The Top 22 home cooks in America face their first Mystery Box Challenge. Each contestant is given 20 staple ingredients that anyone could find in their home and tasked with preparing a dish for the judges — were the judges to show up at their homes for dinner. The winner of the Mystery Box Challenge receives a significant advantage in the season's first pressure test, during which contestants must make their versions of an apple pie.
The remaining 20 home cooks face their first team challenge of the season at an amusement park. Once teams are decided, each team is tasked with creating its version of an amusement park burger and fish & chips dish for thousands of amusement park guests. The winning team is safe from elimination, while the losing team has to face the first pressure test of the season, during which the home cooks make 12 cinnamon rolls.
The next mystery box challenge has the home cooks come out of their shells and prepare unique crab dishes for the judges. The home cook who prepares the best crab dish receives a significant advantage before the next elimination challenge. Then the remaining home cooks create their versions of sweet or savory dishes, using the same surprise ingredient of corn.
In the second field challenge of the season, the home cooks take a surprise trip to Las Vegas, where they are split into two teams to take over Drai's Nightclub and feed 101 Las Vegas performers. The team who receives the most winning votes from the Las Vegas performer diners is safe from the next pressure test, while the losing team deals with a deuce steak contest at Gordon Ramsay's Steak. In the pressure test, the home cooks face two steak challenges testing temperature and taste, and one contestant is sent home.
In the next challenge, it's proven that Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day when the home cooks are each tasked to create an elevated breakfast dish in 45 minutes. Not only does the winner have immunity in the next mystery box challenge, but they also receive two additional advantages. Later, in the mystery box challenge, contestants must create TV dinners.
Each team prepares a two-course menu for the 100th episode celebration, during which VIP guests dine on oyster and caviar appetizers and a duck breast entrée, followed by a special surprise dish by judge Christina Tosi. The losing team faces the next pressure test, in which contestants must create a three-layer birthday cake.
The remaining home cooks learn from the best as they enter a special taste-it-and-make-it challenge. Each contestant must recreate Gordon Ramsay's signature Beef Wellington. The home cooks with the worst dishes compete in the next pressure test, featuring another Gordon Ramsay dish — scallops with puree of English peas, bacon, and quail eggs, finished with shaved truffles. Find out who can keep up with the master and who is sent home for good.
In the next mystery box challenge, the remaining home cooks must create a rice dish in 60 minutes. The contestant with the winning dish will be featured in Family Circle Magazine and do not have to participate in the next elimination challenge. Then, in the elimination challenge, contestants are tasked with creating dishes based on dynamic duo ingredients. Find out who makes it into the Top 10 best home cooks in America.
The Top 10 home cooks enter the Wild West when they face their next team challenge and create steak meals for 101 cowboys and ranchers. The team that receives the most winning votes moo-ve on in the competition, while the remaining home cooks face the next pressure test. For the pressure test the losing team bakes tarts and see who can bake their way to victory.
The Top 10 home cooks cook family style when they face their next team challenge and create family style meals for VIP diners. After each team prepares their family style meals, they are greeted by the dinner guests, their family members. Each diner votes for one team's meal and the team with the most votes is safe from the next pressure test. In the pressure test, the losing team home cooks must create a gnocchi-in-brown-sage-butter-sauce dish.
In the next team challenge, the remaining home cooks split into teams to prepare vegetarian meals for guests of the MasterChef restaurant. Teams have access to any ingredients that they choose in the MasterChef pantry, as long as the dishes are vegetarian. The winning team is safe from elimination, while the losing team must cook in the next pressure test and create delicious well-composed meals using various cuts from an animal head.
In the next mystery box challenge, the remaining home cooks must create a dish using coffee as one of the main ingredients. The winner of the challenge receives a significant advantage in the next pressure test and is safe from elimination. Then, during the pressure test, contestants team up in pairs as they replicate an elaborate party platter.
