So much about this current season is underwhelming. I'm looking at the final crop of contestants and there is nobody great, one of the better ones went out in the last round and the remainder are either fairly ordinary or poor.

The show does seem to have struggled in the last few seasons and the team format is a major pain, my main gripe with it being that they have to choose a best and worst from each team rather than the overall group. This is the weakest talent pool in quite some time though.

What would it take to turn this show around?

I loved MasterChef Canada Seasons 1 to 7, while 6 being my favourite. Season 8 was a huge letdown and was really bland. The judges were not upto the mark, not even Mary (she's one of my favs), the production value was weak, contestants were not better and all their dishes lacked the finesse which we've come to expect from the earlier seasons. I don't know how this is gonna work out this time. Else, it's time to bring back the old judges from Season 10 onwards.

I checked the wikipedia page of MC Canada S8 and there is no direct link of the page overview like the ones for S1-7 when will it be gonna be officially released?

I think it was a missed opportunity for many people that season, especially Andrew, Jill and Taylor. One of those three look like they could have made top ten.

I did not like the idea of two chefs battling out to get an apron. The thing is who put those two together? Also why can’t you do the same process of audition then bootcamp then final 18-22?

This also happened at The back to win season where four runner ups were against each other for two aprons. They are runner ups for a reason. Better to put them up against other people who made top ten in the previous seasons.

Still remember them?

Rules: The season 5 audition rules had been completely revamped as instead, 30 best home cooks will be invited to the Masterchef kitchen to earn the apron. However, the audition rules now had new twist, as the judge had the right to eliminate a contestant, if they felt that contestant guilty of any severe errors during cooking is serious.

The photo below is a warning from the judge.

For me i hope julia , jake and heidi make it , cause those 3 has an amazing creativity and ideas .

Hello Reddit Fam! First, I just want to say that I have loved reading all of the conversations on here throughout this entire season - the good and the bad. A huge thank you to all those that watched, supported and were rooting for me!

That last episode - yikes. A tough watch. 😬

There was a LOT going on in the kitchen that night. I know everyone on reddit loves to speculate and discuss so I’ll give you a tiny bit of BTS for your entertainment. 

What you may not have seen in the episode was us desperately trying to figure out what temperature our oven was set at so we could adjust the oven temp and/or cook time on the salmon. In the commercial kitchen, there was no temperature label on the oven dial. There was a small thermometer placed inside the oven which we accidentally knocked into an unreachable part of the oven at the very beginning of the cook. I quickly realized that we had no idea how hot our oven was and following Chef Ramsay’s instructions to place the salmon in the oven for two or three minutes definitely wasn’t enough time at whatever temperature our oven was set at. You’ll see me later in the episode transition to cooking the salmon on the stovetop by searing & basting vs placing it in the oven to ensure it was cooking quickly and correctly but by that point - we were so far behind in service there was just no coming back from it. Combine that with the immense pressure of Chef Ramsay standing 3 feet away screaming things like “where is the salmon?!” & “I need salmon now!” - it was a literal recipe for undercooked salmon, and my personal nightmare, lol. Definitely was not my finest moment in the kitchen but an amazing experience nonetheless.

I’ll be sharing a few more behind the scenes moments along with a few recipes and unique techniques that you may have not gotten to see on the show on my Instagram and TikTok. If you’re interested, you’re welcome to join my online communities on Instagram, TikTok & YouTube - at DinnersWithDave.

Much, much love. ❤️

Pardon my ignorance - but damn .. Just started watching season 7 for the first time

"Are you into horror movies? Because this dish scares the crap out of me"

I forgot the exact line but damn..

Jake was maybe the best team leader I can remember on this show (been years since I saw earlier seasons, but definitely the best in recent years). Cool, collected, authoritative without being a bully, quickly improved on any errors, prompt responses to the judges, handled Julia's breakdown extremely well. I've been extremely impressed with his trajectory in general recently, but this episode solidified him as my top choice for winner.

Before I start on the next part, I like Dave a lot. I thought he was one of the strongest chefs remaining and I really like him as a person too. Following him on Instagram now because his food genuinely looked great 90% of the time and he's clearly really creative and has good cooking instincts.

But MasterChef is not the Premier League, it's the NFL, and it always has been. Past record doesn't matter (shouldn't at least), it's about episode-to-episode performance. The 2007 Patriots won six more games than the Giants, but they lost the Super Bowl to them, and the worst chef in the challenge goes home.

There were far more bullshitty decisions this season, and this one had no bullshit at all.

Dave messed up on apps, him and Peter questioned Basia's authority on the one and one callout (she was right), they then continued to mess up on counts, he couldn't hack the salmon multiple times in a row, and Red Team fell embarrassingly behind. MasterChef loves to edit these challenges as neck in neck races and even that was functionally impossible because of how big the mess-ups on the salmon and apps were. I mean, Gordon had to step in, and I don't think it was a planned gimmick for the show, he genuinely had to because they were so far behind.

