MasterChef (American TV series) season 4

MasterChef (American TV series) season 4
Country of origin	United States
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	May 22 – September 18, 2013

Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef had a premiere on Fox on May 22, 2013.

Top 19

Contestant	Age	Hometown	Occupation	Status
Jessica "Jessie" Lysiak	27	Social Circle, Georgia	Yacht Stewardess	Top 4
Krissi Biasiello	34	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Paralegal	Top 4
Luca Manfe	31	Astoria, New York	Restaurant Manager	Top 4
Natasha Crnjac	26	San Diego, California	Stay-At-Home Mom	Top 4
James Nelson	26	Victoria, Texas	Retail Sales	Eliminated 28 August
Brianna "Bri" Kozior	22	Doylestown, Pennsylvania	Theatre Assistant	Eliminated 21 August Returned 7 August Eliminated 24 July
Jordan Roots	29	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Delivery Driver	Eliminated 14 August
Eddie Jackson	32	Americus, Georgia	Personal Trainer/Former Pro Football Player	Eliminated 31 July
Bethy Rossos	29	Estacada, Oregon	High School P.E. Teacher	Eliminated 17 July
Savannah Sturges	27	San Diego, California	Middle School Special Ed. Teacher	Eliminated 10 July
Lynn Chyi	28	San Diego, California	Systems Administrator
Jonathan "Jonny" Blanchard	28	Marlboro, Massachusetts	Carpenter	Eliminated 26 June
Elizabeth "Beth" Kirby	29	Chattanooga, Tennessee	Writer, Photographer
Albaya "Bime" Cruz	35	Taunton, Massachusetts	Boxing Coach	Eliminated 19 June
Howie "Howard" Simpson	31	San Diego, California	Barback
Kathryn "Kathy" Prieto	29	Bronx, New York	Office Assistant	Eliminated 12 June
Malcolm Green	27	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Unemployed	Eliminated 5 June
Adriana Guillen	26	New York, New York	College Admissions Rep.
Sasha Foxx	42	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	Singer	Eliminated 29 May

Elimination table

Place	Contestant	Episode
		4		5	6		7	8	9		10	11		12	13		14	15		16	17		18	19		20	21		22	23	24		25
	Jessie	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	LOW	WIN	IMM	IN	WIN	WIN	HIGH	IN	NPT	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	LOW	HIGH	LOW	IMM	IN	LOW	WIN	HIGH	IN	WIN
	Krissi	HIGH	IN	PT	IN	IN	PT	IMM	IN	WIN	NPT	IN	LOW	DNC	IN	LOW	PT	HIGH	IN	NPT	IN	WIN	IMM	WIN	IMM	LOW	IN	LOW	PT
	Luca	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	LOW	PT	IN	IN	WIN	IN	LOW	NPT	IN	IN	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	IMM	HIGH	IN	WIN	HIGH	WIN	WIN
	Natasha	WIN	IMM	WIN	IN	IN	LOW	WIN1	IN	IN	NPT	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	HIGH	WIN	WIN	HIGH	WIN	IMM	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	LOW	PT
5	James	IN	IN	NPT	HIGH	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	LOW	IN	WIN	NPT	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	IN	IMM	IN	IN	PT	WIN	IMM	ELIM
6	Bri	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	PT	IMM	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	DNC	WIN	IMM	LOW	IN	WIN	ELIM			RET	IN	WIN	ELIM
7	Jordan	IN	WIN	NPT	IN	IN	NPT	IMM	HIGH	IN	PT	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	NPT	IN	LOW	PT	IN	IN	IMM	HIGH	ELIM
8	Eddie	IN	IN	PT	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	WIN	IMM	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	HIGH	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	WIN	IN	ELIM
9	Bethy	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	ELIM
10	Savannah	IN	IMM	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	HIGH	IN	ELIM
11	Lynn	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	LOW	WIN	WIN	IMM	PT	IN	ELIM
12	Jonny	IN	IN	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	LOW	NPT	HIGH	IN	ELIM
13	Beth	IN	IN	WIN	HIGH	IN	LOW	WIN1	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	ELIM
14	Bime	HIGH	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	NPT	IMM	HIGH	IN	ELIM
15	Howard	IN	LOW	NPT	LOW	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	ELIM
16	Kathy	IN	IN	PT	IN	LOW	LOW	ELIM
17	Malcolm	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	ELIM
18	Adriana	IN	IN	ELIM
19	Sasha	IN	ELIM

^Note 1 : Beth and Natasha were among the bottom four in the first part of the episode but won the team challenge against Luca and Kathy in the second part.

  (WINNER) This cook won the competition.

  (RUNNER-UP) This cook finished in second place.

  (WIN) The cook won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Elimination Test).

  (WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and was directly advanced to the next round.

  (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge, but did not win.

  (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in an individual challenge.

  (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in a team challenge.

  (IMM) The cook did not have to compete in that round of the competition and was safe from elimination.

  (IMM) The cook was select by Mystery Box Challenge winner and did not have to compete in the Elimination Test.

  (DNC) This cook was chosen by their team captain to not compete in the team challenge, and was automatically safe from the Pressure Test if their team had lost.

  (PT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, competed in the Pressure Test, and advanced.

  (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, but was exempted from the Pressure Test

  (RET) The cook was eliminated but come back to compete to return to the competition.

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance.

  (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from MasterChef.

Episodes

Episode 1

• Original airdate: Wednesday May 22, 2013
• Day 1 of Auditions:

The people who earn white aprons today include Natasha, Brian, Jordan, Adriana, Bethy, Kevin, Lynn and Krissi. Bethy, Krissi and Jordan get all 3 yes's. Adriana, Brian and the pastor got only 2 yes's. Adriana very nearly gets a no from Joe.

Episode 2

• Original airdate: Wednesday May 22, 2013
• Day 2 of Auditions:

People who earn white aprons today include Jessie, Sasha, Bime, James, Eddie and returning chef Luca. Sasha receives 3 yes's. Bime, James, Eddie and Luca only get 2. Steven Smith, of Wilkesboro, North Carolina, also receives three yes's and a white apron from the judges. He skinned and prepared an eel in a garlic-infused chili oil, made an eel sauce, Asian slaw with a peanut dressing and oriental rice, putting him in the top forty. Jessie got an apron after winning the challenge proposed by chef Ramsay.

Episode 3

• Original airdate: Wednesday May 29, 2013
• Audition 3 and Boot Camp:

In the beginning of the episode, Howard and Jonny gain the white apron. The remaining contestants are asked to prepare a meal in an hour using various cuts of lamb their choice. Once there are fifteen minutes left, Joe starts to take off some aprons due to many mistakes. At the end of time, all but 8 contestants are divided into 2 groups. One group is eliminated while the other group consisting of Adriana, Bethy, Bime, Eddie, Howard, James, Jessie, Jordan, Kathy, Krissi, Lynn, Natasha, Sasha and Savannah advances straight to the MasterChef kitchen. The judges then taste the remaining 8 dishes, in couple of 2. Malcolm, Jonny, Bri and Beth have the best ones and go on in the competition. After a while, even Luca is admitted, bringing the total of competitors to nineteen.

