Original subtitles

(Male announcer) Previously on MasterChef...

The final 18 home cooks entered the kitchen for the first time.

The kind of dessert that give you [bleep] for a month.

(Announcer) For two contestants, it was also their last time.

Tonight, the competition heats up

as the remaining 16 face their first team challenge.

There's no pizza.

(Announcer) They'll struggle with the massive scale...

Look out, Max. (Announcer) And each other.

Been cooking meat for twice as long as he's been alive.

(Announcer) Tonight, another home cook's MasterChef's dreams

will come to an end.

MasterChef 2x09 Top 16 Compete Original Air Date on June 21, 2011

== sync, corrected by elderman ==

The remaining 16 amateur cooks have arrived

at the L.A. Times building in downtown Los Angeles

and they're about to face their first

MasterChef team challenge.

We walk into the L.A. Times cafeteria.

There's equipment that I've never seen.

This is gonna be chaos.

Good morning.

Welcome to one of the busiest cafeterias

in downtown Los Angeles.

This dining hall is attached to a building

where over 1,500 employees work.

Wow.

(Gordon) Come 12:00,

this place becomes a madhouse.

The office workers in this building

don't have time to waste.

All they want

is their meal.

I never liked cafeteria food.

It's very low quality,

so I'm not really thrilled.

So here's your challenge:

Create and serve an amazing soup,

a salad, a pizza,

and today's special entree,

followed by dessert.

You've got 2 1/2 hours to prep and 2 hours

to serve 350 guests.

I've fed 50 people myself once out of my kitchen

with two days of preparation.

This is going to be a disaster.

You'll split into two teams.

Those teams will be chosen by the cooks

with the best dishes in last night's elimination test.

That's Max and Derrick.

I am nervous, because part of being a chef

is controlling people, it's delegating,

and I'm very non-confrontational.

So this is gonna be hard for me.

Okay, time to pick your teams.

I am freaking out, first off,

because I'm not the team lead,

but also I really don't want to be on Max's team,

because his arrogance is through the roof.

This first pick, for me, sort of sets the tone

in terms of who you think is the most talented cook.

First pick is who?

(Max) I'm going for speed

and experience in the kitchen.

Christian.

(Gordon) Christian.

Derrick. I pick Suzy.

I chose Suzy because I know Suzy can cook.

Max, choice number two.

Alejandra.

(Gordon) Alejandra.

Adrien.

What are you thinking of now, Max?

Giuseppe.

(Gordon) Giuseppe.

He can make a pizza pie.

[Laughter]

Alvin, come on.

Max, what's going through your mind now?

I need somebody who can do some prep work

and prepare simple cuisine.

Tony.

As a 52-year-old guy,

I'm definitely gonna have some problems

with an 18-year-old barking orders at me.

(Gordon) Let's go.

Derrick.

Ben.

[Laughter]

I'm gonna give this to Tracy.

(Gordon) Tracy.

Gonna take Aaron.

I'm gonna choose Esther.

(Gordon) Esther.

I trust Jenny.

Right. So here we go.

Max, think carefully.

Christine's very emotional and a little bit

off the rack and I want stable personalities.

Jennifer.

I think that it's hilarious

that I'm the last person picked.

(Gordon) Christine.

They just don't know what they're up against.

Each team will have 2 1/2 hours to prep

and just 2 hours to serve.

If you run out of something,

you've only got yourselves to blame.

The losing team

will face a pressure test.

On the back of that pressure test,

somebody will be leaving MasterChef.

Are you ready? All: Yes, chef.

Your time starts...

Now.

(Announcer) The teams have 2 1/2 hours

to prep 5 courses for 350 lunch patrons.

Huddle, huddle, huddle.

(Announcer) But first, they have to plan their menus.

Wait. Horseshoe, horseshoe, horseshoe.

I really think we should do the lasagna.

(Adrien) We should do lasagna 'cause everyone's coming in at once.

Yeah, lasagna for sure.

I'm hesitant about lasagna,

but Suzy's confident she can get it done.

Guys, I think we're good.

I've never made lasagna before. [Laughs]

Let's talk about pizza, guys.

[Overlapping chatter]

Everyone's kind of all talking at once

and throwing out ideas.

But luckily, all of us just agreed and we went for it.

Christine and Ben, you're gonna start on the pizza.

Suzy and I are doing lasagna.

Alvin and Aaron,

you guys are gonna start on the soup.

Good luck, everybody.

Good luck.

(Announcer) Over on the blue team,

18-year-old Max is rising to the challenge

of being a team leader.

(Max) Tracy, you will be doing a salad.

We're gonna be doing sliders,

I'm gonna leave that up to Christian.

So what do we think about, like,

maybe some mini bleu cheese bacon burgers for our entree?

No! No, no, no.

None of my input was taken into consideration at all.

Giuseppe, pizza's on you.

I'm not gonna question your taste on that.

You're doing chicken chili.

Dessert, we're gonna do cookies.

Let's go. Let's go.

Suzy, how is this pasta?

Yeah, it's done.

On the red team, you know,

we're keeping our heads pretty tight together.

I've got Aaron and Alvin.

They're working on the soup.

Suzy and I are doing lasagna.

Ben is gonna be working on the pizza,

but at the same time, he's also gonna

be putting together a strawberry dessert.

And Adrien and Jenny, they're putting together a salad.

I'm just worried about getting all those people all at once,

'cause that's how it's gonna be.

I work as a waiter, so I know what lunch rush is like.

Two hours at lunch is gonna seem like an eight-hour day.

That's half an hour gone. Two hours left of prep.

Garlic! Garlic! Garlic!

Garlic! I'm on that next!

Max, all right, talk to me about your menu.

All right, we're gonna keep it very fresh and simple.

We're gonna do a salad, heavy on the vegetables.

Nuts and the cheese on the side.

(Gordon) Okay? Soup?

(Max) We're doing a chicken vegetable chili.

The pizza, we're doing arugula and prosciutto on top.

(Gordon) Okay.

(Max) Gonna be doing little burgers.

(Gordon) Okay, so it's like a slider?

(Max) Yeah. Dessert, we're doing cookies.

(Gordon) Okay.

Make sure that you're over

absolutely every little detail, okay?

Absolutely, chef. Thank you. Let's go.

(Announcer) Now that the teams have their menus in place,

the focus is on the special of the day.

We're gonna do a mom-style lasagna.

Okay. Yeah.

Where is the eggplant going? In the lasagna?

It's gonna go in the lasagna.

How you gonna cook it? You gonna grill it?

Thinking about grilling it or sauteing it.

Mushy. Ideally, fry it and get it crispy

and then it'll give you some texture in the lasagna.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, all right.

Joe looks at me and he's like,

"You should, like, fry those eggplants."

But we don't have a deep fryer.

And I'm like, "I'll just figure something out."

I'm ready to own this challenge.

(Announcer) Although the blue team settled

on mini slider burgers,

they didn't check on the size of their buns.

Did you see the size of the buns? No, what are they?

(Tony) [Bleep] 5 inchers.

We can work around that.

We had agreed that we were gonna do sliders.

Tony doesn't want to do sliders

because we have full-size buns.

Max says cut 'em in a cookie cutter,

but that's gonna take up a lot of time.

Tony doesn't want to listen to me.

He doesn't want to sit there

and freaking punch out smaller buns,

because he's lazy.

Yeah, it's not about Max.

It's not about me.

This is all about time.

I keep an eye on my time and I get things done, period.

Max!

Has that been tasted?

Have you tested that?

Uh, no. If you haven't tested it,

why are you making them?

Okay.

So you make your mix,

you cook one off, and you adjust.

Yes, sir. More salt, more seasoning.

But don't make 300 without tasting one.

Stop.

I really should have been on top of that

and approved whatever the [bleep] he was putting in there.

See? That's bland.

That is bland.

I can fix that right now.

I just assumed that a guy like Tony

would know how to season meat.

Guess looks can be deceiving.

"Meat's" my middle name. I got no problem with meat.

Been cooking meat for ice as long as he's been alive.

(Announcer) For the first MasterChef team challenge,

the teams are going head-to-head to prep and cook

five lunch courses for over 350 cafeteria customers.

See? That's bland.

(Announcer) The blue team has been put on the spot

because they were not testing

the seasoning for the burger meat.

Sex it up a little bit. Tabasco, mustard, egg.