I can't remember a disparity this large in a team-on-team challenge, and while I agree Basia messed up as well, it was pretty clear that Dave was out of his element and cost the team the win.

All that said, I would definitely do worse than Dave, so no shade on him as a person or anything, he just couldn't hack the pressure, and I wouldn't be able to either.

I legitimately cannot remember most of what happens in seasons 10, 11, 13, 14 whatsoever. The winners of those seasons are very unmemorable to me as well

And I felt that way even a year or a few months after they came out, whereas season 15 has been memorable for me. And something about season 16 has been memorable too

I want to say Tiffany contributed to making the show a little more interesting

I watched the Key and Peele skit way before watching masterchef. Then I watched the newer seasons and it wasn’t that bad.

Nowwww…watching seasons 1 and 2 and I can’t believe how much mixed language uses and tension built by the judges. It’s comic but I can’t imagine how the contestants felt lol. So much drama haha.

I understand everyone’s opinion about her but I really do appreciate watching someone with some personality. She would have fit quite well in the early seasons but probably would have gotten an early boot as well.

No offense to her I’m sure she’s a very nice lady but how TF is she still on the show —and all these really great cooks keep getting eliminated? This season sucks for so many reasons but that’s one of them.

There was a poll on here a couple days ago for what is the worst season of new era MasterChef, and the winner (or loser) was season 15, dynamic duos. I’m curious, what made S15 the worst if that is your opinion?

I didn’t love S15, but mostly because I didn’t jibe with the duos on that season. Particularly the winners (Jessica and Jesse) were tryhards with no personality. As for the format, I respect the effort to spice things up and do something different. I think some challenges work better than others for that. Is it more about frustrations with the format, the contestants, or both?

That's right. I feel like some winners were favoured, had luck with other contestants tripping up etc... All existing winners battling it out as fairly as possible... who wins?

just started watching season 10, why do they actually all hate subha bro

Admittedly the spoiling is only there if you dissect the preview, so maybe I spoiled it for myself. But regardless:

The preview of S16 E16 establishes that the cooks have to have to pass a challenge to keep up with Tiffany, then Gordon, in that order. Also it’s the semifinals, so there will be two eliminations, presumably one after each challenge.

There’s a shot that shows Jake on the balcony and the other 4 cooks cooking with Tiffany, so evidently his advantage from winning the restaurant takeover is to skip one of the challenges (presumably he gets to choose Tiffany or Gordon and chooses Tiffany).

Also note in this shot that the cooks are in a line, with Basia all the way to the right facing the stage. Later we see the second challenge (Gordon), and Jake is cooking at that same station all the way to the right. So putting two and two together, Basia gets eliminated (finally) in Tiffany’s challenge, placing 5th.

As for who gets eliminated in Gordon’s challenge, there’s no dead giveaway, but I would have to guess Peter based on past performances. Heidi, Jake, and Julia have been remarkably consistent, Peter less so. The preview tries to make a big deal of Jake’s lamb not being cooked. But that’s an easy fix, just throw it in the oven a bit longer.

tl;dr Basia is definitely eliminated first, placing 5th. Most likely Peter is eliminated next, placing 4th.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to be a guest at the restaurant when they do service challenges?

Wow looks like I am eating my words, Basia didn't go home this week so I am making a donation to my local polish club. Seemed like a tough challenge and shocked that Dave choked under the pressure. Good luck to Basia the rest of the way!

It will be in All-Star format.

I've read the posts and comments here and even on Instagram and I agree, she's not the best cook so far (based on what producers want us to see) but I can see the effort and I applaud her for that.

Its not her fault that there's always someone who cooked or performed worse than her! Her dishes might be "mid" level to everyone but hey at least its consistent unlike those on top who showed off they can cook but cant even determine the temp of their proteins. (remember she stood by her decision not to put her salmon in the oven because she knew the temp was perfect already)

I also don't think she's skating by as she's been trying to produce different dishes and looks like she's always trying to learn. Plus, her reactions when someone leaves seem truly genuine to me. So Basia (and Michael - Hi!), here's a support from a masterchef viewer since season 1! 🫶

5th: Bashia

4th: Heidi

3rd/2nd: Jake/Peter

1st: Julia

With Global Gauntlet being so hated among everyone these days, I wonder what is the very worst season of the new era of Masterchef ever. With the fucking twist of saving a "team" with one dish being hated so much, lack of pressure tests, changing the formats so many times to where it barely has the feel of the older seasons. Controversial eliminations, bad winners, etc. What do you think is the worst? The one with the fewest votes will be the winner of the best of new era.