Gordon: Previously on "MasterChef: Back to Win"...
There are 20 of you now.
- the top 20 kicked off... - Roll the film.
...with a trip down memory lane.
It looks dreadful.
Amanda, that's raw.
Let's go. Your challenge is to use
the dish that sent you home as inspiration for a new dish.
That is redemption in a bowl, beyond belief.
But with the first immunity pin on the line...
- Congratulations, Emily. - Got my pin!
...some home cooks couldn't escape their past.
- This is chocolate milk. - ( bleep )
- It's unedible. - The person leaving
the competition tonight is Stephen.
Tonight, it's the first mystery box of the season.
- You feeling lucky tonight? - And it's a big one.
- Oh, my God! - What's up, guys?
But you've got to place big bets...
No one's ever made homemade phyllo from scratch.
- That is major. - ...if you're back to win.
( bleep ) Oh, my God.
- Gordon: Someone's going home tonight. - It's not gonna be me.
- What, is she crazy? - ( bleep )
- Oh, my God. - Bri, you okay?
- Oh, no. - Please place your apron
on your bench and say good night.
Our first mystery box challenge.
( cheering )
- Let's go! - Wait, what's with the big one?
Fred: There is a huge mystery box behind the judges.
I'm just praying, please don't be a live animal.
I already made a promise to my mother
that I wasn't gonna kill animals on national television.
- Oh, it's decorated. - Oh, Vegas.
- Oh. - Oh, my--
Hello, everybody. It's so good to see you all.
And good to see you, Emily.
- Congratulations on winning immunity... - Thank you.
...across that last challenge.
But, Emily, do not get too comfortable up there
because next time, you will be down here cooking.
That's right. The immunity pin is up for grabs again tonight.
Let's go.
The flipside of that, sadly, one of you will be going home.
Now, tonight is your first
big mystery box challenge.
But before we can see what's under those boxes,
it's time to see what's under this gigantic one.
- People! Oh, that's creepy. - I knew it.
- Girls! - Who is that? Who is that?
What's up, guys?
Good to see everybody.
- How's it going? - Shaun!
You know, the last time I cooked in this kitchen with Shaun,
he won and I didn't.
Shaun!
I came in second place.
But at the same time, I am so proud of him.
He's traveled the world. He's written his own cookbook.
He's living proof of what winning "MasterChef" can do for a person.
- Amazing to see you. - Goodness me.
Aarón! Chef, good to see you.
- How's it feel to be back? - I mean, it always feels great
to step into the MasterChef kitchen.
To be back in here and to see so many familiar faces, it's heartwarming.
Shaun is proof that winning this competition
can be used to propel your career to new heights.
And he's finally returned to Las Vegas to open up his very own restaurant.
- Um, first of all, congratulations. - Thank you, Chef.
And also, let's be honest, Vegas is one of the most competitive cities
- anywhere on the planet, right? - I'm competing against you, so, yeah, absolutely.
Gordon: At your restaurant, you've struck a chord
with cocktails across the menu.
- How big an influence have they been? - I mean, it's Vegas.
Like, alcohol is built into the fabric of Vegas.
At Shaun's restaurant, the cocktails
share the limelight with the food.
So, this evening, we want you all to embrace the spirit of Las Vegas
and use spirits as ingredients
in the dishes that you make this evening.
Under each mystery box out there,
you will find one bottle of alcohol that I've chosen.
You must use that as a key ingredient
in the dish that you're cooking tonight.
Each mystery box has a different bottle of alcohol underneath it.
Whichever you get, it's all up to Lady Luck.
- Wow. - Throw that dice.
Dara, Shayne, I know you're not legally
allowed to drink alcohol,
but you've cooked with it before, right?
- Yes, Chef. - Once or twice.
Right, shall we play a little boozy roulette?
- Yes, Chef! - Head to a station! Off you go!
Well done. Alejandro, what are you hoping for?
Chef, I'm from the islands, so I'm gonna go spiced rum.
Love that. Shayne the Train, what do you think you'll be growing up?
Are you gonna be a gin and tonic man?
I have no clue. Right now, I'm a water kind of guy.
Okay, all of you, on the count of three,
lift your mystery boxes.
One, two, three. Lift.
Ooh!
I've never even seen this before.
Brandi, is that limoncello?
- It's not bourbon. - Yeah.
- Fred, what is that? - I have apple brandy.
Oh, my goodness me. That is a dream.
Dara, what have you got?
- I have dark rum. - I got anise liqueur.
I'm not too sure, to be honest,
but we got some hazelnut liquor. Liqueur?
Yeah, who's got the tequila? Michael.
- That's a good one. - Tonight, you'll have one hour
to cook three identical dishes.
Right, let's have 60 minutes on the clock.
- Your time starts... - Now.
- Whoo! Whoo! - Let's go, let's go!
Please don't run me over.
Damn, Cate.
Green apples.
Where's the duck, baby? Where's the duck?
It's okay. I'm gonna grab some kumquats.
Prunes? Prunes.
I hit the jackpot. I got bourbon.
You can literally go anywhere with bourbon.
It offers sweet, smoky, spicy notes.
Okay, hey, flambé.
Ay-yi-yi.
- I've gotta use scotch. - What else do I need?
I like to drink a nice glass of white wine or champagne.
I've never cooked with scotch. I've never tasted scotch.
Does it go with something sweet, something savory?
I have no idea. But I know one thing.
I've gotta think of something fast.
Today I was lucky enough to get a raspberry liqueur,
and I'm going to make a duck breast with that,
with a beautiful mashed potato, some fennel, some apple.
Raspberries and duck go together, you know?
I love wild game, and I plan to deliver today.
Looks good, Alejandro.
Lots of duck on the menu tonight.
The battle of the ducks.
- Battle of the ducks. - She's doing duck, too, right?
- Yeah. - We got three ducks in a row.
Let's rock and roll.
So, I have hazelnut liqueur,
and that is a bit of a curveball.
I'm only 18 years old. I can't even drink alcohol.
But I'm going to cook it down and burn off all the alcohol.
I know hazelnut has a real nutty flavor
so I'm gonna be doing a pork tenderloin
with bacon and green beans stir fry
with some mashed potatoes, and then to top it off,
a hazelnut peppercorn sauce.
So I'm just gonna make sure that hazelnut flavor
comes to play tonight on my plate.
Mmm, yes. Yes.
I got gin. Gin tastes like poison.
To me.
But once I let it settle, I tasted more floral notes.
I tasted citrus.
And I figured that I could work with this.
I decided to go ahead and make some pork and peaches.
I'm doing pork tenderloin.
It's spiced with some coriander, nutmeg,
cinnamon, cayenne pepper.
I'm just hoping that the judges like it,
and that it gets me either immunity or saved.
Gordon: 50 minutes remaining.
Come on, guys, let's go.
You got this. Plenty of time.
First big mystery box challenge.
Shaun, you're gracing the MasterChef floor once again.
Advice? Sweet, savory, where would you go?
I use a lot of these different things in the restaurant.
- Sure. - Cognacs and stuff for charcuterie.
- But I kind of have my eye on the amaretto. - Gotcha.
I do a great butternut squash ravioli,
that I reduce down the amaretto to where it's a syrup--
nice, thick, sweet-- and it really works with the earthiness...
- Love that. - ...of the butternut squash.
Looking good.
Gordon, what's the secret to cooking with spirits?
It's all about burning off that alcohol.
Raw alcohol flavor across any stage of dinner--
it's just-- it's not pleasant.
This is scary. I don't want to burn my lashes off.
- You got it. - Think of the jeopardy now. It's not just about one dish,
- but they're all back to win to win for a reason. - Yeah.
For these guys to have the courage
to step back in the MasterChef kitchen--
you know, anything can happen in here.
You can have a bad day any given day.
This is gonna be a really interesting tasting.
Fred: Looking at the apple brandy, I know I can go
a couple different routes with it.
But my heart is telling me, go with a dessert.
And not just any dessert,
but something they haven't seen before.
I am making a krempita, which is a Montenegrin dessert.
Krempita is made with layers of phyllo and custard,
and I'm serving it with a caramel
and some flambéed apples.
There's a huge risk with what I'm doing here
because making phyllo from scratch
does take a lot of time,
but no one's ever made homemade phyllo
in the MasterChef kitchen before.
This is, like, getting there. Probably three more minutes.
Okay.
However, my track record with mystery boxes
is pretty horrible.
In fact, I got sent home
on the last mystery box I cooked on.
Joe: It's raw.
So I just want to break my mystery box curse
and finally get that redemption.
Nice, Fred.
Turn into something good.
I got limoncello.
It tastes like cleaner like you would clean your countertops with.
Awful.
I feel completely deflated right now.
( groans )
I have no idea what I'm going to cook.
I definitely know Shaun's looking at me right now.
I don't want to mess up in front of him,
but I've got to get out of my head
or, like, this is what's going to send me home.
Oh, that limoncello is rough.
When I say rough, I mean rough.
Oh, that limoncello is rough.
When I say rough, I mean rough.
Brandi, season seven would see this limoncello,
know it's a dessert drink,
try to haphazardly pull out some dessert,
and it would probably be a disaster.
But this Brandi is not gonna let this limoncello get me down.
I really like cooking with sweet and savory together,
so I'm actually going savory with this super dessert drink tonight.
Shaun definitely knows what I'm capable of,
but I think I'm doing something tonight
that he's not gonna expect.
Gordon: 14 minutes gone.
Just over 45 minutes remaining.
So, Shaun, the level of competition this year is at an all-time high.
And also they're battling for immunity.
Smelling good in here, guys.
This is the best place to be in the kitchen.
You know you're gonna be here to fight another day.
Hi, Dara, what are you making?
So, I have dark rum today.
And I'm making a tropical tiramisu.
I'm making an almond coconut jaconde sponge that'll soak in a dark rum simple syrup.
I'm making a mascarpone cream with a strawberry, pineapple, mango salsa.
Wait, wait a second. It sounds like you said three desserts already.
Is it a tiramisu or no?
- Aspects of a tiramisu. - You have time to do all this stuff?
I hold myself to a high standard, especially with desserts.
- Right. - And I believe in myself that I can get this done.
This spiced dark rum
- has a lot of different things going on. - I love it.
And how is this gonna be interwoven with your dish?
Um, it's gonna be in a simple syrup.
That's what's what'll be on the cake.
It will be in, um, a caramel.
I love it. So it's gonna be very rum forward.
Very rum forward. You got this.
- How's it going, Cate? - Hey, Shaun.
- And we're using the bourbon, I see. - The bourbon, yes.
Gordon: Tell me about the dish. What are you doing?
I'm making a spiced stonefruit cake
with a bourbon vanilla bean caramel sauce,
a crème fresh Chantilly cream, and then some macerated plums.
- This is the one everybody wanted, right? - Yeah, absolutely.
I told you I was lucky.
And why sweet on a night like tonight?
- 'Cause bourbon can go both ways, right? - Yeah.
Right, I'm a savory chef.
That's what I know and love and do the most.
But I thought it's not the time to play it safe or stand in the shadow.
How are you gonna get this cooked in 30 minutes?
It's going in-- it's going in in one second.
I just need to grab my fruit from the blast chiller.
Taking risks, though.
That's what this kitchen's all about.
I love risk, but look at the time.
There's barely 30 minutes to go
and they're not even in the oven yet.
They'll be there, they'll be there.
- Cate, good luck. - Thank you. Thank you both.
I have almond liqueur,
and I'm doing a profiterole
with an almond liqueur pastry cream,
and then almond and orange and cardamom cherries.
I haven't made this dish before,
but it's all flavors I'm used to.
My grandparents are Italian,
so just trying to pull from those childhood memories.
This isn't a time to play it safe.
I'm here to go that one step further
and take home that trophy.
This is gonna be interesting. Lots of baking.
Ooh, baby.
Yes, freaking beautiful.
I got tequila, my favorite thing to drink in the world.
I expect a lot of people today to make dessert,
so I'm gonna go the opposite.
I have this amazing tequila and tamarind sauce
that's, like, sour and sweet
and gives that punch of the tequila.
So I'm not playing it safe,
I'm doing completely wacky and crazy combinations.
I don't cook duck every day. It's definitely a risky protein.
But if it pays off, I think it'll give me
my best chance of getting that immunity pin.
Emily: 28 minutes, guys. 28 minutes.
What is that, Christian? Coconut shrimp?
- Yes, ma'am. - Nice!
I love mystery boxes. You know, season five,
I actually won a mystery box. I had to fillet an Alaskan salmon.
I blackened it. They loved it. I won.
- Christian. - Get outta here. Wow.
So today I'm like, mystery box, let's go.
- How you guys doing? - How you doing, Christian?
- I'm good, Chef. - So what do you got for us?
Today, I'm making a mezcal tequila coconut bang shrimp.
Bang bang is what we call kind of in New Orleans
when you kinda fry 'em up and make 'em crispy.
Mezcal has, correct me if I'm wrong, a smoky flavor, right?
Yes, so the difference between mezcal and tequila--
you take the piña, or the root of the actual cactus and you roast that.
So how do you plan on burning it out?
Basically, what I'm gonna do, I'ma burn it off first,
and then once I've burned it off,
I'm gonna pour it into the sauce that I'm making.
Alcohol is very strong.
So when you're cooking it with food,
you don't want that alcohol to overpower your food.
Emily: Whoo!
Mezcal flambéed charred limes. Love it.
Okay, let's see what's going on so far.
- Okay. - Miss Brandi.
Well, hello. How are you doing?
Season seven alumni.
Tell me about the liqueur that you got.
So I was given limoncello,
and I'm doing kind of a fusion dish here.
I'm making a sesame soy limoncello glaze for my salmon
that needs to come out of the oven now,
with a spot prawn grapefruit limoncello ceviche
and sautéed lemon garlic bok choy.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Sounds like a lot going on there.
- Shaun: Yeah. - A lot.
So, I feel tons of pressure right now.
The last fish I cooked in this kitchen
- was the dish that sent me home. - Sure.
And today I'm cooking for the person that sent me home.
It's very intimidating having him here,
and I'm just trying to pull out all the stops.
Would you put the raw prawns
- and the cooked salmon together? - I personally wouldn't.
- Don't overcomplicate this dish. - It's gonna be great.
- Someone's going home tonight. - It's not gonna be me.
- Crush it! - No pressure.
That's good enough.
Tommy: With this dish, I'm trying to prove that not only
can I have a good flavor profile in a dessert,
but I want to put fashion on a plate.
I was in the bottom three last week,
so I've got to make sure
that I'm not in the bottom three again.
- Tommy, all right. - Well, hello.
So, what is the dish?
I'm gonna do sweet potato butterscotch praline pie.
And where does the scotch come into play?
The scotch is in my candied pecans.
The scotch is also in my court-bouillon poaching liquid for the sweet potatoes.
I really like the smell of it.
It smells smoky and it smells very fall to me.
You're right. This is something that you drink to warm the soul.
Tommy, we want to see that eye for aesthetics.
You need to put on a show on the plate today.
Is that gonna play out in your dish?
- I hope so. - Good luck.
Gordon: So, just over 15 minutes remaining.
Whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk.
Cate's doing a stonefruit bourbon cake.
My big worry is the cake wasn't in the oven unlit just under 30 minutes.
I'm not too sure it's gonna get cooked in time.
- Aarón: Wow. - That's-- that's not crispy enough.
That's gotta go back on.
So, Brandi ended up with the limoncello.
She's doing a cooked salmon and a ceviche.
- With limoncello? - Yeah.
Limoncello is literally a sweet after-dinner liqueur.
What, is she crazy?
So, Dara, the liqueur is dark rum
and her ambition is very high.
She mentioned tiramisu, and then she's doing a sponge cake--
so many different things that I don't think that she really understands it.
Yeah, she has a risk of missing some of these elements
if she does all that she says she's gonna do.
Including a rum caramel sauce,
which is fundamental for pulling this together.
My caramel sauce, it crystallized.
Dara, show it to me. What's it look like?
- It's just, like, not-- - Then don't put it on the plate.
If it's not right, don't put it on the plate.
- Okay. - Just keep going.
Dara: My caramel sauce crystallized.
This is a spirits challenge.
The majority of my rum is in that caramel sauce.
Once it crystallizes in a caramel,
it's not gonna uncrystallize.
Being in the MasterChef kitchen with these adults
is completely different than the juniors competition.
And this is all harder than I expected.
( bleep ) Oh, my God.
My caramel sauce, it crystallized.
Dara, show it to me.
- It's just, like, not-- - Then don't put it on the plate.
If it's not right, don't put it on the plate.
- Okay. - Just keep going.
This is a spirits challenge.
The majority of my rum is in that caramel sauce.
( bleep ) Oh, my God.
I don't have time to fix the mistake.
I can't put it on the plate.
Instead, I just brush on the rum syrup
and now I just have to hope
that there's enough rum soaked into that cake.
Oh, my God!
- Ooh, girl! - Bri, you okay?
