Taste Buds Are Challenged and Nerves Are Frazzled in a New Episode of MASTERCHEF CANADA: BACK TO WIN

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede How can the competitors on MASTERCHEF CANADA: BACK TO WIN work with each other, and against each other, at the same time? A uniquely elegant challenge found a brilliant way to combine those seemingly polar opposites in a new episode that aired Sunday night on CTV, and is available for catch-up on the all-new CTV.ca and CTV app. The five remaining cooks – Andrew Al-Khouri, Andy Hay, Christopher Siu, Mai Nguyen, and Thea Vanherwaarden – were asked to combine forces on a five-course tasting menu. Each cook would be individually responsible for preparing only one of the offerings, but the various courses had to complement each other, and be served in a logical order. So the cooks had to walk a tightrope between fitting in, and standing out. The cooks were told that eight unnamed dinner guests, described as “culinary insiders with discerning palates,” were arriving soon to evaluate the tasting menu. The insiders’ job would be to rank the various courses, and obviously nobody wanted to finish last. Who could the insiders be? SPOILER ALERT: Details of what occurred are about to be discussed. There was some tension as the five cooks planned the tasting menu, as both Mai and Thea were determined to prepare stuffed pasta. The one thing everyone agreed upon was that Christopher should handle dessert. There was a scary moment during the cooking stage, when Thea suddenly felt as if she was going to faint, and collapsed to the floor. She showed her grit and determination by eventually being able to continue, but everyone was understandably shaken. Then came two big twists. TWIST NO. 1: The cooks were told that the eight dinner guests were in fact the five remaining cooks themselves, plus judges Claudio Aprile, Michael Bonacini, and Alvin Leung. And it was the five cooks who were going to rank each other. Would they vote honestly or strategically? The votes were hilariously all over the place, but there was general agreement that Christopher’s dessert – truffle-vanilla bean ice cream, and a chocolate mini-pastry with a liquid caramel centre – was bold, but, um, different. Andrew referred to Christopher affectionately as a “mad scientist,” but science experiments don’t always work. As Thea concluded, “He should never make that ice cream again.” When the votes were tallied, Christopher finished last. He thought he was eliminated, but then came … TWIST NO. 2: Much to his relief, Christopher was told that he was not going home! As Chef Leung explained, “At this stage of the competition, the only people with the power to send someone home are the three of us,” meaning the three judges. Christopher survives to cook another day, but he’ll be dealing with a competitive disadvantage in the next episode. There is no new episode of MASTERCHEF CANADA: BACK TO WIN next Sunday, April 25, due to CTV’s live coverage of the 93RD OSCARS®. The next new episode airs Sunday, May 2 on CTV. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv