Gordon: Previously on "MasterChef"...
Wuta, I'm sorry.
Your journey's come to an end.
Season 10!
Tonight...
Welcome to the MasterChef speedway.
You are officially in the top 10 of "MasterChef."
...It's a full throttle team challenge.
You're gonna cook for the drivers and their pit crews.
Whoa.
Only the winning team
will claim immunity at the finish line.
We have 100 orders.
Boom shaka-laka, we're cooking.
- Guys, it's raining. - Look at our station.
That oil is getting screwed.
Rain is not stopping play, okay?
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
Jamie: We're not just behind the eight ball,
we're behind the whole pool table at this point.
- Oh, my gosh. - Guys, guys,
we're going sideways on these salmon.
That is ice cold. Oh, my god!
( music playing )
- This is so exciting. - My gosh, this is a racetrack.
- Look at this eight-mile track. - Awesome.
- Crossing the road! - Let's go, one, two three.
Whoo, it's downhill.
I am now top 10.
My confidence is through the roof.
We pull into this big racetrack.
I'm not much of a racetrack kind of girl,
but my dad really loved Nascar
and taking us to the racetracks when we were younger,
and so I feel like I can handle this.
( engine revving )
Oh, boy. That sounds like a dadgum v8.
- Oh, look. - Oh, my gosh.
Wow.
- Look at that. - Oh, my god.
- That's Gordon. - Whoo!
Gordon's in orange.
Oh, boy.
I feel like I'm in the south again.
Ooh, the orange one's catching up.
- Ooh! - Yeah!
- Called it. - Yay!
Oh, Gordon was in orange.
That's so cool. Wow.
- ( brakes squeal ) - oh, my gosh.
Unbelievable.
- Yay! - Well done!
Whoo-ee!
- Oh, boy. - Man.
Welcome to the MasterChef speedway.
Guys, you are officially in the top 10 of "MasterChef."
come on, how cool is that?
Now, today we want you to split yourselves up into teams.
We want to see two teams of five. Let's go.
- What are you thinking? - Yep, yep.
Every person has just congealed into Jamie's armpits.
- Yep, yep. - I'm like, all right, everyone's with Jamie,
so I immediately realize I'm just gonna back up.
- Noah, Noah. - Noah?
- Here, let's go over here. - Let's go. Done.
- Well, isn't that social darwinism at its finest? - How did this team form?
Uh, the three of us haven't lost in a team challenge yet,
so we want to try to keep that streak alive.
Sarah, what was the attraction over here first?
Dorian and Jamie were definitely a big attraction over on this team.
Micah's shown so much improvement throughout this competition,
it's just awesome, and I know Subha's hungry for a win.
Both teams, have a 30-second discussion
and come up with a team captain. Hurry up.
- Circle up, guys. - I've worked in restaurants before.
I know how a line needs to run. I know how...
Micah: I really want to be team captain today.
This is my time to step up and prove to the judges
that even though I'm the youngest,
I can lead a team to victory.
My vote's for Minnesota, don't you know?
It's your time to shine. It's your time to shine.
I have complete faith. We'll listen to everything you say.
Shari: It feels amazing.
Unanimously, they're choosing me,
and I think it's time to prove myself.
I can do this, too.
You guys, who's the captain and why?
Unanimously, we decided on Shari.
She's calm under pressure and composed,
and I believe that she'll lead us to victory.
Today, the challenge is absolute, utter madness.
I have two kids speeding around me all the time.
30 cars speeding around you today. A bit different to kids.
You guys, give us an insight to the captain and why.
We decided that I'll be the captain.
- Wow. - I've worked in restaurants before.
I've been in expo. I know how the front of house needs to go,
I know how back of house needs to go.
I love the confidence.
You're a pot washer in a restaurant.
Right now, but I've worked in others, chef.
Fine. So, Micah, you are the captain of the red team.
Shari, you are captain of the blue team.
- Please put on your aprons. - This is the top 10 of "MasterChef."
the finale is just around the corner,
so I have to get immunity.
Now, this afternoon, you're gonna have to cook
for the hardworking drivers and their pit crews
that are racing in today's incredible qualifier.
To help us learn more, we have a very special guest.
- Oh, boy. - Oh, man.
Please welcome Nascar hall of famer Bobby Labonte.
Awesome. Unreal. There he is!
Unbelievable! There he is.
- So good to see you. - Yeah, glad to be here.
Noah: I've watched this guy go around the track
literally thousands of times.
So for me to meet this southern gentleman,
- it's an honor. - Welcome to the MasterChef speedway.
Congratulations on all the success.
What's the fundamental importance of food on race day?
Oh, well, if you think about it,
we're in a race car for three and a half hours.
Could be 100 degrees.
Burning over 2,500 calories every Sunday
- is a lot of work. - Amazing.
These hard-working drivers and their pit crews
do work up an incredible appetite.
And you, today, will have to feed all of them.
You two teams will have to make a hearty meal
for 100 hardworking people.
That's a lot of food to get out, guys.
You will have 75 minutes to prep those dishes,
and you better be ready to deliver on time.