- Damn! That was a big one. - We're good.
I got an herbal liqueur, so I'm making a filet mignon
with a chimichurri sauce,
roasted red pepper purée, and elote.
So I think the flavors will mesh really well together.
My God.
Michael: There are under 10 minutes left,
and two of my ducks are overcooked.
Come on, come on, baby. Come on, baby.
I'm definitely pretty concerned right now,
and Gordon said we need consistency,
consistency amongst all three plates,
so I have to start over.
Okay, okay, okay.
All right, guys, so Michael looks like
he just overcooked his duck breast
- and he's starting it over. - Joe: No way.
- That is major. - Damn.
- Hi. - Right, Fred, what did you get?
- This is... - My apple brandy.
So, I'm making a take on a Montenegrin dessert called krempita.
It's homemade phyllo that I infused
with the apple brandy with apple brandy pastry cream.
- Wait, you're making your own phyllo paste? - Yes.
Have you stretched it beautifully? Is it super crisp?
Yes. I got it as thin as I could get it in this time constraint, Chef.
Then I also did, um, the alcohol in a miso apple butterscotch.
- Wow. - And then I'm just gonna finish some butter--
or some apples in that brandy butter as well.
- Oh, wow. That is delicious. - Thank you.
- Ooh. Wow, Fred. - That is delicious.
- Thank you, Chef. - Is that the flambé?
Yes, this is the flambé. Um, if you guys value your eyebrows...
Tilt the pan. Tilt it. That's it, yeah.
- There we go. Let it go. - No, no.
It's fine. No, it's fine, it's fine.
Once the alcohol burns off--
A glass bowl on top of a flame.
- Sorry. I don't do it frequently. - That's what you want.
- Good luck, Fred. - Thank you, Chef.
Gordon: Last five minutes. Here we go.
Whoa.
Oh, my God.
Gordon: I'm worried about Cate's cakes.
They're not even out of the oven yet.
- Will she cook the cake in time? - Yeah.
Would you believe Fred's made his own phyllo pastry?
- Yes. - Bravo.
If he pulls it off, it could be immunity pin-worthy.
But I'm just worried time is his issue now.
Emily, who's looking good?
Uh, a lot of the savory people I think are looking good.
Christian's doing some coconut shrimp, which looks really interesting.
- Think he has mezcal, so it's kind of a unique usage. - Smart.
Shanika's pork looks phenomenal.
She just sliced into it. Looks great.
But I think some people went sweet tonight
in order to show their skills, and maybe some things are not going right.
Well, you've got a great view from up there.
Sadly, as you know, somebody is going home.
Two and a half minutes remaining. Let's go.
Let's go, Cate.
Oh, my God!
My cake is underbaked.
Oh, no.
But I'm very stressed for time,
so I have to reroute and get something on the plate.
Coming up to 60 seconds, everyone.
60 seconds!
This is not pretty.
I need three plates.
You have 45 seconds, young man.
- Yes, Chef. - Let's go.
My hands aren't shaking, your hands are shaking.
( bleep )
25 seconds to go. Man, that's tight.
- Christian's got one plate done. - Come on, Christian!
This is not what I wanted.
Oh, my God.
Judges: Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two...
- One. That's it, hands up! - Well done.
- Oh, boy. - Shaun: Good job, guys.
- How'd you do? Great job. - Great.
- How's it look? - Looks beautiful, little bro.
- I think I cooked it perfectly. - You did.
I hold myself to such a high standard for this.
- Me, too. - I hate-- like, I don't want to cry.
- You know? - Yeah.
Cate: My cake doesn't look good,
which reflects on me as a chef.
What happened, Cate?
And that makes me emotional,
but I got everything on the plate
and I'm just hoping the judges see my talent
and, uh, my potential.
I'm just, uh, definitely
not ready to leave.
Tonight, you had to cook with not just the spirit of Vegas,
but the amazing spirits under your mystery boxes.
Let's take a much closer look at all your dishes.
Shayne, hazelnut liqueur. You happy with this?
I feel like I accomplished a lot in this cook.
- I think it looks good. - Thanks, Chef.
Dara, do you feel that your dish is complete?
There's one element that went wrong,
so I decided to keep it off the plate.
Okay. Thank you.
All right, Brandi.
Every time these judges come around, you never know what they're thinking,
and you instantly start to doubt yourself.