The total number of contestants near the end of episode 3 is actually twenty; there's a clean shot of all twenty contestants, which occurs when Luca joins the rest of the contestants. However, at the beginning of episode 4, there are clearly only nineteen.

Episode 4

• Original airdate: Wednesday May 29, 2013
• Mystery Box Challenge:

The mystery box for this episode challenges the contestants to create a high-quality meal using simple ingredients - chocolate, a potato, bacon and a tomato. The top three consist of Bime, who creates a potato hash with a poached egg; Natasha, with a lemon-chocolate tart; and Krissi, who makes a potato-bacon frittata served with a tomato-basil salad. Between the 3, Natasha emerges as the winner, with the judges raving over her dessert. This is the first time in MasterChef history that a dessert wins a mystery box challenge when the mystery box was not dessert focused (season 1 cupcake challenge).

• Elimination Challenge:

Contrasting with the mystery box challenge, the elimination challenge for this week was to test how the contestants treat some of the world's most expensive, high-end ingredients. Since Natasha won the mystery box challenge and thus given immunity from elimination, she's given the advantage of picking the difficult ingredient with which her fellow competitors will have to cook - langoustine, veal chops and Stilton blue cheese. Additionally, her third advantage is that she can pick one other contestant to be safe from elimination. Natasha picks Savannah, who she feels is no threat in comparison to the others. Some meals that shine are Krissi's langoustine macaroni and cheese, Jordan's langoustine bisque, Lynn's poached langoustine with lime beurre blanc and Jessie's tempura fried langoustine, despite never having worked with the ingredient before. Some disappointments however were Luca's fettuccine langoustine, Sasha's cheesy langoustine grits, Kathy's rice with boiled langoustine and Malcolm's langoustine-stuffed pasta. The huge disappointment of the night is Howard's poached langoustine citrus salad, which Gordon refuses to taste, and Joe telling Howard he'd stuck his neck out for him. Gordon then announces that both Jordan and Jessie had the best dishes, and would become team captains in the first team challenge. The 3 worst meals belong to Sasha, Malcolm and Howard. Ultimately, Sasha is the first chef to leave the Masterchef Kitchen.

Episode 5

• Original airdate: Wednesday June 5, 2013
• Team Challenge:

For this team challenge, the contestants find themselves having to work together to feed more than three hundred students at Emperor Elementary School. As Jessie and Jordan produced the 2 best meals in the last invention test, they become Team Captains for this challenge. On her Red Team, Jessie picks Lynn, Bethy, Beth, Bime, Natasha, Bri, Luca and Malcolm. For the Blue Team, Jordan picks Savannah, James, Eddie, Jonny, Krissi, Adriana, Howard and Kathy. Each team is assigned to create an entree and dessert. The meal must contain a protein, starch, veggie and fruit. The blue team swiftly decides on their menu of spaghetti and meatballs made of turkey, string bean salad and apple crisp for dessert. The red team, on the other hand, takes their time coming up with the menu, eventually agreeing on a chicken teriyaki with rice and corn, and strawberry crumble for dessert. Despite their initial quick decisions, the blue team realized they'd have to make six hundred meatballs and changed their menu halfway through prep time, instead making a meat sauce to go with the pasta. The red team also comes across difficulties during prep due to their overly salty teriyaki sauce. Fortunately, they manage to salvage the sauce by sweetening it up. In the end, the Red Team scores 58% of the votes, making them the winners of this challenge.

• Pressure Test:

As the blue team lost the challenge, they have to face the dreaded pressure test. This week, the judges test the contestants' baking abilities by having them create a delicious cheesecake in 1½ hours. Gordon reveals to Jordan, the Team Captain, that he could excuse any three of his team members, including himself, from the pressure test, ensuring their safety from elimination. Jordan saves Howard, James and himself, much to Krissi's dismay. As for the final products, Krissi creates a cheesecake with a raspberry compote and raspberry bombs. Kathy makes a cheesecake with a blueberry-blackberry compote. Eddie, despite his lack of baking experienced, manages to create a vanilla cheesecake with a mixed berry compote. While the judges criticize him for not draining the berries, resulting in the berries tainting the color of the cake, they commend him for his great effort. Krissi, Kathy and Eddie all manage to produce cheesecakes that grant them immediate safety from elimination. The other 3 contestants aren't as lucky. Jonny makes a pineapple cheesecake with coconut and raspberry-blood orange whipped cream. The judges find the flavor of the cheesecake pleasant but chastise his choice of pineapple, adding that the cake's appearance could have also been improved. However, the judges declare Jonny's cheesecake the best of the worst, and he's declared safe. Despite her confidence in her baking abilities, Savannah produces an overly sweet salted caramel cheesecake with a hazelnut-almond brittle and honey whipped cream that the judges agree contains too much crust. Lastly, Adriana makes a guava cheesecake with mango and coconut. While the judges appreciate her effort to be creative, the canned guava paste added an overall strange, unpleasant flavor to the cake. Ultimately, Adriana is eliminated for her poor choice in using guava paste.

Episode 6

• Original airdate: Wednesday June 5, 2013
• Mystery Box Challenge:

Before the contestants lift the boxes to reveal the Mystery Box ingredients, the judges reveal that they'd be cooking alongside a famous professional chef, who turns out to be none other than Gordon Ramsay himself. The Mystery Box includes such typical Japanese ingredients as black cod, black and white sesame seeds, shiitake mushrooms, baby beets, ginger, cauliflower, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, rice and miso paste. As the hour starts, the contestants start their prep and cooking, while Mr. Ramsay doesn't immediately start cooking, saying that an hour is "too much time". Instead, he observes the other contestants and starts cooking half an hour in. Even though he started cooking thirty minutes after all the other contestants, he whips up a beautifully tasted and presented dish of sesame-seed-crusted black cod over fragrant rice with caramelized cauliflower and a roasted peanut-miso sauce. Before the top three are announced, the judges single out Howard, calling his meal "appalling", as the black cod in his meal is raw, leading to Joe throwing it away. The top three cooks are James, who makes a pan-seared crispy black cod with a toasted sesame and cauliflower puree, and shiitake mushroom salad with a miso vinaigrette; Beth, who made a meal similar to Gordon's: sesame crusted black cod with caramelized beets and cauliflower with a miso vinaigrette; and Luca, who creates a meal of pan-seared black cod with butter-sauteed shiitake mushrooms and snap peas with a miso glaze. The judges decided that Luca's meal excelled, notably his sauce, and he's determined as the winner of this week's mystery box.

