MasterChef (Season 3)

MasterChef (Season 3) (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Season 3 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef had a two-night premiere on Fox on June 4 and 5, 2012. By the third episode, which aired on June 11, 2012, the judges had tasted all 100 dishes and given white MasterChef aprons to 36 contestants. In the same episode, the judges cut that number down to 18 contestants. The season concluded on September 10, 2012 with the first blind contestant Christine Ha winning the MasterChef title.

Top 18

Contestant	Age	Hometown	Occupation	Status
Christine Ha	32	Houston, Texas	M.F.A. Student
Josh Marks	24	Jackson, Mississippi	U.S. Army Contract Specialist	Returned Eliminated
Becky Reams	27	Stilwell, Kansas	Food Photographer
Frank Mirando	28	Holbrook, New York	Stockbroker	Eliminated 28 August
Monti Carlo	36	Los Angeles, California	Homemaker	Eliminated 21 August
David Martinez	32	Chicago, Illinois	Educational Administrator	Eliminated 14 August
	24	Hollywood, California	Food Runner	Eliminated 24 July
Stacey Amagrande	29	Apple Valley, California	Market Manager	Eliminated 17 July
Tali Clavijo	29	Chicago, Illinois	Musician	Eliminated 9 July
Tanya Noble	21	Austin, Texas	Sociology Student	Eliminated 3 July
Mike Hill	40		Contractor	Eliminated 3 July
Anna Rossi	28	Boston, Massachusetts		Eliminated 2 July
Scott Little	38	Annandale, Virginia	Interactive Producer	Eliminated 26 June
Ryan Umane	26	New York, New York	Unemployed	Eliminated 25 June
Helene Leeds	35	Baldwin, Maryland	Health Coach	Eliminated 19 June
Michael Chen	19	Austin, Texas	Meteorology Student	Eliminated 18 June
Dave Mack	27	Davie, Florida	Food Sales Operator	Eliminated 12 June
	27	Miami, Florida	Design Consultant	Eliminated 12 June

Elimination table

Place	Contestant	Episode
Place	Contestant	3	4		5	6		7	8		9	10		11		12	13		14	15		16	17		18	19		20
1	Christine	Top 18	IN	IN	PT	HIGH	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	LOW	IN	HIGH	IN	WIN	HIGH	WIN	WIN	WIN	IN	WINNER
2	Josh	Top 18	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	PT	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	HIGH	IN	ELIM			BACK	IN	LOW	PT	WIN	LOW	PT	IN	IN
3	Becky		IN	IN	WIN	HIGH	IN	WIN	HIGH	LOW	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	LOW	HIGH	IN	IN	HIGH	WIN	WIN	IN	LOW	WIN	LOW	ELIM
4	Frank	Top 18	IN	WIN	PT	IN	LOW	NPT	HIGH	IN	WIN	HIGH	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	WIN	IMM	IN	IN	WIN	NPT	IN	IN	ELIM
5	Monti	Top 18	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	NPT	IN	IN	PT	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	PT	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	HIGH	ELIM
6	David	Top 18	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	NPT	IN	IN	PT	IN	LOW	IN	LOW	WIN	HIGH	IN	IN	WIN	LOW	ELIM
7	Felix	Top 18	WIN	IMM	PT	IN	IN	WIN	IN	LOW	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	NPT	IN	WIN	IN	IN	ELIM
8	Stacey	Top 18	IN	IN	NPT	IN	IN	WIN	IN	WIN	WIN	IN	IN	HIGH	IN	WIN	IN	ELIM
9	Tali	Top 18	IN	LOW	PT	IN	LOW	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	ELIM
10	Tanya	Top 18	IN	IN	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	LOW	IN	ELIM
11	Mike	Top 18	IN	IN	WIN	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	IN	IN	HIGH	ELIM
12	Anna	Top 18	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	PT	IN	IN	ELIM
13	Scott	Top 18	LOW	IN	LOW	IN	IN	WIN	IN	ELIM
14	Ryan	Top 18	LOW	IN	WIN	WIN	IMM	ELIM
15	Helene	Top 18	IN	LOW	WIN	IN	ELIM
16	Michael	Top 18	IN	IN	ELIM
17	Dave	Top 18	IN	ELIM
18	Samantha	Top 18	ELIM

{{colorbox}} (WINNER) This cook won the competition.

{{colorbox}} (RUNNER-UP) This cook finished in second place.

{{colorbox}} (Top 18) The cook won a place in the Top 18.

{{colorbox}} (WIN) The cook won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Elimination Test).

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

{{colorbox}} (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge, but did not win.

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

{{colorbox}} (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in a team challenge.

{{colorbox}} (IMM) The cook won the Mystery Box Challenge and did not have to compete in the Elimination Test.

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

{{colorbox}} (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, but was exempted from the Pressure Test

{{colorbox}} (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.

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

{{colorbox}} (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from MasterChef.

Episodes

Ep #	Original airdate	Episode Title / Event
1	Monday June 4, 2012	Audition 1
2	Tuesday June 5, 2012	Audition 2
3	Monday June 11, 2012	Audition 3 and Top 36 Boot Camp - The episode began with the final auditions for the home cooks. Afterward, the top thirty-six contestants were each tasked with cooking a ground beef dish. When time was up and all the dishes were inspected, the contestants were divided into three groups of twelve; two of the groups were called forward, with the third group remaining at their stations. Of the two groups called forward, one was eliminated, while the other, consisting of Becky, Felix, Frank, Helene, Josh, Michael, Mike, Ryan, Samantha, Scott, Stacey, and Tali, was advanced straight to the MasterChef Kitchen. After the judges reexamined the dishes of the third group, they selected Anna, Christine, Dave, David, Monti, and Tanya to also move on in the competition while the other six were eliminated.
4		Mystery Box Challenge 1 - The top eighteen contestants had to test their creativity when they found a duck breast, among other ingredients, in their Mystery Boxes. When time was up, Ryan, Samantha, and Scott were called forward for having cooked dishes that "stood out". However, they got an unpleasant surprise when they learned that their dishes had actually been deemed the worst three of the group. The judges then announced that they had revised the rules; now, anyone could be eliminated at any time during the competition. After sampling the dishes of the bottom three, the judges ultimately decided that Samantha, having served raw duck with a dry eggplant napoleon, had cooked the worst dish of all, and thus she became the first of the top eighteen to be eliminated. Felix was then declared the winner of the challenge, with the judges calling her Chinese Five Spice seared duck "restaurant quality". Elimination Test 1 - The judges led an amazed Felix into the MasterChef pantry where she got to choose the subject for the first Elimination Test, the theme being the judges' most intimidating dishes. The three choices were Joe's Italian risotto, Graham's New England Clam Chowder, or Gordon's "notorious" Beef Wellington. Felix chose the risotto. The judges surprised Felix when they revealed that, as the winner of the Mystery Box Challenge, she was safe from elimination and therefore did not have to compete in the Elimination Test. After sampling all the risottos, the judges decided that David and Frank had cooked the best dishes, and the two were drafted as team captains for the next challenge. Ryan and Scott, the two surviving members of the bottom three from the previous challenge, were also singled out for praise for bouncing back and serving very good risottos. The bottom three were Dave for having "too much sand" in his dish because he did not wash his mushrooms, Helene for undercooking her risotto and for making cutesy scallop baskets that the judges considered strange and unprofessional, and Tali for "not even knowing what a risotto is" because he had put cranberries and other unusual seasonings into his risotto. The judges ultimately decided that Dave had the worst dish and he was eliminated.
5	Monday June 18, 2012	Team Challenge 1 - For the first Team Challenge, the remaining sixteen contestants were tasked with feeding an army of two hundred and one Marines. David and Frank, having been appointed as captains for cooking the two best dishes in the previous challenge, divided the group into two teams: in order, David chose Becky, Josh, Mike, Helene, Ryan, Anna, and Monti for the Red Team, and Frank chose Felix, Scott, Stacey, Tali, Tanya, Michael, and Christine for the Blue Team. David decided to serve barbecue pork chops with cole slaw and potatoes, while Frank settled on grilled chicken and pasta salad, despite Felix's misgivings. She wanted to serve barbecue chicken with macaroni and cheese instead. Each Marine would vote for the entrée that he or she preferred, and the team with the most votes would win the challenge. Both teams ran into problems, with the Red Team undercooking pork chops and running out of potatoes, and Michael grilling unseasoned mushrooms for the Blue Team. In the end, the Red Team managed to eke out a victory, with just sixteen more Marines preferring their barbecue pork chops over the Blue Team's grilled chicken and pasta. Pressure Test 1 - For winning the Team Challenge, all the members of the Red Team were safe from elimination and therefore did not have to compete in the Pressure Test. As the leader of the Blue Team, Frank was given the option of exempting one member of his team from the Pressure Test. Taking responsibility for his team's loss due to his menu choices, Frank refused to exempt himself. Feeling that Felix's idea to serve barbecue instead of pasta to the Marines would have worked better for his team, Frank offered the exemption to her, but she turned it down. Frank then moved on to Scott, who declined it as well. Finally, Stacey begrudgingly took the exemption when Frank offered it to her next. The remaining members of the Blue Team were then each tasked with baking an apple pie. Christine in particular was worried, as she felt diffident in her baking abilities. After the judges sampled all the pies, Christine, Felix, Frank, and Tali were all declared safe, with Christine and Frank, in spite of her lack of confidence and him having never made apple pie before, receiving special praise for having baked the best pies. The bottom three were Michael for his risky idea to bake cheddar cheese on top of his pie crust and for his overall poor execution with his pie filling, Scott for his pie crust that even he himself described as "a disaster" due to the fact that his butter had melted and the top was severely burnt, and Tanya for her pie's undercooked, over-seasoned, and over-garnished filling. Tanya was next deemed safe as the judges decided that her pie was the best of the worst, leaving Michael and Scott facing elimination. Ultimately, the judges decided that Michael had baked the worst pie and he was eliminated. However, Scott was told that he was on his last chance, and would be eliminated if he finished in the bottom again in any future challenge.
6	Tuesday June 19, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 2 - For the second Mystery Box Challenge, the remaining fifteen contestants each had to create a dish using unappetizing-looking offal. When time was up, the top three dishes were announced: Becky's sweetbread duo, Christine's panko fried sweetbreads, and Ryan's sweetbreads with potato. The judges stated that each of the three dishes were worthy of being served in any of their restaurants. After sampling each of the top three dishes, the judges declared Ryan the winner, describing his sweetbreads as "perfectly cooked with beautiful plating" much to majority of the contestants dismay. Elimination Test 2 - Along with immunity from the upcoming Elimination Test, Ryan was rewarded with two other advantages. First, he was able to determine which item the home cooks had to cook: ahi tuna, ham, or Dungeness crab, of which he chose the crab. The judges then surprised Ryan by telling him that he would also get to decide on who would be cooking with live crab and who would be using canned crab. Ryan chose to give the live crab to Christine, David, Helene, Mike, Scott, Tali, and Tanya, while Anna, Becky, Felix, Frank, Josh, Monti, and Stacey received the canned crab. As he had planned, Ryan's choices flustered many of the contestants " Christine and Monti in particular. During the cooking, Christine had initial difficulty boiling her live crab and then extracting the crab meat from the shell, (as she is blind), which resulted in her receiving a cut on her hand. When time was up, the judges sampled all the dishes and decided that Christine's ceviche cocktail and Josh's Thai crab trio were the best, and the two were selected as team captains for the next Team Challenge. Gordon even forced Ryan to taste Christine's dish, as she had been one of the contestants that Ryan had purposely set up to fail. Monti, another cook that Ryan had attempted to sabotage, by giving her canned crab, was also singled out for praise for her excellent dish of Scotch egg with a crab meat shell. Ironically, Ryan had assigned his "accomplice" Tali live crab with the hope that Tali could use it to create a great dish, and thus ensure Tali's safety; instead, Tali cooked a downright bizarre dish that the judges chastised him for. Four bottom contestants were chosen this time due to the judge's disappointment in contestants who had ruined their live crab dishes, making them taste as if they were canned crab. The bottom four included Frank, for cooking an underwhelming dish of yet more pasta; Helene and Mike, for serving boring, bland dishes; and Tali, for his aforementioned absurd dish. Frank was singled out for criticism, with the judges feeling that he had already reached the limits of his abilities due to constantly cooking Italian-style dishes, and had no future in the competition; however, his and Mike's dishes were deemed to be at least better than Helene's and Tali's, who were left facing elimination. The judges ultimately decided that Helene had the worst dish and she was eliminated.
7	Monday June 25, 2012	Team Challenge 2 - For the second Team Challenge, the remaining fourteen contestants had to get up very early and cook breakfast room service for an entire hotel. For cooking the top two dishes in the previous challenge, Christine and Josh were appointed Team Captains. They divided the remaining contestants into the Red Team and the Blue team. Christine chose the following to be on the Red Team: Felix, Scott, Tanya, Mike, Stacey, and Ryan. Josh chose the following to be on the Blue Team: Becky, Frank, Anna, Monti, David, and Tali. When Christine had to choose between the last two remaining contestants, she expressed that she didn't want Ryan or Tali on her team. The judges surprised Christine by announcing that as the winner of the previous challenge, she could swap out one member of her team with one from the Blue Team. Christine relinquished Ryan, whom she disliked, exchanging him for Becky, whom Christine perceived as the Blue Team's strongest cook. The judges then announced that each team had to choose an expeditor to oversee the food carts. Christine chose Felix as the Red Team's expeditor while Josh selected Monti as the Blue Team's. Josh immediately took charge of the Blue Team and started assigning roles while the Red Team worked it out democratically and decided who should do what. The teams each had ninety minutes for prep and ninety minutes to serve. Both teams got into a rough start with the Blue Team scorching their bacon and not cooking their spinach, while the Red Team didn't portion the hollandaise sauce correctly. Meanwhile, both expediters had their own troubles; Monti struggled with keeping the Blue Team on track while Felix didn't communicate at all with the rest of the Red Team and got behind on orders. Christine took charge and made sure her team did everything that needed to be done, which was praised by the judges and the hotel guests. The Blue Team's quality of their food was slipping with inadequate amounts of fruit on plates, undercooked eggs, and a customer complaint about a hair in their food. The Red Team continued rising to the occasion with Felix putting orders out at a steady pace and communicating, while the Blue Team became locked in a power struggle between Josh and Monti. When time was up, Felix didn't hear the announcement and continued trying to send food out, which Gordon scolded her for. In the end, the judges announced that, with 60% of the guest preference vote, the Red Team had won the challenge. Pressure Test 2 - For winning the Team Challenge, all of the members on the Red Team were safe from elimination. The judges also rewarded David, Frank, and Monti for their standout performances in the Team Challenge by exempting them from the Pressure Test. The remaining four members of the Blue Team were then each tasked with baking a molten lava cake, only having four chances to get it right. Tali presented his final product first, followed by Anna and Josh. With only forty-five seconds remaining in the competition, Ryan hurriedly took his cake out of the oven and attempted to plate it. When he did, the entire cake collapsed. After being complimented on their excellent cakes, Anna and Josh were declared safe, leaving "partners in crime" Ryan and Tali facing elimination. The judges said that Tali's cake tasted bland and floury, but it was structurally sound, while Ryan's cake was tasty but had completely fallen apart. Gordon then commented that the person who had baked the worst cake "knew it" and asked for that individual to step down with integrity. Eventually, Ryan conceded that he had done the worst, having produced a disintegrated cake, and accepted his elimination.
8	Tuesday June 26, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 3 - For the third mystery box challenge, the remaining thirteen contestants found a T-bone steak among other ingredients inside their mystery boxes. When time was up, the judges called up Becky, Frank, and Tanya. Becky separated herself from the group and made a caramelized peach. Frank went out of his Italian comfort zone by making a grilled T-bone steak. A surprised Tanya presented her tarragon T-bone steak. After tasting each dish, the judges declared Tanya the winner. Elimination Test 3 - The theme for this Elimination Test was "the judges' favorite desserts": Joe's tiramisu, Graham's strawberry shortcake, and Gordon's British trifle. The judges surprised Tanya with a huge advantage; along with immunity from elimination, she got to choose who was to make which dessert. The judges announced that they would select the worst dessert from each category to be up for elimination. Tanya gave the trifle to Becky, Josh, Monti, and Stacey; strawberry shortcake to Christine, Mike, Scott, and Tali; and tiramisu to Anna, David, Felix, and Frank. David and Monti had problems from the beginning with David turning his mascarpone into "tasting like cream cheese" and Monti forgetting elements in her trifle and later lighting her cream on fire, though Gordon still felt that her trifle tasted good overall. The judges noticed some problems with Felix's freeform tiramisu, Scott overworking his dough, and Mike overdecorating his strawberry shortcake. Christine inexplicably ignored the brief and presented a mixed berry shortcake which Gordon thought tasted very good, but wasn't what they had asked for. In the end, the judges praised Frank on his tiramisu, Stacey for standing out with her Italian trifle, and Tali on his strawberry shortcake (though it was noted that Christine's would have been the best if not for her inappropriate berry selection). The judges declared Stacey as the winner for "taking a risk and making it work". The judges then called up the three worst desserts: Becky, for her trifle that the judges described as having "many dissonant flavors"; Felix, for her messy plating and putting macadamia nuts in her tiramisu; and Scott, having produced a bland, dense strawberry shortcake from overworking the dough. The judges decided that Becky's dessert was the best of the worst and declared her safe, leaving Felix and Scott facing elimination. For a moment, it seemed as if the judges might eliminate Felix. Ultimately, though, the judges followed through on their previous threat to eliminate Scott since he finished in the bottom of a challenge again.
9	Monday July 2, 2012	Team Challenge 3 - In a first for the series, this challenge consisted of three teams - Red, Yellow, and Blue. For winning the previous Elimination Test, Stacey was given the task of forming the teams. Stacey led the Red Team herself, selecting Tali, Frank, and Becky as her brigade. Aiming to get Monti eliminated, Stacey placed her on the Yellow Team with David, knowing that the two disliked each other; Stacey's hope was that Monti and David's inability to get along would cause the Yellow Team to lose. Stacey then selected Anna and Tanya to join Monti and David on the Yellow Team, leaving Christine, Felix, Josh, and Mike as the Blue Team by default. The Yellow Team elected Anna as their leader, and Josh volunteered to lead the Blue Team. The teams' task was to each operate a food truck at Venice Beach, with the Red Team selling Mexican cuisine, the Yellow Team selling American cuisine, and the Blue Team selling Indian cuisine. All profits from the challenge would go to charity. The team that earned the least amount of money would face the Pressure Test. The Blue Team worked harmoniously throughout the challenge, producing a chicken tikka masala. Despite some initial disagreements over their menu, the Red Team also performed well, producing tacos. Stacey managed to attract more customers to the Red Team's truck by soliciting at a nearby skate park. The Yellow Team, producing beef sliders, was severely hampered by David working slowly in prep, and then undercooking multiple patties. All the while, Anna was proving to be a weak leader. In the end, the Red Team finished well out in front, with the Blue Team claiming second place, leaving the four members of the last place Yellow Team to face the Pressure Test. Afterward, the three women on the Yellow Team turned on David, blaming him for their failure, while David himself pointed the finger at Anna, citing her poor leadership. Pressure Test 3 - The task was for each of the Yellow Team members to make their own tortellinis from scratch. Tanya nearly gave up during