MasterChef (American TV series) season 4

MasterChef (U.S. season 4)
Season 4
No. of episodes	25
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	May 22 (2013-05-22) – September 11, 2013 (2013-09-11)
Season chronology

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

Luca Manfè was the winner of this season, making him the only male contestant and previous season returnee to win MasterChef after failing to make past the audition round in season 3. Contestant Eddie Jackson was the winner of Food Network Star in 2015.

Top 19

Contestant	Age	Hometown	Occupation	Status	Winnings
Luca Manfè	31	Astoria, New York	Restaurant Manager	Winner September 11	10
Natasha Crnjac	26	San Diego, California	Stay-at-Home Mom	Runner-Up September 11	13
Jessie Lysiak	27	Social Circle, Georgia	Yacht Stewardess	Eliminated September 4	10
Krissi Biasiello	34	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Paralegal		3
James Nelson	26	Victoria, Texas	Retail Sales	Eliminated August 28	5
Bri Kozior	22	Doylestown, Pennsylvania	Theater Assistant	Eliminated August 21 Returned August 7 Eliminated July 24	5
Jordan Roots	29	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Delivery Driver	Eliminated August 14	2
Eddie Jackson	32	Americus, Georgia	Personal Trainer/Former Pro Football Player	Eliminated July 31	7
Bethy Rossos	28	Estacada, Oregon	High School P.E. Teacher	Eliminated July 17	5
Savannah Sturges	27	San Diego, California	Middle School Special Ed. Teacher	Eliminated July 10	3
Lynn Chyi	27	San Diego, California	Systems Administrator		4
Jonny Blanchard	28	Marlboro, Massachusetts	Carpenter	Eliminated June 26	1
Beth Kirby	29	Chattanooga, Tennessee	Writer, Photographer		3
Bime Cruz	35	Taunton, Massachusetts	Boxing Coach	Eliminated June 19	2
Howard Simpson	26	San Diego, California	Barback		1
Kathy Prieto	29	Bronx, New York	Office Assistant	Eliminated June 12	0
Malcolm Green	27	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Unemployed	Eliminated June 5	1
Adriana Guillen	26	New York, New York	College Admissions Rep.		0
Sasha Foxx	42	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	Singer	Eliminated May 29	0

Season 4

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
1	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	IMM	WIN	LOW	IN	WINNER
2	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	IN	IN	PT	WIN	HIGH	WIN	RUNNER-UP
3	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	HIGH	WIN	IMM	PT	WIN	ELIM
4	Krissi	HIGH	IN	PT	IN	IN	PT	IMM	IN	WIN	NPT	IN	LOW	IMM	IN	LOW	PT	HIGH	IN	NPT	IN	WIN	IMM	WIN	IMM	LOW	IN	IN	IN	PT	ELIM
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	IN	ELIM
6	Bri	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	PT	IMM	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IMM	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	IN	IN	WIN	IMM	IN	ELIM
16	Kathy	IN	IN	PT	IN	LOW	LOW	ELIM
17	Malcom	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 an individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Elimination Test).

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

  (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge but didn't win.

  (IN) The cook wasn't selected as a top or bottom entry in an individual challenge.

  (IN) The cook wasn't selected as a top or bottom entry in a team challenge.

  (IMM) The cook didn't have to compete in that round of the competition.

  (IMM) The cook was selected by Mystery Box Challenge winner and didn't have to compete in the Elimination Test.

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

  (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, did not compete in the Pressure Test, and advanced.

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

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

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

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in the Team Challenge and the only person from their team to advance.

  (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from Masterchef.

Reinstation Challenge

As episode 18 of this season started, the final six [Luca, Krissi, James, Jessie, Natasha, and Jordan] were surprised by being told that they wouldn't have to cook anything this episode, and that instead 3 eliminated contestants (Bime, Bri, and Lynn) would return for a elimination challenge, with the top two getting the opportunity to win back a spot in the competition. Bri won and narrowly defeated Bime, 4 to 3.

Place	Contestant
1	Bri	IN	IN	WINNER/RET
2	Bime	IN	ELIM
3	Lynn	ELIM

  (WINNER/RET) This cook won the Reinstation Challenge and was brought back into the main competition.

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

  (ELIM) The cook was eliminated and lost their chance to get back in the competition.

Episodes

Episode 1

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

The people who earn white aprons today include Natasha, with her empanadas and chimmichuri skirt steak, Brian, with his beaver tail and frog chips, Jordan, with his Ancho Chile Tostada, Adriana, with her Mexican cactus soup, and Krissi, with her meatloaf florentine. Natasha, Bethy, Lynn, Jordan, and Krissi get all 3 yes's. Adriana and Brian got only 2 yes's. Adriana very nearly gets a no from Joe. George got mediacored on his Greek wedding soup and failed to get a white apron so he did a marriage proposal to his girlfriend instead.

Episode 2

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

The white aprons that were handed out today belong to Jessie, with her seabass encroute, Sasha, with her fried chicken and crepes, Bime, with his shrimp and plantains, James, with his crispy pork belly and lentil hash, Eddie, with his jerk meatloaf, and returning chef Luca, with his broccoli rabe ravioli. Sasha receives 3 yes's. Bime, James, Eddie and Luca only get 2. Jessie couldn't convince Gordon that her dish was good enough, but she got an apron after winning the fish-filleting challenge proposed by him.

Episode 3

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

In the beginning of the episode, Howard, with his peach cobbler, and Jonny, with his lobster crackerjack, gain the white apron. For the next stage of the competition, the remaining contestants are asked to prepare a meal in an hour using various cuts of lamb at their choice. Once there are fifteen minutes left, Joe starts to take off some aprons due to many mistakes (namely those of Brian, James Dudd, and Gabriella). 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. After that, the remaining 8 contestants: Beth, Bri, Brian, Jonny, Luca, Malcolm, Nanci and Seymira, will have their dishes tasted in order to decide who is advancing into the next stage. Malcolm and Seymira was the first pair called forward. Malcolm's lamb trio of sausage, rib and loin salad was deemed delicious, but Graham thought each part of the dish isn't perfect and can be improved. Seymira's cotes d'agneau chermoula with casablanca cousous was deemed a little bland and underseasoned. In the end, Malcolm advanced over Seymira. The next pair to face the judges is Brian and Jonny. Jonny's lamb rangoon with Tzatziki coleslaw was deemed delicious, though a little simple, while Brian's southwest liver and onions with cactus salad was heavily criticized for its presentation by Gordon. The judges then advanced Jonny, and sent Brian home. Nanci and Bri (a claimed vegetarian) were up next. Nanci's lamb chop with red pepper and artichoke was deemed to taste good, but Joe thought her sauce was too garlicky while Graham commented her puree was grainy. Bri's four seasons lamb was deemed to have an intelligent plating despite having never cooked lamb before, but Gordon told her that "less is more" and rather see her focusing cooking the lamb one way. In the end, it was Bri who was advanced by the judges. Lastly, the pair remaining is Beth and Luca. Luca's lamb loin roulade stuffed with sweetbread, endive and goat sweet was called out for its strange concept with Joe and Gordon saying he's playing a very risky idea, though his lamb was cooked well nonetheless. Beth's lavender hay roasted loin with fried sweetbreads and celeric puree was deemed delicious with only minor flaws in her techniques. Gordon said it was a very difficult decision as he believed both Beth and Luca to be very talented home cooks that could go far in the competition. Gordon then announced that Beth will be the next home cook to advance into the next stage of the competition, leaving Luca in tears in the belief that he will be sent home once again. However, Gordon declared that Luca will also be going into the Masterchef kitchen, bringing the total of competitors to 19. Thus, Adriana, Beth, Bethy, Bime, Bri, Eddie, Howard, James, Jessie, Jonny, Jordan, Kathy, Krissi, Luca, Lynn, Malcolm, Natasha, Sasha, and Savannah advanced to the top 19 and made it into the Masterchef kitchen.