Today, Aarón and I will be in the kitchens
making sure you stay on course.
And Joe will be out with the crowd
getting the feedback from this incredible lunch.
But, ultimately, we will be making the final decision.
One team will be safe
and the other will be facing elimination.
- Bobby, would you please do the honors? - Yes.
Home cooks, start your oven!
Let's go! Your time starts now, let's go!
All right, y'all. Let's go, let's go.
Micah: All right, guys, I'm thinking chicken.
If we can keep it warm, it's gonna stay juicy.
- I definitely was thinking polenta to go with. - Okay.
I need to stake my claim in this competition as somebody who's strong, willful...
- What are some vegetable options? - Carrots go great
with chicken and polenta.
And listens to the people on their team...
- What about a sauce? - We can do the nice citrus glaze.
- I love that, yeah. - Gorgeous.
...And truly communicates effectively.
You're gonna be helping Jamie with the chicken, Sarah.
Dorian, roasted carrots. Subha, you're gonna be on polenta.
- I'm gonna be checking in with you. - Got it.
And then I'm gonna be working on that citrus glaze.
- Red team on three. One, two, three. - All: Red team!
Let's do crispy skin salmon. What do you guys think for starch?
- Potatoes go great with salmon. - Fingerling potatoes.
- Okay, I like that. - How about with rosemary quartered?
I have the dream team.
Nick, Noah, you guys are gonna be doing the salmon,
but you're also gonna get these potatoes prepped.
- Absolutely. - Perfect.
Nick is amazingly creative,
and he can nail a protein.
Noah can cook anything.
Bri, beurre blanc, fred on the haricot vert.
And then I'm gonna be helping you guys.
Bri and fred, they're both amazing platers,
and I know they're gonna knock the sauce and the veg out of the park.
- Blue team! - Crispy skin salmon is amazing,
but it's gonna be a nightmare
to get 100 portions consistent,
so I'm trying my best to get through my green beans
so I can go and help everyone else.
Okay, boys, how's it looking?
It's looking awesome, Shari.
So, our first ever MasterChef speedway.
I love being on the racetrack.
Now, the captains, fascinating choice.
The blue team put forward, by unanimous decision, Shari.
What was all that about?
I think that leading a team to victory
is the next stage in her evolution.
If we can get everything prepped, we're gonna be sitting golden.
She's cooking as well as she ever has.
This is her time to shine.
She can bring the blue team to victory.
You're gonna need some butter cubes.
Let me start cubing some butter.
Now, the red team, the big shock for me
is that the youngest steps up at 19
and wants to lead a team with Jamie,
Sarah, Dorian, and Subha. Come on.
How many carrots do you want on each plate, Micah?
Five. I like odd numbers.
I think Micah's time has come.
He's a pot washer. He has the experience
of being in an industrial kitchen.
Maybe, with all the "MasterChef" experience today,
he could lead the red team to victory.
Red team, blue team, just over 20 minutes
till the judges' tasting.
- Ready to go, salt? - No, no, Subha. It's got to be boiling first.
Okay. Oh, oh, okay, cool. All right.
Subha's technique with what he wants to do with the polenta
is not how it should go down.
- Subha? - Yep?
- Listen to me. - Yes.
- Leave that alone. It's gotta boil, okay? - Got it, got it.
If you're moving it around with a spoon,
- do you know what that does? - Yeah, no, I'm not moving...
just listen. I'm trying to help you.
If you move it around with a spoon, it cools it down, right?
- Okay. - So why don't we start prepping this
instead of watching water boil?
- Yeah. - Subha, let's grab a knife
and start prepping this stuff instead of watching water boil.
All right, okay, good.
I just can't put this polenta in his hands.
I just... ( groans )
a part of me just knows that it's gonna be a train wreck.
So you know what to do with this rosemary, right?
Take it off the stem, pull all those off,
and then we'll chop them up fine.
If I can prevent him screwing up the daggum polenta
by putting him on chopping some herbs,
I don't care if we're using the herbs or not, I gotta do it.
All right, captain Shari, what's the dish?
We are doing a crispy skin salmon with a citrus beurre blanc,
fingerling potatoes with rosemary dust,
and then we also have the haricot vert,
which are gonna be finished on the grill.
Here's my one concern.
Crispy skin is massively ambitious.
A hundred portions.
If it doesn't work out, we'll tear it off.
Tearing it off is gonna ruin the integrity of the product.
Who's gonna be responsible for making 100 portions of crispy skin salmon?
Shari: Noah and Nick are gonna be on the salmon,
and then I'm gonna be around to help out.
I feel really good about my team,
really good about my team.
- Good luck. - Okay, thank you.
Red team, give us an insight to the dish. What are you doing?
So, we have herb chicken with a citrus glaze,
creamy polenta, and tri-colored carrots.
How are you splitting the team up? Who's doing what?
Subha right now is working on the rosemary,
and then Sarah's on the chicken,
Dorian is working on the carrots, and Jamie's trying
to figure out the polenta right now.
And how are we roasting the carrots?
We blanched them and now we're roasting them.
Good. I want to see a dish in eight minutes, please.
Heard, chef. Eight minutes, guys.
Yes, chef.
- ( thunder ) - look.
That cloud over here is coming towards us.
- That looks ominous. - ( thunder )
guys, it's raining.
Look at our station. Oh, my gosh.
That oil is getting screwed.
Water is just getting poured in the fryer oil,
which, if anyone knows anything,
oil and water do not mix.
Ooh, this is just dangerous.
I knew it was gonna be a monsoon, baby!
( thunder )
oh, my god.
Sarah: It's pouring, and there's no way we can make
all of this chicken in an oven,
so we need to figure out something really fast
so that our whole dish doesn't go down the drain.
Micah: Guys, let's go!
( thunder )
- oh, my god. - This sucks.
It is a torrential downpour.
- ( thunder ) - let's get those covers on.
- Cover the kitchens. - Cover the kitchens up?
Aarón: Let's do that.
Gordon: Guys, can we get these over?
Joe: It's a little wet, but you'll be all right now.
- Oh, my god. - Ahh!
Yay! To the rescue. Thank you.
Watch out, guys, please. Stop chopping for two seconds.
Everything is slippery, so now we've got to be really vigilant,
we gotta be really safety conscious.
- Watch out. - Yes, sir.
I've never cooked in rain like this.
I've cooked in a lot of crap before.
I mean, some ridiculous things...
on the appalachia trail, bears around you,
but this is just nuts.
- We gotta start hustling. - Oh, my god.
Red team, blue team, two minutes, guys, until the judges' tasting.
- Yes, chef. - Rain is not stopping play, okay?
- Okay, can I have some sauce? - Here you go, potatoes.
- Bri, get up there for the plating. - Yeah.
- Carrots underneath, maybe? - Yes, that's what I wanted to do.
Got the green beans laying out. Green beans, perfect.
- That looks delicious. - That's a good job.
- Okay. - So, describe the dish, please.
Shari: We have a crispy skin salmon
with haricot vert and a citrus beurre blanc
with roasted fingerling potatoes
with a little bit of rosemary dust.
The color of the salmon looks beautiful.
When you have potatoes that good, they don't need to be cut into small little bits.
- They cut them all already, Gordon. - Ah.
So that's the only bit. It looks a bit amateurish.
Do you want to see the cook on the salmon?
- Shall we? - Who cooked it?
Nick cooked the salmon, and it does have a little
salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Looks good. - Looks good.
You think you could do 100 like that?
That's a tall order.
I'm really hopeful that we can.
So, the salmon, you've nailed beautifully.
Um, that beurre blanc, you don't put a smear of that on.
- It needs to be a sauce. - Yeah.
The beans are bland. The beans need help.
- Maybe some almonds? - Yeah, I like that idea.
Shallots, garlic... it just needs a lift.
Here's the other thing. Take that rosemary and toss the potatoes with it...
- Yeah. - ...To lift them up, because you're getting
- one bite with rosemary and one without. - Sure.
You made an excellent dish. The question is, can you make 100?
I really think we can.
It's about how you drive the team.
- Great start. - Thank you so much, guys.
- Let's do a quick huddle, guys. - Absolutely.
Beans need more flavor, so we're gonna have to squeeze some more lemon,
- and also let's get some almonds. - Okay.
The cut up potatoes, we're gonna toss them
in the rosemary after they come out.
- Okay. - We need more beurre blanc.
They want it to be a sauce.
Salmon was absolutely perfect.
So we need to do it every time.
If we have all six of those going
- and all six of those going? - And this grill.
You want to do a test run on this grill right now?
- Let's throw one on the grill. - All right.
Nick: There is a lot of responsibility
in taking the role of the salmon.
You could hide and do something simple
and not really push yourself,
and you'd probably get through the challenge just fine.
But for me, I want to see if I can handle
100 pieces of salmon.
To get to that finale, you have to take these sort of risks.
Right, Micah, describe the dish.
Micah: We have a herb chicken with roasted carrots,
a goat cheese polenta, and a citrus glaze.
So, visually, it looks nice.
The carrots look a bit undercooked.
Joe: A little bit too much crunch in them.
Yeah, they're still a little bit raw.
- Gordon: Who made the polenta? - Jamie.
The polenta's good. It's cooked well. It needs more fat.
It needs more goat cheese. It needs to be lifted up, okay?
- Who cooked the chicken? - That would be Sarah.
First she put grill marks on it,
then she finished it in the oven.
The chicken cook is beautiful.
Up the seasoning on it, and just get that polenta richer.
Someone has to take care of the seasoning.
Spice up the chicken, fatten up the polenta,
get it right, make it yours,
own it, and then own the responsibility of it.
- Yes, Joe. - Good start, though. On your way.
All right, guys. Team meeting, right here.
Sarah, they said the cook was excellent, but they want a little bit more spice,
- a little bit more seasoning. - Okay, what are you thinking?
Maybe just a little bit of cayenne, bring it up.
Okay, I don't think we have cayenne, but I'll check.
They have cajun seasoning back there, too.
- Just a little bit. - Just a smidgeon,
just to give it a little taste.
The carrots are just a little underdone.
- Okay. - And then, Jamie, they just want
a little bit more butter and more goat cheese,
but they said that this was a really excellent dish,
and I am confident that we're going in the right direction.
- Okay, let's go. - Micah: This is a lot of pressure.
Joe basically tells me, if this dish is under-seasoned,
your head's on the chopping block.
But we can correct seasoning,
and I will taste every single element
before we put it on a plate.
- I got this. - How's this new batch of sauce tasting?
Dorian: You taste it and you tell me.
Don't let nothing go past you without checking it.
- Delicious. - Bam.
- Dorian, I love you. - I love you back, baby. I love you back.
So, the blue team, salmon, skin down, crispy,
done in nonstick pans, 100 portions... it's a tall order.
- You're working on that salmon, right, Noah? - Absolutely.
Did you oil that before you put it on?
Yeah, we oiled the living ( bleep ) out of it.
This thing has got temperature problems.
If I see salmon going out with torn skins, some skin, some no-skin?
Disaster. An embarrassment.
Nick, I'm not getting enough heat over here, buddy.
We're gonna have to concentrate more over there.
It's all right, we got this, Noah.
I'll be fast enough over here.
This grill just does not get this damn pan hot enough.
My question for the red team is can Micah take responsibility
for the seasoning that needs to happen in that dish?
- Yeah. - Does he have the palate?
- Are these fully seasoned? - No, not yet.
- I was getting these first. - All right.
Gordon: Well, that's the issue.
He needs to be strong with Jamie
and make sure that polenta is seasoned beautifully.
Sarah cooking the chicken... seasoning it beautifully.
So that needs the voice of the captain to step up.
If the captain doesn't step up, the red team have lost.
Micah, how's this consistency looking right here?
That's perfect.
Red team, blue team, our drivers are about to hit the track.
- Dorian: We got this. - Come on, go, go, go.
- Let's get excited! Let's go, let's go! - Whoo! Yay!
- Oh, they're going, they're going! - They're going, guys!
- Ahh! - Oh, my god. This is so cool.
- Let's go! - Start busting it out. We have 100 orders.
Keep it going, guys. We gotta go as fast as those race cars, guys.
- Nick: Come on, let's go. - We gotta knock this out.
Shari: I'm feeling really stressed
because the cars are so loud.
It's chaos.
Guys, 10 laps to go!
Time is running out, and 100 portions is a lot.
I mean, there's only five of us doing this.
Sometimes you bite off more than you can chew,
and doing crispy skin is such a high standard to uphold.
Get yourself another tray ready to go, Noah.
- Absolutely. - So I'm really hoping
that we can somehow pull this off.
Shari: We gotta start plating soon.
Noah: Focus, focus. Guys, focus.
- Guys, five laps to go. - Let's go, let's go, let's go!
There's plenty of space in that oven.
- Let's get 'em in. - Hot pan, heard.
Micah, start visualizing who's going to help you dress the plates.
Sarah's gonna help me with plating.
Sarah, I'm gonna go get the plates set out, yeah?
Make sure that you're facing all the m's the same way, Micah.
You know what, Micah? She's been cooking this chicken the whole time, right?
Let's not move her from something she's already doing right.
I trust you, I trust her. I want her up front.
Jamie: This is a bad decision.
The judges have just told us our chicken's perfect.
There's no reason for Sarah to leave the grill.
I don't think it's a good deal.
If she's not messing up, let's let her do her thing.
That one needs to be flipped really soon.
- You got 'em all? - Yep.
All right, Shari, how we doing?
I think we're doing good, chef.
We're getting the salmon in the oven.
You want to season the next one?
Pull that one right here, Nick.
Okay, Bri, as soon as you're done,
I'm gonna need you up on plates.
Nick: Shari, someone has to be on the potatoes.
I got the first batch right here.
They're not quite, like, super crispy,
but they're cooked through.
We can start plating now. What's the first wave?
- How many dishes are we doing? - 15, chef.
That's why it's important one person cooks the chicken,
so they know everything's there.
I don't like handing that over
when you've cooked it so beautifully, Sarah.
I agree.
Put him up there with you.
I can finish these, he can plate.
Jamie, I got you. You ready? I'll show you.
If she's been doing a good chicken,
we need to let her keep doing good chicken.
Also, in her mind, she knows the first tray,
the second tray, the third tray,
- so I never change that over. - Exactly.
It's catastrophic, okay?
Micah, being a good captain, says,
"you know what? You guys are right.
Let's keep Sarah where she is
because she's doing a great job."
smartest move we could make all day.
I need you to take the sauce
and just do a little ring. Little ring.
And then the last thing to go on
- is going to be the chicken, yeah? - Okay.
Red team, blue team, they're on their final lap. Let's go!
- Let's go, guys, come on! - Come on, everyone!
Joe: We need 30 plates to go up in the next three minutes.
Aarón: Let's go, guys. Move, move, move!