Are you happy with the cook on the fish?
I think it's gonna be cooked very well.
My skin's still really crispy.
I definitely think the standards are higher than they've ever been.
- And did you marinate the shrimp in the mezcal? - Yes, Chef.
Brandi: People are putting finale plates up to these judges.
So, I did a profiterole with a almond liqueur pastry cream.
You like 'em this crunchy, huh?
They're not letting little things slide that all of us should know.
- Are you happy with the plating? - Yeah.
- Yeah? - Are you sure?
If you mess up something simple, it's just not gonna be pretty.
- What happened here? - Is this raw?
Oh, definitely.
Is this a deconstructed dish
or did you just rip the top off the muffins?
Uh, it's deconstructed, but because it's undercooked.
I flipped it over and then I just picked the best pieces I wanted.
Got it.
( sighs )
- Fred, apple brandy. - Yes.
I know for a fact that this is not a middle dish.
It's a matter of whether or not it lands me
in the top three or the bottom three,
just given the risk that I took tonight.
What's in the, uh, cream?
So, the cream itself, it's mascarpone vanilla bean.
I don't really know what's going through, like, their heads right now.
Like, they could love the dish, they could hate the dish--
you can't really read it from their faces.
Thank you.
- So many good dishes there. - Absolutely.
- Aarón: Interesting mix of sweet and savory. - Shaun: Yeah.
- Confident? - Yeah, I'm good. Ready?
Yeah.
Shaun, thank you so much for curating
this incredible mystery box with amazing spirits.
My pleasure, Chef.
Emily, you get to spend some very special time now
with our season seven winner.
All of you, please give it up for Shaun O'Neale.
- Congrats. - Thank you, Chef.
Take a break up on that balcony.
Shaun: Good luck, guys.
Right, let's taste the top dishes of the night.
This first dish featured a very uncommon spirit.
It really did help bring their seafood to life.
Please come forward...
Christian.
( bleep ) I'm talking about.
Called it. Called it!
Remind us what you liqueur you got this evening
and then describe the dish, please.
I got the mezcal, so the dish that I prepared
is a coconut bang shrimp
served with a mezcal apricot sauce
topped with microgreens.
It looks crunchy, crispy, rich.
I'm really curious about your sauce.
It looks like it has a nice consistency.
Can't wait to try it.
The shrimp are delicious.
I mean, really cooked impeccably.
The sauce is intriguing.
I think you've hit the jackpot on there
with apricot, mezcal, and what else?
- And little bit of that lime zest. - Excellent.
Here's the thing, it needs a slaw.
Just something else to give that little crunch on there, that's all.
Yeah, Christian, I mean, you understood
what we were asking you as far as using the spirit in a clever way,
as well as capturing the fun and the vibe in Vegas, and this is exactly that.
Thank you so much.
You're concentrating on flavors.
You have good technique.
You're just putting really good food on the plate,
and I love the honesty in this.
- Good job. - Thank you, Christian.
- Good job, brother, good job.
Thank you.
Second dish we want to taste,
certainly one of the best desserts of the night--
please come forward...
Fred.
- Good job, Fred! - Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Joe: All right, Fred, tell us what you made for us.
Fred: I made a take on a Montenegrin dessert called krempita,
which is made with layers of homemade phyllo dough
with a mascarpone and apple brandy cream,
flambéed apples, as well as a miso apple brandy butterscotch.
Fred, it looks stunning.
You plate with such beautiful finesse.
Thank you.
- Shall we? - Yeah.
That, Fred, is exceptional. I love it.
I do love the contrast of the crunch,
the sweetness with that miso caramel.
It's bloody exceptional, young man.
Fred, I love the phyllo.
I can feel all the different layers
kind of bursting in my palate.
It shows a lot of technique
- and understanding of ingredients. - Thank you, Chef.
Joe: I agree with their comments.
The phyllo dough gave us a nice, neutral base,
and really exalts all the other flavors on the dish.
The apples, which are perfectly roasted
and infused with that apple brandy flavor,
- very difficult to do. Bravo. - Thank you.
- Well done. - Thank you, Chef.
- ( cheering ) - Go, Fred!
Good job.
So, the final dish that we'd like to taste,
from a young lady who pulled out an amazing dish
despite her self-doubt and uncertainty.
Please come forward, Brandi.
Congrats, Brandi.
