Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Masterchef 4 Recap: Team Mystery Box and Chocolate (S4E23)

For the second to last time (Ben is back from Burning Man, but is currently trekking across the wild west and has no time to partake in MasterChef), hello, Starr-struck citizens of the internet! I am doing a temporary takeover of his blog in order to write the MasterChef recaps that so many of you are so fond of. He will be back to blog for the finale, so don’t you worry you will have your beloved Starr back soon enough! But for now, you are stuck with this scrub again.

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Michael Chen, and I was part of the top 18 during Season 3 of MasterChef. Please follow me on my FacebookTwitter, as well as my website at www.mc3michael.com! Let’s get the usual legal disclaimer out of the way: (PLEASE NOTE: This blog contains the crazed rants of a former MasterChef survivor who has practically no inside knowledge of how this season was produced.  It’s not fit to be read by anyone.)

After a highly engineered elimination that saw poor James get the axe, this episode proves to be just as engineered and dramatic with the previews showing Krissi and Jessie getting into a huge catfight. It’s easy to see why Krissi’s and Jessie’s personalities clash. In a high school context (which strangely, was only about two years ago for me. feels like forever!!), Jessie is like a varsity cheerleader, gorgeous, popular, always smiling, while Krissi is the girl way down on the social ladder, loud, brassy, a little rough around the edges, not afraid to show her emotions. It’s a clash of personalities that promises a high school cafeteria-esque cat fight.

The episodes start and it’s revealed that while in the last episode, what was normally a “team challenge” was individual, this time what is usually an individual pressure test will become a “team challenge”. An odd choice, and I can’t help but think that they are doing this to build up the catfight that will inevitably unfold. Once again, Joe’s exaggerated acting and writhing face muscles crack me up. Luca gets to pick first, and exclaims that it’s the biggest advantage that he’s ever had. I personally think that winning a mystery box, earning immunity, and getting to assign stuff to your contestants is a much bigger advantage. Luca’s penchant for being extremely exaggerated and somewhat dramatic is probably what enhances his appeal to both the producers and audience, which combined with his cooking skills is what has gotten him so far in this “competition.”

Luca picks Natasha first, which isn’t a surprise to me. He clearly values her cooking abilities over any disagreements they may have had in the past. I honestly think that Natasha is the strongest cook in the whole competition. She and Adrien Nieto, of MasterChef Season 2, recently did a pop up, and looking at some of the instagram photos and descriptions of the dishes, what they put out was absolutely incredible. Way more stunningly sophisticated and creative than anything that I’ve seen out of the other three contestants, and possibly any contestant EVER in the history of MasterChef (aside from “freak genius” Alvin Schultz, also of Season 2). The menu that they put out could easily have been in some of the best restaurants in the country, and the $75 that they asked for it. If you ever have the chance to attend one of their pop-ups, don’t miss out!

That leaves Krissi and Jessie as a team. No surprise there. I can already foresee what is going to happen. They will start struggling as a team, get into a HUGE fight, cause the MULTITUDES of people that hate Krissi to hate her even more intensely, they will lose the challenge, go into the pressure test, where Jessie will beat Krissi, and 95% of the people watching MasterChef will do huge fist pumps and set off fireworks in celebration of the satisfaction of seeing Krissi get eliminated after being such a huge “asshole” this season and particularly in this episode through the fight with darling Jessie. Sound about right? Keep in mind that I am only about 3 minutes into this episode at the time of writing this paragraph. Hahaha.

Continue reading the rest of this post on my website at www.mc3michael.com!

What do y’all think? Are you happy Krissi went home? Which three course meal would YOU have eaten? Which chocolate dessert is YOUR favorite? Let me know down below….

22 responses to “Masterchef 4 Recap: Team Mystery Box and Chocolate (S4E23)”

  1. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    Hello againi! Have been waiting for your recap and I have to agree wholeheartedly. More Drama and more enginieering. I gets more and more obvious that the producers want us to see certain things…Superficially Natasha and Jessie are a bit reduced on their good looks and while I am not an American our school-societies are certainly similar…not many cheerleaders in Austria though…..anyway, I predicted the last four without internal knowledge and I predicted the last three and the last two and I wonder If I am right about the winner…..in this respect I am not too sure.
    Krissi has shown that she can be a team member…I think the sushi challenge she worked together with Natascha. As we are not able to taste the food (which sometimes is a real shame and I mean it) we get the better functioning team through, not too sure foodwise….sometimes I really ask myself if they are payed or more heavily scripted each season….while I know a lot about groupwork this really seems odd….the four must know each other now quite well and who in heavens name would spoil his or her chance of winning by constantly bitching around in the last team challenge? strange….or maybe it is just the amount of pressure and stress that let’s them behave this way.
    Personally I would have chosen Natascha too…..after that Krissi and Jessie would have been my last pick. Of course this is just the idea I have from TV…..which might not be a correct one.
    thanks for the effort Michael…:)

