Romance is in the air this week on, with the home cooks creating a romantic meal at the MasterChef restaurant. Then the cooks must make a beautiful box of chocolates during the dreaded pressure test.

Romantic Challenge

The remaining cooks start with an interesting team challenge. The MasterChef restaurant is opening this week and the pressure is on. The theme is love and the restaurant will be filled with 17 couples in love. “Romance is on the menu.”

Elizabeth and Ahran are team captains because they won the last challenge. Ahran isn’t excited, though, because she’s never been on a date. Elizabeth chooses Francis first. Ahran next chooses Big Willie. Elizabeth chooses Jaimee, Victoria and Courtney. Ahran chooses Christine, Christian and Leslie, which is a surprise. Elizabeth then chooses Daniel, which is what he wanted, so Ahran gets Cutter.

The teams get to choose from many proteins for their entrees and also have to make a romantic dessert an hour after the entre,es go out, so the cooks run to get started as fast as possible. Ahran’s team, the Red Team, is making lobster risotto and tiramisu, and Ahran’s very confident. She feels really respected even though she’s the youngest one there, but Leslie and Cutter might be a problem together. The Blue Team’s making a filet and a sponge cake, and Elizabeth’s very confident as well. She hasn’t been on a losing team yet.

The couples enter the restaurant and they’re ready for some romantic meals. Things start getting tense with the red team, though. Gordon Ramsay suddenly stops everything for a huge announcement. His wife, Tanya, is coming to fill the last table at the MasterChef restaurant. She came all the way from London, so the pressure is really on now. The Ramsays go to the restaurant and get everyone to start kissing, which is adorable.

The Blue Team starts having some trouble. They’re doing a test plate and Victoria realizes that their meat is too rare. This is a huge problem and there are only two minutes left. They have to rush to get it done. Both teams finish on time, but the steaks are still pretty rare.

The Ramsays try the dishes and they seem to like the Red Team’s dish pretty well. The Blue Team’s meat is too rare, but they like the rest of the dish. Joe goes up to a couple who’s celebrating their 65th anniversary and they don’t agree about the Blue Team’s dish.

Romantic Desserts

The cooks are hard at work on their desserts and Elizabeth’s worried they won’t get everything done in time. Cutter’s also freaking out. The Red Team’s having some plating issues and Cutter’s getting anxious. The teams finish and they’re both ultimately pretty confident.

The Ramsays think that the Red Team’s dessert looks messy and they can’t taste the raspberry. The Blue Team’s is better, but they don’t like the cream. Joe, meanwhile, talks to a couple right before the guy asks the girl to marry him. It’s really sweet and romantic.

Each couple has to decide which team to vote for together and leave that color in the check holder. In the end, the Blue Team wins with almost 75% of the votes, so the Red Team will have to go into the dreaded pressure test, and Ahran feels terrible.

Chocolate Pressure Test

The Red Team heads into the dreaded pressure test in their black aprons. Leslie’s feeling pretty confident, since this is his fourth one, but this is Christine’s first and she’s scared. They soon learn that they’re all going to be in the pressure test and they’ll have to make nine chocolate truffles with at least three different types. They have to be both delicious and pretty.

The cooks rush to get started on their truffles. This is the hardest pressure test they’ve had so far, and a lot of the cooks are saying that they’ve never done this before. Joe asks Cutter who he thinks is going home. He says it could be him, and he and Graham say everyone else thinks so too, so he should prove them all wrong. Ahran’s confidence took a beating after the last challenge too, so Gordon gives her a pep talk, while Christine’s getting really behind, but Courtney encourages her.

The cooks bring their chocolates up for the tasting. Cutter’s up first and his fate is really in the balance. He’s had a tough time the last few weeks, but he gives his chocolates a seven or eight. Graham calls them visually a 10 and everyone’s shocked he actually made them. Ramsay says that they look terrible, but it was just a joke. They taste really good too. Who saw that coming? Cutter’s making a comeback and Leslie’s not happy.

Christian’s up next and his go over okay. It should have had more pretzels. Big Willie’s don’t look so great. Gordon even asks to borrow his glasses. The taste is also ruined by his sprinkles. Ahran’s really nervous about hers, but they’re not terrible. Leslie’s look terrible. People actually gasp, and Gordon says they look like they’ve been molded from his armpits. They don’t taste too good, either. Christine’s aren’t round enough and they’re too bitter. She’s pretty upset.

Elimination

Cutter’s called up first and Joe says that he proved him wrong. He tells him to have everyone taste his chocolates, and Gordon calls it “the shock of the season.” They then call Big Willie, Ahran and Christian up. They all got tripped-up, but they’re safe. In the end, Christine is sent home and everyone’s shocked. Gordon then asks her who she thinks is going to win MasterChef and she says Ahran.

MasterChef airs Mondays at 8pm on FOX.

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Robin Lempel

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV