“I may not have won MasterChef Canada, but I definitely was the best-looking throughout.” And with that, the series said goodbye to Michael, one of the most compelling and entertaining characters in the franchise.

In the early stages of this season, Michael was painted as the villain, a well-dressed home cook with high-end tastes who looked down on his small-town competitors. But as with all reality TV, the story is all in the editing; as Season 2 has progressed Michael not only was shown to be a likeable dude but a valuable team player to have in your corner. Unfortunately, it all came to an end on Sunday after a raw piece of fried chicken resulted in him hanging up his apron for good. It was a shame, really, because Michael would have been great as a finalist. Still, I’m sure we’ll see him as a sous chef for the two competitors who do go into the finale on May 24.

Luckily, Michael was able to show off his skills in a professional kitchen, as “Fine Dining Under Fire” began with the Top 6 ascending 54 storeys to cook in Canoe, Michael Bonacini’s landmark restaurant. It was there the Blue Team led by Cody and with David and Christopher on board faced off against Line captaining the Red Team with Michael and Sabrina.

The results were eerily similar to Season 1’s venture to Claudio Aprile’s Origins: both teams struggled early before getting into a groove and serving up respectable plates to the 60-odd seated in the restaurant. Cody took a more collaborative approach to his leadership and the Blue Team flourished, finishing their service with just a couple of blips. The Red Team never recovered from a slow start and Sabrina stepped in to lead when Line got overwhelmed. It got so bad that Chef Bonacini donned his whites and got in there to help out.

That, paired with plating that was a little off, handed the win to Cody, David and Christopher and sent Michael, Line and Sabrina to the Elimination Challenge, to prepare fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans in just 45 minutes. And though Michael’s chicken breast was the best of the bunch, that raw leg was his undoing.

Next week the finalists get teary when their families drop by for support and to cheer them on.

Notes and quotes

• I was playing “find the Canadian TV industry people” during the episode and spotted Bell Media execs, one television critic and Marilyn Denis.
• “She’s acting like my daughters did when they were teenagers.” Line with the line of the night about Sabrina.
• “I’ve been working on a fried chicken recipe for 10 years.” And I would like to sample it, David.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

Michael Bonacini sits atop a restaurant empire that boasts eight high-profile eateries in the Toronto region. He and Peter Oliver have built a reputation for incredible food amid wonderful settings. So it would seem impossible for the remaining MasterChef Canada finalists to sully his name with one bad service. Was he nervous at the thought of Cody and Line leading their charges around the Canoe’s hallowed kitchen for Sunday’s Restaurant Takeover?

“You’re damn right I was!” Bonacini says seriously. “Even the thought of re-watching it and reliving it on Sunday makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck a little.” While there were some friendly faces in the restaurant in Bell Media employees and at least two television critics, it didn’t make things less stressful for the veteran chef and restaurateur. Bonacini explains Canoe was selected because if its iconic location 54 storeys above the city’s financial centre and reputation made it the perfect place for the Top 6 to show their chops for 60 invited guests.

During Sunday’s episode, Cody, David, Christopher, Line, Sabrina and Michael have mere moments to absorb the news they’ll be preparing appetizers and mains in Canoe’s kitchen before they’re whisked to the top of the TD Centre and donning their whites. Bonacini outlines the ingredients needed for each plate and how to prep and plate them before hungry diners descend.

“It didn’t take long for the deer-in-the-headlights looks and silence to come over them,” Bonacini recalls. Sunday’s menu items include onion soup, tuna tacos, white salmon and steak, four dishes with several ingredients each and with plenty of pitfalls. But regardless of what goes on the plates, the biggest challenge for the remaining home cooks was the biggest killer in a professional kitchen: timing. Mess that up, Bonacini explains, and you’re dead.

“In an à la carte kitchen, you have all these orders coming in and you have to be able to handle that,” he says. “You might have special dietary requests, things requested a certain doneness and you have to be able to time all that out. It’s an enormous amount of pressure.”

Who succeeds in that environment and who crumbles? Tune in on Sunday night to find out.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.