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. When the judges came to check up Krissi during cooking, she expressed that some contestants already didn't take much of a liking to her, specifically Natasha and Howard. In the end, the top three dishes were Bime's poached egg over potato hash with tomato basil salsa; Natasha's lemon-chocolate tart with bacon fat ganache and meringue; and Krissi's potato-bacon frittata with tomato-basil salad (much to most contestants' surprise). Between the three, 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 was given the advantage of picking the difficult ingredient with which her fellow competitors will have to cook: Joe's langoustine, Graham's veal chops and Gordon's Stilton blue cheese. Targeting Krissi for elimination, she picked langoustine, which she believed will give Krissi the most troubles. Additionally, her third advantage was that she could pick one other contestant to be safe from elimination. Natasha picked Savannah, who she thought was a weaker cooker that could be taken out later. During cooking, Krissi and Howard were bickering with each other. Some meals that impressed the judges were Krissi's langoustine mac n' cheese (despite Natasha's attempt to sabotage her, though still calling her dish uncreative), Jordan's langoustine bisque with vegetables and bacon, Lynn's poached langoustine with lime beurre blanc, and Jessie's tempura langoustine with Swiss chard and shiitake mushrooms, despite never having worked with the ingredient before. On the other side, there were some huge disappointments. Luca's langoustine fettuccine with asparagus and tomato received heavy criticism as his langoustine was way overcooked with Gordon saying that this dish confirmed to him that Luca to be an one-trick pony for making another predictable pasta dish. Kathy's boiled langoustine with yellow rice and avocado was deemed "boring" by Joe who said her dish didn't respect the product. Sasha's langoustine and cheese grits was deemed to be very underwhelming by destroying the delicate langoustine meat to tiny bits and tasted terrible with a completely wrong combination of flavours, with Joe uttering his remark of "thanks for nothing" to her, saying she turned a 50 dollar langoustine into a dish that was worth 55 cents, and Gordon expressing his worry that she is only comfortable at making home cook foods. Malcolm's stuffed langoustine with pasta was deemed to taste so bad that Joe spit it out as his langoustine was very undercooked. The biggest disappointment of the night was Howard's poached langoustine with spinach citrus salad, which was so underwhelming as there was barely any langoustine present in the dish that Gordon refused to taste it, and Joe told Howard he'd stuck his neck out for him, expressing that he is more confused than anyone else in this kitchen. Gordon then announced that both Jordan and Jessie had the best dishes of this elimination challenge, and would become team captains in the first team challenge. Krissi, Lynn, Luca, and Kathy were judged to have done enough to move on.

Bottom 3: Howard, Malcolm and Sasha

Eliminated: Sasha

Malcolm was the first to be sent to safety. This left Howard and Sasha as the bottom 2. Ultimately, despite Howard's disastrous performance, Sasha became the first cook to leave the MasterChef Kitchen, much to Krissi's dismay. Before she left, Sasha predicted that Krissi will be winning the competition.

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 a two-dish healthy meal: an entree with a protein, starch and veggie, and a dessert with fruit, The blue team swiftly decides on their menu of pasta with turkey meatballs, 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 the season's first team 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, and though her cake sank a little, the judges still thought it was absolutely delicious. Kathy makes a cheesecake with a blueberry-blackberry compote that the judges raved. Eddie, despite his lack of baking experience, 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. Jonny makes a pineapple foster cheesecake with coconut and raspberry-blood orange whipped cream. The judges find the flavor of the cheesecake pleasant but chastise his choice of fibrous pineapple, adding that the cake's crust was too thick. Despite her confidence in her baking abilities, Savannah produces a salted caramel cheesecake with a hazelnut-almond brittle and honey whipped cream that she admits is too sweet and has a crust that's too thick. Lastly, Adriana makes a mango guava cheesecake with coconut. While the judges appreciate her effort to be creative, the canned guava paste she used added an unpleasant flavor to the cake.

Bottom 3: Savannah, Jonny and Adriana

Eliminated: Adriana

Jonny was the first to be sent to safety leaving Savannah and Adriana to face elimination.Ultimately, Adriana is eliminated for her choice to use guava paste, making her the second contestant to be eliminated.

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, snap peas, ginger, cauliflower, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, rice and miso paste. As the hour starts, the contestants start their prep and cooking, while 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 two beautifully presented and delicious plates of sesame-seed-crusted black cod over fragrant rice with caramelized cauliflower and a roasted peanut-miso sauce, which blew the contestants away, especially with the time he used. Before the top three are announced, the judges single out Howard, calling his meal of black cod and shiitake mushrooms "appalling", as he plated raw fish, leading to Joe throwing it away. The top three dishes were James's pan-seared crispy black cod with a toasted sesame and cauliflower puree, and shiitake mushroom salad with a miso vinaigrette; Beth's sesame crusted black cod with caramelized beets and cauliflower with a miso vinaigrette (a meal similar to Gordon's); and Luca's pan-seared black cod with butter-braised 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:

For winning the Mystery Box challenge, Luca became safe from elimination and was given the option of choosing a classic American dessert for his competitors to make: 24 cookies, 12 cupcakes, or a 3-layer cake. Luca chose the cupcakes, and after returning to the kitchen, he received another advantage: he was allowed to take away the mixer of one contestant, forcing that person to mix all ingredients by hand. He ultimately removed Jordan's mixer (mainly due to his decision last week to save himself from the Pressure Test). The contestants were given 90 minutes to produce a box of 12 cupcakes. Some contestants were able to produce fantastic cupcakes in the time allotted. Bime, with his vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and milk chocolate whipped cream frosting, and Bethy, with her trio of cupcakes - bananas foster with banana cream, homemade caramel and mascarpone cream-cheese frosting, raspberry lime with lime buttercream, and almond chocolate with hazelnut liqueur - were deemed to have the best batches and became team captains in the next challenge. Howard also stepped up to the mark with his Tahitian vanilla bean cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream, thus redeeming himself after his failure in the previous challenge, and Jordan also impressed the judges (and Luca) with his vanilla cupcakes with mascarpone cheese frosting, basil infusion and a chocolate truffle with cayenne. Some batches of cupcakes, though, did not receive such praise. Malcolm's buttermilk cupcakes with a mascarpone-cream cheese frosting and a rum banana cream filling were found to be extremely dense and tasted unpleasant, Kathy's vanilla cupcakes were deemed bizarre due to her decision to add cookie and peanut bases to her cupcakes and was visually terrible due to an excessive use of food coloring in her frosting. Despite the judges' expectation in Jessie given her past performances, Jessie's cupcakes were very small and deemed very dry.Bethy and Bime were deemed to have the best dishes and were made team captains in the next episode.Howard and Jordan were also judged to have good enough cupcakes to move on.