I personally don't season burgers before I cook 'em.

I season 'em as they're being cooked,

but this is a team effort.

How is it now?

I think it's much better.

That's 100% better than last time.

Yes, it is.

(Max) Yo, blue team, we got an hour left!

Let's keep it up!

For me, the big player today will be the pizzas.

Red team were doing the white pizza.

This is my test pizza.

This is the moment of truth.

(Joe) To go with no tomato sauce at all

is a little bit risky. Yeah.

A little bit too opinionated.

It's delicious.

(Joe) Then you got Giuseppe

with arugula and prosciutto--

it's like the hit list of the greatest Italian ingredients.

Those are flavors that stand out that you're gonna remember.

That's the one I like better.

If I don't make this happen,

my friends are gonna make fun of me for the rest of my life.

45 minutes to go!

(Announcer) While both teams' pizzas seem under control,

the red team is having issues with today's special entree.

(Gordon) Is that cooked, the lasagna?

The noodles are overcooked

is honestly my opinion.

Suzy was the one who came up with the lasagna straight on,

and it looks like [Bleep] And it tastes like [Bleep].

It's a grease pit.

The lasagna needs a lot of work.

It falls apart on the plate.

Just has no structural integrity whatsoever.

My lasagna's not coming out right.

It's crap.

I'm freaking out.

We're gonna try to improve on it and see if we

can make it delicious.

It's my job to save everything, with the lasagna at least.

I'm concerned about what Suzy is doing.

She's not cooking the lasagna right.

I tried to help her, but she wouldn't listen to anybody.

Wow. This is really good.

I feel like we can save it, but we're definitely--

we're definitely the underdog in this one at this point.

Two minutes to go, guys!

Move it down.

Derrick, I can't hold those customers back.

(Derrick) I understand, chef.

Go, go, go.

Tell him to cut down on the cheese.

There's so much cheese on there.

It's like a heart attack waiting

under a [bleep] hot lamp.

Yes, chef. Let's go.

Behind.

(Announcer) With 350 customers

waiting outside,

time has run out for corrections.

They must serve their dishes now.

Here we go. The doors are open!

(Announcer) For this challenge, when a customer

orders a course, they will receive a plate

from each team.

(Alejandra) Can I interest you in some chicken chili soup?

(Announcer) For soup, it's the blue team's chicken chili...

Very healthy with a little kick.

(Announcer) Versus the red team's chicken orzo.

Here you are. I have one for you too as well.

Hi, guys, do you want to step up

and get your salads?

(Announcer) The blue team's seasonal salad...

Care for bleu cheese on your salad?

(Announcer) Is up against the red team's watermelon salad.

We've got some fresh watermelon, cucumber, and feta.

Want some good pizza from an Italian guy?

(Announcer) The blue team's prosciutto and arugula pizza...

(Ben) Not everyone born in Italy can cook pizza, my friend.

(Announcer) Is challenging the red team's white pizza.

I have a pizza oven in my backyard.

I can make pizza.

(Announcer) And the red team's lasagna entree...

A lot of love went into this dish.

(Announcer) Is going head-to-head against the blue team's burger.

(Max) Can I get a well-done, Tony?

(Announcer) For the dessert, red team's fresh fruit

faces off against blue team's chocolate chip cookies.

Fresh chocolate chip cookies!

(Announcer) Each diner will cast their vote

for the team's dish they like best.

The team that wins the most courses wins the challenge.

Tony, give me your best-looking burger!

My entree is definitely better than the lasagna

I'm going up against.

Here we go.

Enjoy.

A burger's just a way better fit

in a cafeteria situation.

So you had the burger and the lasagna.

What are we thinking?

I actually don't even like burgers,

and I liked the burger better than the lasagna.

I love burgers.

Here you go. What would you like?

I am so worried about my team right now.

The other team flipping out burgers and kicking our butt,

and I'm just standing there defeated.

We should have switched dishes.

We shouldn't have done lasagna.

(Announcer) Over at the pizza station,

Italian Giuseppe is struggling.

What's going on? There's no pizza.

There is no pizza.

Giuseppe, I'm gonna send 'em away

if I don't get a pizza here in a minute.

You got to give me some pizza.

Have you ever cooked for 300 people?

Me either.

It is so much pressure.

Whew!

No pizza. Move on.

Aww!

They're losing votes. Giuseppe, you see this?

This is all lost votes for you.

(Announcer) Every empty dish handed out by the blue team

means an automatic point for the red team.

The blue team is not only making customers wait for pizza,

they're also falling behind with their burger entree.

Tony, I need a medium-well. Okay.

It's about-- I'm two minutes out.

(Joe) Stop.

Look at the line.

Making people wait for burgers is not gonna

win the competition, it's not gonna get you votes.

(Tony) The grill can only handle so many burgers.

So I am trying to do them in staggered shifts.

These people are hungry, they've been waiting a long time,

and it's on you to make sure

that you deliver a consistent product.

I know I need to take charge with the burgers.

Tony's being subpar right now.

The best way to help is to precook

a bunch of Tony's burgers so we can keep up the demand.

This is the last time Tony makes patties.

They suck. They're falling apart.

I'm precooking all these burgers,

trying to make up for what Tony can't do,

and I can't find a clean tray to bring them out on.

The best I could find is a tray that has some nuts on it.

I'm in a hurry and this is cafeteria food,

not fine dining.

I really don't care.

There's nuts on the burger?

When I get the burgers brought out to me,

it's on a dirty cookie sheet

with roasted walnuts on it.

(Gordon) It doesn't even look like a [bleep] burger anymore.

26 burgers got to go in the trash.

Get rid of them, Tony.

You don't serve off of a dirty anything to the public.

Max, these are all just turning to crap.

Let's just stop it now.

We have contaminated burger meat.

We're running out of food,

and Max is not helping.

We only have eight left, dude.

Eight burgers?

We're in trouble.

(Announcer) In their first challenge

outside the MasterChef kitchen,

Max's blue team and Derrick's red team

are facing off, serving a five-course lunch

for 350 workers at the Los Angeles times cafeteria.

There's nuts on the burger?

When I get the burgers brought out to me,

it's on a dirty cookie sheet with roasted walnuts on it.

(Gordon) They don't even look like a [bleep] burger anymore.

We have contaminated burger meat.

Get rid of them, Tony.

26 burgers got to go in the trash.

We're sorry.

Blue team has run out of their item for now,

so everybody's gonna be grabbing the lasagna

and take an empty blue plate, please.

I apologize.

(Announcer) Unfortunately for the blue team,

every empty plate means an automatic point for red.

We now have no more burger meat.

We went to the walk-ins.

They have frozen shrimp and a a little bit of chicken.

We ran out of burgers. We made them too big.

I don't know why we didn't end up doing sliders.

We could have cut the buns in half or down with a cup.

Look out, Max.

Blue team is now serving chicken burgers.

I'm hoping there's time to catch up.

I'm assuming you have an amazing recipe for this.

Yeah, we're just gonna dry rub these.

We got to get something else to eat on that grill

and we need to do it right now.

We don't want to lose this line.

No burger. I'm sorry.

We're cooking chicken, though.

It's gonna be a little bit though.

(Announcer) As the blue team continues

their last-ditch effort to save their entree,

the votes are trickling in, and the customers keep coming.

Would you care for nuts on your salad today?

This was like The Neverending Story.

Every time I looked up, there was another face.

Vote for blue.

The lasagna was really good.

It had really good flavors.

It was--it was a win.

(Announcer) The red team's lasagna may be scoring votes,

but they're running out.

If it's not ready, they can't wait for it.

They just--you don't get the point.

Things start breaking down a little bit.

We had this huge line.

Do we have any lasagna ready?

I'm crusting it on the top right now.

We're all just convinced that we're the team

going to the pressure test.

[Overlapping chatter]

What do you got? Special.

Special of the day for the red.

(Announcer) As lunch service ends, the office workers

drop off their votes and head back to work.

For every course they ate, each of the 350 customers

have a vote for either blue team or red team.

Red team, blue team!

The last customer has just gone through!

Whoever wins the most courses wins the challenge.

(Suzy) We are exhausted.

Our morale is completely down.

I think we lost this challenge.

First of all, you just served over 300 office workers.

One team is gonna lose this challenge.

That team faces a huge

pressure test.

Suzy, what's the matter?

I really hope that we don't lose because of the lasagna.

