Original subtitles

Previously on MasterChef...

The pressure test went into overtime with a battle royale in Las Vegas...

This isn't just any Vegas restaurant.

It's mine.

...to determine which of these four home cooks

would be eliminated.

It's still moving. It's that raw.

- She's burning buns again. - Sorry, chef.

When natasha and beth beat the odds...

Blue team won.

Luca and kathy went head-to-head...

The stakes don't get any higher than this.

...to decide who would be cashing in their chips.

For one of you, your MasterChef journey ends here.

Tonight, the winning home cook from Vegas returns

to the MasterChef kitchen.

Please welcome back...

And it's a mystery box from another world.

I have no idea what any of these ingredients are.

This may be the most difficult mystery box

in the history of MasterChef.

The guest judge in the elimination test

- is an american food icon... - Oh, my god!

Who also happens to be...

- Mama. - Joe's mother.

Put that down.

Tonight one more home cook...

Thank you for nothing.

...sees their dream come to an end.

Walking into the MasterChef kitchen today,

I'm so relieved to be here.

I did not leave my family and my son

at home to just go home with nothing.

I want to be in the culinary world, and I'm fighting for it.

Welcome back from Vegas, everyone.

Luca and Kathy went head-to-head in an epic battle

on the Vegas strip, and it was close.

Very close.

But we had to send somebody home.

So in a moment, either Luca or Kathy

will walk through those doors.

Kathy and I, instantly, we were, like, best buddies,

and it's gonna be really hard if she leaves.

Please welcome back...

Yeah!

Bravo.

Luca!

Allora.

Alla grande.

Welcome back, and great to see you.

It's nice to be back home.

It is a huge emotional blow for me.

I'definitely alone now.

I don't have not one person that I can really talk to.

I don't like these people, and they don't like me.

It's time for your next mystery box challenge.

As with every mystery box challenge,

The contestants have to prepare,

cook, and present one incredible dish

using all or some of the ingredients inside the box.

Now, the person who wins this mystery box

will get a huge advantage

in the upcoming elimination challenge,

after which, at least one of you will be going home.

On the count of three, lift your box.

I'm from Texas. You, know. I do a lot of barbecue.

And I'm hoping that it's a piece of meat

that I could season up good,

sear it, you know, make it real juicy.

When I lift up that box, I hope that it's not something

that's completely out of my comfort zone.

I'm just a rustic italian cook from south philly.

Like, I want to make pasta.

One...

Two...

Three. Lift.

Whoo! Which language is that?

Is this Russian? Oh, what the...

Oh, come on.

What is that?

What did you give us?

You guys all look a bit puzzled, and that's the idea.

This is a bounty

of ethnic ingredients from Russia,

Spain, China, all around the globe.

Usually we tell you exactly what you have in your mystery box.

Today, however, you'll have to work it out for yourselves.

The secret of a great chef is the ability to discover

and conquer any available ingredient

anywhere in the world

and have the skill to make it taste delicious.

So take these exotic, foreign ingredients,

and make us one delicious dish in 60 minutes.

Your time starts now.

Creepy things go over here.

My strategy is to open everything, try everything.

I think I'm gonna use a lot of the elements here,

'cause I want to show off that I'm not scared

of these unknown ingredients.

Oh, man, they're so bad.

Ugh.

Nope. Not happenin'.

So...

First one, elk.

Kind of like venison, northern european.

- Very lean. - That's a godsend.

Yeah.

Some type of steak or something.

I'm just trying to get an idea of what it is right now.

You got to pick your protein.

I would also take a close look

at this mojama, which is spanish-cured tuna.

Blech.

Here we have Okinawa sweet potato.

- So obviously from Japan. - Mm-hmm.

It's a nice purple color inside.

It's kind of like a yam. It's super starchy.

Very starchy.

These are the cod liver.

Very popular in Russian pates.

Look at that. Now that is gross.

That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life.

- Ugh. - Do you see all that?

Ugh!

Is this ground moss?

Chinese ground moss, yeah.

Mmm.

So it needs to be reconstituted, rehydrated,

and it comes out like the texture of a noodle.

Wow.

What is this?

This is Chinese pubic hair.

It's like a Halloween costume put in a bag.

Put it on right now.

Oh, my god.

That's hair. That's... that's a legitimate bag of hair.

Well, you'd have to be really hungry to eat this.

What would you make, Graham?

I see a piece of protein right there.

I'm going right after that.

I'm doing elk, like, pan-seared, sliced thin.

Cube up, roast off some of the Okinawan sweet potato.

Seems like the obvious, easy route, though, right?

Absolutely, but I think,

if I can perfect that, I'm home free.

25 minutes gone. You've got 35 minutes to go.

I've been on such a big stage playing in the NFL.

I don't get nervous.

When I'm cooking, I'm actually, like, calm

and in my own zone.

That's some good-lookin' meat on the grill.

Do you know what it is?

I have no idea, but I know it's gamey,

- a lot of fat in it, so... - Okay.

- Did you taste it? - I pounded it out to try to make it thin.

That's a good idea. That's smart.

Yeah, and I got a puree.

I know it tastes kind of like sweet potatoes,

so I put a little cinnamon in there, a little cream.

Good luck.

Thank you.

- All right, Jordan. - Hey, chef.

What are you making?

I'm gonna do kind of a stacked salad, 'cause all these flavors,

there's some great bitter notes, there's some great sweet notes.

I'm gonna mix in baby eels, I'm assuming.

- Quite comfortable? - Yeah, I'm feeling all right.

You got 20 minutes to go. Good luck.

All righty. Thank you, chef.

Bime, what are you making?

I'm trying to do maybe, like,

a surf-and-turf type thing.

What is that?

That... it's... it's some type of steak.

It tastes delicious. I cooked it real quick.

What's in the pan? What do you got going on?

This is, like, some type of clams.

This is, like, little baby eels or something.

- Okay. - and I'm just seeing

if I can make, like, a salad with this.

I'm hoping that their flavors come together.

Good luck.

All right, Lynn, so what have you gone for?

I'm gonna do kind of a taro root puree.

Little sweet to a little bit of acidity for my tartare.

- Tartare? - Yes.

So how are you gonna spice that tartare up?

Little bit of lemon zest, some herbs to kind of liven it up.

Make sure it's bright, so I think lemon zest

- is the best way to go. - Good luck.

Thank you, chef.

So, based on everything we've seen, who's your money on?

Jordan. He's in his comfort zone,

totally unfazed, can identify 95 % of all those ingredients.

Bime's been able to identify most of the resources

and use that knowledge to construct a plate

that I think will put him on top.

I'm going straight for Eddie.

I mean, he knows the meat. He's got it cooked.

I think that that's gonna be a good dish.

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six,

five, four, three,

two, one,and stop.

Hands in the air.

Five, four, three,

two, one, and stop.

Hands in the air.

Well done. Wow.

Throughout the mystery box challenge,

the judges taste elements of all the home cooks' dishes

as they come together.

They now take one last look to choose the top three standouts,

and the winner of this challenge will receive

a major advantage in the next round.

I look at my dish, and it looks awesome.

It's probably the best-looking dish I've plated so far.

This is me on a plate, and this is what I do.

Great job.

There were three stunning, outstanding dishes

that were beautifully conceptualized.

The first dish we want to bring forward,

all the components were well-seasoned,

beautifully put together, and just the overall balance,

absolutely spot on.

That dish belongs to...

Eddie.

Let's go.

Finally, like,

I'm in the top three.

I've been working hard, you know,

and putting out good dishes.

It's paid off,

and, you know, I'm happy.

Wow.

That's a scapegoat. That's easy to do.

Everybody can cook a piece of meat.

First of all, what do you think your dish is?

I'm not sure about the, uh, the meat.

I know it's very gamey.

Well, let me tell you first what's on the plate, shall I?

Please do.

The puree

is a purple japanese sweet potato,

and the protein, elk flank.

Okay.

Now, how did you cook the elk?

Just a quick sear on it, flattened it,

looking for medium.

Mm-hmm. Aand the greens?

I fried 'em in a little olive oil,

lemon zest, salt, and pepper.

That's delicious. The balance is correct.

The sear on the elk, stunning.

The puree is just smooth, delicate,

and really well put together.

- Good job. - Thank you.

- Well done. - Thank you.

The smartest thing in that was that lemon.

- Exactly. - I mean, to cut through.

There's cinnamon, there's some acidity,

so it's not just heavy puree.

- Exactly. - It lightens it up.

The greens are delicious.

Great strategic choices, and you pulled it off.

- Good job. - Thank you very much.

Thank you.