- I need potatoes over here. - Coming with hot tray!
Fred, they're haricot vert. You're not removing someone's appendix.
Use your fingers and put them on the plate.
- What... - they didn't get as crispy, no.
- Oh, my lord. - They're more like just roasted.
Oh, dear. There's grease, and we got a beurre blanc
and we've got oily fish, so it's like...
- it's a lot of grease. - Blue team,
you're now presenting a potato that we didn't taste.
It's a completely different dish.
Noah, can you get these potatoes on a sheet pan?
I got it. I'm deep frying.
Right here, Noah. Get 'em done.
The potatoes don't get fried, so they're real oily,
- which is no good. - Watch the fish.
- The fish needs to be pulled. - Put 'em in there.
All we have to change is deep frying the potatoes
and then tossing the rosemary salt on them,
which is the whole plan,
which Shari didn't execute the first time.
- Thank you. - Got it.
So we have to get our communication
to where it needs to be because it's not going well.
Noah: Stay focused, guys.
Red team, blue team, the race is over
and our diners are arriving.
- Let's go! - Joe: Guys, this is it.
Aarón: Let's start putting it into second and third gear.
Come on, we can do this.
- Here they come. - Let's go!
- We need to have those done right now. - Here they come.
Make sure we check that chicken, guys.
I don't want raw chicken. Let's go, hurry up.
- Hey, hey! - Good to see you, bud.
- What have you got for us? - We have the amazing chicken and polenta.
Please pick up the chicken. Next door for the salmon.
Hey, guys, let's get excited!
Micah: The diners start lining up,
and I'm having, like, flashbacks
to when I worked in fast food
and we just had lines out the door.
And I kick it into that third gear.
Gentlemen, if you see a chicken on the plates
with a glaze, these are finished plates.
Now we've got a system going here, yes?
- Please enjoy. - Thank you very much. Good luck.
If this doesn't win, I don't know what will.
I'm extremely proud of it.
Here we go. Enjoy, guys.
Service starts, and Nick and Noah
seem to have that salmon under control,
and our plate looks amazing.
- Here you go, sir. - We have 30 plates down,
70 to go, so I think we're doing great.
All right, guys, give me 15 more plates
- after these go out, okay? - Got it.
I got you with the sauce. I'm right behind you.
Dorian: The plates are absolutely gorgeous.
To think that we're on a racetrack
putting out this food is phenomenal.
Thank you so much.
We're moving like a locomotive,
and there is just no stopping us.
Hello, everyone. How y'all doing?
So, anyone loving something, hating something?
I like the red team because each item, to me,
had a different seasoning, but they complemented each other.
- What'd you think? - They're both good.
I really like the salmon, though.
Really? What'd you like about it?
The flavor, preparation, the cut, everything.
All right, guys, let's not get complacent.
I need another round,
and another round after this.
Touch that. That's not even crispy anymore.
Shari: You guys, the salmon skin needs to be crisper!
- Hey, we've gone down now. - We have extra pieces, Shari. Most of them are crispy.
Shari: I need 'em guys.
How you doing, folks?
Everyone enjoying their salmon and chicken?
The blue team started out perfect,
- and then we got to the middle of ours. - Oh, it's raw.
Oh, my god. All right, you know what? I'm gonna take it back.
- I'm sorry about that. - Thank you.
- Noah, I need a system. - Yes, chef.
- Right now, we're all over the place. - Yes, chef.
Guys, guys, we're going sideways on these salmon.
- Oh, no. - The big pieces are raw,
the smaller pieces are cooked properly.
So we need two salmon on the fly that are cooked through.
Shari, can we use one of these?
Yes, those should be good, chef.
Oh, my lord. It's raw.
So, they're crisping the salmon up, but no one's cooking it.
( bleep )
my role is to cook the salmon to get the skin crispy,
and Noah is supposed to be taking those salmon on a sheet tray
and finishing them in the oven while I go on to the next round.
But he's called over to do the potatoes,
and that's when we start sending out raw salmon,
because nobody is taking that salmon
and finishing it in the oven.
Shari really needs to step up
and figure out where there's a break
in this chain of communication across our team
or we're gonna continue serving raw salmon.
You know what? Scrap the crispy skin right now.
- What? - All skin off. It's not working.
- I'm sorry, Nick. - It's crispy.
These are crispy. Don't take the skin off.
Gordon: Blue team, blue team, blue team.
- Only if they're not crispy, okay? - I want them off.
At this point, the crispy skin salmon is too big of a risk.
We need to get back to basics and get these fish cooked.
- Noah, I need potatoes, please. - Heard.
Nick, I need the salmon now. Come on!
Guys, I got chicken in my hands. Go the other way, Subha.
Subha, we are moving this way. Why are you going that way?
Working with Subha is like having my three kids
in the kitchen trying to help.
Can I serve these? Sarah, can I serve these?
No. You need to put these on a smaller tray in the oven.
It's frustrating, but you just have to remember
some people communicate differently.
Subha, I thought you were doing the sauce.
- Yeah, I am getting the sauce. - The sauce is right here.
- Oh, okay. No, no, no. - That's olive oil.
- No, we have backup. - Please, god.
He is a good cook. He just doesn't do well on team challenges.
Subha, for the last time, put it down and work with two hands.
- Okay. - I can't have you holding one thing
- and just going one at a time. We're going to be too slow. - Okay, all right.
Heaven help me.
- We need salmon! - Blue team.
- Yes, chef? - Our guests are standing here with chicken in their hands.
Noah: Nick, how much time?
- Three minutes. - Shari: What's up with this?
- It's crispy. - These are done.
- Leave the skin on now? - These are really good.
- They're perfect. They're crispy. - Let's just serve these ones.
- You're the boss. - So, hold on. Blue team, is the skin back on now?
- The skin is back on. These are perfect. - Oh, my god!
- This is so confusing. - My apologies, I'm sorry.
Nick, you keep making them just like that, okay?
Breaking news, the skin's back on. Thank you.
At this point, I don't even care if the skin is on or off.
The skin means nothing to me.
I just want the fish cooked perfectly,
and I do not want raw fish going out here.
This one... chef, I think this one is good.
- You think? - Yeah, I...
I got more color underneath than I have on top.
- I know, chef. - Touch that there. Already that's raw.
- Yeah. - Look. ( bleep )
- the salmon is raw, you guys. - We are absolutely broken down.
Come on!
Chef, I think this one is good.
- You think? - Yeah, I...
touch that there. Already that's raw.
Look. ( bleep )
The salmon is raw, you guys.
Gordon: Hey, hey, hey. Time out.
( bleep ). All of you, come here. Come here.
The ( bleep ) skin's gone on. It's come off.
It's gone back on. It's gone back off.
And now it's ice ( bleep ) cold.
I've seen you guys work way better than this.
- Yes, chef. - You're the captain. Change it up.
- Yes, chef. - Have a meeting and get your ( bleep ) together.
- That is ice cold. Enough's enough. - Yes, chef.
- Enough's enough.
Okay, you guys, I do not want to worry
on wasting the time with the crispy skin now.
I know you love the crispy skin. I want the salmon cooked.
- No, it's your call. It's your call. - That's most important.
Gordon: Blue team, the skin's irrelevant.
Just cook the salmon beautifully.
That's what I'm saying. I just want them cooked.
And, Noah, when there's two of you cooking salmon,
- we never change that setup. - The grill wasn't getting hot enough.
- It wasn't searing the bottom... - but if we cook less at a time
- and better quality? - Yes, chef.
- 50 for you, 50 for Nick across an hour. - I'll do better, chef.
- I know you can nail that. - Yes, chef. Yes, chef.
- Noah, do you want to do it right there? - Yes, absolutely.
- All right. - I'm going on the back burner, chef.
- Let's go. - Gordon basically restructures the entire system
- that we have in our kitchen. - Nick, ten, ten, ten, ten. That's it!
He basically suggests that both myself and Noah
on two separate stovetops cooking the entire thing all the way through.
Brilliant, Nick. Brilliant. We're doing awesome.
- I think that's beautiful. - Off you go. Let's go.
- Perfect, guys. - You got it ready?
Sorry for the wait, guys.
Salmon is ready for you all, you guys.
Sorry about that. I'm so sorry for the wait.
I think that the flavors of our dish are really good.
But ultimately, executing it has been rough.
Shari as a captain needs to communicate better,
and also she needs to have a better sense of timing.
- Fred, you have your beans? - They're really hot.
- They're piping hot. - How long on my next salmon, Noah?
Behind you already! We're rolling, people. Let's keep it up.
These look beautiful, guys.
Two plates? Right here. Thank you.
I'm so sorry about the wait.
Okay, guys, come on. We got this.
Let's roll.
I've enjoyed both of them. That being said,
the red team chicken just didn't have the flavor that I was looking for.
Thank you so much. Enjoy.
The flavor here on the salmon was great.
The sauce was amazing. So overall, I am gonna go with the blue team's salmon.
Sarah: Subha, Subha, put this in the oven, please.
Micah, how many plates you got there? You got four pieces of chicken.
You guys are plating food without the chicken being ready.
It shouldn't work like that. I need chicken hot.
Guys, we need to have more chicken.
Guys, where's your chicken?
You got more in the oven, right, Jamie?
It's in the oven. We're just waiting on it right now.
Everything's getting cold sitting up there.
We're waiting on chicken. We're not just behind the eight ball.
We're behind the whole pool table at this point.
I need chicken over here.
I need this done really quickly or I'm gonna send it back.
Check the oven around the back.
Get me some chicken right now!
Micah, take those carrots, put it back there. We're starting over.
- Let's not serve ( bleep ). - Yes, chef.
Aarón makes us ditch 15 of our plates
because we didn't have chicken out.
I'm not serving these, okay, guys?
- We gotta reheat these. - We have to be careful,
because a slight slip-up will send you home.
You're plating food and you don't know how much chicken you got.
You gotta make sure all your product is nice and hot, okay?
This is not a race. They're the racers.