the course of the test, feeling overwhelmed and out of her depth, which resulted in Graham having to give her a pep-talk. Anna fared little better, making a number of serious mistakes such as using a food blender to prepare her dough, puncturing each of her tortellinis to let out their air (which only served to make the filling soggy), and then not noticing that she had forgotten to switch her stove on, resulting in her pasta being severely undercooked. Despite David's lack of confidence in working the pasta due to his "fat fingers", along with the women actively hoping he would fail, he ended up producing the best-looking tortellinis out of the four, and the taste was good enough to secure him from elimination. Monti's tortellinis were also good enough to ensure her safety, much to Stacey's dismay. This left Anna and Tanya as the bottom two, and Anna was eventually eliminated for serving raw pasta.
10	Tuesday July 3, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 4 - In this Mystery Box Challenge, the remaining eleven contestants were tasked with cooking a rabbit dish. Furthermore, Graham Elliot cooked alongside the contestants to show them what a true professional chef would make with the mystery box ingredients. In the end, all the contestants were called down to look at Graham's dish of rabbit five ways with a fennel panna cotta. The judges then announced the three best dishes: Becky with her braised leg of rabbit, Frank with his rabbit two ways, and Mike with his leg of rabbit. After the judges tasted each of the top three dishes, they declared Becky the winner. Elimination Test 4 - "Tools of the trade" was the theme for this Elimination Test. Unlike the previous Mystery Box Challenge winners, Becky was not granted immunity from elimination. Instead, she was able to choose which piece of equipment she would use to cook her dish and what her competitors would work with. The choices were a deep fryer, a wok, or a pizza stone. Becky chose the deep fryer for herself and the pizza stone for everyone else. Ultimately, despite all her troubles preparing her dish, Monti rebounded and was declared the winner with her roasted carrot soup with Irish soda bread. Becky's shrimp tempura with curry sauce and yuca chips, and Christine's Indian flatbread with chicken and fried egg received special recognition as well. The bottom three were David for his muddled dish of smoked lobster that was so bad that Joe threw it away; Mike for his dry oven-roasted lobster that Gordon described as "[Mike's] worst performance"; and Tanya for serving raw flatbread, raw eggplant, and raw garlic cloves with her dry lamb cutlets, which Joe called "disrespectful". Tali, while not in the bottom three, was also chastised, for his leaving his workstation a mess and for producing an underwhelming three cheese pizza on a bed of raw flour. The judges eventually decided that Mike had the worst dish and he was eliminated. Once Mike left the kitchen, the judges congratulated the remaining contestants for making the top ten. However, the judges then made a shocking announcement that they were going to immediately eliminate a second person. In the end, the judges decided that Tanya's dish was worse than David's, and thus she was also eliminated.
11	Monday July 9, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 5 - The remaining nine contestants were each tasked with creating a dish using the corals (gonads) of a live sea urchin, or uni. After a demonstration from Gordon on how to humanely dispatch an uni and properly remove its corals, the contestants were given sixty minutes to prepare their dishes. When time was up, the judges announced the top three: Felix with her uni and pea risotto, Josh with his handmade noodles with rock shrimp and uni cream sauce, and Stacey with her rock shrimp sushi with uni aioli. Ultimately, the judges declared Felix the winner. Elimination Test 5 - Felix was presented with nine different types of fish. For winning the Mystery Box Challenge, she was able to decide who was to cook which fish. With no immunity from elimination, Felix selected the California halibut for herself, wanting a challenge. She then chose the "rock fish" for Becky, the salmon for Christine, the yellowtail for David, the catfish for Frank, the sardines for Josh, the John Dory for Monti, the striped bass for Stacey, and the Arctic char for Tali. Ironically, Becky, Frank, and Monti, the three cooks who Felix had targeted for elimination by assigning them the most difficult fish to work with, produced the best dishes: fried "rock fish" with celery root puree and Chardonnay sauce, fried catfish with eggplant and coconut leek sauce, and a filet of John Dory with baby asparagus and roasted almond sauce, respectively. Frank and Monti were declared the top two, and became the team captains for the next Team Challenge. Meanwhile, Christine, David, and Tali, the cooks who Felix wanted to protect by giving them the easiest fish to work with, ended up as the bottom three. Christine served a dish of overcooked salmon with an undercooked coating of panko. David's yellowtail was undercooked to the point of having a still-frozen center, with Joe describing the entire dish as being "overcomplicated". Once again, Tali got too creative, this time presenting an odd dish of Arctic char with bacon and lentils, which the judges chastised him for. Felix herself also performed poorly with her underwhelming halibut dish. The judges decided that Christine's dish was the best of the worst and declared her safe, leaving David and Tali facing elimination. Fed up with his tendency to create bizarre dishes, the judges eliminated Tali.
