on the plate."

- What do you think? - I tasted it.

- I think it tastes great. - But they are tasting

and they're communicating together,

- which is really nice. - All right, you got your

- lemon zest ready to go? - Rock and roll.

I already have sauce all over me.

- We're doing good. - We are doing good, Ash. Come on.

Wow, Ricky and Ashley, they're on it.

- Dropping in the pasta, Ash. - All right.

My only worry is that pasta

is so soft, and he's got so much flour on it.

But you know what? It's not a bad risk to take

considering you only had half an hour to do it.

All right. I put some sauce in.

- 60 seconds to go. Come on. - Hold on.

We got one minute, so it's going down. It's going down.

Twirl it. In here. Okay, that was the worst twirl of my entire life.

Yeah, try to get it going.

- Sauce? - Yup.

A little more sauce. Put a little more sauce.

- Hold on. Hold on. - Here. You can use this.

- I got it. - Got to make sure we got that going.

Five, four, three.

Touch it up. Touch it up. Touch it up.

- One. - And stop. Hands in the air.

- Well done. - Whoo! Good job.

All right.

- It looks good, man. - Yeah. I like it.

I like it.

The plating's disgusting.

Mm-mm.

Ricky, Ashley,

please bring your dish forward.

Tonight, we made a seafood fra diavolo

with a tagliatelle pasta and anchovy breadcrumbs.

The plate itself, it's a little messy.

- Yes, Chef. - Especially around the corners and the sides

considering you have two people to be able to make sure

- every detail looks nice. - Yes, Chef.

- All righty. - This is surreal.

Yeah. Oh, goodness.

So, you seared all the seafood separately?

Yes. Par-cooked them, and then I slowly added them back into the sauce.

Tried to let it tenderize a little bit in the sauce as well.

- What's your last name? - Napoli.

- "Nopoli." - "Nopoli," yes.

You want the bad news first or the good news first?

- Bad news. - Bad news is...

I just want more of the sauce, though!

Like, it's almost sticking a little bit

- just because it needs a little bit more of that sauce. - Definitely.

- Yes, Chef. - Those are mistakes that you just can't make.

- Definitely. - It's two of y'all.

Good news, sauce is goddarn good.

- I mean, the flavor is popping. - Thank you.

Thank you, Chef. - Pasta's delicious. Seafood's cooked beautifully.

- Thank you. - The right amount of heat is lovely.

But it needs more sauce through there.

But in my opinion, this dish is as good as 90% of the restaurants in New Jersey.

- Thank you. - Good job.

That's really awesome. Thank you.

Well done. Please step back in line.

- Good job, guys. It was incredible. - Nice.

Good job.

In Italy, that's how much sauce they would put on it.

Even they know it needs more sauce.

- Yeah. - I don't agree.

Adam and Joel, please bring us your dish. Thank you.

The dish we made tonight is stuffed chicken thigh

with a mushroom stuffing, green bean casserole,

cranberry sauce, and fried okra.

You can see the technique and texture,

you know, the crispiness, the caramelization,

but I am a lifelong okraphobic.

- Yeah. - But I want to be converted.

- I hope so. - We're going to try.

Chicken's delicious. I mean, honestly, it's exceptional.

I love the sweetness from the purée.

Okra could be a touch crispier, if I'm honest.

- Yes, sir. - But honestly, you've nailed it.

- Well done. - Thank you, Chef.

Y'all know. I done said it. I love me some okra.

- Yeah. - It is not slimy.

It has lots of flavor.

So no matter what he says over here...

- It's a little bit slimy. - Ah, it's not slimy.

- It's a little bit slimy. - It's in the nature of the okra, like you'd like to say.

- We would have liked it to be a little bit crispier. - A little bit.

Yeah, in juxtaposition to the pasta dish,

you guys took a more challenging route

of having to do many different techniques.

The flavors really work together.

- This dish reeks of ambition. - Thank you.

It's a complicated dish.

- Good job, guys. - You, too.

- Good job. - Wow. Two cracking dishes.

We've got a serious debate. Excuse us, please.

Ricky and Ashley, I mean, to get that done in half an hour.

- Yeah. - The depth of that flavor.

- Adam and Joel. - The green beans are cooked well.

- Yeah. - Juicy chicken.

- It was juicy. - Is your heart like...

Yeah.

- Oh, wow. - Oh, goodness.

You four have not made it easy for us tonight,

let's get that absolutely clear.

And on any other night, those two dishes

are good enough to get aprons, let me tell you.

The duo earning their aprons...

Congratulations...

Right. The duo earning their aprons...

Congratulations...

Ricky and Ashley.

Yeah! Whoo!

- Nice job, guys. - Oh, my God.

- Oh! - Thank you, sir.

Congratulations. Really good job.

- Bold move. - Thank you so much.

- Thank you so much. - Adam and Joel,

that's one of the most technical roulades

we've seen in a long time, and the synergy was on point.

You can tell the love and the respect you have.

- Thank you, Chef. - Thank you.

- All four of you, head on out. - Thanks, guys.

- Well done. - Thank you, Chefs. Thank you.

- Congratulations. - Come on. You crushed it. It was awesome.

We were disappointed.

Ricky and Ashley just were slightly better.

Yeah. They made pasta in 30 minutes.

- How incredible is that? - Which is an amazing feat.

We made okra and It got soft.

- Yup. - What a bummer.

I'm a little disappointed, but just to make it

on the competition has been amazing.

- Hey! - Hey! Dad, Gram.

- We got aprons! - We got the aprons!

Yes!

- You proud? - You proud of us?

You know, we wear it all on our sleeve

and we're so proud of you guys representing all of us.

- It's awesome. - Aww.

- Yeah. - You're gonna make me cry.

We're proud of you guys and we can't wait to see what you guys do.

- We love you. - We'll keep making you proud.

Wow. What a night, honestly.

But they'll soon find out that was only half of the battle.

Indeed, my friend.

- Man. - It's exciting.

Next time, it's a big night for the white apron winners.

Congratulations on earning your spot

in this incredible season of "MasterChef: Dynamic Duos."

But there's a twist...

- Oh! - Holy crap.

- We're back! - As the eight eliminated duos

make a surprise return to the MasterChef kitchen.

We've decided that such rare talent deserves a second chance.

Let's go!

I'm crazy happy that I got a second chance.

I want to see if you guys are in sync with your palates.

I'm praying we don't up.

Definitely more of a teamwork scene between them.

I feel like they've learned their lesson from the auditions.

- Two tablespoons of... - Of sugar.

Two tablespoons... I put all salt.

It's weird, it's wonderful,

and it's exactly like both of you.

A definite dynamic duo.

That's the formula that we're looking for in this competition.

It looks like somebody's grandma was cooking all day!

Is that what you want the sauce to look like?

Damn.