If it was me, I’d be too star-struck to make an omelette, much less anything high-end for Graham Elliot. And yet that’s exactly what was expected of the Top 8 on Sunday night. “Good Things in Small Packages” showcased not only the finalists preparing a dish utilizing ingredients the MasterChef U.S. judge had selected, but Canada as a cooking nation. Elliot was quick to celebrate the talents of this season’s home cooks, a fact that was cemented at the conclusion of the Mystery Box challenge when he, Michael, Alvin and Claudio tasted four plates rather than the usual three.

In something that has become a trend of this season, David impressed with his stuffed quail (he had expertly boned it prior to stuffing it) and won immunity from the Elimination Challenge.

Every season in the MasterChef franchise seems to feature that odd-looking, phallic sea creature known as the geoduck, and this year was no exception. The suggestive shellfish was one of three sea creatures David could choose to saddle his competitors with and he went with sea snails as conch. That move made perfect sense to David—assuming no one had prepared conch before—but he was dead wrong: Christopher and Jennifer both had recipes ready to go. Things might have turned out quite differently if the judges didn’t throw a massive twist at the finalists: after choosing their ingredients everyone had to move one station forward and use the ingredients chosen by their competitor instead.

What followed was mass confusion until the clock started to tick. Then everyone buckled down and got going—they only had 45 minutes to make something—and I was most impressed with Jon. Despite being a huge, burly CFLer, he showed great restraint and finesse with his sea snail and conch fettuccine with mushrooms, which was a hit with the judges. Christopher once again proved to be a tough chef to beat, wowing everyone with his paella and scoring the top dish of the night. Michael’s conch fritters were a close second.

Someone had to be on the bottom, and that fell to Tammy and Jennifer for their sub-par offerings. Tammy was shown the door.

Notes and quotes

• As soon as Line said she hoped Tammy would be in the finals I knew the mother of six was toast. There was no reason to have that comment in the episode if it didn’t foreshadow what was to come.
• “I’m going to be out of my comfort zone working with these itty-bitty ingredients.” — Jon
• The look on David’s face when Jon slapped his butt was priceless.
• I’m sorry guys, but the making a heart out of your hands is done.

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

Sunday’s newest episode of MasterChef Canada, “Wedding on the Waves,” was notable for a couple of reasons. First, it featured perhaps the most difficult Team Challenge so far—making a three-course wedding dinner on a boat for 70—and it saw the expulsion of two strong home cooks during the Pressure Test.

Andrew, who I thought had a very good chance of competing in the season finale, and Cody saw their fates sealed when they ran into the buzz saw that is a French fruit tart. Cody has been an up-and-down competitor who has the confidence to win but was betrayed by an ego that made big promises he couldn’t deliver.

The pair were both members of the losing blue team earlier in the episode thanks to a three-course meal that was skimpy on big flavours and fraught with bad time management. Andrew had rightly given his team the chance to shine during each of their courses, but he didn’t step in at the right moments and confusion reigned. Appetizers were tabled missing key ingredients and that as enough to hand them defeat.

Michael, on the other hand, was an astute and canny leader, knowing when to step in and take charge on the boat, a key move that got them back on track after a canapé was served with a hair in it. To the bride. Some crews would have been deflated and easy to beat, but not the red squad. Michael bucked up their confidence and they walked away with the win thanks to a winning canapé from Sabrina and a beautiful plating of their duck breast main course.

Once the Pressure Test began, I targeted Cody, Andrew and Jon for elimination. All three fumbled along the way, but Jon’s tart won out despite being a little light on pastry cream. Andrew had plenty of cream but it lacked flavour and Cody forgot to put raspberries on his tart, a major sin in a replication challenge.

Who do you think will win MasterChef Canada? Comment below or via Twitter @tv_eh.

Notes and quotes

• Toronto’s harbourfront beautiful? Sure, if you ignore the construction and fishy smell.
• Having your wedding featured on MasterChef Canada is certainly a way to make the memories last forever.
• I would have eaten Sabrina’s fig-proscuitto flower. Who am I kidding? I would have eaten 10 of them.
• It sure looked windy and cold out there on that boat.

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

You’re only as good as your last dish. Michael Bonacini’s point was certainly driven home on Sunday when David found himself in the bottom two next to Kwasi. It was a pretty stunning fall for David, who has up until this point wowed the judges with his creative take on several recipes, earning him challenge wins and spots as team captain.

And yet it almost ended during “One Potato, Two Potato,” first when his red team and Sabrina’s blue team lost the Team Challenge to Line’s ragtag group of misfits on the green squad. I was sure that David’s bacon-topped poutine would win him votes from hungry University of Guelph students, and they very well might have if the contest had taken place right after the campus pub closed for the night. Instead, the kids—seemingly sober after a day full of classes—opted for Line’s butter chicken on fries and she walked away with the win and safety for her team.

That meant strong chefs like Michael, Christopher, Sabrina and Cody battled it out in the Elimination Challenge re-creating tortellini for the judges. And though Cody, Sabrina and David were confident their flavours would triumph, all three were criticized for lacklustre attempts. Luckily for them, Kwasi’s African and Italian-inspired pasta filling confused the judges, leaving them the easy task of sending him home.

Notes and quotes

• I had no clue the University of Guelph had that agricultural program. Is it too late for me to enrol as a mature student?
• Michael Bonacini can talk about “perfectly seasoned gravy” all he wants. University kids aren’t picky when it comes to scarfing down poutine after a night at the campus pub.
• “Grab your potatoes!” Alvin makes everything sound dirty.
• Alvin is the huggiest judge of Season 2.
• As a judge, I’d be worried there was finalist sweat in my food.

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

Competing on a show like MasterChef Canada is an exercise in skill and humility. You may be excellent at what you do, but if you show up your competitors too much or—even worse—the judges, you will get burned for it.

Such was the situation Michael and Cody found themselves in on Sunday night.

Michael, who has never shown a lack of confidence in anything he’s done, was once again slapped down by Michael, Alvin and Claudio for his pretentious plating during the Elimination Challenge. Roasting three vegetables, creating a cylinder of truffle mashed potatoes and grilling a hunk of lamb and placing them on a long white plate may have looked cool, but it made him a target. Claudio especially took umbrage with Michael’s plating and ripped him for salty potatoes.

Cody, meanwhile, one-upped Michael in his douchebaggery by nullifying his Mystery Box win and participating in the Elimination Challenge. Why? Because he really wanted to cook with Season 1 winner Eric Chong’s favourite ingredient: truffles. Clearly riding an adrenaline high, Cody’s decision to compete was a slap in the face to the judges who had given him the win. Dude, if the judges tell you you’re safe and to go to the gallery … YOU GO TO THE GALLERY. Instead, Cody tried too hard to impress everyone and was on the verge of going home.

Thankfully for he and Michael, Kevin once again crashed an burned with an insipid-looking egg and asparagus dish that had a smattering of truffle on it. Kevin, the chef who included puff pastry wrapper in one recent recipe, was shown the door.

Next week, team captains David and Sabrina lead their teams to the University of Guelph where they’ll make poutine for a bunch of students.

Notes and quotes

• I would have made a pizza with caramelized onions, roasted garlic, brie, smoked gouda and proscuitto on it.
• When did Cody injure/burn himself? I either missed it or it happened off-camera.
• “Essence of unicorn… angel tears…” — Jennifer mocking Cody
• “They seem like they’re just overpriced little turds.” Quote of the night from Kwasi
• “That’s like me … yellow magic.” Um, what, Alvin?

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV; the show is pre-empted for the JUNOS this coming Sunday.

MasterChef Canada suffered its first call for medics on Sunday night, and it had nothing to do with the high-flying folks of Cirque du Soleil’s show Kurios: A Cabinet of Curiosities. Instead it was frontrunner/former Canadian military member Line who needed medical attention, though not because she cut or burned herself.

Turned out the stress of her Blue Team losing to Andrew’s Red Team during the Team Challenge and a lack of ingesting enough liquids caused the curly-haired home cook to collapse moments after saving herself from the Pressure Test. (Line is fine and returns next week according to the tease for next Sunday’s episode.) Would you have saved yourself from the Pressure Test? Though former CFLer Jon was quick to jump on Line for doing that, I’m pretty sure I would have done the same if I was in her position. After all, MasterChef Canada is a competition, not a summer camp.

Sunday’s “Juggling Act” marked the show’s first Team Challenge, and the all-important first peek at who is rubbing everyone the wrong way. That person is always the last to be picked on a team, and when Jennifer was the one I wasn’t surprised. She’s either super-annoying or being edited that way and was added to Line’s squad last.

It didn’t take long for Jennifer to grate on Line’s nerves because she didn’t know how to use a mandolin; the resulting comments from her team leader left Jennifer in tears and Alvin warning Line that she was being too hard on Jen. Andrew’s team was the polar opposite, a squad full of free thinkers and free-wheeling, a recipe that often results in disaster but in this case secured Andrew and the Red Team a win.

Back in the MasterChef Canada kitchen, the Red Team was tasked with making the French Canadian treat tourtière for the judges. And, after Blue saved Jennifer from elimination and Line took a tumble after saving herself, the remaining cooks got down to business. Having experience making tourtière myself, I know it’s important not to over-season with herbs and cloves and to make sure the meat filling is thick and juicy. Unfortunately, Debra’s wild boar offering was too dry and she left a bay leaf fragment inside, a major no-no. Tammy, meanwhile, foundered because she added too much apple and rosemary to the middle, drawing the attention away from her protein.

In the end it was Debra who was forced to hang up her apron and depart the MasterChef Canada kitchen.

Note and quotes

• Who else caught the llama head in the first two minutes of the episode? Coincidence or shout-out to last week’s escaped animals?
• I’m stealing Jon’s idea of tin foil and hotel pans to keep the heat in on an outdoor grill.
• “I’m so sorry I forgot my lollipop, because there are a whole bunch of suckers here.” I’m not sure what that meant, but clearly Michael meant it as a diss.

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