• Elimination Challenge:

Dessert is the theme for this week's elimination challenge. As Luca won the mystery box, he received the usual advantages: immunity from competition and choice of the dessert his fellow competitors would have to make, among twenty-four cookies, twelve cupcakes, or a classic three-layer cake. Luca picks the second option and receives a third advantage: taking away the mixer of one contestant, forcing that person to mix all ingredients by hand. He removes Jordan's mixer due to his choice to save himself in last week's pressure test after his team lost. This challenge proved hard for some contestants. However, some manage to succeed and create fantastic finishing products. Howard redeems himself by presenting tahitian vanilla bean cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream frosting. Bime presents the judges with vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and milk chocolate whipped cream frosting. Bethy astounds the judges by creating three different cupcakes: 1) bananas foster cupcake with banana cream filling, a mascarpone-cream cheese frosting and homemade caramel, 2) raspberry lime cupcake with lime buttercream and 3) almond chocolate cupcake with hazelnut liqueur. Lastly, Jordan, who didn't have a mixer, achieves in making vanilla cupcakes with mascarpone cheese frosting, basil infusion and a chocolate truffle with cayenne. His cupcake is tasted also by Luca, who likes it. The worst three batches of cupcakes belong to Malcolm, who made a buttermilk cupcake with a mascarpone-cream cheese frosting and a rum banana cream filling, which the judges find to have a displeasing taste and texture; Kathy, who made vanilla cupcakes with some having a crushed peanut base and others having a chocolate peanut butter base; and Jessie, who made 2 types of cupcakes, one being a vanilla bean cupcake with cream cheese icing, toasted hazelnuts and white chocolate, and the other type being a chocolate coffee liquor cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The judges criticize her cupcakes' small as well as the actual cake's dense texture. Bime and Bethy are said to have the best batch of cupcakes and would become team captains in the next challenge. In the end, Malcolm's cupcakes are deemed the worst and he's eliminated.

Episode 7

• Original airdate: Wednesday June 12, 2013
• Team Challenge:

Having won the previous elimination test, Bethy and Bime are chosen to be team captains of this week's team challenge. This week's challenge for the 2 teams is to prepare 101 New York Strip steaks with a sauce and 2 sides of fresh produce for some of California's finest firemen. Bethy's Blue Team originally consists of Lynn, Jessie, James, Howard, Jonny, Savannah and Krissi; while Bime's Red Team has Jordan, Eddie, Luca, Natasha, Bri, Beth and Kathy. However, since Bethy had the best meal from the last invention test, she's given the opportunity to steal one of Bime's team members and give him one of her original picks. She steals Eddie because she feels his experience on the grill will benefit her team. Along with this, she relinquishes Krissi to Bime. As for the menus, the Red Team quickly decides on a New York strip steak with a red wine reduction sauce, sauteed mushrooms and a cauliflower puree. The Blue Team creates a New York strip steak with a chimichurri sauce served with grilled asparagus and potatoes. In the end, the Blue Team manages to gain nearly 70% of the votes, ensuring them safety from the pressure test.

• Pressure Test:

As the Red Team lost the team challenge, they're made to compete against one another in the pressure test. This week, the judges test their ability to pull off a classic but technically difficult breakfast meal - eggs benedict (featured since the first edition of MasterChef). Since Bime was the team captain, the judges excuse him from participation, much to his team members' disappointment, who criticize his lack of leadership. Bime is also allowed to excuse another team member who he feels is the biggest help in the challenge. He picks Jordan, even though he considered him a big threat in the competition. Left to compete in the pressure test are Krissi, Luca, Natasha, Kathy, Beth and Bri. Only 2 of the 6 competitors manage to produce worthy meals. The judges love Krissi's eggs benedict despite having made her hollandaise sauce with a single egg as her first batch broke. Even though Bri had never made this meal prior to this challenge, she pulls off the best eggs benedict. Both Krissi and Bri are deemed safe from elimination. As for the other 4, Luca, Kathy, Beth and Natasha produced unpleasant meals, despite the latter 2 being originally confident.Kathy's dish was perfect but her dish was lacking the hollandaise sauce needed. Luca's poached eggs were undercooked. Beth broke her hollandaise and also slightly undercooked her eggs. Natasha's dish was a disaster, as not only her hollandaise broke, it turned into mayonnaise as a result of putting too much vinegar in it. Also, one of her poached eggs broke, leaking yolk all over the plate. For the first time in Masterchef history, the judges can't pick the worst meal and all 4 remaining competitors are asked to leave the kitchen as they're to participate in another pressure test to determine which of them will be leaving the Masterchef Kitchen.

Episode 8

• Original airdate: Wednesday June 12, 2013
• Continued Pressure Test: Las Vegas Round:

As they failed to produce eggs Benedict in the last pressure test, Luca, Natasha, Kathy and Beth are brought to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in yet another pressure test to decide which of them will be sent home. For this pressure test, the judges reveal that they'll be working in Gordon Ramsay's Vegas restaurant, BurGR. The 2 teams are required to create a gourmet burger recipe and prep and cook them for dinner service. Each diner will receive a burger from each team. The judges also reveal that V.I.P. guests will be visiting the restaurant and judging the teams, which consist of Beth and Natasha on the Blue Team and Luca and Kathy on the Red Team. The Blue Team chooses a "Hangover"-style burger with crispy prosciutto, gruyere and aioli, topped with a fried egg. The Red Team opts for a simpler burger with caramelized onions, arugula and no cheese. Throughout prep, the Blue Team struggles with the cook on the fried eggs, realizing it might take too long. They eventually decide to scrap the fried eggs and top their burger with goat cheese, crispy prosciutto, aioli and arugula. Both teams come across difficulties during service, with the Blue Team burning buns and the Red Team serving raw burgers. The V.I.P. guests are actually their fellow Masterchef contestants. With the Red Team working in advance, they manage to sabotage the Blue Team as Luca noticed the Red Team falling behind. His strategy pays off as the Blue Team fails to produce their last 4 burgers on time, leaving four judging contestants to only receive a burger from the Red Team. Despite losing votes, the Blue Team (Natasha and Beth) manage to receive most of the votes, winning the second pressure test of the week and earning their places back in the competition. Luca and Kathy are left to compete in the last pressure test, a Masterchef cook-off.

• Pressure Test: Cook-off:

For the last pressure test in Las Vegas, the judges tell Luca and Kathy they're each to produce an extremely intricate, expensive dish: butter-poached lobster with a shaved fennel salad. Both Luca and Kathy came across difficulties during the hour, with Luca butchering the lobster wrong and Kathy managing her time insufficiently. In the end, Luca's butter poached lobster is deemed better and Kathy is sent home. However, before she leaves, Gordon invites her to visit one of his restaurants in New York to aid her in continuing her culinary career.

Episode 9

• Original airdate: Wednesday June 19, 2013
• Mystery Box Challenge:

This week, the contestants are treated to a mystery box featuring various ethnic foods from Russia, Spain, China and several others. In addition, the judges also refrain from telling the home chefs what exactly the ingredients of the mystery box are, which include elk, fat choy (Chinese Black Moss), canned baby eels, Mojama, cod's liver and Japanese sweet potatoes. Since the contestants have no idea what the ingredients are, the judges test their creativity and palates. The top three meals consist of Eddie's seared elk flank with Japanese sweet potato puree with lemon-sauteed greens; Jordan's stacked salad with Chinese moss, sweet potato chips and baby eels; and Bime's Surf and turf-inspired thin-sliced elk with sweet potato-eel puree. Ramsay also said to Lynn that, despite its finesse, his dish was underseasoned again. Eddie's meal is deemed the best and he's given a series of advantages in the next challenge.

• Elimination Challenge:

The theme of this week's elimination challenge is pasta with a filling. The 3 pasta options the judges provide are agnolotti, mezzelune and caramelle. Eddie's first advantage is that he's not required to cook and thus safe from elimination. His second advantage is to pick which of the 3 stuffed pastas his fellow competitors would have to make. Eddie chooses for the home chefs to make the judges a meal of agnolotti. To help the contestants with their pasta making, the judges invite Joe's mom, Lidia Bastianich, restaurateur, author and TV host, to provide a live demonstration of making the perfect agnolotti meal. Eddie's third advantage is that he can pick 2 contestants who'd be forbidden to watch Lidia's demonstration. Eddie picks Lynn and James for this, with whom Lidia begins the tastes. As usual in the first tests, only some meals are featured. Despite his disadvantage, James managed to produce an acceptable meal of ricotta-Parmesan agnolotti with a tomato-vodka sauce. Unlike James, Lynn heavily struggled as a result of his disadvantage, producing an underseasoned short rib-ricotta agnolotti with charred leek brown butter sauce. The judges agreed that the filling in his pasta suffered as he pureed it rather than grinding it, giving it the texture of baby food. In addition, his pasta to filling ratio was wrong, with the filling being much thinner than the pasta. Jonny turned in a spin on a classic Italian meal by making a butternut squash-ricotta ravioli with smoked maple Alfredo sauce. The judges agreed that his dish is too sweet and it's deemed unsuitable as a pasta meal. The judges loved Jessie's oxtail-short rib agnolotti with a basil oil reduction. Krissi also managed to impress the judges with her traditional Swiss chard-pancetta agnolotti with a simple butter sauce. Beth produced an underwhelming ricotta-herb agnolotti with mushroom butter sauce, due to her severely-undercooked pasta. Howard's chicken-pepper-jalapeño pepper agnolotti with spiced cumin is deemed too unconventional. Joe criticized him for not respecting Italian traditional cooking. Howard then questioned the point of the challenge if every contestant is expected to cook the same meal, in turn causing Joe to go ballistic at Howard, accusing him of being arrogant, having little talent and no future in the culinary world. Joe called Howard a narcissist and told him "Thank you for nothing." After all the meals are tasted, the judges awarded Krissi and Jessie with having the best meals, making them team captains in the next team challenge. The judges picked 4 contestants to be up for elimination: Lynn, Beth, Howard and Jonny. Beth and Jonny are both told they're safe from elimination, and asked to return to their stations, leaving Lynn and Howard in the bottom 2. Instead of picking one for elimination, Gordon asked Lynn and Howard that the one between them who produced the worst meal humbly remove his apron and leave the Masterchef kitchen with dignity. Eventually, Howard, realizing his continual mistakes in the competition and Lynn having far more potential, removes his apron and leaves the competition.

Episode 10

• Original airdate: Wednesday, June 19, 2013
• Team Challenge:

For this week's team challenge, the contestants received the opportunity to cook for the cast of Glee at Paramount Studios with Krissi as the Blue Team captain and Jessie as the Red Team captain. Jane Lynch, one of the stars of the hit television program, picked the teams based on "beauty" (Jessie) and the "beast" (Krissi), with 2 switches in the end. Jessie's "beauty" Red Team contains Savannah, Bri, Lynn, Beth, Luca and Eddie. Krissi's "beast" Blue Team is made up of James, Bime, Natasha, Jonny, Bethy and Jordan. They had to make three entrees that consist of fried chicken with fries and coleslaw, vegan lasagna with a mixed salad, and grilled salmon with scalloped potatoes and asparagus. Whenever a cast member decided which of the 3 entrees they wanted, they'll receive one from each team, thus letting them vote for their favorite. The Red Team's final menu is southern buttermilk fried chicken, soy-ginger-glazed salmon and pesto vegan lasagna. The Blue Team's final menu is spicy Latin fried chicken with jalapeño ranch sauce, balsamic-glazed salmon and vegan lasagna with spicy tomato sauce. Shortly after prep, Jessie cut her finger on a mandoline and required medical service. However, she's able to resume working after sitting out a few minutes. During service, both teams ran out of chicken, and the Blue Team also serves raw chicken. In the end, the Red Team, led by Jessie, won by a long shot with 74% of the vote, sending the Blue Team to the pressure test.

• Pressure Test:

Krissi, as team captain, has the choice to decide which of her teammates she'll save, saving at least one person and no more than 5 people. She ultimately saves Jonny, Natasha and herself, leaving Bethy, Bime, James and Jordan to face the pressure test. Jordan calls Krissi hypocritical because she lambasted him for pulling the same move earlier in the competition. The challenge has the contestants make a version of lemonless lemon meringue pie. Bime makes the mistake of using too much cream of tartar instead of corn starch in his curd, and his pie becomes acidic. James' pie crust is slightly undercooked and Jordan's is near perfect, so they save themselves from elimination. However, Bethy's pie is lackluster, and Bime's pie is so horrible that Gordon has to pour it into a cocktail glass in order to taste it. Bime and Bethy, who'd previously shined in the cupcake elimination test, are revealed as the worst. In the end, Bime's pie fell short of the mark as his performance in the kitchen led to a teary elimination.

Episode 11

• Original airdate: Wednesday, June 26, 2013
• Mystery Box Challenge:

For this week, the contestants lift their boxes to reveal a pig head for their mystery box challenge. The judges test their ability to work with all aspects of an animal commonly used in cooking. The top three meals belong to Lynn who produced a Braised Pig Tongue and Cheek with a Parsnip Puree, Jessie, who cooked a Tex-Mex influenced dish of Braised Pig Cheek and Ear with Black Eyed Peas and Roasted Corn, and Jonny, who made Pig Tongue and Cheek Soft Tacos with Avocado and a Tomato Jam. After much deliberation, the judges decided that Lynn would be the winner of this week's Mystery Box.

• Elimination Challenge:

For winning the mystery box challenge, Lynn became in control of the next elimination challenge. This week, the theme of the elimination test revolved around the favorite ingredients of Masterchef Season 3 Winner, Christine Ha. Lynn's first advantage was that he did not have to compete in the challenge and thus safe from elimination. Then, the judges presented him with three of Christine's favorite ingredients: Chicken, Catfish and Live Dungeness Crab. For his advantages, the judges then told Lynn that he was able to pick the ingredient that one particular contestant would cook with and also choose one other ingredient that all of the other contestants would cook with. He chose to single out Krissi and have her make a Catfish dish, while the rest of contestants were given a Live Crab as their main component. Before they started cooking, Christine told the competitors to open their drawers and there were blindfolds in them, and they would be cooking without sight. Gordon Ramsay told them to stop cooking after a couple of minutes, stating that Christine was only kidding. Then, the real 60 minutes cooking time started. When it came to the final dishes, Lynn's strategy of giving Krissi a Catfish in the hopes of bringing her out of her comfort zone seemed to be successful as the judges were highly underwhelmed with her dish of Fried Catfish with Bacon and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus. The judges, especially Joe, found her dish disrespectful and far too simple for this level in the competition. When Krissi arrogantly spoke under her breath that her dish was good, Joe exploded telling her to be more respectful or she would be thrown out of the competition. Next, the judges tasted Natasha's dish and raved over her Ginger Crab Cakes served with a Shredded Crab and Beet Salad. In addition, the judges appreciated the flavors in Bri's Summer Crab Stack Salad with Pea and Avocado Mash and Corn Puree. After, the judges tasted James dish and were highly impressed with his Spicy Crab Creole with Rice and Seafood Broth. Further on, the judges criticized Beth with her poor dish of Mascarpone Crab Cakes with Grilled Peaches and an Avocado Salsa, with Joe even spitting out her food. Luca's dish was the last to be shown. His Crab Risotto left the judges with an unpleasant taste after having used fish sauce in the broth to cook his risotto. The top two dishes belonged to James and Natasha, giving them the roles of team captains in the next team challenge. The bottom three dishes belonged to Krissi, Luca and Beth. Luca was immediately determined as the best of the worst and was told to return to his station, leaving Krissi and Beth as the bottom two. Unfortunately, Lynn's attempt to eliminate Krissi backfired, as Beth was eliminated for her overall inedible crab dish. However, Krissi was warned to "get it together," or she'll be sent home.

Episode 12

• Original airdate: Wednesday, June 26, 2013
• Team Challenge:

This week, the 2 teams are in charge of preparing a meal for a wedding. First, the competitors receive info from the couple about what to not cook. The judges reveal that Graham will be making an appetizer of spring pea essence with whipped creme fraiche and a lavender infusion, and Gordon would be preparing sticky toffee pudding with brown bread ice cream and caramel sauce for dessert, leaving the 3 teams to produce a stunning entree that would match the quality of the appetizer and dessert. Each team is to prepare a non-vegetarian and vegetarian entree for the guests. Blue team captain James chooses Lynn, Jessie, Jonny, Bri and Luca to be on his team. Red team captain Natasha chooses Eddie, Jordan, Bethy, Savannah and Krissi to be on her team. Additionally, the judges tell the captains they must choose one person on their team who won't participate in the team challenge, thus ensuring this person a place in the top 11. James excuses Bri from the challenge because he feels like she's not on top like the rest even though he picked Luca last. Natasha opts to excuse Krissi, who she feels won't listen because she (Krissi) is a loudmouth. For their final entrees, the blue team decides on lamb medallions with parsnip puree for the non-vegetarian guests and grilled mushrooms over a goat cheese creme fraiche for the vegetarian guests. The red team decides on halibut beurre blanc with roasted baby carrots for the non-vegetarian guests and an eggplant-tomato stack for the vegetarian guests. The red team's cooking period is marked by disorganization and a lack of leadership from Natasha, while the blue team works better. When it comes to the service itself, however, Natasha finally brings leadership and organization, who pull together and perform flawlessly, while the blue team's service rapidly becomes a complete disaster, mostly because of Lynn completely falling apart on the plating and Jonny taking too long to get the lamb out, making it go cold. The blue team only successfully manages to serve a single table their entrees before Graham has to step in and take control of the team. For the final results, Natasha and the red team are deemed the clear winners, leaving James and the blue team to face the pressure test.

• Pressure Test:

For this week's pressure test, the contestants are tasked with making a box of 12 perfect macarons. However, the blue team was told that only 2 of them would compete in the test, and that the judges would determine who'd be safe. Bri didn't participate in the team challenge, so she's excused from competing and is thus safe. The judges save Jessie (who was felt to have been by far the best performer on the team), Luca (who took over the plating after Lynn's repeated failures) and James (who, while being agreed to have been a poor captain, was at least felt to have avoided making any glaring mistakes) from elimination, leaving Lynn and Jonny to go head to head against each other. Lynn produces vanilla macarons with a salted caramel filling and raspberry macarons with a raspberry and white chocolate filling. Despite his impressive presentation, the judges all find the macarons a bit too sweet and chastise his unconventional choice in putting fresh fruit in the pastry. Jonny makes chocolate macarons with a peanut butter mousse and vanilla macarons with a raspberry mascarpone filling. Although the judges all think Jonny's macarons tasted better, he made a bizarre, fatal mistake by trying to jam all 12 in the box and then forcing the lid shut, fracturing all his macarons. In the end, the judges decide that despite the macarons being overly sweet, Lynn had demonstrated more finesse than Jonny, who becomes the eighth home cook eliminated from the competition.

Episode 13

• Original air date: Wednesday, July 10, 2013
• Mystery Box Challenge  :

For this week's challenge, Eva Longoria surprised the contestants with a Mexican Themed mystery box where she handpicked all the ingredients. The box contained Pork Tenderloin, Shrimp, Avocado, Mangoes, Corn, Mexican Chocolate, Dried Pasilla Peppers, Fresh Jalapeño, Hot Sauce, Tomatillo, Cotija Cheese, and more. The top 3 dishes belonged to Bri, who made a Butter and Cilantro Shrimp topped with a Pico de Gallo over a Mexican Grilled Corn Salad, Eddie, with his Chili Seared Pork Loin over Roasted Creamed Corn and a Mango Relish topping, and Savannah, who produced a Spice Crusted Pork Loin over Creamed Corn and Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa. The judges decided that Bri's dish was the best of the 3 and she was decided as the winner of this challenge.