Bottom 3: Jessie, Kathy and Malcolm

Eliminated: Malcolm

Kathy was the first to be sent to safety, much to her own relief. In the end, despite the judges' disappointments in Jessie, Malcolm was 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, potatoes and diced red peppers. Both team experienced problems during the challenge. The Blue team experienced hassles with Bethy's indecision to decide which sauce to be served with the steak and rush to sear the steak and finish the sauce moments before the firemen arrived, while the Red team was in complete chaos under Bime's poor leadership. As service began, the Red team struggled to send their dishes out, while the Blue team managed to send their plates out quick enough but forgot the sauce on one of the guests' plate. In the end, the Blue Team manages to gain 68 votes out of the 101 firemen, ensuring them safety from the pressure test. After the red team loses the challenge, tensions continued to raise between members of the team. Beth thought the reason why they lost was because the cauliflower purée was "disgusting," resulting in Natasha screaming at her because she was in charge of the cauliflower. This led to Beth breaking down into tears and Krissi being aggravated at the contestants complaining about the Pressure Test, especially being that she's already competed in one and she's not "falling into pieces."

• 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). Of the eight members, only six competed. First, since Bime was the team captain, the judges excuse him from participation (despite Bime saying he won't save himself in an earlier interview), 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 considers him a big threat in the competition. Left to compete in the pressure test are Krissi, Luca, Natasha, Kathy, Beth and Bri. 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 also pulls off a near perfect eggs benedict. Both Krissi and Bri are deemed safe from elimination. As for the other 4, all of them produced disappointing meals. Beth and Natasha were originally confident due to being familiar with the dish, but in the end produced the two worst looking dishes: Beth broke her hollandaise and undercooked her eggs, moreover she burnt her muffins, while Natasha ended up making mayonnaise since she put too much vinegar in her hollandaise, and broke one of her yolks. Kathy and Luca presented visually acceptable dishes, but Kathy's broke one of her eggs, since she took it out of the pot with a spatula instead of a slotted spoon, and there was barely any hollandaise sauce, while Luca served very undercooked eggs and also burnt his muffins, though not as badly burnt as Beth's.

Bottom 4: Luca, Natasha, Beth and Kathy

For the first time in MasterChef history, the judges can't pick the worst meal (second time overall where no elimination was decided) and all 4 remaining competitors are asked to leave the kitchen as they're to participate in another pressure test to determine which one of them won't be returning to the MasterChef Kitchen.

Episode 8

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

As they failed to make 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 (with Beth as captain), and Luca and Kathy on the Red Team (with Luca as captain). Gordon also announced that he would be expediting. 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, a sauce, and no cheese (despite Kathy having reservation about Luca's idea), which surprised everyone. Throughout prep, the Blue Team struggled with the cook on the fried eggs and still trying to figure out the components of their burgers as Natasha let Beth took complete charge (because Natasha felt if they lost the challenge, she could blame it completely on Beth). They eventually decide to scrap the fried eggs after realizing it might take too long and top their burger with goat cheese, crispy prosciutto, aioli and arugula. Both teams come across difficulties during service, with Beth burning buns and lacking communications between her and Natasha, and Luca serving raw burgers to guests when he rushed to get his burgers out as he fell behind in service. The V.I.P. guests are actually their fellow MasterChef contestants who will blind-tasting both teams' burgers. With the Red Team working in advance, they manage to race ahead from the Blue Team when 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 Lynn, Savannah, Jessie and Bime to only receive a burger from the Red Team. Despite losing votes, the Blue Team (Natasha and Beth) manage to receive more votes, winning the second pressure test of the week and earning their places back in the competition. Luca and Kathy were left to compete in the last pressure test, a MasterChef cook-off.

Bottom 2: Luca and Kathy

• Pressure Test: Cook-off:

For the last pressure test in Las Vegas, the judges bring Luca and Kathy to the top of Caesars Palace, which has been transformed into the MasterChef kitchen, to produce an extremely intricate, expensive dish: butter-poached lobster with a shaved fennel salad. Before cooking, they both tasted the lobster, saying it was delicious and it was one of the best things they've eaten in their life. Both Luca and Kathy came across difficulties during the hour, with Luca butchering the lobster wrong and Kathy managing her time insufficiently. When it came to judging, Kathy's lobster was cooked and seasoned perfectly but the meat was not extracted well and her salad was too acidic due to an overuse of lemon juice. Luca's lobster was lacking in color in comparison to Kathy's but his meat was extracted beautifully and seasoned well, and his salad was also perfectly seasoned.

Eliminated: Kathy

In the end, Luca's butter poached lobster is deemed better and a teary-eyed 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 and sautéed greens; Jordan's stacked salad with Chinese moss, sweet potato chips and crispy baby eels; and Bime's Surf and turf-inspired elk with sweet potato-purée and eels. Ramsay also said to Lynn that, despite its finesse, his dish was underseasoned. 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 are Joe's agnolotti, Graham's mezzelune and Gordon's 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, much to Krissi's excitement, because Lidia is her culinary idol. Eddie's third advantage is that he can pick 2 contestants who'd be forbidden to watch Lidia's demonstration. Krissi threatened Eddie if ever he chose her but ultimately, he 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 a short rib-ricotta agnolotti with charred leek brown butter sauce, which is again underseasoned. 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, he folded the pasta incorrectly. Jonny turned in a spin on a classic Italian meal by making a butternut squash-ricotta agnolotti with smoked maple Alfredo sauce. Lidia decides that the 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 Swiss chard-pancetta agnolotti with a simple butter sauce. Beth produced ricotta-herb agnolotti with mushroom butter sauce, which is underwhelming due to the degree that she undercooked her pasta. Howard's chicken-pepper-jalapeño pepper agnolotti with 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, triggering a barrage of criticism and insults from Joe, who accused him of being arrogant, as well as having little talent and no future in the culinary world, and being a narcissist, ending with "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.

Bottom 4: Lynn, Jonny, Beth and Howard

Eliminated: Howard

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 and crew 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. During prep, Jessie severely cut her finger on a mandoline and required medical service. However, she's able to resume working after sitting out a few minutes. The red team struggled with their salmon, because the marinade was put on the salmon during the grilling, leading to the salmon skin to stick to the grill. During service, both teams ran out of chicken, and the Blue Team also serves raw chicken. In the end, the Red Team won by a long shot with 90 of the 127 votes, sending the Blue Team, with 37 votes, to the pressure test, much to Krissi's dismay.

Note: This was Cory Monteith's last television appearance before his death in July 2013.

