Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Masterchef 4 Quick Recap: Finale (S4E25)

Hello! It’s Michael again. After talking to Ben, he told me that he would not be watching the last few episodes of MasterChef, so I took it upon my weary shoulders fingers to finish this season out for those of you that can’t live without the recaps. Expect a post from him in the near future about why he (and I most likely) will never watch MasterChef 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 Facebook, Twitter, 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.)

Finally, after what seems like forever, I click on the last episode of MasterChef on Hulu. This may honestly have been one of the most difficult episodes for me to watch. I will try to keep this brief.

The finale starts off, and we notice some things that are different this time compared to last year. There are large, stadium style TV screens mounted high up. And there are two risers filled with audience members. The initial thought was that it was the top 18, but there are way too many of them and the top 18 is later revealed to be in the balcony. Then there was the thought that it was the top 100, but A) there isn’t enough of them, B) there are no familiar faces, and no quotes/lines/comments from all of those colorful personalities, and C) I remember reading a comment on Facebook saying that it wasn’t the top 100, and that they were brought in. Seeing as how it’s HIGHLY unlikely that they brought in legitimate fans from the street (and even if they did, how the heck would they know what to do without watching the previous episodes/following the storylines), I would probably guess that they hired seat fillers (commonplace in other TV shows where they want it to appear like there is a large and engaging audience) to play the role of background cheerleaders. IF that’s the case (and I have no proof), then all I can say is this: LAME.

Then comes the big family reveal. It was a very sweet moment, but marred in my mind for one reason. Take a look at this comment from Adriana Crnjac (Natasha’s Mom):

Continue reading the rest of the finale blog on my website at www.mc3michael.com!

And there we have it. The end. Stay tuned for some words from Ben himself in a few days. Thanks for coming along for the ride over the last couple of episodes! Y’all are the only reason I put myself through 4 hours of torture every single week to make these happen :).

♥ MC3Michael

7 responses to “Masterchef 4 Quick Recap: Finale (S4E25)”

  1. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    Thanks for the last recap on MC4 Michael! Appreciate it.
    I watched it and was a bit dissapointed but not too much as it was what I expected it to be. They are not even hiding their schemes anymore. By flying in Luca’s family but not Natasha’s brother they cleary gave some “hints” on who the winner might be.
    I wasn’t really convinced by both menues but they seemed okay to me. In regards to new recipes or daring things to do. I have seen a similar desert on a menu in SIena once. Let’s be honest, there are thousands of cookbooks out there and even more blogs and sites on food and recipes. Even if you think you have a great idea, you might be able to find your great idea more or less somewhere else. I can remember the days when one of the better Austrian chefs “created” his idea od strawberries and different sorts of pepper. This was a huge thing in the 1980s…no one would care about it nowadays. Also in GB and maybe elsewhere on the world, there is a huge revival of old recipes when it comes to baking. Reinventing the past or so. You cannot push the boundaries forever. Myself, I have settled on cooking whatever I like to cook. My inspiration comes from cookbooks, a bit from shows, from old cookbooks, family recipes. What I have stopped is going too fancy, the days of style over substance are over for me.
    Will I miss MC US? Not really, I am watching the great British bake off at the moment and that is far more interesting, at least from a chef’s point of view. I was watching MC Australia, which had its own minor “strangeness” this year (the battle of the sexes at the beginning was unneccessary imo and the winner might have been rigged too…who knows?) but still is far more interesting. What I might miss is the opportunity to meet strong characters and people like Ben and Michael who have a lot to say that is good and interesting. I would love to meet some other contestants in person.
    As for the show, somewhen in the middle I was down to Jessie, Luca and Natasha as the possible winners. Jessie was a bit too much similar to the sweet young winner from MC1 or 2 (?), so this left me with Luca and Natasha. Cookingwise it should have been Natasha as she was by far the best cook but I think Luca was the logic winner. He seems to be a nice guy, has a beautiful wife, doesn’t get tired of praising America as the land of his dreams, is male, handsome!! STUNNING!!! rofl.
    I hop to hear more news from Ben soon, more recipes and valuable insights from a man whose life is so completely different from mine but has a lot of similar thoughts.
    Greetings from Austria, another stunning small country!
    cheers

  2. Duane Boda Avatar
    Duane Boda

    Chrissy really made this season horrible. Did they really need the drama and BS from her each week? Gordon
    made a HUGE mistake by allowing her to continue after her first outburst and threats to the other cooks. If he continues with this for the next season of MC then I’ll just shut it off and will discontinue buying episodes on Amazon. Luca was a sympathy win but Natasha (as we all know) was a superior cook. Jesse should of won it as her appeal was universal. If Gordon Ramsay was smart he’d pull the plug on this show before it sinks any deeper. What a shame!

    1. Ben Avatar
      Ben

      Duane, Gordon has very little creative input over the show. He has an executive producer credit, and he comes up with a few of the challenges, but he doesn’t have any say over who gets eliminated or who gets cast or who wins. All that is decided by the producers.

  3. Nick Shiraef Avatar
    Nick Shiraef

    personally I think the casting team dropped the ball on this season. it doesn’t matter how talented the production team is, they just didn’t have the material to work with to make season 4 entertaining. It quickly became obvious they were trying to squeeze what they could out of this “B Team” of characters, but even the magic of television can’t hide the entire truth. This group just didn’t have the chemistry to create a believable narrative. I for one am hoping they turn it around. Sometimes a loss is the best thing that can happen to a winning team.

  4. Monkey's Uncle Avatar
    Monkey’s Uncle

    I am pretty much done with the show. It seems there are better alternatives in the cooking competition genre. Which I do enjoy when it stimulates me to think about the different ways food can be prepared and enjoyed. But I am not entertained by the drama and the meanness of the show – which the show encourages (see the MC Facebook page).

    And they’re about to play this game with children. Can’t support that.

    1. Ben Avatar
      Ben

      Well, I’m fairly sure the country will NOT stand for them psychologically manipulating children like they do the adults. I’m also fairly certain that at least one parent was on site the entire time during filming…I think that’s the law. So I am predicting MasterChef Junior will be a sweet, fun, funny, emotional love fest. I am going to watch primarily because that’s the kinda show I WANT to watch. And secondarily, because if they ARE being cruel and manipulative toward the kids, I’ll be on top of that in an instant!

  5. Monkey's Uncle Avatar
    Monkey’s Uncle

    Ben, I hope you’re right, but it is still a scripted reality show. One child was been chosen to win before the filming began.

    My guess is it’s a cute, white, blond female type.

    Which means there are other children who will “compete” and have their hearts broken. And cry.
    If you have ever watched the X Factor (US version), when a child under the age of 15 loses in these things, it can be quite difficult to watch. Unless the kids they use are paid professional actors, I’m not gonna feed the monster that created this show. It’s marginally okay to do this sort of thing with adults, because they have consented to the treatment by signing the contract. But kids aren’t consenting.

    I want to thank both you and Michael for the behind the scenes insight you have provided. It confirms what I have observed during 4 seasons of watching MC. But there are better things to do in the summer and I am not interested in increasing the wealth of Gordon, Joe, Graham and TPTB at MC and Fox.

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