This dish may look simple, but it's actually very complex.

- Good job. - Thank you very much.

The second dish that we would like to examine further,

it was extremely creative and beautifully presented.

Step forward...

Jordan.

All right. Beautiful.

- Thank you. - So you tell me what the dish is.

It's a cold salad with, like,

a black vermicelli base of noodles

with sea grapes in it for the saltiness,

and then there's, guessing maybe, like, a tuna jerky.

Some greens of sort,

maybe a bok choy cousin or something.

How 'bout on top here?

Uh, crisped up some worms of sort.

So they're baby eels.

- Oh, are they? - What do you think

this was at the bottom?

Some sort of black vermicelli noodles.

Actually a chinese black moss.

Tastes great.

Really smart being able to utilize

these things and put it together.

- Thank you. - Good job.

Thank you, chef.

It's smart. You got the balance right.

The seasoning. And then these chips, you know,

to put that into a... a crisp and get it

that tasty with that saltiness, you brought that in.

Welcome to the top three. Great job.

Thank you, chef. Thank you.

Nice job, bro.

Really good job.

The third and final dish that we want to taste...

Please step forward...

Bime.

Lynn, whilst you visually put things beautifully

on the plate, you need to season them.

It's a beautiful plating.

From a guy like you to get

that kind of finesse, really impressive.

Tell me about the dish.

I was tasting everything,

and I was trying to see what could work together,

so when I seen steak, I seen the seafood,

I started tasting that,

and I could've ate that just by itself.

'cause, you know, in Puerto Rico we get the... the cans

like that, we just eat 'em just like that.

Well, surf and turf, courageous, beautiful plating.

You were able to kind of hit on all the notes.

Sweet, salty, tangy, it's like an orchestra

playing a symphony all at the same time.

This is a tour de force. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you.

Delicious. Seasoned beautifully.

The balance is incredible.

And especially with that note

of the acidity at the end, it's got that sort

of gastric finish which is tough to pull off.

I don't think this is a fluke. I think you've nailed it.

Thank you.

Good job, buddy.

Tap it.

Gentlemen. Three stunning dishes.

There can only be one winner.

The person that cooked the best dish tonight

will gain a huge advantage unlike any other advantage

we've given out in the history of this competition.

Congratulations...

Steady Eddie.

Well done.

Amazing.

Yes! Now I get a chance to pick and choose

the next move in the competition.

Eddie, you ready?

Yes, sir. Let's go. Well done.

Let's go.

Incredible. It's delicious.

Eddie is now in control of the elimination test,

where at least one person will leave the competition.

Welcome, Eddie, to the MasterChef pantry.

But the one thing he can't control

is the theme of the challenge.

As always, that is in the hands of the judges.

Today's elimination challenge focuses on a type of food

that's very near and dear to my heart,

Pasta with a filling.

The first pasta you have to choose from

comes from the region of northwest Italy, Piedmont.

Okay.

Agnolotti.

There's a lot that could go wrong with this pasta.

You have to be extremely careful to get the amount of filling

and thickness of the pasta just right.

And this, I promise you, is very, very difficult.

Your next choice is a pasta

that's actually a favorite of mine.

It has a really memorable shape

and an abundance of filling.

Mezzelune.

Mezzelune.

The trick is getting

that filling just right.

It needs to be properly seasoned and perfectly cooked.

Your final choice is a very special pasta,

something that's served at festivals

and very special occasions.

It's known across Italy as the bonbon,

because of the shape and the texture.

Caramelle pasta.

Look at them. They're filled with mozzarella

and served in a delicious tomato sauce.

Wow, look at that.

Seeing as you won the mystery box challenge,

your first advantage is that you will not have

to cook in today's elimination challenge.

Whoo! Phew.

So, Eddie, which stuffed pasta

will everybody out there have to make?

I want to go with the most difficult dish.

- That's smart. - Smart.

So I choose...

Because Eddie won this mystery box challenge,

he is safe from elimination.

The theme of today's elimination challenge

is stuffed, or filled, pasta.

In the pantry, we gave Eddie three different kinds

of stuffed pasta to choose from.

Eddie chose...

Agnolotti.

To help you out, we're gonna give you a demonstration

on how to make the perfect agnolotti.

But rather than me show you, I've invited

somebody else to show you how it's done.

Someone who could still teach me a thing or two about pasta.

In fact, it's someone who taught me

everything I already know about pasta.

Oh, my god.

Please turn around and welcome...

Oh, my god!

To help you out, we're gonna give you a demonstration

on how to make the perfect agnolotti.

Please turn around and welcome...

Best-selling cookbook author and restaurateur...

Mama.

Oh, my god!

It's Lidia Bastianich.

Like, my culinary idol. Like, I worship her.

I've been wanting to learn how to make agnolotti

for years now, and, to be taught by her,

that's gonna be awesome.

- You look amazing. - Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

I have three sons here today.

I'm so excited to have you.

Everybody, this is Lidia Bastianich,

one of the world's foremost experts on Italian food.

- Please put these on. - Thank you.

All right. Take a look.

- Oh, very nice. - Ah.

There's just one more very tiny twist.

Eddie, you now have a third advantage.

You will now get to decide

which two of your fellow competitors will not get

to witness Lidia's demonstration.

No way.

I'll kill you where you stand, Eddie.

I immediately start thinking strategy.

You know, try to think of everybody's weaknesses

and their strengths, and I know

that it has to be someone that is great competition

and someone that I know would definitely struggle

if they don't witness this.

First person.

I don't think they have a lot of pasta experience,

but they are a extremely good cook.

So the first person I would have to pick...

Would be James.

James.

Wow.

You son of a bitch, Eddie.

He views me as a serious threat, and he should.

I'm not at mad at him. He's playing the game,

and he's playing the game smart.

- Wow. - For my second choice,

being around this person I notice that they ask

a lot of questions, and they learn a lot of things

yy asking a lot of questions.

So...

I'm gonna have to say Lynn.

- Lynn. - Lynn!

Oh, Yes.

I am so screwed at this point.

I've never made agnolotti, so, if I don't get to learn now,

it's not gonna happen.

James and Lynn, please, both of you,

leave the kitchen and wait

until this demonstration is over.

As for the rest of you, make youway down.

I'm, like, shaking.

Let's do it. All right, guys.

So where do we begin?

We're gonna make just simple egg pasta.

This is about a pound of flour.

You make a well here. There's four whole eggs

and five egg yolks.

Put it in here little bit at a time.

So the ratio of liquid is very important.

You want the pasta to be smooth and buttery and soft.

You continue the kneading.

So we do it by hand, because that's

The best way to do it.

So from here we let it rest 20 minutes.

I'm gonna kill Eddie.

one chance to, like,ctually see that in your life,

and then it's taken from you.

- It's [bleep], man. - If I survive this,

he is target number one from here on out.

So we start with the hand cranker on the lowest setting.

You want to get it to this kind of consistency.

It should be translucent. It has the right feel.

The agnolotti filling

is a very simple filling of leftovers.

Beef, salami, roasted chicken, veal,

Any kind of meat you have leftovers.

When you're making the filling, the texture is important.

You can do a hand meat grinder.

You don't want to put it in a food processor,

'cause you don't want it to be pate or pasty.

You begin one way.

Then you go the other way.

So back and forth.

And then right into the boiling water.

Always put a lid on the pasta,

because it gets your boiling point right back up.

We're making a grana sauce.

We put it in here.

You get a little bit of butter. This is ready.

Can you grate a little cheese here?

- Put that down. - Do the sauce first.

No, I'm gonna put the sauce.

Just enough sauce all around.

And then, at last, some ground-up padano.

Agnolotti, a traditional simple dish,

but is not so easy to execute.

Okay, James, Lynn, please, back to your stations.

Thank you.

You have 60 minutes to make us some delicious agnolotti

that will make my mother proud.

Your 60 minutes...

Starts...

Now.

All right.

Me and Lynn are both in that same boat,

is we're gonna make agnolotti,

and we have no idea what it looks like traditionally.

I want to put myself in this dish.

I didn't grow up in Italy.

Like, I grew up in San Diego

where we eat enchiladas

and california burritos.

I want to use what she taught us at the demo,

but I don't want to copy it, so I'm thinking

of the ingredients that I use at home,

bell peppers and jalapenos,

and I want to put my own twist on the pasta dish

that Joe's mom showed us how to make today.

Let's go, guys.

What's the biggest mistake they can make

at the beginning of this challenge?

Well, beginning with the pasta is not working it enough,

and then the rolling part.

The rolling part is very touchy.

If it's very fine, then it breaks.

Yeah.

If it's too thick, then it gets too chewy.

The success of this dish

is a balance between the texture of the pasta,

the amount of the fillings,

and then the amount of the sauce on top.

I loved watching the demo, so I'm just gonna try

to imitate that, but incorporate different meats.

I'm gonna do some oxtail and some braised short rib.

They're both reallrich, so it should make a great filling.

All right, Jonny, what's the plan?

- What do you got? - Gonna try and make

a smoked maple syrup Alfredo sauce.

A what?

Putting maple syrup in Italian food is, like, sacrilegious.

You use a lot of maple syrup in Italian cuisine?

- Actually... - It doesn't exist in Italian cuisine.

In New England it's actually very popular.

Maple Alfredo's ve populry where I'm from.

All right. Good luck.

Thank you.

Lynn, what's the filling?

Filling's a charred leek and short rib.

90 % of the fillings inside a agnolotti are grind.

When you blend and blitz, it goes pasty,

Sort of like baby food, and you destroy the textures.

Look down here.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight meat grinders.

One blender puree, and that's you.

Are you going home tonight?

All the flavors I know, I can win this competition.

But, if I screw this up, I could be going home.

and my heart is sinking to the floor,

and I'm thinking, "oh, gosh."

Lynn, are you going home tonight?

No, I'm not.

'Cause you seem upside down right now.

It looks like Lynn is struggling pretty bad.

to be le tabknock him out right now

would be a big advantage for me,

So I'm pretty happy right now with my decision.

- Howard. - Joe, how you doing?

You make a lot of pasta?

I do not make a lot of pasta at all, actually.

San Diego's not really known for their Italian food.

So what's the filling?

Shredded braised chicken, bell peppers,

and a little bit of seasoning.

What do you think about putting bell peppers in the stuffing?

It's... yeah, it's certainly unusual, yeah.

I would taste that, pay attention, you know,

We talked a lot about textures and all of that.

I will do so.

What are you doing with the asparagus?

- I'm... I'm not sure yet. - Wow.

All right, Good luck, Howard.

Thank you.

All right, James. What are you cooking?

I'm doing a ricotta, parmesan agnolotti

that I'm tossing in a alla vodka sauce.

The tomato alla vodka sauce was miles away from Piedmont.

Lidia didn't go anywhere near that.

You think this tomato vodka sauce is gonna blow her away?

I think it's gonna be unexpected, and I think,

given the fact that I didn't watch any type of instruction,

it's going to be delicious and taste great.

- Good luck. - Thank you.

Krissi, I brought you my mother, your hero.

Hi.

Hi, Krissi. How are you doing?

I would shake your hand,

but I have flour all over. that's okay.

If jesus came down and stood next to Lidia,

I'd be like, "yo, what's up, dude?

Lidia, how are you?"

Where are these agnolotti?

They're right here.

That is a swiss, chard, and pancetta.

It's good. It tastes very good. It really does.

Thank you.

There's just under five minutes to go.

Your pasta should be hitting the water

very soon, if it's not in already.

Krissi's looking very competent.

James is looking very composed.

Howard's looking very shaky

and Lynn is looking out of his depth.

I think that Eddie might've dealt Lynn

an ace that will take him out of the competition.

My water's not boiling.

Why hasn't Beth got a lid on top of her pasta

to bring the water to boil?

If she's not boiling water at this point, she's dead.

It's just not boiling.

Beth, you have to put your lid on.

All the pasta should be in the middle of a furious boil

right now and ready to come out.

Boil.

Beth, you've got to put it in,

or else you're not gonna have

anything on the plate.

90 seconds to go.

I realize that that pasta can't cook in the time I have left,

so I just throw three agnolotti on the pan,

Get some butter going, a little pasta water,

'cause, you know, it'll continue cooking.

- Let's go, guys. - Heat the sauce.

Keep everything hot.

Come on, Beth. Let's go.

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three,

two, one,

and stop!

Hands up. Whoo!

Right.

Eddie, make your way down from the balcony.

We're now gonna taste each and every one of your dishes,

and, on the back of that,

at least one of you will be leaving tonight.

Lidia, who should we taste first, please?

James.

James, let's go, please.

Thank you.

There's no way around it.

That sucked, not being to able to see

that demonstration.

What's in here?

I did a agnolotti alla vodka.

I had no idea what to do with the agnolottis.

You were not here. Not withstanding that,

the shape is fair.

The ratio of stuffing to the pasta is good.

The taste is... is good.

I know you were at a disadvantage, James,

but flavor is good.

Thank you.

I think it's a good dish.

I like the flavor of the sauce.

The filling is really yummy.

This tastes like you've made it a lot.

- Good job. - Thank you.

I don't think I'm gonna be the top one or top two in this,

but I'm not going home.

Who would you like up next?

Lynn.

I look at my dish, and I think,

"this could be it. This could be your ticket home."

Right. I mean, first of all, you were up against it.

"A", you didn't see the demo,

and, "B", you were using a blender to puree the mix.

I saw that pureed cat food in that mixer,

and it was like, first thing I looked at

was Eddie on the balcony thinking, "smart move,"

'cause you were out of your depth.

What's in there?

It's a short rib and ricotta filling,

and the sauce is a charred leek,

Browned butter, with a little bit of the braise.

Under-seasoned again,

and you've got a sort of awkward thickness

to this pasta.

You didn't see the demonstration,

but it's laid out, one sheet, brought up, and nipped together.

You folded it and lifted it up,

because I've got a double layer of pasta,

which makes it so inconsistent.

I think Eddie played to his strengths in this one.

He did.

So you consider yourself

a frontrunner in this competition?

Not after this, no.

You know, sometimes an advantage puts someone in a troubled spot,

but it's very rarely someone can use an advantage

for such an accurate and precise strike

at a very vulnerable target, as Eddie did with you today.

Yes, chef.

He hit you in the bull's-eye.

Eddie could have picked any of the 14 people,

and I don't think it could have been as effective as picking me.

I could be going home.

The judges are continuing to taste the dishes

prepared by the home cooks

in the stuffed pasta elimination test.

Very rarely someone can use an advantage

for such an accurate and precise strike.

Eddie hit you in the bull's-eye.

Lidia, whose dish would you like to taste next?

Jonny.

I know they're gonna give me a hard time for using

Maple syrup in Italian food, but I think they're gonna like it.

It's a butternut squash and ricotta agnolotti

with a smoked maple Alfredo sauce.

So the butternut squash has its sweetness with ricotta,

and then the sauce is with the maple...

And Alfredo. It's a bechamel with...

it's with grana padano cheese.

Maple syrup is not Italian at all.

We don't have it in Italy. We don't make it.

I'm gonna taste and see how they work together.

In my mind, they don't work together.

Mmm.

It's more of a dessert, you know?

Maybe if you put some cinnamon on top of it

and some granulated sugar, you can take it for dessert.

As pasta, it just doesn't work. There's no harmony there.

Jessie.

I'm so sick of Jessie.

Southern belle, do no wrong,

Little miss manners.

I'm not impressed by her cooking.

So the filling, what's inside there?

Oxtail and short rib,

with just a little bit of the chicken filling.

Here's the thing. I mean, the pasta is beautiful,

The filling is seasoned stunningly,

and I think there's a target on your back,

because everyone thinks you're in this competition

because you look good.

You're in this competition right now

because you cook good... never forget that.

And again that's proved it. Great job.

Thank you so much. Good job.

Let's go to Krissi.

I made a swiss chard and pancetta-stuffed agnolotti.

The sauce here that you made?

Just simple... just simple butter sauce,

and I put a little veal reduction over it.

I wanted to keep it simple, 'cause I went

a little non-traditional with the filling.

- Good. - Thank you.

The ratio of filling to the dough is... is good.

You get a nice mouthful of dough

and just enough filling to kind of support it,

and the simple sauce goes well with it.

I've been watching you long enough, I should know.

- Have you? - All right. Good, good. - Yeah.

Well, contued success.

Thank you.

This is, like, the ultimate validation for me.

Lidia, whose dish would you like to taste next, please?

Beth's.

Beth, let's go. Thank you.

I'm dreading having to present my dish,

because there are two scenarios...

Worst case and "worser" case.

It's ricotta and herbs and watercress and goat cheese.

I like the idea of the herb filling,

and then of course the actual pasta being undercooked.

that was sad to watch.

I would hate to see you go home on this.

I would hate to go home because I can't boil water.

Right, but, I mean, it... it could happen.

I know. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it did.

Howard.

Pbbb! All right.

Walking up, I am not 100% confident

in the dish that I'm bringing up.

The plating isn't that great,

but hopefully the flavors come together.

So what is, exactly, this stuffing?

Bell pepper, jalapeno, braised chicken,

and then it's spiced with a little cumin.

Yeah, cumin is a spice that is not used a lot

in pasta making or stuffing.

Yeah, what I get here is a mouth full of peppers.

- Okay. - It's not harmonious

with a pasta dish like this.

Classics work,

and they're appreciated time after time.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be called classics.

Of course.

Get a good connection to the basics.

Don't just fly off on a wing, okay?

I-I-I don't understand.

She's been nice to you,

but the whole thing with you

is you have this very cavalier attitude.

You don't know what you're cooking,

what dish you're making with ten minutes left.

Then you come up here and get misty-eyed with us

like, "oh, poor me again. I got screwed up."

And I'm getting tired of it, because, if you were smart,

you would duplicate a plate.

The fact that you're not even thinking

of playing this game properly is really annoying.

I mean, I'm... I'm gonna taste this.

You want 15 of the same dishes up here?

If you're here putting your spin on everything you make

because you want to show us how cutesy and intelligent

and crafty you are, well, that's gonna get you

a one-way ticket back to wherever you came from.

And then you can show your friends and the six people

who told you you were good, how cutesy and smart you are

when you're home cooking at dinner parties.

While the rest of this group goes on and competes

to become the next MasterChef.

So I want pasta cooked properly, because you know what?

The only thing worse than a cook who can't boil

is a narcissist in full denial.

- Thank you for nothing. - Great.

Ah, Joe's just an [bleep].

This is a competition about flair,

about finesse, about creativity, not about copying

someone else's [bleep] so you can win $1/4 million.

If you're here putting your spin on everything you make

because you want to show us how cutesy

and intelligent and crafty you are,

Well, that's gonna get you a one-way ticket

back to wherever you came from.

Because you know what?

The only thing worse than a cook who can't boil

is a narcissist in full denial.

- Thank you for nothing. - Great.

Tonight there were two stand-out agnolotti dishes

that really impressed Lidia.

The first dish, we actually expected perfection

from that person, and they delivered.

It had a perfect ratio of filling to dough,

worked beautifully, seasoned perfectly.

This person is becoming a frontrunner.

Congratulations...

Krissi.

Well done.

Thank you.

Aside from the birth of my child,

this may be the happiest day of my life.

But the best dish of the night

had incredibly delicious filling.

The balance of textures worked perfectly.

It was almost as good as her dish

and that dish belongs to...

Jessie.

Krissi and Jessie, you're now team captains

in the up-and-coming challenge.

I've been team captain twice.

I've never been defeated as a team captain.

This is awesome. What a great advantage.

I'm a force to be reckoned with.

So now the bad news.

Usually we only bring three people down.

Today there are four people that really disappointed

me and my fellow judges.

Please come down, Jonny...

Lynn...

Howard...

and Beth.

Jonny andBeth, please step forward.

Two dreadful dishes.

Underwhelming, badly thought out,

and on the verge of an insult

on any other night in this competition.

You both could be going home,

but luckily for both of you,

two other people were even worse.

Both of you, back on your stations.

If Howard stays and I go home,

then I must've really screwed up my dish to make that happen.

I'm, like, nervous, and my hands are sweating.

I love cooking. This is my passion.

I'm just praying that I'm not gonna be the one that goes home.

Lynn, your dish was a total mess.

The balance was incorrect,

the texture was all wrong, the pasta was badly utilized.

Quite frankly, your worst dish so far in this competition.

Howard, you've got this ignorance

that you wouldn't absorb the kind of magic

this lady has spent nearly six decades creating.

one of you has reached the end of the road.

I would like that individual to leave this competition

in a dignified manner, by removing his apron,

placing it on his station,

and leaving the MasterChef kitchen.

That individual knows who he is.

Do the honorable thing.

Lynn's one of the top guys here.

He's a better cook than I am,

and he shows it with... with his plates.

I got here, and I got an apron,

and I got to compete.

Yeah! Whoo!

Thousands and thousands of people didn't.

I did as best as I could.

The actual cupcake is definitely the hero.

A bit like you tonight. Good job.

Thank you.

And I feel amazing about it.

Thank you, Howard.

Thank you.

My dreams about being in the culinary world

Are even more alive than they were before I got here.

I'm leaving a better cook for sure.