In the next team challenge, the Top 6 home cooks face the wildly popular restaurant takeover. Each team must complete two appetizer and two entree dishes for the dining guests in a downtown Los Angeles restaurant. The winning team is safe from elimination, while the losing team members face the next pressure test, in which they prep, cook, and plate three different pasta dishes. Find out who can't stand the heat of the restaurant kitchen and who moves on to the Top 5.
In the next mystery box challenge, the Top 5 home cooks must create a dish using pear, blue cheese, tomato, portabella mushroom, and chocolate. The winner receives both safety from elimination and the power to choose among 4 baskets of ingredients for the elimination challenge, baskets that were put together with the help of the 3 former MasterChef winners.
The 4 remaining contestants use special ingredients from Gordon and Graham in the next team challenge. Each team must create a unique appetizer and entrée, and create them 3 times. The losing pair face a pressure test in which they must recreate judge Christina Tosi's world-famous Chocolate Malted Layer Cake to see who rounds out the Top 3.
In the next challenge, with a little help from a few other home cooks, the remaining three contestants create dishes for 30 restaurant guests who serve an important role in the judges' culinary world. The home cook with the most number of votes moves on in the competition, while the remaining two home cooks face the next pressure test, during which they must complete three classic MasterChef dishes. The home cook with the best dishes moves on to the finals.
In the final challenge in the MasterChef kitchen, the Top Two home cooks have one last chance to prove to the judges that they deserve the MasterChef title by creating a three-course meal. After evaluating the final dishes, the judges reveal America's next MasterChef, and the deserving home cook walks away with a MasterChef trophy, a book deal and the $250,000 grand prize.
The Top 18 home cooks are divided in to 2 teams where they have to prepare appetizers and entrees for season 6 contestant Nick Nappi on his wedding day! Not only do they feel the pressure from Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, and a former contestant but also Nick's bride and 72 hungry wedding guests, the winning team earns a significant advantage in the next elimination challenge.
The remaining 17 home cooks are joined by special guests Season 6 winner Claudia Sandoval and guest culinary judge Aarón Sánchez as they reveal the next mystery box challenge. Each contestant has 60 minutes to create their own unique dish using a number of Sandoval's favorite ingredients. The winner of the challenge is safe from the next elimination round and helps to decide the fate of 3 other contestants in the elimination.
The remaining 16 home cooks get a very special treat leading into the next challenge, as Chef Ramsay demonstrates how to properly deconstruct a lobster. They then each have 25 minutes to kill, poach, and shell a lobster, just as they learned. The winner has the advantage of choosing which team he or she joins for the next field challenge. For the second part of the challenge, Chef Ramsay demonstrates how to make lobster tortellini in a seafood broth. The contestants have 45 minutes to recreate Ramsay’s dish to avoid elimination.
The remaining 15 home cooks separate into 2 teams for the second major field challenge of the competition, cooking for 101 hungry veterans! The 2 teams have 75 minutes to prep, and one hour to serve a dish consisting of a steak, two sides, and a sauce. After a dramatic day out in the field, the veterans have the power to vote for their favorite dish. The team with the most votes is safe in the competition, while the team with the least amount of votes faces the pressure test.
The contestants are introduced to special culinary guest judge Edward Lee, who reveals the third Mystery Box challenge. Contestants lift their boxes only to find a $20 bill. They each have 5 minutes to shop for ingredients priced in the pantry without spending more than $20. Then they have 45 minutes to prepare four entree dishes to present to the judges. Not only will the winner and the winner's dish be featured in Family Circle magazine, but they also avoid having to participate in the elimination challenge.
The remaining 12 contestants are broken up into two teams to prep, cook, and plate 30 dishes for teenagers celebrating their Sweet 16 birthdays. Each team receives a surprise box with 16 different ingredients and one protein. They'll have 60 minutes to prepare and present their dishes to the diners, who then vote on their favorite dish. The losing contestants are faced with the Birthday Cake pressure test and have 90 minutes to bake a three-layer birthday cake and then face a dramatic elimination.
The remaining 11 contestants are dropped off in the middle of a vegetable field and surprised by the judges – Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, and guest judge Edward Lee – who inform them of their next team field challenge. The teams go head-to-head with 75 minutes to prepare and cook their dishes, followed by 45 minutes to serve more than 100 hungry farmers. The losing team must cook an elevated sausage in a bun in the elimination challenge.
The 5 remaining contestants are introduced to special culinary guest judge Richard Blais – chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author – who reveals the seventh Mystery Box challenge. The winner avoids competing in the elimination challenge and the remaining contestants are given five minutes to shop for a basket full of twenty ingredients. With an unexpected twist in the competition, one is eliminated.
The three finalists are sent home for one week to plan their menus. They are visited at their homes by Gordon and Christina. For the finals, Wolfgang Puck and Daniel Boulud join the judging panel. The finalists will have one hour for each course to prepare four portions of their best appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Appetizer: Brandi presents braised pork belly with BBQ sauce and squash-parsnip puree; David prepares beet cured salmon with a soft-boiled egg, filo dough noodles, salmon roe and caviar; and Shaun makes halibut cheeks with vadouvan carrot puree, pickled mushrooms, and uni foam. The entrées begin cooking as the first hour ends.
Forty of America's best home cooks travel to Los Angeles to compete in the Battle for a White Apron challenge, during which they face off against each other to try to earn a place in the Top 20. Judging the battle rounds is Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, and new judge and award-winning chef Aarón Sánchez.
The Top 18 face a mystery box challenge that includes cooking some of the finest shellfish in the world. The winner receives a huge advantage moving forward, leaving the rest of the home cooks to compete in an elimination challenge, during which they must create a Gordon Ramsay classic. Then, it is up to the judges to decide who leaves the kitchen.
The cooks take part in a challenging skills test, during which they must prepare racks of lamb with fine artistry. Those who fail to impress the judges face an elimination challenge that includes recreating Gordon Ramsay's signature lamb chop dish. It is then up to the judges to decide who leaves the kitchen.
The home cooks head to Beverly Hills, CA, to take over the dining room breakfast service for The Belvedere restaurant at the iconic five-star Peninsula Hotel. After splitting into two teams, the cooks makes a variety of dishes for diners. The team that fails the challenge has to face a pressure test and cook a perfectly battered fish and chips dish. It is then up to the judges to decide who leaves the kitchen.
The Top 15 face a mystery box challenge in which they randomly choose from boxes containing a different body part of a cow and use it as the star of a dish. The winner receives a huge advantage moving forward, while those who didn't impress must face off in an elimination challenge. It is then up to the judges to decide who leaves the kitchen.
The kitchen is transformed into a full dining room, as it welcomes purveyors of the finest local ingredients, ranging from butchers and vegetable farmers, to beekeepers and herb growers. After splitting into two teams, the home cooks must prepare dishes using the guests' own ingredients. The purveyors then vote on which team created a better dish, forcing the losing team to head back to the kitchen for a pressure test, during which they cook a classic Italian dessert, the cannoli. It is then up to the judges to decide who heads home.
Reigning champion Shaun O'Neale returns to the MasterChef kitchen, as he chooses ingredients from his new cookbook to be part of the mystery box challenge. The winner receives a huge advantage moving forward, leaving the other chefs to battle it out in a coconut-themed elimination challenge. It is then up to the judges to decide who heads home.
The Top 12 head to Sin City for a team challenge during which they serve 50 VIPs in entertainment and hospitality at Caesars Palace for its 50th Anniversary party. Each guest tastes both teams' dishes and then casts a vote for their favorite dish. The team with the most votes wins, sending the losing team back to the kitchen for a pressure test. It is then up to the judges to decide who heads home.
In this week's skills test, the Top 11 are given a bag of live crawfish and have to carefully cook them in order to extract the most meat possible. The six weakest cooks go head-to-head in an elimination challenge, during which they will make a crawfish dish created by none other than Gordon Ramsay.
In this week's mystery box challenge, the Top 7 must create an Asian-inspired dish that centers around one of the most prominent utensils in culinary history - chopsticks! The winner gets a huge advantage moving forward, leaving the remaining home cooks to compete in a pasta-themed elimination challenge.
In the first skills test of the season, Gordon teaches the home cooks how to properly break down a crab before the contestants must replicate his work. Those whose skills don't cut it face an elimination challenge during which Gordon shows them how to make his signature Crab Benedict dish. It is then up to the judges to decide who stays and who goes home.
The Top 20 chefs face the first team challenge of the season at the Anheuser Busch brewery. Teams must cook a beer-infused lunch for more than 100 employees. The team that receives the least amount of votes head back to the kitchen for a banana cream pie pressure test that determines who is eliminated.
The contestants face a mystery box challenge where they must create a dish using one common ingredient – walnuts. The winner receives 3 huge advantages. Later, the MasterChef kitchen welcomes American soccer legend, Alexi Lalas, who introduces a street-food themed elimination challenge that involves popular food among soccer fans in various countries. Then, it is up to the judges to decide who heads home.
The contestants head to Malibu, California, and cook for Season 7 winner Shaun O’Neale’s wedding – with Gordon Ramsay officiating! After splitting into 2 teams, the home cooks have limited time to prepare and cook 51 appetizers and 51 entrees for guests in attendance. Then, it is up to the judges to decide who stays and who heads home.
The contestants face a mystery box filled with fresh seafood and must create a dish using 2 items from it. The chefs who fail to impress the judges face an elimination challenge and are asked to upgrade one of the most popular frozen dinner dishes, Salisbury Steak. Then, it is up to the judges to decide who heads home.
The remaining home cooks pair up for a skills test to create a restaurant-quality dish featuring five ingredients, with the 15th contestant being paired up with their mentor and receiving an advantage in the challenge. The chefs who fail to impress the judges face an elimination challenge to create a cheese soufflé in just 40 minutes. Then, it is up to the judges to decide who heads home.
The Top 14 contestants are split into 2 teams to compete in a fine-dining challenge to cook 39 dishes for a group of very discerning judges. Contestants are surprised when the diners are revealed, forcing them to scramble and alter their dishes to accommodate the guests. Ultimately the winning team's recipe will be printed in Family Circle Magazine. The losing team competes in a cupcake pressure test with special guest Christina Tosi. The judges then decide who stays and who is sent home.
The Top 13 contestants face a mystery box challenge with a stockpot and cooking oil and are tasked with making a dish that features a deep-fried element. An extra layer of pressure is put on the contestants as the judges cook alongside them. The winner of the challenge receives an advantage in the elimination challenge to create a citrus-centered dish. The judges then decide who stays and who is sent home.
The Top 12 face their third skills test in the MasterChef kitchen and replicate the proper way to break down a halibut. Those who fail to impress the judges are then tasked with creating a stunning original dish using their broken-down fish. Some contestants yield a bountiful filet, while others offer up a poor portion of protein. Ultimately, the judges decide who is left floundering and sent home.
The 7 remaining contestants face a Mystery Box challenge filled with waste – literally. The home cook who makes the best dish from food scraps will be safe in the elimination challenge, during which they’ll take on another Mystery Box Challenge, but this time with all the best and freshest ingredients. Find out whose time has come to an end.
The Top 6 face the Restaurant Takeover Challenge at Providence in Los Angeles. The home cooks split into 2 teams and must feed a dining room filled with 48 guests. The judges will evaluate each team's performance and the losing team will face the challenging pressure test, after which someone will be sent home.
The Top 5 home cooks face a series of pressure-filled skills tests using an incredibly common protein – beef. The judges decide which contestant claims a safe spot on the balcony and who faces another culinary test. The 2 weakest home cooks go head-to-head to claim the final spot in the Top 4, while the other is cut.