• Elimination Challenge:

For winning the Mystery Box, Bri received safety from the Elimination Challenge and was shown two baskets of ingredients. The first basket contained Strawberries, Bananas and a few other baking ingredients. The contestant(s) who received this basket would be given the full 60 minutes to prepare their dish. The second basket contained a variety of savory ingredients such as a Premium 14 oz. Rib-eye Steak, Sweet Potato, Cauliflower, Vintage Ripe Tomatoes, Bell peppers, Collard Greens and many more. The contestant(s) who received this basket would only be given 30 minutes to produce a dish. As her advantage, Bri was told that she would have to pick one person who would cook with one basket an the other 9 competitors would cook with the other. Knowing that Natasha is like the only competitor good at baking and desserts, she decided to single Natasha out and give her the savory steak basket and gave all the other contestants the baking basket. When it came to the final results, Bri's attempt to eliminate Natasha backfired as all the judges were impressed by Natasha's Rib Eye Steak with Sweet Potato Fries, Roasted Cauliflower and a trio of sauces. A few other great dishes belonged to Luca, who made a Banana Cake with Pastry Cream and a Strawberry Compote, Jessie, who blew away the judges with her Shortbread Tart with Meringue and Caramelized Banana. As for the dishes that did not receive such positive feedback, the judges were shocked by Lynn's Baked Meringue with Strawberries and Banana Puree, with Gordon even calling it the "worst dish in all four seasons of Masterchef". The judges also disliked Savannah's Banana Cream Pie with Banana Meringue, as the meringue broke. In addition, the judges were severely underwhelmed with James' Deep Fried Bananas with a Strawberry Puree and Custard, finding his custard strange and unpleasant. Finally, the judges found Krissi's Strawberry Muffins with Caramelized Bananas extremely dense as a result of her putting Strawberry Gelatin in the batter. The judges decided that Jessie's dish was the best and she was made the only captain of the next team challenge. The bottom 3 consisted of James, Lynn and Krissi. In the end, the judges eliminate front-runner Lynn after going from hero to zero, much to the shock of all the other contestants.

Episode 14

• Original airdate: Wednesday, July 10, 2013
• Team Challenge:

The contestants were brought to Huntington Beach, California to serve 101 surfers a meal of fish tacos. The contestants were split into two teams; and Jessie, for winning the previous episode's main challenge, was given the ability to choose her entire team as well as those with whom she wouldn't be competing. She chose to have James, Eddie, Bethy, and Natasha for her team. She then chose Savannah to be the team captain for the red team consisting of her, Jordan, Krissi, Luca, and Bri. The Red Team produced a Spicy Blackened Cod Taco with Pickled Onions and Cabbage, while the Blue Team served a Grilled Mahi Mahi Taco with a Chipotle Ranch Slaw. The Blue Team ran into issues with plating shortly after the beginning of service, causing a backup at their station. The Red Team however faced issues towards the end of the challenge with almost not having enough fish for their tacos. The Red Team started-off strong with points, gaining the first 22, but then the Blue Team quickly tied the score and won the challenge 51 to 25. The Blue Team also won tickets to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game, scheduled to take place in New York and air on Fox.

• Pressure Test

Prior to the test, the Red Team members were told that they could exempt one member, and to decide between themselves who it should be. Krissi wanted the exemption, as she had competed in so many pressure tests and felt she was the least to blame for the loss, and threatened physical violence against the other competitors (particularly Bri) when they disagreed. Eventually, the team agreed to exempt Jordan, whose sauce was agreed to have been the best part of their taco. In this test, the competitors had 40 minutes to cook Chicken Breast in three different ways: Sauteed for Gordon, Southern Fried for Graham, Stuffed with Prosciutto and Mozzarella for Joe. When Gordon checked in on Luca, he asked him who's leaving the competition. He immediately said that Krissi needed to go home because everyone is getting sick and tired of her attitude. Gordon asked all the other contestants if this is true and they all nodded yes. Savannah's sautéed chicken breast was described as bland and poached and fried chicken as raw; but the stuffed chicken was deemed properly cooked, however the sauce was a bit heavy. Krissi's sautéed breast was slightly pink, but wasn't badly prepared; her fried chicken was crispy and perfectly prepared; and her stuffed chicken was cooked properly but was somewhat understuffed. Luca's sautéed chicken was said to be dry, his fried chicken slightly undercooked but properly spiced and crispy, and his stuffed chicken was raw. Bri's sauteed chicken was slightly undercooked but properly seasoned, her fried chicken crispy outside but raw in the middle, and her stuffed chicken cooked properly but with a slightly over-buttery sauce. Krissi was immediately deemed safe for making only minor mistakes in the test, and Luca was just barely saved thanks to his stuffed chicken being the only one of his three to go severely wrong, leaving Savannah and Bri as the bottom two. After failing to impress any of the judges, Savannah is sent home.

Episode 15

• Original airdate: Wednesday, July 17, 2013
• Mystery Box:

For this week there are two boxes. A small box at the contestant's stations as well as a large box spanning the length of the front table. Under their personal boxes was a meat grinder/sausage maker and under the large box was a wide variety of proteins (mostly meat, but also including three vegetarian choices to help Bri). The top three dishes were made by Natasha, who prepared a breakfast sausage featuring chicken, bacon, and apple as well as a touch of red chili flakes and Sriracha for heat, Eddie, whose dish featured a pork sausage with braised purple cabbage and apple chutney, and Krissi, who presented a spicy Italian sausage with peppers and polenta. After much deliberation, the judges declared Eddie the winner.

• Elimination Challenge:

For winning his second mystery box challenge, Eddie received immunity and was thus safe from elimination. He was given the opportunity to choose between three of the judges' favourite ingredients. These included Joe's ham, Graham's wild mushrooms, and Gordon's shrimp. Eddie chose the mushrooms before being informed that half of the home cooks would be cooking with fresh mushrooms and the other half would be cooking with canned mushrooms. Eddie assigned the canned mushrooms to Natasha, Jessie, Krissi, and Luca, which left the fresh mushrooms for James, Jordan, Bethy and Bri. Bethy realized while cooking that she forgot to grab sugar from the pantry. She asked around for it and Jordan allowed her to take a pinch of his. Bethy prepared a szechuan noodle with fresh wild mushrooms featuring ginger and pepper. Natasha presented a canned mushroom stuffed ravioli with crispy panchetta and a creamy mushroom puree. Jessie cooked a canned mushroom risotto with arugula oil. James made a fresh wild mushroom chowder by slow-cooking his mushrooms with arugula and other herbs. Luca cooked a cream of mushroom soup with canned mushroom over vegetables and croutons with black truffle oil. Krissi presented her take on a canned mushroom cassoulet with eggplant and pancetta. Bri prepared 'a walk through the forest', a grilled sage and fresh wild mushrooms with a beet and goat cheese salad. Jordan approached with a fresh mushroom ravioli with a mushroom beet cream sauce and fried mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and honey. Natasha and Bri had the best dishes and earned the titles of team captains for the next challenge. The bottom three dishes belonged to Jordan, James and Bethy, all of whom were given fresh mushrooms by Eddie on purpose. The judges declared James safe as his dish was the best of the worst, leaving Jordan and Bethy as the bottom two. Because of the ginger being so overwhelming, Bethy's dish is deemed the worst, and she was eliminated. However before she left, Joe said he would be willing to employ her in the future.