I know that we've lost this challenge,

and I know that we've lost this challenge because of me.

Suzy's crying.

I mean, we all know that lasagna sucked,

so shut up.

Right. Time for the scores.

(Announcer) Each team prepared five courses.

The first team to win three courses wins the challenge.

Starting off with the soup.

It was Aaron's chicken orzo

against Alejandra's chicken chili.

Red team, blue team were...

Congratulations, blue team.

[Applause and chatter]

Nice job.

(Gordon) Okay.

Next scores.

They're in for the salads.

Will it be the seasonal salad from blue

or red team's watermelon salad?

Wow, wow, wow.

Red team 91

to 52.

[Cheers and applause]

Next up, pizza.

We had a true Italian against

an American in a ridiculous hat.

What were the scores?

[Cheers and applause] Red team!

Giuseppe, you let us down on the pizza.

We had full confidence in you.

Next, the big sort of excitement

when you come into a restaurant.

The special of the day.

Suzy's lasagna for the red team

or Tony's burgers for team blue.

(Announcer) If the red team wins this course,

they will win the challenge.

The scores are...

Congratulations, blue team.

[Cheers and applause]

Christian, Tony,

we had issues with the burger to begin with,

but you pulled it back.

Really good. Well done.

Good job. Thank you, chef.

Okay, finally, desserts.

It's red team' berries and cream

versus blue team's cookie.

(Announcer) It all comes down to dessert.

Whoever wins this course wins the challenge.

[Groans]

What were the scores?

[Cheers and applause]

Yeah! We did it!

You guys are [bleep] awesome!

[Laughter]

I am so excited and relieved that we've won.

It was a perfect team.

I could not have picked a better team myself.

And I feel so good.

Blue team, you will be facing...

An extraordinary pressure test.

Get a great night's sleep,

'cause each and every one of you are gonna need it

because on the back of that pressure test,

one of you will be leaving MasterChef.

As a captain, I think Max fell a little bit short.

He's never ran a kitchen crew before,

and that [bleep] us up.

Good night. Red team, well done.

[Scattered applause]

I'm absolutely furious right now.

I'm pissed. [bleep] pissed.

Max is supposed to be a captain of our team.

He did nothing.

He was too busy running around the kitchen

acting like he wanted to be a boss.

(Max) I'm frustrated, but I'm also angry

at Tony and Giuseppe.

Giuseppe must be really, really ashamed of himself.

And I'm ashamed of him.

In the end, I wish I never picked him.

Tomorrow, my team has to face a pressure test,

and somebody's gonna go home.

Let's go.

I'm nervous about a pressure test

'cause I got no idea what to even expect.

How do you prepare?

I'm nervous for a few people on my team,

but I could really care less if Tony

got his ass thrown off.

Yesterday, you competed

in your first team challenge.

Red team, congratulations.

You won the challenge.

You'll be watching

this incredible pressure test

from the safety of the gallery.

Off you go. Congratulations.

Well done.

[Applause]

Max, what happened to your team?

Why'd you lose?

Um, the issue was just getting stuff out.

I would have liked for people to do things

a little differently, looking back,

but I just didn't have the balls to say anything.

Tony, what'd you think of Max's leadership?

I really didn't need any leadership.

I was assigned a job,

and I could handle any job that's given to me.

It was all just a boy being a boy

and not being able to handle the criticism from a man.

It's time for you guys to compete

in your very first pressure test.

When it's over, at least one of you

will be leaving MasterChef.

All right, blue team.

Your pressure test today...

Is all about...

Ravioli.

I don't like ravioli.

I don't eat ravioli.

I don't. It's the truth.

(Joe) Creating homemade pasta

is both an art and a science,

from the pasta itself--

not overworked, a silken texture--

to the filling--

not too dry, not too wet--

to the binding, the technique of construction.

And we will be examining

technique, precision, and culinary vision

as we watch you cook us

the perfect ravioli.

You're each gonna be preparing

a simple spinach and ricotta filling.

And here's the trick.

It's got to be with a simple butter sauce.

That way there's no disguising

a bad piece of pasta.

You've all got 60 minutes

to produce a stunning ravioli.

Are you ready? All: Yes, chef.

Your 60 minutes starts...