The final 4 are split into 2 teams, and need to cook one incredible entrée for the judges’ mentors: Chefs Daniel Boulud, Jonathan Waxman, and Lidia Bastianich. The judges choose which winning team moves on, leaving the final 2 to battle it out in a do-or-die pressure test. Find out which 3 make it to the finale.
Four legendary chefs grace the MasterChef kitchen for a one-of-a-kind Chef's Table team challenge that pits boys against girls. It's an intimidating Michelin Star lineup as Val Cantu, Jonathan Yao, Sherry Yard and Tanya Holland take a seat in the MasterChef restaurant, to judge a two-course menu created by the home cooks.
The remaining four semi-finalists are challenged to a "3 Chef Showdown" - a brand-new culinary triathlon that sees the home cooks making three dishes back-to-back - alongside three different Legendary chefs. This is a window into the fast-paced world of a professional chef, with each round's prize being a guaranteed spot in the finale.
Season 12 of MASTERCHEF is all about redemption, when All-Star competitors from the last 11 seasons return to the show to see if they have learned from their past mistakes. For the first time ever, MASTERCHEF is re-opening the door to some of the most memorable and talented cooks in the competition's history, including two MASTERCHEF Junior Edition cooks now competing as adults! 40 chefs get called back to audition, but only 20 will claim a coveted white apron. The returning chefs compete in groups of four in head-to-head audition battles. In each round, the two chefs that create the most impressive comeback dish will secure a spot this season.
This week, the chefs face their first mystery box challenge of the season. Season Seven winner, Vegas restaurant owner and cocktail connoisseur Shaun O'Neale, returns to the MASTERCHEF kitchen to dish out the challenge. The chefs have 60 minutes to cook three identical dishes using the spirits they receive in their mystery box. On the line are immunity or elimination, as the chefs compete to create a dish with their respective spirit as the star.
The top 17 home chefs return to the kitchen for their second Mystery Box Challenge, but this time with a twist - one region will begin the challenge 10 minutes behind the rest. With one box per region, the chefs must race against time to incorporate flavors from home in their dishes and impress the judges.
The top three chefs must create a three-course meal, starting with an awe-inspiring appetizer.
The chefs must create entrée and dessert courses that highlight the generational backgrounds and culinary skill sets of each chef.
Get ready for the ultimate snack-down when award-winning judge Gordon Ramsay and renowned pastry chef Christina Tosi invite celebrities into the MasterChef kitchen to battle it out against each other for charity. The 2-hour special tests the culinary skills of the celebrity competitors, and also pits previous MasterChef winners against some of MasterChef Junior's Season 4 contestants, as they compete in culinary showdowns to win a cash prize for the charities of their choice. Celebrity Competitors Include Supermodels Gigi Hadid and Devon Windsor; Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Terry Crews and wife, Rebecca Crews; The Last Man on Earth's Boris Kodjoe and wife, Nicole Ari Parker; and Empire's Kaitlin Doubleday and Ta'Rhonda Jones; as well as MasterChef Winners Luca Manfe, Christine Ha, and Claudia Sandoval; and MasterChef Junior Season 4 Contestants Addison, Amaya, and Zac.
Get ready for the ultimate snack-down when chef Gordon Ramsay and pastry chef Christina Tosi invite celebrities into the MasterChef kitchen to show off their culinary skills and compete in head-to-head contests for charity.
Celebrities and their family members show off their culinary skills in exciting challenges for charity. First up: Johnny Weir and his brother Boz go head-to-head with Tara Lipinski and her husband Todd in a fish dish showdown. Then, in a reality TV Blind Taste Test, Lisa Vanderpump and her daughter, Pandora, compete against "Jersey Shore" costars Snooki and JWoww.
Tori Spelling and her daughter, Stella, compete against Jennie Garth and her daughter, Fiona; and Evander Holyfield and his daughter, Ebonne, battle Oscar De La Hoya and his daughter, Atiana.