Okay? Let's go! Let's go, let's go, let's go!
- How long on the salmon? - One minute. It's, like, there.
Okay, great. We're doing good then.
- Yeah, we're good. - We're doing awesome.
Now we got a system showing. Let's go.
Chef Gordon was right. Nick and Noah are cooking the salmon beautifully.
It's all done on the stove. We're not putting anything in the oven.
Truthfully, we probably should have done that since the beginning.
- There you go. Good girl. - I need some sauce, guys.
- You want to win this, yes? - Yes, chef, I want to win.
- This one's ready. - Thank you.
- Thank you, Bri.
- Are those ready? - There is some chicken in here, okay?
- Let's check it. - There's about 12. Yeah. They should be good to go.
I put it on high heat. Ready to go.
- Well, that's why that's black. - You put it on high?
- Subha! - Just let me put it in. Turn it on.
- No, do not scrape it off. - Yeah, I'm not scraping off...
we will not serve it. We have more coming.
- What happened? - He put it right underneath the char
- and burnt the ( bleep ) out of it. - What the ( bleep )?
- Don't put it so close to the top. - I'm not putting it there.
Burnt chicken. Like, you're not even on the chicken, Subha.
He turned it on broil. Why? It was already grilled.
Like, what were you trying to accomplish?
- I shouldn't have to ( bleep )... oh, my god. - Whoo-hoo-hoo.
- Three chickens in here. - Oh, my gosh.
- Subha: All right, okay. Yes? - Sarah: What happened?
He put it right underneath the char and burnt the ( bleep ) out of it.
- That's okay. Come on, y'all. - Oh, my gosh.
- We're not serving that, all right? - What?
- We ain't gonna serve it, because we have 20. - No, I know.
I hope we have enough. I hope we have enough.
It is very frustrating.
Subha's not even cooking chicken,
and he managed to burn it.
I don't know how that's even possible.
We don't have that much. We needed that.
Sarah, can I give you a hand in turning the knob?
- No, no, no. I'm good. - No, you're good?
Keep your hands off my chicken.
- 20 plates to go. - I've got the potatoes.
- All right. Are they hot? - Yeah, they're hot.
- Green beans. This is hot. - Hand them to me, Nick. I can grab them.
Come on, blue team. Come on, come on, come on.
- That looks perfect. - Okay, bring them up, Noah.
- Hot, behind. - Thank you for waiting.
I'm sorry. Sorry for the wait.
Raise your hand if you think the red team's chicken is better.
Okay, all right. Raise your hand if you like the blue team's salmon.
Everyone except for you. You're the odd man out.
The salmon? Oh, my god. So good.
The chicken though, it was a little bit, you know, average.
Which one do you think has better flavor? You tasted the chicken.
You like the chicken. What do you like about it?
- It's just got really good flavor to it. - Seasoned well?
Seasoned very well.
Seven portions to go, guys.
- How many do we have? - Five, six, seven. We have seven.
- Seven. We're good? - Yes.
Come on, blue team. Come on, come on, come on.
Shari: All right, guys. Make 'em great.
Come on, let's finish strong.
All right, guys. Last couple of plates. Let's be consistent.
- Okay, here we go. - We need four more plates, Subha. Four more plates.
- Hey, this is the last of the chicken? - Yes, Sarah, that's it.
- Sarah, guess what. We're done, baby. - What?
- Fred, let's get some more potatoes on this. - Okay, absolutely.
- That's your best one. This one is split. - Let's go.
You're good, though. The flavor's there. All right, thank you.
So sorry for the wait.
- I'm so sorry. Thank you so much. - Enjoy.
Come on, why did that need to be that difficult?
- It didn't chef. - Have a debrief, work it out, and then start clearing down.
- Yes, chef. - Sorry, chef.
I'm so sorry.
So what it came down to was the salmon wasn't getting cooked.
It was the timing. I was yelling. I was feeling rushed.
I was tasked with searing off the skins, which I was doing with Noah.
- Yes. - And Noah initially was on putting them in the oven
- to finish them. - Yeah.
And then Noah gets called over to the potatoes,
so then nobody was doing the salmon.
That's on me. I'm sorry, guys.
Shari: If we could have just figured out this pacing
and cooked the fish on the stove entirely
instead of in the oven the whole time,
we would definitely have this in the bag.
You know what, you guys? I'm proud of you.
The food is gonna be great. That's gonna make us win this challenge.
The food is going to be delicious.
- I'm proud of us. - Me, too.
Hey, guys, we win together, and we lose together.
- I mean, that's it. - Look, this plate was killer.
I'm proud of every single one of you.
This is the type of energy,
the type of passion that I appreciate.
- Amen. - Same.
Red team on three. One, two, three.
- Red team! - Baby!
- Come on! - Yeah!
- All right, guys, nice dishes. - We got there. We had issues.
- Mixed results. - The blue team... skin on, skin off.
- I mean, you saw it. - Obviously, we had some temperature issues
- on the salmon. - Aarón: Red team...
had to put the seasoning on the chicken
because it was a little bit bland to begin with.