  2. Christina Brummett Avatar

    We stopped watching when y’all told me James went home on his panna cotta so I guess I don’t have much to say except that MC Australia is much more interesting….too bad it’s so hard to find… 😉

    1. Tom Avatar
      Tom

      I prefer MC Australia too but even they rely heavily on editing. On the other hand they seem to be “light handed” in that respect and follow a quite different concept; more actual cooking, more episodes, foreign locations, “Masterclasses” (which are really interesting and productive) and an overall friendlier atmosphere. Many think that this years winner of MC Australia was the wrong person, but hey…that may be the personal opinion of many. 🙂

      1. Ben Avatar

        All TV show rely on editing to some degree, even the “good” reality TV show that Ben and I both enjoy, The Glee Project. American MC contestants get “masterclasses” too, but they aren’t recorded or shown on TV, probably because the production team still wants to live out the charade that the show is literally about finding the best home cook in America/

        1. Tom Avatar
          Tom

          to a certain degree it is understandable. These TV-programmes are no documentaries, so I don’t mind some editing in order to get a more interesting result. It is the degree of the charade that annoys me. 🙂 ANd glad to have you and your comments back from time to time. I was feeling lonely here already! 🙂 And your buttermilk biscuits are still going strong in our kitchen…

  3. Andrea Avatar

    The engineering in this episode, as well as the following couldn’t have been more blatant. I found it highly disgusting.

    The only nice thing was Joe’s invitation for Krissi. I found that very sweet.

    While I seriously hope Luca wins, my guts tell me we’re going to have again the same formulaic win: Natasha will beat Luca due to pure engineering.

    1. Ben Avatar

      You’ll have to watch the final to see 😉

  4. Andi Avatar
    Andi

    Michael did you not watch the final 4 on Ben’s season that pitted Christian & Suzi vs Adrien & Jennifer or season 3 (your season) where Josh & Frank faced off with Christine and Becky……..this format for a final 4 is not as new as you seem to make it out to be………………and I agree Joe is overly dramatic but Graham is a true diva of the drawn out dramatic flair lol

    1. Ben Avatar

      I have already addressed this comment on mc3michael.com, but will copy and paste for the benefit of other readers.

      “Yes, the final 4 go head to head but that is always in a team challenge, not a mystery box. I don’t think it’s been done for a mystery box challenge. It’s not really a big deal, but just something I noticed, since field challenges are almost always team challenges while mystery boxes are supposed to be individual.”

  5. Razercook Avatar
    Razercook

    I think there is engineering….. But to make Luca win, haven’t you noticed how he has been favored and helped? Remember Joe telling him to add more salt to the noodle soup, and then criticizing Natasha for not having enough salt in her soup. He didn’t help Natasha did he? No, I think by manipulating us to think Natasha is a bitch, they are setting it up for a Luca win. More marketable, more cookbook sales, and finally a male winner. Natasha is clearly a formidable cook, but Luca will take the win!

    1. Tom Avatar
      Tom

      we don’t really know who is helping whom there. All we see are mere glimpses of what is going on in the kitchen. It is certainly possible that the judges give some hints to all of them and we will never see it on TV.
      Personally, I wouldn’t min seeing Luca win, nor would I mind seeing Natasha win.
      Why still watching it? I have learned a good deal more about this type of TV and take it even less serious than I did a few years ago…thanks to Ben, Michael and the like…I have found Ben’s Blog and other blogs of contestants of MC US and Australia. Have found them on facebook, which a further eye-opener….just please check it out and you can see Krissi and Bri smiling in the camera, Natasha being the funny and lovable person I thought she is and not the “bitch” that always has a pokerface on……just enjoy the show as far as it is enjoyable but doubt almost everything! 🙂
      (damn, I sound like Ben himself by now)

    2. Ben Avatar

      You are thinking smart, but I won’t say whether you are right or not. Ha ha….

  6. MsShay Avatar
    MsShay

    I thought from the beginning that Luca was going to be the winner. I was surprised that Jessie and not Natasha went home.
    I have never hated Krissi. She is a survivor, and sometimes survivors don’t realize that the behavior that helped you move on, is now harmful to you now. There were glimpses of a kinder Krissi. I wish we could have seen more of this side.

