MasterChef: Top 4 compete

September 10, 2014 10:37 AM - Season 5, Episode 17

It's down to four, and the penultimate episode begins with a "battle of the sexes" competition.

In the first round, teams were challenged to cook a meal in the spirit of one of their team members' home state. Neither team hit it out of the park. The box of ingredients they didn't choose for the first round ended up being the basis for the second round, in which Cutter was sent home.

posted by jbickers (3 comments total)

I'm calling it for Leslie at this point. I made the comment while we were watching it that this show (like most reality shows, likely) is analogous to wrestling in how character arcs are built and turned. Leslie's been the villain all along, he's going to be spun into the likable good guy next week.

Also, one of the prizes you get for winning is a cookbook deal, and I can't imagine either of the other two making for a compelling cookbook.
posted by jbickers at 10:54 AM on September 10, 2014

I can't imagine buying any MasterChef cookbook so what do I know, but if Courtney decided to use her previous career as an angle then I could see her cookbook getting sales. It's more substantive than what the other two bring to the table, which is just another reality-contestant-publishes-relevant-book.

Leslie's villainhood (and/or villainy) is why this second elimination lacked drama. Fox is usually pretty good about shoehorning compelling characters into finale episodes, so you knew he'd survive. Top Chef, by contrast, really does seem to be about who cooks the best food. The difference in approach is why I was a little mystified when Fox ran a kids season of MasterChef. It seemed like just a feel-good vanilla show, à la Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. That's fine but it ain't what Fox does.
posted by cribcage at 12:04 PM on September 10, 2014

This was the first episode I've watched, and I expected Leslie to win but not because of character arcs (which I'm not privy to). He seemed to have an obvious upper hand with the California box. I consider myself a skilled home cook, but I never dealt with uni and I too would have a risotto freak out moment. Plus Cutter was missing like half a finger by that point.

I'm really surprised that neither of them did better with the chicken. It seems like the type of cook who ends up on Masterchef would be great at cooking chicken.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:18 AM on September 11, 2014