After weeks of competition, countless dishes, tough challenges and buckets of tears, MasterChef Canada crowned a Season 2 winner: concrete worker David Jorge edged out Line Pelletier to take the title, trophy and $100,000 grand prize.

“I am the best home cook in Canada and no one can take that away from me,” David said moments after he was named winner, sharing the good news (and more than a few tears) with his wife, mother and two sons. He plans to use his windfall to start his own restaurant.

“I’m not going to give up because there is always another road to the finish line,” Line said after her close defeat. The finale was incredibly tight and I have to admit it did look like Line was going to snag the crown. Not only do cooking competitions tend to reward competitors who evolve week to week like she did, but her underdog story certainly made her one of the show’s sweethearts.

But nothing could stop David, whose culinary skills led him to numerous weekly wins and a spot at the top of the show almost every week.

In an interesting twist to what the pair did week to week, David opted for more rustic adaptations for his appetizer, main and dessert while Line went more high-class, proving she could compete with her counterpart. David’s early gaffe, leaving membrane on his sweetbreads, was erased by a stellar pork and seafood entree and layered lemon dessert. Line started off strong with a surf and turf app followed by an elk and potato main that landed a little left of the mark with judges Claudio Aprile, Alvin Leung and Michael Bonacini. I thought her dessert of a cheese plate was a little simplistic, though its multiple ingredients wowed the judging trio.

Unlike some cooking shows where one or more undeserving competitors squeak into the finale, I was pleased David and Line made it. Both definitely earned the right to be there and came off as giving, caring people who were respected by their fellow competitors.

Notes and quotes

• Guys, is the making a heart with your fingers still a thing?
• I really wish the editing for this episode had allowed us to see Line make those cool curled crackers for her appetizer.
• When Claudio is freaking out over time, like he was with David during the dessert round, you know you’re in trouble.

What did you think of this season of MasterChef Canada? Comment below or on Twitter via @tv_eh.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Sunday’s episode of MasterChef Canada boasted mothers … sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, wives, fathers and boyfriends as the folks the contestants left behindto compete were there to cheer them on. Yes, things got a little dusty both on the MasterChef Canada set and on my couch as Alvin, Michael and Claudio introduced the families of Line, Sabrina, Christopher, David and Cody and everyone shared an embrace.

And it was Line who came out as the big winner during “From Home with Love,” snagging her very first Mystery Box challenge—in front of her daughters, no less—and a coveted spot in the semifinals. Joining her there are Cody, Sabrina and David, who successfully navigated the most difficult Elimination Challenge so far.

Kudos to Line for using her past work in military intelligence in the MasterChef Canada kitchen. After observing her fellow competitors, she successfully threw both Cody and Christopher curve balls that put them in the bottom two. Giving Cody a crepe pan to use was genius; she correctly advised he would overthink what he had to do and stumble. Cody used a head-shaking 13 ingredients in three crepes and ran out of time on them, failing to finish plating completely. Luckily for him, what he managed to get onto the plate tasted good.

Christopher struggled with the meat grinder he was given and churned out a pork patty dry and devoid of flavour. Christopher was off his game all night and I blame the fact his parents and brother were there at the beginning. That seemed to throw off his focus and he never recovered. As a result, he was eliminated.

Sabrina wasn’t derailed by the pressure cooker she was handed; the Montreal native whipped off braised lamb on top of homemade pasta that had Claudio drooling.

And then there was David, who managed to make vanilla bean ice cream with thyme and lemon in under an hour and served it on top of a blueberry cake. Cooking and tempering custard for ice cream takes time and it needs to be cooled before it can go into the cooling chamber to make the frozen dessert. Somehow David pulled it off, and he and Line may very well end up being in the finale against one another.

Notes and quotes

• Whatever Cody ends up doing as a profession, surgeon should not be it. His hands shake way too much.
• “That is cookies and milk in dreamland!” Alvin is the best.
• “You are the only Chinese dude who is challenged by rice. — Claudio

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

“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.