This was one good episode of MasterChef. Right from the beginning till the end it was a treat to watch because the execution has been perfect. I liked the introductory part of the episode a lot where all the contestants got to share their excitement of stepping into the MasterChef Kitchen for the very first time. They all seemed really excited & were totally in the mood to face the challenge which was great to see.
Coming onto the MasterChef Kitchen, I must say I am totally impressed. The quality of the Kitchen & the Pantry was brilliant & the finesse was evident. The project managers of MasterChef have really outdone themselves & have done justice to the name of the franchise by living up to the standards.
The episode consisted of 2 challenges where in first challenge the contestants got the core ingredient set by the judges themselves, which was an ‘egg’. The contestants had to use it & make it shine through their dish in just half an hour. The access to pantry also had a time limit but I feel in such a pressure, the time limit shouldn’t be there.. The contestants are already under so much pressure & to test it more is equal to making them a lot more confused. Like I have seen usually in the MasterChef shows, the pantry stays open through out the challenge & the contestants get enough time to think about the dish they want to create, later it depends on how much time they take because it affects the challenge time which in other case is again a time-management test for them so I feel that way it’s still another good option to check how the contestant performs.
I was impressed to see the quality of cooking in the first round too but the judges had to pick 5 dishes that appealed to them the most in the presentation. Without tasting the dishes the judges chose Maryam, Rayyan, Zain, Saad & Amna & Maryam was declared a winner. She got an extra minute in the pantry for the next round as an advantage of winning the first challenge.
The real cooking began when the contestants had to present their signature dishes. Some were outstanding & some looked like it but weren’t impressive in the tasting. Those contestants who made it to the bottom 3 were Ali Shah, Anila Kamar & Iqra Yasin because Ali Shah’s dish wasn’t presentable, Anila Kamar’s was too simple & wasn’t up to the mark & Iqra Yasin’s main ingredient of the dish was tasteless as remarked by the judges. There was a planned elimination which had to happen in this episode but it was dropped by the judges because they felt it was too early to let any contestant go as they didn’t get a decent chance to prove themselves. The top three were Rayyan Durrani, Mudassir Ilyas & Ammarah Noman. The winner of this signature dish challenge not only won a chance of getting the signature dish’s recipe published in the MasterChef Cook Book but also the immunity for the week & it was Ammarah Noman who won the challenge.
I enjoyed watching the episode a lot but I feel the editing once again had a few hit & a miss moments because the dishes of those contestants who were selected in the top 3 in the signature dish round weren’t covered except of Rayyan’s, but we have no idea what made Muddasir & Ammarah the winner because they didn’t show anything related to them.
I am definitely rooting for Khurram, Rayyan, Saad, Zain & Madiha Javed. All the other contestants are great too. Rayyan got the chance to stand out in the couple of first challenges. Let’s see how he performs ahead. Ammarah Noman seems like a strong contender too & so does Maryam.
Coming onto the judges, even though they are being extra cautious in the food judging, which is obviously required but other than that I feel they are being a bit too stern. It’s like they haven’t really made an effort of bonding with the contestants & are being too reserved & serious. Most of the time it felt like they were the teachers dictating the students of 5th standard like telling them to raise hands after the cooking time ended. I feel the judges should ease a little & make an effort of having a healthy & casual chemistry with the contestants so that the contestants can learn more from them & the judges can share their experiences with the contestants as well. Other than that, I totally enjoyed the episode & can’t wait to see the next episode which will feature an elimination of a contestant in the typical MasterChef style Mystery Box Challenge.
Share your views about tonight’s episode.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.