Episode 16

• Original airdate: Wednesday, July 24, 2013
• Team Challenge:

Dropped off in the middle of nowhere, the competitors had to prepare a restaurant quality dish with essential ingredients and no kitchen tools, and also had spend the night in the hills. Bri chose James, Eddie and Luca for Red Team, and Natasha picked Jordan, Jessie and Krissi on Blue Team. Suddenly Gordon stated that "great leaders can work with anyone - even those who they don't have confidence in", so Bri and Natasha were forced to switch teams. As the winner of the Elimination Test, Bri was also able to choose the main ingredient between rabbits and pigeons. She chose the rabbits for her team, leaving Natasha's team with the pigeons. The Red team struggled with prepping their pigeons and the Blue Team had a major struggle while preparing the dishes for the judges because Bri accidentally dropped one, but they managed to plate a new one before time ran out. The Blue Team served a Braised Rabbit Ragu with Quail Egg Pasta while the Red Team served Roasted Pidgeon, Farro Risotto and Baby Carrots. Both were appreciated by the judges, and the vote was very close. After tasting both dishes, the judges will use a colored smoke signal to tell them who won. In the end, the Red team was victorious, sending the Blue Team to the Pressure Test.

• Pressure Test

As usual in this edition, only some competitors would face the dreaded Pressure Test. But for the very first time in the series, the decision of exempting one member would be up to the winning team. James, Eddie, Luca and Natasha decided to choose Krissi, knowing that she's the weakest cook and they can beat her, and she doesn't understand that's why they exempted her. Jessie, Jordan, and Bri had to prepare six Chocolate Eclairs with Chantilly Cream in one hour. Bri's éclairs were deemed too raw, Jordan's ones were appreciated but judged too sweet, while Jessie's were judged uneven in shape and filling, and also a little uncooked. Jordan éclairs were deemed the best and is declared safe leaving Jessie and Bri as the bottom two. For a moment, it looked like the judges would eliminate Jessie. But they decide to send her to safety, eliminating Bri from the MasterChef kitchen.

Episode 17

• Original airdate: Wednesday, July 31, 2013
• Mystery Box:

The contestants found another huge mystery box where the judges are usually standing. Inside the box was the final 7 competitors' loved ones who were flown in by the producers for an emotional meeting. Amidst the joy and smiles of the reunion, Krissi was however left dejected as her son was unable to participate in the episode due to school examinations. Nonetheless, he made up for it as Gordon Ramsay screened a video message her son recorded. Competitors had access to the entire pantry to choose up to 15 ingredients they needed, with the theme of this episode's mystery box being a dish that is inspired by their respective loved ones. Jessie's, Natasha's, and Luca's creations were chosen by the judges to be the top three dishes, with Luca's halibut dish with risotto eventually being singled out to be the best.

• Elimination Challenge:

Luca, having won his second mystery box, was safe from elimination and given the privilege of pairing up the remaining 6 competitors for the elimination challenge. Jordan was paired with James in what was dubbed a dream team, Jessie with Eddie, and hoping to take Natasha out, she and Krissi are in the fiery final pairing. The tag teams had 60 minutes to duplicate the sushi platter, and one person will cook while the other person will direct switching roles every five to ten minutes until the challenge is over. The format of the challenge was a tag team, with each member of the pairing taking turns to work on a sushi platter that comprised Californian Roll, live sea urchin sushi, tuna sushi, shrimp sushi, and tempura. Luca's plan to take Natasha and Krissi down backfired, as their platter was judged to be the best, with Gordon complimenting them for having made a "bloody good effort...even though it wasn't perfect". Natasha immediately said that Luca would be her number one target for trying to take her down. Jordan and James' dish came in second even though the judges remarked that the rice lacked seasoning and the sushi and tempura lacked salt. Gordon remarked that it was James' refined technique in filleting and slicing the fish into extremely thin and delicate slices that was their saving grace. Jessie and Eddie's dish did not turn out well, with the sea urchin not being cleaned thoroughly and the rice having been cooked with too much vinegar. Having got these crucial elements wrong, the pair came in at the bottom. For his failure to communicate with Jessie during most of the challenge, Eddie becomes the twelfth chef to be eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen.

Episode 18

• Original airdate: Wednesday, August 7, 2013
• Elimination Challenge #1:

For this episode, the judges invited Lynn, Bri, and Bime back for a chance to compete for a spot back in the contest. The three were charged with cooking as many un-burnt, perfectly cooked sunny-side up eggs, with the promise that the two cooks with the most perfect eggs would face off in the next challenge. Lynn plated 27 eggs, but only 8 were perfect. Bri, with 13 perfect sunny-side up eggs out of 23, passed on to the next challenge, and was then joined by Bime, who cooked 9 perfect eggs out of 32, and thus eliminating Lynn.

• Elimination Challenge #2:

Luca, Natasha, Krissi, Jessie, James, and Jordan were told that they, along with judge Joe Bastianich, would undergo a blind taste-test to determine which home cook would rejoin their numbers. Bri and Bime were presented with two quality Alaskan king salmon, which can fetch over $500 apiece. The judges told the two cooks to serve up to seven portions of pan-seared salmon with hollandaise sauce, asparagus, and potatoes, within 60 minutes. Bri roasted and pan-cooked her potatoes with rosemary and thyme, and decided to blanch and grill her asparagus. Bime opted for roasted asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes with cheese and sour cream, to Graham's surprise. Though the votes came in at a close tie, Bri won 4 of the 7 votes, securing her spot back in the Masterchef kitchen.

Episode 19

• Original airdate: Wednesday, August 14, 2013
• Mystery Box:

This week, the contestants opened their mystery boxes to find a single 16 ounce choice premium t-bone steak. Instead of using the MasterChef limited pantry, the contestants were told that a truck was waiting outside for them, loaded with all different kinds of produce they could use to supplement their steak. The time limit was 45 minutes. The judges chose to taste Jordan's seared New York strip with celery root and parsley puree, Luca's grilled filet mignon served with haricot verts and roasted potatoes with a Parmesan cream and pan-seared sirloin with caramelized onions and beef sauce, and Krissi's pan-seared steak with compound butter served with pommes du Krissi and a hot brussel sprout salad. The judges decided that Krissi would be the winner of this week's mystery box, much to the other contestants dismay.

• Elimination Challenge:

As usual for winning the Mystery Box challenge, Krissi was given immunity. The theme of the challenge was (really) fresh food. On the judge's table in the pantry, there were six cages covered with a sack, some of which making noise. Starting from the smallest, Joe revealed a quail and a pigeon, Graham revealed a midwestern pheasant and a chicken, and Gordon revealed a duck and a turkey. For her advantage, Krissi was able to assign each poultry to the remaining contestants: quail to Jordan, pigeon to Bri, pheasant to Natasha, chicken to Jessie, duck to James, and turkey to Luca. When the contestants were sent to the pantry the birds had been released for them to catch. They were given five minutes to catch their birds. Luca did not know what the turkey was, he asked the other contestants if it was a peacock. Once the contestants had wrangled their animals, Gordon revealed that the birds they had caught were safe, and that a plucked and prepared bird would be provided for them at their stations. They were given 60 minutes. Jessie prepared a southern style dish of pan seared chicken breast with a roasted garlic sauce summer vegetable succotash and mashed potatoes. Natasha made a risotto with a pheasant breast with some purple cauliflower and white asparagus. James prepared a togarashi rubbed duck with mushrooms and kimchi. Luca made a pancetta wrapped tukey served with brazed Swiss chard, sweet potato puree, mushrooms, and wine and cranberry sauce. Bri roasted and stuffed her pigeon with green apples, beet greens, sage, thyme and goat cheese served with beets and couscous. Jordan prepared a pan-seared quail finished off in a chicken stock and fortified with some red wine served with root vegetable stew. The winners of this challenge were Bri and Natasha, who would be the team captains in the next challenge, setting up a rematch between the two, who had previously competed as team captains in Episode 16. The bottom two were Jordan, for his raw quail and overall very poorly executed dish, and Jessie, for her predictable and uninspiring dish. In the end, the judges decided that while Jessie had merely played it safe (which they strongly warned her against doing again) and produced an underwhelming dish, Jordan's dish was a complete failure on every level, leading to his elimination. Before he left however, Graham told Jordan that if he wanted to work in a professional kitchen, he'd be more than welcome to work at one of his restaurants.

Episode 20

• Original airdate: Wednesday, August 21, 2013.
• Team Challenge:

The episode began with five of the contestants on a helipad atop a tall building in the heart of Los Angeles (Krissi was noticeably absent; she refused to join the group on the rooftop due to her fear of heights). Gordon informed the group that their next challenge would involve a dinner service in WP24, a Los Angeles Asian restaurant owned by renowned chef Wolfgang Puck. The contestants were split into two teams: Red Team Captain Natasha led Luca and Jessie, while Blue Team Captain Bri led James and Krissi. The teams served a limited menu which consisted of two appetizers and two dinner entrees. During dinner service, Krissi struggled during preparation due to her dislike of Asian cuisine and subsequent lack of experience cooking it. At the end of service, the contestants were rewarded by Gordon, Joe, and Graham with a glass of champagne and told that the winning team would be decided overnight. The next morning, the contestants were gathered in the MasterChef kitchen and the Red Team was announced as the winner, giving Natasha, Luca, and Jessie immunity from the pressure test.

• Pressure Test:

When Bri was told she had the option of saving herself or a member of her team from the pressure test and was asked who performed the best during the dinner service at WP24, she noted Krissi's struggles and chose herself, to which the paralegal snorted and said bad words to her. However, Gordon then told them that they would all compete in the pressure test. The contestants were asked to make a portion of fried calamari with marinara sauce. Bri's calamari was heavily coated in flour and undercooked and her marinara was criticized for having lemon juice in it. Krissi's calamari was "fried like funnel cake" and had a spongy texture. James's marinara was judged to have a horrible taste. Despite that, his calamari was well prepared, so his dish was deemed the best. In the end, Bri got eliminated again.

Episode 21

• Original airdate: Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
• Mystery Box:

Gordon, Graham and Joe announced that some V.I.P. guests would choose the 15 item for the mystery; in the end, the guests were the judges' sons. They assembled the box with a lot of sweet and baking items, leading all the competitors to create desserts. Luca's Pineapple Napoleon with white chocolate, Jessie's Vanilla cream puffs with coconut and fruit, and James' Passion fruit turnover with blueberry mint purée were the best creations. Eventually, James won his first Mystery Box challenge.

• Elimination Test:

In the pantry, the judges awarded immunity to James, and then showed him the best dishes they have ever eaten in their life: Joe's Marinated botan shrimp with sea urchin and caviar, Graham's Grandpa Franny's sandwich with softshell crab, and Gordon's Vietnamese noodle soup with slow cooked pork. After tasting them and targeting Luca as his objective, James chose the third dish. The competitors, who also tasted the soup, had to figure out the ingredients and got 75 minutes to cook it. Though Luca won the test, all soups were praised by the judges and no elimination was made due to the test being too close to call (second time, the first was in the 2nd season when all judges appreciated cheese soufflés).

Episode 22

• Original airdate: Wednesday, August 28, 2013.
• Off-site challenge:

For the second time in the history of MasterChef, the competitors faced each other to save themselves from the Pressure Test. In this challenge, they had to cook for 50 guests of a special charity lunch hosted in Paula Deen's ranch an entreé composed of a protein and two sides. As he won the Elimination test, Luca was able to assign five protein items chosen by the pride of Savannah: pork chop for himself, alligator for Jessie, catfish for Natasha, shrimp for Krissi, and chicken for James. During the cooking, Natasha and James struggled with their proteins, affecting the feedback of their dishes, which was not favorable. Moreover, James had to repeat a cook of an undercooked BBQ chicken breast. On the other side, the dishes of Krissi, Luca and Jessie were appreciated by guests and judges. In the end, Paula Deen declared Luca and Jessie as the winners of the challenge.

• Pressure Test

In this Pressure test, the dish to cook was not assigned by the judges. Instead, the winners of the off-site challenge had the advantage of giving to each cook an item to replicate among an appetizer, an entreé and a dessert. In the pantry, Luca and Jessie assigned Gordon's Seared Scallop Salad to Natasha, Joe's Filet Rossini to Krissi, and Graham's Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta to James. They had 45 minutes to find out the ingredients and replicate them. During the cooking, James made a mistake pouring the panna cotta in the fridge instead of the blast chiller. Natasha's appetizer lacked a bit of sauce and truffle but it was appreciated by the judges, and Krissi's medium cooked filet received good feedback. James's dessert was praised for its flavor but received strong criticism for the consistency of the panna cotta. Because of this mistake, his time on MasterChef came to an end.