12	Monday July 16, 2012	Team Challenge 4 - The remaining eight contestants were tasked with feeding one hundred and one cowboys and cowgirls. For cooking the best two dishes in the previous Elimination Test, Frank and Monti were the captains of the challenge and formed their teams. Frank, the captain of the Red Team, chose Becky, Josh, and Felix. Monti, the captain of the Blue Team, selected Stacey, David, and Christine. However, the judges then shocked the contestants with a twist: with Gordon stating that "great leaders can work with anyone - even those who they don't have confidence in", Frank and Monti were forced to switch teams. Monti came up with the Red Team's dish - rib eye steak with sweet potato mash and green beans - by herself, while Frank and his team came to a consensus on cooking a New York strip steak with barbecue sauce, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and garlic mashed potatoes. Each cowboy and cowgirl would vote for the "grub" that he or she preferred, and the first team to fifty-one votes would win the challenge. The diners raved over Stacey's barbecue sauce, while Monti severely underestimated the amount of sweet potato mash required, resulting in the Blue Team taking a huge early lead. The Red Team started making a comeback after Monti made more mash and Frank kept overcooking the Blue Team's steaks, but the Blue Team was able to hang on to their lead and secure the win, sending the Red Team into the Pressure Test. Pressure Test 4 - Prior to the start of the Pressure Test the judges announced that one contestant would be permitted to sit out, and asked the team to come to a consensus on who it should be. The decision effectively fell to Monti after her three teammates all voted for themselves, and she selected Felix. This Pressure Test revolved around cooking eggs four different ways at once, with the three remaining contestants required to cook a three egg omelet, a sunny-side up egg, a poached egg and a soft-boiled egg in twenty minutes. Monti's sunny-side up egg was slightly undercooked, but her other three eggs were cooked and seasoned to perfection. Becky got good comments for her omelet and poached egg, but her fried egg was overcooked and her boiled egg was mostly raw. Despite the judges' initial confidence in Josh, his four dishes went disastrously wrong; his sunny-side up egg was cooked correctly but under-seasoned, his omelet was flat and tasteless, his poached egg was overcooked, and his boiled egg was even more undercooked than Becky's. Monti was quickly deemed safe, and despite the judges' dismay at Becky's elementary mistakes with regard to her soft-boiled and sunny-side up eggs, Josh was eliminated for turning in what was clearly the weakest performance of the three. Before Josh left, Gordon implied that he would be willing to employ him in the future.
13	Tuesday July 17, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 6 - The remaining seven contestants entered the MasterChef kitchen to find a huge mystery box, inside of which was Paula Deen, whom would serve as a guest judge. For this Mystery Box Challenge, the contestants would be working with ingredients for southern cuisine. The contestants also each received a picture and a letter from their love ones. At the end of the usual sixty minutes of cooking, the three best dishes chosen were Becky's oven-roasted chicken, Frank's chicken roulade, and David's pan-roasted chicken. After sampling the top three dishes, the judges and Paula declared Frank the winner. Elimination Test 6 - Frank was shown a beautiful sampler of Japanese cuisine, consisting of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and shrimp sushi, California rolls, and vegetable tempura. After awarding Frank with immunity from elimination, the judges revealed to him that the other six contestants would be divided into three "tag teams", each tasked with replicating the sampler; one team member would cook while the other would direct, and the two would swap roles every fifteen minutes until the challenge was over. In addition to his immunity, Frank was able to form the teams. Hoping to get rid of Becky, Frank paired her with David, whom Frank felt was a weak cook and would cause Becky to fail. Frank also wanted to create discord with Felix and Monti by pairing them together, believing that the two women didn't get along, though unbeknownst to Frank the two in fact now got along quite well in the wake of Monti exempting Felix from the last Pressure Test. By default, Christine and Stacey became the third team. Felix and Monti worked efficiently and harmoniously together, while the other two teams floundered, with Becky and David having severe disagreements over technique, while Christine and especially Stacey became flustered. In the end, Felix and Monti produced an excellent sampler, and were declared the clear winners of the challenge. Becky and David's sampler had uneven cuts on the salmon and tuna with sloppily portioned wasabi. Despite their numerous errors, Becky and David were deemed safe from elimination, as Christine and Stacey's sampler was incomplete, having failed to make any California rolls or tempura on their vegetables. Ultimately, the judges decided that Stacey had performed worse than Christine, and thus Stacey was eliminated.
