Panic attacks and a carb overload take over the latest ‘MasterChef Canada’

We all knew the competition was getting fierce heading into the Top 5 installment of MasterChef Canada (Sundays, 9 pET on CTV). But “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” was next-level intense thanks to a battle over stuffed pasta, a full-blown panic attack, and a voting twist that left the remaining competitors in enemy territory.

Pasta and pressure for everyone

Things started off cordially enough as the Top 5—Andrew, Andy, Christopher, Mai and Thea—entered the kitchen on Sunday night. Right away they noticed that things were extra swanky too, because the set was decked out for a fancy dinner party. Even judges Claudio Aprile, Michael Bonacini and Alvin Leung were dressed a little more debonair than usual, and it totally set the tone. But not for long.

The night’s task was to create a cohesive but competitive five-course dinner party for eight, in an effort to bring the cooks back to a time when their real place to shine was in their very own dining rooms.

Each person would be responsible for one dish, but those dishes had to complement each other. No problem, right? Maybe not.

Right away, Mai called dibs on a stuffed dumpling, but Thea piped up that she really wanted to do a double-stuffed ravioli. Neither cook wanted to back down from her idea, and it left the other three cooks noticeably uncomfortable—especially when the women said the others had to decide which dish to go with.

Andrew tried to rein it in by organizing a theme, but he was far from successful, and in the end, the Italian-fusion dinner party cooks opted to do two stuffed pasta dishes (one meat, one seafood), along with a potato-squid dish from Andy.

Meanwhile, Christopher jumped on desserts and started plotting out a truffle mousse, which left Andrew to compromise with a starter. Considering how heavy the rest of the dinner was, he opted to do a lighter Caprese salad, which inevitably would be the night’s hardest creation to execute since it was also the simplest. So he set to work on smoking tomatoes and concocting interesting textures to take the dish to that next level.

But as all the chefs went to work, it was Thea who clearly bite off more than she could chew. From afar, the judges wondered why she would make it so hard on herself, throwing tough cuts of beef into a pressure cooker while making fresh pasta in under an hour.

Sure the competitor wanted to prove herself, but in the end, she proved that it is possible to overachieve in this kitchen. As her pressure cooker boiled over, she began to feel faint, and the entire cook halted as a medic was called in.

Anyone else in her position may have walked away right there. Not Thea though. After some ice and a time-out, she realized she had to keep going and was determined to put something on the plate despite the ticking clock.

The shadiest dinner party

With everyone’s dishes more or less ready, it was time to bring out the dinner party guests. But in yet another surprise twist, the judges revealed that the competitors would be dining with and judging one another. On one hand,, the cooks were pumped to ditch their aprons and put on some nice clothing, but on the other, they knew that they were going to have to criticize each other’s food… and some of them weren’t afraid to be strategic.

Andrew, who had to present first, seemed to take the criticism that his salad was only just fine in stride. He realized right away that while some of what his competitors had to say was valid, they’d all be gunning for each other in light of… well you know, winning this whole thing. So he played the opposite strategy and basically killed everyone else with kindness, which probably just made him more of a fan favourite and current frontrunner.

Andy, meanwhile, was the opposite, and he straight-up admitted that he voted based on strategy. So while he didn’t necessarily hate Christopher’s divisive ice cream and mousse, he wasn’t about to vote for it either.

Thea and Mai also both rated the dish on the lower end, but that was because they just weren’t fans, despite how much the judges loved it.

And speaking of the women, how did they stack up? Well, Mai’s lobster and spot prawn dumplings landed her the big old win (and a mysterious advantage in the next episode), while Thea snuck in behind Andrew in third. Although everyone was feeling sympathy for her, it was clear that the bite she did manage to incorporate on the plate was quite delicious.

That left Andy and Christopher in the bottom, and Christopher—who was visibly offended that his competition hated his dessert in spite of the judges praising it—unfortunately came in last. The good news was that as he prepared to say his goodbyes, Claudio stopped him.

“Regardless of the reason for their choice, you will not be going home today,” he said. Cue a giant exhalation from the dessert cook, who was probably already kicking himself at going out over a dessert.

“At this stage of the competition, the only people with the power to send someone home are the three of us,” Alvin added. “However, you will have a disadvantage in next week’s challenge.”

A disadvantage and probably some hard feelings. Regardless, stay tuned to find out what Christopher’s disadvantage is and learn what kind of advantage Mai will have when the show returns in two weeks (following the Oscars). The Top 5 will be back again to welcome a special guest star, Season 3 winner Mary Berg, as they participate in a dessert showdown that will definitely not include chocolate truffle mousse.

Watch MasterChef Canada Sundays at 9 pET on CTV and catch up here.

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