Yes. I think the idea of the cajun seasoning,
I think that helped lift it up.
- But we have a winner? - We have a winner.
Let's go.
Ladies and gentlemen, what a day.
We had rain, we had sunshine, we had a rainbow,
and I'm hoping we had some great food.
- You guys enjoy your lunch? - ( cheering )
And a very special thank you to our grand marshal
Bobby Labonte.
Thank you, sir. Amazing.
Glad to be a part of it, Gordon.
That was a very exciting race,
both on the track and in the kitchens.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, please give a huge round of applause
for both out red team and our blue team, ladies and gentlemen.
Okay, red team, blue team, very difficult job today.
The losing team, they tried their best,
but as we say, the wheels fell off.
We will see them in the elimination.
Aarón: But the fact of the matter is that one of these teams,
they had enough gas in the tank to go the full distance.
Today's winning team, Bobby, will you do the honors, please, sir?
Absolutely.
The team that will not face elimination...
The team that we judged to be best...
What? What's about to happen?
The winning team...
Is...
...The red team.
( cheering )
- good job, guys. I'm proud of all of you. - Good job, guys.
Micah. We finally did it.
This is Dorian's first win. This is Sarah's first win.
We did this together, and I'm absolutely on cloud nine.
Sorry, guys.
Red team, congratulations. Absolutely brilliant.
Great job. Consistent, strong, but more importantly,
- they loved your chicken. - Thank you! Thank you!
- Well done! - Thank you.
Blue team, a, you were inconsistent.
B, you had raw food.
And Shari, as a captain, you need to be dominant,
and you need to stick together as a team.
And unfortunately, the blue team were fragmented.
- Yes, chef. - Which means, of course,
you'll be facing a tough elimination challenge tomorrow
- back in the MasterChef kitchen. - Yes, chef.
Now, blue team, get back in there and clean down that kitchen, yes?
Red team, well done.
Now, go and say hello, high-five,
- and meet some incredible drivers... - Awesome.
- Thank you. - ...Mechanics, pit crew that loved your food.
- Off you go. - Finally, I'm on a winning team...
- Thank you so much. - Thank you, guys.
...And it feels absolutely phenomenal.
- Thank you. - Awesome, awesome.
I'm sorry, guys. It was my fault.
I should have been timing better and pacing us better.
Don't apologize. We win and we lose as a team.
- Yeah. - We lost. We gotta fight again.
We were weak! They didn't beat us. We beat ourselves.
That's the most frustrating part of this ( bleep )
is we lost because of us!
- Because we didn't stick to our guns. - Yeah, I know.
It's okay, we just have to cook for our lives
- and show why we're here. - Absolutely.
And that's why we're here, is to cook,
and by god, I'm bringing hell with me tomorrow.
Gordon: Coming up, a season 10 twist for red team captain Micah.
You get to pick any home cook from your team
who will also have to participate in tonight's elimination.
( music playing )
Welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.
Now, yesterday you fed race car drivers and their hard-working pit crews
an incredible lunch. Yes, it was a tight race,
but one team did take that checkered flag.
And that was the red team, captained by Micah.
- Well done. - Great job, guys.
- Good job, Micah. - Thank you.
- Good job, Micah. - Thanks, guys.
Uh, Micah, youngest in the competition, led your team to victory.
Made some pivotal decisions. How do you feel?
I feel really good. I'm very proud of our team.
We pulled it together, and we served a dish
that I would be proud to serve anytime, anywhere.
I saw a lot of discipline across the red team.
There was a voice in the captain,
and even though the captain may not have made
every decision perfectly, you just kept your head down,
and you did it.
It was almost in the bag
because you stayed with your structure.
And then, we had the blue team.
What on Earth happened?
We were really ambitious with what we wanted to do.
And it maybe got the best of us, our ambition.
I've never seen such a fragmented team in all my life.
Skin on, skin off. Raw.
The inconsistency was extraordinary.
- No structure. - Shari, I think, was just not understanding
that we could not make these salmons quicker.
It was just fire away, fire, fire, fire.
The tempo just never got set at all.
I'm disappointed.
I've seen you all shine individually way better than that.
Shari: I really wanted to prove myself,
and I really thought I could prove myself,
and this is a huge blow to my confidence.
I was the team captain, and obviously
I feel responsible that my team is down here with me.
Red team, you won that challenge, but...
You know season 10 is full of surprises,
and none of you...
Should ever feel completely safe.
Micah, as the winning team captain,
you will now receive a huge advantage,
an advantage that could propel you to the victory of this competition.
You get to pick any home cook from your team
who will also have to participate in tonight's elimination.
I think that some of this is gonna be strategy.
Micah, along with other competitors,
they feel like I am indeed a strong cook.
So I'm nervous. I'm very, very nervous.
We're in the top 10.
You need to think about who is your competition
and who do you need to get out of the way.
The target, 100% is on my back.
I don't know what he's gonna do,
but right now I'm just hoping it's not me.
The moment to decide your future is now, Micah.
In all honesty, Joe, for me...
( music playing )