We are just a few weeks away from the finale on June 1, and I have to say this season of MasterChef Canada has been incredible. The guest judges have been A-list and the challenges are the most diverse and difficult I’ve ever seen. Everyone involved should be proud of the work they’ve done.

That, of course, goes for the home cooks who have been put through an emotional wringer this season. They’ve made it this far, but one was set to fall on Thursday night.

“Harvest Family Dinner” began with the final team challenge set on a farm on a crisp autumn day. The word “Family” in the episode title was, of course, a hint that producers would throw Barrie, Trevor, Mai and Thea for an emotional loop by bringing their families in to try out their menus. Barrie, who won the last challenge before Miranda was eliminated, chose his teammate. Her kept the bromance going with Trevor by selecting him, putting Mai and Thea together. The winners of the challenge would immediately be put into the Top 3 … and things got serious super-fast.

I can only imagine how fast that two hours of prep and cooking time must have flown by for the final four, but camera work was a pretty good indication. Hands and feet flew, eyes were focused and every home cook was out of breath. Barrie and Trevor opted for an elevated hunter’s meal of venison while Mai and Thea opted for a surf and turf of bison steak and scallops to reflect their home provinces. Barrie and Trevor worked side by side but without collaboration, trusting each other to pull their weight. Thea and Mai, meanwhile, made recommendations to each other and kept up the advice, and Mai threatened to take over. Which method of working would end up being the winning formula? Remember that it was Thea and Mai’s conflicting advice that had a hand in Justine’s elimination a few weeks ago.

Barrie’s wine sauce for the venison and Thea’s scallops threatened to derail the plans of both squads. The sauce was fixed and the scallops weren’t, meaning that chunk of protein was ignored and Thea’s time had been wasted. Two layers of doneness on the venison was a knock against Barrie and Trevor; the same went for Mai and Thea as Alvin’s steak was overdone. You have got to nail the doneness on protein if you want to score well on MasterChef Canada and those misses were Week 1 mistakes.

Trevor and Barrie won, sending them into the Top 3 and Mai and Thea into the Elimination Challenge. For that, the pair would have to replicate a Hawaiian cloud dessert containing a ginger cookie, pineapple sponge cake and frozen kiwi hidden under a cotton candy cloud. It seemed like an impossible task for Thea and Mai to achieve—I’d love to see Alvin, Claudio or Michael make one—and it looked in the early going like a too-puffy cake would eliminate Mai. But Thea’s candy cloud was a tad deflated and her sponge cake too dense … but her tuille was perfect. Mai’s cloud was fluffier, but a piece of foil from the butter ruined her otherwise wonderful sponge cake.

Mai was eliminated from the competition, meaning Thea is headed to the Top 3 alongside Barrie and Trevor. MasterChef Canada is taking a break for one week during U.S. May Sweeps and returns May 25.

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MasterChef Canada airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.