• Pressure Test:

Krissi, as team captain, had the choice to decide which of her teammates she'll save, saving at least one person and no more than 5 people. She ultimately saved Jonny, Natasha and herself, leaving Bethy, Bime, James and Jordan to face the pressure test. Natasha was shocked at her decision knowing that they don't like each other and doesn't know what she's planning to do next (Krissi later revealed she did that to get Natasha thinking that she (Krissi) is on her side). Jordan called her hypocritical because she lambasted him for pulling the same move earlier in the competition, but Krissi didn't care, saying to the judges that the other contestants didn't like her anyway. Bime was also disappointed with Krissi's choice of leaving him in the Pressure Test, because he got most of the team's votes with his chicken (30 out of the 56 people who received chicken voted for his team). The challenge had the contestants make a lemonless version of lemon meringue pie. While making the pie, Bime mistook the cream of tartar for the corn starch in his curd, and he ended up using way too much of the cream of tartar, which gave the thin curd a bad taste. James' pie crust was undercooked and the egg whites were underdone, but the curd was deemed delicious. Bethy's curd was said to have no flavor, and the pastry was raw and limp. Jordan's pie was near perfect. Bime's pie had no pastry base, soupy curd, and a horrible taste due to the cream of tartar in his curd, as well as a noticeable lack of meringue.

Bottom 3: James, Bethy and Bime

Eliminated: Bime

Jordan was first sent to safety for producing by far the best pie. The Judges reveal that James meal was the best of the worst leaving Bethy and Bime, who were both winners of the cupcake challenge, as the bottom 2. In the end, with his pie suffering too many fundamental flaws, despite having been a front-runner, a teary-eyed Bime was sent home.

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 dishes were Lynn's Braised Pork Tongue and Cheek with a Parsnip Puree, Jessie's Tex-Mex Braised Pork Cheek and Ear with Black Eyed Peas and Roasted Corn, and Jonny's Pork Tongue and Cheek Tacos with Sweet-and-Spicy Tomato Jam and Guacamole. 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 Hà. 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 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 for her to get out of her comfort zone, while the rest of contestants were given a Live Crab as their main component. They were given 60 minutes. 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, and the judges let the contestants take their blindfolds off for the rest of the challenge. Before the tasting began, Gordon announced that Christine would be a guest judge in this challenge. When it came to the final dishes, Lynn's strategy of giving Krissi a Catfish seemed to pay off 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. Additionally, the catfish tasted muddy and was fried with its skin on, which Christine commented it being too earthy. When Krissi arrogantly spoke under her breath that her fish didn't taste muddy, Joe exploded and warned her not to talk behind his back. 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 with Pea and Avocado Mash and Corn Puree. Afterwards, 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's Mascarpone Crab Cakes with Grilled Peach and Avocado Salsa, which are pasty and undercooked, with Joe even spitting out her food. Luca's Crab Risotto is a disaster, not only was it presented as if it was a soup dish, because it has too much stock in it, which confused Gordon, and Joe pulled Luca aside to tell him that his huge mistake was adding fish sauce to the stock, as his attempt to impress Christine, completely backfired. Gordon also panned Luca for not making risotto properly. The top two dishes belonged to James and Natasha, giving them the roles of team captains in the next team challenge.

Bottom 3: Luca, Krissi, and Beth

Eliminated: Beth

Luca was warned that the judges were losing patience due to his irregular performances so far, but they declared him safe, leaving Krissi and Beth as the bottom two. Ultimately, Beth was eliminated for her overall bland crab dish and for not believing in herself more, much to the other contestants' dismay. 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 in the MasterChef kitchen a long list from the bride about her dislikes, much to Krissi's annoyance. The judges then reveal that Graham will be making an appetizer of spring pea essence with whipped creme fraiche, pink peppercorns and a lavender infusion, and Gordon would be preparing sticky toffee pudding with brown bread ice cream and caramel sauce for dessert, leaving the 2 teams to each produce two stunning entrees that would match the quality of the appetizer and dessert - a non-vegetarian and a vegetarian dish. 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 much to Bri's dismay as she would have contributed to the team when it comes to vegetarian dishes. Natasha opts to excuse Krissi, who she feels won't listen because she (Krissi) is a loudmouth, but Krissi doesn't mind a free pass. 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 fraîche 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. Lynn ends up making multiple mistakes and Luca has to take control after the former wipes plates with his sweaty cloth. 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 the blue team to face the pressure test, which made James confused about how a fillet of halibut is superior to a piece of lamb loin.

• 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.

Bottom 2: Lynn and Jonny.

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 mistake by trying to jam all 12 in the box and then forcing the lid shut, fracturing all of his macarons because he thought all twelve had to fit in the box.

Eliminated: Jonny

In the end, the judges decide that despite Jonny's macarons tasting better than Lynn's, they eliminate him due to his presentation being nowhere near the beauty in the box that they were looking for.

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, Fresno Peppers, Hot Sauce, Tomatillo, Cotija Cheese, Crema Mexicana, Huitlacoche, Onions and Garlic. The top 3 dishes were Bri's Poached and Grilled Butter and Cilantro Shrimp topped with a Pico de Gallo over a Grilled Corn Salad, Eddie's Chili Seared Pork Loin over Creamed Corn and a Mango Relish, and Savannah's Spice Crusted Pork Loin over Creamed Corn and a guacamole with tomatillo. The judges and Eva 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 from Walmart. The first basket contained Strawberries, Bananas, Meringue, Cream, Shortbread, Batter, Sugar,and a few other baking ingredients, which costed just under $5. 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, which costed just under $25. 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 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. Two other great dishes belonged to Luca, who redeemed himself from his mistake in the last Elimination Challenge by making a Banana Cake with Pastry Cream and a Strawberry Compote, despite his lack of confidence with how cooked the cake was, and 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, which is an absolute disaster and Gordon even calling it the "worst dish in all four seasons of MasterChef". The judges also were disappointed Savannah's Banana Cream Pie with Italian 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.

Bottom 3: Krissi, James and Lynn

Eliminated: Lynn

Between the three disastrous dishes, the judges eliminate front-runner Lynn after going from "hero to zero", much to the shock of all the other contestants. However, before he left, the judges encouraged Lynn to continue cooking and pursuing a career in the food industry as they all have been very impressed by the talent he had shown in the competition.

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. Krissi initially suggest to Savannah to do a batter-fried cod for their dish, but Savannah wanted to try it out first. When Krissi finished the fried cod for her team to taste, both Savannah and Jordan thought it tasted awful, and Savannah sent Krissi to just heat up tortillas, much to Krissi's dismay and disbelief. The Red Team produced a Spicy Blackened Cod Taco with Pickled Onions and Cabbage and a cilantro lime sauce, while the Blue Team served a Grilled Mahi Mahi Taco with a Chipotle Ranch Slaw and a roasted pineapple habanero sauce. 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 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, much to Luca's disappointment.

• Pressure Test

When asked by the judges who they think give the weakest performance, the red team single out Krissi for contributing the least, but Krissi argue that heating up tortilla is the only job she is given. 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, much to the other contestants' frustration at her with Bri cursing that she hoped that Krissi get sent home. 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 but flavorful, 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 the first to safety, despite Gordon's encouragement to tell her to continue focusing, he pointed out that she clearly isn't making friends here. Luca was then also sent to safety, leaving Bri and Savannah as the bottom two.

Bottom 2: Bri and Savannah

Eliminated: Savannah

Savannah's performance fell short of the mark, leading to her emotional elimination, much to other contestant's devastation.

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 Natasha's breakfast sausage featuring chicken, bacon, and apple with red chili flakes and Sriracha, Eddie's pork sausage with braised purple cabbage and apple chutney, and Krissi's 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 ingredients which are usually used in judges' restaurants. These included Joe's ham, Graham's mushrooms, and Gordon's shrimp. Eddie chose the mushrooms before being informed that half of the home cooks would be cooking with fresh wild mushrooms and the other half would be cooking with canned mushrooms. Eddie assigned the canned mushrooms to Natasha, Jessie, Krissi and Luca (which, interestingly, would become the top 4 of this season), and left the fresh mushrooms for James, Jordan, Bethy and Bri on purpose, since he felt his targets, James and Jordan, would try to do too much and end up forgetting that the mushrooms have to be the hero. Bethy realized while cooking that she forgot to grab sugar from the pantry. She asked around for it and Jordan allowed her to take some of his. Bethy's Szechuan noodle with fresh wild mushrooms, ginger and garlic was deemed to have too many noodles in comparison to the amount of mushrooms on the plate, and the judges felt that the dish overall was ruined by way too much sesame oil which was the only flavor they could taste in her dish. Natasha's canned mushroom stuffed ravioli with crispy pancetta and a creamy mushroom puree received rave reviews from the judges. The judges also loved Jessie's canned mushroom risotto with pancetta, leeks and arugula oil. James's wild mushroom chowder with creme fraiche and arugula was deemed to be way too heavy and salty. Luca's cream of mushroom soup with canned mushroom over vegetables and croutons was praised by the judges, but they didn't like the truffle oil in the croutons and the soup was a little too thick. Krissi's mushroom cassoulet with eggplant and pancetta also impressed Joe and the other judges. Bri's "a walk through the forest" - grilled sage and wild mushrooms with a beet and goat cheese salad - received rave reviews as the judges felt the dish was perfectly executed. Jordan's fresh mushroom ravioli with a beet cream sauce and fried wild mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and honey was criticized heavily by the judges who felt that the dish itself made the mushrooms taste like canned mushrooms. Bri and Natasha had the best dishes and earned the titles of team captains for the next challenge.

Bottom 3: James, Jordan and Bethy

Eliminated: Bethy

The judges declared James's dish as the best of the worst, leaving Jordan and Bethy as the bottom two. Unfortunately for Eddie, his plan to eliminate James or Jordan ended in failure, and Bethy was eliminated for her heavy overuse of sesame oil. However, before she left, Joe said he would be willing to employ her in the future; and when Gordon asks her who's going to win MasterChef, she said that Jessie will win the competition.

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 spent 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, much to Krissi's and Bri's disappointment. 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 Pigeon, 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

For the very first time in the history of MasterChef, the winning team had the option of exempting one of the members of the losing team from elimination. With members of the winning team targeting to eliminate Jordan or Jessie, the decision of who to save eventually came down to between Bri and Krissi. While James opted to save Bri, Natasha, Eddie and Luca all thought that Bri is a much stronger cook than Krissi, and therefore wanted to save Krissi instead. The Red Team ultimately decided to send Krissi to safety, believing she was the weakest cook that they could take down later (much to Bri's shock and dismay as she knew in fact that all the other contestants hated Krissi but still decided to keep her around). Jessie, Jordan, and Bri are required to create a platter of 6 perfect chocolate éclairs. All three competitors struggled with the task; Bri's éclairs were severely undercooked, inconsistent in length and had little filling, Jordan's éclairs were deemed to be too sweet, and Jessie's éclairs had no chantilly and had a bitter chocolate coating as well as being deformed.

Bottom 2: Jessie and Bri

Eliminated: Bri (though she came back to compete in the competition)

Ultimately, the judges decided to send Jessie to safety as Bri's choux pastry was raw, eliminating Bri from the MasterChef kitchen, much to Krissi's joy, though Krissi said she will come to visit Bri in her hometown.

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. Natasha's green curry with shredded coconut, roasted corn and rice, Jessie's seared duck breast with roasted brussels sprouts and blackberry red wine reduction, and Luca's pan seared caul fat-wrapped halibut with white asparagus risotto were chosen by the judges to be the top three dishes, with Luca's eventually being singled out to be the best. (These three, not surprisingly, became the top three of the competition, with Luca again coming out on top.)

• Team 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. The format of the challenge was a tag team, with each member of the pairing taking a 15-minute turn to work on a sushi platter comprising a California roll, live sea urchin (Uni) sushi, tuna (Ahi) sushi, shrimp (Ebi) sushi, salmon roe sushi, mackerel sushi, and shrimp and veggie tempura. Luca paired Jessie and Eddie, Jordan and James, and archrivals Natasha and Krissi hoping to take Natasha out. His plan backfired though, as Natasha and Krissi's platter had 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 was 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.

Bottom 2: Jessie and Eddie

Eliminated: Eddie

For the very first time in this competition, Eddie was completely lost and became the twelfth chef to be eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen. Before he left, he said that Natasha would win the competition.

Episode 18

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

For this episode, the judges invited back three previously eliminated competitors to compete for a spot back in the competition. Gordon brought back Bri, because of her strong mind and palate, Joe invited back Lynn, because he thought he went home way too soon, and Graham picked Bime, because of the amount of emotion he puts in his dishes. The three were charged with cooking as many unburnt, perfectly cooked sunny-side up eggs as they could in fifteen minutes, 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 16 perfect ones out of 32 (only 9 were shown), thus eliminating Lynn, much to Jordan's delight and relief.

• 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.

Reinstated: Bri

Though the votes came in at a close tie, Bri won 4 of the 7 votes, securing her spot back in the MasterChef kitchen, much to Krissi and Natasha's dismay.

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 purée, compound butter, caramelized onions, and Parm-encrusted squash, Luca's grilled filet mignon served with haricot verts and roasted potatoes with a Parmesan crema and pan-seared sirloin with caramelized onions and beef sauce, and Krissi's pan-seared steak with compound butter served with pommes du Krissi (a frittata in which the sliced potatoes were arranged in the shape of a flower) and a Brussels sprout-caramelized onion salad. The judges decided that Krissi would be the winner of this week's mystery box, much to the other contestants' dismay, particularly Natasha, who pointed out she made another predictable Italian-influenced dish containing frittata.