Now. Off you go.

(Announcer) For their first pressure test,

each contestant will prepare a spinach ricotta ravioli

with access to the exact same ingredients.

The judges will be looking for consistency

of the dough and filling,

construction of the ravioli, technique,

and overall flavor.

I'm feeling confident.

I think I'm one of the strongest competitors here.

[Bleep]

I've only made ravioli by hand once before,

and it's all on the line right now.

All right, Christian,

which one of your fellow contestants

is gonna boil in the water with these raviolis?

I'm a little nervous with Tony.

I don't think he has a lot of experience doing it,

so I'm just nervous for him.

There's a lot of technicality in ravioli.

I'm just worried that I remember all the components

of homemade pasta.

We're really seeing technique,

a step away from kind of impulse cooking and passion

and really asking them to do something

that requires know-how.

The thickness of the pasta should almost be transparent,

so you can just start to see the touch of the spinach

through the pasta.

Right, and are they going to just have a gorgeous filling

with a little bit of pasta around it?

Or are they going to be doing a big piece--

(joe) Well, it's all about ratio, right?

Half a ravioli's a mouthful. It's a lot of science.

Now they're each on their own.

They have nobody that they can blame except for themselves.

(Gordon) Okay, halfway house!

30 minutes to go!

All right, Giuseppe, if there's one thing

you should be doing with your eyes closed,

it's fresh pasta.

I made my fillings right now with spinach, nutmeg,

parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

And the mixture, it looks a bit wet that.

Is that purposely done?

I'm trying to work on this one right now.

Okay, who's going home in this pressure test?

Uh, could be me.

Anything can happen.

Jennifer, who do you think's gonna struggle

here today with the pasta challenge?

Tony might have a little issue

just 'cause he cooks on the grill

and...You know. Right.

What are you doing differently?

I actually put a little bit of nutmeg.

You put the nutmeg in the pasta dough?

In the pasta dough.

Be careful with the nutmeg, right?

It's very strong.

Tone Loc, how we doing, buddy? Good, Graham.

A lot of people that we've been asking here,

"Who do we think's the weakest?

Who's gonna go home?"

And a lot of people are saying, "Tony,"

that he's gonna struggle with it.

Do you feel that?

I took a pretty good ass-kicking yesterday.

But I don't think I'm the underdog.

I think I'm just one guy that voiced their opinion yesterday

and some people can't handle the truth.

That's where I'm at. All right, well, keep working.

I want to see it. I want to try it.

Okay, thanks. All right, good luck, buddy.

(Joe) So you see different techniques.

I mean, obviously, I think Giuseppe--

you can see that he's made pasta before.

(Gordon) I watched Giuseppe's filling.

It's actually quite liquid.

Now, the danger of that... It can go flat.

One guy that everybody was saying

that they thought was the weakest link

is actually the one that made it by hand,

using this little fork.

Tony? His spinach looks great.

Tony. Absolutely.

Yeah, incredible.

We did see someone put nutmeg in their pasta, no?

Jennifer? Yeah.

(Joe) That is a technical mistake.

Yeah, raw nutmeg inside a pasta, it's very powerful.

Just on 15 minutes to go.

Got to get it through... Perfect.

Just need this to work out for me.

I am needing to make the pasta thinner,

which is taking more time, and the clock is ticking down.

(Joe) You got ten minutes left.

Ten minutes.

[Bleep] that was a pain in the ass.

I can't do it.

I have about ten minutes left at this point,

and my previous batch of raviolis suck.

There we go. Back in the game.

I'm not sure that I have enough time left

to do another batch, but I got to try.

(Gordon) Taste! Taste! Taste! Taste!

It's very good. Taste is right on.

(Gordon) We should be plating now.

30 seconds to go.

My pasta turned out a little tough.

I might be in trouble.

(Gordon) Here we go. Last ten seconds.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

And stop!

[Groans]

I'm a little worried.

(Announcer) Seven contestants from the losing team

are competing in their first pressure test.

(Gordon) We should be plating now!

(Announcer) The theme: Ravioli.

(Gordon) Here we go. Last ten seconds.

(Announcer) In the end, at least one of them

will be leaving the MasterChef kitchen.

Five, four, three, two, one.

And stop!

[Groans]

I'm a little worried.