    1. Ben Avatar

      Ms. Shay, you have always provided such insightful comments on my blog, and this one really struck me: “sometimes survivors don’t realize that the behavior that helped you move on, is now harmful to you now.” I think there are MANY evolutionary artifacts in our progression that get in the way of our future evolution. I have truly enjoyed interacting with Krissi via email, and everyone I’ve talked to who has met her or knows her well says that she’s an amazing person. There has been a lot of creative editing this season…but Krissi is a producer’s dream. “She don’t take no sh-t from no one.” She is the person she is today because she is strong and has a will to survive. That translates into editing Gold for MasterChef.

      1. MsShay Avatar
        MsShay

        Thank you, Ben, I enjoy your blogs because they ask a person to think. I wish we could have seen other sides of all of the contestants. Everyone was reduced to one sided caricatures.

  7. Razercook Avatar
    Razercook

    I actually think that Natasha is the more creative of all the cooks, most of what she cooks seems delicious. I like Luca and think he is a gentleman, but as a viewer I haven’t been blown away. I don’t personally have a pony in the race, but early on felt that Luca was being presented/ messaged in a certain light, and his making it into the final confirms my feeling. If he wins, it will be well deserved, but so will it be if Natasha wins.

  8. Adam Ferrero Avatar

    I’ve been a big Natasha fan since she commented on Ben’s blog and we got to see her for who she really is, and I’ll be cheering for her in the finale, but I’m not kidding myself – she has no chance, by design of FOX.

    Look up and review the Monomyth, or The Hero’s Journey (or if you’re like me and need it explained with examples and puppets, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZxs_jGN7Pg) and then think back through the entire season of Masterchef.

    Luca has been the hero of the story being told by the producers. He’s been shown as likable, funny, has that accent, and is relatable to the audience. He’s overcome adversity, such as being sent home last year, and his one-on-one pressure test against Kathy (which makes a lot more sense now at the end of the season when taking it all in as a whole as Luca’s story), and just a few episodes ago, a “rivalry” with Natasha was introduced. And it’s been clear from the beginning that Luca had the greatest contingent of fans.

    In the meantime, Natasha has been portrayed as arrogant, vain, and mouthy (remember what she was edited to say about Bime when he was brought back? That manufactured comment about him being a loser? There have been multiple instances of that throughout the season done to Natasha), but at the same time, she’s been shown to be formidable, intelligent, crafty, and a fantastic cook. She’s everything FOX needs in a final showdown “villain.”

    I hate that it’s done this way. I like Luca a lot, but c’mon, as a competition, it’s rigged. I fully expect Ben and Michael in their review of the episode to call out multiple instances of “mistakes” that the judges say Natasha is making that aren’t mistakes at all, and one of those mistakes will be the so-called tipping point that breaks the 1-1 tie to win it for Luca. It happened in last season’s finale, it WILL happen again. It’s a shame, but hopefully Natasha will still be able to live her dream, and I’ll be able to try her food when I travel to San Diego.

  9. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    ha, I was right….:), the wiki news presented the end result……but have to watch the final episode yet. And it will be the last episode of MC US I am watching, no more next season for me.

  10. PK Avatar
    PK

    I plan to keep watching but I am sad for the contestants not getting a fair shot and being treated as pawns. But I really enjoy the challenges, learning a bit about some great people, and learning more about food too! I really don’t like the nastiness which is why I have a high appreciation for Ben because he helped to keep that down a bit in his season. A good quality in a leader and why I now follow him on this blog.

    Masterchef Australia and New Zealand are better than the US IMHO because they don’t focus on the interpersonal fighting. I like the kindness amongst the contestants. And its fun to see the chefs do their thing in the masterclasses and you can learn so much! But it’s hard to access those shows so I find myself watching the US version because it’s simply available.

    1. Tom Avatar
      Tom

      You can watch almost everything on their homepages….but might not always be easy to access them. I really haven’t learned too much about food and cooking from MC US, sometimes it inspires me but that’s it. Ben is an altogether different topic, we now know what he is capable of..:) The only sad thing is that I am aware of the fact that almost everyone on this show is different in real life and hase something to offer, which we rarely see on tv. And this is dissappointing so I will stop watching it as there are many more shows out there that are way better and my spare time is not limitless.

  11. bobby927 Avatar

    Bye, bye MasterSCAMchef. You’ve been officially deleted from my DVR. “Never to watch no more.”

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