• Elimination Challenge:

The theme of the elimination challenge was poultry. For winning the Mystery Box challenge, Krissi was safe from elimination and was able to assign one bird - a quail, a pigeon, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, and a turkey - to each of the remaining competitors. Targeting Natasha, Luca and Jordan, Krissi gave the pheasant, turkey and quail to them, respectively. She also assigned the duck to James, the chicken to Jessie, and the pigeon to Bri. The contestants were given 60 minutes to produce a dish using their bird. Ultimately, Natasha's pheasant breast with mushroom risotto and white asparagus and Bri's stuffed roast pigeon with couscous and red beets were the top two dishes of the night, giving them the roles of team captains in the next team challenge. This also sets up a rematch between the two, who previously competed against each other as team captains in episode 16. Luca also impressed the judges with his pancetta-wrapped turkey with braised Swiss chard, sweet potato puree, mushrooms, and red wine cranberry sauce; and James was commended for his togarashi-rubbed duck with mushrooms, ginger scallion rice, and kimchi. Jessie highly underwhelmed the judges with her pan-seared chicken breast with a roasted garlic sauce summer vegetable succotash and mashed potatoes and Jordan presented a very poorly executed pan-seared quail with root vegetable stew (with his quail being still raw).

Bottom 2: Jessie and Jordan

Eliminated: Jordan

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 emotional elimination. However, before he left, Graham told Jordan that he had been impressed by his progress throughout the competition and extended an offer to work for him at one of his Chicago-based restaurants. Also, when asked who would win the competition, Jordan said it would be Natasha.

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 Jessie and Luca, while Blue Team Captain Bri led James and Krissi. Bri was worried to have Krissi on her team again given Krissi's track record of zero team challenge wins. The teams served a limited menu which consisted of two appetizers, steamed scallop-shrimp Shumai and crispy lobster lettuce cups, and two dinner entrees, Singapore-style chili prawns and Wagyu beef stir-fry. During the appetizer round, Luca struggled with the Sui Mai and Joe angrily told him he served a raw Shumai. Gordon then found out that Luca put cold water at the bottom of the steamer, instead of hot water, which brought the temperature down, and therefore, didn't properly steam the dumplings. During dinner service, Krissi struggled during preparation due to her dislike of Asian cuisine and subsequent lack of experience cooking it, and produced underwhelming dishes. 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 (whose members would be the Top 3 of this season) was announced as the winner, giving them immunity from the pressure test.

• Pressure Test:

Before the Pressure Test, Bri stated that she believed Krissi had performed the weakest in the Team Challenge, much to the latter's ire. This pressure test required Bri, Krissi and James to recreate a plate of fried calamari with marinara sauce in 60 minutes. During the pressure test, Krissi was visibly angry and got so annoyed with the taunting from the winning team up the balcony, she threw marinara sauce at them. In the end, all three contestants failed to perfect the dish. Bri's calamari was very undercooked, heavily coated in flour and her marinara was criticized for being overly acidic as a result of putting lemon juice in it. Krissi's calamari had a very spongy texture, described as being "fried like funnel cake". James' marinara had an awful aftertaste to it, but his calamari was very well prepared, so he was the first to be sent to safety.

Bottom 2: Krissi and Bri

Eliminated: Bri

In the end, the judges decided to save Krissi, sending Bri home again, this time for good much to the other contestant's dismay. Prior to her departure, Bri said that James would become the winner. When asked by Gordon if she had any parting words to Krissi, Bri encouraged her to be nicer before leaving.

Episode 21

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

Gordon, Graham and Joe announced that some V.I.P. guests would choose 15 items for the mystery box. In the end, the guests were the judges' sons: Joe's two sons Miles and Ethan, Graham's middle son Conrad, and Gordon's son Jack. They assembled the box with a lot of sweets, fruit and baking items, leading to all of the competitors to creating desserts. Luca's Pineapple and white chocolate Napoleon, Jessie's Vanilla cream puffs with coconut and fruit, and James' Passion fruit and white chocolate turnover with blueberry mint purée were the best creations. Eventually, James won his first Mystery Box challenge much to Krissi's dismay.

• Elimination Test:

In the pantry, the judges awarded immunity to James, and then showed him the best dishes they had ever eaten in their life: Joe's Marinated botan shrimp with sea urchin and caviar, Graham's Grandpa Franny's soft shell crab sandwich, and Gordon's Vietnamese noodle soup with slow cooked pork. After tasting them and targeting Luca as his objective, James chose Gordon's dish. The remaining competitors had to taste the dish; then grab the correct ingredients from the pantry and recreate it in 75 minutes. Krissi was very nervous and concerned about the challenge due to her unfamiliarity with Asian cuisine and struggled to identify what ingredients were used in the broth, but in the end managed to collect the correct ingredients from the pantry by looking at what the other contestants had in their baskets. While cooking, Natasha realized she forgot garlic and she had to ask Luca for some. Despite her belief that Luca would probably refused to lend her any, Luca graciously gave her some garlic without hesitance. In the end, Natasha's dish was deemed to be good and appreciated by the judges but her broth was a bit too sweet and had some unbalanced flavors. Luca's dish received rave reviews for having perfectly replicated the dish with Gordon calling it "mind-blowing" and saying his dish definitely took him back to Vietnam. Jessie's dish also received favorable reviews from the judges, with the only criticism being some minor issues with the sourness of her broth. Lastly, Krissi's dish was also deemed to be good with a nice balance of flavors but was a bit too over-spiced and other minor issues such as a little too much noodles and less appealing in colors. Gordon was really impressed by Krissi's effort and encouraged her to be more open-minded when approaching unfamiliar cuisine and to step out of her comfort zone because she had the abilities to as a cook. Gordon concluded tasting by saying that all four dishes were spectacular and the judges had a very difficult decision ahead of them. In the end, Luca's dish was deemed to have the best dish of the night and won his first elimination challenge. Jessie was also deemed to have perform well enough to be sent to safety. Much to the shock of the other contestants, Krissi was the next cook to be sent to safety, leaving Natasha in tears in belief that she would be eliminated. Ultimately, despite some minor issues in Natasha's dish, it was still deemed to be absolutely delicious and the judges did not eliminate anyone. (second time in this edition and third overall, 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 for two spots in the final four and to save themselves from the Pressure Test (the first time was in the 1st season). In this challenge, they had to cook for 50 guests (with each home cook responsible for serving 10 guests each) 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 Southern protein items chosen by the pride of Savannah: he chose pork chops for himself, and targeting Jessie and Natasha, he gave alligator to Jessie, catfish to Natasha, shrimp to Krissi, and chicken to James. During the cooking, Natasha, who made Cajun buttermilk-grilled catfish with potato au gratin and cabbage slaw, and James, who made bourbon BBQ chicken breast with braised black-eyed peas and honey glazed carrots, struggled with their proteins, affecting the feedback of their dishes, which was not favorable. James had to repeat a cook of a raw chicken breast, while Natasha's catfish was also undercooked. On the other side, Krissi's citrus-marinated grilled shrimp with collard greens and fried green tomato, Luca's spiced pork chops with mashed sweet potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon, and Jessie's Cajun alligator with Andouille Mac n' Cheese and garlic green beans were all greatly appreciated by the guests and judges. In the end, Paula Deen declared Luca and Jessie as the winners of the challenge, ensuring their place in the Top 4.

Bottom 3: Natasha, Krissi, and James

• Pressure Test

In this Pressure test, the dish to cook was not assigned by the judges. Instead, the winners of the off-site challenge, Luca and Jessie, had the advantage of giving to each cook an item to replicate among an appetizer, an entreé and a dessert. Targeting Natasha for elimination, they 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 severe mistake by pouring the panna cotta in the fridge instead of the blast chiller much to Luca's dismay saying that he'll ruin his plan to eliminate Natasha. Natasha's appetizer lacked a bit of sauce and truffle but it was appreciated by the judges, and Krissi's filet received good feedback, even though it was a little overcooked. James's dessert was praised for its flavor but received strong criticism for the consistency of the panna cotta.