I'm a little nervous. I'm not gonna lie.

At least one of the eight of us is gonna go home

and I want to stay.

What a tough pressure test.

Well done.

Okay, Giuseppe, come on up here.

(Announcer) All three judges

will taste each home cook's ravioli.

When the tasting is complete,

at least one person will be sent home.

This could be the last thing I'm cooking

and to get out on an Italian dish,

that would be embarrassing.

(Joe) So you did a larger shape.

Three pieces.

A ravioloni. A ravioloni.

So let's see what we got here.

Do you think that the ratio

from filling to pasta looks right to you?

Um, no.

No.

[Sighs]

I think that it's about overworking the dough.

Mm-hmm.

These look a little flat.

Taking a look at 'em,

it's not really a pillow as much as it's a sheet.

The pasta's too thick.

Somebody's going home today,

and I didn't expect you to be in that bracket.

Okay.

Tony, let's go.

I really did not nail this one at all.

I did a chiffonade of spinach.

I put just a little bit of parmesan in the filling.

(Graham) Really?

Man, they look like--

like pasta sandwiches.

Hopefully my filling will stand out.

Yeah.

That pasta, it's just so thick

and so heavy.

Just look at the density of that.

I'm struggling with the thickness of the pasta.

It's all here.

(Joe) A dish like this,

I don't even know how to eat this.

Because quite frankly, what this dish should be

is a ravioli that looks something like this, right?

When you're so far off track from the balance

that we're looking for,

it's hard to even give evaluation.

I mean, bit of a letdown. Sorry, Tony.

(Tony) I actually feel real disappointed in myself.

I'm a good cook that had a really bad day today.

(Joe) Okay, Max, come on up.

What do you got for us?

(Max) I did a brown butter sauce

with a little sage in there.

I noticed you were unhappy with the first set.

You threw them away. You started again.

Why?

The dough was very gluteny. I had to salvage that.

Took everything I could, ran it through the machine

a bunch of times, and I came out

with the product I liked.

At least you had the intelligence

to stop, taste, readjust,

and with barely under ten minutes to go, start again.

That takes a big pair of balls.

Today...

It paid off.

I'm extremely proud of myself,

and that's what a pressure test is all about.

I passed it in every sense of the word.

Tracy, let's go. [Applause]

All right, so walk me through what you did.

I prepared the filling,

which is a spinach, ricotta, parmesan cheese,

little bit of nutmeg.

Wow.

I think the pasta is a little bit underdone,

but the brown butter, you just nailed.

Okay. It's perfect.

Thank you so much, chef.

Okay, Christian, let's go.

I mixed up some ricotta with some spinach,

put some salt and pepper

and some grated parmesan cheese in there.

I like the shape. I thought the plating was good.

I thought the butter sauce was effective.

And in fact, the filling's good.

Alejandra.

I knew that I wouldn't be relying on the butter as much

for a sauce, so I wanted the texture inside

the ravioli to be creamy.

The visual impact, the color...

Beautiful.

And that, for me, is one of the best raviolis

I've tasted anywhere.

Thank you so much, chef. [Applause]

Esther, please come up.

When I look at my ravioli, I'm extremely happy

with the way it looks.

The way it tastes, I wish I could say

that I tried one.

There's a funny taste in the filling

I can't quite make out.

I've got the perfect thickness of the pasta.

But I am concerned about the filling.

Is there egg yolk in there?

I can't remember.

You can't remember?

You don't know what's in your ravioli.

The filling is nowhere near as good as the pasta.

It's not good.

Such a shame.

All right, next up, Jennifer.

I'm looking at my plate, and I feel very confident.

Walk me through how you made the filling.

I whipped the ricotta, sauteed up some spinach,

dried it out, and just some salt and pepper.

Hmm.

I've never seen or heard of putting nutmeg in the pasta.

Jennifer, one person minimum is leaving this competition today.

What were you thinking putting

fresh nutmeg grated into the flour?

Just thought it would give it a little bit

of a different flavor profile than everybody else's.

You put the freaking nutmeg in the pasta.

I could scream.

The filling is delicious.

It's got that wow factor.

Yet it's destroyed by that nutmeg.

So frustrating,

'cause you think you may have blown it.