14	Monday July 23, 2012	Special Mystery Box Challenge - As the episode started, the final six were surprised by being told that they wouldn't have to cook anything this episode, and that instead the previous eight eliminated contestants (Stacey, Josh, Tali, Tanya, Mike, Anna, Scott, and Ryan) would return for a one-off Mystery Box challenge, with the top two getting the opportunity to win back their place in the competition. Furthermore, the returning contestants were told to each pick an ingredient for the mystery box, leading to a rather bizarre selection of ingredients. Ultimately, Tali once again found his dish being deemed the worst, and Scott's, Anna's, and Tanya's dishes were also found to be not good enough to keep them in. While Mike got compliments for moving outside his comfort zone by creating a chocolate flan, and Stacey was also congratulated on the "phenomenal effort" she put into her dish, they too were sent home, leaving Josh and Ryan to advance. Special Pressure Test - Josh and Ryan's task was to each create a fruit tart, which would be sampled by the six contestants still fully in the competition, though they would not be informed who had cooked which tart. Whoever had the best tart would be reinstated. Ryan initially seemed more confident, cooking his pastry base well and working in a calmer overall manner, while Josh spent too long preparing his exotic selection of fruit and had to rush through preparing his pastry. When the finished tarts were delivered to the contestants, they generally preferred Josh's, feeling that despite the rather dry and brittle pastry, he had a far better selection of fruit, while Ryan's selection was much more one-dimensional. This led to Josh scoring a clean sweep, with all six contestants voting for him to return to the competition.
15	Tuesday July 24, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 7 - The final seven were asked to make a dish featuring prawns, which they would have to fish out of an aquarium they each got. Many contestants, especially Monti who splashed Gordon Ramsay, struggled with getting the live animal out of the water. The three best dishes belonged to Becky's Grilled Prawns with Salsa Verde and Saffron Rice, Christine's Asian Spot Prawns in a Pineapple broth, and David's Spot Prawn Ceviche. David's ceviche won the challenge and an advantage in the elimination challenge. Elimination Test 7 - The theme of the elimination challenge was Dessert. However, the three possible ingredients of choice were unconventional savory options; Beets, Corn and Bacon. With consideration, David chose the corn as the ingredient that he, along with the other contestants, would have to cook with to create a dessert dish. Since he was the winner of the mystery box, he received another advantage, he was shown three examples of corn desserts in order to give him ideas. These desserts were a Corn Panna Cotta, a Corn and Strawberry Shortcake, and finally, a Corn Rice Pudding. Seeing these ideas, he immediately decided to create a rice pudding dessert and was given five minutes alone in the pantry. Despite this, he forgot the rice, and when the challenge started he ran around asking the other contestants for rice. Becky graciously gave him some of her short-grain rice she had gotten as back-up. The judges determined the best dish was Becky's Corn Panna Cotta and Popcorn, followed by Frank's Corn Budino with Chocolate Ganache. Monti's Corn Souffle and Christine's Corn and Coconut Pudding were deemed delicious enough to keep them in the competition. The bottom three dishes were David's Pudding, Felix's bizarre Corn Profiteroles, and Josh's fragmented Corn Creme Brulee. Josh was the first of the bottom 3 to be sent back to safety. Finally, despite David being given a serious advantage in this challenge and having his dessert being labelled as 'inedible' by Joe, it was Felix who was sent home.
16	Tuesday August 14, 2012	Team Challenge 5 - The six chefs were brought to LA based restaurant Hatfield's and told that they would be running the kitchen that night, with Gordon expediting. The Red Team was led by Becky with Christine and Monti, and the Blue Team was led by Frank with David and Josh, setting up a "battle of the sexes". Both Gordon and Graham claimed that Christine would be the Red Team's greatest asset, although Joe was far more skeptical, even saying that he would only trust her to handle the coat room. Despite being better organized in prep, the Blue Team had an awful start backing them up for over an hour. On the other hand the Red Team served all their appetizers with only a few setbacks, such as suffering from early hiccups due to communication issues from Christine and Monti. Things improved for the Blue Team as they proceeded onto entrées, the restaurant's owners preferred the Blue Team's entrées since they felt that the Red Team overcooked theirs. The dinner service concluded successfully with both team completing their orders. After returning to the Masterchef kitchen, the judges declared the Red Team the winners, based on the overall feedback. The judges especially praised Becky and Christine (Becky having excellent leadership qualities and Christine working well despite being blind; Joe even apologized to her for doubting her ability). The blue team on other hand was panned for their bad teamwork, especially by Joe who said that if the customer has to wait for food, they become frustrated and don't have a good time. Pressure Test 5 - Prior to the commencement of the Pressure Test, Frank the leader of the Blue Team was given a choice of exempting someone. Frank implied that he would exempt Josh, but chose to save himself. This left a visibly agitated Josh to face the test with David. This Pressure Test revolved around cooking three different kinds of steaks: one rare, one medium-rare, and one well done. Josh received comments for his rare steak which was cooked and seasoned perfectly, while David's rare steak was overcooked and over-seasoned. However the medium-rare steak was won by David who cooked a better-tasting steak, though it was noted both steaks were slightly overcooked. It all came down to the last steak, both were seasoned correctly but neither steak was well done. The judges concluded the test with the victory going to Josh, meaning that David would be eliminated. Before leaving the Masterchef Kitchen, Graham told David that he has been impressed by his progress throughout the competition and extended an offer to work for him at one of his Chicago-based restaurants.