Eliminated: James

James' dish was deemed the worst and he was eliminated, much to Luca and Jessie's disappointment. Before James left, Gordon asked him who is gonna be MasterChef, to which he replied it would be Luca.

Episode 23

• Original airdate: Wednesday, September 4, 2013.
• Team Mystery Box challenge:

In this particular merge of challenges, the four remaining competitors were divided into two teams and had two huge boxes with 50 ingredients (each ingredient representing one state of US) to make a classic three-course menu with appetizer, entreé and dessert. Luca, having won more mystery box challenges than the others, had the advantage of choosing his partner and the box. He opted for Natasha despite their rivalry and differences, forming the Blue team, while Jessie and Krissi formed the Red team, much to Jessie's dismay as she knew full well that Krissi wasn't a team player given her past performances during team challenges. During cooking, the Blue team struggled with the dessert as Natasha broke her pastry shell and ended up making a crumble. Over on the Red team, serious tension emerged between Jessie and Krissi since Jessie objected Krissi's suggestions during preparation and took complete charge over the menu. The lack of communications between Jessie and Krissi made them fell immensely behind during the challenge, while the Luca and Natasha also struggled to finish on time due to several miscommunications. Jessie messed up the pie crust and wanted Krissi to make crepes which she said she didn't know how to, much to the former's ire. When Jessie scolded Krissi to get her act together, Krissi got so upset and angry that she left the kitchen to calm down and left Jessie to finish up the works but came back in the last minutes to create a dessert. In the end, both teams composed very similar menus: appetizer with seafood, entreé with racks of lamb, and a deconstructed tart as dessert. The judges appreciated Luca and Natasha's three-course menu but felt some components in each dish failed to work together as a whole, much to Natasha's concern that she had let herself and Luca down with the dessert. The judges also appreciated Jessie and Krissi's menu, but it was clear that their animosity towards each other and lack of communications made them under-performed as a team with Gordon calling out Krissi for letting Jessie take charge at the start and then just completely threw Jessie under the bus when she walked out. After the judges discussed, they declared Luca and Natasha to be the winners (for at least working reasonably well together) and secured their spots in the semifinals, while sending Jessie and Krissi to the season's final pressure test. After the judges left, Jessie was so frustrated that she went up the balcony and openly voiced her disdain of Krissi to Luca and Natasha as they all discussed at Krissi's apparent inability to make crepe and pie crust and her overall poor attitude during the challenge. When Krissi overheard them, she went up and angrily confront them, much to the ire of the other three contestants as Krissi swear to take Jessie out of the competition tomorrow.

Bottom 2: Jessie and Krissi

• Pressure Test:

After yesterday's disastrous team challenge, Jessie and Krissi will be going to head-to-head in the final pressure test of the season. Chocolate was the theme of this dreaded pressure test. Jessie and Krissi had 75 minutes to create three desserts featuring chocolate: a mousse for Graham, a molten lava cake for Joe, and a soufflé (another MasterChef classic, featured the fourth time overall) for Gordon. Both competitors nailed the soufflè (won by Jessie as Krissi's soufflé was undercooked and Gordon greatly enjoyed Jessie's use of salt in her soufflé) and mousse (won by Krissi as hers was more airy than Jessie's) respectively leading to an initial tie, but had a great struggle with the cake, as neither of them satisfied Joe due to both of them being undercooked.

Eliminated: Krissi

In the end, Joe picked Jessie to join Natasha and Luca in the final three since her cake had a hard top, resulting in a teary-eyed Krissi finally being sent home, much to the other contestants' relief. However, before she left, Joe invited her to one of his restaurants in New York to have dinner with him and his mom, Lidia Bastianich, who is her culinary idol; and when she was asked who will become the next MasterChef, she said that Luca is going to win it for the Italians.

Episode 24

• Original airdate: Wednesday, September 4, 2013
• Mystery Box challenge:

For the season's final Mystery Box challenge, the three remaining competitors were each given a box with all the ingredients necessary to recreate - and improve - the dishes they served in their initial auditions. Natasha faced an uphill struggle, as the empanadas with skirt steak that she originally served the judges were already agreed to be near-perfect, so she kept her dish largely the same as her initial version and focused mainly on improving the plating and serving a more refined selection of sides, which the judges all enjoyed. Jessie, who had faced fierce criticism over the presentation of her seabass encroute during her initial audition, wowed the judges with a hugely improved version which used a much thinner layer of pastry and had better overall seasoning. Luca's ravioli had more flavor and a better presentation, but again he had issues with his cheese sauce. In the end, Jessie's dish was deemed as the best, and she won her first mystery box, Natasha came in second, and Luca finished last.

• Elimination Test:

All three contestants were called into the MasterChef pantry, and three ingredients "best of the best" were shown to them by the judges; Joe's ingredient was Grana Padano cheese, Graham's ingredient was Kobe beef, and Gordon's ingredient was Alaskan king crab. As the Mystery Box winner, Jessie chose the Kobe beef, but to the shock of the judges admitted she had never worked with it before and knew nothing about it. Wanting to eliminate Luca, Jessie hinted to Natasha to take the Grana Padano, thus leaving Luca with the king crab (crab being an ingredient that Luca had trouble using due to him being in the bottom three in the crab elimination test earlier in the season). Luca on the other hand tried to psyche Natasha out by saying that Grana Padano was a difficult ingredient to work with, even for Italians. Realizing Jessie's plan, Natasha selected the king crab, feeling it was the ingredient she would most impress the judges with. This left Luca with the Grana Padano, much to his delight. During the cooking stage, as Jessie forgot butter in the pantry, she asked Natasha for one tablespoon, but Natasha declined despite having three sticks she was not touching. Luca then threw a stick of butter to Jessie, much to the judges' surprise. Luca managed to prepare a delicious meal of pancetta-wrapped veal filled with sage, Grana Padano, served on braised radicchio with frico, and all three judges enjoyed the dish, but felt it was very rich and the presentation didn't do the dish justice. Natasha served a cold king crab yakisoba salad which all three judges raved over in spite of its simplicity. Jessie got positive comments for her seared Kobe beef with ponzu butter and noodles. However, after an off-handed question by Gordon, Jessie revealed that she had made a green papaya salad to serve with the beef and noodles, but decided not to at the last minute. When the judges tried it, however, they all agreed that it was the best thing she made, and would have perfectly balanced the overall flavor of the dish.

Bottom 2: Luca and Jessie

Eliminated: Jessie

The judges felt that Jessie had made too many mistakes in the challenge (not thinking through her initial choice of ingredients, forgetting her butter, and not plating her salad), resulting in her elimination. For the second time in the show's history (the first being at the elimination of season 2 contestant Tracy Kontos) all three judges gave her an offer to work at any of their restaurants.