It feels great to be in the top three with Shaun here.
You know, I'm the only one from his season.
He's expecting a lot out of me.
I think he's probably pretty proud
that I'm being called down right now.
Brandi, can you remind us of the spirit
that you had to work with?
I had limoncello,
and I made a cast iron seared salmon
glazed with a soy sesame limoncello sauce,
a spot prawn limoncello ceviche,
and sautéed lemon garlic bok choy.
It looks excellent.
I love it when you cook salmon in a way
that you can almost see the medium rare.
- It looks spot on. - Thank you, Chef.
Aarón: Limoncello, one of Joe's favorites.
'Cause I do order limoncello back sometimes.
What's in a limoncello back?
No, it's like, you know, you order a beer
and then a whiskey back.
So you just take a shot of limoncello after your beer?
- Yeah. - All right.
You should try it.
Look at that. Shaun, can you see that up there?
Spot on. I had no doubts with Brandi and salmon.
Thank you, Shaun.
Gordon: Uh, young lady, salmon's cooked perfectly.
But the bok choy is exceptional.
But doesn't need the shrimp.
It just takes you down a different route
when you're so excited about that beautiful
earthiness from the bok choy.
I'm just surprised with the balance of flavor
and harmony that you achieved
with soy, sesame oil, and limoncello.
And you made it work, young lady.
- Thank you. - Aarón: It's delicious.
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
Good job, Brandi!
Good job, guys.
We need a minute to discuss right now, please.
The bok choy and the salmon, to mix that limoncello?
- That's pretty compelling. - Yeah. Fred's?
- That's the most intellectual dish. - Yeah.
Christian's dish, I just like everything about that dish.
Good luck, guys.
The good news is that all three of you are safe from elimination.
But most importantly,
one of you will receive the beautiful immunity pin.
The person that we thought
executed the best dish tonight,
congratulations goes to...
The person that we thought
executed the best dish tonight
and deserves this immunity pin,
congratulations goes to...
Fred.
Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
Both: Good job, Fred.
Fred: I won immunity! Oh, my God.
I just took a risk in the spirit of Vegas
and it paid off in the form of this pin.
You three, congratulations once again.
Please make your way up to the balcony, well done.
It's "Back to Win," it's a new season, new Fred,
and it's indescribable amounts of joy.
- Good job, buddy. - Thank you.
- I know, I know! - That was beautiful.
- Fred: Thank you. - Now for the not so good news.
We now have to taste the bottom three dishes of the evening,
and from that, one of you will be going home.
The first dish we need to take a much closer look at--
despite being plated well,
it really lacked in spirit of flavor they wanted to highlight.
Please step down...
- Dara. - Oh!
Dara: I was a mess today.
My station was a mess, my head was a mess,
this dish is a mess. Really disappointing.
- So, Dara, describe the dish please. - So, I had dark rum.
In front of you, I have a rum-soaked cake with a mascarpone cream,
tropical fruit, and a macadamia nut brittle.
I don't see the soaked part of it. It looks dry to me.
It's definitely missing a sauce component.
And it just looks like an incomplete dessert.
Dara, the actual flavor of the cake is good,
but I can't taste that beautiful spiced rum.
Joe: I don't have to tell you, Dara,
you know it's a little bit heavy and greasy.
Fruit's okay, but it's not what a cake looks like.
It looks like pancakes.
The nut brittle is just unedible and the sponge is very plain.
I like the cream, but whipped cream? Come on, big deal.
It's "Back to Win." Thank you.
- It's okay, Dara. - Head up, Dara. You still did so much.
- I can't taste the rum. - She's better than that.
She's much better than that. But when you get too clever,
you're gonna trip over. What a shame.
The second dish that we want to examine more closely
incorporated a very common and rudimentary spirit,
but had shockingly poor technique.
Please come forward, Cate.
Cate: I'm definitely disappointed.
My presentation is not where I want it to be.
But I'm extremely confident in my flavors,
and hopefully it's gonna keep me here.
Aarón: Cate, can you remind us of the spirit that you had to work with?
Cate: I got bourbon underneath my mystery box.
And I made a stonefruit spice cake
with a bourbon vanilla bean caramel sauce
and crème fresh Chantilly cream.
Cate, I push you a lot because I see greatness.
But this plate reminds me of a dish
that's been sent back to the kitchen
when someone's finished their dessert.
