Michael Chen

The Top 18 contestants compete in their first mystery box challenge of the season and must create a unique and delicious dish using duck and bananas. Later, the remaining amateur cooks are forced out of their comfort zone when the judges challenge them to cook an outstanding dish using unusual and intimidating ingredients. Find out which contestants make the cut after the first emotional elimination round.

The remaining sixteen contestants visit military base Camp Pendleton, CA where they will work in teams to prepare a healthy and balanced meal for 200 servicemen and women. After judges put the contestants through culinary boot camp, the contestants return to the MasterChef kitchen for an intense elimination round. Find out who will emerge from the trenches and continue in the competition in the MasterChef kitchen.

Guts are tested as the remaining fifteen contestants are challenged to create a unique dish using unconventional – and unappetizing – cuts of meat. The contestants who are most resourceful and think outside the box will make the cut and continue to the next round.

The judges spend the day at the beach and split the contestants into three teams to compete in a food truck challenge. Each team will be assigned to one type of cuisine, and it will be up to the contestants to create a delicious menu for budget conscious beachgoers. Ultimately, the team that earns the most money wins the challenge, gaining a desirable advantage in the next round. Later, the losing team will compete in a pressure test that will end the culinary dream for one more amateur cook.

In a budget-friendly mystery box challenge, the judges test the amateur cooks’ creativity by providing them with ingredients worth only twenty dollars. Despite the low-cost ingredients, the contestants must prove that they can prepare an impressive, high-quality dish. Later in the elimination round, the judges challenge the amateur cooks to recreate their favorite desserts. But the mood quickly turns sour when one more hopeful is sent home.