Masterchef: Top 12 Compete

The Round of 12 opens in Venice Beach where the chefs have been dropped off wondering what their next challenge will be. Next thing they know, the three judges roll up in three food trucks, horns blaring.

For the first time, the group will be divided into three teams. Because she won the previous challenge, Stacey gets the advantage of picking all three teams:

Stacey’s team – Tali (chosen surprisingly #1 because he is a team player and weak opponent in the event of a pressure test), Frank, Becky

Second Team – Monti, David, Anna, Tanya

Third Team – Christine, Mike, Josh and Felix.

Next, Stacey gets first choice of the different coloRed food trucks, not knowing what each color will mean. Stacey chooses the Red truck – Mexican cuisine. Monti’s team is given the Yellow truck – American cuisine. Josh’s team is given the third and final Blue truck – Indian cuisine.

Each team must elect a team captain. Obviously, Stacey is her own team’s captain. Josh decides to be captain of his team, as does Anna.

Each team must plan and prepare one $7 dish to serve the impending crowds, with 90 minutes before service.

Right off the bat, David and Monti butt heads with differing ideas on the side for their burger. In the end, David wins out with chips.

For the Blue team, Josh and his team decide to go with a Chicken Tikki Masala (though Michael has no idea what the dish is).




Stacey ‘s team goes with Beef and Veggie Tacos with a guacamole on the side. After speaking with Gordon, they nix the Veggie and just go with Beef Tacos.

The Yellow team appears to be struggling with the concept of a Burger Duo. Once again, Gordon Ramsay steps in and they nix the “calypso burger”, going with just one. As the crowds begin to line up, the Yellow team does not have any burgers on the grill causing a near heart attack by Ramsay.

Finally, service begins and it is more than 15 minutes before the Yellow team serves a burger. Note: this challenge seems to be entirely based on speed of service.

All three trucks had huge lines, and the Red truck is having no problems sending out their tacos. The blue team is also getting food out quickly.

Back to the Yellow truck, and Gordon Ramsay has discoveRed that David is cooking up raw burgers, so they are forced to send out burgers even slower than they had been.

Midway through service, we get the judges input:

The Red truck is doing “okay” but they would have been well off to serve a fish taco, an apparent common gripe from customers. The Yellow truck is having its obvious flaws. The panel determines that the blue truck is having the best service to this point.

With service slowing down, Stacey decides to run out to the nearby skate park to get a final push of customers.

Service comes to an end and the winner will be determined by the amount of money in each till.

Combined, their proceeds equaled over $2000 which will be given to charity.

With $798 worth of tacos sold, the Red team wins the challenge. Stacey’s last minute tactic seems to have worked. They are exempt from the pressure test, along with the Blue team, which came in second. The losing team by over $100 was (not shockingly) the Yellow team. Bickering continues in the Yellow kitchen between David and Monti – exactly what Stacey had counted on happening. Overally, Stacey proved to be an excellent judge of character and played the game to perfection on this day.

Fast forward back to the Masterchef kitchen for tonight’s pressure test. As the Yellow team awaits their test, bickering continues and the team consensus seems to be that David and his poor grill work cost the team the challenge. Joe Bastianich reveals that the test is all about tortellini. They must make the perfect tortellini. After a quick lesson by Chef B, the Yellow team is sent back to their individual stations to try and replicate what they have just seen.

With sixty minutes on the clock, the chefs have all the ingredients they need waiting at their stations. The first thing they should do, according to Joe, is make their pasta. Gordon points out what David already has – that his fat fingers are a big disadvantage. David reacts by using a foreign object in place of his “sausage fingers” to help smooth out the tortellini.

As time nears expiration, Graham visits Tanya and her every “no” to his questions kills her confidence and she looks like she has already been eliminated.

With two minutes to go, Anna notices that her flame is out and her pasta is in danger of not cooking. As the clock strikes zero each chef finished plating just in time. Everyone is shocked by the look of David’s tortellini, but the ultimate judgment lays with the panel.

Anna is first to present. As usual, Joe is difficult to read, but Anna claims she can hear him chewing. Graham Elliot tries the dish and he too is mum. Gordon Ramsay, however, slices the tortellini open and firmly states, “this is raw.” Uh oh.

Monti is next. Joe asks, “you never made this before?” Apparently, it was a little underseasoned, but “pretty good.”

David is next. “Great tortellini”, says Ramsay. Joe: “How did those fat little fingers make those tortellini. Beautiful.”

Tanya is the final presenter. Her struggles were obvious as the shape was all wrong. With tears running down her cheeks, Gordon is the last to try. “A very weird looking tortellini.” A parsley-filled mess.

Judgment time. David’s tortellini, though not the best shape, was good. He is safe. Monti’s tortellini were “incredible.” Also safe. Not surprisingly, Anna and Tanya are at the bottom. Both dishes were awful, but the person leaving Masterchef is…Anna. Her bragging rights over her husband carried along much longer than I would have thought. A good showing by Anna throughout the competition.


Who was your favorite this round? Who do you see winning the competition? Share your comments below.