Episode 25

• Original airdate: Wednesday, September 11, 2013
• Season Final: The finalists, Luca and Natasha, competed for their own cookbook, a quarter of a million dollars, the MasterChef trophy and the title of MasterChef. Before the life-changing cook-off began, the judges announced that all their past competitors, their families, and even Luca's dad and sister all the way from Italy were on the balcony supporting them. They were charged with creating a perfect, cohesive three-course dinner, and were given only ten minutes to collect all necessary ingredients from the pantry. While in other editions the cooks were given two hours to prepare the entire menu, in this one the competitors cook their dishes in separate time, one hour for each of them.
• Appetizer: Natasha prepared pan-seared scallops, seaweed salad, couscous, and a cauliflower puree, while Luca decided on pan-seared duck liver with caramelized peaches, Asian pear chutney, and a toasted French brioche. Natasha was praised for her creativity, beautifully cooked scallops, and fluffy, light couscous. Gordon praised Luca's appetizer for its fragrance, but told Luca he needed a couple minutes' more cooking to be perfectly complete. Graham cautioned Luca to be careful with how rich he makes his dishes, while Joe called the appetizer an ideal balance of sweet and savory flavors.
• Entree: Natasha cooked a five-spice monkfish with rendered caul fat, infused jasmine rice, and coconut curry sauce. Luca opted for tamarind and balsamic-braised beef short ribs with a Sunchoke and truffle puree and sauteed chanterelle mushrooms. Graham expressed his pleasure at Natasha's entree's elegant composure, but criticized the spiciness. Joe enjoyed the dish overall, and Gordon commended Natasha's elevation of the monkfish. The judges praised the flawless cook on Luca's short ribs; Gordon expressed his satisfaction despite, or even because of, the heaviness of Luca's entrée, but re-iterated it would be an exceptional "last supper".
• Dessert: Both chose to serve panna cotta. While Natasha intended to create two different kinds of it, with lime and coconut, the former did not set well so she disposed of it. Natasha ultimately served up a coconut yogurt panna cotta with passion fruit coulis, accompanied by edible flowers. Although Luca forgot to strain his first attempt at the panna cotta, he managed to pull back. He presented the judges with a very unusual dessert: basil panna cotta with sweet tomato jam, mascarpone, honey cream, and granulated basil. The judges had high praise for the balance Natasha executed, though Gordon wished for more on the plate and Joe lightly criticized the dish's simplicity. Joe criticized the structure of Luca's panna cotta; in his opinion, Luca ought to have used layers to ensure a combination of all flavors in each mouthful. Gordon, however, complimented Luca on his success in pulling off a theoretically implausible dessert.
• Judges' Deliberations: Ramsay felt the dishes were so closely matched that he proposed a draw, which Joe and Graham nixed due to the rules of the competition. The judges took the courses' compatibility with one another into account; Graham stated that one of the cooks' performances was a cut above the other's.
• Winner: Luca
• Runner-Up: Natasha
• Winner Revealed: The judges declared Luca Manfe the winner of season 4. In winning, he became the first male and Italian-origin winner in the revival of the American MasterChef franchise (in effect the second season of the same-titled franchise of the PBS version was the first), as well as the first previous-season returnee to win the title, making Natasha the first female runner-up of the competition (and despite not winning, Natasha is tied with Elizabeth of Season 5 for having the best competitive record in Masterchef history with 12 cumulative wins). As always, the season ended with a casting call for the next one by Gordon Ramsay.

Epilogue

This is what happens to the eliminated contestants.

Sasha now appears to be located in Los Angeles and concentrating on her music/entertainment career.

Adriana has a YouTube channel where she’s posted episodes of her show “Authentically Mexican | Deliciously Vegetarian”. Her website also mentions doing cooking demos and exploring “many culinary projects”.

Kathy didn’t last long in the MasterChef kitchen, but Gordon Ramsay promised her an “internship” at one of his New York restaurants after she left. Well, apparently that internship lasted all of one day. She does have a catering company, Fire’s Flaming Kitchen, and offers cooking demos.

Howard apparently used MasterChef to move up in the restaurant world; he is currently the manager at High Flying Foods – and a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve!

Bime ended up getting a job as a chef at the Stoneforge Tavern in Raynham. He mentions being in Boston for six months but then returning to the Stoneforge…so it looks as though being on MasterChef was good for launching him in a career in food and cooking.

Beth's food blog, Local Milk, is now 3 years up and running as of 2015 and lists her working as a “a freelance writer, recipe developer, stylist, and photographer”.

Jonny and Malcolm worked together, but if that lead to anything more than a one-off tailgate party seems difficult to find out. Malcolm is currently running a GoFundMe campaign to launch his own food truck business.

Lynn appears to have gone back to his career in photography and design, as his website showcases primarily wedding and food photography work. He’s also been doing behind-the-camera work for The Sam Livecast, an online cooking show.

Savannah had a website at savannasturges.com for a time also promoting cooking classes and catering, but that site is no longer up and running as of May 2015. Her older blog on blogspot is still up and running, with entries from 2013 but nothing since then.

Bethy‘s website shows her promoting cooking classes and catering, although the blog hasn’t been updated since early 2014.

Eddie was working as a personal trainer and private chef in Florida and occasionally doing appearances/pop-up kitchens after MasterChef ended. He had a website, Fit Chef, where you could find out more but as of May 2015 the site no longer seems to be up and running. He now appears to be running a food truck in Houston and won season 11 of Food Network Star.

Jordan ran an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign to try launch a food truck called “Salted Roots”. He continues to actively promoting both his food and his artwork.

Bri ended up taking a job as a pastry chef in LA and then moving to New York for a job at the Bouchon Bakery. In February 2014 she announced a new website called “Bri is the New Black“, but then she took it down quickly (according to a Facebook post), promising an upgrade. The site is now up at a new url, hashtagkitchen, where she mentions having worked as a “nanny, private chef and yacht chef”. She is available for “catering services, cooking lessons, or private dinners”.

James still lives in Texas, where he is working to promote Bravado Spice, a hot sauce company which he co-owns. They offer some unique concoctions such as jalapeño & green apple hot sauce, or ghost pepper & blueberry.

Krissi has launched her website as The Rotund Chef. She is offering private cooking classes, demos, and catering services. She has also done a number of internet radio broadcasts for the Totally Driven Radio Network, with the title Fork Off.

Jessie's promoting herself as a private chef, and has continued to work on yacht crews.

Natasha had a new website launched in 2014 called “Frisky Mama” it seems to have vanished as of March 2015.). She advertised herself as a personal/private chef and wrote in her blog about her travels…and apparently was promoting Chia Seeds? Her older website is still up and running but has no recent updates.

Luca, after winning, made his cookbook, My Italian Kitchen, was released in May 2014. Luca’s book is pure (mostly Northern) Italian that features very authentic recipes with elegant and unusual twists to some of them. Luca remained based in New York until recently, offering his “Dinner with Luca” events, which could be booked via his website. He was one of the guests on the 2014 MasterChef cruise, along with several other past-season winners and popular contestants. He has recently relocated to Houston and is still doing Dinner with Luca events, as well as talking about starting up a food truck.