MasterChef Episode 6

After a great episode last week with the first Mystery Box Challenge, it was time for the first Team Challenge of the season! I will be honest with you all, I am not the biggest fan of Team Challenges on the show, as they show even less cooking than regular challenges, and it mostly just consists of a lot of yelling and a lot of mistakes being made with there somehow being a winner at the end of it. 

For this challenge, the contestants arrived at a pier where they were going to be feeding 101 fishermen and women and their families. Since Rachel and Julio won the challenge last week, they had a big advantage, which was that they could now select all of their teammates. They chose the four teams that had already landed in the top for the first two challenges to make up the rest of their team, while the other five teams made up the other team. After that, each team had to nominate the duo that they wanted to be the captains of their team. For the Red Team, they chose Rachel and Julio to be their captains, while the Blue Team chose Timothy and Athena to be their captains.

After that, the teams had to decide on what they were making, start making it, and have a sample plate ready for the judges 30 minutes before service began. Unfortunately, as is often shockingly the case on MasterChef whenever there is a challenge outside, it started raining very hard. I genuinely wonder if the judges never check the weather when they have an outdoor challenge, because if they don’t, they should, or if they do check the weather and see that it’s going to rain hard and go forward with the outdoor challenge anyway. 

The Red Team faced some challenges right away, as the judges questioned their idea to cook the fish on an outdoor grill, after which they pivoted to deciding to batter and fry it. After the time had passed, they presented their dish to the judges, which was Battered Cod Tacos with Roasted Corn Salsa, Avocado Crema, Pickled Onions, Smokey Beans, and Green Salsa, which is a dish that I would be willing to give a try. The judges had several problems with the dish, such as the fish lacking proper seasoning, the sauce being too sweet, the smoky and sweet flavors not working together, and the balance needing improvement. 

The Blue Team also faced some challenges early on, as Gordon Ramsay criticized their decision to make sweet potato fries, saying that it would be a nightmare to get them right on a consistent basis. They quickly decided after that to instead make chips, and a little later, they had a completed dish ready for the judges. Their dish was a Pan-Seared Bass Sandwich with Tomatoes & Onions, Tartar Sauce, Citrus Slaw, and Fried Sweet Potato Chips. The judges weren’t as harsh towards their dish as they were towards the Red Team’s dish, as they did acknowledge that the fish was perfectly cooked, but they still had several criticisms, as the sweet potato chips were a soft and greasy mess, and the sandwich itself had very little texture, so Joe suggested that they add fried onion rings to the sandwich.

Once it was time to start serving, things got even crazier, as both teams were making countless mistakes, the rain was getting even crazier, and all the fishermen and women in Australia that were interviewed all spoke with American accents. The Blue Team was struggling most of all, as Ryan Kate was struggling at the fish station, then got moved to the chips where she struggled more as they were coming out soggy, and then she ended up fainting due to the stress and the rain. She was fine though, even asking if she still needed to help with the chips as soon as she got back up. 

After such an excruciating challenge, it was finally over and it was time for all the fishermen and women to vote on which dish they preferred. The winning team was then revealed to be the Red Team, which did not surprise me, as I felt that the Blue Team had made so many mistakes that they were going to lose the challenge. The judges reinforced that with their comments after the decision was made, saying that they had soggy chips, bland coleslaw, and they also said that the concept of the sandwich was flawed from the start. 

Overall, this was another very good episode of Season 15 of MasterChef, and I’ll see you all in two weeks when the teams have to make a dessert in the first Pressure Test of the season!