(Announcer) Eight home cooks have just faced

their first pressure test in the MasterChef kitchen.

At least one person will be sent home,

and Jennifer has made a serious error.

You put the freaking nutmeg in the pasta.

I could scream.

The filling is delicious.

It's got that wow factor.

Yet it's destroyed by that nutmeg.

I think you may have blown it.

To know that that one small little mistake

is ultimately quite possibly gonna cost me,

it's tough to swallow.

That was a tough pressure test.

For at least one of you,

that will be...

Your last time you'll cook

inside the MasterChef kitchen.

Okay.

All eight of you, come down to the front, please.

(Joe) We asked you to construct something

that involved a certain amount of intuition,

know-how, finesse, along with culinary savvy.

Some of you excelled.

Others did not understand

what we really wanted.

All right, will the following five people

please stand forward?

Giuseppe.

Tracy.

Max.

Alejandra.

And Christian.

The five of you...

are safe from elimination.

Congratulations.

Please head up to the gallery.

(Gordon) Off you go. Well done.

I'm hoping that the judges are taking into consideration

the times that I did shine.

I'm very worried that I'm gonna go home on a stupid mistake.

I want to throw up.

The damn nutmeg.

I don't want to walk away from here

leaving them disappointed.

Jennifer, step forward.

Tony, step forward.

Esther, you sacrificed a lot

to enter this competition.

But that wasn't you at your best.

And it was not MasterChef quality.

And for the fact that you didn't even know

what was in your ravioli mix,

your journey at MasterChef...

Is gonna continue.

[Applause] And here's why.

Technically, you nailed the pasta.

But don't ever tell me ever again

you've got no idea what's inside that ravioli.

Yes, chef.

Yes. Upstairs, please.

I'm relieved.

I'm running really fast for those stairs,

because I don't want to stand down there ever again.

I could feel the beads of sweat rolling down my back.

Everything is at stake right now.

I mean, I'm really nervous,

and the odds are getting pretty low.

Jennifer, Tony...

[Sighs]

This is a very tough decision for us.

You know, you may be in the bottom two,

but you both hold a lot of strength

in this competition.

But both your dishes

were ranked below par

by all three of us.

Tony, the pasta was way too thick.

And it was lacking that visual wow factor

that we're looking for.

Jennifer...

You've done something pretty stupid.

You put nutmeg in the flour.

(Joe) You made some technical mistakes

that are beyond reproach,

so it's a very difficult position you put us in.

The first person leaving MasterChef

in the first ever pressure test...

is...

Tony.

Your time's done at MasterChef.

Now let me tell you something

really important.

You have a very passionate take on food.

And you can cook, let me tell you that.

And do not go back to becoming a trucker.

Find yourself in a kitchen, dig deep, yeah,

and stand strong.

Thank you, chef.

[Applause]

Follow that dream, okay?

Thank you. Please take your apron off

and put it on your station.

I came into this as somebody

who's getting too old to do what I've done all my life.

I love to cook.

I want to open a little chalkboard restaurant

with my wife.

I don't need to be a rich man.

I wanna go through the rest of my life

doing what I love.

They gave me respect, which is worth more

than any of the money.

I'm truly grateful for that.

Okay.

Take your apron upstairs.

You... Are on thin ice.

Really thin ice.

There are several things you cannot play with.

Pasta's one of them.

I really thought we were both going home.

You know, sometimes you stumble,

but it's how you pick yourself up on the other end

that makes or breaks you.

And this is gonna make me.

(Announcer) Next time on MasterChef...

Show us you mean business.

(Announcer) The final 15 cooks

face another mystery box...

It's a very big gamble.

(Announcer) Where some grab the judges' attention...

Absolutely beautiful.

(Announcer) For all the right reasons.

It's like fireworks on your palate.

(Announcer) And others...

That's like taking a Bentley and crashing it

into a wall.

(Announcer) For the wrong ones.

I will send you home now.

(Announcer) In the elimination challenge,

the judges test the cooks' sweeter side...

Leading to some bitter results.

It's like I've just gone to the doctors

for a skin graft on my butt.

(Announcer) And a shocking elimination.

This gives what I do a bad name.

And another homecook's MasterChef dream will come to a bitter end.

== sync, corrected by elderman ==