17	Tuesday August 21, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 8 - The five home cooks were each given an empty mystery box and were allowed to fill it with up to fifteen ingredients of their choosing. Before the timer began, Gordon Ramsay stated that a Mystery Box Challenge would never be that easy and asked them to give their ingredients to the chef in front of them. Thus, Christine wound up with Becky's ingredients, Monti ended up with Christine's Asian ingredients, Frank wound up with Monti's dessert box, Josh ended up with Frank's Italian ingredients, and Becky received Josh's southern-cuisine ingredients. After time was up, Becky realized she had forgotten to plate her crispy chicken skin - an essential component of her dish. The three best dishes were those of Josh, Monti, and Christine. Josh won the challenge. Elimination Test 8 - Josh's advantage was to choose which Graham Elliot dish he and the other contestants would have to replicate. The three dishes had been eaten by Oprah, Jay-Z, and Barack Obama. He chose the white-tuna dish eaten by the president and was given a basket containing all the necessary ingredients. Graham Elliot told the contestants that they may improve upon his dish if they deemed it necessary, and Josh chose to do this by adding mango, only to be berated by the judges and accused of arrogance for thinking he could make the dish better than Graham's original. When time was called, Christine was given praise for having been able to perfectly replicate the dish. Frank also got good reviews. The bottom three were Becky, Monti, and Josh. Ultimately, Monti's dish was the worst, and she is eliminated.
18	Tuesday August 28, 2012	Team Challenge 6 - The four home cooks were asked to prepared a three course meal for Graham Elliot, Joe Bastianich, Gordon Ramsey, plus three world renowned chefs Guy Savoy, Daniel Boulud, and Alain Ducasse. The home cooks will be split into teams of two. Since Christine won the challenge last week, she gets to pick her teammate. The Red Team consisted of Christine and Becky. The Blue Team consisted of Josh and Frank once again setting up another "battle of the sexes". The Red team was declared the winning team sending the Blue team to the pressure test. Pressure Test 6 - Frank and Josh battled each other. The men had to make White Cheddar Cheese Soufflé for Gordon, a Raspberry Soufflé for Joe, and a Dark Chocolate Soufflé for Graham in only an hour. Gordon declared the pressure test to be almost impossible to complete. Joe expressed his concern that they may have given the contestants a challenge that was just too difficult. However, both Frank and Josh managed to complete all three of their souffles. Gordon voted for Frank with the best cheese soufflé. For the raspberry soufflé, Joe declared that Josh's was technically perfect. Graham was left with the deciding vote and ultimately went with Josh as having the better dark chocolate soufflé sending Frank home.
19	Tuesday September 4, 2012	Mystery Box Challenge 9 - The final three contestants were each shown a copy of their own cookbook, which they could potentially win along with the title of MasterChef. For the final Mystery Box Challenge of the season, the chefs were allowed to cook whatever they pleased, the only restriction being that they had an hour to cook it in. Christine's vermicelli stir-fry was named as the winning dish, with Josh's curried Cornish hen also getting good reviews. On the other hand, Becky's loup de mer soup was panned by all three judges, who expressed disappointment that she had turned in yet another poor performance, with Gordon even predicting that Becky would be the next person to be sent home. Elimination Test 9 - This test revolved around cooking one of three legs of meat - chicken, lamb or frog. Christine got the first pick and took the chicken legs; the second pick went to Josh, and he chose the lamb legs, leaving Becky with frog's legs. Before the final three started cooking, they were surprised by having all the contestants from this season greet them in the MasterChef kitchen. The judges were impressed by the southern fried chicken legs that Christine served up, though felt that she used far too much cream in her kale side dish. Josh blew the judges away with his lamb carimañolas, which they didn't think he'd be able to cook in the amount of time he had, though they did feel that the lamb was cut too coarsely. Despite the dire predictions of the judges and even Becky herself, she impressed them with her garlic infused frog's legs, though the judges strongly disliked the mushy, overcooked and over-flavored potatoes she served with them. The judges ultimately agreed that Josh's dish was the best, sending him into the final. That left Christine and Becky, and the judges deemed Becky's potatoes to have fatally undermined her dish, resulting in her elimination and Christine proceeding to the final. However, Gordon was impressed enough by Becky's skill that he offered her a job if she ever wanted to work at one of his restaurants.
20	Monday September 10, 2012	Season Final - Christine and Josh faced off in a single challenge to determine who wins the title of MasterChef and $250,000. They were given 2 hours to create a three-course menu of their choosing. Appetizer: Josh is Butter Poached Lobster with Grits and Sweet Potato Purée; Christine is Thai Papaya Salad with Crab and Mixed Vegetables Entree: Josh is Rack of Lamb with Green Curry Sauce, Spring Peas and Carrots; Christine is Braised Pork Belly with Rice, Crispy Kale and Mitake Mushrooms Dessert: Josh is Bacon Crusted Pecan Pie with Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Ice Cream; Christine is Coconut Lime Sorbet with a Ginger Tuile Winner Revealed - Christine Ha was pronounced the winner of the competition, taking away $250,000 and the MasterChef title, and a cookbook deal.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "MasterChef (US season 3)". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.

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