Oh, Cate, I could cry, young lady,
'cause on my plate I've got crispy bits of cake,
raw bits of cake, half-cooked bits of cake,
and so I'm just-- I'm confused.
The caramel's the saving grace. It's actually delicious.
But we're not doing a caramel mystery box challenge.
I'm, uh-- I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed for you.
Aarón: Cate, you had all the makings of a wonderful dessert here.
There's just a lot of technical flaws, and I think you know that.
But I liked the Chantilly cream.
I thought it was gonna be grainy, it wasn't.
I'll just get to the heart of the matter.
I mean, when you deconstruct a dish to try and hide
that the components are undercooked and raw,
it's kind of a disaster.
- Thank you, Cate. - Thank you.
It's okay.
Okay, the final dish
we would like to taste and dissect further,
despite having some intriguing elements,
simply failed to meet
our level of expectation.
Please come forward...
Tommy.
Tommy: I've been in the bottom three two weeks in a row.
It's not a good feeling at all.
I just have to ask you,
is this really what it's supposed to look like?
It just looks peculiar.
I just have to ask you,
is this really what it's supposed to look like?
Well, when I do sweet potatoes,
sometimes I like to melon ball them out
so that it doesn't look so unattractive.
I gotta say, as a guy who has an eye towards fashion,
makes his living in fashion,
these colors don't really
have any space on this runway.
Even the choice of the plate.
I mean, you couldn't have picked a worse color, Tommy.
- Really? - Really.
- What alcohol did you have? - I used scotch.
Tell us about this dish.
This is a sweet potato butterscotch praline tartelette.
- Should we try it? - Let's hope it tastes better.
Uh, Tommy, dish looks a mess.
I think of what scotch does to apples-- mind-blowing.
It's one of the best liqueurs to enhance a dessert,
and this is just not very good at all.
The scoops look weird, and it's unfinished.
Joe: Tommy, it tastes better than it looks.
I have really nothing else to say except for that. Sorry.
Thank you, Chef.
So who's going home?
Dara, Cate, and Tommy, please give us a minute.
We've got some very, very heavy discussions to have.
Excuse us.
- So, Dara. - Joe: I think that what you saw tonight
was her youthfulness.
- Could you taste the rum though? No. - No.
Cate, on my plate, I had some raw,
half-cooked bits of that cake on there.
It's a shame.
- Gordon: Tommy's? - The execution was off.
There was a lot of errors in it.
It's very clear to me.
- Aarón? - Yeah. 100%.
Oh, my goodness.
Dara, Cate, Tommy, all three of you produced
three somewhat lacklust dishes tonight.
And the person not moving forward in the competition is...
Cate.
What the heck?
Tommy, Dara, head back to your stations.
- Good job, you guys. - I love you, Cate.
- Keep kicking ass. - I love you.
Cate: I'm gonna miss you guys.
Cate, I know how much this "Back to Win" means to you.
But the actual cake was raw and undercooked,
and in a panic, you assembled bits and threw them on the plate.
Unfortunately, it just didn't work.
Please place your apron on your bench and say good night.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Love you, Cate.
Cate: In season eight, I had the best record of the season,
I kicked ass, and I was expecting to be here until the end.
It's definitely showing how fierce and cutthroat this season is.
The stakes were huge, and the talent was insane.
I know I did everything I could have in that 60 minutes.
Sometimes ( bleep ) hits the fan
and you just gotta, you know, duck.
Bye, MasterChef! I'm gonna miss you guys.
I warned you weeks ago, it's the most competitive season yet.
Last challenge, we lost a semifinalist from season six!
Tonight, we lose a semifinalist from season eight in Cate.
So, if you can't tell by now
that the bloody slate is clean
coming "Back to Win," you'll never know.
Good night.
- Gordon: Next time... - Ramsay to Coast Guard.
...the top 18 take on their first
team challenge of the season.
You will be feeding the women and men
- of the US Coast Guard. - Uh-oh.
But with another cook in the firing line...
Let's get some chow, men!
- How long are you blanching them? - Don't holler at me.
- Don't jump ship. - ...it won't be smooth sailin.
- Where's the potato? - We're not ready.
- Say that again? - It's stressing everybody out.
Hey, it's raw. ( bleep ) How? ( bleep )
On the ( bleep ) floor, and we've just put them back on the grill.
- No! - You're going down, young man.
( bleep )